Taking Care of Business

Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge, shares some intriguing tips on how to handle prejudice faced as a woman in business on Slate's BizBox blog.

Design*Sponge is one of those blogs that I've bumped up against many times but only recently started reading regularly ... and I am so glad I have.

I find that many (certainly not all or even most, but many) art- and design-related blogs come across as stuffy, or snobby, or self-absorbed, even when it's clear that's not the author's intention at all (please don't think this means you, because I'm sure it doesn't). I know it's not easy to write to an unseen audience, to really be yourself, particularly when you desperately want those unseen people to like you and comment, and come back and keep coming back, and maybe even buy stuff... and because I am constantly struggling not to sound stuffy in my own writing, I am almost always willing to move right past the words to the content. But Grace manages to pull it off so that there is nothing to move past - the writing is fun, casual, and cheerful, and, yep, refreshing - and it never interferes with the content.

A Fun New Place

How I found this one I have no idea because it was a few days ago and I really must get better at tracking my internet browsing -- but whoever provided the link, I thank you, should you happen to be reading this entry.

Instructables

I am especially fond of the Altoids clock, the Mad Scientist's Light, and the LED Throwies, although at a cost of about $1 each (they say just under but it looks to me like just over $1 each), I'm not sure I'll be throwing them up around my neighborhood by the hundreds. Still, they're very pretty and appeal to my intertwined passions for light and color.

Experiments in Interdependence

Leave well enough alone? Oh, guess what. I am not capable of that. I must always tweak and alter and change.

So I am adding a blog to the RadioGirl web site family (and hope very soon to have one ring to rule them all... oh, sorry... I meant, one main web site with my own domain to be RadioGirl Headquarters... I'm working on it now).

Anyway, as I was saying, this new blog, I am RadioGirl, will be an offshoot of this "professional" blog, RadioGirl Designs. I am sometimes extremely disorganized, and sometimes organized to the point of overdoing it (overcompensation, you know), but in the long run, I think it will be easier if I keep the "random-thoughts-dreams-opinions-hilarious discoveries" and the "professional" stuff connected but still independent from each other... or perhaps the best word is interdependent.

It may become a bit of a hassle to maintain two blogs (three, actually, if you include my husband's and my personal blog, which is entirely separate), but I am looking forward to the challenge. This move will free me to write about things that I do want to share with others, but don't necessarily feel fit perfectly here on RadioGirl Designs. That is... this is the show, and that's

It's an experiment. One of my all-time favorite words. An experiment in interdependence.

(and if you pop over there now, you can read the story of the RadioGirl name...)

One exception to this separation of material will be the continuing renovation of my studio/office, which is very nearly done. I promise I will post more pictures here soon. Today, I hope. It looks amazing - better than I ever dreamed - and it is still visibly incomplete. I am bubbling with excitement and anticipation of how it will look when finished.

A Little Satisfaction

I just voted for the first time in Virginia. Voting always fills me with apprehension because I've lived and voted in so many places (and four states, now), that I am never quite sure what to expect as far as the location, procedure or machines. And I have this secret underlying fear that when I arrive, someone is going to jump up and point at me with a gnarled finger and yell in a craggy voice, "YOU! You can't vote!" I don't know why I have this fear; I've never done anything that would legally stop me from voting. But I get nervous all the same.

But today? Today was easy as instant pudding. The machine was fantastic (it even gave me a chance to preview my ballot when I was completely finished), and although the line was incredibly long (this at 6:30 in the morning), the actual ballot marking took me all of three minutes and half of that was making sure that I didn't mark the wrong thing. There is one very controversial state constitutional amendment on the ballot and one very close Senate race, and I wanted to be absolutely sure I voted the way I intended to.

And when it was all over, I had this feeling of warmth -- yeah, warmth -- and satisfaction and glee that I have a say in matters, even if I am lazy and don't get involved in political groups or campaign for issues like I feel I should. If nothing else, I cast my vote and I am proud.

The Story Behind the Name

I've been called many things in my life... most of them good, yes, but "RadioGirl" is one of the few I picked myself. It is derived from my actual name, pre-marriage. One day, in one of those flashes of amazement that happens to me frequently, seeing something that has been right in front of my face for a long time, I realized that my initials were A.M.F.M. (of course, I deserve a little lenience, because it is my confirmation name that added the middle "M," so I didn't grow up with these intials and it's not like I really could have noticed it all that much earlier than I did).

There's also a strong connection to actual radio broadcasting in my family's story, and - my mother says - to my own existence.

So, in spite of the fact that I, myself, worked in television for many years, but never in radio, the name fits well, my superhero alter ego.