My first vine-ripened tomato became my lunch last Friday. It was truly delicious!
Last night I was lying in bed trying to think of ways to make a variation on the the theme of "work" for the September issue of the magazine.
[Side note: my employer is very anti- union, so talking about the real origins of Labor Day or mentioning anything to do with labor unions is not allowed/won't be published. Having grown up in a union home and lived through several strikes and being a staunch supporter of labor unions...because let's face it, if your job has any/good benefits you can thank unions!....this is a tough pill for me to swallow.]
Last year I did "Where We Work" and featured workers from two of the city's largest employers, the school system and the hospital.
Suddenly, four variations on the theme came together for me! One way to go harkens back to my days of watching Sesame Street and is a sort of "they're the people that you meet when you're walking down the street each day," idea: highlight folks in jobs you interact with regularly: the check-out person at the grocery store and the postal carrier.
Then the idea of highlighting "helping" professions came to me. Perhaps a nursing home aide and one of the EMT's on the ambulance.
Why not feature some of the many, many people who keep the city's economy running: people working in small businesses? Someone working at a hair salon or pet groomer. The couple who own the lawn mower repair store. The local coffee shop barista.
And finally, (this may be the idea I like the best!) perhaps an article on "Dream Jobs." I'd like to get several people, perhaps even recognizable city leaders, and ask them what, as children, they wanted to be when they grew up. I'm hoping some of them will give me answers that all kids want to be at some point: fireman, astronaut, cowboy, ballerina, teacher, etc. I'd put their head shots, along with their "dream job" from childhood as a border on the story, then feature a couple of those "dream jobs" like one of our city's firemen, a doctor, etc.
The best part about last night's insomnia-induced brainstorming session for one is that even as I type up the results this morning, I'm still ok with any of these ideas coming to fruition in the magazine. (Trust me, that doesn't always happen! More often than not I look at the scribbles I've made in the middle of the night and think, "what the . . .??")
And now I have something to present at the meeting tomorrow!
What motivates inspiration for you?
2 comments:
I love that idea for the jobs thing!
And that tomato looks delish! Did you doctor that pic?
I changed my mind every week from 5 years old on up until college started for you and I. One week I was going to be a missionary in Africa, the next a teacher, the next a flight attendant...
I was flakey.
I hear you on the different jobs thing....if it weren't for the weight restriction and my family, I'd still kinda like to be a flight attendant! (Great way to see the world!)
No doctoring on the photo except added a border and the quote. Just made a pasta dish using another tomato fresh off the vine. They are soooo yummy!
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