Category Archives: hard work

I Think I’m In Love With Wendy Kopp

academics, hard work, life

The first time I heard her name, she was almost a peer.  Just a smidge ahead of me in school (except I wasn’t at Princeton), I knew her name because she’d put her thesis to the test.  She theorized about sending new graduates who excel at academics–not necessarily education majors–into the toughest areas of our country, the areas where no one wants to start their teaching career.  And then she did it.  

She put her idea into practice and my roommate applied to be one of the first teachers selected for Teach for America.

My roommate grew up sheltered and, dare I say, privileged, in a beautiful town outside of Minneapolis.  We attended a similarly sheltered private school on the east coast.  Our friends were accepting jobs with Morgan Stanley and Anderson Consulting.  She accepted the role with Teach for America and started teaching in Compton, CA, near Los Angeles.  She taught at an elementary school that was padlocked shut at 4:00 each afternoon for safety reasons; better get out of there and safely home before then.  She has a lifetime of stories from those two years of teaching.
And Wendy Kopp’s story goes on.  TFA’s been around for almost 20 years now.  It’s grown and expanded and become the center of many discussions about reforming education in our country.  And Ms. Kopp’s grown with it.  
But for all of the things I admire about Wendy Kopp, I think what I most admire is this:  She didn’t file her thesis in a drawer.  She didn’t have this great idea, write about it, develop it, and then turn it into cocktail party fodder, bantering back and forth with cute men in khakis and loafers, about how she had some really great ideas about reforming education.  Instead, she raised capital and she put herself out there.  She tried it.  And she made it work.
I love her for that.
I love that she took her Ivy League education and did something powerful and meaningful with it.  I love that she had an idea about how to change the world and she didn’t listen to the naysayers that said it could never happen.  What a wonderful message for our kids:  Work hard.  Think about others.  Develop your idea.  Pursue it.  Stick with it.  Figure out how to do it better.  
Thanks, Wendy.
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If You Find A Tiny Piece of Rotten Wood…

cottage, hard work, home projects, kid's chores

I took the day off from blogging yesterday, but Heather said what I would’ve said anyway.  With two words, and two images, she said it all.  Thanks, Heather.

And because I am a girl who likes to relax on her holidays, a girl who really believes in life balance and taking time off, I spent yesterday lounging by the pool, watching my kids frolic, and enjoying the frosty beverage in my hand.  Ahhh, the peace.

Oh wait, no, that’s not right.  What I meant was that I spent the day scraping and mixing and painting and sweating.

I did enjoy watching my kids, but they weren’t frolicking so much as moaning about the injustice of having to dig and pull weeds all afternoon.  


At one point, my eldest claimed a stomachache.  It’s fair to say that his paint-covered, suspicious parents didn’t show much empathy for the shirker.  Get back to work, buddy, and here—take this barf bag with you, just in case.  Funny how he recovered so quickly.

Since we were planning such a big workday yesterday, you might think we took it easy when my mom and dad came into town last week.  Well, you’d think.  Also, you might think we’d consider their long drive, that we’d wonder if they were tired, or wanted to do something fun.  Or, you might think I’m the kind of daughter that says, “Hey dad, can you help me repair this tiny little rotten wood around our door frame?”

If you thought the latter, you’d be right.

And if you’ve ever had a tiny little rotten piece of wood around your door frame, you know the rest of the story, right?  There is NEVER a tiny little rotten piece of wood.  It’s ALWAYS hiding a bigger problem.  My suggestion?  Ignore it.  Paint over it.  Look the other way.  But, dear Lord, don’t ask your dad to take it out, because you will end up with this.

And then this.


The good news is that in the end both the door frame and the paint job look good.  But I am definitely ignoring that other tiny little piece of rotting wood.  Definitely.

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How to Build Your Own Lockers

hard work, home projects

So lots of people want to know about the lockers.  How did we do it?  Are we master craftsman?

No, we’re not.  We’re so far from it, well, you know.  We’re just not.

But we don’t shy away from a little hard work, either, and that’s what this took.  Also, we have a friend who loves woodworking.  That comes in handy.

So here’s how it went:

  1. Hate hallway closet.  Bi-fold doors never close.
  2. Covet lockers in friends’ houses.
  3. Get quote from builder:  about $1200
  4. No way!
  5. We could do this.  Could we do this?
  6. Google lots of lockers.  Draw design we like.
  7. Tell our workworker friend about it.  He offers to cut wood.
  8. We measure.
  9. We measure again.
  10. Our friend cuts.
  11. I sand and paint.  And stain.  And polyurethane.
  12. We nail it all in.  This takes much longer than expected.  Like ALL home projects.
  13. We stand back and admire our handiwork.
  14. Total cost:  around $250.

Sweet!

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