International Women's Day, 2014

Kolkata, India, circa 2007

Today, I feel 
      inspired
      frustrated
      angry
      hopeful
      broken
      empowered

Almost seven years ago, I swore I would make the world a better place for these beautiful young women.  I promised that I would get the education needed to make a sustainable difference, as too many communities have suffered at the hands of well-intentioned idealists imposing their own agenda. But working through my master's degree, I realize that I still don't have the answers - just more questions about why and how and when and where.  And these sweet faces deserve someone more qualified than me; won't a smarter, stronger, wiser woman take the reigns?

Maybe there aren't any answers.  Maybe the journey only requires that we keep asking questions.

Growing Up Ford

It was really weird seeing my dad on TV.

Alright, so J. K. Simmons is not my actual father, but he's playing a character remarkably like him on NBC's Growing Up Fisher.  My dad also wields a chainsaw, kicks ass in the courtroom, and taught me how to parallel park.   And like Mel Fisher, most people don't realize that my dad is blind - at least, not right away.   

I kept texting my sister while watching the pilot.  He has a talking watch!  He runs into the coffee table!  (In our case, it was a piano bench, and we were always the ones who left it out.)  They're playing catch in the yard!  I had to recount all of these little moments from our childhood that I never expected to see played out on TV.

Neither did the show's creator, I imagine.  DJ Nash shared how the series came about:     

"I was telling a story about my dad cutting down a tree with a chainsaw — because I thought that that was not a big deal, I really did — and this other writer had this look like, 'Should I call child protective services five years later?' And I realized there's a show here."

Yep.  It's a bizarre sort of normal that very few people experience, and aren't we lucky to have superhero fathers?   DJ, I doubt you need any further inspiration, but feel free to contact me if you want to swap stories.  I've got some good ones.