I had two wonderful events last week. On Thursday, I had my first TV appearance on CBS 58 Milwaukee - check out the interview here. It was truly exciting and I wanted to give thanks to the folks that made it all happen at CBS: Kendyll, Barry, Jason and a special shout-out to anchor Mike Curkov who made me feel at ease during the interview. 🎬
The second event was on Sunday at the Arts + Literature Laboratory in Madison for the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets that features weekly events devoted to cheese. Yes, you read that correctly. I was one of six poets that read their works for the Gouda week. We were tasked to read poems that related or featured cheese. I have a poem about Italian chef Massimo Bottura and Parmesan and I think it was Gouda nuf. 😉 It was thrilling to be a part of this group and to listen to other poets. It’s a very warm and supportive community. Special thanks to James and Rita Mae for hosting and thinking of me. This series will continue every Sunday afternoon until March 12. I encourage you to check it out if you're in the area!
Shahayra Majumder and I are back at it again! We will be sharing the stage at Mystery to Me Bookstore on Thursday, February 23rd at 6 p.m. Seating is limited, so be sure to sign up here to attend in person or virtually on Crowdcast. We hope to see you there!
I’ve seen some things on my social media feed lately that made me want to put my thoughts together about something that is ringing true for me.
I saw a man talking about how he’d been complaining that his life was full of ups and downs and he wondered why it couldn’t just go smoothly after all of the time and effort he’d put into being successful. His friend reminded him that a heartbeat on a monitor goes up and down and when you’re dead, it’s flat. It reminded me to try to accept the flow of life, as hard as it may be sometimes.
The second thing I saw was Shonda Rhimes, TV screenwriter, producer, and author extraordinaire, giving a commencement speech at Dartmouth College. She said that people would look at her and ask her, a single mom with three kids, how she did it all. She’d typically give them an answer of, “I’m organized” or “I have help,” but that wasn’t the full truth. The truth is, she doesn’t have it all together. If she is succeeding in one place, she’s failing in another. Take a listen to her impactful speech.
Both of these stories really resonated with me. It was as if two points of light connected so that I could reflect and understand something about myself and this life. It was reassuring that someone as successful as Shonda feels this way. I want my kids to know that I love them, I’m proud of them and I'm their biggest fan. Even though I can’t do it all, I try my best.
Here’s to heartbeats.
Let’s chat soon.
With affection,
Carrie VS
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