Amphibian Update

A week ago, we were up to four frogs in the fountain. But for the last few days, there's been only one. I worry about the others. Have they just moved or have they been in some kind of terrible accident? The good news is that whatever has become of them, this time I didn't have anything to do with it. (At least not that I know of.)

Starbucks Nation

Every now and then it's fun to surprise those who know you best. Keeps the mystery alive as they say. Last week I shocked my friends and relatives by getting a job as a barista at Starbucks. "No, you did not!" my daughter Lauren responded when I called her to share the news. She's almost 27 now, the same age as my new boss. "Shut up!" echoed her boyfriend Ryan. EK, always the maverick, thought it was funny, in a good way. "That's really cool, Mom!" she said, which was nice to hear. Friends also expressed mixed emotions. "Are you serious?" "That's so cute!" "Keep telling yourself it's only 4 hours a day." "I think it's fantastic!"

It was just an idea at first. Something to counter the isolation of writing and boost the cash flow a bit. Somewhere three of my favorite things--coffee, chocolate and people--came together. The company Web site listed a Starbucks job fair coming up nearby, so I went to investigate the possibilities and ended up filling out an application, which included the question, "What do you like about coffee?", and participating in a group interview that began with "Tell us your name and your favorite Starbucks drink."

I felt kind of odd sitting there with four twenty-somethings: a store manager and three other job applicants, but I tried not to let it show and felt I held my own in the interview. Except maybe for one question: What would you do if you had to be late for work? I gave the expected answer--call your supervisor and explain--plus what I thought was a little extra apple polishing: "And then what I do is stay longer at the end of the day and make up the work." Too bad I went first on that one. "Well, I've never been late, so I can't say from personal experience," the next interviewee answered, and the other two took the cue. "I've never been later either." "Me either." "Hey!" I wanted to butt in. "I was a manager. Managers can be late." But under the circumstances, that would've sounded kind of pathetic, in a Tennessee Williams has-been heroine kind of way, so I just let it go.

Two days later, I got the call they'd said would come within the week, if at all. A job offer from Starbucks! And not only that, but I'd been hand-picked by my interviewer to join his staff at a new store slated to open in three weeks. "It's going to be a drive-through," he said, "which means a little faster pace. Are you up for it?" Yes, of course I was. In fact, I was actually excited. We agreed I would start Monday at a nearby store where I'd train until the new one opened. Wow, I thought. Five days from application to W-4. Not bad. And to think I'd been worried I might be considered too old to get another job.

Then on Monday my interviewer/new boss mentioned that he was really happy with the crew he'd found at the job fair, especially because of our diversity. Huh? Well, one of our group was Japanese, but the rest of us looked to be garden-variety Caucasians. Unless... Could it be that being at least twice as old as the typical Starbucks employee might actually have worked in my favor? It reminded me of something my grandfather said once when he learned he was eligible for a senior discount on tickets to the Hell Drivers grandstand show at the North Carolina State Fair. "Well, I guess there is some advantage to getting old."

Dream Venti: http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/jobcenter.asp

A Little Good News for a Change

The Natural Resources Defense Council reports that the U. S. Senate recently passed a resolution recognizing global warming as an enormous problem and declaring that the nation must enact mandatory limits on the pollution that causes it. This bipartisan breakthrough marks a desperately needed shift in national policy, reversing the Senate's 1997 vote against mandatory pollution limits, a decision the White House has since used to justify its refusal to address the issue of climate change. I find this latest action particularly significant in light of Katrina, which revved up to Category 4 by feeding on the unusually warm (90+ degree) water in the Gulf of Mexico.

Left Behind

As if they hadn't been through enough, Katrina evacuees were forced to relinquish their pets in order to board a bus out of New Orleans. Of course, many more animals were lost or abandoned during the storm and prior evacuation. Many probably survived though their human families drowned and now are on their own. Fortunately, many animal welfare groups have been working around the clock to rescue them. You can help both the animals and their owners by supporting the Humane Society in these efforts. Donate online at www.hsus.org.

Eye Of The Storm

For a riveting look at Katrina's aftermath in Pass Christian, Miss. through the eyes of a journalist, take a look at this blog: Eye Of The Storm

Overcome by Events

I wanted to finish my funny story about the trip to North Carolina. Really. But the events of this past week, the horrific images from the Gulf Coast, have just flattened me. Maybe in a few days I'll be able to muster up a comic mood and tell you about the long wait at the Chicago airport, the funny-talking Southerners traveling with us, the chewing gum episode and all the rest of it. But for now, I can't stop thinking about New Orleans and Biloxi, Waveland and Slidell, can't quite get my mind around the reality that we've lost an entire major city and a slew of small towns. I can't believe that people had to wait, trapped in their own attics, standing in contaminated water up to their necks, day after day after day, and still no one came to rescue them. I can't fathom that tens of thousands of people, from infants to the elderly, were stranded without food or even water for nearly a week while bureaucrats bungled an emergency response they could have launched even before the storm arrived. I don't understand how anyone can support a president who has inflicted such grievous injuries on the nation, done so much damage in so short a time. I can't comprehend why some of my own family still think he's just what America needs. The lies, the paranoia of this administration make Nixon and his band of burglars look quaint. I am sick when I think of it, the religious hypocrisy, the liberties we've lost in the name of national security, the lives wasted in Iraq, and now the bodies floating in the streets of New Orleans, the homes and histories lost, and mostly, mostly, those desperate dark faces in the attics, waiting, praying, ebbing, dying for help that never comes. God forgive us.