July 6, 2009
Great 2 days in Hawaii so far. We snorkelled yesterday and breathed and relaxed. It feels like we can dream here. I can see the press still like looking at it through the wrong end of a telescope. It is tiny and far away, yet it has become what I work on and dream for… when I am not writing, running, teaching.
Much of growing a non-profit is conflict. How does one deal with conflict? Some are made for fight, some are flight, some are made for negotiation. If you want to know what category you fall into, picture yourself as a small child. You ask your mother for a cookie. She says no. Do you try to sweet talk your mother? Grab the cookie and sneak away with it? Or do you argue with your mother? Most people have one of these methods of dealing with conflict that they tend toward whether it is appropriate or not. I like flight. It works for me most of the time and when it doesn’t work, I generally just like use it anyway. Or at least I did until I grew up. When I first left the Farm, I used to move whenever there was conflict. I got to see a lot of the country that way. I moved twenty-four times in the first couple years. But now, sometimes I can breathe before I leave.
We decided to start a press in Los Angeles a city with lower per capita arts giving than any other city its size in a state with no arts money. It’s all about obstacles and you can’t run away. Running a non profit arts organization means that you are never letting up from working on bringing in enough revenue to keep the organization afloat and that most people, and by that, I mean the writers and readers you deal with, want something from you. No one calls the press or meets you at an event and says, I bet you guys are working overtime to bring in development dollars these days, is there anything I can do for you, maybe organize a fund raiser? What they actually say is, Could you set up another event for me? Running a non-profit is a huge lesson in the big truths of the universe. There are more takers than givers. Life is full of obstacles. The challenge is to clear those obstacles with grace and make it look easy. People like to brag about Fred Astaire. Fred had it easy. That’s like running a non profit in Minneapolis or New York or raising money for children. Try arts funding in Los Angeles. Ginger Rogers had to do in heels, and she had to it backwards. That’s what Red Hen does.
I always like something my son Steve says, “Why do people always say that working your way around obstacles helps you build character? I’m already quite a character. Everyone says so.” That’s what I would like the universe to acknowledge in my case. At some point. Maybe just a short break from obstacles. I am already quite a character. I was originally made for flight, I’ve made quite a job of learning how to stick around and negotiate, things get rough sometime, things get dirty, I wait to see what the Cat pulls out of the Hat. Now the universe can let me breathe any time.
