Yes, That's Me

Thanks to Susan Harris aka President of the Takoma Horticulture Club aka The Gardening Coach aka The Takoma Gardener, I'm now famous in this section of the world. She did a profile of me that is in the current issue of both the Takoma Voice and Silver Spring Voice. It is now linked online here at:
http://takomavoice.com/archives/copy/2006/05/features_gardencoach0506.html

The Voice was delivered to all neighborhood households last week and is at street boxes all over town for commuters and other folks. I've gotten stopped so many times this past week by strangers and passing acquaintances that I've lost track. One person even accused me of wearing dark glasses and a hat to remain incognito. (Actually, that is how I normally dress on at Noon on sunny days with my fair skin.)

It is fun to see people's reactions to this piece - I get a lot of "you never told me that" - which is funny as I don't think of myself as a secretive person, but them again they never asked! :-) Nothing like a profile in the paper to break the ice.

I'm going to send out a press release today on the May/June 'Natives' issue and will include this profile reference. Not sure if it is a good or bad thing to tell other reporters of this piece - would it make them what to do one of their own more or less, if they knew one had just recently been done? I'd guess "less" as no one wants to copycat, but then again I've witnessed the herd-mentality in so many things in my life - that perhaps seeing someone else do it will give them the nudge to do it themselves.

So odd to me how folks are afraid to try or attempt something so benign unless someone else does it first. At my previous job in the school supply trade, there was one lady who everyone else worshipped - if she said to order a product for your teacher catalog or educational toy store, they all did. If she ignored something, they all did is well. She could really make or break a company. It was bizarre to watch and a bit frightening in a way to see so much power wielded by one person -- she truly was shaping the education of children and what their parents and teachers had access to purchase. If you ever wonder why every store seems to carry the same thing, you know now - people are just scared to deviate from the norm and lose their shirts in the process.