It's the dog days of summer in DC, those perpetually hot, in the 90's, near 100 temps.....The leaves on bushes and trees have shriveled on all but the most hardy of vegetation, although unfortunately, some of the ornamental cherry and maple trees have lost a lot of their leaves! Like EWL said in her blog yesterday, we had some good rain recently, which helped rejuvenate some of the greenery......
Somehow, August also seems a time of transition and change...the summer grasses and fruits and crops are near to total ripeness, on the way to that overripe stage that comes in the Fall.....nature knows the jig is soon up. As for us humans, guess those old patterns of having a new start in September (school) have a hold on us even into adulthood......causing some of us to make some change in August (new school clothes, new look, new supplies, new jobs, new projects, new directions, new apartments) and be ready to start something fresh come September!
Along these lines, there are more comings and goings at MENC! Last week, MENC bloggers detailed the leaving of ARN, Director of Gov. Relations, and in-coming of CW, as well as the departure this week of CR, member services rep. Next week, the Director of Membership, AK, will be leaving MENC, a 10 year veteran who grew through the ranks and is an ace with the member database! Fortunately for MENC and MENC members, another long time MENC vet of member services, BC, will be stepping right up to the plate and taking over the Directorship (see Around the Water Cooler for an interesting take on this!). BC will more than ably lead MENC memberservices, I've no doubt!
(This week, MENC staff attended a brief "webinar" regarding the upgrade to the MENC membership database....an improved interface and functionality; hopefully, making membership reps' jobs easier when serving MENC members!)
Final tallies of the June/July Question of the Month on-line survey about the national standards showed 754 responses, a good response! Lots of opinions! Bottom line result: Do you believe that the national standards should be revised? 28% of respondents said yes; 37% said no; and 31% were not sure. (NOTE: This info is simply being collected for INFORMATIONAL purposes to EXPLORE if the national standards should be tweaked, if at all)
Check out August's Question, asking what you did this summer!
RESOURCES
Did you know you can order MENC books and resources on line? CLICK HERE!
ARTICLES of NOTE
STUDENT CONDUCTORS at Aspen Festival
Jazz and Classical, together
New England Luthier (violin maker)
AROUND THE WATER COOLER
Dr. M is very generous with treats to staff, and sometimes, I feel like I'm back in kindergarten! (this is a GOOD thing!). Well, we get ice cream sandwiches tomorrow on National Ice Cream Sandwich day......! It takes me back to those summer days when our kindergarten day camp would have outings to the ROTOLACTOR (automated milking farm) in rural NJ and we'd watch, fascinated yet awed, not quite understanding, the cows being milked on a circular rotating platform by some sort of machine..... Somehow, I never quite made the connection between the cows getting milked, and the ice cream sandwiches they gave us on the way out!
Best water cooler comment heard in a LONG time! (actually, heard in the MENC 2nd floor kitchen, as we only have ONE water bubbler, as mentioned in previous blog!) This comment was uttered with "EUREKA! I've figured it out!" intensity and matter of fact-ness, and served as piercing social commentary! The MENC staff responsible shall remain anonymous.......
"I know why BC took the darn membership director's job - no more darn kitchen duty!"
........ most MENC staff are assigned kitchen duty on a rotating basis (this is not mentioned in one's job description, or at the interview - once you're in, THEN the news is dropped like a bomb!). There are SIX kitchens at MENC headquarters! (we like to eat around here!). These kitchens are of varying size and appointment, some with only a sink and fridge and coffeemaker (I know, even THIS is a luxury to many music teachers/teachers/office workers!), some with dishwasher, stove and toaster and microwave, too! Most staff bring their lunch (and breakfast, and even dinner.....), and MENC has graciously outfitted these spaces so we can chow down right in house...cook up our meals, chill our drinks, brew coffee and tea, and even bake or cook from scratch (sometimes on cold mornings in winter, you can smell baking cinnamon buns from the refectory oven....at Halloween, that oven is kept going heating up potluck dishes brought in to feed the ghouls!)
As payback for the largess of MENC (and it's only right!) all staff (well, ALMOST all, hence the comment overheard!) must help with kitchen upkeep! An official "OH NO! It's Kitchen duty time!!" sign is passed around from week to week, and it's almost like a form of tag, "you're it! ha ha, it's YOUR turn!" when one person has finished their week's duty. Besides daily washing down the microwave, counters, and tables, the duty person is responsible for filling dishwasher, cleaning up coffee pots and restocking supplies. So.......one way of getting out of this duty is to graduate to heading a department.....hence the comment overheard in the kitchen.....
Finally, talk about a cool commute! Read how one DC worker gets to work!, via WATER!
SEE YOU NEXT WEEK! SR
