Category: I got something to say about that!

I got something to say about that!

National Ice Cream Month, Day 3

Allison

Day 3: Bluebird Ice Cream in Fremont. Snickerdoodle on top, Theo Chocolate Chunk on bottom. The snickerdoodle tastes like what you’d imagine if you were eating a perfectly soft cookie and thought, “this would be good as ice cream.”

Comments today included recommendations for Frankie & Jo’s, Nutty Squirrel, and an invitation from my friend Amy to go meet up at Ice Cream Social in Tacoma. My mom apparently has an all-or-nothing rating system. Her comments are either “I want that” or “I do not want that.”

a portrait of the likeness of Saint Maria Goretti
I got something to say about that!, society, writing sample

My Cousin the Saint

Allison
a portrait of the likened of Saint Maria Goretti
Saint Maria Goretti

I grew up hearing the hagiography of St. Maria Goretti. My paternal grandmother referred to the saint as “my aunt.” I have yet to verify this. I do know that Maria Goretti’s brother Angelo served as best man to my great-grandparents’ wedding, and as godfather when my grandmother was baptised. In any case, the story of this virgin martyr is one I’ve heard, and contemplated, my whole life. This is the scholarly paper I wrote, and I continue my research now in both quasi-theology and ancestry.

Maria Goretti Paper

image of text spray painted in an alley, it says "everything for everyone, nothing for ourselves"
activism, I got something to say about that!, non-profit

What cost, humanity?

Allison

A few weeks ago, two different articles circulated among different interest groups in my social media. The first, in nonprofit management circles, was Dan Palotta’s TED Talk “The Way We Think About Charity Is Dead Wrong.” The second, in legal aid circles, a piece in the New York Times about the sad state of our nation’s poor when facing civil legal problems, “Right to Lawyer Can Be Empty Promise for Poor.” As a career-long nonprofit professional, and the last ten years of which spent in legal aid policy, these two items begged to be considered together.

Palotta’s talk threw me for a loop. Continue reading “What cost, humanity?” →