Never assume anything......

I love American expressions - some of them make lots of sense, others are nebulous, and some just tell it like it is - never assume anything - if you do, you will make an ass out of you and me.....something like that.

My resume was recently reviewed by Bill Clinton's Chief of Staff for his Global Initiative. It is in many ways, an ideal job - advocacy, healthcare, education, blah, blah, blah, blah.

My associate from Utah (friends in high places, I think they call that) - was only too happy to pass my resume along with a personal recommendation. I love networking. It is the only way to get things done. Will I get an interview? I don't know - do I care? Not particularly. There are tons of jobs out here in NYC. I am having fun playing with headhunters and recruiters as they try to entice me to their various companies. Ideally, I want to work for a nonprofit - that is where my heart lies - it is my passion, my raison d'etre (French for "reason for being"). Lately, I have spoken, in no particular order with the President of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the President of Zions's bank, a member of the Presiding Bishopric - that would be the temporal arm - devoted to the moneykeeping, investments, welfare work and stuff of the Corporation of the President of the LDS Church, the Vice President of Time Incorporated, the Chair and CEO of ITT corporation. Church Headquarters - you know - the great white spacious building - hey, I worked in Frankfurt at the area office of the LDS Church/Corporation of the Presiding Bishopric - the picture hung on our wall, and that is what we called it, tongue in cheek, my German co-workers and I all those years ago. God, I love irony.

At the end of a long conversation, my associate told me to be sure and register with the Clinton campaign in NYC. Why on earth would he assume that I was a Hillary supporter? I might just settle for a job with the UN where one of the most powerful and remarkable women in the world works. You should Google her sometime. I predict that she will be the head of UNICEF one day. She doesn't do the unrighteous dominion thing either. In fact, I think she gave up her green card - she was tired of getting "harrassed" by TSA workers about her "taking their jobs" away when she would come in to the country between assignments to check in with UN HQ. She went to high school and undergraduate school in New York. She has a Master's Degree from a University in England - the degree is in Postwar recovery - who knew that such a degree existed? Why does such a degree need to exist. Then again WE don't pay our fees to the UN - we don't like them very much - we blow the hell out of the world, the UN fixes it, my sister lives in danger and we don't pay our fee. And so it goes, and so it goes.......

Just before I left Salt Lake, I was unofficially visiting with neighbors in my beloved Avenues neighborhood - hey, I was shopping, and minding my own business, but they seem to know me by name. One by one, they would approach me in the local Smiths - who should we vote for? Who do you recommend? Are you endorsing anyone? Who is the best candidate? I would turn the question around and do the grammatically incorrect thing: "Who do you think is the best candidate?" Mostly, they didn't know who the best candidate was, except that there were a lot of yellow signs in my neighborhood - he lived right down the street. They knew that the daughter of a former Mayor was running. They didn't quite seem to know what their respective positions were on anything. How could this be? I mused.....Fairly affluent neighborhood - the Governor is in my former Stake - diocese or geographical boundary - Jessica Smart played her harp at a woman's conference I attended, she is amazingly giften. In addition, several of the LDS who's who had passed through the hallowed walls of the Avenues stake with which I was affiliated. Funny how I don't recall the stake where I attended stake conferences 2 or 3 times in the 2 years I lived there. Not great church attendance my LDS friends might be thinking - great for me, I thought - I had anxiety every time I stepped into the ward house.

Why did Ralph Becker win? I heard one of his volunteers say that Ms. Wilson dug her own grave on the whole "Range Rover" choice of vehicle thing. Could be - or was something more afoot?

Ralph won for the same reason Peter Corroon won - hard work, pressing the flesh, talking to prospective constituents, tenacity and the amazing ability to be an "outsider" and see things from the 10,000 foot view.

I attended Peter Corroon's inauguration - my hospital band discretely tucked under my suit. My doctor had given me permission to be "out" to actually witness the culmination of hours and hours of walking, phone-banking, door-knocking. It was a "test" of sorts - he wanted to see how well I was doing in the "real" world. My dear friend picked me up in her car and held me close to her, as I fought the anxiety. I had to be there. I could not - would not miss this historic day. I met Howard Dean that day - He looks just like his cousin, Peter. They play football together at Thanksgiving. I had my picture taken with him. I whispered in Howard's ear that he should run again someday. I look at the picture, and see another me: I am there in body, wearing my fabulous pink suit, no jewelry or makeup (naked, my close friends would say) but my look was vacant, expressionless - traumatized by yet another hospitalization where I had to struggle valiantly to maintain my equilibrium.

Who am I supporting for President? Let's just say, I am almost a member of the Jewish Community Center here in Westchester - I am meeting with the Greenburgh Town Supervisor - Paul Feiner and will then meet with Paul Spano - the Westchester County Executive to hold crucial conversation town hall meetings. Did I mention that my four wonderful sons are half white and half black? Only two of them could ever run for president as the constitution stands now - I suspect Arnold will change that in the very near future.

Oh - and by the way - I have never registered to vote - I left England at 17, lived in Germany for 7 years - long enough to have citizenship - I did not want to have citizenship in a country where too many people claimed in the early 80's that the holocaust never happened. I have lived in America for 18 years - I have a Green Card - it does not expire - EVER! I am going to get dual citizenship this year - yes, that's right - DUAL - I will NEVER renounce my heritage, ethnicity and culture - I have been an immigrant 3 times - first generation in England, "guestworker" in Germany and "Resident Alien" in the USA. Hey - "I'm an Alien, I'm a legal Alien, I'm an Englishman (woman) in New York". - Where have I heard that song before?

I don't "endorse" anyone - I look at the person who most closely reflects my personal and political views. Not their political affiliation, not their bank account, not their religion......and so it goes.

p.s. I want to be sure I can get out and go to Canada or back to England if I am ever sick and without insurance again. Then again, we are working on that, aren't we? Did Hillary return that $800,000 that she received from health insurance companies?