The End

You know . . . I think Putting It Out There might be done now.

Next!

B

Potential Next Steps

1. Stay put and let the world change around me.
2. Write the flipping thing.
3. Masters degree in Nonprofit Management from Regis on line.
4. Project Management classes while staying put.

I've only come up with four . . . so far.

Beth and Elaine's Near Death Experience

This is an email I got today. My dearest friend had this dream for us. I love the ending . . . with the Bats of Change yerning to breathe free!

Last night I dreamed you and I were camping (because when I think of you and me, I think: OUTDOORS!) up on a plateau, outside a cave, in a canyon that was filled with water. The canyon surrounded the water on all sides.

We were swimming happily - the water was deep but we were effortlessly floating and chatting, and suddenly we heard a BANG! And watched a huge landslide come down the side of the canyon where our campsite was. The rocks came down so intensely that we were pushed back to the opposite side of the pool of water. Then we heard other bangs and there were landslides on all sides.

We weren't ever scared, and we hiked up to check out what was left of our campsite (I don't remember what we discovered). All these bats were flying by, which registered as strange because it was the middle of the day, they were trying to escape the cave. Although I don't remember anyone else in the dream, we learned that we'd been in HUGE danger and had we not been floating happily, we would've been killed.

Huh.

Big, night time adventures...

How'd you sleep?

Elaine

NPR

My respect for NPR grew today.

I'm being interviewed by NPR.

Daniel Zwerdling and his producer came to Pole late last season and ended up talking to me and three others about what it's like to winter. It was really a neat experience. Mostly because of the three others and how much I love them. But also because Daniel and his producer were really nice and seemed interested in our long and passionate stories. At Pole, they were also really easy to talk to.

Since then, I have spoken to Daniel twice over the phone, and he's not at all easy to talk to anymore. He's in the process of writing his story and had just a few more questions. And so he would ask them and I'd go off . . . like I do . . . and he would stop me and say "Did you literally unplug your television?" "Well, no. I still have a television, but I only use it to watch movies."

And he seemed disappointed.

"Could you really not see your hand?"

"I could see my hand but not past it. It was really dark."

"I've been talking with Katie down on the ice and she said that isn't true. That even when the moon is down below the horizon, there is still enough light refracting . . . "

"Well, ok. Yes. But it was dark. Really dark. I didn't walk with a flashlight, and I did have to feel the drifts with my feet."

"Did you literally use your feet?"

Oh my God!

But, you know . . . I am really grateful he's doing this. He's making sure he doesn't believe the poetry of me. He wants the FACTS. Because he's a journalist. Because it's NPR and he'll get letters from all over the world. And he's taking that seriously.

And he's taking us seriously by wanting to make sure he isn't misrepresenting us.

And no matter how embarrassed I am that I can't seem to communicate in FACTS . . . I am very honored he wants to get us right.