March 26, 2014

There was a change of plans.

Almost immediately after hitting the "Publish" button on my last post, I got an email from the publishing group that had posted an opening for a position of Photo Editor and for which I had quickly applied just this week.  It was from the HR department, asking for a cover letter and a link that would provide a sampling of some of my work.

I was both thrilled and a little confused. 

I had read the application very carefully and had provided exactly what had been requested: a resume, a cover letter and a link to my work.

This quickly became an opportunity to make some improvements.

I’ve learned many, many, many things over the last many months of job hunting and one very important thing is that it is very, very, very important to write a unique and interesting, dynamic and readable cover letter for each and every position that you might apply to.  It’s hard, but there is no “one size fits all” approach when you are trying to stand out among the hundreds competing for the same attention as you seek.

I spent the next few hours rewriting the cover letter, hitting on all of the specifics of the job posting, rearranging the skills and experience to read like the perfect candidate. I added curated visual projects to my portfolio on LinkedIn, fleshed out my experience, adding better project descriptions and then responded back to HR.

I sent the new (and highly improved) cover letter, along with a URL to my LinkedIn profile that featured 4 new projects (more specific to the position’s needs) and an added “Honor and Recognition” that I’d forgotten all about. It was, in the least, a fascinating opportunity.

For three consecutive years, I was asked by the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, to participate as a jury member, judging the Koch Institute Image Awards.

The awards recognize the extraordinary visuals that are produced through life sciences research. The images are windows into invisible biological worlds, and they are quite beautiful and thought provoking.

The winning images are exhibited each year in 8-foot, backlit, square and circular displays at the Koch Institute Public Galleries, visible to passersby on Main Street.  (You can also see them on the website: http://ki-galleries.mit.edu/keyword/73)

It really was an incredible opportunity and one that I was so thrilled to be involved in, but one that had obviously become buried under all the other thoughts and concerns that have occupied my overflowing brain most recently.

Images being considered during judging.

A particularly arresting black and white image.

A Monet-inspired entry.

Over the course of my career, I have been involved in just about every single kind of picture editing and storytelling you can imagine:  stories of humankind, tragedy, war, science, art, culture, fashion, home improvement, gardening, sports, medicine, biology, botany and geography, to name a few.  I know a little bit…about a lot of things.  I love learning and I love knowledge. It’s something that I am trying to teach Harry.

The world is an amazing place - so much to see, so much to experience, so much to learn.

Fascinating.

I hope that I will be in a position again soon to expose Harry to more of all the possibilities that await his own discovery.

After I sent the revised and improved cover letter, I had some chores to catch up on. Plans of sorting and purging had to be set aside. It was getting too late in the afternoon and I would have to pick up Harry from school soon.

I collected the garbage from around the house, collected and sorted through the recycling (that’s still a week away – every other week, although we could stand a pick up more often), did some laundry, addressed and stamped some mail to be dropped off at the post office today and set about making soup for dinner.

Wild rice, chicken and vegetable soup.

It’s a terrific, easy and tasty recipe, borrowed from a friend and former colleague.  I’ve made it many times this winter. Mom loves it. There is nothing like the soothing comfort of a steaming cup of hot soup, especially while in the icy grip of this past winter's unrelenting polar vortex.

The paper copy of my recipe is stained and torn and faded, evidence of its use.

I hope my friend doesn’t mind my sharing the recipe. Something this good should be shared. And shared often.

So, you'll need:

2 bone-in chicken breasts (while the bone offers more flavor, I've always used boneless)

1 box of Uncle Ben's original wild rice

2 boxes of chicken broth

3 carrots, grated (I always add about 6...I like my carrots)

2 celery stalks, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

2 Tbsp. butter (I use olive oil)

3 Tbsp. flour (Oooops, I just realized that I only used one Tbsp. this time.)

1 bay leaf

1 can of evaporated milk

Ingredients.

Boil the chicken until it's cooked (depending on the boil...10 to 20 minutes) Take it out of the water and let it cool.

Set aside one cup of the broth from that chicken water.

Dump the remaining water out. Using the same pot, add two boxes of chicken broth, the box of rice and its spices and bay leaf on medium heat. Cover the pot.

Meanwhile, add the butter (or olive oil) to a frying pan. Add the onion and cook until it is translucent. Add the grated carrots and the diced celery. Cook for about a minute. Add the chicken water (set aside from boiling the chicken). When that water boils, add the flour.

While everything is cooking, take the chicken off the bone and shred it using your hands.

Cooked vegetables and chicken.

Add the contents of the frying pan and the chicken to the pot.

Simmer for 5 minutes. Turn the heat off. Add the evaporated milk.

(Serves 6-8 people, depending on their appetite...)

Wild rice, chicken vegetable soup.

When the soup was done, Harry and I bundled up and took some of the liquid gold to across the road and through the woods to Auntie Laura. She had been home from work, sick, for a couple of days.  Mom says Laura NEVER stays home, so we deduced that she must be feeling pretty bad and that chicken soup was a helpful offering.

My brother will be driving back from Chicago in the next couple of days and will probably need more help with what has been a progressive (over the past few months) move from his old home. He has to be out at the end of March, so this is it. His birthday is coming up too, very soon.

Happy Birthday! ...My wonderful, loving, kind, handsome brother (and Uncle Bruce to Harry).

We love you….ooodles.