Click here to read a profile I wrote about LPGA star Annika Sorenstam in Fortune (November 10, 2008). Sorenstam is set to retire at the end of the 2008 season and is in the midst of launching a business career that includes a golf academy, course design, wine and perfume.
Click here & here to see a Fortune’s 2008 list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business from the October 13, 2008 issue. I led the charge assembling the list this year and wrote about several of the women. The research alone was an enormous task given the range of industries covered! For the online version with fun videos, quizzes and interactive graphics (and we wonder why the web is winning over print), click here.
Last night I watched the election returns in a Hells Kitchen apartment. I was with three women I grew up with in Palo Alto, one whom I have known since the third grade. The year was 1988 and we held a mock Presidential election. Palo Alto being a liberal hotbed, it was a landslide for Dukakis. And while the election didn’t go our way, I still remember the thrill of my first exposure to a Presidential contest. (It might have been at that point that I abandoned my plans to become an astronaut and decided to shoot for the presidency instead.)
Until yesterday actually, I still had yet to vote for a winning Presidential candidate. My first two elections were a bit of a disappointment: The first go-round in 2000, with its weeks in court and hanging chads, was a disheartening experience for a first-time voter. And although it appeared legitimate at least, the result in 2004 was perhaps a bigger blow, with “my fellow Americans” supporting a President I was sure was leading us down the wrong path.
Yesterday was different, and for many reasons beyond the obvious. To start, it was the first time I was working in an office environment during an election. On top of that, I spent the most heated months of the campaign working at Fortune Magazine, in New York City! Even when politics aren’t at the center of our discussions, there is an electricity that comes from being surrounded by people who are deeply engaged with the issues and events at this critical moment in history.
Another key difference was that it was the first time I was experiencing an election on the East Coast. Living out West it was always a bit anti-climatic. Since it was always pretty clear which way California would go, the results were usually predicted around the time our polls had just closed. This year when I sat down to watch after work, only three states had been predicted and I prepared to watch as alerts flashed across the screen and the map filled up red and blue.
After the speeches, instead of heading to bed with a sense of distance and resignation as I had done on past election nights, my friends and I followed the cheers of our fellow New Yorkers (and the European tourists) and set out for Times Square. At 1 A.M. we stood among the thousands chanting, hugging, and exchanging high-fives; the taxis and trucks honking; the billboard lights flashing and the marquee on the ABC building streaming images of our new President. Together with the young voters of my generation, I finally feel that I have a stake in the future of this country.
Can you remember where you were on election day in 2004? Or in 2000? Maybe that’s not a fair question if you can’t remember what you had for breakfast. But chances are you’ll remember where you were today. Many of us woke up with a feeling of excitement and anticipation beyond anything we’ve felt before.
Today is a culmination of so many things beyond a historical Presidential contest between two candidates. It is the denouement of a race that saw the first real female contender. It is the conclusion of a presidency, which for many could not come soon enough. For me, it is the close of a era during which I felt completely powerless as the world seemed to spiral out of control: from 9/11 to the war in Iraq to corporate and government betrayals to inconvenient truths to punishing oil prices to a terrifying financial crisis. Unfortunately this last event seems to have no end, and its urgency only adds to the gravity of this election.
But today I finally feel I have a voice, and clearly so do many other Americans, as the polls are flooded with voters (see photos of voters lined up to vote in my neighborhood on the UWS at PS9/PS334). American University’s Center for the Study of the American Electorate estimates that 73.5% of eligible Americans are registered to vote, gains that could result in as many as 135 million Americans turning out, or 65% of eligible voters. This could translate to the highest turnout since Taft was elected in 1908. (Having served during the 2004 election, with a 60% turnout, my heart goes out to those working the polls today.)
Indeed, it will be almost as thrilling to see the voter turnout numbers as it will be to see who wins. To my mind, this is equally as important–that we have an electorate that cares enough to try and change what they see happening around them and sees voting as one way to accomplish this.
At the same time, it’s just as important that all of us who voted today get up tomorrow and continue to look for ways we can make a difference. We can’t rely on our elected officials to fix our broken system. On the contrary, we must become increasingly vigilant and educate ourselves, while doing our part as individuals to make decisions that are financially sound and healthy for us, our families, our neighbors and our earth.
So while today marks the end of many things that have transformed us as individuals and as a nation since the turn of the century, it is also a chance for a new beginning. We can start by keeping the spirit of this election alive every day, voting with our voices and actions, guided by our values and our hearts.
Click here to read my first piece as a reporter at Fortune in the Global 500 issue (July 21, 2008). It’s a photo essay about four women (of the more than 30 who participated) from our Most Powerful Women summit who mentored women from developing countries–including India, Zimbabwe, Peru and Jordan–as part of the FORTUNE-U.S. State Department Global Women Leaders Mentoring Partnership. (Disclaimer: it takes about 15 seconds to download).
Click here to read a story I wrote about the new Siebel Varsity Golf Training Complex at Stanford University. The practice facility includes six greens, each of which incorporates the trademark style of an iconic course architect, giving Stanford players a leg up at the courses on their rota designed by these masters.
I recently read a piece in the NY Observer that essentially said it doesn’t matter if your story makes the cover of a magazine if no one talks about it.
Nothing seems to live for more than a day without commentary; the contemporary version of “if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it make a sound” is “if an article gets written and no one blogs it, does anyone care?”
I was therefore somewhat relieved to stumble on this mention of my Gold Country story on the NY Post’s site.
Prior to my move to Manhattan, the subway ranked high among the “amenities” I looked forward to enjoying as an NYC resident. I had lived in three cities with sub-par public transit systems and was eagerly anticipating leaving my wheels in California along with car payments, insurance, registration, permits, tickets, parking, and the constant fear that my car would be broken into or vandalized. I love to drive, but I think anyone would agree that owning a car in a city is a challenge.
Even with its myriad headaches—snotty passengers, infrequent trains, steamy summer mornings underground—the subway has not let me down. There is a learning curve, but like the rest of Manhattan, it’s accompanied by no small sense of pride. In fact once you get it figured out, navigating the subway system with relative ease is the ultimate sign that you belong.
The subway is truly a separate world, geographically and psychologically. Ever since I started this blog I’ve wanted to create a category of posts about the fascinating and bizarre things I’ve witnessed underground.
I’ve seen couples taking engagement photos, a guy carrying a car fender and kindergartners on a field trip. There have been scenes frightening and moving–a social worker reunited with a man who had been in her care; a family struggling with a mom who had had too much to drink; a young woman who believed in love at first sight on the platform; and of course the arguments, crying, and people in pain.
On top of this are the subway “regulars”: people selling batteries, candy or counterfeit DVDs; those asking for money or preaching a message; bewildered tourists from Europe or the midwest; and the entertainers, from Sunday morning men’s gospel groups to mariachi bands to drum circles.
The subway is a slice of New York life; the pinnacle of people-watching; the place where we can truly catch a glimpse into the life of others. Every passenger has a story.
My blog is so backlogged I hardly know where to begin. Below are a few posts you can expect to see in the next week as I try to play catch up:
Pardon the non-sequitur, but I’m kicking it all off with a “recipe.”
Click here to read my cover story about golf in California Gold Country.
