“When you realize how perfect everything is,
you will tilt your head back and laugh at the sky.”
~ Buddha
How do you get a group of people to smile broadly after sitting all day in a meeting? You lay down in front of them. Works every time (this is the only time I’ve ever done it, so I wouldn’t take my word for it). This group of current NDNP awardees, NDNP graduates, and a few outside organizational representatives assembled at the Willard Hotel beside the White House to figure out how we’re all going to continue to produce and deliver newspaper content to the world. Newspapers are the single most accessed digital collection any of our institutions have. The numbers bear that out. Between us, we have more than 14 million pages (not a typo), and we continue to produce 4 million pages a year. What we have done is remarkable. I have no doubt our collective dreaming will produce something more spectacular than anything we’ve done so far. I feel like the luckiest woman on the planet to be associated with such incredibly smart people.
But wait, there’s more! BFF Lisa Banyai met me for dinner. We went to this super cool bookstore in Dupont Circle called Kramer Books where I had one of the best shrimp and grits dishes I’ve ever tasted. And it really is a bookstore! We perused an incredible selection of books as a weird mix of James Brown R&B and early 80’s dance music filled the air. Lisa picked up Kentuckian Noah Adams’ book, and she forced me to buy C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. We rambled for a few blocks, even passed a Scientology Church, before I bid my dear friend adieu down the Metro hole. One of the things we talked about over dinner was how many things we have to be thankful for. Each person in this post, Lisa Banyai at the top, they are just a few things for which I am grateful.
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