Week's End - The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination

No time for other photos, perhaps I'll do that when I return from the outside world. [see 4 June update at bottom, if it really matters.]

This has been in mind all last night (& the past year). I posted about it twice in the Giulia Geranium blog. Once last June (in our random series, "Scots We Like...") & again at the beginning of this year.

Let's just say that if an interesting, attractive, single man approaches you while you are sitting at an Amnesty International table, engages animatedly with you for who-knows-how-long, & offers not once, but THREE times, to fetch his copy of an alumni magazine to give to you...take the offer. Because no matter how much information you've exchanged, if you don't know his name or where he works, duh, you'll never be able to contact him if you finally, finally get what he was trying to say (beyond the importance of hearing this speech).This was witnessed by a good friend who knows what she sees, she couldn't believe what she saw. I am, in fact, an idiot quite often.

Returning home that day, after my personal failure-in-hindsight, I read the speech online (dial-up doesn't do YouTube). I was a sobbing mess after reading about Rowling's early stint at Amnesty's London office. I knew exactly what she meant & have been in the same exact situation. I knew she'd spoken at Harvard; the press mentioned not one bloody thing about Amnesty. I (& enlisted others) badgered them to finally mention her shout-out on the mother-page website. I began to post regularly on GG (one-year anniversary is Monday, 4 May) because of this encounter. I just saw, when I went to get the link that it took me from 15 June to 21 June to post it. Hmmm.

Over the past year, I've received (& continue to receive) scores of email (I didn't take comments on GG until recently) from humanitarian field workers thanking me for posting it. This was the first they heard of the speech, too. So I'm rerunning the photo that I found back then, the link to Harvard Magazine, online.

A stubborn, peeved me wants to reprint the whole thing here & force the issue. But if people don't want to read it, what can I do? It's hugely important to me. And if anything comes out of my personal failure to act, then that will be something. Yes, he came back & left his contact information; the idiot at the table who relieved me of duty felt it was "inappropriate" & tossed it. I got that much out of my colleague. And no, the man does not know it. So, while I hear from people around the world, someone who lives but two miles (at most) is out of reach. Yes, I was a reporter & have excellent investigative skills & a bunch of information. Couldn't be done, gracefully.

I'll be back but I don't know when. Meanwhile, I see that The Clever Pup has a mouth-watering feast to attend ...I see it in my Google Reader...and very important: Tina's dad at The English Muse was rushed to hospital...please check in on her, those of you who are regulars. I can only see that he's OK but can't see the details. She must be slammed with exhaustion.
See you later. Happy May Day.

[4 June 2009 temporary update to photos: JK Rowling writing-in-full-view because I cannot stand to see the Harvard photo come up in LinkedWithin every single day so many times. Still looking for better pix. 4 June 2009]
[second photo/Harvard University Magazine/online]