Pre-Ramble: At a recent neighborhood dinner party, the dessert dishes had been cleared and, as coffee was being served, an open question was posed to the group, “Tell us something about you we don’t know.” It’s a curious thing to consider what item to share in a situation like this.

One guy had had John Travolta bum a cigarette off him while standing in a doorway in New York City. The woman seated next to him, a high level executive at a Fortune 500 company, disclosed that she had, in her youth, gotten into a brawl with another girl in a random cheerleading incident. Following on with that theme, the next person described how he had punched some kid in the jaw to settle up a line-cutting skirmish at the drinking fountain in fifth grade. (The kid had it coming.)

Then it was my turn. I’m sure there are plenty of things that people don’t know about me, like that I talk to my dog (and she talks back in a high squeaky voice) or, that I stick the good fortune cookie quotes at eye-level along the shelf over my desk. (I rip the stupid ones in half and throw them away.) But, in this rare moment, I had an opportunity to reveal something that really has no other appropriate venue to be known; it’s the kind of thing that’s really neat, but isn’t something you just bring up…

I once held the Tiffany Diamond (shown above, actual size) in the palm of my hand.

For real.

The table fell silent as people tried to get their head around the concept of me holding one of the world’s most famous and magnificent gems in my hot suburban little hand. I may as well have said that I was once struck by lightning. It is kind of surreal, even for me to think about.

Here’s how it happened: My husband and I moved from Detroit to New Jersey on our honeymoon (that’s another blog). While looking for work, I answered a help wanted ad in the New York Times. The job turned out to be art director for the in-house publications department at Tiffany and Company. (I know.) (I know!)  So began my Cinderella moment — a cubicle in the legendary Fifth Avenue store and a daily adventure designing layouts and directing photography for all manner of majorly amazing bling.

The merchandising department would literally roll up a cart loaded with jewelry, watches, silver, crystal, scarves and handbags and our job was to artfully and tastefully (the Tiffany brand is all about “tasteful”) present them in the printed media. On any given day, I could easily have tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry, clumped into plastic bags on my desk. (Yes, of course I tried it all on.)

One day while we were working on a catalogue for a special collection of estate jewelry, I got a call.  The powers-that-be wanted the Tiffany Diamond on the cover. I’m all, “Great! … Can do! … Let’s look at the photos we have on file and decide which one to use.”

But No.  The powers-that-be wanted a new photograph taken; they felt that the existing pics of the celebrated jewel did not do it justice.

!!! !!!    (That’s me in my cubicle flipping out.)

In order to take the shot, the incredibly large, incredibly rare, fancy yellow, cushion-cut diamond, valued at over $12 million (in 1983), had to be moved from its armored display case on the store’s main floor to the in-house photography studio a few floors away. Needless to say, bullet-proof transport logistics on this priceless gem were a must, lest some butter-fingered art director bobble the bauble in the stairwell on the way up to the studio. Let’s just say that an undisclosed number of armed guards, helicopters, and copious amounts of insurance were involved.

It’s all about lighting: Once in the studio, two highly talented staff photographers attended to the gem with the precision of a team of neurosurgeons. They anchored the stone on set with a tiny piece of wax and began, in a subdued, meticulous manner, to reflect light at various angles into the facets of the stone using silver, white and black cards. In a situation where we’re basically shooting a straight-on view of a single stone, the role of the art director is to observe the proceedings, check the Polaroids (I’m old), and say, “Yep, there it is, … looks good.”  In a situation where there’s a 128 carat diamond in the room, it is also the role of the art director to say, “Hey, can I hold that thing in the palm of my hand before the clock strikes midnight and you guys both turn back into field mice?” 

The Take-Away: As I said, other than at dinner the other night, there is no place that I can tell this story. The photograph of the Tiffany Diamond we took that day (not it above) was stunning. If you’re ever in NYC, take a quick trip to the Tiffany and Company flagship store on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street (you can’t miss it). Go through the main door and over to your left against the north wall is a small window onto a vaulted case – take a deep breath and behold the sparkliness.

So,… back to sweeping cinders out of the hearth for me.

Pre-Ramble: In the aftermath of the global finance fest in Davos, Switzerland, business and political leaders from around the world continue to wring their collective hands in search of policy level solutions to curb what is rapidly being identified as the most serious global recession since the 1930s. They’re asking themselves and each other where all this is going and what it will take to kick-start the growth needed to end it.

If American businesses and the new administration have anything to say about it, economic recovery will involve an elephant gun of bail-outs followed by a whole bunch of ”innovation.”  Intel recently ran a front-page ad in the WSJ headlined, “Today’s education. Tomorrow’s innovation,” proposing that education is the key to solving global challenges and tossing $120 million into the ring for science fairs and youth outreach. In the same issue, Shell (oil and gas) stressed the role of innovation in solving our most challenging problems stating, “In the new energy future, if it doesn’t exist, we’ll need to invent it.”  They go on to concede that “it won’t be easy; but innovative solutions rarely are.” …

Ok… sure, leaving the specifics of Shell’s renewable energy policy aside, there seems to be some kind of effort here to speak to the need for a new way of thinking. It’s one thing to invoke the “i-word”, quite another however to actually bring it about. If our political and business leadership is looking to innovation to drive economic recovery, they better take a closer look at the investments they’re making in education.

The Big Disconnect: Meanwhile, back in Minnesota… (Yes, yes, we’re still shuffling those disputed ballots around…) Governor Tim Pawlenty champions the state’s “world-class” public education system and competitive workforce, while delivering repeated body blows to state funding for the arts. Similarly, Massachusetts’ Brandeis University, proclaims art to be “the great legacy of human accomplishment, essential to interdisciplinary learning” as its curators prepare to sell off the entire collection from its esteemed Rose Art Museum — long regarded as an important teaching resource. If kids in the K-12 and higher education pipeline aren’t equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to think about things in new ways (creativity), how on earth are they supposed to merge into the workforce ready to innovate?

The Take-Away: If an innovative workforce is the goal, then step up policies and practices that foster creative thinking in the learning experience of kids. Gee,… there’s an innovative idea! 

One way we could do that is by teaching kids, beginning on the first day of pre-school, to explore ideas in different ways… maybe using shape, color, light, shadow, spacial relationships, connections, perceptions, dynamics, systems, motion, movement, tone, harmonics, intervals, blending, etc. … It could be embedded in the daily curriculum and an integral part of their everyday learning all the way up to grade 12. We could expose students to the work of great thinkers and craftsmen, and help them uncover the connections between societies and their forms of expression and invention. We could inspire children to think in new ways and prepare them to compete in a global economy. We could make this kind of creativity content a priority at the state and national levels …  We could call it art innovation education.

Pre-Ramble: Just when I thought I was being a mere smarty-pants, the Universe shoots back with a zinger. In a recent blog posting (Feb. 4, The sky is falling) I suggested that the media’s use of inflammatory words to describe the current economic conditions was only making matters worse. I gave a laundry list of words that the media should be forbidden to use unless they were covering “submarine maneuvers, roller-coasters, or souffles.” 

Well, sure ’nuff, a report out of the BBC today indicates that a Royal Navy nuclear submarine was involved in a collision with a French nuclear sub in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Apparently, the HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant (pictured above right) were “badly damaged in the crash in heavy seas.” While no injuries or explosions were reported, ”very visible dents and scrapes” could be seen as the vessels returned to port. Descriptions of the incident range from subdued to ballistic including:

• “incredibly embarrassing”  …
• “clearly a one-in-a-million chance when you think about how big the Atlantic is” …
• “lessons are being learned” …
• “a nuclear nightmare of the highest order” …
• “these submarines should not have been in the same place at the same time” …
• “The Ministry of Defense needs to explain how it is possible for a submarine carrying weapons of mass destruction to [accidently] collide with another submarine carrying weapons of mass destruction in the middle of the world’s second-largest ocean” …
• and the massively understated, “if there ever were to be a bang, it would be a mighty big one…”

The Take-Away:  The submarine incident kind of blows my earlier point right out of the water. I was planning to update you with a new batch of negatively charged words mined from recent financial reports including bleak, warning, catastrophe, skid, deepening, dashed, volatile, shed, apocalypse, stampede, retail-space-available, shaken, bail-out, shambles, and brother-can-you-spare-a-dime.

Pre-Ramble: Well, you probably heard it somewhere else first, but I’ll repeat it for emphasis — according to Vogue editor, Anna Wintour, Fashion Week is going for “understated” this year…

I don’t think anyone is going to want to look overly flashy, overly glitzy, too Dubai, whatever you want to call it… I just don’t think that’s the moment.

Well, phew! I am so grateful for that insight, since I was just planning to stock up on desperately glitzy resort wear for our upcoming trip to Duluth. I think Anna is so right-on in her assertion that the pricing in fashion has become excessive, that a “sense of reality is needed,” and that there is “a very correct correction going on.”  

In these challenging economic times, it’s no wonder that designers, shop owners, and fashion plates are ruffled. Other sources echo Wintour’s sentiment, like this weekend’s headline in the Village Voice — “Grim, downscale fashion week starts today,” or USA Today — “… fashionistas have turned into recessionistas, … fearful of spending in a tanking economy.”  Obviously, these editors should be issued a fashion violation for their use of the words “grim” and ”tanking,” respectively; both clearly on the list of “words-which-shall-not-be-used” to describe economic conditions… (see related post from Feb. 4)

Quick primer: For those of you who don’t have teenage daughters and season’s pass to Project Runway, Bryant Park is an annual week long series of fashion shows that bring designers from all over the world to strut their stuff. Located in New York’s fashion district (duh), Bryant Park will host somewhere around 70 invitation-only events this year. According to city sources, last year’s shows drew more than 230,000 attendees and brought in over $465 million in visitor spending. Some of the “top drawer” designers who will show their collections during 2009 fashion week are Nicole Miller, Marc Jacobs, Caroline Herrera, Jason Wu (the young man who designed Michelle Obama’s dress for the inauguration), and Mattel.

Mattel, as in Barbie. According to her very own predominately pink blog, every girl’s fashion icon will “celebrate fifty years of fun, fashion, and friends” during Fashion Week, “… Everything from the most talked about runway moments, hottest parties, chicest trends and … all the latest must-have goodies!”  OMG!! … The Barbies didn’t get the memo! … Quick — somebody call the Dream House and let them know that glamour, bling, and big hair are out this year.

The Take-Away: A missive from luxe life fashion blog, ChicToday, says it all:

… we must remember that in these dire times, fashionable doesn’t have to mean expensive, but simply and stylishly elegant.  

Ms. Wintour’s under-the-radar ensemble — marigold print Carolina Herrera dress ($2,490), Burberry sateen trench ($1,595), and Manolo Blahnik alligator sling-backs ($2,685) – reflect these modest times perfectly.

Pre-Ramble: Valentine’s Day is one of those second tier holidays that seem to be gaining in popularity, like Halloween and Groundhog Day. Who doesn’t remember the perennial grade school exercise where standard issue red, white and pink construction paper and a gallon of paste would transform an ordinary shoe box into a resplendent mailbox. Everyone had to bring in a ”Valentine” for every kid in the class – even the ones you didn’t like.  A cut-out heart with their name written on it (in cursive) would fill the bill,… or one of those cards with perforated edges and odd cartoon characters… We’d march around the room slipping the tiny envelopes into crudely carved slits in the box tops, and that was the extent of the festivities.  

This was before the days of the over-the-top classroom celebrations where uber-educated, stay-at-home-moms with too much time on their hands would choreograph a full day’s worth of organized games, crafts, and clever home-made treats.  Frosting and sprinkles were always involved. Who knew that the main ingredients there were lard and the notorious “red dye #5″?

EZ 2 LOVE: No discussion of Valentine’s Day is complete without mention of the beloved NECCO Sweethearts Conversation Hearts candies — tiny colored hearts with short ‘n’ sweet messages printed on them. According to the official Sweethearts website, this “top-selling iconic treat” has been “a Valentine tradition for over 100 years.” More than eight billion of the candy hearts are sold in the six week period leading up to Valentine’s Day. 

Daniel and Oliver Chase, founders of the NECCO company, invented the process of printing sayings directly on the candy, and every year the company comes up with a batch of new sayings to add to the lot. In honor of the Valentine tradition of dining out, NECCO’s 2009 theme, Menu of Love, features ten new delectable sayings – My Treat, Recipe 4 Love, Spice It Up, Honey Bun, Sugar Pie, Top Chef, Sweet Love, Table for 2, Stir My Heart, and Yum Yum. (Wasn’t Sugar Pie the name of Anna Nicole Smith’s over-sexed dog?) Some of the classic original phrases that are still on the roster are, Be Mine, Be Good, Be True, and my personal favorite, Kiss Me.

The Take-Away: Apparently, as they are fat-free and sodium-free (and I would venture, flavor-free), Sweethearts are promoted as guilt-free holiday fare. More good news – you can have Sweethearts custom-made with your own sweet sayings. The only issue here might be that the minimum order is a full production run, or 1.7 million pieces. No worries though — the candies reportedly “stay fresh” for at least five years… (just like chalk).

Post Note: A story released by the Associated Press today announces NECCO’s plans to unveil a new line of Sweethearts next month featuring themes from the young-adult vampire romance series, Twilight – sayings include Live 4 Ever, Bedazzle, and Bite Me.  I KID U NOT.

Pre-Ramble: When we last visited the situation, we were on a cupcake break following a rousting round of musical chairs (see post from 1/6/09). And so, the Great Race to the U.S. Congressional Seat after-party continues as both candidates and their attorneys threaten to hold their breath until the other side relents.

Coleman continues to press for a grudge-match of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and was last seen constructing a blanket fort under the plaintiff’s desk at the recount trial. It is reported that Franken’s team is amassing juice boxes in preparation for a series of sleepovers on Capitol Hill.  

The Take-Away: Party on! Clearly, the kids are getting tired, but nobody is willing to walk away from this thing yet.

Post-Note: I found a couple absentee ballots under the nerf ball and Twizzlers in my party bag – what should I do with them?

Pre-Ramble: I’ve decided to start an occasional feature on my site called, “In their Own Words,” where I share some truism or particularly incredible turn of phrase.  Here is a notable observation by a guy named Chris Anderson on his website, The Long Tail, regarding emerging social networking forums:

… [while] Twitter and other microblogging [mechanisms can make] lifecasting and other status updating easier, for most people it still feels like another obligation, taking time to do well and causing guilt when neglected.

I could not agree more, but before I go into that, I need to mention here that I casually clicked the “about” button on Chris’ site to get a little background on who he is, what he does, etc.

Ok – Duh. Chris Anderson is the editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine. Wired Magazine! As in, the keys to the kingdom for tech-trend-savvy folks (or wannabes). Chris Anderson is the wizard of all things tech. To cite something that he has to say about the dynamics of social networking as meaningful, is like saying a ripped guy named Laird can surf. Cut to me showing up at Teahupo’o Reef in floaties and a nose plug. 

To his point: And, Chris is so right about the double bind of social networking. While it is amazing and empowering to be able to share random thoughts, photos and even video with potentially millions of people, attending to what is essentially a constant chorus of calls to come out and play can be a serious time-buster. Do I actually need to know that you just moved your dark load from the washer to the dryer? That you have a front-loader? That it was set on “fluff”? That a brown sock went missing?

Or worse – I’ve been “tagged,” obligating me to list the top 25 things that I would want to have with me on a desert island. Except, I can’t just rattle off any old response; the self-imposed standards of my inner perfectionist dictate that this list has to be not only carefully considered, it has to be witty, hip, entertaining and express my true inner self. Shit. That kind of deliberation can take the better part of an afternoon – if I’m lucky. So,… either I indulge the well-meaning friend who sent it… or, I blow it off and risk alienating my friend and coming across as a royal-stick-in-the-mud-buzz-kill in front of the whole Internet.

The Take-Away: Learning how to manage time and maximize effort in this new online world will take some doing. As with reality shows, shoe shopping, cocktails, and now Facebooking, Twittering and the like, we’ll need to master some degree of moderation. And, we’ll just have to face facts - when it comes time to head out to the desert island, some of us will be prepared, and some won’t.

Pre-Ramble: In the interest of aiding the ailing economy, President Obama should supersede the First Amendment and ban the media from using the following words unless they are covering submarine maneuvers, roller-coasters, or souffles:

Ailing, fall, crash, drop, plunge, plummet, nose-dive, decline, downturn, sinking, slide, slump, spasm, outflow, dip, dent, recession, depression, hopeless, despair, gloom, doom, misery, woes, intensified, large-scale, cut-backs, lower-than-expected, sharp-drop, blackened, dark, evaporated, cratered, tanking, slashing, frenzy, collapse, stoppage, quagmire, topsy-turvy, crisis, struggle, battered, disgruntled, barrage, mangy, flagging, weakness, suffer, staggering, losses, dismal, unnerving, reckless, trauma, loser, bust, tumble, stumble, wallow, bottomed-out, hemorrhaging, critical, not-so-good, worse, suck, clench, jolt, shudder, yank, twitching, default, implode, undermine, fanning-the-flames, massive, destruction, troubled, vast, unsustainable, alarming, magnitude, fearful, scared, scarred, anxious, jobless, yipes, nervous, thrashing, trouncing, failure, demise, closure, deflated, epic, stupor and grim.

The Take-Away: The constant barrage use of Chicken Little language will only make things worse less good. Please suggest any other words that need to be added to the master list.

Pre-Ramble: Hi, it’s me Daisy… Mom asked me to write the blog today, since she’s busy working on the book. The door to her office closed, so I guess she means business. Frankly, it’s about time… I’ve been dogging her for weeks to get going on that. I’ll give her at least 20 minutes before I start barking and carrying on.

Today I’m going to bring some much-needed synchronicity to President Obama’s economic recovery plan. While he has called upon each one of us to step-up and do our part, I’m guessing that he and his new pack of advisors have inadvertently overlooked a huge untapped resource – the doggy demographic. Dogs basically lie around all day; why not put that boundless bundle of exuberance and potential energy to work?

Cut to a story that I heard on Science Friday (National Public Radio) last week about a little slice of heaven called the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Deep Sea Sample Repository. Founded by Maurice Ewing in 1949, this place collects and archives “sediment cores” - essentially, long tubes of dirt – taken from sites all around the world. A special oceanographic research vessel scopes down through 2 or 3 km of water and 30 to 40 feet into the ocean floor to extract the muddy time-capsules which reveal invaluable historical climate data dating back millions of years. There are currently over 18,000 of them on file in the refrigerated basement repository.

Dirt!!!…  Digging!!! … Barack!! … Hello!?! …We can totally help with that!!!  Personally, I don’t like to get my paws dirty, but my buddies, like Turbo at right, are all over it. Who wants to chew on shoes or rawhide (a seriously disgusting and misguided notion) when they can be digging on the beach and making a meaningful contribution to science?

The Take-Away: Innovation is the name of the game here. If we are going to unearth real solutions to our toughest problems, we need to be willing to think about things in new ways. Whether it’s bringing in the dogs to help with the dirty work, creating new alliances with AmeriCorps, or appointing a Chief Innovation Officer - in this “flat new world” we need a strategy that nurtures the core values of ingenuity and hard work that are the foundation of our heritage as a nation.  

Carpe caninae, Barack! … Seize the dogs!