Showing Up

99% of life is just showing up – Woody Allen

I haven’t been showing up here on my blog lately. But I have been showing up in other places. This fall I’ve been taking another course at the Media Arts Lab at Jacob Burns Film Center. This one, The Power of Story, requires me to show up at the page and write every day for a minimum of 20 minutes. I hope to find time in the weeks to come to transfer some of the juicy words I’ve written into blog posts, so stay tuned.

Showing up really is 99% of life. Yesterday I showed up at the Occupy Wall Street demonstration in lower Manhattan because I wanted to see it with my own eyes to understand what is going on and why. The media has distorted the “occupation” in many different directions. Jon Stewart and his writers created a funny clip about it, see below or click here.

To be able to show up and really see for yourself what is going on is a priceless opportunity. And not just on Wall Street.

MrsQ: She showed up. Bigtime.

The school cafeteria is another place where showing up is necessary. School lunch menus are meaningless. Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver, as well meaning as they are, cannot fix whats wrong in your kid’s cafeteria. Only you can do that. Its done not by joining committees or going to boring meetings, you need to show up in the cafeteria. Eat. Photograph what you’re eating.  Encourage other parents to do the same. After all, its your kids we’re talking about. They have no choice but to show up in that cafeteria every day. Despite what nifty lunch you may have packed for your son or daughter, your child will be in the cafeteria  trading with other kids, eating on someone else’s account or just seeing what junk his/her peers are eating. As kids get older, peer pressure outdoes parental influence.

YOU need to see what the deal is in the cafeteria, you need to show up. Hopefully, if you’re like me, that experience will shift you into action. School lunch is not a problem that will be fixed from the top down. Like the issues at Occupy Wall Street, it will require a grass roots organic approach to create meaningful change. Its time to occupy the cafeteria.

Mrs.Q's Book

My hero, Mrs.Q has finally released her book: Fed Up with Lunch  She showed up on Good Morning America and the View yesterday. And revealed who she is: Sarah Wu, a teacher from the Chicago area, who stealthily ate and photographed school lunch for a year. On GMA, she said “Parents have no idea of what is going on in the cafeteria”.  Mrs.Q has done more in a year than I did in a decade for school food. Check out her blog (click here ) and buy her book (click here) !

BRAVO Sarah!

Please follow Sarah’s lead. Show up in your kid’s cafeteria. Bring your camera. Be a fearless advocate and dare I say ACTIVIST, for children’s health.