Barrie Jean Borich’s Restoring the Color of Roses :: Barrie jean Borich Restoring Color Roses

Barrie Jean Borich’s Restoring the Color of Roses An unstable family environment can shape the way a girl is brought up a great deal. The way her family treats her and reacts to her helps her develop her attitude for and her outlook on the rest of her life. In Barrie Jean Borich’s Restoring the Color of Roses, she presents the reader with a somewhat unstable and sometimes scary family situation. Through her narrative, Borich proves that this type of environment is destructive for a growing girl. With most of her family, Barrie is unable to be her true self. Her mother is not comfortable with Barrie’s lesbianism. In Slouching towards Chicago, Barrie has a conversation with her mother that reveals her mother’s attitude towards her sexuality. Her mother asks her if she’d ever â€Å"do things† with women (21). Barrie’s internal response to this question was, â€Å"And now the implications are clear. Not only will I do it, I will be it. And this is what I didn’t get before. People are going to hate me for this† (21). She can not be completely comfortable with who she is because she does not exist in a supportive family environment. She feels people are going to hate her for her homosexuality. This type of family situation is detrimental to the development of a growing girl. Another aspect of Barrie’s family life that is destructive towards her development is the issue of self confidence and body image. In A Body’s Documentary, moments appear where Barrie’s self image is damaged by her family. One such occasion is when her father got angry and broke a plate because Barrie â€Å"never talk[ed]† and was just like her mother, resulting in Barrie questioning her features and becoming extra self-conscious of them (38). Immediately following that incident, Barrie talks about preparing for picture day: â€Å"On picture day I could not find an outfit that would make my body disappear, but in the back row, at least, my sausage thighs could hide. I could only pray my nose would shrink beneath the crown of my new bangs† (38). She has a very negative opinion of herself. Obviously this self confidence issue stems directly from her father’s comments. Barrie’s mother also shares some of the responsibility f or Barrie’s self esteem.

How to Approach Work in 2013

Thinking about how to approach work in 2013, I recenter back to trying to make a sustainable difference in the long term trajectory of Cokes business in the US. It is not easy and it does require hard work. I have to accept our environment â€Å"where it is† as well as being OK with my place in it. I need to remember that I am in a place where I can influence things in a positive direction. Three things are important to remember: most of our people do want to do the right thing, most are looking to make a difference, and most have a blind spot. So, I am like most people. It means I want clarity on what the right thing is, I want to contribute, and I need feedback. We also need to recognize that most folks feel like they have been trying to go down this path. So, work going forward needs to show respect to the work already on the field. Not to accpet it 100% carte blanche, but to start by understanding what it is trying to do and its success so far. Then, unconstrained, where would the work go this year More to come †¦. Sometimes you catch a break sometimes you don’t. My sense is that people focus on the times when breaks don’t go your way: your team doesn’t win, the light turns red, stuff like that. I probably do that. At the same time, you don’t appreciate when the breaks do go your way: the scale surprises you, you find money on the ground. The right answer may be to appreciate the good and focus less on the other â€Å"One cannot get through life without pain.. What we can do is choose how to use the pain life presents to us. † – Harvey Oxenhorn We never plan for pain, though intellectually we know it will come. Think back to Ray Gotko The topic of relentless continuous improvement comes to mind. I find that there is always opprtunity to improve and the alternative is ugly. The opportunity to improve is usually prompted by a mistake or failure. Emotionally it is frustrating or disappointing. Failure to act allows the feeling to linger. Lack of action or procrastination was my early career norm. I finally realized I was being very hard on myself, feeling helpless,a nd treading water while the solution was in my own hands. Focus on improvement and taking constructive action made me feel batter and actually made a difference in my own capability and ability to impact a situation. I became more organized, more focused, a better role model, and a better leader

Personal Narrative- Eventful Thanksgiving Essay - 488 Words

Personal Narrative- Eventful Thanksgiving The crisp, cool, and cinnamon air filled the morning of Thanksgiving in 1987. Although I was only two years and eleven months old, I remember the scratchy, fuzzy, purple- footed pajamas that I was wearing that morning. After I woke up, I helped my mom make her famous orange- cranberry relish, got dressed in my cream sweater dotted with cherries and my navy pleated skirt, topped off with my favorite cream fuzz- warn tights, and before I knew it we were out the door to my grandmothers house. After an early dinner with my grandparents, mom, and dad, my grandfather and dad left to catch the Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day football game, leaving the rest of us to find entertainment of our own.†¦show more content†¦We looked at each other, stood up, and headed down the big hallway and around the corner to find my mom gasping at the fact that her water had broken. This was a surprise seeing as she was not due to give birth to my little sister for another two weeks. Once again, we w ere out the door and in the car. My grandmother did not put me in my car seat right and I remember struggling to free my arms the entire ride. My mom sat in the front seat yelling and muttering words under her breath. I was afraid because my mom was in such a strange state but I soon realized that she was yelling more at my grandmother than at her painful stomach. Every time we approached traffic, she gasped and turned behind her with her hand on my car seat, as to secure me from some ejecting force. It was not until years later that I was told all of the stories about what a terrible driver my grandmother was and how many cars she destroyed in various incidents, as my grandfather calls them. We reached the hospital in plenty of time, but with one problem remaining, my grandfather and dad remained uninformed and unreachable as the resided among thousands of intoxicated football fans. They arrived in just enough time to see my mom before she had my sister, but not without strategic m ethods to get a hold of them. They first had to be paged over the intercom and when that seized to succeed, event staff members were sent to find them standing