It was very warm here. But not warm like it should be. Only 34 degrees. Fruitloop was in South Africa with 16 degrees, and The Mayor was sitting here in the heat dome, sweating. I told her I would send her a postcard when I go back to France in September. That seemed fair to…
The strange thing is that I did not even have time to use my phone very much when I was away. That was my first answer to The Mayor, and it was true. I had been travelling for work, sitting in meetings, moving from one place to another, and the phone was there, of course,…
There is a particular kind of silence that happens in international rooms. It is not the silence of agreement, and it is not the silence of deep thought. It is the silence of people who are still trying to catch the sentence that has already disappeared. Someone is speaking quickly, confidently, fluently, perhaps even with…
Sometimes a sentence stays with you for years without you really understanding why. You hear it often enough that it becomes familiar, almost invisible. It settles somewhere in the background of your life, like a photograph hanging on a wall that you pass every day without noticing. Yet for some reason it refuses to disappear…
We went live for Issue 52 of Peeling Potatoes in what appeared to be a freezing cold South Africa, which meant, naturally, that the first serious academic matter of the day was not Relationship Balance, Digital Balance, or any other official calendar-approved balance, but tights. Fruitloop appeared dressed in black, and The Mayor immediately wanted…
The Rooms, Roads and Relationships That Keep Us Human One of the pleasures of putting together The Pineapple is that we never quite know what the finished issue will become. We start with a theme. This month it was Balance. Then the articles begin to arrive. A table conversation here. A member story there. A…
Balance has taken us in many directions this month. We have talked about work and rest, friendships and routines, health and energy, social batteries and silent forests, puzzles, cocktails, coffee, family, challenge, and the curious discovery that life rarely stays balanced for very long. This coming week is the final full week of our Balance…
Before we knew it, the conversation had already begun. We arrived at the table carrying more than coffee cups and calendars. Rosii arrived carrying a spinning room. She described those strange moments when standing up from bed felt like stepping onto a merry-go-round she never agreed to ride. Even lying down could make the room…
It was close to thirty degrees, and I was sitting outside with the good weather around me. There was a little music in the background because my daughter had a friend over, and honestly, it felt right. She had finished her last written exam that day, four hours of economics and law, after four hours…
Some days begin with coffee and a clear plan. Other days begin with stress. When Fruitloop asked me how I was doing, my answer came quickly: stressed. Work had been particularly challenging. The number of orders wasn’t the problem. It was everything else. Customer questions, complaints, declarations of conformity, customs paperwork, and all the little…
