Meet My Match

I discovered mentoring a decade ago. It started with a precocious second grader that landed me in the principal’s office, was the subject of a number of my college scholarship essays, and made me realize how powerful a little bit of time and attention can mean to a kid. I continued to mentor through college and even took a job with the non-profit organization launched by the idea of peer mentoring. And, now that that precocious second grader is about to graduate from high school, it felt like a good time to give mentoring another go.

A friend told me about iMentor about a year ago. The organization was founded on the idea that by reinventing the mentorship process you can tap into a whole new pool of professional, experienced mentors. They match over 1,000 kids annually with adults from the Manhattan area. Each pair builds their relationship using weekly emails and monthly in-person meet-ups. They have tons of data to show that this method is effective too. The most significant to me is that 77% of the mentees in the program enroll in college. The number is below 50% for the average NYC public school student.

After a CIA-esque approval process that included being interviewed, finger-printed, background-checked, trained, cavity-searched, X-rayed and DNA-swabbed, I’ve finally been matched! We’ll call her K in respect of her privacy. We have our first in-person meet-up this Saturday at her school in the Bronx. I’ll be rushing off for my trip afterward, so I’ll have to tell you all about it next week!

Nannerpuss Turns 27

I rang in Year 28 last weekend with all the essentials -- family, friends, carrot cake, booze, presents, great weather, a nannerpuss portrait, and a call from Madison. Let me explain:

Family: Continental Airlines was nice enough to drop my parents off in New York on Friday. They treated me to a class on Italian wines, a Broadway play, and a great dinner at Freeman’s. They also survived a few trips on the NYC subway, meeting my crazy friends, and the official introduction to the boyfriend. I’m glad I got to share a little bit of my new life with them.

Friends: I don’t think any of them read this blog, so I can freely gush about how great of friends I have in Hoboken. They all converged on my apartment this Sunday with cake, presents, and “helicopter voices.” I laughed until my cheeks hurt, had another glass of wine, and laughed a little more.

Cake: I’m fortunate enough to have two carrot-cake-baking masters in my life. Whomever decided carrots, raisins, spice cake, and cream cheese frosting went together was a genius.

Booze: We’re not talking 21st birthday quantity, but 27th birthday quality. I spent the weekend with Mike Norris – enough said.

Presents: I received the loveliest surprises from Mom and Dad, Pete, and my friends. I have such thoughtful, generous people in my life.

Great Weather: We are teetering on the edge of the cold weather season. But, Mother Nature held out for my birthday.

Nannerpuss portrait:



Madison: Her rambling call that started with: “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!,” continued with: “We need to go to the store to get candy to scare the monsters away,” and ended with: “I love you Aunt Yeshie” made my year.

Thanks to all who made my birthday so special. Here’s to 27! Cheers!