charm school and teaspoons

our friday trainer last week dubbed our team service project "the teaspoon."
how quaint. i think i like it.

we've begun meeting pretty regularly for the teaspoon. it's quite stressful, never the bearer of drink-sweetening goodness. it seems everyone is hesitant, tense. some of us are already anticipating working around those failing to meet minimum project requirements.

i started drafting the request for proposals as well as a cover letter. i was quickly reminded of the struggles i face as a writer. it's hard to begin, and even when you overcome that barrier, it isn't easy to continue. i managed to get it done.

presenting my hard work to the rest of the teaspoon team, i was torn to bits. not so much on the content of the letter, but the form. yes, i used standard RFP professional form, and sent it out for corrections. our meeting dwelled in that dangerous place. on the verge of cannibalism, teaspoons clanking against each other in a fury.

i picked up a copy of a local publication called citigal. inside, there was an article on why women are seldom successful in the business world. the author, melanie beres, called it "relational agression." it's basically when women tear each other apart to advance, never considering the cost of the damage. (she, of course, put it more eloquently.)

i like the fact that rather than just bitching about it, beres is putting her money where her mouth is. she's running a competition to groom young women into professionals while helping a few female-centric non-profits. beres is challenging women ages 20-30 to submit a 500-word essay on why they should be chosen for this project, called citigal charm school.

the charm school touts the ability to connect young professional females with business mentors who are women(!!!!), and to help lead them down the rocky path that is the corporate world. also, the winners get cold, hard, cash.

the top 12 essays are selected, and put into pairs. each team is assigned a non-profit (the women's fund, iou sports, cream city foundation, planned parenthood, coa youth and family centers, and the ophelia project) to hold fundraising events for. at the end, the team that raises the most money gets the $1000.

back to the point. i suppose that's the way i feel at allies sometimes. the ladies are hardly that, and are, in fact, unabashedly cruel to each other sometimes. i would like to see more of the principals of PA acknowledged in the participants. myself included. i'm no saint; but i mean well.

anywho, for those of you who would be interested in putting those skills to use, and also gaining more experience in business or nonprofit, submit your 500 word essays on why you should be chosen to citigal.wi.rr.com.

and by the way, which one is the teaspoon? or the salad fork?