Empty Bowls Brings a Community to the Table

Even the smallest voice counts!

The Empty Bowls Dinner was held Sunday March 6, 2011 at Rodef Shalom Congregation in Oakland (Pittsburgh, PA). The dinner, sponsored by The Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Just Harvest, is a fundraiser in its 16th year of bringing financial support and community awareness to the issues of hunger and poverty.
This event is unique in that all guests wait in line for their serving of soup and bread, bringing awareness to what it feels like to stand in line as someone who is hungry and accept a meal from a stranger.

Do you know what it feels like to be truly hungry? Have you ever gone to bed with an empty stomach and not known if you will be able to get the next meal? Or have you put your child to bed knowing that they have not eaten enough, or at all, that day because you just didn’t have enough food. Have you skipped meals so that your children can have a little more on their plate?

I have.

When I am talking about being hungry, it isn’t that you ran an hour late from work and dinner is now cold. It isn’t that you opened the refrigerator and couldn’t find anything you liked. It isn’t that you’ve had busy week and couldn’t get to the grocery store and now have thin cupboards.

It is literally that there isn’t food available to create a healthy meal. It is lack of funds, even when you are busting your rear to make things work, to provide dinner. It is liking  just about anything you can make a dinner out of because your stomach has lived on air and water for two days or more.

Hunger is waiting for the next paycheck, so you can pay a bill and eek out $40 to buy groceries for 5 for the week. Hunger is letting your kids eat first so they can concentrate in school the next day. Hunger is usually hiding all of these things from your children and from the people who know you, while you feel ill and despondent.

There is a pervasive misconception that people who are hungry or poor are miscreants; debase and unworthy individuals who just won’t work to get themselves out of their situation. I beg you to understand that is not the case. Once I stopped hiding how difficult times were and opened up in conversations to friends, families and neighbors, more and more people told me how “food insecure” or hungry they were. I have intelligent, educated, good, kindhearted people in my life that have to decide whether to pay a bill or feed their family; get produce and meat or put gas in the car; let their children be involved in school/community activities like the other kids or buy food they actually like to eat.

Trust me. I know firsthand how tough it is to make those decisions.  A difficult situation put me there and it has taken time and assistance to get over that hurdle.  BUT. I have people in my circle who are still hungry every day.

Without the efforts of the good people at places like the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank and Just Harvest there would be no recourse for those who suffer from hunger. I urge you to check out the links to their information and do what you can. And if you are having trouble feeding yourself and your family, I beg you to set aside your pride or stubbornness and ask them for help.

An empty bowl, a constant reminder.

Rich or poor, hungry or fed, we can all be activists and supporters in the fight against hunger. The Empty Bowls Dinner brought a community to the table. Now, I invite you to the table. What can you do to fill an empty bowl?

Simply Put- You can’t understand the physical, emotional and psychological pains of hunger unless you’ve experienced it, but you can help put an end to those feelings for others.

Has Anyone Ever Told You…

I had the distinct honor of being a guest on an internet radio show this week called Lydia’s Literary Lowdown.  The host, Lydia Aswolf, is also a writer and avid reader and I’m very grateful  for the opportunity to guest on this show as an up and coming author. I feel privileged as Lydia’s first children’s book author on the show.

I have to admit I have never done a live interview, not even for five minutes. At least not one where I wasn’t behind a camera asking the questions.  I will also admit that I was more than a little nervous. An entire hour talking about myself? Oh my.

For those of you that are ever asked to interview about yourself, your work, or an event,  I’ve listed a few tips to help you prepare:

1. Get a feel for the host and his or her style. If you are  scheduled for a future date, make sure you listen to or watch the show on which you are a guest.  This helps you understand what kinds of questions your host asks, how much you should prepare to talk and what the listeners are interested in.
2. Ask yourself and answer the questions you would like to know– about yourself, or the topic, event, or situation you are going to talk about.   Then type out the answers.  This helps in getting focused ahead of time as well as staying  focused during the interview.
3. Be yourself.  You might be a professional ‘whatever’ or part of some very specific event you plan to discuss.  You are the guest and people are listening to YOU. Concentrate on being meaningful, rather than just impressive. If you come across as being anything other than sincere and real, people will know it and be turned off by it.
4. Have good and memorable knowledge to share.  While people may like you for you(see #3), they are also taking 5 minutes, a half hour or an hour of their life to listen to you. As a guest, you owe it to them to do your homework and have valuable information or insight.
5. Take a breath, relax,and have water nearby. Be clear when you speak, so listeners can easily hear you.
6. I share interviews I’ve done for Pittsburgh On Video and I always set up what I’d like to know about the person I am interviewing before the camera starts rolling. If you are given the chance to talk through an impromptu interview, it is absolutely fine to take a minute to compose yourself and think through what message or story you want to share.  Then, take a breath and relax.

To listen to my interview with Lydia you can find it on blogtalkradio.com dated for 2.22.11 under Lydia’s Literary Lowdown.  Click here to go straight to the interview. I sincerely thank Lydia for sharing my story.

Having now reviewed my interview, I have a few tips of what NOT to do.

1. Don’t talk just to fill up space. It is the hosts job to help get your information out and they will if you let them.  If you talk to fill the void, you may end up babbling about why your name is your name and other really irrelevant information.
2. Don’t answer a question without thinking of your main point. If you start answering without knowing where you intend to stop, the audience might not follow any round about discussions that happen in between the message.  A slight hesitation is acceptable before answering, in my opinion, as you clear your head.
3. Don’t get off-task with trivialities.  The audience wants valid, credible information- not what you did before breakfast,  etc. Some anecdotal glimpses into your life are appropriate for some interview topics, but they can be overdone if you aren’t careful.
4. Don’t be afraid to ask for clarification before answering. Concentrate on the questions you are asked and try to answer each one. If you don’t understand or are unclear, ask the host to explain the question or further identify what he or she is asking you to address. Listeners are following the hosts line of thinking.
5. Don’t fixate on the things you forgot to mention or didn’t have time to share. Maybe next time.  If it’s that important, you can always post it in a blog or share it in other venues later.
6. Don’t worry if you make a mistake. We’re all human and I’ll bet listeners don’t mind it if you aren’t completely perfect. It’s the story that’s important. If you tell a good one, a few snags in the delivery won’t matter.

Do you have any suggestions for doing an interview?  Comments are welcomed and appreciated.

Life is like an eternal interview. If you read the highlighted suggestions again, they apply to more than just our interview skills.

Simply Put- An interview is just a conversation between two people that is being shared with others.

Addendum: 2/27/11. For clarification and correction from the interview. Past invitations as a Music Therapist to be a guest speaker/presenter were for UMWA Funds for several events, not for the UMWA Union itself.  The articles and poem(written for my grandfather who was a coal miner) that have been submitted for consideration are for publication in a quarterly newsletter that is part of the Bereavement initiative. The program is still in development.