Monthly Archives: April 2010

Turning Young People Into the Leaders of Tomorrow

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The core of Southwestern is the idea of bringing in new people, watching them grow, and then offering them bigger and better positions inside the company if they still want them. Spencer Hayes , a man who has been the chairman of the board for a long time is fond of saying that you can’t build a company, you can only build up people, the people have to build the company. That is probably why he is part of Southwestern Company, because there have been times when there was almost no one working at the company, just a few people, and the company was built back up to to significance it has today through the hard work of the young booksellers who took off into America selling books, and came back wanting more.

The time was actually right after WWII and the company had almost shut down during the war. There were few young men who were able to go to college, and there were even fewer young women who were not working to support the men across the seas. In the end, not counting the secretaries, there were a total of five full time employees working at Southwestern Company, three of which had been sales people for at least a year, and were determined to get more people into the company and to get the books they produced moving out the door. While the company was small, they still felt lucky. With men coming home from war, they were finding it a lot easier to sell books to people. It was especially easy compared to the Great Depression when the company had first started to dwindle because no one had the money for books.

By 1948 the sales force grew exponentially with a whopping four or five hundred sales people and more coming in. Most of them signed up for the money, but soon found out that it was a lot more than money that they were earning there. They were building character, street smarts, wisdom, and other things that school just can not instill in you. That is why so many of them stay with The Southwestern Company after that experience.

Spring Cycling Events in New York City

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The 2010 New York City bicycle racing season started in March in Central Park and will continue over the coming months. Both Central Park and Prospect Park will be the hosts to numerous bike races this year. For those of you coming to New York City to participate in the bike races will need a centrally located hotel to stay, check out this site: for great accommodations.

More bike races will be held at Floyd Bennett Field, two at Kissena: Kissena Road Race and Kissena Velodrome, Grant’s Tomb, Governor’s Island, Bear Mountain State Park (Bear Mountain Spring Classic), and streets all around the city, like the Messenger and Alley Cat bike races or the Skyscraper Harlem Cycling Classic.

Don’t miss the New York’s ‘Five Boro Bike Tour’ , May 2nd, 2010 starting at 6:30am, opening ceremonies at 7:45am and the ride starts at 8am. The ‘Five Boro Bike Tour’ is the largest recreational cycling event in the United States and it happens every year on the first Sunday of May. There is expected to be well over 30,000 riders participating in this 42-mile ride around New York City. The route, which is closed to car traffic, will take riders through all five borough’s of the city, across five major bridges and finally, across New York Harbor on the Staten Island Ferry. This race is the best fun for serious cyclists of all skill sets and is very recommended.

The 2010 ‘Tour de Brooklyn’ happens on June 6th, registration opens May 14th and is a requirement. This will be the events 6th year of the 18 mile family friendly bike tour. It begins and ends in Williamsburg, with only a brief stop in Red Hook Park, where riders will receive a light snack and the opportunity to refill their water bottles (bring your own water bottles). The New York Police Department (NYPD) will escort the tour as a rolling parade. The ride may make a few stops as the NYPD escorts see fit. Be prepared to stop and ride with caution. Riders of all abilities and ages are very welcome to participate. Helmets are required for riders 14 years of age and under, this being in accordance with the New York State helmet law.

New York Snows

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Our New York memories are stained with the juice from a dozen pomegranates , run through our palms to invoke the spaces of the city as they appeared to us. We live in metaphors in this city, and our history is a metaphor for the best things that could happen in a life. I would be a liar if I were to tell you I didn’t miss it, but lies are sometimes the best ways to get through a quiet time.

This world grows quiet when I am here and you are there, and there’s nothing to remind me of you except these stains on my hands. It’s enough. On a morning when I can taste something sweet in my bagel, some secret ingredient that I didn’t notice before, I can see that there is something in the wind that brings your spirit close to me. This is not a song about how I miss you.

In New York, there is still snow in a corner of Central Park , somewhere that the sun hasn’t been able to reach, and no one found it yet so they could try to sell it. Our lives are there, in that thing that refuses to melt, even when everything else here is designing itself to prepare for a warmer time. I want to remember you in a cold winter, when there were no coats to separate our whispers from each other’s ears.

Sitting in a New York City hotel room , and thinking about the day spreading out to become a night, I think of you when I lace my boots. This will be a night for parties, and strangers will talk to me about my work, and ask me about my inspirations. In certain light, they might see a glimpse of my hands, or I might intentionally let the stain show for a moment, so that the sources of my mystery can open up in a subtle tribute to its metaphorical memories.