Fifty years ago Boomers were instructed that their future lay in putting plastics into everything. Now Gen Z is instructed that their future depends on getting those plastics outside of themselves.
Afterthought. “I want to say one word to you – just one: Plastics. The future lies in plastics.” In the 1967 film The Graduate, veteran businessman Mr. McGuire’s career advice to young Benjamin Braddock (played by Dustin Hoffman) was understood as a sign for generational change. And so it is today.
Thursday eve, May 4, 6:30 at the Cranbury Library
From Vine to Glass Touring the Fine Wines in New Jersey
As the sixth largest producer of wine in the United States, New Jersey boasts 55 commercial wineries and a growing number of wine-grape farms. And in the Dionysian Society blind tasting pitting the best wines of France and California vs. New Jersey – guess who took top honors? Wine author and hobby vintner Bart Jackson guides you around the Garden State’s wine offerings, explaining what grapes thrive in her four growing regions, and what winery events not to miss. (Opera & wine, anyone?) Bart also provides tips on selecting, tasting, and growing, as well as some of the best ways to launch your own wine trail explorations. All is presented with good humor and touches of history…(Do you know how many wineries in Burlington county were closed at the outset of Prohibition?) Come and discover the tasteful bounty growing all around us.
Bart Jackson, author of The Garden States Winery Guide, is a veteran advocate and explorer of New Jersey’s wine industry. Since 1995, he and his wife Lorraine have grown the grapes in their own hobby vineyard in Cranbury from which they joyfully press and produce their own Chateau Bonne Chance vintages. Bart is CEO of Prometheus Publishing, hosts The Art of the CEO radio show, and is the founder of The Prometheus Social Enterprise Awards, bringing the most inventive social contributors to light. His other books range from Whitewater – Running the Wild Rivers of North America to the bestselling CEO of Yourself – Getting Down to the Business of Your More Rewarding Life. As a globe-trotting journalist, Bart has carted his pen and curiosity and wine thirst through over 80 countries. His most prized writings are the poems penned to his bride Lorraine, which are published on the north wall of their Cranbury home.
To learn more visit From Vine to Glass Touring the Fine Wines in New Jersey – The Art of the CEO Radio
Fortune now smiles on the energized employee willing to take his/her current skills and apply them in a new field. On Friday, February 24, 10 a.m. at the Princeton Public Library Bart Jackson will speak to the Professional Service Group of Mercer County. Admission is free, all are welcome – virtual attendance is also available: register on the PSG website www.psgofmercercounty.org.
Bart lays out a practical plan for searching out what businesses are seeking, how to navigate your professional switch, and how to negotiate your way into a more profitable career. In his words, “If you thought the business talent hunt was immense before Covid, wait until you see what’s waiting for you today.”
As a Christian (I say that the most spiritual and not even slightly political sense), this season I often find myself sitting alone, contemplative, and thankful. Recently, I sat in such a reverie, my sole companions a blessedly steaming cup of coffee and an absolutely voluptuous bowl of chili. All the while, my favorite advent hymn phrase kept haunting me:
Where meek Souls will receive him still, the dear Christ enters in.
And I kept wondering, what would it feel like when I finally Christ into my soul? What did I want Jesus to bring me for Christmas?
So I grabbed my pen and scribbled…..
– If sleep sweeps in each night with a mere closing of the eyes – like when you were ten…
– If your mind rests with ease – with no jolts of regret or stabbing recollections that bleed out unhealed memories…
– If that smile springs to your lips from frequent, pure joy – and is not donned as a defiant shield…
– If there are no foods, drinks, or engineered indulgences you lean on with increasing frequency to blanket yourself in brief contentment…
– If the joy of pursuing your ambition exceeds your anxiety over possibly not reaching it…
– If you are not haunted by emotional triggers…
– If you enjoy, but don’t require the adulation & approval of others…
– If you can endure success – another person’s, I mean…
– If your heart approves your habits – that tender care you give to you, and you’re thankful for the path you’re walking…
– If you feel pride in your behavior during your last conflict – group meeting – family gathering – and treatment of a stranger…
– If nothing in your life seems a sacrifice…
– If your own real concerns seem minor and offstage enough that you are finding greater anxiety in the plights of others…
– If you look back on your past without the balance of Success vs. Failure – but only with relish…
– If there is so much more you want to do – but nothing you feel ruthlessly driven to do…
– If each stranger, whatever the circumstance, is seen as an opportunity – not a threat or yardstick competitor…
– And if you rise up singing with a bellowsome joy that sets your teenage daughter blushing crimson with embarrassment…
Then you don’t need Jesus to Quickly Come…
In fact, I’ll wager the warm glow of holly & heart, He’s already there.
Wishing each of you the greatest joy this Christmas,
– Bart Jackson
