From the monthly archives: October 2010
I’m definitely smiling more at strangers since the month started. Something about giving away money puts me in a really good mood. This morning I was about to get off the bus when a man in a wheelchair got my attention. “Ma’am?” he said from behind me. I turned around. “I just want to say […]
Continue Reading →I briefly considered giving $10 each to ten people today, in honor of 10.10.10, but decided to stick to my plan. So far, no one has balked at the $100 bill. I’ll need to replenish my supply this week. The President’s Day sales inspired me to consider a major purchase – a couple of new […]
Continue Reading →It was a pretty dreary day here in Portland, with lots of drizzle. Bank robbery, teen suicides and gang violence dominate the news. As I came out of our neighborhood grocery store this evening, a handsome young African American man in a football jersey from our local high school quietly asked for my attention. He […]
Continue Reading →Some might be surprised to learn that I am a real cheapskate. Like, one of the worst. I don’t totally blame myself and I make a big effort to abandon my contemptible habits. That’s part of what this month of $100 giveaways is about for me. As I was growing up, my mother took her role as […]
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Day 7. In giving away $100 each day this month I am stumbling upon some amazing people and some fascinating stories. I’ve been thinking today about one of my original objectives for this project, which is to pry out and examine some of my assumptions about need, worthiness and generosity. The questions have been rolling through […]
Continue Reading →I was doctoring out in Gresham today, as I am most Wednesday mornings. I finished up late and it was almost 2:00 by the time I got back to Portland. I was famished and all I could think about was getting something to eat. I parked and walked over to the Burgerville just down the […]
Continue Reading →When you’re looking for the right person to give $100 to, things look different – and everything is more memorable. I could hardly concentrate in exercise class this morning because I was so distracted by the ankles of the woman in front of me, each of which was tattooed with a very large skull and […]
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Day 4 of 31 October days. October, my Month of Hundreds. I spent almost the whole day in either a building or my car, and I was starting to wonder how I was going to pull off my $100 give. This afternoon I drove down Stark Street into Gresham. That is one sad trek past […]
Continue Reading →Day 3 of my Month of Hundreds. If not for the demands of this project, I might not have left the house today. But duty called, and also we were getting low on coffee. Â Louise and I decided to walk down to Peet’s on Broadway, less than a mile away. As we meandered through our […]
Continue Reading →Louise and I picked 60 pounds of apples last week, and the sauce was starting to bubble on the stove. I realized I needed more canning jars (where do they all go??) and made a trip to Fred Meyer. Typical for a Saturday morning, it was bustling. I slowly made my way along the aisles […]
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