1985 Hits
1245 Runs Scored
1414 Runs Batted in
545 Home Runs
1998 National League Most Valuable Player
6 time Silver Slugger award winner
7-time All-Star

The above statistics belong to former Chicago Cubs star Sammy Sosa. His name is at or near the top in these categories and more in the Cubs record book. From the mid-1990s through the early 2000s, he was the main reason Cubs baseball was watchable. When Sammy came to the plate, you stopped whatever you were doing to look. Yeah, it might have been a strikeout: most likely it was because he’s at the top of the record book in that category, too, but it was always exciting.

Despite this, Sammy Sosa is not part of the Cubs family. He hasn’t been for more than a decade. He’s not welcome at Wrigley Field.

According to Cubs management, the reason comes down to steroid usage. They want Sosa to admit he used steroids and to issue an apology. Sammy has basically told the Cubs to shove it. So, we’ve reached an impasse.

I’m not sure why the steroid line is drawn at Sosa. Other big names from the steroid era have been welcomed back into baseball. Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds have been coaches. Alex Rodriguez is part of national broadcast teams and is the leading contender to buy the New York Mets.

As for the Cubs, they let worse people into their family or at least give them second or third chances.

Former Cubs players Aroldis Chapman and Addison Russell have both been involved in domestic violence. That didn’t stop the Cubs from trading for Chapman to help them win a World Series. That didn’t stop the Cubs from bringing back Russell for another season, before cutting him loose after they determined he couldn’t help them win.
They also traded for Daniel Murphy, who was a known homophobe. At least the team didn’t resign him after his contract ended, although I’m sure if he had played better during his two months as a Cub…..

The bad guys go higher up in the organization than the players:

Joe Ricketts, the patriarch of the family, was caught sending sexist and racist emails.
Pete Ricketts is the current Governor of Nebraska. During the recent protests after the police murder of George Floyd, he met with Black leaders of Omaha, in his office. While trying to make a point, he said to them “you people” and they bolted from his office.

The Cubs response to both of these episodes was that neither is part of the current ownership. Yeah, but it was Joe’s money that made it possible to purchase the team, while Pete was part of the original ownership group.

That brings us to Saturday night…..

Former Cub Mark Grace was an excellent baseball player. A three-time all-star, Grace had a .305 lifetime batting average, almost 2,500 hits, plus he was a part of a World Series championship team in Arizona. Those are top-notch baseball credentials.
Former Cub Mark Grace is a putz of a human being.

His misogyny has been known to the public for almost two decades. How can anybody forget slumpbusters? This is what he told Jim Rome in 2003:

“A slumpbuster is if a team’s in a slump, or if you personally are in a slump, you gotta find the fattest, gnarliest, grossest chick and you just gotta lay the wood to her. And when you do that, you’re just gonna have instant success. And it could also be called jumping on a grenade for the team.”

Such a lovely sentiment. You’d think that between this, a couple of DUIs and some other bad behavior, that he would be unwelcome to have a continuing role in baseball, in any position. But this is the Cubs, and Grace was a beloved member of the organization. So when the team started their own television network, Marquee, Mark Grace was invited to be part of the extended broadcast team. What could go wrong?

What went wrong is Grace decided to tell a story about how his ex-wife Michelle once parked her car in a space that belonged to former MLB commissioner Bud Selig. He proceeded to call Michelle a “dingbat.” That was a word Archie Bunker from “All in the Family” used to describe his wife, Edith. While not the worst thing you could call anyone, it certainly isn’t complimentary. Grace said it not once, but three times. Why would Grace tell the story since it had nothing to do with the game; plus why trash a woman who he hasn’t been married to in more than twenty-five years? Rumor has it, that as a punishment, Grace won’t be a part of the Cubs broadcasts for the next five or so games. Afterward, I guess he’ll be welcomed back as a valued member of the Cub family.

Mark Grace gets five games; Sammy Sosa gets a decade. That sounds about right under the Ricketts Cubs ownership.

Related Post: The Chicago Cubs don’t make it easy to be a fan

Type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.

Hiring new employees looks a lot different today than it did a few decades ago. Instead of headhunting in your local area or networking across your state, the internet has turned the entire globe into a pool of potential new hires. Bringing an international employee onto your team isn’t as easy as hiring a citizen of your home country. However, there are so many talented people it’s often well worth the extra work.

Here are some easy to follow steps to help you expand your recruitment pool and hire international employees. There are ways to simplify the process and find the ideal match for your company.

Start Early and Don’t Rush

Hiring international workers isn’t like tossing a job offer to the first person who walks in off the street. It is often a long and involved process, and trying to jump the line can have negative consequences for both your company and your new hire. Even if you disregard the time it takes to interview and vet someone, bringing in an international employee can take months as you navigate immigration, visa applications and other legal requirements.

Don’t rush the process. You’ll end up causing more problems than you solve. Instead, create a checklist of everything you know you’ll need to do. Have someone with experience in international hiring go over it for you, just to make sure you’re not missing anything. This is a step well worth taking.

Hiring for in-Person vs. Remote

Remote work is growing in popularity, regardless of where your employees live. In addition to keeping people safe through events like the current global pandemic, on average, businesses are saving $11,000 per year by working with remote teams instead of in person. You might think that hiring international workers for remote work might be the solution to your immigration and visa problems. However, it presents an entirely new set of challenges for you to navigate.

Pay close attention to the laws and regulations surrounding remote work in your new hire’s home country, as well as the U.S. tax law as it pertains to international employees. Although you never have to worry about applying for a work visa for your new hire, you’ll still be responsible for reporting their income, even if they’re not eligible for withholding as a non-U.S. citizen.

Setting up a New Business Entity

One way to overcome some of the challenges of hiring an international team member is to set yourself up as a new business entity in their home country. In addition to making it easier to hire internationally, this step opens up new markets for you to explore. It can be a fantastic tool if you’re planning to take your entire business international instead of just tapping into the local talent pool.

Just like bringing a new hire to the United States, setting yourself up as an international entity takes time. In the best case, you’ll be looking at six to 12 months before you can start operations. Again, don’t rush things. The last thing you need is to make a mistake and have to start the process over. Your ideal hire might be willing to wait while you set up a business in their home country, but no one can afford to wait forever, especially if a better deal comes along.

Cover All Your Legal Bases

When you hire a citizen of your home country, there are still hoops you have to jump through and processes you have to follow to ensure everything is legal and aboveboard. With international hires, you have to do all that and more to bring your employee to the country legally.

Make sure you cover all your legal bases, both for the U.S. and your employee’s home country. If you’re not sure where to start or worry you’re missing a step, consult with someone who is experienced with international hiring practices. You may even want to talk to someone in your employee’s home country, just to make sure you’re not overlooking any local laws or regulations that could come back to bite you later on.

Work With An Employer of Record (EOR)

This is one loophole that many people overlook when they’re trying to bring international talent onto their teams. An employer of record (EOR) acts as a middleman in your new hire’s home nation. Instead of going through all the steps to help someone immigrate to your country while you’re navigating labor laws, an EOR does all the hard work for you. They’re available in many European nations, and they essentially hire your worker, covering all the paperwork and legal practices, and then assign them to your company.

This takes all the guesswork out of hiring someone internationally. You can tap into your new hire’s talent while the EOR handles all the compliance issues and takes on all the risk. Plus, when you use an EOR, you can bring a new hire on in days instead of weeks or months. This makes things ideal for all parties.

Tap Into a Nearly Limitless Talent Pool

Bringing a new employee into your family is never something to take lightly. You want to find someone who fits with your values and culture and will bring something new and innovative to your company. Hiring internationally might come with its own challenges, but it gives you access to a nearly limitless talent pool to help you find that perfect fit.

You don’t have to tackle this alone. We definitely recommend seeking the assistance of someone who has experience with international hiring if this is your first time looking outside of your home country. Once you get the hang of it, it’s easier to navigate the ins and outs of international hiring.

You don’t have to limit yourself to employees in your home country. There’s a nearly limitless talent pool out there just waiting for you to tap into. Broaded your horizons and start looking outside your borders, and you might be surprised by what you find.

I first started writing Portrait of an Adoption when my oldest child was six years old. She will be seventeen next month. I close my eyes, and I’m seventeen again.

It seems impossible, the way that time passes in blurred years and in drawn-out minutes, one and the same. When I began this blog, when I had a toddler and a kindergartener; now I have one child in elementary school, one in middle school, and one in high school.

Year over year, I have run my November series, 30 Adoption Portraits in 30 Days. It has become increasingly challenging to find the time to curate, edit, upload, and share this series, a true volunteer labor of love that claims many of my waking hours in October and November.

I had always planned to conclude the series after ten years, and now we are here. This November will be the final series. It is with a bittersweet heart that I put out the final call for submissions. Some of you have followed this series since the very first season. I know you will miss it, and I’m grateful for your loyal readership. If you are one of the people who sends me an email each year saying, “I might send in my story next time” — next time is now!

As you know, the series is designed to give a voice to many different people with widely varying perspectives on adoption. Some stories will describe heartwarming and uplifting experiences, while others will reflect the pain, darkness and loss often embedded in adoption.

In an effort to provide an authentic portrayal of what adoption means to different people, the series will feature guest posts by adoptees, birthparents, adoptive parents, relatives of adoptees, and foster parents.

If you are interested in submitting your story, please note the following submission guidelines:

• Email me a personal essay about your experience with adoption or foster care (1,000 – 3,000 words) to [email protected].
• You may also submit your piece directly to my website by going here.
• Please include a 2-3 sentence bio with any links to your work and an optional photo.
• Submission deadline is October 1, 2020, but I pick posts on a first come, first serve basis, so the sooner you send in your piece, the better to guarantee a spot.
• It is very important to me that the series has a good flow and an emotional balance. As such, I try to pick stories that are not too similar to each other.  If I receive a bunch of fantastic essays that are from a common perspective, I will only run a couple of them, so that we can represent multiple experiences.

Remember, I can only run stories from the options that have been submitted, so if you have a story to tell and you want to see your voice represented, send it in! Anyone is invited to send a story. May the Force Be With You as you send in your submission!

And be sure to check out the awesome children’s chapter book series, Jazzy’s Quest: Adopted and Amazing that I co-authored with Juliet Bond, LCSW. The third book in the series, Jazzy’s Quest: Camp to Belong, is now available. Jazzy is a creative, ten-year-old Star Wars fan who also happens to be a transracial adoptee in an open adoption.

The first book in the Jazzy’s Quest series is a chapter book designed to introduce Jazzy, her loving family, and her friends to our readers. The second book is twice the length of the first and explores Jazzy’s social relationships at school and her struggle to fit in with peers.

The third book is a full middle-grade book and it delves into the complex relationship among separated siblings in reunion, as well as the unique challenges that adoptees face as they navigate the world. Jazzy explores her feelings about being a person of color in a white family, and she learns more about foster care.
* * * *

Carrie Goldman is the author of Portrait of an Adoption. She is an award-winning author, speaker, and bullying prevention educator. Follow Carrie’s blog Portrait of an Adoption on Facebook and Twitter.

To continue receiving posts from Portrait of an Adoption, simply type your email address in the box and click the “create subscription” button.

•  

I could preach to you, but you already know… we are all experiencing some sort of COVID-19 Quarantine Fatigue.  You have probably fallen victim to one if not all of the following symptoms:

1. Irritability
2. Increased sense of Stress
3. Anxiety
4. Eating More
5. Eating Less
6. Inability to Sleep
7. The desire to only Sleep
8. Unmotivated
9. Reduction in Productivity
10. Racing Thoughts
11. General “On Edge” feelings
12. Sense of Hopelessness and Helplessness

I myself have experienced every single one of these except #5 (Eating Less… I stress eat!) and #6 (I only want to sleep, but my nights are certainly filled with tossing, turning and more aches and pains that seem to come out of nowhere.  Certainly restless nights have become my new norm).

A few months back I felt a sense of community solidarity. I pulled out the construction paper, cut out hearts of varying sizes, and taped them to my front windows. I was inspired by other neighbors that had done the same, and it felt right to join in the neighborhood movement to know that we were all feeling the same and there for each other, be it 6-12 feet away.

Now, when I walk the block, I completely overlook the window decorations and go straight for the anger that fuels my fatigue. I look and even count the number of people not wearing masks. I seeth beneath my own mask as I pass folks who are wearing their masks wrong, not covering up their noses, or even peeling them off the minute they enter the “guard” at Target who is there to enforce the mandated mask law in the county. “It’s because of you,” I growl under my breath, “That we are still in this mess. Cover your mouth, cover your nose, how hard can this be?  Because of you, I cannot send my child to school, my son to his day programs, my husband is out of work and cannot secure employment.”

(Pardon my political views on mask-wearing, this is a personal commentary and I do not mean to offend anyone’s beliefs).

So, now I see that my anger at unhealthy practices as well as others’ desires NOT to practice pandemic precautions are both a sign of COVID-19 Quarantine Fatigue.  Some of us are freaking out about the future (ME) and others are just absolutely done with this whole thing and want to feel a sense of normality again (OTHERS). Although it makes me angry, it is where we are now.

The long term stress of this whole mess is taking a significant mental health toll on everyone.  Stress experienced over a prolonged period of time is dramatically more devastating to the mind and body than a short term crisis. 5 months, (140 days on my Coronavirus Calendar- which I track cases daily) is a VERY LONG TIME.

Another factor that is making the fatigue last so long is our inability to cope together.  Like I said before, I was at one time, inspired to join in, from a distance, so show my support.  Now, as I read that memorial services such as the 9/11 tribute has been canceled, I can see the disparity in our ability to mourn collectively.  For the past 19 years, we have memorialized 9/11 as a day of remembrance. Churches were filled, blood drives were encouraged, candlelight vigils were held… all in an effort to join together and display our despair.  The collective arrangements provided for a type of group therapy, harmony, consensus, and mutual support.

Now in our new normal, we must mourn alone.  We cannot join in large groups, link arm in arm, and feel the pain of others through the pain of ourselves. We cannot hug or kiss or embrace strangers in attempts to show the invisible bonds that we have with each other, we are all struggling together, and together we will get through this.

We now sit in our homes, alone, surrounded by only a scant few, rehashing the latest news that keeps us distant from our own lives.  This lack of community only exacerbates the fatigue we feel as we balance the urgency with the unknown.

So, as I end this rant, I encourage you to have compassion for yourself at this time, take care of yourself, and take care of those around you. We truly are all in this together, even if it doesn’t always feel that way.

Morrissey is not in my Release Radar this week, but his mother passed away (RIP), so he is in my thoughts, and she is in my prayers.

[embedded content]

Earlier this week he asked fans to pray, saying “Without her, there is no tomorrow.”

[embedded content]

The breezy sounds of Dent May arrive again this week, with “Easier Said Than Done.” Happy to see he’s still doing his thing and there’s still room in my heart, and my radar, for his work.

[embedded content] Filous went from multi-instrumentalist to beatmaker to producer to artist and now to working with The Kooks, which is the reason I know who he is. I’m not sure exactly what flourishes he’s added to “Hey Love,” but I like it. This song harkens back to a younger Kooks, the one we originally got to know.

[embedded content]

Whatever happened with Nas and Tupac? I don’t know, but I hope it all comes out one day, in that book he keeps teasing. What I do know is that God’s son is sounding an awful lot like Kanye on “Ultra Beautiful.”

[embedded content]

It’s refreshing to see what Delta Spirit has done on their latest track “Home Again.” These guys continue to grow as a rock band, vocally and sonically. I. Dig. This.

[embedded content]

Glass Animals dropped a new record last week, but this week it’s their Diplo remix of “Heat Waves” that has me wanting to push play consecutively. Check out this cut, it’s a fun, summer jam.

[embedded content]

How about the return of sleeper? This “Vegas 2020” track is really unique for a band that hasn’t put out music for 21 years! It’s safe to say they are getting better with age.

[embedded content]

“Easter Island” might be my favorite thing Ron Gallo has done? He’s kind of wrapping, he’s kind of talking and then there’s singing, and more melodious then normal.

[embedded content]

Anderson .Paak is back and I like this track with Rick Ross.

[embedded content]

Normally I would throw Diana Krall into your jazz cut of the week. But these days she’s gone over to the other side of pop music. I like this track but I miss dirty Diana, goddess of the lounge.

[embedded content]

Speaking of a goddess, ARTEMIS is your jazz cut of the week with “Goddess of the Hunt.”

Subscribe to my blog below.