Category Archives: Home & Family

March 23, 2014 · 5:20 pm

Shopping in Morocco

Part of my enjoyment in traveling is eating local dishes, seeing what people wear and use in daily life, and shopping accordingly for gifts to take home to family and friends. During my recent visit to Morocco (6-15 March 2014), I purchased a 4’x6′ red kilim vintage Berber rug (in Fez), ceramics (in Rabat), a silver bracelet for my son Paul (in Rabat), and cinnamon spice (hotter than what we get in America), silver earrings for my mother and me, a geode for my nephew Daniel, and leather slippers (in Fez). I also brought home two Fez hats: one for my brother Pete and the other for Jill Finlayson’s husband – since she could not find one before she had to travel home. I am happy with my momentoes and, in the case of my big rug purchase, will enjoy seeing it every day in my WP668 office. I was also a member of the TechWomen delegation to Morocco in 2011, at which time I also bought rugs in Marrakech. I am now on a rug diet!

Paul was Admitted to SJSU!

My son Paul was just admitted to San Jose State University (California’s first public institution of higher learning – founded in 1857). He will be studying Art and Studio Practice for a SJSU Bachelor of Arts degree. Paul will graduate with his Associate of Arts degree in Studio Art from Foothill College in June 2014 and start at SJSU in September. We are so proud of him! You can see Paul’s art portfolio on his website: Paul’s Element.

I am particularly happy that Paul got his acceptance package after reading yesterday’s sad article “Students With Disabilities Aim For A College Degree, But Often Get Stuck” (by Joy Resmovits in The Huffington Post). In my last blog entry about Paul’s progress, I presented some of our challenges with the educational system. Paul’s hard work and dedication have now paid off. Hooray!

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Tagged as Disabilities, Foothill College, Paul, San Jose, San Jose State University, Willow Glen

February 21, 2014 · 11:28 am

Pete Dickinson on Front Page

More recent Dickinson family news… my brother Pete Dickinson (aka Peter S. Dickinson, Partner at Bush Gottlieb in Glendale, CA) was pictured on the front cover of the Los Angeles Daily Journal in the lead article “Health Law Unfair to Unions, Lawyers Say” (by Laura Hautala). The news photo caption says: “Peter S. Dickinson, an attorney with Bush, Gottlieb, Singer, Lopez, Kohanski, Adelstein & Dickinson who represent labor interests, says unions are not happy with a provision of the Affordable Care Act they say is unfair to them.”

The LA Daily Journal articles are not online, so Pete is pictured on the left above with two Thanksgiving friends. Since Pete does not read my blog anyway, he will not mind this silly picture. I am very proud of Pete!

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February 20, 2014 · 2:36 pm

Eleanor Dickinson’s 83rd Birthday & Art Show

Peter and Julie by Eleanor Dickinson 2013

My mother Eleanor Dickinson celebrated her 83rd birthday while I was with the TechWomen delegation to Rwanda earlier this month. While I was gone, she attended the College Art Association annual conference in Chicago. Now that we are both back home in San Jose, California, I delivered her birthday presents today and enjoyed seeing the “Sketch Book Drawings” exhibit of 64 small pictures that the Atria Willow Glen senior community put up. The images are of residents, staff, and visitors – most are in pencil but a few are in ink or watercolor. I am proud of my mother having two current shows at the age of 83! Her “Old Lovers” exhibit at the Peninsula Museum of Art is open through 16 March 2014.

Thalia and Fifi by Eleanor Dickinson 2012

Atria Art Show by Eleanor Dickinson 2014

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Tagged as Eleanor, San Jose, TechWomen, Willow Glen

February 17, 2014 · 4:50 pm

What’s the difference between copies, backups and archives?

While I was traveling in Rwanda, my husband John published a blog entry on the eVault website: “What’s the difference between copies, backups and archives?” John used the 2011 picture of our daughter Jessica as a bride to “…step back for a bit and ask ourselves what needs to be done to ensure that this precious digitally born image is still available in the future, for our (still hypothetical at this point) granddaughter’s wedding?”

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Tagged as Jessica, John, marriage, Matthew

February 15, 2014 · 3:59 pm

“Positive Women” by Sam Kambali

Last week in Kigali, Rwanda, I was one of the TechWomen delegates who bought a painting at the Inema Art Center gallery. Since my mother, Eleanor Dickinson, and son, Paul D. Goodman, are both artists, I have very little free wallspace. However, I very much liked “Positive Women” by Sam Kambali. The painting is a collage of carefully-selected strips of African cloth forming the bodies of women, many of whom are raising their arms in salute. “Positive Women” seemed appropriate to the subject of our delegation (encouraging women and girls to pursue careers in STEM fields) and to the energy, enthusiasm, and remarkable professional success of the delegation members themselves. Part of its charm is that this painting incorporates the delightful variety and color of cloth we saw everywhere we went in Rwanda.

I had the gallery take the painting off its stretcher bars so I could transport it rolled up. Today, I brought “Positive Women” home from being re-mounted: my new painting is now hanging in WP668 (my office in our backyard caboose in San Jose, California). Here I am in Kigali with Sam Kambali, the artist:

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Filed under Caboose Project and Other Trains, Home & Family, Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Africa, Eleanor, Paul, Rwanda, San Jose, technical women, TechWomen, WP668

January 13, 2014 · 1:57 pm

“Old Lovers” by Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson

Eleanor Creekmore Dickinson has a new art exhibit called “Old Lovers” at the Peninsula Museum of Art (1777 California Drive, Burlingame, California), 5 January – 16 March 2014. The opening reception was yesterday – with many colleagues, friends, and family attending. Love between older people has been a favorite subject of my mother’s large-format drawings on paper over many decades, and this is her second exhibit dedicated to that theme.

This show was curated by Robert Flynn Johnson (Curator Emeritus, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco) and created by Ruth Waters (Founder, Chair and Executive Director, Peninsula Museum of Art). My brother Pete and I worked with Ruth and Robert for many months to support their development of this interesting exhibit. In the photos below, you can see how the drawings to be included were picked last year. I was on a business trip, so John and Paul went to the reception yesterday and took many pictures.