Inspiration - Teaching
This read was inspiring. Just really really cool. Teachers are awesome.
Showing posts with label Amazing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Amazing. Show all posts
Thursday, January 30, 2014
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Wil Wheaton - Advice for Baby Violet
Wil Wheaton - Advice for Baby Violet
Lifted from Wil's blog post, because it deserves restating.
Lifted from Wil's blog post, because it deserves restating.
Monday, September 23, 2013
Writing - Missed Connection
Writing - Missed Connection
Posted to Brooklyn's Missed connection section. A lovely piece of prose/wordplay. Haunting and wistful all at once.
I saw you on the Manhattan-bound Brooklyn Q train.
I was wearing a blue-striped t-shirt and a pair of maroon pants. You were wearing a vintage red skirt and a smart white blouse. We both wore glasses. I guess we still do.
You got on at DeKalb and sat across from me and we made eye contact, briefly. I fell in love with you a little bit, in that stupid way where you completely make up a fictional version of the person you're looking at and fall in love with that person. But still I think there was something there.
Several times we looked at each other and then looked away. I tried to think of something to say to you — maybe pretend I didn't know where I was going and ask you for directions or say something nice about your boot-shaped earrings, or just say, "Hot day." It all seemed so stupid.
At one point, I caught you staring at me and you immediately averted your eyes. You pulled a book out of your bag and started reading it — a biography of Lyndon Johnson — but I noticed you never once turned a page.
My stop was Union Square, but at Union Square I decided to stay on, rationalizing that I could just as easily transfer to the 7 at 42nd Street, but then I didn't get off at 42nd Street either. You must have missed your stop as well, because when we got all the way to the end of the line at Ditmars, we both just sat there in the car, waiting.
I cocked my head at you inquisitively. You shrugged and held up your book as if that was the reason.
Still I said nothing.
We took the train all the way back down — down through Astoria, across the East River, weaving through midtown, from Times Square to Herald Square to Union Square, under SoHo and Chinatown, up across the bridge back into Brooklyn, past Barclays and Prospect Park, past Flatbush and Midwood and Sheepshead Bay, all the way to Coney Island. And when we got to Coney Island, I knew I had to say something.
Still I said nothing.
And so we went back up.
Up and down the Q line, over and over. We caught the rush hour crowds and then saw them thin out again. We watched the sun set over Manhattan as we crossed the East River. I gave myself deadlines: I'll talk to her before Newkirk; I'll talk to her before Canal. Still I remained silent.
For months we sat on the train saying nothing to each other. We survived on bags of skittles sold to us by kids raising money for their basketball teams. We must have heard a million mariachi bands, had our faces nearly kicked in by a hundred thousand break dancers. I gave money to the beggars until I ran out of singles. When the train went above ground I'd get text messages and voicemails ("Where are you? What happened? Are you okay?") until my phone ran out of battery.
I'll talk to her before daybreak; I'll talk to her before Tuesday. The longer I waited, the harder it got. What could I possibly say to you now, now that we've passed this same station for the hundredth time? Maybe if I could go back to the first time the Q switched over to the local R line for the weekend, I could have said, "Well, this is inconvenient," but I couldn't very well say it now, could I? I would kick myself for days after every time you sneezed — why hadn't I said "Bless You"? That tiny gesture could have been enough to pivot us into a conversation, but here in stupid silence still we sat.
There were nights when we were the only two souls in the car, perhaps even on the whole train, and even then I felt self-conscious about bothering you. She's reading her book, I thought, she doesn't want to talk to me. Still, there were moments when I felt a connection. Someone would shout something crazy about Jesus and we'd immediately look at each other to register our reactions. A couple of teenagers would exit, holding hands, and we'd both think: Young Love.
For sixty years, we sat in that car, just barely pretending not to notice each other. I got to know you so well, if only peripherally. I memorized the folds of your body, the contours of your face, the patterns of your breath. I saw you cry once after you'd glanced at a neighbor's newspaper. I wondered if you were crying about something specific, or just the general passage of time, so unnoticeable until suddenly noticeable. I wanted to comfort you, wrap my arms around you, assure you I knew everything would be fine, but it felt too familiar; I stayed glued to my seat.
One day, in the middle of the afternoon, you stood up as the train pulled into Queensboro Plaza. It was difficult for you, this simple task of standing up, you hadn't done it in sixty years. Holding onto the rails, you managed to get yourself to the door. You hesitated briefly there, perhaps waiting for me to say something, giving me one last chance to stop you, but rather than spit out a lifetime of suppressed almost-conversations I said nothing, and I watched you slip out between the closing sliding doors.
It took me a few more stops before I realized you were really gone. I kept waiting for you to reenter the subway car, sit down next to me, rest your head on my shoulder. Nothing would be said. Nothing would need to be said.
When the train returned to Queensboro Plaza, I craned my neck as we entered the station. Perhaps you were there, on the platform, still waiting. Perhaps I would see you, smiling and bright, your long gray hair waving in the wind from the oncoming train.
But no, you were gone. And I realized most likely I would never see you again. And I thought about how amazing it is that you can know somebody for sixty years and yet still not really know that person at all.
I stayed on the train until it got to Union Square, at which point I got off and transferred to the L.
Posted to Brooklyn's Missed connection section. A lovely piece of prose/wordplay. Haunting and wistful all at once.
I saw you on the Manhattan-bound Brooklyn Q train.
I was wearing a blue-striped t-shirt and a pair of maroon pants. You were wearing a vintage red skirt and a smart white blouse. We both wore glasses. I guess we still do.
You got on at DeKalb and sat across from me and we made eye contact, briefly. I fell in love with you a little bit, in that stupid way where you completely make up a fictional version of the person you're looking at and fall in love with that person. But still I think there was something there.
Several times we looked at each other and then looked away. I tried to think of something to say to you — maybe pretend I didn't know where I was going and ask you for directions or say something nice about your boot-shaped earrings, or just say, "Hot day." It all seemed so stupid.
At one point, I caught you staring at me and you immediately averted your eyes. You pulled a book out of your bag and started reading it — a biography of Lyndon Johnson — but I noticed you never once turned a page.
My stop was Union Square, but at Union Square I decided to stay on, rationalizing that I could just as easily transfer to the 7 at 42nd Street, but then I didn't get off at 42nd Street either. You must have missed your stop as well, because when we got all the way to the end of the line at Ditmars, we both just sat there in the car, waiting.
I cocked my head at you inquisitively. You shrugged and held up your book as if that was the reason.
Still I said nothing.
We took the train all the way back down — down through Astoria, across the East River, weaving through midtown, from Times Square to Herald Square to Union Square, under SoHo and Chinatown, up across the bridge back into Brooklyn, past Barclays and Prospect Park, past Flatbush and Midwood and Sheepshead Bay, all the way to Coney Island. And when we got to Coney Island, I knew I had to say something.
Still I said nothing.
And so we went back up.
Up and down the Q line, over and over. We caught the rush hour crowds and then saw them thin out again. We watched the sun set over Manhattan as we crossed the East River. I gave myself deadlines: I'll talk to her before Newkirk; I'll talk to her before Canal. Still I remained silent.
For months we sat on the train saying nothing to each other. We survived on bags of skittles sold to us by kids raising money for their basketball teams. We must have heard a million mariachi bands, had our faces nearly kicked in by a hundred thousand break dancers. I gave money to the beggars until I ran out of singles. When the train went above ground I'd get text messages and voicemails ("Where are you? What happened? Are you okay?") until my phone ran out of battery.
I'll talk to her before daybreak; I'll talk to her before Tuesday. The longer I waited, the harder it got. What could I possibly say to you now, now that we've passed this same station for the hundredth time? Maybe if I could go back to the first time the Q switched over to the local R line for the weekend, I could have said, "Well, this is inconvenient," but I couldn't very well say it now, could I? I would kick myself for days after every time you sneezed — why hadn't I said "Bless You"? That tiny gesture could have been enough to pivot us into a conversation, but here in stupid silence still we sat.
There were nights when we were the only two souls in the car, perhaps even on the whole train, and even then I felt self-conscious about bothering you. She's reading her book, I thought, she doesn't want to talk to me. Still, there were moments when I felt a connection. Someone would shout something crazy about Jesus and we'd immediately look at each other to register our reactions. A couple of teenagers would exit, holding hands, and we'd both think: Young Love.
For sixty years, we sat in that car, just barely pretending not to notice each other. I got to know you so well, if only peripherally. I memorized the folds of your body, the contours of your face, the patterns of your breath. I saw you cry once after you'd glanced at a neighbor's newspaper. I wondered if you were crying about something specific, or just the general passage of time, so unnoticeable until suddenly noticeable. I wanted to comfort you, wrap my arms around you, assure you I knew everything would be fine, but it felt too familiar; I stayed glued to my seat.
One day, in the middle of the afternoon, you stood up as the train pulled into Queensboro Plaza. It was difficult for you, this simple task of standing up, you hadn't done it in sixty years. Holding onto the rails, you managed to get yourself to the door. You hesitated briefly there, perhaps waiting for me to say something, giving me one last chance to stop you, but rather than spit out a lifetime of suppressed almost-conversations I said nothing, and I watched you slip out between the closing sliding doors.
It took me a few more stops before I realized you were really gone. I kept waiting for you to reenter the subway car, sit down next to me, rest your head on my shoulder. Nothing would be said. Nothing would need to be said.
When the train returned to Queensboro Plaza, I craned my neck as we entered the station. Perhaps you were there, on the platform, still waiting. Perhaps I would see you, smiling and bright, your long gray hair waving in the wind from the oncoming train.
But no, you were gone. And I realized most likely I would never see you again. And I thought about how amazing it is that you can know somebody for sixty years and yet still not really know that person at all.
I stayed on the train until it got to Union Square, at which point I got off and transferred to the L.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Society - Wesly Hall
Society - Wesley Hall
Wesley Hall wrote the following...rant? Essay? Reflection? I don't even know, but it's incredibly eye-opening. A part of it is of course in response to the Zimmerman/Trayvon racial controversy that has been taking the states by storm. But it also provides a deep and somewhat chilling look at how our society views itself, and what we need to grapple with.
Wesley Hall wrote the following...rant? Essay? Reflection? I don't even know, but it's incredibly eye-opening. A part of it is of course in response to the Zimmerman/Trayvon racial controversy that has been taking the states by storm. But it also provides a deep and somewhat chilling look at how our society views itself, and what we need to grapple with.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Events - Sunday Digital Brunch
Events - Sunday Digital Brunch
I sat down this morning with my breakfast and watched the internet spiral by for a while as I usually do. Keeping up with the unfolding disaster in Calgary, reading the news, both internet based and real world. It's a quiet morning, one roommate already gone to work, the other isn't a morning person. It's langourously sleepy, and for a while, I contemplate going back to taking a nap.
A twitter message pops up, some friends I made from Pax, gamers like me, who are scattered all over the continent.
I smirk, laugh, and then insert my own zany rebuttal. Before I can even finish my tea, the comments and messages are flying fast, dozens of messages, we're roping other people into the conversation, all over twitter! 140 characters doesn't have anything on our reconnecting. Jokes and snarks, more laughter, I'm wide awake.
It's like sunday brunch. You know, when you get together with your friends or your family over a leisurely meal on sunday morning. You have nowhere to be, and nothing to do, you just relax, and reconnect with one another. Except we're separated by literally thousands of miles. We're actually on opposite corners of the continent (somewhat).
But the internet, the speed of connection has made our worlds instantaneously hooked in.
We're just a bunch of friends having brunch (or lunch, or afternoon tea), connecting over laughs.
That's pretty awesome.
I sat down this morning with my breakfast and watched the internet spiral by for a while as I usually do. Keeping up with the unfolding disaster in Calgary, reading the news, both internet based and real world. It's a quiet morning, one roommate already gone to work, the other isn't a morning person. It's langourously sleepy, and for a while, I contemplate going back to taking a nap.
A twitter message pops up, some friends I made from Pax, gamers like me, who are scattered all over the continent.
I smirk, laugh, and then insert my own zany rebuttal. Before I can even finish my tea, the comments and messages are flying fast, dozens of messages, we're roping other people into the conversation, all over twitter! 140 characters doesn't have anything on our reconnecting. Jokes and snarks, more laughter, I'm wide awake.
It's like sunday brunch. You know, when you get together with your friends or your family over a leisurely meal on sunday morning. You have nowhere to be, and nothing to do, you just relax, and reconnect with one another. Except we're separated by literally thousands of miles. We're actually on opposite corners of the continent (somewhat).
But the internet, the speed of connection has made our worlds instantaneously hooked in.
We're just a bunch of friends having brunch (or lunch, or afternoon tea), connecting over laughs.
That's pretty awesome.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Quotes - Fred Rogers
Quotes - Fred Rogers
“At the center of the Universe is a loving heart that continues to beat and that wants the best for every person. Anything that we can do to help foster the intellect and spirit and emotional growth of our fellow human beings, that is our job. Those of us who have this particular vision us to continue against all odds. Life is for service.”
― Fred Rogers
― Fred Rogers
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Life - On Birthdays
Life - On Birthdays
Once a year, pretty much every 365 days like clockwork, you get to celebrate for 24 hours the fact that you exist. It's kind of a peculiar little thing. You've not actually done anything of real significance to deserve it, other than having continued to consume food and air and just...well living.
Once a year, pretty much every 365 days like clockwork, you get to celebrate for 24 hours the fact that you exist. It's kind of a peculiar little thing. You've not actually done anything of real significance to deserve it, other than having continued to consume food and air and just...well living.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Speeches - Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator Speech"
Speeches - Charlie Chaplin "The Great Dictator Speech"
Transcript follows as from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPqd_9T5Zx4
Transcript:
The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin):
I'm sorry but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others' happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
Transcript follows as from:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPqd_9T5Zx4
Transcript:
The Jewish Barber (Charlie Chaplin):
I'm sorry but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others' happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.
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