Blog

  • Amanda Gorman; Poet Hero!

    Wow! Just Wow!

    Amanda Gorman is my new hero. I didn’t know America had a National Youth Poet Laureate, but after yesterday, I am really glad that we do.

    It has been a long time, a very long time, since I heard a poem recited that brought me to tears, let alone captured everything that I have been feeling about America, our shared culture, and our shared purpose. That anyone, regardless of age, can craft the correct words, is just amazing, and so needed! I didn’t know I needed Amanda Gorman, but I now see that I needed Amanda Gorman.

    And last night, as she was interviewed on TV, I was again struck by how passionate she is about poetry and reading, and the power of words. She was inspiring, and her joy was infectious. I was also struck by the amount of research she put in; reading past inaugural poems, speeches and addresses. The way she talked about doing that work made me believe that she loved her process of creation.

    One last thing about her; I was captivated by her performance in reading her poem. The way she used her hands in conjunction with the inflection she put on her words. The rhythm of the poem, her posture, and the power in her voice, created a confluence of energy that electrified her performance.

    Just amazing.

  • Inauguration Day!

    It is a good day! Trump is gone, Biden is in. The Inauguration happened like clockwork. As it should. The tradition continues.

    I remember seeing Reagan’s at a school assembly in ’85. We also watched Bush in ’89 in our music room at my grade school. I have no memory of Clinton’s in ’93, but I saw Clinton’s in ’96 in my dorm room. I saw W. Bush in ’01 at my apartment with my roommate. In ’05, I missed it live as I was working, but caught a replay of it at a bar after work. In 2009, I watched it at the rehearsal studio I worked at, and was joined by all sorts of people who wanted to see Obama take the oath. In 2013, I opened up the business conference room so students could see Obama. In 2017, I was home. I don’t remember why I was home, as it was a Friday and I should have been at work. I watched Trump with my wife, and we were just sick as he talked about “American Carnage.”

    Today, I watched the 2021with my daughter. We watched as Kamala Harris take the oath of office, to become the first woman, African American, and Asian-American to hold that office. I am very fortunate that I was able to share this moment with the kid, as this will be the first inauguration she will remember.

  • Walking NYC Again

    My daughter’s birthday is coming up, and the wife and I have been taking turns shopping for the event. The wife was able to get all of her purchases taken care of in, and around the neighborhood. My big errand for the birthday shopping was to go get some books. Luckily, there is a great children’s bookstore in Manhattan, Books of Wonder, and I headed out for the Upper West Side location.

    Now, I could have taken some sort of mass transit there, but I am still a little hesitant, and also, I could use the exercise of a good walk. So on Saturday, I head out on foot. It was a nice winter day for a walk; not too cold, but cold enough to be bundled up.

    For the past ten months, I have rarely gone any further north than 145th Street, a never below 93rd Street, so to head down into the 80’s was like going to a new foreign land. The thing I noticed first was the amount of people, who were younger than me, all crammed around tables on the sidewalks for brunch. I know that the restaurants need the business, but the lack of masks, and close proximity didn’t seem very safe or wise. I don’t know what the answer is here, but there just needs to be a better balance out there.

    But, as I walked on, down Columbus, and then over to Amsterdam, I began to enjoy being out in the City. Hearing people’s conversations on the street, and the movement and action of coming and going. I know it was only like 50% of NYC, but it was a friendly reminder that this was once a city that I wanted to be in and explore. It was nice to see people, even from a safe six-foot distance.

  • A Tie is Worth A Point

    I have just about made it to the weekend. This was a pretty crappy week. No doubt about it.

    Still, I sort of keep going back to the hope, the magical thought that me and my family will get vaccinated and that we will be able to go back to the way things were very soon. That idea of returning to the life that we had in March 2020 is very intriguing, and it is now met with a heightened level of nostalgia that is becomes both sad and wildly unrealistic.

    I went back through my journals, and even looked at the picture on my phone to see what life was like in March 2020. For us, it was awful. The wife and I were still without work, and our bills were getting out of control. What little money we did have was drying up, and we started talking about what options we had to stay in our apartment. It was dark, and it was bleak. The only bright spot was that I got hired on the Friday before the whole world shut down on the following Monday.

    I look around our apartment now, as I type on the couch and the kid sits next to me drawing and singing, and things are… not exactly better, but clearly, things are not worse. The wife is employed at a good job that gives all of us insurance. We are starting to dig ourselves out of the financial hole we created. The kid is in school, albeit remote, but she can read and write now. And we are healthy.

    Can that be counted as a win? In the Premier League, a tie still gets you a point.

    I think we won one point then.

  • Sally Rooney is Publishing a Book in September

    My Google newsfeed gave me five stories, right now, about Sally Rooney publishing a new book this September.

    I’m not trying to get all algorithm conspiracy on you, but I think something is up.