Into the Madding Crowd

You’ve Been Served…

When you hear the world service, what is the first thing that comes to mind?  For most it’s to be the military, and those less inclined stray away from the idea.  Some think back to community service and how they were supposed to help out in the community to make themselves a better candidate for schools or the work place.  Some think customer service where you have to pleasantly help people who are not usually so agreeable.

However you think of service, for many it is not the most comfortable of subjects.  Recently, though, as I perused my usual sources, this idea of service has continuously popped up.   Service as in volunteering, service as in civic engagement, service as in non profit, service through business.  The overarching idea here is people working together to help one another as a career and a way of life, to build ourselves up as we help build others up.

Now I haven’t talked about it much, but I actually did a year of service.  I was just out of school and I found a volunteer program where I could work part time at a small theatre and part time tutoring women as they worked towards their GED.  It was either that or stay in Virginia Beach and continue to look for a job.  This opportunity combined my three areas of focus in college (English, Theatre, and Anthropology) and I was able to move to a new city, how could I say no? Continue reading…

Kickin’ it with the Cool Kids

Its that time of year again!  I’m not talking baseball, though I could do that too.  Kickball is where it’s at right now. Kickball?  Yes, kickball.  You’re probably thinking something along the lines of  “I haven’t played that since [insert last level or location of play],” or “Wicked,” or “Really?”.

Some people join running teams, some people volunteer, some people get out of the city, some people take classes, some people go to bars, I play kickball.

Let’s face it; we all miss the days of recess, gym class, and summer camp (whether we like to admit it or not).  They were simpler times.  Sure, it was probably painful much of the time.  I know I prayed everyday not to be picked last, and when I wasn’t picked last I prayed I’d not make a fool of myself.   I miss coaching summer camp when I would actually be picked first; no, wait a minute I got picked last because I was coaching 12-year-old brats (really, they liked me… I think).  Traumatic experiences all around.

Despite all that, there is something nostalgic about playground games: Dodgeball, Tether ball, Four-Square, Crab Soccer, and Kickball.    Fortunately for us there are adult social sport leagues that offer us this play.

I play through Zog Sports.  There is also New York Social Sports Club, WAKA, Big Apple Softball League, and New York Urban Athletics League to name a few.

All vary in sports, and level of play, but serve the same purpose.

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De/Reconstruct

Once upon a time I wanted to be an Architect; but, as you may or may not know, numbers and I do not get along well so studying engineering was not ideal (same reason I did not study physics).   My dreams were squandered; rather I just found new dreams.  Nonetheless, I retained my general awe for the beauty of structure.

Walking home last night, I noticed this stretch of storefronts that have been vacant since I moved to Prospect Heights.  Two years ago they were boarded up and tagged with spray paint.  Now they are actively being refurbished and businesses are moving in. One of them even seems to be an art gallery during the renovations.  In my immediate neighborhood, I have noticed no less than a dozen buildings in the process of being restored to some useful form.  It’s inspiring.

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Love, Life and that Dreaded Hallmark Holiday

Earlier today my friend and I chatted about our mutual disdain for this holiday.  It’s not the concept itself that taints our thoughts.  Neither of us is bitter when single, or sick at a lack of someone else in our lives.  What kills both of us is what this holiday does to others and how bad it makes some feel. To be quite honest, its also the single most awkward time of the year to meet someone you want to try to date.  A day, a time of the year centered around love should be uplifting, not a depressing reminder of something lacking in your life.

Valentine’s Day, in its commercial sense, has become a day for recognizing the love in your life, emphasis on coupledom.  Hell, it’s only thanks to Chaucer that it was first associated with Love.  Love isn’t about whether you’re coupled up or whether you’re single. Love is something that gives you life passion and drive.   Be it friends, family, girlfriend, boyfriend, pets, jobs, or life in general, there are instances to love in every minute of everyday.

A few years ago, I started listing one thing everyday that I fell in love with.  3 years later I now have a list of over 1,095 reasons to fall in Love.  Here are my 14 favorites over the years: Continue reading…

Happy Accidents

When I was 11 years old I took a pottery class for this gifted arts program.  If you have any experience on a wheel, you know it’s not about strength as much as it is about control and gently molding (a very zen thought, but that’s another story).

The first time my hand slipped and ruined the wall of my bowl, I was crushed.  Being a perfectionist, I couldn’t handle when anything was less than and I was all but ready to scrap the piece.  My instructor stopped me, “You never know, it could be a happy accident!”

That piece ended up in a citywide exhibit.

Since then, I have let Serendipity run my life, particularly here in New York.  As a freelancer, my world thrives on being in the right place at the right time. How many places in the world can you walk down the street and run into an old friend from home?  Or, where else can you hop on a subway and walk straight into someone you haven’t seen in months?  I suppose anywhere, but It’s less expected in such a massive city.

Serendipity, not just a fantastic dessert place in Midtown Manhattan.  It’s all around you.

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Artists, Beasts and God

Voltaire said, “If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.”  It seems innate to our human nature to need an existence beyond ourselves, to have something to strive for and to know we are not alone in this vast universe.

Just recently Harper’s Magazine featured a series of essays in honor of the King James Bible’s quadricentennial.   The King James Bible is one of the most influential (if not the single most) versions of one of the most influential books in our history.  In a society that in many ways seems to have lost touch with the notion of organized Religion and is largely skeptical of God, I wanted to see what the scholars had to say on the subject.

Where am I coming from with this?  In short, I was born and raised Catholic.  Until four years ago I was always active in the Church by choice.  Through out my studies, I was intrigued that every culture through out history has had some kind of belief structure: a God and set of mythology.  Even more interesting are the parallels between all of these systems.

Four years ago I joined the Mercy Volunteer Corp, where I volunteered for a year in intercity Detroit and worked with women and children.  Now I won’t say it made me lose my faith, if anything I came out more hopeful; but it did make me question what we believe, why and what place it serves in my life now. I am still figuring that out.  How are you supposed to grow and learn if you don’t first question? I don’t know what is or isn’t; but in my opinion, things are far too intricately woven for there not to be a higher power, or perhaps I too just don’t want to feel alone. Continue reading…

Lady Madbeth and the Green-Eyed Monster

You’re out with friends and your current interest shows up.  The night progresses; you drink more.  You notice your interest is playing bar games with someone else.  A knot forms in the pit of your stomach and something clicks in the back of your head.  You can’t help but put yourself near the situation to feel it out.

There is no situation though.  Sometime after you’ve already felt the fool and gotten past the drunken twinges in the back of your mind, you snap back to reality.   It’s your friend getting along with your interest, that’s a good thing.  Why were you worried in the first place?

Somehow it creeps in under your skin, to the back of your mind.  It pokes at your thoughts and makes your blood start to boil until you can’t fight the notion any longer.  Jealousy, we’ve all felt it.  I’ve never been the jealous type and I’ve felt it.

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Turn and Face the Strange…Hair

It’s time I should peck at this here blog again. Not that an actual chicken pecking randomly at these keys could make such ramblings any less coherent. But since I’m currently at the crossroads of multitudinous and momentous changes, I thought it might be worth an update — at the very least for posterity’s sake.

Of these things about myself, the following are going to or have recently changed, and I await the day when I can look back and definitively impart meaningful reflections on it all. But for now, there’s not much to do but experience it all in stride and try to keep my ducks organized. Continue reading…

Kiss or Be Kissed, Love or Be Loved

Its the moment you spy your love from across the room, you make eye contact, linger a moment and then shyly look away.  Its the dreamy looks in your eyes.  Its the little things we do that are slightly out of character, yet we don’t think twice.  Its the music swell during the longs shots of two characters in love.  It’s Love.

All of us, in some way, shape or form want to find our happily ever after. The Disney movies we grew up on ruined the whole finding love thing, in a good way.  I know have the wonderful fantasy of being swept away by my prince charming as he rides up on horseback and scales the tower to rescue us.  I’m realistic, though, I will settle for the Richard Gere type who scales the fire escape instead… I’m no damsel in distress, I’ll be rescuing him right back.  I’m not going to lie, I get a little fluttery every time I see a couple kiss on screen. Continue reading…

Love in the Time of Self Help Books

Its that time of year again.  Red and Pink pop up everywhere.  Chocolate and cheap stuffed animals line drug store aisles.  Bookstores set up displays of those silly self help book on finding love.  And, somewhere along the way we all secretly hope cupid might strike us with one of his arrows when we least expect it.  (Though the mere desire would negate the whole not expecting thing).

Yes, my dear friends February is upon us and with it comes Valentine’s Day.  It’s the only day of the year where I actually hate being single.  Granted, I’m not the lovey dovey, touchy feely, super romantic person.  I don’t like PDA and spectacle makes me blush.  I’m a romantic at heart, but I really don’t mind being single.  I don’t have time to date or the extra energy to put into a relationship that I’m lackluster about.  I’m 26 in New York City after all; the odds of me finding my Mr. Right, right now are slim to none.  Truth be told I’m really not looking.  Anyone who has braved the New York dating scene will know what I mean.  It’s not hopeless; it just takes a lot of patience.
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