“Stories you read when you’re the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you’ll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.”
-Neil Gaiman

As someone who generally likes to hold on to books I’ve read, my bookshelf serves almost as a photo album to me.  Most everything on it, as well as the bookshelf itself, conjures its own story, or brings me back to another time in my life.  Various books I’ve read remain forever connected with different periods of my life; looking back at their titles I can easily recall whatever it was I was experiencing at the time I read/bought/received each book.

I’m someone who reads in spurts.  For a given period of time, I’ll constantly have a book I’m reading.  Then, I’ll hit a down cycle and stop reading for weeks, or even months.

Several years ago, I lived in India for six months.  I brought only two books with me.  But as it turned out, I had a ton of time to read while I was there.  So, I read anything other travelers left behind, along with a wonderful selection sent to me mostly by my father, and a few others.  When I now look at the compilation of books below, most of which I did not select on my own, it serves to bring back so much more that what is written in their pages.  I am equally reminded of the feelings and memories I have of being there.  I can see the details of my open-air bedroom, recall the feeling of the ceiling fan above my bed and relive the escapism that the books gave me while trying to make my way through a world that was so clearly not my own.

I am from Cleveland, Ohio and proud of it. Cleveland was such an amazing place to grow up. I spent summers on Lake Erie learning to sail and swim. I spent my falls and springs playing soccer in the Metroparks and the winters taboganing and sledding every day after school. Cleveland is so underrated. And not only is it a paradise in the summer, there are so many different kinds of people that call it home.

I remember calling my mom when I moved away from home to go to college in Boulder, Colorado and telling her there weren’t any “real people” there. At the time, I didn’t even know what I meant by that, but as I sit today in my favorite ‘cafe’ in Lakewood (suburb of Cleveland), I am realizing that people from Cleveland aren’t really trying to prove anything to anyone. I think Clevelanders encompass all cultures and that is what makes the people feel so real.

See, Clevelanders are something special. The people that live here, love it. As my friend Scooter says, “There is a humbleness to Clevelanders and they wear their love for this place on their sleeve.”

I’ve been asking some of my Cleveland friends what it is that they love about Cleveland, and I’m looking forward to posting their responses in the coming weeks.

These are just a few things that I have been doing this week and that have been on my mind.

I can’t stop thinking about these double exposure pictures. They are beautiful and remind me of the feelings of spring. Here is my favorite:

This is a picture including a quote of F.Scott Fitzgerald’s. I just happened upon it this morning and it struck me deeply as I just read “The Moveable Feast” by Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway describes Fitzgerald in a way that I have never known. He was a writer that could not write, due to his drinking problems and his wife’s extreme jealousy over his work. He seemed like a tortured soul.

I love this Grimes song and her video.

I wrote down in a list of things to do the other day: “Remember to have a tee pee in your house”

I just started reading Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography and I pretty much love everything about him. He was so much cooler than they let on in school. Check out his list of the top 13 virtues to live by:

• TEMPERANCE. Eat not to dullness; drink not to elevation.
• SILENCE. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself; avoid trifling conversation.
• ORDER. Let all your things have their places; let each part of your business have its time.
• RESOLUTION. Resolve to perform what you ought; perform without fail what you resolve.
• FRUGALITY. Make no expense but to do good to others or yourself; i.e., waste nothing.
• INDUSTRY. Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.
• SINCERITY. Use no hurtful deceit; think innocently and justly, and, if you speak, speak accordingly.
• JUSTICE. Wrong none by doing injuries, or omitting the benefits that are your duty.
• MODERATION. Avoid extreams; forbear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
• CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, cloaths, or habitation.
• TRANQUILLITY. Be not disturbed at trifles, or at accidents common or unavoidable.
• CHASTITY. Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dulness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.
• HUMILITY. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.

On my way to pick up some lunch today, I saw two friends run into each other on the street and go in for a pretty amazing high five.  It got me thinking about a spin on the classic high five that my brother and I developed, taking the five a little higher, straight to the middle of your forehead.

As it turns out, it hurts pretty badly when you both go in for this enthusiastic, head butt variation.  Nevertheless, the whole thing dials the smile up a notch.  So along that same vein, I thought I’d take another twist on the high five and stop to take note of five things I’m thoroughly enjoying of late:

1. Warm weather.  It’s mid-March and gorgeous in New York.  Despite the totally manageable winter we had here, there’s nothing better than these* first signs of warmer days to come!

Photo via here

2. Morning coffee.  I fall into the category of people who get excited about their morning cup of coffee as they fall asleep the night before.  It’s a good part of my day and simply makes me happy.

3. Guided meditations.  I’m loving my new iPhone for many reasons, not the least of which is the guided meditation podcasts I’ve been downloading.  My favorites come from here, here and here.

Photo via here

4. Secret messages.  I’m such a fan of this little trio offering creative ways to keep secret reminders or messages around your neck, your finger or on this awesome thumb drive.

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5. Lucky penny.  I’m a bit superstitious and am always on the look out for lucky pennies on the street.  I only pick them up if they are heads up.  I found one today on my way back from getting lunch.

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I’ve always limited my thinking about outer space because, frankly, its vastness gives me a headache.  But I recently listened to a story on NPR, ‘Space Chronicles’: Why Exploring Space Still Matters, that made me reconsider this avoidance of thought.

This made me think about the ways in which I personally, and we as a country, have blocked our own innate condition to dream and to imagine, and how doing so deprives ourselves and each other of our own greatness.

A few years ago I spent a week in Black Rock City, Nevada for Burning Man.  It was an awesome experience filled with many fleeting but meaningful moments with all sorts of people.  Among them was an encounter I had with a palm reader, who asked if he could read my palm.  I willingly presented my right hand, face up, and was taken aback when, with one look at my open palm, the man burst out in a personal, pleasant laughter.  I asked why he was laughing and he told me simply that I had exactly equal head and heart lines, and that this was very rare.

I felt somewhat pleased to offer amusement to the man.  While though I found his statement to be a compliment of sorts, it was clearly something with which he took more appreciation than did I.  It wasn’t immediately obvious to me what it means to have equal head and heart; though it did resonate.  Today, I kind of half know, and half feel what it means.  And I guess that’s exactly what he read from me.

I like the idea of living in balance between the head and heart, optimizing the full extent each has to offer.  They are both such powerful forces.

Just imagine all the good that can come when they work together.

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Click image for source info

I have always loved a good documentary. They can be so captivating, raw and emotional. Because documentaries are real, I find that you connect to the stories much faster than fictional movies. No matter what the subject matter, it is easier to fall into the story. Below are a couple of documentaries I’ve watched lately that I can’t stop thinking about.

Senna

Senna is the story of Brazilian Formula-One racer Alyton Senna’s rise to win three world championships. You can watch it instantly on Netflix. It is truly amazing. This movie is powerful and sincere. I loved it so much.

Unfinished Spaces

“Cuba’s ambitious National Art Schools project, designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro’s Revolution, is neglected, nearly forgotten, then ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece.”  (Unfinished Spaces official site)  It is captivating and visually stimulating. You can watch the trailer here.  It should be available on Netflix soon.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

This is the story of how an eccentric French shop keeper and amateur film maker attempt to locate, and befriend, famous graffiti artist Banksy (IMDB). This documentary takes some unexpected turns, but keeps you itching to know what will happen next. You can watch it instantly on Netflix.

Beats Rhymes & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest

This documentary takes you through the making and the breaking of one of the most influential groups in hip hop, while reminding you of all its amazing music. Even if you don’t know much about a Tribe Called Quest going into the movie, you’ll leave a fan. You can have it shipped through Netflix.

What are you favorite documentaries? I would love to know!

The New York City subway system is a world unto itself.  My daily commute offers everything from the mundane to the spectacular.  It intertwines uninterrupted solitude with concentrated togetherness, often presenting unexpected moments shared between strangers.  In the subway I have observed and displayed the range of human emotion in episodic segments between the overhead announcement to “stand clear of the closing doors please.”

I easily become lost in my own thoughts on the train, despite an awareness that each person around me carries his or her own story.  And like all things New York, it is the culture that breaks through moments of isolation to reconnect you to the permeating pulse of the city.

“Sometimes while I ride the subway I try to look at each person and imagine what they look like to someone who is totally in love with them. I think everyone has had someone look at them that way, whether it was a lover, or a parent, or a friend, whether they know it or not. It’s a wonderful thing, to look at someone to whom I would never be attracted and think about what looking at them feels like to someone who is devouring every part of their image, who has invisible strings that are connected to this person tied to every part of their body. I think this fun pastime is a way of cultivating compassion. It feels good to think about people that way, and to use that part of my mind that I think is traditionally reserved for a tiny portion of people I’ll meet in my life to appreciate the general public.”

-Dean Spade

In addition to the unofficial, and often unsanctioned, art and culture that exists below New York City, the MTA also runs an Arts for Transit program to bring public art into the subway system.  Included in this program is the Music Under New York  initiative as well as an initiative in which the MTA commissions a selection of artists to develop posters to be displayed on the subways.

Just recently, illustrator Sophie Blackall, of Missed Connections – a blog in which Blackall illustrates Missed Connections submissions from Craigslist – developed this poster for the Arts for Transit Program.

“Needless to say I love the subway. I glean all my characters from my fellow passengers. The same sorts of things which attracted me to Missed Connections, I find on the train: subtle interactions, eccentricity, beauty, sorrow, secrets, kindness, generosity, excellent hairdos. Every sort of person imaginable and unimaginable. “

– Sophie Blackall

Click through images for source info

(John Steinbeck with his two sons)

This morning I found my new favorite blog, Lists of Notes. It led me on journey through hundreds of letters and lists, generated from one famous person to the next.  In light of Juani’s post about the importance of writing letters and my recent obsession with famous authors, Lists of Notes is the perfect marriage of my new interests. What I’ve found most beautiful are the letters from parents to their children. There is such tenderness in their wisdom and humility.

While away at boarding school, John Steinbeck’s oldest son, Thom, wrote to his father expressing that he had fallen in love. Below is Steinbeck’s reply:

New York
November 10, 1958

Dear Thom:

We had your letter this morning. I will answer it from my point of view and of course Elaine will from hers.

First — if you are in love — that’s a good thing — that’s about the best thing that can happen to anyone. Don’t let anyone make it small or light to you.

Second — There are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and crippling kind. The other is an outpouring of everything good in you — of kindness and consideration and respect — not only the social respect of manners but the greater respect which is recognition of another person as unique and valuable. The first kind can make you sick and small and weak but the second can release in you strength, and courage and goodness and even wisdom you didn’t know you had.

You say this is not puppy love. If you feel so deeply — of course it isn’t puppy love.

But I don’t think you were asking me what you feel. You know better than anyone. What you wanted me to help you with is what to do about it — and that I can tell you.

Glory in it for one thing and be very glad and grateful for it.

The object of love is the best and most beautiful. Try to live up to it.

If you love someone — there is no possible harm in saying so — only you must remember that some people are very shy and sometimes the saying must take that shyness into consideration.

Girls have a way of knowing or feeling what you feel, but they usually like to hear it also.

It sometimes happens that what you feel is not returned for one reason or another — but that does not make your feeling less valuable and good.

Lastly, I know your feeling because I have it and I’m glad you have it.

We will be glad to meet Susan. She will be very welcome. But Elaine will make all such arrangements because that is her province and she will be very glad to. She knows about love too and maybe she can give you more help than I can.

And don’t worry about losing. If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.

Love,

Fa

(F.Scott Fitzgerald and family)

The infamous F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote a letter to his 11-year-old-daughter in 1933 and ended with a list of things to worry about and to not worry about.

To Scottie:

Things to worry about:

Worry about courage
Worry about cleanliness
Worry about efficiency
Worry about horsemanship

Things not to worry about: 

Don’t worry about popular opinion
Don’t worry about dolls
Don’t worry about the past
Don’t worry about the future
Don’t worry about growing up
Don’t worry about anybody getting ahead of you
Don’t worry about triumph
Don’t worry about failure unless it comes through your own fault
Don’t worry about mosquitoes
Don’t worry about flies
Don’t worry about insects in general
Don’t worry about parents
Don’t worry about boys
Don’t worry about disappointments
Don’t worry about pleasures
Don’t worry about satisfactions

Things to think about: 

What am I really aiming at?
How good am I really in comparison to my contemporaries in regard to:

(a) Scholarship
(b) Do I really understand about people and am I able to get along with them?
(c) Am I trying to make my body a useful instrument or am I neglecting it?

With dearest love,

Daddy

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These letters both remind me of a few things my parents have written to my siblings and me over the years. Below are quotes from each of them.

“What I want to share with the people I love most on the planet is to drop the grudges, don’t hold on to anything that anybody says that does not resonate with you, don’t hold on to beliefs and restrictions and rules that don’t make sense to you – even if your mother drummed them into you head. It turns out the the Orcle of Delphi and Suz, our modern day oracle, was right, Trust Thyself or Trust in Yourself, do what’s right.”

-Mom

The letters above represent some valuable lessons on their own. More importantly, there is an unwritten lesson: share words with your children. At times you may feel like you don’t have all the answers, but just like anyone, all you can do is share your experience with your children. They will value it more than you will ever know.