So much to say, so much to say

It's been a little while, but I'm back and better than ever. Well, sort of. I'm certainly back on the blogosphere and I'm feeling better than ever, but I'm exhausted and I'm not going to make this a very detailed post.

A lot has happened since I last checked in. I've been without internet since Friday because I had to switch the service into my name. I had to wait for the company to uninstall the service before calling them to reinstall it. Today was the earliest they could do it. I would have made this post over the weekend otherwise. It's been a busy, busy week. I went through training at Bronx Letters at the beginning of last week, and then the new teachers and I organized a new student summer bridge program for the rest of it. The bridge program went spectacularly well, the students are wonderful, and I developed a deeper admiration for the school. I cannot tell you how lucky I am to be in this position. Many, many Fellows are still without jobs as the budgets have been uncommonly tight this summer. Not only do I have a job, but I have one at an extraordinary place. I'll tell you all about it in greater detail in my next post.

My roommate Jack moved out over the weekend. I didn't realize how much I would miss him until he left. We didn't become very close friends or anything over the course of the summer, but we certainly struck a bond. I spent Saturday night with some of his friends from Wicked, and we gave him a proper send-off. I wish him the best as he embarks on his new life in San Diego, and I hope he finds the fulfillment he seeks out there.

Part of my discomfort upon Jack's departure stemmed from the fact that I still didn't have a roommate. I had some other Teaching Fellows sign on and then opt out at the last minute over the past few weeks, so I decided to give up on the idea of having another Fellow as a roommate. I went public with the room and it took all of six hours to find someone. I am very excited to be on board with Natassia, an aspiring opera singer from Delaware who recently graduated from the University of Alabama. She's my age, she's way cool, and we get along quite well. My living situation looks much better than it did a few days ago. It's good to no longer be subleasing; I can make this place my own.

Those are the big stories from the past few weeks, but there's so much more going on between the lines. I can't wait to tell all of you how excited I am to start school on Tuesday, but also how anxious I am about truly beginning this new life (and yes, Papa, I mean anxious in the proper sense--it gives me angst). Actually, I can wait because I still need to get a lot of work done for tomorrow and I'm ready to fall asleep. You'll hear from me again very soon. I promise. I have my internet back.

Baby, don't you wanna go...

Hi everybody!

It's been awhile since my last post because things are starting to get busy again here in New York City. I spent the weekend with my most excellent friend Jon in New Jersey. Just like the last time I visited, it was wonderful. He and his family make me feel like I have a home away from home there; it's almost like seeing everyone in Las Vegas for me. I also went to Philadelphia for the first time, and I thoroughly enjoyed the city. It has a friendly neighborhood vibe, kind of like Chicago, except it's also invigorating to remind yourself of how much significant American history surrounds you. I didn't really see the sights--I wasn't all that interested in that aspect. I did get a good feel for how the city flows and how people live there. I visited the Italian neighborhood where a lot of the Rocky movies take place, which was pretty cool. I did not eat a Philly cheesesteak sandwich for my fear of Cheez Whiz.

It was great to see Jon again. There's nothing like spending time with a great friend, especially after not having seen him for so long. The weekend reminded me of the wonderful friends I have back home. After parting ways with Jon to attend a planning meeting at my school, I didn't have to wait long to get that feeling again. My friend Mariya was in town a day later, and we spent yesterday afternoon together. Today we'll be headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Last night my professor from over the summer hosted our class for a barbecue at his home in Ardsley, New York. The gang was back together again, and it was just like old times. Jon and his fiance Sheila will be in the city on Friday. In other words, I'm surrounded by friends, and life's been a dream.

The planning for school is also picking up, and I'm getting very excited about the year. It's a lot of work, and I need to make sure I make time for it this week. I should have a lengthier post about what it feels like heading into the school year and why I want to be a teacher in the first place.

The last thing I want to add is that being around all these friends really makes me miss Chicago. I love that city. I can't wait for the marathon. I miss my family, I miss the character of the people, and I just miss the buildings and the restaurants and the lake. I miss the Cubs a ton, too. It's hard not being there, as much as New York has been wonderful to me. Along those lines, my favorite site for news and opinion, the Huffington Post, has just expanded to include regional news. Their first city? Chicago. They just made their Chicago page live today, and it features exclusive blogs from people like John Cusack and Christie Hefner. I think it's pretty cool.

The Blues Brothers is playing outdoors in Midtown Manhattan next week. I think I'm going to have to see it.

Come on, baby don't you wanna go... back to that same old place, sweet home Chicago....

Other ideas about "the twins"

Here's a random thought: am I the only one who sees a headline like "Brad and Angelina introduce the twins," and Angelina's babies never enter my mind? Anyone? Anyone?

Bullshit, bullshit, bullshit

It's now day 7 of the cold front, but the end is in sight. I played some basketball and went for a bike ride this morning, and I felt okay afterwards. The rest of the day will be for reading and writing.

Before I enter into the main thrust of this post, I wanted to share some thoughts about yesterday evening. I had dinner with Dr. Steinberg, who is in town for a national speakers' convention. He gave me his keynote speech in its present incarnation. The keynote is a concentrated version of the book I was helping him to write last summer. I imagine the speech will change drastically in the coming weeks as he hones in on the most important parts of his message and whittles away the components that obscure it. I was genuinely impressed by the progress he's made. I'm someone who has almost no patience for self-help books or the like, but I like how he approaches the big questions from a philosophical-spiritual-scientific angle and then takes it home with the experiences from his life. It's good stuff if he can streamline it and make it more accessible to the general public. I look forward to this vision of his coming to fruition, so he has nothing to do with the title of this post. That goes to the following paragraphs.

Okay, now on to the next topic: politics, politics, politics. I'm not much of a political scientist, but I took a course on public opinion and voting behavior during my senior year at Northwestern (we got a free pizza party at Lou Malnati's at the end of the term--best class ever). In light of what I learned during that course, the presidential election has become much more fascinating over the past few weeks as it dips into the realm of filthy mud-slinging. As citizens, we should be disgusted. How often do we read or watch the news on the race and see something about health care? Energy? Strategies for the economy? All the coverage focuses on other immensely significant questions like, "Was Obama having lunch at Spago on Friday with Britney Spears and Paris Hilton?" or "Did Obama pull out the race card when he made the comment about the dead presidents occupying our currency?"

In the age of the sound bite, the photo op, and the video highlight, these questions end up shaping the public opinion of a candidate. As far as issues go, most people will vote along party lines. It's the impression that will end up swaying swing voters. And no one is better at creating a negative impression of their opponent for the voting public than Karl Rove and the Republicans. It's gotten to the point that when the McCain camp pulled out the "Obama is playing the race card" card last week, I didn't even bother to debate the merits of their argument; I knew it was completely inane. But I had to marvel at the political strategy behind it. The second Obama said something that could be remotely construed as racially charged, they jumped on it so they could make race fair game in the discussion AND say that Obama started it. Never mind that Obama only months ago delivered one of the most eloquent and powerful oratories in American history on the subject of race. Never mind that saying "Obama played the race card" has absolutely no meaning behind it whatsoever. Think about it; it doesn't. There's no meaning behind any of these stories, only the insinuation for many voters that the negro everybody seems to like so much has something up his sleeve. That's why it's so hard for Democrats to fight back against these allegations, from Gore to Kerry but hopefully not to Obama. They try to counter with rational arguments, but you can't fight nonsense with reason.

While I was taking the class, I read what I believe was a New York Times article on a popular political scientist at Emory University in Atlanta. Both parties were vying for his services because he had such a stellar grasp on the campaign process and the framing of public opinion. The article began with a powerful speech by Al Gore denouncing George W. Bush's fraudulent attacks upon his character and then launching into a vicious attack on all of Bush's well-documented shortcomings. The article then asked the reader, "It doesn't sound familiar does it? That's because Gore never made this speech." It turned out that the speech was written by this political scientist, who lambasted Gore and the Democrats for taking the high road and being afraid to get dirty. The problem with the high road, he argued, was that it allowed the insinuations to remain in the public consciousness. Denying the attacks only further legitimized them. However, by getting a little dirty you question the motives, records, and character of the other side and it puts the negative focus back onto them.

I was reading a political blog a couple of hours ago, and I was amazed by the depth of its analysis of McCain's tactics. I scanned down to look at the author's bio, and I realized that it was written by the very same Emory political scientist I had read about all those years ago. I thoroughly recommend reading this article. It doesn't denounce McCain or Obama, but it takes a frank look at just what McCain's camp is doing at a strategic level to hang tight in a race that by the issues he has no right winning. Here is the link to the article.

I know politics is a touchy issue, and I would never presume to tell anyone what to think about any candidate. Of course I'm more than happy to share what I think about a candidate. The point of this post is to activate a higher level of thinking about what you read, what you see, and what you hear. When you're making a voting decision, and you're looking at all the different things you've seen, read, and heard about a candidate, make sure to think about the context and the framing of how those images, sound bites, videos, and ideas were presented to you. Thinking about how politicians frame their issues makes the whole game a lot more interesting. I sincerely hope you read the article.

If not, Mel Brooks always manages to do it better. I think the first minute and twenty seconds of this clip capture it best:

Passersby

Are there any other words in the English language to which you add an "s" to make them plural, but you do not add it to the end of the word? There must be, but I can't think of any. Even if there were, "passersby" would be my favorite. It reminds me of Carl Sandburg and his poem about the sidewalks of Chicago. (Yes, there is another famous Chicago Sandburg/berg other than Ryno). The word leads me to paint this picture in my head that I think is actually a memory of something I've seen in the past. The vision is of a chalkboard, and someone is standing in front of the chalkboard while different people come up with various brightly colored chalks and shade in the area surrounding him. After many people have added their tone to the picture, the person steps away from the chalkboard leaving a silhouette behind. The colors that surround the silhouette? Passersby.

I've had plenty of time to think thoughts like this over the past few days because I have been sick. I've also had ample time to write, but my mind fixates on drinking tea or blowing my nose. It wouldn't allow me the patience to concentrate on something like this. The cold has died down enough to where I can count on a solid thirty minutes without coughing like I have emphysema. I wish I had great stories to tell, but most of my time has been spent drinking orange juice, drinking tea, and getting angry at my immune system for this outrageous mutiny.

Having said that, here are some highlights from the past week. On Wednesday, I gave my best lesson of the summer. There was nothing fancy about it. There was a lot of math, and I put a lot of responsibility into the hands of the students. I think they got a lot out of it. There was some improvisation involved, so I felt loose and confident. I was more at home with myself. I was proud because by the end I had used up three full white boards, filling them with definitions and examples and student work. Yet I was also milling about the room trying to keep students interested and on task. I wasn't glued to the board, but I still managed to use it often. It was cool. It was by no means a perfect lesson, and I wasn't totally aware of everything that was going on around me, but it was very encouraging. I wish I could have carried that momentum into Thursday, but my cold struck back and I had to miss my last day of summer school.

I was bummed. The cold set in on Tuesday, and I felt horrible until the evening. Things started to look up, and all I had was a light cough and a light runny nose when I taught my lesson on Wednesday. I deteriorated over the course of Wednesday and was at my absolute worst on Thursday. My only tangible accomplishment on Thursday was re-writing the words to "We are the World" for my class at City College. Let me explain why this was an accomplishment.

Friday was our last day of training. It consisted of a brief reception in which every class had to make a five minute skit or presentation. I wanted to do an improv game like "party quirks" because it's easy and requires no memorization. They do it all the time on "Whose Line is it Anyway?"--it's the one where someone is hosting a party and has to guess all the different quirks of the guests. It's easily adaptable to a classroom in which students have all sorts of weird quirks, like one who births an alien out of his stomach (my creation) or one who feels the need to sing like Michael Jackson every time he answers a question (true summer school story from a classmate).

Alas, we decided on "We are the World." So I re-wrote the lyrics, which wasn't difficult because they made absolutely no sense in the first place. On Friday I took the lead and channeled my inner Lionel Richie to start them off, and we gave an unforgettable rendition to the other fellows at the school. It was fun. I think it's funny how I evolved from the quiet nice guy at the beginning of the summer to the crazy guy who pretends to be Lionel Richie at the end of the summer. I'm not sure how to feel about this.

Anyways, the performance was a wonderful testament to our group's cohesion and willingness to trust one another. And our complete inability to carry a tune. We got paid at the end of the reception, said our farewells, and went our separate ways. After becoming virtually inseparable over the course of the summer, I wonder how much we will stick together now that we won't all be in the same place at once. It was palpable how everything came to an end after collecting our checks. People were off to move into new apartments, go on vacations, or travel to be with their families. It was all happening right away. One phase had ended, and the next had begun.

Always the passive tag-along, I recognize that it is now on me to reach out to people and continue building friendships where they had begun. I hope that we can amount to more than being vague passersby in each other's lives. After all, we've shared "We are the World." There's no going back now.