Stormy Night

October is turning out to be the month of quotes and poems.  This morning, the news reminded me what it was like to arrive back to my house two days after the flood, and then two years later, arrive to my apartment the day after the tornado.  The aftermath can be as overwhelming as the event.  Eleanor Roosevelt was on my mind, so for Tuesday inspiration:

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
       - Eleanor Roosevelt
       You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life
       Source: GoodReads

I'm a fan.  Good luck to you facing big fears and post-storm waters today.

Fall In Again

“Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."

- F Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

A reminder that this month's GBC read is The Great Gatsby.  Hope your weekend was fall fabulous.

Today's Friday photo an eclectic mix of items at a celebration of love.  I'll use GBC P@ige's selection of this Rumi quote to intro:

"Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.  They're in each other all along."

Little Rock, AR
October 2012

Happy Friday!

Bundle Up

I found this experiment to be brilliant, both from my supply/demand economic model part of the brain and from the other bit that loves to read.  The Humble ebook Bundle opened October 9th and ran through yesterday.  Six books bundled together with a bonus six books if you donated higher than average.  In all, 84,189 bundles were sold and this graphic from the HumbleBumble.com site makes me happy.  This Alison Flood story from the Guardian gives a few other highlights.

Source:  HumbleBumble.com

The Mountaintop

Last night I read the final pages of While the World Watched by Carolyn Maull McKinstry and Denise George.  It is the kind of book that when you finish, you are not ready to begin a new title just yet.  Ms. McKinstry, then fourteen, was present at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church during the September 15, 1963 bombing.  She lost four friends that day and the book chronicles her journey through the Civil Rights movement in Birmingham and on to the activist and spokesperson she is today.  These struggles in the 1960s were just before my life began, and I'm certain were quickly glossed over quickly in my American History books, if mentioned at all.

The imagery of the harsh realities left me stunned with the reminder that men were so harmful to other men, woman, and to children.  As many of you know, the journey was a long one, and for Ms. McKinstry continued through 2002 when she testified in the case of one of the suspected bombers.

The book includes historical context and quotes from a number of speeches from Dr. Martin Luther King and President John F Kennedy.  Throughout the novel, there is always hope.  One of my marked passages includes this quote from Princeton professor, Dr. Cornel West,

"You cannot lead the people if you don't love the people.  And you can't save the people if you're not willing to serve the people." (Kindle Loc 2693)

I hope your week is off to a kind start.

One Smile at a Time

It's amazing what eight hours of consecutive sleep can do for a person's spirit.  Even when awakened unexpectedly  (at 6:30) by the neighbor who has a voice like Brad Garrett, I still smiled.

With a wonderful (cooler) day ahead,  I plan to step outside and find a familiar bridge.  I know this will make me smile too.

Hope your Saturday finds ways to make you smile and lift your spirit.  I think we all could use a bit of that.

Words Will Wait

I hope you will forgive the poetry twice in one week.  Today's a funeral day for a member of my team and this section from Kevin Young's Eulogy (Poets.org) helped me find a few words.

*

Do not weep
but once, and a long

time then
Thereafter eat till

your stomach spills over
No more! you'll cry

too full for your eyes
to leak

*

The words will wait

Death and a Funeral

Bits of this poem have been repeating through my head since I heard the news last Friday that a dear friend had lost her mother.  Yesterday when I received news of the death of another friend, I came back to the lines.  The opening stanzas are included below with the full text available at Poets.org.  

Do not go gentle into that good night 

by Dylan Thomas
Source:  Poets.org

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
...

Freedom...You Gotta Give for What You Take

Thanks to CBS Sunday Morning, I found a new place to visit on my next trip to the Big Apple.  In a little less than a week, FDR Four Freedoms Park hosts an open house and talk as part of Archtober (month-long celebration of architecture).  The park was conceived over four decades ago and was designed by Louis Kahn just before he died.  It formally opens the 24th of this month.

If you missed this morning's segment, Michael Kimmelman's article gives a great overview.

Happy Sunday.

Up See Daisy

I didn't see a chicken, so I'll go with the eggs.

Daisy eggs and butter in cast iron
July 2012
Rocket City

This is the Friday photo one selects if they have had a really long day, are drinking a glass of reading water to unwind and are still awake on Friday when their day started early Thursday.  They may also be trying to manifest eggs and toast which, when made, would not set off a smoke detector.  Sadly, the eggs have not yet appeared.

Hope you have an egg-sellent Friday.

Birmingham

Last week I used my Kindle's lending library to pick up While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age During the Civil Rights Movement by Carolyn Maull McKinstry.  The story is set in 1963 and since both time and place are not too far from my current locale, I was moved to read the novel.  I am just a few chapters in and already fearful for the event I know is to come.  I have a feeling that next time I'm visiting the town, my view won't be quite the same.

Yoga-to Believe

"The yogic journey guides us from our periphery, the body, to the center of our being, the soul.  The aim is to integrate the various layers so that the inner divinity shines out as through clear glass"

                    - B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Life, p3.

Congrats to our GBC P@1ge for achieving her Iyengar yoga certification.  We are so proud of your journey!

Namaste.

As You Wish

Last night on the way home from the office, I heard this interview with Mandy Patinkin on NPR's All Things Considered.  Was he tired of uttering his oh so famous line?  No.  It still makes him smile.  Me too.

This week my sister had sent me a link to this Think Geek shirt.  Yesterday morning, I suggested to friend that she use a "to blave" line in a wedding speech.  All roads lead to Wesley?  So last night, I settled in to watch the movie during it's 25th anniversary year and pondered in which box my 25th anniversary book was packed.

Cat Gotye Tongue?

On the odd occasion, it is completely worth it to drive four hours to go to a classic venue to hear two artists that you've never heard of and one whose work you loosely know.  You'll be tired, but you'll also be amazed, happy, moved by the melodies, and find that small piece of something wonderful.

Advanced planning for ample espresso the next day highly recommended.

Stealing Home

Math + baseball = a great afternoon and as it turns out, a pretty good book.  Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis was my second holiday read last month.  I sped through this novel like a runner stealing bases, except of course, an Oakland A's runner.  It was head above heart, math versus tradition, and a completely unorthodox approach to a sport I remember from my youth on AM radio in the basement folding laundry with my mother.  And yet...

the principles of Billy Beane sounded quite like the strategy from Viva B (MBA flashback).

"Know exactly what every player in baseball is worth to you" (Kindle Location 3149) read to me like BATNA.

"Know exactly who you want and go after him" (Location 3150) sounded to me like a man who had a BHAG.

I have a great deal of respect for instruments of change, particularly when their methods are against the norm.  Even if you're not a sports fan or strategy buff, it's a lot of fun to read a David vs Goliath (A's versus Yankees) tale and wonder if our protagonist's theory has any "bases."

Author's note:  One of her few regrets is not utilizing Chicago baseball tickets in the summer of 2006.  She still hasn't visited the stadiums.