March 2010
16 posts
1 tag
Care Bear
Making a care package for someone far away is one of my favorite-but-least-practiced things to do. If you have a little extra time and budget (and of course, someone you like who doesn’t live next door), follow the leader:
1. Find a good, sturdy box.
2. Set aside fun paper (for stuffing or for tidier [taped] decorating).
3. Collect a bunch of little trinkets the lucky guy or girl...
It's sunny.
And a two year old just held the door (okay, a gate — what two year old can hold a whole door open??) for a high school kid he didn’t know. Another young helping the old story. (I guess.)
1 tag
Lists
Today I realized that I can’t live without a few things. Maybe just two things.
And I don’t mean things I love (this guy) or anything under the Obvious column (food, water, shelter). The following two items are things without which I just don’t function well.
1. Sunlight. (That big cheery star has been elusive these past few days, and my mood has gone in and out with it...
1 tag
“I just made it from 50th and Lexington all the way to 4th Avenue and 9th in...”
– said the Cheery Old Guy who tapped me on the elbow to share his good fortune in the supermarket yesterday. (Things got a little less cheery when he started talking about Iwo Jima, but the guy needed to talk and I had an ear, so there we were.)
2 tags
Grace
Ever since it was no longer mandatory to say it at the dinner table, I’ve loved the word grace. Maybe it was discovering Grace Kelly that did it for me — I wanted to be just like her. But ignoring that, I think there’s really something to be said for reviving this particular trait.
Grace goes hand in hand with gratitude and an overall sense of calm. It flows through the...
1 tag
“Oh while I live, to be the ruler of life, not a slave, to meet life as a...”
– Walt Whitman
1 tag
Neighborly
Speaking as someone who’s made eight homes in two states, three cities and two boroughs in the last ten years, I tell you, there’s nothing better than living in a neighborhood.
“But isn’t every place you can live in a neighborhood?”
Nope. I’m talking about the kind of place where people care about the welfare of the people they share their streets with. ...
Language of Learning
If you’re trying to learn a language (any language) and you’ve never been to Livemocha, you’re missing out on a fantastic place to improve your skills while helping others do the same.
You go through your lessons independently and then the community bolsters your learning by providing feedback about your written and oral progression. In turn, you apply your native language...
Lemon
I passed a woman in the grocery store today and nearly kept on walking, head down as per usual*. She was clearly in need of some help, but other shoppers were in the aisle around her by the time I got there, and they hadn’t done anything, so naturally I was a little suspicious.
I looked at her and she stared back at me, and then motioned at the top shelf she clearly couldn’t reach. ...