perfect love casts out fear

the city's verdant heart

There’s no dearth of specious, gaseous political rhetoric in this fevered democracy of ours, but one bit of grandstanding that irks me in particular is the occasional portrayal of the city as a dark graveyard for civic virtue stalked by hedonists with no sense of community. 

 It’s not the hedonism part I mind. I take that as a compliment. It’s the notion that we urbanites are a less neighborly, respectful sort. 

 Quite the opposite. In the city we can’t get away with the kind of rugged individualism on which country dwellers in fact pride themselves. With every subway ride at rush hour and every brave foray into the blessed, cursed mosh pit that is the Fairway on the Upper West Side, we’re forced to cede our ground, to wait our turns, to budge, to bend. 

 There’s a contract to urban life, and it’s inked in humility. We agree to sacrifice some of our own will and many of our own whims to what works best for everyone involved. The music is turned down. The poop is scooped. The line isn’t cut. The smartphone is put on silent. 

 And we trade away private spaces for public ones, which bring us together—force us together—in a manner that tests and ultimately refines our abilities to get along. While the country dweller has his property and the exurbanite his yard, we in New York have Central Park. 

--Frank Bruni 

homage to tina fey

how much do we love Tina Fey? enough to dance in tribute to her in front of 30 rock.

of course, no one can do tina better than tina.

village idiot

this past saturday, some of my cousins, chris, and I piled into a minivan and made our way to the big apple for a weekend of family fun. the trip went surprisingly smoothly -- mainly due to my cousin jennifer's organizational skills (which makes sense since she works in project management.) one particular delight was getting together with jennifer and my cousin paul, who works at a hedge fund in new york. the three of us are all within the same age, and as kids we mostly played with each other during family reunions (the older cousins shunned us and we shunned the younger ones). even as kids, jennifer was the organized one who always played the teacher, or the boss, or the mom if we played house. paul was always wheeling and dealing, selling his baseball cards so we could buy candy. and ... i don't know what i was doing, but i'm sure signs of my eventual career in writing and editing were beginning to show.

during this trip, i wondered aloud what life would be like if we lived in the olden days when everyone who was born in the village grew up in the village, married within the village, and died in the village. the american spirit teaches us to leave home for the next grand adventure. well, i've done that and in many ways it seems completely backward. why do i see my sister -- whom i LOVE and would do anything for -- only 3 times a year, and yet i see my coworkers 5 days a week for 8 hours a day? horrible! It makes no sense! i would so much rather see Uno and my parents and my cousins for that amount of time.

and yet, i choose this life. I choose to live away from family all because of my damned ambition. it doesn't make any sense.

i just want to move back to the village.

best family in the world.

more photos to come, y'all.

trench warfare

so remember this awesome trenchcoat that my mom bought me for my birthday three years ago (holy shit has it really been 3 years???) It has literally fallen apart on me (never buy michael kors outerwear! such a ripoff.)

for example, there were two cute "belts" around the wrists, which I promptly lost because they slipped off very easily; and then the metal hardware on the coat's ACTUAL belt fell apart one day; and now several of the buttons are hanging by their threads. So when i wear it there are random belt loops around the wrists; i don't button the jacket at all, but rather wear it bathrobe style; and I have to tie the belt in a knot because there is no latch -- so it's basically just a sash.

that said, i'm hesitant to buy a new coat -- the basic fabric and structure of the trench is perfect and what a waste to ditch an entire coat just because the "accessories" are absent? there's also a tinge of sentimentality attached to the coat itself. the thought of my sweet mom hunting in a department store for a coat to send to me for my birthday brings me close to tears. how sweet is that? throw that jacket away? hell no. I'm wearing it down to threads.

Thankfully, my sister Uno is coming to visit (she arrives tomorrow!) and she happens to be the Queen of Kludge. Perhaps I can recruit her to help me fix up this sad little jacket-o-mine.

****
omgosh, i've just figured out what i want to do with the coat and I think it'll be awesome! now to find a good tailor .... :)

the egg hunter

on a particularly grey Sunday morning, one lone egg hunter haunts the fields in search of the perfect egg

sassy cassie

my former roommate, cassie, was in town last week. what a joy it was to spend time with her again. I have many fond memories of living with her -- chatting in the kitchen for an hour when I had just come out for a drink of water, cooking up a storm for the random dinner parties we'd throw for like 7 people all crammed around our dining table, and the one spontaneous dance party she had with another mutual friend (i just watched in amazement.)

she decided to leave all of that behind for bigger and better things in kenya :) but I couldn't be more proud of her. She threw a fabulous art exhibit/fundraiser at the Kenyan embassy last Friday and it was quite a fete!

cassie and me -- don't stare at this photo for too
long ... the stripes will drive you mad!

Rachel and Kierra, whom you may remember from this previous post

detail shot! I love this photo

Me, Amber, Kierra, Cassie. Isn't Amber the
cutest pregnant woman you've ever seen?

Cassie is back to Kenya in a few days -- I miss you already Cassie! Send her some love at her fabulous blog.