Tiny Dancer

I had just stepped onto the uptown N train platform below Union Square. I was joining a few others, but it wasn't too crowded, so the wait would not be long. A small woman, wrapped in Muslim sheathes, was playing a synthesizer on the opposite platform. I am calling it a synthesizer because this looked like one of the originals. I mean, the keyboard was so large it nearly hid her entire body. Having finished a tardy, if not spirited rendition of Joy the the World over a week after Christmas, she began the familiar notes to "Fur Elise". Just then, the scrawny homeless man who slid under the turnstile before me approached and appeared to check the time on the digital clock hanging above. Suddenly he began attempting to reach it, as there was a sticker of some sort that he felt it was necessary to remove. The sticker on the clock was just barely in reach and he could only rip it off in tiny strips. He stood on his tip-toes and balanced himself by allowing his free arm to circle himself. It almost fluttered gracefully like a ballerina's port de bra. Having scraped off another strip, he switched arms and popped back up on the toes and proceeded to circle the other arm several times just the same. He repeated these moves several times even as the train came and I left on it. Had Beethoven's gentle melodies overtaken him? For what reason did he feel it vital to remove that darn sticker? To what do we owe his elegance and delicate artistry? More importantly, when can I see it again?

"The Princess of Soho"?

There are many opportunities to meet random people on the streets of NYC. I definitely have met my fair share of them and am no stranger to undulging in fleeting encounters with strangers, especially since I have spent ample time passing out free samples and such out there. I have learned a lot from these interactions and mostly have fully enjoyed them, but every now and again they can encourage you not to be so friendly.

I've recently been temping at an office in Soho where I pass a newspaper man on the corner. We have always had strange interactions, basically since I am not stopped to speak with him, and he speaks in a really thick accent I can't really understand, and he often hands me something for free. The first time was just an ad insert to the paper, something that normally falls out on the floor of the subway that just irritates you. This baffled me. He has handed me an actual paper a couple times. He sometimes tries to speak with me but we never quite connect as I am in a rush, and it always leaves me feeling weird. I was starting to warm up to our weird relationship until the day he handed me a free pass to get into a night club that weekend. Now he seemed skeevy, trying to promote these side businesses and soliciting to people who aren't even stopping to support the business he is there for.

The day before Christmas Eve I was rushing past, just after 9am...clearly late for work, and he starts attempting to converse again as I stopped to wait for the light. Soon the late changed and I was stuck there as he handed me an envelope he dug out...and begun to say that he had a dress for me...and asked what size I was. Stunned and confused I attempted to answer him when he said "...eh...what size? You are large, right?". I am not sure what I said as I was just entirely confused all around and had no interest in getting this dress from him anyway when he promised he would bring it for me tomorrow.

So once again I walked away from this man amused and perplexed and only a tad offended that he just called me "large". As I entered my office, much later now, I opened my envelope to find a Xmas card. Did he have several of these prepared to hand out to the strangers he connects with that day? Had he originally intended to hand ME this specific card? No, I thought, he just had some pre-written ones to spread random cheer. Was there going to be a flyer for a club inside? A coupon for a sample sale? Surely there must be some other motive. All I found inside was a card with several of the possible holiday messages scrawled inside, and it was written "To The Princess of Soho". It took me by surprise and suddenly I felt horrible for thinking anything irritating about him. Suddenly I felt like a princess! Only I still wasn't 100% sure he hadn't just written out a few of those to hand to any of the ladies he sees. But it made me smile, and even more grateful that I tend to indulge these random encounters, even if it is only half-heartedly sometimes.

Apathy and Human rights...

There are some that feel that negativity in any form is harmful. I know people who don't wish to hear about the horrible things happening in the world. Not because they don't care or don't have compassion...but because they have too much. I know people who believe that you get what you focus on and, therefore, choose not to listen to or focus on atrocities that occur in the world around them. They would rather focus on and perpetuate good. I would as well. But there are some things that just don't even feel real...until you hear about them from someone whether you want to or not. And while I don't think they need to be focused on, I think they need to be acknowledged, because they are happening. Now. Not 1000 years ago. They are happening now, and we should acknowledge them as if they are happening to those we love, because they may as well be. I have no idea what my aim is in posting this on a blog. All I know is that in this day and age...with the ability for information to spread as quick as this (and it took me a month to read about it), it is unacceptable to ignore this part of our reality simply because it doesn't feel good to consider. Apathy in any form as it relates to concern for another human is, in my opinion, atrocious. So, as we consider our own human rights...I hope we will also consider hers, as they are one and the same. Absolutely no one on earth deserves this. http://www.amnestyusa.org/document&183;php?id=ENGPRE200810317930

Surveillance Camera

There are times I really wish I had secretly installed a surveillance camera in my own room. Like the time I was startled awake by my terrified cat projecting himself off me via his back claws in my arm startled by my having accidentally kicked over of a table with a bunch of stuff on it next to my bed. Or like yesterday when I caught myself sleepily putting on two winter coats by mistake on my way out the door.

Someday is NOW!!!

Someday people will look back at this time and be so ashamed of how many people in this country were so ignorant and cruel.

Someday people will sit with their grandchildren or their great grandchildren and have to explain to them why they thought that two people loving each other was so disgusting.

Someday money won't matter and fear won't be instilled in us by religion or anything else.

Someday we won't accept fear as a substitute for love and unity.

Someday Faith won't refer to "MY God" or "YOUR God", but to faith in our spirit, and each others'.

Someday laws will be there to protect people's rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Someday no law will define what someone else's happiness 'should' be.

Someday there will truly be a separation of Church and State.

Someday the energy it takes to create and pass new laws will move us forward rather than back.

Someday no one will be able to deny that what is done to others is also done to you and that holding anyone back holds everyone back.

Someday I will be able to tell my great grandchildren that I have always believed in and supported love.

Please stand for love today....

Be FOR something rather than against something. Be for love. In time it will work.

Extra Extra!

These brilliant newspapers were passed out this morning in Manhattan.

Pay close attention to everything...including the ads.

http://www.nytimes-se.com/


I don't care that the NY Times did not issue these. These are BRILLIANT!!!

What do I Value?