Lighting Candles: Aspen Ideas Festival

So over my lunch hour I was chatting with Mom. As I've mentioned in the past, Mom and I talk like 3-4 times a day...and it's important that I clarify...it's not like she's calling me all those times. Usually, I call her. Sometimes we have actual, substantive things to discuss. But oftentimes, there is no "Hello" or "How are you"...instead it's a lot of "I just heard this thing on NPR" or "I just emailed you an article." We do this a lot to one another. It's pretty awesome.

 Anyway...today when we were talking, she turned me on to the Aspen Ideas Festival.

God, I love that woman. Always looking out for me.

 This festival is sponsored by the Aspen Institute, which bills itself as "the nation's premier gathering place for leaders from around the globe and across many disciplines to engage in deep and inquisitive discussion of the ideas and issues that both shape our lives and challenge our times." Indeed! Currently, they are in the midst of their "week-long summer university for the mind."

If I had an unlimited professional development account--speaking of which, do I even have a professional development account?!--I would be on a plane to Colorado and bulldozing my way into this conference! WOW. I wonder if I can figure out a way to get work to pay for me to go to this in the future? You know, if we're ever allowed to travel/better ourselves professionally again. But whatever...

Anyway - if you need a spark of creativity...if you need some brain-bending, soul-searching inspiration, make your way to the website (since I'm guessing you won't be able to jet off to Colorado either). So much great stuff here! If you find anything particularly moving, I hope you'll share it with the rest of us...and tell us why you love it!

PS - I'm listening to this one right now, and it's wonderful (I think it's from last year):

Adages/Truisms/Clichés

Always kiss goodnight.

Don't forget to say "I love you."

Savor every moment. 

Count your blessings.

In the blink of an eye...

Be careful out there.

You never know what tomorrow brings.

There are nuggets of wisdom sprinkled through our language...our literature...our lives. We hear them and read them and say them as part of our everyday vernacular. They are often preceded by the phrase, "I know it's corny, but..."

In fact, I think we often use these phrases almost apologetically... or when we don't know what else to say. Maybe because we think they're too common. Maybe because we know they're really just pithy stand-ins for things we don't know how to say. Maybe because the wisdom is so sage and so concise and so very, very true.

There is so much minutia in life. So much in which we get mired. Some of it is real and dire. Some of it we manufacture so we have something to shout about. We worry about scarcity and transition. We lament delayed dreams and question dubious decisions. We get fixated on what is wrong, what is lacking, what is unfair.

This year was the first time all 5 poppies bloomed at once...

And then we miss all the glorious, ordinary beauty around us. The things that really matter... the things we often disregard.

The reason I'm feeling so contemplative tonight is because the family of one of the dearest, kindest, warmest people I know is reeling right now. The spouse of a wonderful friend is in critical condition after a tragic accident. I don't want to say too much and invade their privacy. And it's far too early to know what will happen. But the brief report I received this evening was terrifying. I am so very, very scared for my friend and her family.

So I'm wondering if you'd chime in and warm their world a little bit.

If you are a person who prays, please pray. If you're a "thinking-good-thoughts" person, now's the time. Send those positive reverberations out into the universe...because I know a family that really needs that love. If you've got a little extra luck....a little "fortuitousness" to spare...can you bring it to the great, big cosmic potluck of good fortune and healing thoughts? Because you know what they always say, "The more, the merrier!"

And then I want you to promise me that as soon as you finish reading this, you'll call someone you love and tell them so. I want you to promise that the next person you encounter, you'll treat them with a little extra dignity and humanity. I want you to hug the next person you see (who you'd normally hug anyway...don't go hugging strangers on account of me!) just a little bit tighter.

A lively "discussion" about the Christmas tree. Circa 2004.

I want you to let that crap from work roll off your back. I want you to refrain from swearing at the jerk who just cut you off in traffic (or the bus-rider who talks too loudly on his/her cellphone the entire trip home...welcome to my world). And if your better half can't seem to actually get the dishes clean when he washes them, maybe that's okay...at least for tonight.

I want you to look around your office or your home or your life, and I want you to make a list of things you forget to appreciate. I want them to be the simplest of things. And I want you to appreciate the hell out of them. Even if just for a moment.

I want you to turn to the one person you love the most, and I want you to tell that person why. Even if one of the things is his complete inability to get over-easy eggs off the Fiestaware. That, and his remarkable ability to anthropomorphize everything... especially when you need it the most.

And the next time someone offers you an aphorism, I want you to let it linger in your soul for just a moment. There is truth in that tiny message.

Make sure you don't miss it.

Lighting Candles: Hometown Pride

What the what?!? 

I just found this post in my list of partially-completed blogging attempts. Except it was (pretty much) completely complete. I'm not sure why it never made it to prime-time. So maybe just try to imagine that you're reading this on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 after a long, relaxing Memorial Day weekend. 

Please. 

Thank you.

_______________________________________

It was my goal, over this long weekend, to unplug from my laptop and the interwebs as much as possible. I think my sweetie even suggested a day of no computers and no TV...just books and the radio and each other. A novel idea, don't you think?

I'm sure you're not at all shocked to hear that we didn't quite make it all the way to our goal. While I've only been on the computer for a few moments at a time here and there (instead of getting sucked down some Twitter/HuffPost/ZumaBlitz wormhole), the whole no-TV thing didn't happen at all. I've been quilting and Netflixing with such voracity that there is red-hot steam rising up off my sewing machine, and I'm certain they're going to suspend our instant queue and tell us to go interact with 3-dimensional people...outdoors...in the light of day.

 Boys from my HS did not look like this...

Whatever. I needed to finish season 4 of Friday Night Lights.

Apparently, a decadent 3-day weekend (with plenty of forecasted rain) isn't the time for us to try to unplug.

Personally, I blame Tim Riggins.  <-------

Anyway, late Sunday night I ventured into Twitter for a quick perusal and happened upon one of the coolest things ever.

THIS.

See, back in January, Newsweek-- or the "Weekly Reader" for grown-ups, as we call it around our house--published a list of America's Dying Cities. In their infinite wisdom, they cited census statistics and presented various economic woes as evidence. While no one doubts the challenges facing America's mid-sized municipalities, it was an example of lazy, sensationalistic journalism at it's best. Because, you know, top-10 lists are always appropriate. And statistically meaningful...just pick any old number and run with it.

"Furniture City, USA!"

One city, Grand Rapids, Michigan decided it wasn't quite ready for its toe-tag. The community banded together to renounce the media's preemptive time-of-death declaration with a big ol' e-defibrillator to the interweb-watchin' world.

Why yes, I did play this on piano in middle school!

The result was this crazy-fantastic lip-dub video to Don McLean's "American Pie." 

 While the production itself is amazing (almost 9 minutes of some 3,000 people seamlessly weaving their way through the streets of Grand Rapids, all while performing "American Pie"...in just one take), the community spirit is what truly takes center stage.

There are wedding parties, football teams and pyrotechnics. There are firefighters, swing dancers, and helicopters. The good people of Grand Rapids move and groove as we journey with them through this beautiful city. The entire community participates, showcasing their humor, their pride, and their vitality.

While 188,000+ does not a hamlet make, it's still world-warming to see so very many people so demonstrably proud of their home town. It's easy to latch on to a tiny town (Star Prairie, Wisconsin is where it's at, people!!), and it's easy to scream that you're from the best place in the world (when that place has a 24-hour empanada joint & 2 major league baseball teams). But there are lots of cities in the middle. Lots of places loved by and tended to by troves of devoted citizens. People who believe in their cities. People who love where they're from.

So grab your coffee and sing along with the Grand Rapidians as they showcase their thriving community. Let them introduce you to their city from a local's perspective. The music makes the video sort of bittersweet, but the reverence of the people for their town is palpable...and it's just plain fun to watch people who love where they're from, dontcha think?

Enjoy...

Made My Day: And They Call it Puppy Love

Rainy days on Fridays always make me smile.

I don't know about all y'all, but for me, the quintessential days for playing hooky are the rainy ones. As I was heading out the door last Friday morning, temperatures had not yet reached the mid-50s, and the sky was a dismal, cloud-laden grey. It wasn't really raining anymore, but you could tell it would again... probably in fits and starts all the live-long day.

It was a day for your comfiest sweatpants with layers of long- and short-sleeved t-shirts...so you can properly enjoy the cool, wet air wafting in through wide-open windows. It was a day for remaking the bed just so you can climb back in with the covers and pillows all situated just the way you want them. It was a day for that book you've been saving for just the right moment. It was a day for bottomless pots of coffee and endless Netflix queues.

Days like this make me want to stay home. I even get a little resentful because I can't shouldn't play hooky.

Alas, I begrudgingly made my way to the bus...due entirely to my sweet husband cajoling me into the car whilst regaling me with silly songs and promises of Super 8 at the drive-in later that evening.

Really? Right in the middle of all of us?

 Grumpy state that I was in, it won't surprise you to hear that a guy smoking in the bus shelter (right in front of the "No Smoking" sign) totally set me off and sent me into irrational rage. Like, practicing the rants in my head and wishing I had the guts to rip him a new one right in front of everyone waiting for the 144. Like, turning and glaring at him every few seconds while furiously Facebooking about this outrageous transgression. Like, inventing other assaults on his obviously-flawed character..."Of course someone like him would be drinking a huge-ass bottle of Moutain Dew this early in the morning." "Those are the ugliest shoes ever." "He probably kills puppies and hates pizza."

It's a wonder I could even go on with my day, no?

I groused (in my mind) all the way to the U...and groused some more as I walked toward campus (it's sorta fun to imagine that it was a stompy, little-kid walk, isn't it?)...

...until I happened upon a scene that absolutely obliterated my not-particularly-deep-seated-and-completely-unfounded ire:

There was a car (a well-traveled Civic/Corolla-ish thing) parked along the sidewalk, dropping a grey-haired gentleman off at work. He was standing just outside the front passenger-side door, leaning back down into the car, still chatting with the driver. Sticking out the back passenger-side window? The happy, curious face of a handsome, reddish dog...watching folks walk by, sniffing the morning air, ducking back into the car to check on his "people."

I'm no expert, but I think it was a Setter

Upon the conclusion of his conversation with the driver, the grey-haired man stood up and closed the front door, turning his attention to the dog. He put both of his hands lovingly along the dog's face and began to talk to the pup. You could see the dog fully standing on the back seat, tail wagging happily. They stood there, muzzle to muzzle for a good minute or so, their adoration for one another so completely obvious.

The man looked that dog right in the eye, talking to him with as much sincerity and reverence as he did with the person driving the car. He told the dog to enjoy the day...to be good...I think I even heard him implore the pooch to refrain from chewing on things. And the dog gave him a look that said "I'll try. I swear I'll try."

They "talked" like this for a good minute or so...until the man lovingly tousled the top of the dog's head and turned to walk to his building. As the car eased away from the curb, the dog leaned out the window just a bit more, watching his human vanish into the ivy-covered walls.

There were quite a few people on the sidewalk as all this transpired, and you could see that many of us were fully enveloped in this joyful scene. People were smiling and subtly gesturing toward the human-canine conversation. You could feel the warmth of this ordinary, personal, private moment ripple out over the rest of us.

What was I cranky about, just moments before this all transpired?

Who could even be bothered trying to remember...