Steve Jobs, King of Everything

Steve Jobs is fabulous, y’all. I’m serious. His three tales given on the subjects of connecting the dots - he talks about dropping out of college (given at a Stanford graduation, ironically), love and loss - getting fired, starting the amazing Pixar company, and meeting the love of his life - and death - and using the fact that we will die to his advantage. He takes his failures and makes them into successes. He looks deep within his self and decides that if he’s reluctant to do things too many days in a row, he changes something. He creates something. Steve Jobs lent his genius and the beauty of his creations to us: his innovative technology and his wonderful Pixar movies (Up, the Toy Story trilogy, etc.) And he passes on some of the most important advice, some that most people forget in their pursuit of security and not happiness: STAY HUNGRY, STAY FOOLISH.

David Pogue

I get the sense that David Pogue is a very quick person. Quick on the draw, quick on his feet, quick thinking, and very funny. His tech tips (though some of them I knew, pat on the back for me), were very helpful. One thing I do appreciate was his friendliness. Walking through the halls of Whitney Young, many a time I have happened upon a young genius: a poet, a composer, or a tech genius, destined for the huddled masses of a graduating class of MIT.
And. Exceptionally. Arrogant.
And rude.
And condescending.
So, bravo! David Pogue. You told me something I didn't know without saying "You didn't know that?"
Because if I knew, I would surely not have asked.

Tony Robbins

Tony Robbins is a very interesting person. I think that he bought up some very interesting points.
He also swore a lot. And I'm still not sure of exactly what it is he does.
What I do like, though, are his sociological views on the "invisible forces" that fuel what we do. It is not resources, but resourcefulness: our emotions, creativity, determination, love & caring, curiosity, and passion. Once we have satisfied our own six needs - certainty, uncertainty, significance, connection, growth, and contribution - we set about making the world a better place.
I think that Mr. Robbins understanding of the human psyche and actions - albeit above average, sadly - can be of great help to the common man and secretaries of state alike. So often, many of the major world conflicts stem from a misunderstanding or clashing between two cultures. What Tony Robbins realizes, that many people don't, is that criminals and saints are the same - both are striving for significance - they just have chosen different paths. In that way, I think Mr. Robbins can teach to appreciate each others' humanity, which makes us the same, and our diversity, which lends difference and beauty to our world.

David Blaine: Crazy, or Crazy?

David Blaine is a very remarkable person. Whether in a good or bad way, well... You'll have to decide for yourself.
He held his breath for 17 minutes and 4 seconds, that's something!
Here are a few things I can take away from this video:
1) Never marry a magician. They are absolutely, indisputably, criminally insane.
2) Practice makes perfect. David lost weight, gained weight, spent a week in a glass box, thirty six hours on top of a pole, and almost drowned on national television, all to build his endurance and achieve his goals. So when I want to not practice my violin, or not do my homework, or not move, I think 'This guy spent thirty six hours standing on a pole; as a matter of fact, he was up there so long, and began to 'hallucinate so hard', that he thought the buildings around him had the heads of animals."
Perseverance is key; go hard or go home.
If you're not seeing things, you're not trying hard enough.

Glass Menagerie Review

10 question quiz for "The Glass Menagerie" here

Acceptance Speech for Pulitzer - Excerpt of novel "The La Roux Kids"

I never thought that, in this year of 2037, at the age of 39, that I would be winning a Pulitzer Prize for a novel that I started in high school. I began this work not for any lofty calling, but because I was curious about human nature, relationships, and interactions between people and just how much each and every one of us drives and hinders our fellow brethren. I looked at the themes of death, redemption, and the meaning of dying redeemed and peaceful. This story focuses on three youngsters, all with cancer: Emi La Roux, of no relation to the other two, and Henri La Roux wit a benign tumor and a heavy heart, and Haydn La Roux with a condition equal in devastation to Emi's. Henri is not God; actually, he is far from it. He cannot pick which one lives. But, I think, he learns to live and live with whatever hand you're dealt.

‘Henri sat in the waiting room, tapping his foot impatiently. The sounds of the evening news and heart monitors played in the room and down the hall; nurses chatted and old men shuffled, their IVs on wheeling stands beside them.

He noticed all of this; he noticed nothing. He was inside and outside of his head, trapped in his seat and floating above, somewhere unknown.

His heartbeat was irregular and his hands clammy. He tried reading, but the book fell, slipping out of his hands and skidding across the floor. He tried music, but it was empty, void of all previous interest.

The only thing he could do was watch the clock. He got up and paced, but then thought that he better stay in a solitary position. What if there was a wet spot on the floor? What if he tripped and fell and died, right there smack dab in the middle of a hospital, in this lonely waiting room, and never got to see either one of them again?

What if? No; no, he must remain in this safe position. He must not travel outside of it, or the balance he’d established would be upset and the whole room, the whole world, would come tumbling down in one rush of heartbreak and catastrophe.

“You’re going to give yourself an aneurysm.”

He looked up, surprised to see that someone was watching him. It wasn’t Emi or Haydn, but a nurse, her weary but happy green eyes trained on him, now rocking back and forth in his chair.

“At least I’m around people who can treat them.”

“True, very true. As Maya Angelou’s mother used to say ‘Expect the best and prepare for the worst.’

It hits him in the chest like a rock. He doesn’t say anything for a few beats, then turns to her.

“It’s hard.”

“Most things are; I’m not gonna lie to you, kiddo. You know, I’ve spent my whole entire life in this hospital. Since the age of 27 I’ve been here with these doctors and machines and janitors.

“They told me not to get attached to patients; I found that it wasn’t in my nature. Humans are social creatures, don’tcha think? And even though I’ve read stories to kids and watched them die, read newspapers to blind old men and watched them die, read stories to my mother and father and husband and even my eldest son, in this very building, and I watched them all die, I still find that hugging someone is the best way to end your day.”

“How do you do it?” he asks quietly. He doesn’t see how it is physically possible. How did she sit there and not bawl her eyes out every second of every day like he wants to?

“Well, sweetie, I can’t exactly tell you how. I think you’ve got to find your own way through life, and from what I’ve seen of you and your family and friends, you’re doing a fine job. But here’s what I think, with my small town nursing experience. Yes, there will be pain. I cry; actually, I cry a lot. I also eat a lot of ice cream. But I think that sitting here watching all these people die while I’m slowly dying my own self is worth it. So worth it. I walk past room 220 - the one your sister and girlfriend are in -”

He blushes.

“Well, that’s what she is, isn’t it? I see the way you look at that girl. Well, anyway, every time 220 is given to someone else after my husband was in it, I watch. And I know it hurts. I know it hurts to see them both that you love so much and know that one of them is going to die. I know that it hurts to watch your father struggle with the medical bills. But what I think when I sit and read my patients stories, is that I’ve brought them a moment of companionship, a moment of happiness, that I’ve been a star in their midnight. And yes, some of them will pass away - such is the nature of a hospital. But I think I send each of them out of here knowing that they were not alone. At their final hour between God and that hospital bed, someone thought of them. Someone cared enough for them to read them sports stats. And I think that’s all anyone ever really needs. And, you know, sometimes people do get better. And when they go out of here, I give them a note that says ‘Pay it forward. Love, Athena Marie Sage.’ So maybe when they go to church, or a library, they’ll hold a door open; they’ll smile at someone. Or when they’re on the bus back from the Pride Parade they’ll move their bag for an old woman, or when they see a blind man in the park, they’ll read him sports stats.”

He nods.

“It’s not easy dealing with death, sweetheart. But it happens. But you’ve got to find a way to make something healthy out of it. Then, you will have conquered it. Yeah, you’ll have to let one of them go. And I know you love them both very, very much. But when one dies, I want you to send her out happy, and then devote your entire life making the other happy so that she’ll have the same experience when she dies. Maybe I’m morbid, but I think on the other side of the veil, you’ll have done them both great justice."’