LIBRARY of NOBLENESS

7 Steps to Strengthening Health

2008-08-18T17:13:00.000-07:00

From Essene Market website.

Strengthening Health is an orderly approach to eating and living. It is based on creating healthy eating habits (format of meals), and diet (content or food choices, and quality within the meal).

EATING HABITS: (Format of meals)

1. Take time for your meals every day.

Sit down to eat your meals or snacks without doing other things. This is the first step towards good health and will help you feel more satisfied. It is an expression of your appreciation for food and allows you to receive nourishment.
Allow adequate time for your meals. The meal has a minimum time the same as sleep. It takes at least 20 minutes for your body to adjust and receive nourishment.
Eat slowly and chew well. Eating slowly and mindfully returns you to balance and relieves stress. Chewing is like a pump that circulates all of your body's energy and fluids, it is the internal body rub (see step 4).
Stop eating 3 hours before bedtime. Your body cleans and repairs itself while you sleep. Your stomach needs to be empty for this process to be efficient.
Eat in an orderly manner. Soup may be eaten first or together with the meal. Start with heavy, well-cooked dishes and finish with lighter, less-cooked dishes. Grains should be eaten from beginning to end of the meal. Your beverage and dessert come last.
Avoid mixing foods in the same mouthful.

2. Set your daily schedule.

Rise early and sleep before midnight. Rise early to be more active and discharge more toxins. Sleep before midnight to be more refreshed and healthy.
Keep your meal times regular. Regular meals regulate all of your body's cycles--physical, emotional, mental. They make your energy and life more stable.

DIET: (Content and quality of meals)

3. Eat 2 or 3 complete and nutritionally balanced meals every day.

Grain and vegetable dishes together at the same meal provide the most complete and balanced nutrition. Plan every meal around cooked grains and grain products.

Vegetable dishes: Complete and balance every meal with 1 to 2 vegetable dishes.
Soup: Activate and harmonize your digestion with a bowl of vegetable soup at 1 or 2 meals.
Organic: Buy the highest quality organically grown, unrefined and naturally processed foods.

LIFESTYLE: (Approach to health)

4. Make your daily life active.

Walk for 30 minutes every day. Walking outside at a comfortable pace, with a natural stride produces the best results. It can be a combined 30 minutes.
Give yourself a daily body rub. Gently rub your entire body with a hot, damp, cotton face cloth for 10 to 15 minutes morning and/or night. Do it separate from your bath or shower. The body rub is the Secret of the Fountain of Youth, it winds back your biological clock. The body rub together with thorough chewing will make you younger in body and mind, day by day.
Life-related exercise provides the most benefit for lasting health.
Hobbies: Cultivate and take time for hobbies.

5. Create a more natural environment.

You can think of your home as a recharging station. It is a place to relax, return to balance and enrich your life.

Plants: Surround yourself with green plants, especially your bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms and office or work space.
Cotton clothing: Wear pure cotton clothing next to your skin.
Natural materials: Use natural materials, wood, cotton and wool, etc., in your home.

6. Make your macrobiotic practice work.

Keeping to the format of meals improves your ability to make healthier food choices. If you keep the format you can follow these principles at home or in a restaurant. It helps you make better food choices.
Keep a daily menu book to help you become more objective about your macrobiotic practice.

7. Cultivate the spirit of health.

* Have openness, curiosity and endless appreciation for all of life.
* Be flexible and adaptable in your practice.
* Develop a strong will and the determination to create your own health.
* Be accurate in your practice.
* Create a good support network.
* Learn to cook well

Movie Typecasting

2008-07-12T05:38:00.000-07:00

I watched Dysturbia the other night while at a hotel in Washington, DC - work trip. The lead actor is rising star Shia LeBeouf (also of Transformers and the new Indiana Jones movie). When I went to www.imdb.com to check out his body of work I clicked on his most recent project New York, I Love You which comes out next year. When I scrolled that movie's cast of characters I saw that a friend from high school, Vedant Gokhale, was in the movie.

I've only seen Vedant once since high school and that was at our 10-year high school reunion in 2005. I recall Vedant sharing with me that he was going into acting, after becoming a lawyer and not liking it. So from Vedant's IMDB profile, it seems like he's starting to build an acting career - though I wonder if he still practices law on the side to make a steady income.

After I got past the excitement that I could see a friend of mine on the silver spring, I got pissed that so far he's almost always played a culturally stereotyped role of an Indian - his parents immigrated to the U.S. from India as adults and he and his brothers were born here.

In this movie, Vedant plays a seemingly minor role as the "cab driver. "

While I bet Vedant is happy to just break into the movie business, it's unfortunate that non-White Americans are so often casted in a culturally stereotypical way.

Marking Memorial Day

2008-05-27T16:11:00.001-07:00

Most holidays come and go and I lament that I don't do more to mark the day. National holidays are often little more than a day that I don't go to school or work. Yesterday, Memorial Day 2008 was shaping up to be more of the same, though I did at least openly lament my likely lack of engagement pre-holiday instead of just during or after. While the thinking about the day is something, yesterday I did a little more and am now not beating myself up as much as I usually do.

Yesterday at around 6:30pm, I went for a run. I ran north on Front Street and at about Pine Street I turned right into a small public park. While I had been there before, I forgot that this park is the Philadelphia Vietnam War Memorial. So while I wasn't looking for a way to acknowledge the day, I was given a nice opportunity. I jogged in place and kept listening to my ipod mix and read every name on the memorial - it took about ten minutes. And then I kept on running and on the way back I stopped briefly at the nearby Korean War Memorial.

Next American holiday to celebrate in a way bigger than fireworks, day off and drinking is Independence Day. Two years ago I was taking a cultural diversity class in my masters of social work program at Bryn Mawr and recall writing a journal entry which included an excerpt of famous speech by Frederick Douglas on the hypocrisy of Independence in America. See below for the excerpt:

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

Thinking About Conservation

2008-05-25T06:13:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months as ideas came to me (those who know me well know that ideas come often) I often put them aside until "after graduation" to seriously consider them. Take a look at my "tasks" in my phone and you'd see:

-acting classes
-cleaning my apartment
-installing window air conditioning units
-cooking class
-improving my home repair skills
-setting up quicken (has been on my task list for a while...)
-joining a CSA (community supported agriculture)
-buying clothes/food thoughtfully

It's the last two tasks, along with a third (being more energy efficient at home and beyond) that I've been thinking about lately.

I've felt good about some of my energy saving ways over the past year.
- Composting
- Using reusable bags when grocery shopping (cutting down on my plastic intake)
- Walking and bike riding whenever possible
- Recycling paper, cans, cardboard, etc. (though not sure if I'm recycling correctly or the fate of what I put in the recycling bins).
- Buying books less (mostly about cost, but also saves paper and utilizes the library)
- Take train for work trips to Harrisburg and DC instead of driving
- Vegetarian for one year (not contributing to costs associated with growing, hunting, killing, processing, shipping seafood products. I gave up meat years ago, but my giving up seafood was in part due to the environmental costs associated with food production and distribution).
--- I'm eating seafood again...

Potential To Do's to be more energy efficient and environmentally responsible

- Get an Energy Audit of home and make repairs (like changing and insulating windows, changing light bulbs, turning off the electric power at night to TV, computer, stereo, etc).

- Buy food more thoughtfully - farmers markets, too late for a CSA?, read labels. Buy fewer packaged products

- Watch TV less and instead read and be outside more

Message to myself:

Realize that change is a process. It's not all or nothing and doesn't have to happen in a set period of time. Don't be hard on myself but do push myself to look into and follow through on the above because it's important to me.

These potential energy/environment related behavior changes is connected to a larger feeling that I need to take care of myself first before and perhaps instead of working for change in others. The only person that I can fully change is myself and if I take greater responsibility for myself than perhaps my desire to organize and facilitate change will be better satiated. That said, I am not trying to quelch the organizer in me, just re-focus the energy inwards for a little while and see what the results are.

Watching the Dishes Dry

2008-04-26T07:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took pictures of my dishes after I washed them and set them to dry in my dish rack. Washing dishes is an enjoyable activity for me and as I find it to be a discreet task that I can accomplish quickly. Furthermore, living without a dishwasher (or as the dishwasher), every time I set my dishes to dry, they are arranged in a different way. And that different arrangement - to me - is art.

So yesterday I started to capture that art. I might take pictures with each new ensemble of washed dishes or every day or in some regular way until I stop taking pictures. (I'll keep washing dishes though).

This project is inspired in part by a new friend who took a picture of herself every day for 30 days. She didn't dress up or do anything special for the photos. Instead a photo a day at home for 30 days to capture life as it is lived most of the time.

Some questions I have about the Dishes are:
-Do the dishes I use or the way I place them to dry say anything about me?
-Is each turn of drying dishes a completely unique arrangement?
-What role does the dish rack and/or surrounding area have in the art?
-Will I carry through this Dishes project to a point of completion, however I end up defining completion?

ACTION

2007-08-01T10:10:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to be more active, and even have the idea of taking at least 1 action every day.
Perhaps I've stored up some actions for future dates...

$50 donation to Al Franken's US Senatorial Campaign in Minnesota
Will pitch supporting Franken's campaign with friends who just moved from Minneapolis to Philadelphia
Looking at AFSC's page on Iraqi refugees. Did not send electronic letter on troop withdrawl. Can write my own letter. Looking for a more concrete action around refugee support.
Called my Congressman, Robert Brady, and encouraged support for increased funding towards renewable energy, per an upcoming vote on a big Energy bill. I spoke to the Staff Assistant who did not know the Congressman's position initially, but who found out for me, and herself, that the Brady is a co-sponsor of H.R. 969 which calls for increased funding and benchmarks on use of renewables, especially by companies.

When I Grow Up

2007-07-15T21:03:00.000-07:00

Could I be a travel agent and utilize my current and future social work training/experience to create a professional niche. Initial meetings with potential clients take on an intake interview quality where I learn about the dynamics of the travelers, as individuals and in the group, along with where they want to go and the types of things they value in their life and on vacation. And then I take all of that into consideration and craft trip scenarios.

Something to definitely think more about...

santa monica library

2007-06-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

Went to the Santa Monica Public Library today. It's a gold LEED awardee. That's insider talk for super environmentally friendly. Went with my sister and parents.

Lots of super neat aspects. Inside/outside. landscape design that felt a little like underwater plant life, beach themes (close to the Pacific Ocean), lots of windows and many other neat things.

Philly vs. DC

2007-06-12T06:16:00.000-07:00

I'm in Washington, DC yesterday and today for work. While I work from my home in Philadelphia, my employer, the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, is located in DC and I am here 1-2 times a month. We're in new office space. It's only 3 blocks from the old digs and still at the same metro stop - Farragut North - but it feels like a new neigbhorhood. The new super close landmarks are ABC News (this is where Nightline is done), The Mayflower Hotel and National Geographic. About two blocks away is the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) but I'll only walk over there for a protest.

I lived in DC for 9 years. College for 3 years (I spent my junior year abroad in Jerusalem) and then for six years after graduation. In August of 2005 I moved to Philadelphia and minus a 3 month stint this past fall in Milwaukee (to stop reinistatement of the death penalty in Wisconsin), Philadelphia is my new home. But because I am in DC frequently for work and because some of my best friends in the world are here, in some ways I feel that I have 2 homes. Though when I see my friend Jason, he always kids with me asking when I'm moving to DC...I think Philly will be my home for the forseeable future.

DC is known for its museums. The Smithsonian museums and scores of other museums some of which do have an entry fee like the Phillips Collection or the Corcoran. But Philly seems just as impressive with its cultural options.

On Sunday my girlfriend and I went to the Barnes Foundation. I've been to some of the most heralded art museums in the country: in NYC: The Met, MOMA, Frick Collection. In DC: National Gallery of Art East and West Wing. In Chicago, it's famous art museum, the Detriot Institute of Art the Houston Fine Art museum, the Getty in Los Angeles and others. The Barnes Foundation is easily in the top tier of art museums if not right at the top. I've got to get to work, but I'll blog more about the Barnes soon, including the controversy of whether it should be moved from its current site just outside of Philly or onto Ben Franklin Parkway where its neighbors would be Philly's other great museums: The Franklin Institue, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Rodin Museum and the Free Library.

Morning Walks

2007-06-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

I love the way books become a part of my life. In The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, which I'm reading for a new book club, the author and her late husband took AM walks in Central Park every day. Unfortunately I don't live in NYC or near Philly's Central Park - Fairmount Park - but I'm intrigued by the idea of going for a walk to start each day. I did so this morning and walked to the South Street Promenade, which is about five blocks away. I brought the book and read a few pages. This might be a fun habit to develop, especially over the next couple months while I continue to work from home. It's incentive to get me out of bed and out of the apartment at a reasonable hour. And I love to explore my and surrounding neighborhoods, and the morning walk is another opportunity to see the area.

The first book/experience that pops to mind when I think about instances where I have incorporated book content into my life is A Widow for One Year by John Irving There's a scene where a father teaches his daughter to drive. They live on Long Island, NY and he drives them into NYC. She is then tasked with driving home. What I remember from that driving lesson is the instruction to never take your eyes off the road. If you have passengers in your car, it's okay to talk to them but never turn towards them because that takes your eyes off the road. I read this book almost 10 years ago, and I don't turn to my right occasionally when talking to the passenger in my car. That said, I do glimpse down or to the side slightly to make cell phone calls :(

3for Library Week

2007-05-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

It has been too long since my last post. I've been to the main branch of the Free Library in Philadelphia three times this week:

Monday morning on my way home from Angela's I returned two books on CD and paid the accompanying $8.75 in late fees. I walked out with a 23 cd unabridged edition of Ben Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson. Disc 3 puts him in his early 20's and one can see the greatness he will achieve over his many decades to come. I'm especially looking forward to his work with libraries and how his legacy enabled and influenced the Free Library.
Thursday evening Angela and I went to hear Khaled Hosseni speak and read from his new book A Thousand Splendid Sons. This is Hosseni's follow-up to his first novel The Kite Runner. He was very humble and appreciative of his success, quick-witted and quite thoughtful. A couple times he spoke of how people had read The Kite Runner and asked him how they could get involved, whre they could donate money to, etc., in matters related to Afghanistan or more recently women in Afghanistan (this book's subject) or Refugees (he's a global ambassador for UNHCR). And he is very reluctant to give people recommendations. I respect that he doesn't feel like he has the answers and that he hopes people will find their own way, but I think that's a bit of a cop out and if literally thousands of people are asking for his advice, he should at least offer some suggestions.
Saturday afternoon I went to a lecture on great gardens in the greater Philadelphia area. I, like everyone in the audience, was already familiar with Longwood Gardens, but I was not familiar with Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, PA, Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ, or Nemours Mansions and Gardens in Wilmington, DE.

After the lecture I ventured to the 2nd floor of the library for the first time and skimmed a couple books that caught my attention. The first was about sex and architecture. How men have been building societies for a long time and men and women create differently. Men create buildings of power and fortification and often phallic looking buildings. Since women have been left out of positions of power for basically ever, their instinctual building and creative impulses of broader inclusivity and warmth might be cornerstones inside the home, but not in constructions.
That book got me thinking about women in a different way. Driving home from DC last weekend, Angela and I played the Categories game. I chose living male actors of the screen. Back and forth we named actors and though we exhausted our knowledge at that time, since we have been adding new names to the list. For example, today I was reminded of Greg Kinnear, Cuba Gooding, Jr. (super small role in Coming to America when he was a teenager) and Aidan Quinn. But had the category been living female actors of the screen, I am sure that that game would have ended earlier. As I said earlier about women being left out of society and, especially leadership roles, so is the case in movies - as movies are the stories of life. I'm trying to think about movies that I've seen lately, and almost all are dominated by men and the female role is largely as a seductress/wife/romantic interest. I could argue that the lack of female leading roles is Hollywood representing society. As women continue to be oppressed, though a bit more subtly these days, film is merely representing a world still dominated by men. But that's mostly a load of crap. The mesmerizing grasp that Hollywood has on not only our culture, but a global culture too, contributes to the objectification and degradation of women. I just watched Legends of the Fall on Demand. Granted it takes place in Montana in the early 1900's, but there are 3 leading male roles to one female lead. Anthony Hopkins, Aidan Quinn, Brad Pitt to Julia Ormond. Or earlier today I watched Coming to America. Here my argument is made very easily as Akeem, the prince of Zumunda, comes to America, to Queens, to seek his bride.
I also skimmed through a book on body painting. It's a topic I have thought about more of recent past, especially now that I have a tatoo. I'd like to have some body art or henna tattoos done soon. Our bodies are works of art, inside and out, and I'd like to experience myself a little more. Also, the tradition of body art is thousands of years old. While body art and tattooing are of a branding and humiliating nature for my heritage (numbered tattoos in the Holocaust and previously other ways to make the mark of a Jew), I like to think of myself as part of a tradition of mankind that is much older than a few hundred years and much more connected to the people of the Earth - current and past.

The Colletteum

2007-05-11T17:34:00.000-07:00

I grew and learned a lot in the decade of my 20's - from which I just passed. I started working at the ACLU when I was 24 I met and befriended some extraordinary people there, two of whom were well into their 70's. Judy Bellin and Robert Vandivier (Van). I feel fortunate to have learned that there is no age limit on friendship.

I am thinking about my more experienced friends because last night I reminisced about Wallace Collett. I was at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights's Hubert Humphrey Awards Dinner. I sat next to Joe Volk who is the Executive Director of the Friends Committee on National Legislation. I had met and worked with Joe a little in 1999 and 2000 while working at the Religious Action Center. Quick aside, I was a little worried that I wouldn't know anyone among the 1000 people at last night's awards dinner. But within 2 minutes of arriving I met two former colleagues from that Religious Action Center job and also saw David Saperstein, who has run the RAC for over 30 years and is a past Hubert Humphrey awardee himself.

Back to sitting next to Joe. After doing some of the DC networking talk about our jobs thing, we realized that we had a very good in friend in common. That good friend, who unfortunately passed away last year, is Wallace Collett.

I met Wallace in October 2005 on the campus of Bryn Mawr College. I'm in the social work masters program there and it being Fall Break I was spending a little time on main campus doing some research. I was walking through the beautiful campus towards my car when Wallace, accompanied by one of his daughters, called out to me. He thought he recognized me but it was our first meeting. I talked to the two of them for a few minutes and before we parted ways I asked if I could have his number and call him sometime. He obliged and I spent some very nice afternoons at his lovely home around the corner from Bryn Mawr.

One of my favorite rooms in his house and favorite rooms period is called The Colleteum. It is his wife Stella's study. Stella is an archaelogist and a professor and has been teaching at Bryn Mawr for some years. Her study is a lofted room with at least 15 foot high ceilings and floor to ceiling mahogany wood bookshelves around the perimeter of the room. As planned, it has the purpose of an ancient reading room and given my newfound passion for and exploration of libraries, it is nice to write about this library.

Wallace and I spent our time in other rooms of the house talking, reading poetry and mostly him sharing his life with me. Wallace is from Ohio and a lifelong Quaker. He was a very successful businessman, artist, poet and activist. He served on the board of the American Friends Service Committee and introduced me to the idea of diverting my tax dollars away from all things related to the miltary.

I've been thinking about Wallace a bit lately. I was at a Quaker Meeting house on the Jersey shore about 2 months ago to talk about the death penalty and happened upon a book their in which Wallace wrote the introduction. The book was on conscientious objecting and that weekend was actually the weekend I was submitting my taxes. While it didn't work out this year to divert my taxes away from the military, it is certainly on my mind and I hope to look into it further.

So last night with Joe, I got to reminisce about the aforementioned and much more. Wallace wrote a couple books late in life (I mean between 85 and 90). One is a collection of some of his poems and another recounts his experience as a target of McCarthyism while working for the City of Cinncinnati. Speaking of Cinncinnati, Joe informed me that many years ago the Cinncinnati train station was on the verge of being sold/demolished/etc., and Wallace played a role in saving that beautiful building which is now the home of the Cinncinnati Museum.

I don't have favorite Collett poems, but hear are some I enjoy.

Aspects of Wisdom

wisdom
is the fusion of
the intellect
with
the ineffable spirit

wisdom
is both
silent
and
articulate

wisdom
proclaimed
is
suspect

wisdom
blends
the present
into
the future

August 1 - 15, 1981

The Beginning (read at the wedding of grandchildren or great-grandchildren)

there never was a Beginning
an island emerging above waves of the void

there never was a Beginning of Time
a fracturing of eternity into moments and aeons

Beginning is another of our earth terms
an improvisation for our lack of understanding

a thousand years ago
men drew maps of a flat square world
and showed thereon the edge of the earth
a sheer precipice dropping into nothingness

then Magellan voyaged westward
moved beyond the map's steep edge
found that straighness is a circle
that the voyage returns to the home port

as we explore farther into the before
the phantasm of Beginning retreats

we sail beyond the myth's steep edge
and follow the great circle route of Creation

and come to understand the past holds no Beginning
the only beginning is Now

November 15, 1983
Also called "There Never was a Beginning," begun as early as 1951

My 4-Legged Friends

2007-05-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

I've been toying with the idea of getting a pet for a few months but am holding off b/c I travel too much. Although I'm confident about this decision - though not happy with it - spending time with Jonathan and Shannon's cat Jasmine and Sari and Aaron's dog Oro have made this decision more difficult.

Check out these adorable creatures!

Another actor with little range

2007-05-08T20:29:00.000-07:00

I'm watching a classic. Dazed and Confused. This was on a lot in college. Natural Born Killers too.

Adam Goldberg gets his ass kicked. He should after his cheeseball line of "you know how I've always wanted to go to law school to be an ACLU lawyer." Comendable goals, especially as I sit on my couch wearing my ACLU t-shirt (nice coincidence), but Goldberg should get his ass kicked for all his impish roles. He had an appearance in last week's Entourage and didn't step out of character.

When there's time to kill, what do I do?

2007-05-04T14:45:00.000-07:00

Class ended at 7:45 and my date wasn't until 8:30 (both in Bryn Mawr) and I wracked my brain thinking of something to do. Duh! Go to the library. I did.

It was my first trip to the Ludington Library which is one of 7 libraries that comprise the Lower Merion Library System. A banner hung over the check out area indicating its stature among the top 20 libraries in the country. Check this ranking of library systems. Ohio has a couple entries in the top 10 and as luck would have it, Ms. 8:30pm was from Cleveland. Coincidence or Fate???

It was very spacious, lots of people and lots of rooms. So really lots of libraries :) Check the URL if you didn't initially smile with the emoticon.

Since I wasn't a library member, I couldn't access the computer with Internet access (wanted to double check the online profile of the girl I was about to meet for the first time), so instead I used an open computer to search the catalog. I first looked at Joan Didion's books b/c the book club Jackie Zavitz and I are resurrecting from our DC days has Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking as its first book. After scrolling through her works and some corresponding reviews, I looked up her, John Dunne. He is the subject of The Year of Magical Thinking and a prolific author himself. Could be neat to read a book of his after this one, especially since this book is unfortunately about his sudden death and Didion's ensuing grief. The Red, White and Blue looks interesting.

8:30 came and I went on my date. Come sunday night I'll go on date #2...

city living

2007-05-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

I was tired all day. Went to sleep late and didn't sleep enough. I pushed myself to a run around 7:30pm and had a great few hours since. I was a little sluggish throughout, but being tired doesn't mean sit on the couch and watch mindless TV.

Like most jogs I started out with no destination in mind and ended up in South Philly. On my way back, I heard the Star Spangled Banner and stumbled upon a full orchestra performing in a parking lot/park behind the Mummers Museum. Very South Philly crowd...I was reminded that I live in a thriving city that has cool stuff going on all the time and that Philly is very much a city of neighborhoods and this seemed very much like a South Philly or more specifically a Pennsport gathering.

Threw together some dinner (cooked brown rice for the first time. cooking rice altogether is only a little less new, but brown rice is healthier and I'm on a bit of a healthy kick). Dinner was more than brown rice, but you don't care what I ate.

I felt a little full after dinner and thought of taking a walk. It was about 9:30pm and I thought I'd walk to the Ritz Theaters and turn a walk into a movie. Fracture had recently been recommended and was playing at the United Artist a little south of me. I rode my bike, but as I unchained my bike which I lock against the fence in my backyard/courtyard I started chatting with my neighbor who shares this fence. He was outside all day and playing music and I told him how much I enjoyed listening to Carmina Burana off his stereo. We chatted a little and now I know one of my many neighbors a little. He's an artist and has an opening with other artists on Sunday and maybe I'll go. I really like when life just opens doors organically.

So I saw Fracture, which was quite good and as I walked out I saw a big poster for Spiderman 3 and saw that opening day was tomorrow/now today, May 4th. Then I understood why Spiderman 3 had an 11:59pm showtime listing and then I saw lots of people coming into the movie theater. The place was so much more crowded at midnight than when I got there at 10pm. Hats off to folks for making a later night of a Thursday and taking in some entertainment, but rushing to the theater to see Spiderman 3. I watched 1 and 2. They were okay, but I don't feel any need to see it ASAP. The special effects are so good that seeing on the big screen is highly favorable though. Maybe my Spiderman bias has to do with the actors. I see nothing special in either of the stars Tobey Maguire or Kirsten Dunst. Spiderman 2 was cool mostly b/c of Alfred Molina's character and acting.

Yell Fire

2007-05-02T21:00:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, separated by only a few hours and a few miles, fires raged in 2 historic Washington, DC locales: Eastern Market and Georgetown Library. Fortunately nobody was hurt, but the damage is serious and there are certainly effects on the community. I lived in Georgetown for 2 years and have spend some time at that Library. My most recent memory is watching the July 4th fireworks my last summer in DC from the park right behind the library. Since the library is on the top of a serious hill, the view into the city and to see the fireworks was ideal.

While the Georgetown Library certainly had more resources than many other libraries in the DC system, no matter how rich your patrons are or how nice the converted mansion is in which the books reside, when you have a fire and don't have a sprinkler system, things end badly.

Break me off a piece of that protein bar

2007-04-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

Some weeks are busier and more interesting than others. Working at 7pm at least means that today is a busy day and this is going to be a busy week, both with work and in terms of finishing up a paper for class. But enough about the week that has only just begun. Two weeks ago was the week of well 2 weeks ago.

On Tuesday a friend I haven't talked to in over a year (which makes one wonder if friend status still applies) contacted me. On Wednesday I became a vegetarian. On Thursday I started the Library of Nobleness Blog. On Friday I broke up with my girlfriend. On Satuday I drove to Albany, NY for a friend's 30th b-day party and then on Sunday I visited 3 PA college libraries, made my theatrical debut in the highly acclaimed and broadly viewed social work monologues @ Kutztown University. You can read more about the latter part of this week in earlier posts.

Becoming a vegetarian wasn't a huge stretch b/c I had already given up red meat and chicken and pork, and veal, a few years ago. I have trouble digesting certain foods, and by trouble I mean that I have ended up in the emergency room a few times. So I've given up the foods that burn me and meats are among that category. But I have continued to eat fish and actually deli turkey meat (for some reason that doesn't give me trouble). But on that Wednesday, I was pushed to think about animal rights and cruelty in a new way. I won't get into all the details of my solo conversation, but here I am 2 weeks later and still a vegetarian.

I'm kind of tired quite a bit and am worried that I'm not eating right and particularly not getting enough protein. So I'm off for dinner and am going to order a plate of tofu and beans and wash that down with a an uber soy protein rich yummy shake. Or if anyone has suggestions for more appetizing protein rich fare, I'm all ears. All mouth. All tummy. All ready.

I should be sleeping

2007-04-26T21:08:00.000-07:00

My sleeping pattern has been off since the weekend. Driving home from seeing The Tragically Hip in Lancaster Sunday night at the end of a LONG weekend was a bit of a nightmare. I drove hundreds of miles last weekend. Here to Northern NJ to Selkirk, NY (just south of Albany) to Easton PA to Bethelehem to Kutztown to Lancaster and it was only getting back into Philly - where I live - that I got lost. A 90 minute drive turned into a 150 minute drive which meant I got home Sunday night after 1 am. So here it is, only 12:13 am and I'm up and typing away. I think I have trouble falling asleep also b/c of the warm temperature in my apt. I cannot control the temperature, which means that HEAT is still blowing through the vents. Tomorrow apparently is the day that my landlord realizes that it's almost May and that heat is no longer necessary. Thank the smart landlord!

I'm excited for DC this weekend. NCADP Board Meeting Saturday morning and then some play time the rest of Saturday and Sunday and then work from the NCADP office Monady and Tuesday. I ran for about 30 minutes today. The combination of expanding belly and diminishing muscles has become a serious concern and reality and I need to giddy up and take care of my body. I became a full-fledged veggie last week, and with only a couple of minor slip-ups - ate some shrimp cocktail b/c I was starving and it was offered and b/c I totally blanked that shrimp are animals - I'm coming into my very vegetarian own. I need to read more about maintaining a health diet w/o meat, which might be an oxymoron, but I'd hate to give up meat and replace with potato chips b/c I'm not filling up enough at meals.

This is my first post on the LIBRARY OF NOBLENESS blog (big shout out to Jonathan Kammer and Shannon Perlotto for calling me on my earlier blog name - Lots of Libraries - and offering this blog name as a replacement) that hasn't been largely or littlely about libraries...I'm reminded of a scene from Private Parts. Howard is supposed to say the time and weather every 15 minutes. Howard obliges but says it as such a non-sequitor during bits. He'll be doing something on let's say lesbian sex - his favorite topic - and then just throw in really quickly 7:45am 69 degrees. This only further incenses Pig Vomit. btw, nice early role for Paul Giamatti.

So my time/weather correlary to libraries...

books, knowledge, card catalogue

out!

Happy Birthday Library of Congress

2007-04-24T21:15:00.000-07:00

April 24, 1800. Thanks to monsieur Harry Mbang for bringing this birthday on his birthday to my attention.

Short Summary from Wikipedia:

The Library of Congress was established on April 24, 1800, when President John Adams signed an act of Congress providing for the transfer of the seat of government from Philadelphia to the new capital city of Washington.

The legislation appropriated $5,000 "for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress ..., and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them...." The original library was housed in the new Capitol until August 1814, when invading British troops set fire to the Capitol building, destroying the contents of the small library (3,000 volumes).

I've spent a little time at the Library of Congress. When I lived in DC I had an LOC library card and loved reading in the Reading Room.

Kutztown University Library

2007-04-24T08:28:00.000-07:00

I posted about the libraries at Lafayette and Lehigh but ran out of time for Kutztown's library. I was at Kutztown for a Social Work monologue production and after the performance (my piece was about a client at a Philly prison from last year) I hunkered down at the Rohrbach Library to do some school work. Did you know that April 15 - 21 was National Library Week?

I asked a librarian who had worked there since 1975 what she most liked about the library. She commented on the openess, outside light, how easy it is to find materials and comfortably work and the job well done on the 1998 renovation which doubled the library's size. I worked upstairs and indeed enjoyed the natural light and spacious workign areas. I could see lots of other people, but they were in no way a distraction, and was able to crank out a good start on my first power point presentation on the topic of mental health responses to September 11th and Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

My favorite spots were the large windows on the stairs platform between the first and 2nd floor in the back which beautifully framed the intramural fields and the Kutztown water tower in the distance. Another fav spot is the men's bathroom on the first floor which, along with the women's bathroom across the way, has the old brick building exterior pre-renovation.

The day before making it to Kutztown I was with friends and as soon as I mentioned Kutztown, the response was that's where former wide receiver extraordinare Andre Reed of the Buffalo Bills played his college ball there. Granted it was a crowd of loyal Rochesterarians and sports fans, but that was an impressive display of sports trivia. But did my friend know that he grew up in nearby Allentown?

What I like about Libraries

2007-04-23T21:20:00.000-07:00

Childhood memories of Saturday trips to the library make me feel warm and happy whenever I enter a library.

What is it that I like about libraries? The carpeted thick silence; the smell of dusty pages and binding glue; and the efficient whispers of librarians who know their way around a card catelogue as well as the library database.

I love the possibilities that a library presents : some new book to change my life or change the way I see the world; some new novel with an unforgetable story; some new prose so to break my heart and mend it again.

In the library its ok to gather as many books as you think you can read. It's ok to read part's of lot's of books until one draws you in to finish it.

The library is a community of people who love books and information. It can create a sense of belonging. I know I've settled into a new home town when I get my libary card. Every time I'm handed a new library card, I feel as if I've just been handed the keys to the world.

My busy life , ready electronic access to on-line information and all-night bookstores make my visits to the library a rarer and rarer treat.

I am looking forward to savoring those visits and seeing familiar places with new eyes.

It will be fun to share memories, observations and news about one of my favorite places.

Lehigh University Library

2007-04-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

Went from Lafayette to Lehigh, which I'm more familiar with having dated someone who lived in Bethelehem. As luck would have it, I was actually on my way to see "her" at another area college: Kutztown University.

The Fairchild Martindale Library at Lehigh is not the prettiest from the outside. That seemed to be the result of a renovation which didn't bring together the old and new so well. The inside was more archtiecturally impressive. Two gems were a view of campus and the doors on floors 2 and 3. Pictures of these sights are included.

Whoa PA

2007-04-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was a bit ambitious this weekend. Planned on attending 30th b-day parties for Jeff Kuhn in Albany Saturday afternoon and Eric Schwinder in Boston Saturday night. Though only 3 hours apart, the kicker was being in Kutztown, PA on Sunday by 1:30. I left the Albany party with every intention of making it to Boston, but I was zonked. So I turned around and headed towards PA. A second wind got me all the way to Easton, PA and a $129 room where I lived from 12:30 am to 8:30 am.

But Easton was a good spot b/c it's home to a really cute town on the PA/NJ border and Lafayette College. My mom and I visited Lafayette when I was a senior and remember the small town and red brick buildings of campus. Those red brick buildings, miracuously, were still there and so was the library. While closed, it was a quite stunning from the outside and located right where it should be, in the heart of the campus. After all, colleges and universities are primarily academic institutions, and single building on a campus more embodies the pursuit of knowledge than the library. Skillman Library reminded me some of Carpenter Library at Bryn Mawr, where I have spent considerable time studying (I'm a social work grad student at Bryn Mawr College). My intrigue and appreciation of Lafayette's Library was in some ways justified and corroborated when I learned that it was a 2007 AIA/ALA Library Building Award.

Erev Emerson Library Tour

2007-04-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I'm going to my first library, or at least the first library that I can remember. The Emerson Public Library. Since I'm typing this, while sitting next to my father, I have to ask him if Emerson Library was indeed my first library. Well, Dad???

I may be wrong, but my guess is that when Mom walked your sister Danielle to the library on Bainbridge Avenue in the Bronx, you tagged along in your stroller. Let's ask Mom.

As a newborn you were taken to the library in a big carriage with your sister riding along on a seat on top of you. Of course, you don't remember that library in the Bronx since you were 18 months when we moved to New Jersey.