Place Them On Glass

So cool blogs do this on fridays, but I'm not cool, so I have to use thursday. They post the ten random songs that shuffle to the top on their computer. Well here are my ten songs:

Come and Find Me--Josh Ritter (good, I was hoping he'd make the random list)
Discotheque--U2
Four Horsemen--The Clash
Roll--Richard Buckner
My Slate Roof--Boxstep
Mary's Place--Bruce Springsteen
Baby Got Back--Sir Mix-a-Lot (Seattle represents itself musically)
The Way--Fastball
Still Crazy After All These Years--Paul Simon (potentially a comment on the last two songs)
In My (Wildest Dreams) Jayhawks

Strange, no modest mouse, pearl jam or nirvana...and yet Sir Mix-a-lot holds down the fort for Seattle. Well done, Sir, well done indeed. Would that I could put them on the glass in your honor.

Mark and Stacy Arrive

So I finally have my first guests to this wonderful city. Mark and Stacy are due to touchdown at 10:48pm. Which makes them guests who force me to stay up late. For shame. But as I'm taking tomorrow off from work, I guess my life isn't that horrible.

We have several sight-seeing ventures planned. It is of course supposed to rain 2 inches in the next few days (having been drought like, seriously, for the past 2 months). Maybe the EMP, maybe the Off Ramp (site of the first Pearl Jam concert), etc.

Looking forward to having guests. Not sure I'm the best host, as I barely know the city, but I'll try. Stay tuned for hostly mishaps and miscues a-plenty.

Beach Logs Kill!

Last weekend Jen and I went to the Olympics (penninsula, not games) and the vast majority of that trip was incredible. I took a mess of photos (maybe too many) and I figured I'd post some of the better ones here.


These signs were all around on the western side of the Olympic Penninsula. Generally whatever direction the arrow pointed was directly opposite our desired path (we were heading towards the beach). While I did see some waves that make the Atlantic look like the water running down your drive way after you finish washing your car, we saw no tsunamis. Seemed better that way.

When we got down to the water at Ruby Beach we saw this sign, the best of the weekend, and an interjection throughout the weekend:


Yup, Beach Logs Kill (a great band name for anyone so inclined). The beach was covered in trees, hundreds potentially thousands of driftwooded trees, see below
Right, that's a lot of trees. Every one of them a killer.

For more photos visit Extra Vaganza.

5:45

Today, I was interested in seeing how fast I could run one mile. The answer: 5:45. I'm more than just a little pleased with that, especially because I think I could bring that time down another 10-20 seconds the next time I go out. Because while I'm absolutely exhausted now (I did an hour or so of lifting after running that mile, so I'm just pooped) I wasn't dying at the end of the 5:45. But for perspective...the best indoor mile by a high schooler is: Alan Webb's time of 3 minutes, 59.86 seconds. So I have a ways to go before I get into the area where real runners workout. But I'm fine with that.

NY State of Mind

Congratulations to Brian on his new job as campaign manager for Cynthia Doty. He's running her "underdog" effort to win election to the NY City Council. Her district encompasses small portions of the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights and Harlem. And if there's one thing I know about Brian is that he is beloved in Harlem.

I'm excited for him. He was enduring the horrible wait that comes from working, or more appropriately, not working on campaigns. It grates on you. It makes you question your talents. I must admit to being jealous. I had a shot to manage a campaign and I screwed the pooch. Granted there were some mitigating factors (no real control, a party that hated me, and a candidate who didn't ever listen to me) but all the same it felt like a failure. I'm excited for Brian, I think he'll do really well.

I'm still trying to find what job I want in DC. Mainly I want to learn from my boss, and view them as a means to learn not an obstacle. I'm really hopeful that I'll be able to make that move in the next few months, as I'm ready to move forward professionally. It's been a long year of jobs I don't love, and that takes its toll.

A year ago...

One year ago (this month) I stated this blog. One year ago, I was returning from Washington DC to Ohio. I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Lots of changes have taken place in the last 12 months, but I'm still looking to move to DC and trying to figure out what to do with my life. This blog has catalogued the changes and the victories along with the failures. But it's been nice to have a place to trace the changes in the last year.

Where is My Mind?

My mind is all over the place right now.

Jen and I decided to break up last night. We love eachother, we care deeply for one another--but we weren't happy, something about the relatioship wasn't working for either of us. There wasn't any anger or yelling or fighting, just the sorrow of two people who love and loved eachother realizing that we weren't going to finish the story as magically as we started. So like I said, my mind is all over the place. I'm sad, for sure, but I'm also certain that falling in love with Jen was one of the greatest joys of my life, and if this is the price for that joy, then it was worth it.

Please don't post comments. Thanks.

You Can't Go Home, But I Guess You Can Shop There*

Finding myself with time to kill on Monday before the Harvard Club fundraiser I took time for a personal history tour of New York. My grandmother (Dinah Cohen) grew up in Brooklyn, specifically an ill defined area called then, as now, Boro Park (not sure why they couldn't afford the prestige of "Borough" Park, but apparently the extra ugh was too much). I wasn't ever completely sure that I was in Boro Park. I just saw the occasional Boro Park Realty or Boro Park Dentistry and took those as a clue that I was still in the neighborhood. Grandma grew up above her father's candy store at 3820 Fort Hamilton Parkway. That residence no longer exists. It's been replaced by "Lamp Warehouse," where the slogan is "Everything in Lighting...Discounted." The Lamp Warehouse bricked over the windows and painted giant cameos of Thomas Edison and a man they call "The Maven". Edison says "Let There Be Light" while The Maven says "Let There Be Discounts." So, it's changed a little since grandma lived there.

It's been almost exactly 70 years since she was in the neighborhood. On March 15th of 1935 she married my grandfather, and never returned to the old neighborhood. I'm not sure why. I'm grateful for this trip and for the questions it leaves me. I just hope to get answers before being 94 years old catches up with her. But in the days when she lived in Boro Park the apartments were filled with Irish, Italians, Poles, Swedes and Jews. Now the neighborhood is a strange mix. Fort Hamilton Parkway (in the high 30s) is full of car shops--places to install a stereo, fix a dent, sell you tires, fix your garage door, check your emissions, and insure your vehicle. The strange part (over and above the sheer number of car places) is the diversity. Boro Park east of my grandmother's place is full of Hassidic jews. While her area is largely Hispanic. Thus, I saw a Hassidic jew leaning over the engine of Hispanic customer's failing Buick. I've never seen that in Columbus, nor could I.

I wandered around this Jewish neighborhood for an hour or two. It was among the most powerful experiences of the past year or two. I've never been in a white neighborhood and felt so out of place, so foreign, so conscious that I don't fit it. In my life I've never seen as many mezzuzahs as I saw in two blocks there. There were Hebrew posters for Hebrew boybands. And hosiery shops. Boy were there hosiery shops. I saw a woman leave a 99 cent store and pause to kiss her hand and put it on the mezzuzah in the doorframe of this store. It was tremendous. I don't know how different that is from the place where grandma grew up. But it was just about as far from Westerville as I've been.

A few random observations:

How are there so many 25-45 year old Hassidic men walking around in the middle of the day? Where are they working? I'd had Hammentashen. But not really. The piece I had on Monday was a whole different creature. I realized why New Yorkers are fiercely proud, there are few places where you could wander from a Kosher Bakery to an Italian deli, to a Polish restaurant in 150 yards.

Finally, I jumped back on the subway to travel to Southern Brooklyn where my grandmother went to High School (New Utrecht High). When I departed the subway I saw hundreds of students milling about (it was 1:30). I wandered past them and took a few photos of the school. After taking a shot or two a breathless reporter ran over to me and asked, "Do you have photos of the guy?" I asked, "What guy?" "The shooter, the guy who shot up the school?" At the time everyone was under the impression there was an attack and a student had pulled a gun. I learned later that some kid brought a gun to school, put it in his backpack and it went off into his leg during math class. My guess is that New Utrecht High has changed a bit since 1935 as well.


*Name that movie reference

New York

I'm packed and ready to head for the airport on my way to New York. For the second time in a month I'm flying to the East for essentially one meeting. The novelty began to wear off midway through the last trip, and it's worn down to a nub at present. I leave today, land tonight, work the room at a fundraiser tomorrow evening, then depart Tuesday afternoon. All of which leaves me with a fair bit of free and alone time in New York City. Sadly of the major east coast cities (Philly excepted) NYC is the city in which I feel most alone and uncomfortable (probably a strong relation between those two thoughts). Neil is in classes and I don't have too many other friends in the city, so it'll be a choice between hanging out with my boss (not a good plan) or being alone. Being alone isn't always bad, but I generally don't enjoy being alone in a large city. I don't like blending in, I don't like the annonymity. Somehow it feels more like getting lost, than getting away. So that'll be one of the challenges of the next few days. Thousands of things to do and see, but will I do any of them. Stay tuned.

The reason for this trip is a fundraiser at the Harvard Club. Open only to recommended Harvard graduates, the club is posh and exclusive and I'm guessing stifling. It has a private library of 75,000 volumes. And the food we're serving is unreal. Cornish game hen stuffed with sour cherries and wild rice. And 65 dollar a plate prime rib. nice stuff. The event will have several candidates and that should be interesting, and I tend to do a good job of working a room.

I wrote my boss's speech and with some help from JKD tuned up several sections. Below is one of the better paragraphs.

After the most recent election there was a lot of discussion of values, and lots of hand wringing about how the Democrats had lost contact with their values. It seemed like everywhere, well everywhere on cable, there was this amorphous notion that Democrats lacked values. I'm hear to tell you that's crap. Democrats don't lack
values, what some of our leaders have lacked is the courage and cohesion to defend our values. We don't lack morals, values or ideals, but some in our party been unwilling to fight, to scrap, to do the hard work of reaching out to voters. It's not enough to be right, we have to be willing to fight. Democrats are not weak on national defense, not by a long shot, but some Democrats haven't been strong in
their defense of the values of this nation, and our party. Too many Democrats have been borrowing Republican talking points in an attempt to appeal to "the middle." Democrats not Republicans must determine what we stand for. All those perceived weaknesses end the moment we decide to join together, and create a broad based progressive coalition. That weakness ends, and our victories begin the moment we
see the importance of progressive values. Values like a woman's right to choose, values like a gay couple's access to all the rights and all the responsibilities of marriage. Democrats value things like hard work, which is why we protect the right of workers to organize. Democrats value the land we'll leave our children, which is why we protect the environment. These are not issues that exist in opposition
to one another, rather they describe a cohesive worldview, one focused on providing opportunity, securing freedom and promoting tolerance. These are time-tested values, the values that have defined America's progress throughout the centuries. I was always told as a child don't say you're sorry if you don't mean it, well, I'm tired of Democrats apologizing for our values. You know what, we're right, we've been
right and we need to start acting like it.

I'm not convinced that I can make a living writting speeches, but I am fairly certain that I'd enjoy such a life. I probably won't check this site till after the speech is given (god help me) by my boss, as such feel free to post comments and critiques. It'll already have happened, and I'll be a lot more mellow about it.

Aaron's Frisbee Game Playlist

1. Float On--Modest Mouse
2. Death or Glory--The Clash (also the name of one of the most dominant teams ever)
3. Sunday Bloody Sunday--U2 (descriptive of the time, and the condition of my knees)
4. Under Pressure--Queen and David Bowie
5. Hurt--Johnny Cash (see number 3)
6. Say It Ain't So--Weezer
7. Roll Out--Ludacris
8. Thank You (fallettinmebemiceelf)--Sly and the Family Stone (Funk is as funk does)
9. Shelter from the Storm--Bob Dylan
10. Baba O'Reilly--The Who
11. No Depression--Uncle Tupelo

Suggestions for other on topic, pump-up songs?

Aaron Leavy Announces Candidacy For Employment

Over a year ago, following the defeat of Howard Dean I began to travel the country in the usual way one does when seeking employment. I then formed the "Aaron for Employed in DC or Boston" exploratory committee, and today I'm officially declaring that, I Aaron Benjamin Leavy am a candidate for employment in the cities of Boston or Washington DC.*

I've travelled across the internet and met thousands** of supporters who've encouraged me to move to the East Coast. Supporters like, Allison Stuntz, who said, "Aaron, you'd like D.C., it's nice here"

This move is for the people like Allison and the dozens like her, people with the vision to encourage me to do things I've always said I wanted to do. This campaign is for the people like Mark Seide, who told me, "Boston is great, we could be neighbors." I seek employment not for the glory of earning money but out of the necessity of paying off my new iPod mini.

This is a campaign to unite and employ people everywhere***.

It is a monumentous task, one that I know is beyond my abilities alone. That is why I'm entrusting this campaign to my many friends, supporters and allies. The greatest lie that job seekers like me tell people like you is, "Don't worry, I'll be able to find a job quickly, on my own." Abraham Lincoln said that government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth. But I
like to think he was just as concerned with the employment status of people like me.

The truth is: You have the power. You have the power to let me know about the great little non profit in Sommerville. You have the power to suggest that I interview with Congressman X. You have the power to suggest that I call your ex boyfriend's old boss. You have the power to make me further indebted to you for your incredible generosity, frienship and kindness. And that is exactly what I plan to do.

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much.

=======
*Jen got into a mess of grad schools all along the east coast, and it
seems like the best two locations for me are either Boston or DC. I'm
hoping for your help in trying to locate something that works for me
in either place. I'm looking to move over the Summer, but would move
sooner if I found the right job.
**actual number may vary
***Well, really it's mainly a campaign to employ Aaron Leavy in one of
two specific places, Boston or DC, but why quibble with poetic
license.

Apologies to Gov Dean and the English language.

Work.

JKD sent along this quotation from an article arguing for a resumption of the draft. Interesting points, etc. It's timid and apologetic about the choices that draftees would be allowed to make.

"Unlike an old-fashioned draft, this 21st-century service requirement
would provide a vital element of personal choice. Students could
choose to fulfill their obligations in any of three ways: in national
service programs like AmeriCorps (tutoring disadvantaged children), in
homeland security assignments (guarding ports), or in the military.
...
Most would no doubt pick the less dangerous options. But some would
certainly select the military—out of patriotism, a sense of adventure,
or to test their mettle. Even if only 10 percent of the one-million
young people who annually start at four-year colleges and universities
were to choose the military option, the armed forces would receive
100,000 fresh recruits every year. These would be motivated recruits,
having chosen the military over other, less demanding forms of
service."

"less demanding." This is a stupid argument. Less deadly certainly. But it's fucking hard toteach (says a man with no personal experience). It's doubly hard to teach when poorly trained. It's triply hard to teach when the students face challenges beyond the scope of needing to sit still...and verge into severe behavioral problems...and oh, crushing poverty, etc. And it's quadruply hard to do all that while being told that your struggle is worthless. The idea that those things that come easily, or are more easily imagined and less often romanticized are any less important is to think that careers should be chosen based by a trip to Blockbuster. Even if a smart populace wasn't the most important thing we can do to save our selves, it'd be wrong. Work is worthwhile. To get up daily and strive to perform your task, whatever it is, is noble. Just because it's easier to imagine yourself as a teacher than a soldier doesn't make it easier to do. you're right the risks are dramatically different. But for some the structure of the military is familiar and reassuring. and for those people being a free lance writer might be a real chore. for others having their souls crushed by a system that doesn't work and leaves millions of children without the basic tools to function in a society that regards them as spare parts...well that could be rough as well.

jesus.

Work is noble. Sacrifice and passion are heroic. No matter the form, no matter the title.