Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Once Upon a School
I’ve been reading Moby Dick over spring break for school. There now seems to be a prevalence of seafaring/pirate themes everywhere I turn, including the unintentional, and un-ironic, two-day wearing of my Johnny Depp “Pirates of the Caribbean” t-shirt.
Just when I’m trying to hole up and ignore the internet, Pheezy posted this link via twitter, via designverb, to Dave Egger’s speech at TED. This quote taken from the tail end:
“...they need your physical personhood, and your open minds and open ears and boundless compassion, sitting next to them, listening and nodding and asking questions for hours at a time. Some of these kids just plain don’t know how good they are, how smart and how much they have to say… you can shine that light on them one human interaction at a time.” - Dave Eggars
While I throw the pirate stuff in just for a cheap segue, I don’t mean to deprecate the amazing awesomeness which is Dave Eggars, or what he’s done with the tutoring workshops with 826 Valencia and sister locations. Watching this lengthy (but worth it) presentation, I was genuinely excited to see the pirate supply store. The video is well worth watching through to the Brooklyn version: a superhero shop, and for some time travel nuts I know: L.A.’s Time Travel Mart.
I wept a bit watching this talk, until I felt that my overly sentimental teary eyes were useless and silly. Totally not as helpful as checking out 826NYC aka the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co., and thinking about if and when I could help them out.
Man, I love living here.
That’s not to say I didn’t love D.C.. I have a great memory of Maria telling me about Eggars’ reading in this Episcopal church, in Dupont near our old apartments. We Irish Catholic girls laughed at their padded pews and puny doses of suffering. Maria swooned for Dave. Dave (can I call you Dave?) was excellent, and (sorta) signed and stamped our copies of AHWOSG. Behold, further awesomeness. Now With Bunnies!
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