Musings on Dance, Food, Geek Stuff
Yesterday I had the pleasure of being a complete newb at a dance! Okay, maybe not a total newb, but definitely felt out of my depth attempting to lead the waltz at The Great Dickens Christmas Fair.I did fine with my friend Aurelia Santos for the first waltz, which had set sections and moves that…
A member of my Quaker Meeting, Stephanie Rauschenbusch, shared this wonderful poem written by her grandfather Stephanie Rauschenbusch in 1957. It very much speaks to my condition. O God, we thank thee for this universe, our great home; for its vastness and its riches, and for the manifoldness of the life which teams upon it…
I get to the 6th Avenue Skating Place a little after noon. The spot is already hopping with skaters and music, courtesy of my friend Alex and their very loud bluetooth speaker. A newer skater Cassidy is there and she wants to work on “the Smurf.” So we review that footwork and drill it together….
I’ve been a Quaker for 26 years and only now learned about the Public Universal Friend. The Public Universal Friend is hard to describe. They are considered by some to be the first transgender evangelist, by others the first American-born woman to lead a religious movement, by others a controversal non-binary preacher during the Revolutionary…
I have this one pretty gross memory as a kid that exemplifies my parents’ attitudes toward possessions. My cousins and I were gathered at our house for some occasion, probably Christmas, which we typically hosted for our extended family. My mom brought out a box of fancy chocolates for us to share. We opened the…
Jim Morgan, a beloved member of my Quaker Meeting was memorialized today. One of the remembrances was a message Jim gave where he stood up and said simply, “Joy. I am feeling immense joy.” Such a short statement, but so powerful in its brevity and eloquence. This is a reminder to me that whatever expression…
This was in some ways one of my easiest costumes, but also my most performative: “Cake Week” on “The Great British Bake Off!” I was a little stymied about what I wanted to be this Halloween, until the week before. And then it came to me in a flash: I wanted to be a baker…
From The Doors of Eden by Adrian Tchaikofsky (2020): “We cannot know what we do not know. We cannot see what we do not see,” he said, the words coming slowly, heavy with thought. “Dr. Khan understands the numbers behind the branches and the worlds, although that is not what she thought she was studying….
I randomly remembered a weird incident that happened to me 30 years ago: getting my ass kicked in a martial arts class in the basement of the UN. In the mid 90s, I was working at an accredited NGO at the United Nations. As such I had a few privileges like being able to attend…
This week I fulfilled a dream: skating for my colleagues at work. This was the culmination of a conversation I had with my co-worker Debbie about six months ago, where I asked her, “What would it take for us to host an open mic?” She replied, “Someone to organize it.” Six months later, I’m in…