Archive for April, 2010:
The courage to hug a stranger
While I was driving around town running errands a few weeks ago, I saw a young man walking around with a piece of a cardboard box. I could tell something was written on it in bold black marker. My guess was that this teenager was in desperate need of some cash. The light turned green and I turned left before I could read his message.
The artistic universe
My friend Alex Champion, who creates earth labyrinths, occasionally sends me wonderful NASA photos of our universe. I find this photograph – taken on April 11, 2010 – particularly inspiring and beautiful. It resembles one of my favorite childhood art projects and is aptly named Spirograph Nebula after the drawing tool used to create colorful geometric shapes.
Optimism as a radical act
Imagine deciding to live without creating any environmental impact for a year: no trash, no carbon emissions via car or bus, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no plastics, no air conditioning, no TV, no flush toilets. This is what “No Impact Man” Colin Beavan, his wife, and daughter pursued last year in New York City and filmed as a documentary. Radical? Yes.
The “fun theory” in action
Happy April Fools’ Day! Upon seeing this video, I immediately felt gratitude for the existence of creative and intelligent playfulness. Fun is often “underrated” and yet it is so essential to our well-being and desire to be fully alive. Enjoy!