2nd Month in Review

There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled.  There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled.  You feel it, don't you? 

-Rumi

My mother asked if I would read a book with her, the book, "Three Cups of Tea."  After reading a few chapters, I put down the book, and realized things somehow come together.  This summer I am taking a class on how to manage your own small law firm.  Each of us must complete a personalized business plan and had to work with a guest speaker to conduct a presentation to the class.  I chose the topic of a non-profit on the first day of class.  As someone who does not want to be a traditional lawyer but wants to use the degree somehow and just plain wants to help people, a number of things started to hit home.  

The book is about a mountain climber who, by chance, happens upon a small village in the Himalayas and finds an overwhelming need for help.  The children needed to be educated. Alone and broken, literally, this man started an uphill battle but in the end succeeds in grandiose fashion.  After a few weeks of class, I had found a goal.  I want to start a non-profit while in Grad School.  I want to develop policy in poverty stricken areas, nationally and abroad, and work with non-profits who provide direct aid.  Then I met the guest speaker I was to present with.  She had done exactly what I want to do, in a different focus area, and it all came together.  I started to think if I hadn't come to NY this may not have come to me.  I wouldn't have taken the class and I wouldn't have read the book.  And at this moment things started to look up.  

Wenarto urged me to see the production of Viva La Diva, a pop opera show by former Opera great, Dorothy Bishop.  Wenarto had met her and the show's director, J. Jensen, via his now, world famous youtubes.  After several emails from Wenarto insisting, I agreed.  It was a great experience.  I met the cast (photo above) and then went a met a friend of a friend who worked as a bartender in the area.  

On the way to the bar, I was caught in a thunderstorm and had to find the first umbrella available. When I arrived at the bar, in the W hotel, I was drenched, holding a golf-size, umbrella, and at our introduction I did my best Charlie Chaplin impression to which she laughed.  We had about a ten minute conversation over the course of 3 hours, as she had to wait on customers, forming 10 second intervals.  In the meantime, I met a fascinating couple, in their 40's, who were originally from Italy and now lived in Michigan, but were here for their son's recital at Carnegie hall.  I was relieved to find two people who didn't share a brain and we discussed Italy, NY, cooking and music.   

The bartender, Anastasia, invited me to come watch the fireworks for the 4th from the top of her and her friend's art studio at the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard.  It was an amazing view and great company.  Her art can be found at Anastasiazielinski.com.   I had been to Brooklyn for a job interview and fell in love immediately.  Although the job turned out to be a 3 hour commute (costing close to $400 a month) from the isolated township of Bay Shore to Long Beach at a kids summer camp.  My only other interview was a 2 hour bus ride (with 3 transfers) which I also had to refuse due to travel.  I concluded I would not be working until I got out of Bay Shore and I HAD to get a place in Brooklyn.  

Class ended and on the last day, we all enjoyed an outing, paid for by our teacher.  I was very impressed with the commitment to public service by my CUNY classmates.  These students knew far more about the world, and actually cared, than most other law students I had met. This seems to me to be the key to the public service model, not curriculum at a law school.  

As the month ends, I am looking for a new apartment in Brooklyn and have one lead which hopefully gets taken care of tomorrow.  I am battling with the decision of whether to stay or go back to Seattle, and if so, when?  I came to New York to see if I could.  To meet new people.  To give things a chance.  To get away and spend some time in thought.  The candle still needs to be lit, the void still needs to be filled, but it's hard to say when and where that will take place.  

One final thought.  New York City is a cold place so New Yorkers, listen up.  I went to a bar and gave a solid attempt to be friendly, engage in conversations, and enjoy myself with a friend from class and his friends, all locals.  They laughed at my jokes, asked questions but I kept feeling like something wasn't going right.  Then I observed them interacting amongst themselves.  They seemed to be suffering from collective A.D.D.  No conversation went very long, nor revealed a thing about them or their point of view.  As I was talking to one girl, the bartender sneezed and reflexively I said "bless you."  Two minutes later, she delivered a beer to me, free of charge, and said, "thanks for looking out for me."  Maybe it's the naive Seattleite again but what?  Are people so rude, so cold here that a common courtesy gets a reward?  I am starting to think so.  It's a cold, cold city.