Volunteering at Members Project School Day

On Saturday I participated in the American Express Members Project School Day, organized in affiliation with New York Cares, at PS 290Q in Maspeth, Queens. The goal was to spend a few hours of the day (9 am to 2 pm) trying to make a positive difference in a local school. As the event sponsor, AMEX provided all of the supplies for the project, as well as generously providing a light breakfast and lunch for all volunteers, and a gift bag containing a disposable digital camera, to help us chronicle the day's events, and a t-shirt to wear while volunteering. At sign-in we were asked to choose between doing straight painting, painting murals (that's what we did), or furniture assembly. After my initial enthusiasm at sign-up, the possibility that I would forever mar these young children's school hallway and give them nightmares with my horrible drawing skills, if the mural had to be painted free-hand, sent me into near panic. My heart rate went back to normal once I was informed that the mural had already been stenciled and that we were basically doing color by numbers.

Before splitting us up into our respective groups, the principal of the school thanked us for our time and offered an open invitation to visit the school when the little people benefiting from our work were around. My group trotted up to the second floor, and after getting a run down on safety instructions, each of us parked ourselves in front of a blank stenciled wall and got to painting. Here are some before and after pictures.





Pretty cool, huh? My contributions were the bushes, leaves and flower above. My friend painted the rockin' bird and tree. It was a great day and it felt good to know there would be some smiling little faces come Monday morning when students got a look at the hallway we'd worked on.

Room: A Novel

I finished reading "Room: A Novel" by Emma Donoghue this weekend. The novel's disturbing subject is made a little less so by the writer's intriguing decision to write the book from the perspective of the 5-year old main character. "Room" tells the story of Jack, a just-turned 5-year old who has lived his entire life with his mom in one 11x11 room. To Jack, Room holds everything he needs and loves, his mom, his books, his TV, Wardrobe, and his beloved Rug, where he was born. To his mother, Room is the prison she's been held in for the seven years since the time of her kidnapping by Old Nick. Thanks to Jack's bravery and his mom's ingenuity they undertake a daring plan for escape, which finally breaks them free of their prison and exposes Jack to a world he didn't know existed.

While the book covers a dark subject matter, it is not depressing or gloomy. Jack's voice of innocence and wonder brings light and hope to what could otherwise be a depressing read. The relationship between mother and son is also beautifully detailed throughout the book. From mom's ingenuity in making toys for her son out of regular household items, like a snake from threaded together egg shells, or protecting her son from their limitations and her own sense of entrapment by helping Jack believe that Room was their safe world and everything beyond the door was outer space or what he saw on TV make-believe. The novel lovingly details the remarkable lengths to which a mother's love will go in an effort to protect her child. A worthwhile and at times moving read.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Last night I watched the Swedish film (subtitled), "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," and all I can say is...wow. I haven't enjoyed a movie this much in a long while. A classic whodunit which was disturbing, yet riveting. I hadn't read the novel by Stieg Larsson, but given that as a general rule books are better than the movie, I will be rushing out to buy the novel ASAP.

The story centers around a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, who takes on an assignment from a wealthy CEO to look into the forty-year old disappearance and potential murder of his beloved niece, Harriet Vanger. As Blomkvist starts to delve into Harriet's last days with her family he teams up with expert researcher and goth computer hacker, Lisbeth Salander. The search for Harriet's killer leads them to uncover a series of decades old murders and a veritable Pandora's box of Vanger family secrets.

As I said, the film is very disturbing. There are a couple of brutal and explicit scenes which are not for the faint of heart. Nonetheless, if you can stomach it, then watch it, because the actress playing Lisbeth, Noomi Rapace, gives a tour-de-force performance unlike none I've seen before.

Theodore & Miguel

I wanted to introduce the latest additions to the family, my knucklehead's new pets. Pets don't last very long in that household; fish, rabbits, and birds have quickly fallen by the wayside as the boys lost their initial devotion and interest, but I'm hoping Theo and Miguel can benefit from the fact that the boys are older and wiser. Personally, I'm totally loving these two. The knuckleheads are lucky I have Jasmin (my kitty) at home, because if not, I'd be quick to confiscate them during one of my weekend visits. Without further ado, here are Theo and Miguel.

Theo is a little pudgy ball of fur. While Theo might not be as photogenic as Miguel, due to his piercing red eyes, he in fact is the sweeter of the two. He enjoys eating while sitting in his food bowl and long walks down the driveway in his see-through hamster ball.

Miguel is a sassy little thing. He loves to be held, but picking him up requires some initial fortitude because he's quick to nibble on your finger. He's a bit of a loner, sometimes opting to sleep alone in their tube lookout instead of snuggling with Theo.

Stop and Smell the Flowers

Slow Dance
© David L. Weatherford

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short,
The music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

Ever told your child, "We’ll do it tomorrow?"
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi?"
You’d better slow down.
Don’t dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift…
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before your song is over.

Stand By Me | Playing For Change

Stand By Me | Playing For Change | Song Around The World from Concord Music Group on Vimeo.

I found this on vimeo.com and absolutely loved Grandpa Elliott's portion of the song. From “Playing for Change: Peace Through Music,” a documentary about how music has the power to bring us together, comes this video of one of the 'songs around the world.’ The documentary brought a traveling recording studio to streets in the US and around the world, capturing unknown street musicians, each singing pieces of the same song and editing them together to form soulful musical mosaics. As a result of the success of the project, the Playing for Change Foundation was created. Its mission is “to ensure that anyone with the desire to receive a music education would have the opportunity to do so.” Now, musicians from all over the world come together to perform benefit concerts that, along with donations, help build music and art schools in areas of the world that need a little hope.

You can help out too, by visiting the foundation website (link provided above) and spreading the word or by buying the “Songs Around the World” CD/DVD at Amazon or at the Playing for Change shop. Great music for a great cause.