April 6, 2006

• Topic: thougts and pictures

  
  

  yet another strike in NYC, this time it’s the construction workers next door to my building.  In less than 1yr. in NYC, I’ve learned quite a bit about the labor movement, and have become more aware of work as a concept.  It’s a unifying concept, in which I can actually relate to a street cleaner and a baseball player, and sort out the obvious differences between all three of us.

  
  

  Billy Donovan, the coach of the NCAA basketball champion Florida Gators, grew up in my hometown of Rockville Centre (other notables to come out of my hometown include Howard Stern and Dave Attell from Comedy Central’s Insomniac).  Watching him speak during the tournament, I get a sense of a person who understood the game inside and out.  He was a very technical person, not very emotional, and even after they won the national championship, from his face and his words, you wouldn’t know it.  He made a comment about how he didn’t want this to be considered the crowning achievement in his life, rather he simply wanted to impact as many lives as possible in a positive way.  Next season, there would be a new group of players that were there looking to be pushed equally as hard as this year’s team.  What also struck me about this story was Donovan’s age, 40.  This struck me because it reminded me that great achievements often come later in life, and often come only after years of development and failure. 

  
  

  Brian Bannister is a rookie pitcher for the NY Mets, who made his Major League debut last night.  He pitched a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings, and left the game that inning with a 4-3 lead (which the Mets, as they do so wonderfully, squandered in the 9th inning).  Brian is 25, only 5 months older than myself.  At one point I dreamt about playing ball for the Mets, but as a young kid I knew it was completely a dream.  Now that the Major Leagues are full of people my age, I have this sensation that pipe dreams don’t come true like winning the lottery, they come true from years of pursuit.  At this point, Brian is just a rookie, the fact that he plays professional baseball not all the remarkable.  Sure, he’s pulling in over $300,000 and only has to work about 1-day per week, along with a wide-range of other perks that come with his job, but there’s no question that this kid (I say kid because i’ll always consider my peers to be kids), has probably run the gauntlet in terms of overcoming doubts about living this dream.  Like Billy Donovan, I’m sure Brian won’t ever feel complete until he wins a World Series ring, and even then, there will be more to do.

  
  

  So, I take comfort in the lives and work of others.  Sports Illustrated has an article on Roberto Clemente I’m meaning to read, about his efforts with the poor and helping victims of natural disasters in Central Amerca. 

  
  

  

  
  

  This is Studs Terkel, who wrote a book called “Working,” also on my reading list.  Besides having a cool name, he was interested in the lives of people, from prison inmates to the well-off.  If I was paid to be a writer, I’d extend this post longer, but the job beckons.

  
  

  here’s a couple of pictures from the BBC of young people in France, voicing their opinions on a new labor law. 

  
  

  

  
  

  

  
  

  and here’s the home of a Florida tomato picker, Guadalupe Gonzalez only $1400/mo. divided by 6 people of course.

  
  

  

  
  

  Guadalupe hangin’ lose!

  
  

  

  
  

  the dan man hangin’ lose, w/ Kiff Allen from NYC Outward Bound

  
  

  

  
  

  and now some more assorted photos from the NYC travel meet-up site

  
  

  

  
  

  Isabel, Sheldon, Mr. Belvedere, and myself, enjoying the brew and figuring out how to take over the world

  
  

   

  
  

   

  • 12:59 pm
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