in all honesty, this was the first TED talk i watched, and what a difference it makes ... if i had watched another speech, i probably wouldn't have been half as inspired to continue watching video after video last week. it was only after i watched sarah kay's "if i should have a daughter" that i wanted to blog it out :) and im glad i did! though i sat riveted by this girl, my age or younger i'm not sure - her words touched me like no other. only someone that is so pure and compassionate about their art can touch you in such a way. i mean articles on oprah or the 'living' section of CNN always touched me in some sense, yet i never had the spirit or the drive to blog about it - i wasn't as inspired by it as sarah kay inspired me. she blew the TED audience away, giving her two standing ovations - as she said it - she knocked the wind out of the audience's lungs. at such a young age, she's an inspiration, the true wonder woman, to have done so much to the cause by creating project voice and helping so many children understand themselves through spoken word and poetry. she so skillfully put into words how i feel about most things - how the rain washes away the pain that chocolate just cannot fix, how to deal with disappointment, and how to be determined. however much the shoreline rejects the ocean, the ocean continually kisses the shoreline. she says, you are a mix of your mama and your papa - a mix of a warrior and a worrier. that speaks to me. though i have not been through half or one-fourth the pain most people have at my age, i feel that i was able to make it work, move past the issues and build a new me and learn to cherish the life i have been given. sarah kay speaks what i feel - and her speech makes me realize - i CAN do this...i WILL continue...and that i will TAKE RISKS...because without it, life won't be half as meaningful - and the journey will remain incomplete. she has taught me that i must challenge myself - do what i do best (write lists) - and work through whatever i haven't been able to so far. she has taught me ... that i can no longer continue to hide behind excuses, and protect myself through life. it's similar to what i learned in ssy - i must accept or accept that i don't accept everything easily. that i must walk through life with hands open - that i must rediscover wonder, andengage with those around myself.
when i'm gone, there needs to be some proof i existed. i'm on my way to figure that out. :)
day 1: TED talk - (if I should have a daughter ...)
http://www.ted.com/talks/sarah_kay_if_i_should_have_a_daughter.html
If I should have a daughter…“Instead of “Mom”, she’s gonna call me “Point B.” Because that way, she knows that no matter what happens, at least she can always find her way to me. And I’m going to paint the solar system on the back of her hands so that she has to learn the entire universe before she can say “Oh, I know that like the back of my hand.”
She’s gonna learn that this life will hit you, hard, in the face, wait for you to get back up so it can kick you in the stomach. But getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air. There is hurt, here, that cannot be fixed by band-aids or poetry, so the first time she realizes that Wonder-woman isn’t coming, I’ll make sure she knows she doesn’t have to wear the cape all by herself. Because no matter how wide you stretch your fingers, your hands will always be too small to catch all the pain you want to heal. Believe me, I’ve tried.
And “Baby,” I’ll tell her “don’t keep your nose up in the air like that, I know that trick, you’re just smelling for smoke so you can follow the trail back to a burning house so you can find the boy who lost everything in the fire to see if you can save him. Or else, find the boy who lit the fire in the first place to see if you can change him.”
But I know that she will anyway, so instead I’ll always keep an extra supply of chocolate and rain boats nearby, ‘cause there is no heartbreak that chocolate can’t fix. Okay, there’s a few heartbreaks chocolate can’t fix. But that’s what the rain boots are for, because rain will wash away everything if you let it.
I want her to see the world through the underside of a glass bottom boat, to look through a magnifying glass at the galaxies that exist on the pin point of a human mind. Because that’s how my mom taught me. That there’ll be days like this, “There’ll be days like this my momma said” when you open your hands to catch and wind up with only blisters and bruises. When you step out of the phone booth and try to fly and the very people you wanna save are the ones standing on your cape. When your boots will fill with rain and you’ll be up to your knees in disappointment and those are the very days you have all the more reason to say “thank you,” ‘cause there is nothing more beautiful than the way the ocean refuses to stop kissing the shoreline no matter how many times it’s sent away.
You will put the “wind” in win some lose some, you will put the “star” in starting over and over, and no matter how many land mines erupt in a minute be sure your mind lands on the beauty of this funny place called life.
And yes, on a scale of one to over-trusting I am pretty fucking naive but I want her to know that this world is made out of sugar. It can crumble so easily but don’t be afraid to stick your tongue out and taste it.
“Baby,” I’ll tell her “remember your mama is a worrier but your papa is a warrior and you are the girl with small hands and big eyes who never stops asking for more.”
Remember that good things come in threes and so do bad things and always apologize when you’ve done something wrong but don’t you ever apologize for the way your eyes refuse to stop shining.
Your voice is small but don’t ever stop singing and when they finally hand you heartbreak, slip hatred and war under your doorstep and hand you hand-outs on street corners of cynicism and defeat, you tell them that they really ought to meet your mother.
day 1: Wikipedia article - (jimmy mcaleer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_McAleer
James Robert "Loafer" McAleer was an American center fielder, manager, and stockholder in Major League Baseball who assisted in establishing the American League. He spent most of his 13-season playing career with the Cleveland Spiders,and went on to manage the Cleveland Blues, St. Louis Browns, and Washington Senators. Shortly before his retirement, he became a major shareholder in the Boston Red Sox.
His career ended abruptly. During his brief tenure as co-owner of the Red Sox, McAleer quarreled with longtime friend and colleague Ban Johnson, president of the American League. In the wake of this disagreement, he sold off his shares in the Red Sox and broke off his relationship with Major League Baseball.
McAleer's rift with Johnson, along with his sudden retirement, damaged his professional reputation, and he received little recognition for his contributions to baseball.Today, he is most often remembered for initiating the customary request that the President of the United States throw out the first ball of the season.
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