The Moth

Here is a city culture article I wrote about The Moth, a wonderful organization supporting the art of storytelling, that was published recently in my school's newspaper, Communiqué. It was also posted here on Columbia's The Morningside Post. 

 .  .  .

“What is this, ‘Occupy Crosby Street?’” a man asks as he passes by a line of people that has wrapped around the block in the SoHo neighborhood of Lower Manhattan.

Some in the crowd could easily be mistaken for the occupiers camped out a few blocks away, with their thick-rimmed glasses and their hip T-shirts advertising obscure bands you’ve probably never heard of. But in this same group stands a woman in her mid-forties, dressed fashionably in black and looking like she might have just stepped out of a nearby boutique.

The passerby gives this woman in particular a peculiar look. She is talking under her breath and making hand gestures to no one in particular, holding handwritten notes in one hand and her iPhone in another as a five-minute timer ticks away on the phone’s screen.

“No, it’s The Moth,” a girl in line answers.  The man turns to the girl and furrows his brow in confusion. “A public storytelling event,” she explains.

“Huh.” The man gives a slight shrug and turns away into the night, casting one last glance at the woman who, engrossed in her own narrative, has not even noticed him. The forward movement of the line snaps her back to attention, though, as this throng of New Yorkers eagerly presses in to get a good seat for tonight’s featured entertainment: story time.

Every week or two, crowds like this show up at standing-room-only venues in New York City and other major U.S. cities for a chance to hear personal stories told by ordinary people. These StorySLAMs, as they are called, are put on by The Moth, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling that began in 1997 as a gathering of friends swapping stories on a porch in Georgia.

Some people come just to watch and listen. Others, like the woman in black, come with stories in hand, ready to jump up on stage if her name is drawn and share a funny or touching tale with a room full of complete strangers.

That's Me

Remember the author of this blog who predicted that she might fall off the face of the blogosphere once her grad school classes picked up?  Yes, that's me.  Well, I'm still alive, just not so much on the blog network these days.. but I really am going to work on it.

By way of a very quick update, school is going well - it's been time-consuming and challenging at times, but getting over the hump of midterms felt like a bit of a turning point for me.  My concentration in this international affairs program is human rights, and I've really enjoyed what I've learned so far this semester about international human rights law.  I'm also getting involved with a few things outside of class, including a project on Sudan that I hope to help out with through an online magazine called HELO Magazine.  I also just edited an online feature interview for my school's Journal of International Affairs that you can read (or at least scroll down and see my name at the bottom of the page) here.

In other news, with weeks to go before Thanksgiving, it's already beginning to look like Christmas here - Macy's is decked out to the nines, stores are selling holiday M&Ms and Hanukkah candles, and I discovered last night that the Rockefeller Christmas tree is in. the. house!  More to come on that later!

Quote of the Day

"It'll really be helpful if you go home now 

and try to explain this stuff to your cat."

- My math professor after a lengthy 

lecture regarding non-linear functions

You Would.

One thing in particular about this city that I find interesting is to read the "graffiti" that people write up on the side of buildings, doors, staircases.. wherever.  Yesterday I happened across one that read kind of like a dialogue, where apparently one guy was trying to be philosophical and then someone else came along and actually responded:

"Would you like to be reborn in a petri dish?"

"No, but thanks."

I also kept seeing this phrase, "You would," scrawled in several locations around the West Village.  For some reason, as I walked around alone and read these words aloud in my head they made me chuckle a little.

In other news, I found this application on my phone that does retro camera shots and I've been trying it out.  Kinda cool, huh?

A Quick Poll

Also, on this computer in the lab I noticed that for some reason the header is not appearing.  It should be a shot of one of those binocular contraptions with the Empire State Building in the background and the words "this is the first day of my life."

Can YOU see it on your computer?

Camp Mathematics

So I've had orientation for school all this week, which has been intense, to say the least.  Each morning we have multiple hours of "math camp."  Yes, it is as terrible as it sounds.

Everything has been really packed.  I've also moved into a new apartment (well, my stuff is all in there, though not unpacked), and my new place doesn't have internet, so that will probably delay posts on here.  More to come later...

But wait! 
A couple fun finds of the day: my roommate just found a microwave on the side of the street!  And I got a free mattress set this week, and it's really nice! 
A rather unpleasant find: a mouse in my bedroom, which I eventually captured and released after a little shrieking and a lot of resolve.

Backstreet's Back?

And the free Craigslist find of the day is... the Backstreet Boys!!?

Man, if it was only 2001.

As Free As The Wind Blows

Did you know that people give things away for free on Craigslist?  I don't know, maybe I'm the only person who hasn't heard about this.  But it's awesome.

Today I had my first successful foray into the land of the free, and I must say that I am quite pleased with my initial find:

Now on to the bigger stuff.  I may be crazy, but I seriously plan on furnishing my new apartment entirely with this free stuff.  This could get addicting.

But wait.  Not all free things are created equal.  There are some things posted on Craigslist which are not so desirable as these lovely serving dishes.  Some are downright comical, which is why I feel that they simply must be shared here.

Let's see, we've got:

Hot Pockets (5 boxes, to be exact)

Sterile catheters (ew)

A bedside commode (double ew)

Dirt ("free dirt," to give a full & exact quote)

125 bricks (count 'em)

Landline phones (these still exist?)

Austin Powers VHS tape (people who'd watch this still exist?)

2 scrapbooks full of Paulina Porizkova magazine clippings (who is this?.. and why?) 

Blessings (guaranteed to bring about positive change in your life, provided you just believe)

I also find some of the titles particularly funny if you only read the beginning.  For example: "Cute little girls pink bag with Hello Kitty"  And I'm telling you, if I had a record player I would be all over this Fraggle Rock record.

So as you can see, people here really don't like to throw things away.  And I appreciate that, I really do.  I mean, I'm sure that No Impact Man would support it.  

That one post about blessings also has a catchy little ending: "Jesus is Lord. Please be with you always."  I think I might make that my trademark signoff.

Jesus is Lord.  Please be with you always.

Here's to (another) first day of my life.

And so with a new move comes a new facelift for this long-neglected blog...

Tadaaaa! I've moved to New York City! And in the process of moving to a new and exciting place, I think I've decided to blow the dust off of this old blog and give it another shot. (The author does, however, reserve the right to completely change her mind and renege on this promise should school prove to be as time-consuming as it is likely to be!)

For years, these vagabond shoes have been longing to stray to this peculiar and wonderful city, and now that I'm here I thought it might be fun to share some interesting things as I encounter them. I'm beginning work on a Master's of International Affairs at the end of this month, and I hope that along with my observations of city life, I'll also be able to provide a few brief glimpses into the incredibly interesting things I'll be studying.

So while I don't plan to stay here forever, for at least the next two years I'll raise my glass to this one way ticket and to finding my place in this city that doesn't sleep.