John Stepper

At film forum in NYC…

The wisdom of tea: “The difference between a flower and a weed is a judgment.”

“Building Empathy in a Fractured World”. Seems like a good time to read this….

Thich Nhat Hanh Way in upper Manhattan. 😎 🙏

You know your kids are in a good school when a senior administrator walks around offering you “pocket poems.”

I picked two good ones. 🤓 🥰

I ❤️ my local NY public library (100th St between Columbus & Amsterdam). Wonderful service. Super clean and warm. Stewarded by caring and kind staff here. 🤓 📚 🥰

YouTube video by Sesame Workshop Andrew Garfield and Elmo Explain Grief | Sesame Workshop

I mention I missed someone today and was sent this Sesame Street video with Andrew Garfield. How lovely. 🥲

youtu.be/EVlXbiP4x2E?...

With so many posts about libraries in my feed I thought I would share the latest book I borrowed…about a library.

“What you are looking for is in the library” So true… 📚 🇯🇵🤓.

Freak coincidence? Or…“The Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion, is a cognitive bias where you notice something you recently learned about, and then seem to encounter it more frequently, even though the actual frequency hasn't changed.”

Catbird seat - Wikipedia

TIL that “sitting in the catbird seat” has nothing to do with a cat. (I used the expression with my daughter, who looked at me like I’m a living anachronism, and realized I didn’t know where the expression came from.)

What other wondrous surprises await me? 🤓

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catbird...

One of the first Gmail ads I might be interested in. Oh, Canada! 🇨🇦 👏 🥰

'Spring has returned: the Earth is like a child that knows poems by heart'

— Rainer Maria Rilke

Cultural differences summed up as we pack snacks for the plane ✈️

PBJ for me. 🥜 🇺🇸
Rice balls for my wife. 🍙 🇯🇵

🥰

The Two-headed Calf Tomorrow when the farm boys find this freak of nature, they will wrap his body in newspaper and carry him to the museum. But tonight he is alive and in the north field with his mother. It is a perfect summer evening: the moon rising over the orchard, the wind in the grass. And as he stares into the sky, there are twice as many stars as usual.

Well, now I’m just sobbing. Thank you Laura Gilpin. You are missed.

On 🎯.

Bless the good people who put dinosaur tracks in wet cement on 95th Street, leading from their front door. 🥰 🦖

Makes me smile every time I walk by. 😊

Yay indeed. :-) Thank you for all that you share here. Makes social media seem…nice again. :-)

America by Simon & Garfunkel on Apple Music Song · 1968 · Duration 3:35

“‘Cathy, I’m lost,’ I said, though I knew she was sleeping. ‘I’m empty and aching and I don’t know why.’”

This lyric is 57 years old, and yet it captures the poignant despair of so many men today.

HT @forgottenpoets.bsky.social for attuning me to poetry in life. 🙏

music.apple.com/us/album/ame...

😊 👞 👠 🙏

Love, euphoria, and tragedy all in six lines.

Just started this and it’s fantastic. Insightful, useful, and very funny.

Chilling. I’ve heard this from friends who work in universities, NGOs, and non-profits.

We got a message from the university to remove any use of the "DEI", "diversity", "equity", or "inclusion" from all public-facing documents. They said that even "biodiversity" is being flagged by the federal government. We live in the dumbest timeline.

E.B. White I admire anyone who has the guts to write anything at all.

🖤🖤🖤

In 150 Characters or Lesss Everything is on fire, but everyone I love is doing beautiful things and trying to make life worth living, and I know I don't have to believe in everything, but I believe in that.

Nikita Gill.

We may succeed (by some measures) on our own, but “all flourishing is mutual.”

HT to the NY Public Library for this book. A nice weekend read. 🤓

This I love. And resemble more each day.

I’ve done this (after, I admit, checking that no one was watching).

Worked like a charm. 🌲 🌳 😊

Beautiful. Loneliness can be a world-class marathoner. As are self-doubt, fear, anxiety, and sadness. But oh to occasionally leave them “panting behind you on some street corner”! “A victory!” indeed.