8.8.14

"Back to School": When You’ve Been Out Of School (For Awhile)

Talking to an adult learner on the N train today, she told me she likes to see the young kids squirm in their seats when she gets to interpret Shakespearean sonnets. "I have a whole different outlook on love than them. It's not the same." My N train companion is not alone being older than her colleagues. One out of three students in this year’s Freshman class will most likely be over twenty-five years of age.
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1. Diving in 

More adult learners are going back to school. What’s the number one motivation? Desire to learn. As the baby boomers retire, more are fueled with renewed cognitive interest or are tired of doing the same thing time again. It's like Camus imagining Sisyphus pushing that damn rock: you got to think of something new for the descent. 

2. Fitting in

Part of going back to school is a brain thing. Older students report feeling out of place among younger students and find it hard to adjust to new educational attitudes that may differ from what they remember from previous schools. It’ll be different for sure, but fitting in is part of the cognitive process of starting something new.


Rodney Dangerfield in his first economics class.
Video Courtesy: ZaTbone

There are challenges to returning to the classroom, but if Rodney Dangerfield could do it, so can you. 

3. Finding your way
Anyone can go to university if they have a passion. In fact, having a passion makes more sense for those who have already straddled careers and family, because they have had more time to think about what they want. One indicator of success is just that: focus and knowing what you want, having goals, joined with life experience.


4. Revitalizing options

Who says you can have only one career? Billie Letts, of Where The Heart Is fame, wrote her first novel when she was in her 50s. Older and older, it doesn’t mean sapping innovation and creativity. Older people are seeking a second, third, and even fourth career choices. It’s a glimpse into the future. It’s where we’re going, so don’t let ageism creep into the hallowed halls. The younger set now vie for the honor roll with a silver-haired genius. 

5. Being an outlier
We’re living longer. The adult brain is still spry. Voices from across the age spectrum offer different takes on life. You might be older than your professor, and your age has made you an outlier. But outlier status means you give a fresh perspective in the classroom. You’re changing the bell curve. Like Shakespeare meditating on love (or the lady on the N train), learning something new at the apex of life is not letting go of that “ever-fixed mark” that "looks on tempests and is never shaken."

27.7.14

Brooklyn Notebook: Leif Ericson Commemoration on Fourth Avenue in South Brooklyn

In this post, I take a stroll in South Brooklyn and stumble upon a plaque in a park. Ho, there, Leif Ericson!

According to @forgottenny, the ”Crown Prince Olav, later King, of Norway dedicated this replica of a Viking runestone in Tune, Norway on a 1939 visit. The stone stands on Leif Ericson Square just east of 4th Avenue. (Tune, southeast of Oslo near the Swedish border, southeast of Oslo near the Swedish border, was incorporated into the town of Sarpsborg in 1992)”. @nycparks.
Replica of a Viking Runestone, Brooklyn, New York — Photo Credit: Greig Roselli
PDF Copy for Printing

26.7.14

A Lagniappe Of Dumplings At Xi'an's Famous Foods

Have you ever been to Xi'an's Famous Foods in the East Village (or their other locations)? It's stupid good.
A trio of my friends decided to eat dumplings on Saint Mark's. Xi'an's Famous Foods serves up a delicious spinach dumpling in a sour soup; it's fast, savory, and filling food. I was craving a heap of deliciousness,  and I had a tenner in my pocket. I was freelancing at the time  money was tight.
Spinach dumplings at Xi'an's Famous Foods
The eatery is small, and hungry weekenders (it was a Saturday afternoon) fill the space. Two thin, attractive men seated already had gotten up to leave. I offered to dispose of their plates since I was already adjacent to the trash bins.

"Hey," I said, noticing the blonde hadn't eaten the remaining four dumplings that sat green and plump on his plate. "Are you going to eat that? I'll eat it." 

The guy, nonplussed, said "sure," and he and his companion, both wearing crisp white shirts and chinos departed the restaurant.


I ordered a second round of dumplings, and one of my friends suggested we walk down Saint Mark's and ask people dining on the sidewalk to give us their food.


Yeah, we didn't do that, but the lagniappe of dumplings and a carbonated apple fizz soda was my delight for a day in the East Village.

25.7.14

Photograph: "A World Within A World"

From Instagram: This is what happens when you zoom your camera into the recesses of weird nooks and crannies of a building.

"A World Within A World": A photograph taken in the Fordham neighborhood (The Bronx, New York City)

20.7.14

Photographs: Walking Underneath the Hell Gate Bridge in Randall's Island Park

Setting: A Randall's island soccer field with the Hell Gate Bridge cutting through like a beeline. Where's that crack train from Albany? Walking underneath the trestle, the trains above me carry all Amtrak trains on their way to upstate New York, Boston, and all points north. I took these photographs with my friend @trolson14. And I sing "Under the Bridge" by @chilipeppers. P.S. We saw a Blue Winged wasp (with the scientific name #scoliadubia) and a wall covered with U.F.O. graffiti. I call it "Dripping Wet U.F.O". P.S.S. To get to the island, we walked across the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge (a.k.a. The Triborough Bridge. Caveat: Walking this bridge is not for the faint of heart. @nyc_dot.
Greig walks under the Hell Gate Bridge (Randall's Island)

Troy walks across the wet grass of a soccer field 
(with a fabulous, atmospheric view of the Hell Gate Bridge)

A wasp

Tri-Borough Bridge

"Dripping Wet U.F.O."

6.7.14

Movie Review: Le Petit Amour (Kung-Fu Master!)


Jane Birkin and Mathieu Demy in Le Petit Amour (Kung Fu Master!), Dir. Agnès Varda (1988)
I recently saw Le Petit Amour (Kung-Fu Master!) (1988), directed by Agnès Varda, on Mubi. I am familiar with her most famous work, Jacquot de Nantes, and her exquisite short documentary films.
The movie tells the story of Mary-Jane, a recently divorced older woman (Jane Birkin) who unwittingly falls in love with her daughter's (Charlotte Gainsbourg) younger teenage classmate, Julien (Mathieu Demy). In real life, Demy is Varda's son, and Gainsbourg is Birkin's daughter. Birkin conceived the story, and Varda wrote it (also it is quite the cinematic family-affair, considering the real-life relationships among Varda, Demy, and the Birkin clan).
The plot concerns a taboo subject of intergenerational love, but I thought the film was redeemed (and Roger Ebert agrees) by its ability to capture feelings without the use of overwrought words, or a display of gratuitous sex. While the story is fantasy-driven, it touches upon the feeling of passionate love and how it can come upon you when you least expect it.

3.7.14

Video: Summer Deluge On Chrystie Street

A video of a rain-drenched Chrystie Street in Lower Manhattan.
On Chrystie Street in Lower Manhattan rain pours in sodden dribbles. People curse. I eat a plate of roasted pig and rice. Barbara prays to Saint Barbara. The naiads cry and the nomads roam.