Harlem

Biked to Harlem via the Hudson River bike path. It was a beautiful day. One of those "I totally understand why they have those t-shirts -- I LOVE NEW YORK" kind of days. The trees are all in full bloom. Pink. White. Purple Green. Amazing.

I was headed to the demonstration protesting the gratuitous killing of Sean Bell. I don't really know much about the case, so I can't in good conscience comment on the right or wrongness of the aquittal, but I can say that either way, 50 shots seems excessive. So, with a journalist friend, I biked up there to see what was going on. We got there a little late for the actual demonstration. There were a few people with signs and flyers, but nothing really noteworthy. Or was it?

I think that the expectation is that the black community would be the folks who are outraged in this event since Sean Bell was black. However, the people sticking around to the bitter end were white, asian, latino, but not really a black presence.

Another thing came to pass while we were in Harlem. My friend's bike got a flat. So, we started asking people about a bike shop. The man at what I'm calling the "Jesus Table" suggested that we go to a man who sets up on the side of the road and fixes bikes for "the children". Sounded good to me, but I wasn't quite sure about the directions. So I asked someone else. This guy said he'd lived in Harlem for years, knew the neighborhood like his hand, and had never seen a bike shop. That's why (he said) that there was so much violence around -- people don't ride bikes here. So we decided to follow the directions of the Jesus Table man. And then we encountered "The Doctor". The Doctor was a barber-shop-esque setup in a garage where three or four guys sat waiting for customers surrounded by bikes.

For $20 we got the flat fixed, tightened the brakes, straightened out the rim, and got back on the road.

The most surprising thing? The philosophy lessons. I'll admit it. I'm a little limited in what I think that most people think about religion. I think that sometimes people take things literally and I'm not down with that.

However, I overheard a woman talking on the phone with someone about tackling problems by setting the right frame of mind and letting things happen from there -- making the mind the most important, or at least the beginning, part. Then, the man who fixed the bike told us he had had 2 strokes, 2 heart attacks, spent 2 years in a wheel chair, and had beaten cancer. He attributed his current health to faith and an internalization of the divine. Deep.

10+ miles by bike. Cultural experience. Good company along the way. And guacamole and homemade lasagna when we returned home. Beautiful day.

Check This Out!

My roommate, the creative composer, fabulous (classical) guitarist, amazing editor, fantastic chef, among other things, has added a new incredible skill to his repertoire: Flash designer/programmer.

Check out his website at www.grantdamron.com to see all but the cooking skills. And if you need someone to write some music, play the guitar, edit sound, or design/program in Flash, please get in touch.

Daring Adventure or Nothing At All

I've never been a quote person. I've never thought it necessary to associate myself with a quotation of someone else's. However, I was recently, at least momentarily changed. At least for now, I'm really interested in risk and how that plays into everyday life. The rock climbing taught me a lot about managing risk in a really real, in-your-face kind of way, but other things that are a little less tangible have come up in my life and in the world around me. I look at running a presidential campaign as mitigating risk after risk and learning how to take one when needed. Foreign policy. Farm bill. Farmers on strike in Argentina. Al-Qaida.

So when I saw this quote on someone else's g-chat, I had to adopt it for my own propaganda and added it as a signature to the end of my emails. Usually I find the Quote People annoying. So judge if you must. I think it's a good thing to reflect on every once in a while.

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all." Helen Keller

Modeling and Modeling

The article linked above explains the shitty market in terms of its reliance on findings in 19th century botany and the presumption that acts in the market are random. Um... duh! My previous post about dealing with the delicate psyche of a beauty school student is not so unlike the conundrum of dealing with a fickle, emotions-based market. Is this really so surprising?

The article points out that risk models (quantitative computer models used by financial institutions to keep themselves out of just the hot water that they're in) failed to predict the explosion in the mortgage market. However, another kind of risk model, one I'm more familiar with, is one that is a little more qualitative. The kind of work I'm involved with looks at the risks to our society/environment via information about a company's impact on those parts of our lives, not pure, simple financial implications. The Christian Science Monitor has something to say about why funds like that did a little better amid all of this torture in the mortgage crisis. Kinda makes you think that those factors might indicate financial risk as well. Maybe the financial risk didn't come directly from the company, but how do you like having a saggy ass economy.

It's late. This is terrible. Sorry.

Treacherous...

When you sign up for a $20 haircut at Aveda Institute, you take a bit of a risk, so you take a deep breath and hope for the best repeating the mantra: it's just hair. it will grow back. i can afford to get it fixed.

Many have the theory that you just ask for a trim when you go for this $20 haircut in order to avoid disaster. However, we have to remember that we're dealing with people here, not just some Flowbee haircutting machine. You have to work with the (delicate) psyche of a beauty school student. In my opinion, one has to find the right balance between confidence and caution in order to make this work. Asking for just a trim starts the relationship with an air of mistrust, which is no way to begin if you want to survive.

1. Know what you want when you go in. Stylists at this level are not generally ready to create on-the-fly, even though they might try. Be firm, but gentle about what you want.
2. Instill a sense of trust.
3. Give compliments when they are due.

Otherwise, you might get what the woman next to me got: your hair stuck in a blow dryer! She asked for a trim, just a boring trim.

Let that be a lesson to you.