The Hall of Freedom

Although it may be unpopular for a Syracuse posting, I felt it was the karmic right for the CARDS to win yesterday at Freedom Hall in Louisville, Kentucky. The memories that facility has for so many Louisvillian fans is irreplaceable. I remember visiting games as a sixth grader, and I have even more with my Aunt and Uncle, Jimmy Brandenburg, Keef, Deshawn, Ron, and Janet.

I think I was most moved yesterday by Rick Pitino's mock-coat wearing Denny Crum impersonation. That was the last way a game in Freedom Hall needed to be played. Yes, Syracuse was ranked #1, but the magic that occurred in Kentucky yesterday was bigger than any team's seed. It was, after all, about solidifying history at the Fairgrounds and saying good-bye to a home that was so welcoming for many years. Go CARDS!

ooey gooey karma

It sucks being cheap, having an addictive personality, and coming across a bag of mini-Cadbury creme eggs at Ollie's for next to nothing.

Why? Because it's not Easter and I nabbed a bag, and because it's the day after Flo's birthday, and I only mailed her a card this year. If I had known, I would have sent her this marvelous collection of mini-chocolate goop.

At first I thought, "These mini-eggs aren't worth the time it takes to unravel the aluminum wrapper. It would be much easier to unwrap a larger chocolate egg."

PS: Dad, you ain't getting any for your birthday today. They're all gone (and I don't think you'd like them anyway)

PSS: Go, Syraville! I mean Louiscuse! Ra Ra Ra!

But, the unraveling grew on me and the mini-eggs were marvelous. Too bad eggs like these don't grow like Cherry Tomato Plants - that would be a magical world, indeed.

It's Flo's Birthday

My friend Judy's birthday is today. I met her in 1992 when I studied in London, England, and whe she adopted me as her upstate New York, nerdy, non-cosmopolitan friend. I was nineteen at the time and she was twenty, and she tried desperately to make me more hip than I could ever be. Eighteen years later, she's a mother of two beautiful daughters and has begun a jewelry collection in Brooklyn, New York. Her site will be up soon: http://www.luckystarjewelrynyc.com/ - this is years after selling George Forman grills.

As the world's karma works, Judy married a man from Louisville and it helped us to keep our friendship going. Before her marriage, she often came to spend holidays with me in Syracuse and, as my father said, "I've never seen such a thin person eat so much."

Judy called me Archie and I called her Flo. Not sure where that came from, but we traveled many places together: Ireland, Long Island, Las Vegas, Kentucky, and even Tennessee. In many ways, she was very central to my young twenties and I hold the adventures we had close to most of what I cherish from those days, including the time Bette Midler was filming in the early a.m. outside her apartment and Judy yelled, "Would someone tell that $@#$# to shut up, we're still trying to sleep!"

And that is why I say, "Happy Birthday, Flo!" I love you, miss you, and think of you often.

Muhammed Ali and Somalia

In 2006, I was asked to be a teacher of record for the Muhammed Ali museum that was resurrected on the Ohio River in Louisville. The opening was a spectacular event and one that I'll never forget. If you ever visit Louisville, I highly recommend a tour of his history.

Recently, while interacting with a young man from Somalia, I learned that Muhammed Ali has been an inspirational daemon that was used to guide his hope through hard times. Surviving war, his displacement, a refugee camp, and now an American High School, the student discussed with me an admiration for this Louisvillian boxer. On my mantle at home, I had a photo-journalism text about Muhammed Ali that I found one night at a dollar store in Cicero. Yesterday, though, I brought the book to this young man as a gift.

The karma I received through participating with my students who worked as consultants to the Muhammed Ali museum's creation and the opportunity to be a part of the gala held for him in 2006 was paid back in its entirety by handing this book to this young man. I witnessed him telling a friend, "This was a gift. The book belongs to me."

"Be the change you want to see in the world."
-- Mohandas Gandhi.

We take for granted...

On a good day, our stomachs agree with us and we go about our business with little concern to the biology of egestion and digestion. On a day like yesterday, when the universe works against us, we wonder how we inhaled a virus to make everything go wrong. Not only can we not eat, but we also can't keep anything down or inside us.

Be thankful you have the good days when everything works properly. When it doesn't, man do we curse the Gods!!! Yesterday, was a day of prayer for me...one that was thankful to be close to the bathroom.

Cat Stevens and Karma

I was thinking about Siddhartha and how he fathered a son with his courtesan, Kamala, and without his knowledge. As Siddhartha moved about his journey, never quite settled with any of the games he was to play (Samsara), he did finally take refuge on the river with Vesudeva.

It is here he met his son and the mother of his child, bitten by a snake, dies.

And the son stays a little while, but like Siddhartha, the young man soon grows unsettled and wishes to leave the comfort of the river's routine and home.

This is karma. Every child finds the day to depart and set out on his/her own. One day, they too will be left by others. The cycle, like the river, flows.

And Cat Stevens sings.

Fanfare, Farewell

I admit that the last month was made possible by the Winter Olympic games in Vancouver. Although I watched much of it on mute so I could multi-task on other work, I did catch key moments and was able to play John Williams theme song in my head.

The USA lost to Canada in Hockey yesterday, but the University of Louisville (a non-Olympic event) made Sunday reading pleasurable. Note: I look up from time to time to see the images on my boob tube, but don't let the noise dictate when I should be paying attention. Instead, I let fate and karma do it's thing. If I look up and it's an exciting moment, I may pay attention. Otherwise, I wait for visual recaps.

Even so, listening to the Olympic Fanfare always brings a sense of pride to my world. And this year, it's over, which is good - March Madness is around the corner!