An interesting lecture given by John Legend at the 2009 University of Pennsylvania convocation. Worth a viewing, and interesting food for thought.
http://www.youtube.com/user/johnlegend?blend=1&ob=4#p/u/5/NSIQszUAvow
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
mother nature reminds us
It was a warm August evening. Before the storm hit, earlier in the evening, as I got into the car, I could feel a warm breeze, the sky was a strange colour and it all felt eerily familiar. I ignored the familiar feeling, turned off my senses and got into my car. As I was driving west across the city, headed home, I looked into my rear-view mirror. The view was bright. When I looked ahead, the sky was turning blue and black, and sheet lightening was threatening to strike. There was no rain. But you could clearly tell it was coming. I pulled into my driveway, and drove into my buildings parking lot. I got to the elevator, just as the lights started to flicker. Not an encouraging event when one is entering an elevator. By the time I reached my floor, the water was pelleting the window so hard you couldn't see out. It reminded me of the way the water pushes against your windshield when you go through a car wash. The storm went on for hours, or it felt like it anyway. It wasn't until the eleven o'clock news that I got a sense of the damage it had done.
Reports that I read, say multiple tornados touched down in this Southern Ontario storm. The storm was reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, with swirling debris, trees uprooted, cars turned over, houses completely destroyed and thousands affected by power outages. Even more tragic was the loss of one young life, a little boy attending a summer camp. In the city, we were hit by the strong rain, and some lost power. However, north of Toronto, there were houses which have since had to be bulldozed because this storm caused so much damage in literally under five minutes. This all felt very familiar.
When I was 10, a Tornado (or series of tornadoes) hit the town where I grew up. This set of tornado storms reminded me of that day.That set of storms made the top ten list of Ontario's worst ever storms. I guess it stands to reason - eight people died in the numerous tornadoes that touched down in those few hours. Houses were destroyed and debris was scattered for literally kilometres. The devastation left by that storm was sudden and fierce.
That day, my father, on his way home for work was stopped by a police roadblock, about 10 minutes from where we lived. It was before cell phones, so he was tied up in knots worrying about our safety. I can only imagine what he felt as he could see the damage of the storm, but had no way to reach out to my mother and I.
At the time, I didn't feel a sense of urgency, I stood out on the deck of my parents house and watched as the sky ominously turned black. There was no rain. It was warm and the energy felt uneasy, but I don't remember being scared. My mother sat at the kitchen table nervously smoking. A few minutes later we left so my mom could take me to soccer practice. Practice that day ended up being cancelled. By the time we got home my father was now home and nervous because he was unsure where we were. What I didn't know at the time was that the reason for the roadblock was because an elderly lady in my community, who owned a house on a big hill, and was host to at least a couple dozen cats, had been killed in the storm. The tornado had ripped her house apart and had spread it across a number of farmers fields. It was tragic. it was the reason for the road block my dad had passed by on his way home. I can only imagine the emotions that must have captured him as he raced to our house to see if we were ok, only to find us gone when he returned home.
I remember the devastation of that storm and the scars it left on my community. It reminds me of how tenuous and fragile life is. Sometimes I think we get lulled into this belief that everything is safe and that we are unaffected by these types of disasters, but then Mother Nature reminds us ...........who is really in control.
Reports that I read, say multiple tornados touched down in this Southern Ontario storm. The storm was reminiscent of the Wizard of Oz, with swirling debris, trees uprooted, cars turned over, houses completely destroyed and thousands affected by power outages. Even more tragic was the loss of one young life, a little boy attending a summer camp. In the city, we were hit by the strong rain, and some lost power. However, north of Toronto, there were houses which have since had to be bulldozed because this storm caused so much damage in literally under five minutes. This all felt very familiar.
When I was 10, a Tornado (or series of tornadoes) hit the town where I grew up. This set of tornado storms reminded me of that day.That set of storms made the top ten list of Ontario's worst ever storms. I guess it stands to reason - eight people died in the numerous tornadoes that touched down in those few hours. Houses were destroyed and debris was scattered for literally kilometres. The devastation left by that storm was sudden and fierce.
That day, my father, on his way home for work was stopped by a police roadblock, about 10 minutes from where we lived. It was before cell phones, so he was tied up in knots worrying about our safety. I can only imagine what he felt as he could see the damage of the storm, but had no way to reach out to my mother and I.
At the time, I didn't feel a sense of urgency, I stood out on the deck of my parents house and watched as the sky ominously turned black. There was no rain. It was warm and the energy felt uneasy, but I don't remember being scared. My mother sat at the kitchen table nervously smoking. A few minutes later we left so my mom could take me to soccer practice. Practice that day ended up being cancelled. By the time we got home my father was now home and nervous because he was unsure where we were. What I didn't know at the time was that the reason for the roadblock was because an elderly lady in my community, who owned a house on a big hill, and was host to at least a couple dozen cats, had been killed in the storm. The tornado had ripped her house apart and had spread it across a number of farmers fields. It was tragic. it was the reason for the road block my dad had passed by on his way home. I can only imagine the emotions that must have captured him as he raced to our house to see if we were ok, only to find us gone when he returned home.
I remember the devastation of that storm and the scars it left on my community. It reminds me of how tenuous and fragile life is. Sometimes I think we get lulled into this belief that everything is safe and that we are unaffected by these types of disasters, but then Mother Nature reminds us ...........who is really in control.
Friday, July 23, 2010
just a walk
in the absence of words, and some missing mojo, I present some beauty observed here and there.
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