WHAT HE HAS LEARNED

Stefan Sagmeister - rockstar designer - shares "Things I Have Learned In My Life So Far". (I think the 13th, 15th, and 16th ones are my favorites.)

Helping other people helps me.
Having guts always works out for me.
Thinking life will be better in the future is stupid. I have to live now.
Starting a charity is surprisingly easy.
Being not truthful works against me.
Everything I do always comes back to me.
Assuming is stifling.
Drugs feel great in the beginning and become a drag later on.
Over time, I get used to everything and start taking it for granted.
Money does not make me happy.
Traveling alone is helpful for a new perspective on life.
Keeping a diary supports personal development.
Trying to look good limits my life.
Material luxuries are best enjoyed in small doses.
Worrying solves nothing.
Complaining is silly; either act or forget.
Actually doing the things I set out to do increases my overall level of satisfaction.
Everybody thinks they are right.
Low expectations are a good strategy.
Whatever I want to explore professionally, it's best to try it out for myself first.
Everybody who is honest is interesting.

I'M NO LONGER TRYING TO BE "RIGHT"... I CHOOSE TO BE HAPPY

Ric Elias had a front-row seat on Flight 1549, the plane that crash-landed in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009. What went through his mind as the doomed plane went down? At TED, he tells his story publicly for the first time. 

THINGS I NOW KNOW ABOUT THE PRESIDENT

I have mixed feelings about the release of Barack Obama's birth certificate. But regardless, here are a few things I now know about the President of the United States of America that I didn't know before:

1) His birthday is on August 4, 1961
2) He is a junior - Barack Hussein Obama, II
3) His mother was 18 years old when she gave birth to him

COMMUNICATING

My heart is bursting with emotion. I just had my first verbal conversation with my 15-month-old daughter:

She woke up and I went into her room saying, "Good morning, sweet pie."

"Mama!" she exclaimed, and then promptly tossed her stuffed giraffe over the side of the crib and looked up at me with a grin. "Uh-oh."

"Uh-oh," I agreed, and put the toy back in the crib.

She raised both arms up high and asked, "Ow?" I picked her up. "Okay, you can get out." Then she pointed at the door and said, "Baba."

So we went into the kitchen and got a bottle of milk. She happily grabbed it with both hands and started to guzzle... and we settled in on the couch to watch Sesame Street - my baby girl in my lap, having just the morning she wanted.

I know because she told me so.

MY HANDS

A poem that I read to my daughter tonight; from a book we've had for almost a year, that I hadn't cracked open yet. It made me truly want this vision for her, for her hands - to toil with work that is good and honest and which makes her happy without harming others. And it made me want that for myself, as well.

May my hands be helping hands
For all that must be done,
That fetch and carry, lift and hold
And make the hard jobs fun.

May my hands be clever hands
In all I make and do
With bricks and blocks, with sand and clay,
With paper, paint and glue.

May my hands be gentle hands
And may I never dare
To poke and rod and hurt and harm
But touch with love and care.

50 BOOKS

The 50 Books Every Child Should Read

"Education Secretary Michael Gove says that children aged 11 should be reading 50 books a year to improve literacy standards. [Huffington Post] asked three of Britain's leading children's authors and two of [their] in-house book experts to each pick 10 books, suitable for Year 7 students. The authors chose books that have brought them huge joy, while expressing their outrage at the "great big contradiction" of Mr Gove's claim to wish to improve literacy while closing libraries across the country."

I've only read 6 of these books... perhaps I'll get to enjoy many more of them in about a dozen years when my little one is reading them. I'd also add to this list Le Petit Prince and The Buffalo Tree.  

How many have you read?

 

1. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Indispensable. The great classic beginning of English children's literature.

2. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. What effortless invention looks like.

3. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner. A great political story: democracy in action.

4. Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome. As clear and pure as Mozart.

5. Black Hearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken. If Ransome was Mozart, Aiken was Rossini. Unforced effervescence.

6. The Owl Service by Alan Garner. Showed how children's literature could sound dark and troubling chords.

7. The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. Superb wit and vigorous invention.

8. Moominsummer Madness by Tove Jansson. Any of the Moomin books would supply the same strange light Nordic magic.

9. A Hundred Million Francs by Paul Berna. A particular favourite of mine, as much for Richard Kennedy's delicate illustrations (in the English edition) as for the story.

10. The Castafiore Emerald by Hergé. Three generations of this family have loved Tintin. Perfect timing, perfect narrative tact and command, blissfully funny. 

THE DREAM OF THE BURNING BOY

Proud of this new play that opened at our theatre last night! 

A well deserved CONGRATULATIONS to all involved.