08.15.08
Matt’s a good guy: part 2
One of the more unusual things about our very old house is that it’s missing a fence around the backyard. Almost all of the other houses have fences, probably because rowhouses are not conducive to large yards and each owner wants to claim their full allotment of space. The backyard also happens to be paved over into a parking pad. Put these two things together in the middle of Baltimore and what’s the result? Neighborhood basketball court, obviously!
We really love having the neighborhood kids hang out and do something constructive with their time, even though a few of the neighbors have expressed “concern” about the types of kids we’re “letting” hang around. There are a lot of issues in Baltimore I don’t think would be prudent to bring up in an online forum where things turn ugly so quickly – let’s just say the city has a long history of oppression and it’s frustrating to see some of those attitudes linger under the surface.
There’s one boy who’s spent more time at our house than all the others. E is the twitchiest bundle of energy I’ve ever seen. He’ll be running in one direction, apparently for no reason, and mid-step he’ll think of something and start running in another direction, then get distracted again a few seconds later. He’s the smallest boy in the group – I wouldn’t have guessed he was 12. I have a lot of funny E stories already…hopefully I’ll be inspired to write them up sometime.
So last Friday I saw E back behind our house swinging a stick by himself. He seemed down and wasn’t moving quite as fast as usual. I called Matt over and asked him to make sure E was ok (Matt’s developed quite the rapport with the boys – I wish I could have found my camera fast enough the time he had 5 city kids staring down into our composter as he explained how it worked).
Turns out the ball had rolled into the bushes and E couldn’t get it – and none of the other boys would play with him that night. Matt and E worked together to maneuver the ball out, and then Matt started shooting hoops with him. This may seem like a small thing but Matt is not an organized sports kind of guy. He’s in his element climbing or kayaking – it’s not pretty when he has a ball in his hands. But he played with E….and kept playing. I was trying not to be a creepy neighbor by watching out the window for too long, but I kept coming back to catch a glimpse of the biggest smile I’ve seen yet on E’s face. When Colter came down and joined in the game, E could hardly contain himself. I was so proud of them for taking the time to play with a kid who needed attention more than we probably realize.
08.11.08
Latest Kristof op-ed
I’m determined not to be too opinionated in the public social media scene – I’ve seen people crash and burn with one ill-conceived rant or blog post. So, without accompanying commentary, check out Kristof’s latest in the NYT:
¶The United States has more musicians in its military bands than it has diplomats.
¶This year alone, the United States Army will add about 7,000 soldiers to its total; that’s more people than in the entire American Foreign Service.
¶More than 1,000 American diplomatic positions are vacant because the Foreign Service is so short-staffed, but a myopic Congress is refusing to finance even modest new hiring. Some 1,100 could be hired for the cost of a single C-17 military cargo plane.
In short, the United States is hugely overinvesting in military tools and underinvesting in diplomatic tools. The result is a lopsided foreign policy that antagonizes the rest of the world and is ineffective in tackling many modern problems.
After all, you can’t bomb global warming.
If you have the time, check out his full op-ed.
08.07.08
Furniture
I have been looking for storage cabinets since we moved into the new house at the end of June (hampered by a lack of internet until a few days ago, the process didn’t get very far for a couple of weeks). I’ve been combing Craig’s List and Freecycle to no avail – everything was too expensive or so cheap and worn that it wouldn’t have lasted long anyway.
So last night Jordana and I turned a corner in our neighborhood and saw 3 guys struggling with a BEAST of a wardrobe. I made a comment about how huge it was and one of them laughed and said I could have it. Turns out a very cool family is moving to the midwest today and the people who were supposed to buy it flaked. It’s a bummer they won’t be in the neighborhood anymore, but I did get a really nice hardwood wardrobe for $100. They would have given it to us but after my firsthand experience of the expense of a cross country move, I felt guilty not giving them anything. Plus, Matt says it’s good karma.
A shoutout to the Diehl men for helping drag the monstrosity around the corner and through our very narrow doorway (the door had to come off its hinges in the end).
08.01.08
How did I miss this?
First of all, yay for the internet at home. I can now googlemaps my way around the diciest parts of the city.
Last night we went to the Visionary Art Museum for a) free admission and b) a movie on the hill. Jordana made great homemade food, I brought great store-bought food (our respective specialties). So it was a picture perfect evening, etc., but I can’t believe I had never heard of Harold and Maude before! In fact, none of us had, so when other people started laughing during the opening “suicide” scene, we were super awkward and sketched out. We got over it soon enough – I chalk this discrepancy in 
my indie movie awareness to growing up without cable.
