Update: Table Topics: #19

About a year ago I put together pretty rudimentary calculations about whether I believe there was a single soulmate for each person.

Thankfully, Randall Monroe has taken a shot and done a much better job than I did. Check out his consistently awesome What If column for the math.

TableTopics: #32

Who has inspired you as a mentor and why? (I'll change that last word to 'how'.)

Largely all of my mentors are teachers I've taught with or learned from. They're the ones I've seen in action, the ones I've learned from, the ones who've shown me what to (and in some cases what not to do).

The most prevalent influence on my teaching style was Pru Phillips (that's Pru on the left of the photo - thanks, Wabash, for posting that) of Crafordsville high school. Pru was the wife of the David Phllips, head of the chemistry department at Wabash College when I was a student there. Pru didn't take many student teachers and only then during the second semester, but she was kind enough to take me on for the spring of 1996 - partially at the recommendation of her husband. My students today would likely have recognized the mechanics of Pru's classroom - the BAT sheets, the homework folders, the lab report formatting, the demonstrations - as I picked up many of my techniques from her. She worked tirelessly, put in long hours, and recognized that connecting with the students was every bit as important as presenting curriculum to them. She was a spectacular teacher, and I am lucky to have known her. The Best Man, coincidentally, was lucky to have had her as his chemistry teacher, and he has parlayed that solid footing into a career in chemistry, now at Proctor and Gamble.

Lee Cordrey (sadly I can't find a photo of him online) taught with me at Mount Healthy High School. Lee didn't bring the greatest chemical knowledge to the classroom, having been trained as a middle school science teacher and shifting to the high school at some point. Lee brought a sense of joy to the classroom and an easy-going demeanor that I have hoped to carry along in my years. Yes, there is curriculum to be covered, but there is a lot of fun to be had in the process, and I have Lee to thank for reminding me of that from time to time.

Doug Studer, my teaching neighbor for more than a decade at Princeton High School, has shown me much of how to be a good teacher. I was initially skeptical of Doug's teaching as he asked some questions those first couple of years that made me wonder how well he know the chemistry content. As I learned, however, this was entirely reasonable because Doug was originally trained as a history teacher who slid into chemistry to better his chances of getting a j.o.b. Doug is a year more senior than I at Princeton, and he has been somewhat burdened with a schedule drastically different from mine - initially taking the lowest science classes we had to offer. In the past decade, however, Doug has turned himself into a spectacular teacher, primarily through hard work. For a long time, I was of the belief that teachers were largely born, that the ability to lead a classroom was an innate skill that people either had or didn't have, but Doug has shown me that a willingness to work and improve oneself is easily as important as any natural leanings toward teaching that a person might have.

As much as it pains me to say this - because I know she'll end up reading this and I'll never hear the end of this, Rebecca Heckman (calencoriel, for those of you in the know) has actually taught me a heck of a lot, too. I haven't been able to teach beside her, so I haven't taken much in-classroom material from her, but she does a masterful job of walking the tightrope of being a teacher leader within the building. She has been my department chair under three principals now, and each one has held her in high regard, allowing her to lead our department - in various ways as leadership has dictated - for over a decade. She is far more diplomatic than I, is generous with her time to her students (she was making Facebook groups and IMing her students long before I ever considered it), and is willing to spend hours and hours at Princeton to help her students out. I still have much to learn from her.

I wish I had somebody to list from my year at Terre Haute South Vigo High School, but I only spent one year there. The first year of teaching is mostly just an exercise in trying to keep your head above water, and I don't know how much of what I was learning is anything I was actually, overtly aware that I was learning. I owe thanks to lots of folks there: Melanie Huber, my official mentor and department chair, the other four new first-year teachers in our department (it was a fun year), and loads of other folks whose names have drifted from my brain over the years.


In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White
• #35 - no business 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall 
• #16 - Scotland...Wabash...my first college visit home
  
• #19 - No 
• #22 - Skydiving
• #24 - Beastie Boys in NYC
• #27 - Fight Club / Primer / Hoosiers / Grosse Pointe Blank and Slaughterhouse Five / All-Star Superman

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #27

What's your favorite book and movie?

• Slaughterhouse Five - The emotional connection of this one turns it into so much more than a weirdo sci-fi book, even though that's what it kinda is.
• Sandman - Tears by the time I get to the end of this one, once the wake comes around...wonderfully rich characters in a wonderfully looping story. The absolute editions are gorgeous.
• Planetary - The finite nature of this comic series, admittedly, helped me get into it, but that's not what's spectacular about it. The combination of so many cultural references surprisingly creates an entirely new something that's beautiful.
• All-Star Superman -  There's not been a better Superman story told, and there aren't many better tales. We've pretty much never gotten this resonant a story from the comics.
  
• The Electric Brae - This one has a long, long history in my world. The copy I have was sort of stolen from the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library. It came into my world at a very needy time, and it's been perfect for me for a number of rereads. Pretty much everybody I hand it to doesn't believe that it's all that much good, but for me, it's everything I want and need.
• Infinite in All Directions - Another one that came into my world at a time when I needed something. The connection with Aberdeen certainly didn't hurt. Intelligent exploration of science and how it affects our world, what it means to one great scientist.
• Fight Club -  The book is better than the movie, seriously.
• Brave New World - I've loved this since I read it in high school. Brilliant exploration of modern culture and eugenics and mass production...and I love the misunderstanding of today's culture from the future archeologists.
• Iowa Baseball Confederacy - Found this one in the Wabash bookstore as a frosh. Cost me a whole dollar. Best $1 book I've ever bought. Wonderful balance of magic and sports...great love story.

I'll go for All-Star Superman from the comic world and Slaughterhouse Five from the non-. I read Slaughterhouse Five every couple of years, and I love it every time.

In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White
• #35 - no business 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall 
• #16 - Scotland...Wabash...my first college visit home
  
• #19 - No 
• #22 - skydiving
• #24 - Beastie Boys in NYC
• #27 - Fight Club, Grosse Pointe Blank, Hoosiers, or Primer...
  

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

TableTopics: #27

What's your favorite book and movie?

I've had a canned pair of answers to these for years,and I don't know that I'll be overthrowing those canned answers, but let's take a little bit to look at the various nominees...

We'll start with movies and break 'em down by genre...

• Favorite comedy - Dr Strangelove or The Big Lebowski or Grosse Pointe Blank or O Brother, Where Art Thou?
• Favorite kids-ish movie - The Muppet Movie or Spirited Away
• Favorite action movie - Hero or Kill Bill: Vol 1
• Favorite foreign film - Hero 
• Favorite guilty pleasure - Road House or LA Story
• Favorite drama - Fight Club or The Usual Suspects or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind or Goodfellas
• Favorite sports movie - Hoosiers or Field of Dreams
• Favorite documentary - The Fog of War or I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
• Favorite war movie -The Thin Red Line
• Favorite concert film - Rattle and Hum or The Last Waltz or Purple Rain 
• Favorite western - The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly or Unforgiven
• Favorite sci-fi - Blade Runner or The Matrix or Primer
• Favorite suspense - The Player 

Let's play knock out again. The goal is to look for a film that I actually think is a great film and one that I'd willingly rewatch at the drop of a hat no matter my mood.

• Out first - Road House - It's not actually a good film. I know that.
• 2nd - The Matrix - As much as it shouldn't be so, the subsequent craptacular films poisoned this one.
• 3rd - The Last Waltz - It might be ranked higher if it weren't for the Neil Diamond crap and focus on Robbie Robertson.
• 4th - Rattle and Hum - As background, sure, but to actually sit down and watch the thing from tip to tail isn't one that I'm desperate to do all the time.
• 5th - Spirited Away - The oddness is gorgeous and beautiful, but it is beginning to age for me.
• 6th - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - This one's a little tough to watch because it's such a hard ending for me.
• 7th - Purple Rain - The concert footage is outstanding, and the between is hilarious, but those parts are of such dubious quality that this one doesn't make it any further.
• 8th - The Fog of War - This one's a thinker. It's a hard watch.
• 9th - I Am Trying to Break Your Heart - Same reason as Rattle and Hum: it's not one I'll watch all the way through just because I'm killing time.
• 10th - The Thin Red Line - Too slow for viewing unless I'm in the mood.
• 11th - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly - This cut is tough, but they'll all be tough cuts from here on in. I haven't seen this one enough (only twice) to say that it'll age and stay one of my favorites.
• 12th - Unforgiven - Man, this one's dark. It's spectacular and amazing, but it's dark.
• 13th - (From here on, every movie is in the running for my favorite depending on my mood.) - Kill Bill: Vol 1 - As much as I enjoy the hell out of this one, I'm not sure it's a spectacular film. It's stylish, but it's kind of all sizzle not as much steak.

Screw it...strengths of the rest...

• Dr Strangelove - Amazing quality performances from the most spectacular mimic that we've seen on film. Marvelous cultural relevance. Brilliant dark humor. Not laugh out loud funny through most of the film.
• The Big Lebowski - Tough to pass up no matter my mood. Spectacularly quotable...imminently referenceable...perfectly paced throughout.
• Grosse Pointe Blank - Impossible for me to turn away from. Perfect character study. Beautiful Minnie Driver. Most excellent John Cusack part ever, and that's saying something.
• The Muppet Movie - Cameos galore...funny at every turn...great message...Charles Durning...inspirational
• Hero - My vote for the best movie I've ever seen...highest quality but not my favorite even though I do love it.
• LA Story - I know this one isn't on par with the others in terms of quality, but it's a weak spot for me because of the second date thing. I love this one.
• Fight Club - I'll watch this one any time. Great performances from all the leads. Hell of a book. 
• The Usual Suspects - Best film of the 90's...I'm still stunned at the twist every time, and I find something new every time I see it.
• Hoosiers - If it weren't for the inexplicable kiss (which is explained in the cut scenes), this might be the perfect sports movie ever. It's not all truthful, but it's phenomenal, and it brings me to tears every time when they head out for the final game.
• Field of Dreams - It's a little slow in parts, but I weep like a baby in the last scene. It's perfect in every way.
• Blade Runner - First off, the choice is the director's cut. It's marvelous and thoughtful, and the climax with Rutger Hauer is among the finest scenes on film.
• Primer - This one's a thinker, probably the most thoughtful film I've seen. It's one that has to be seen over and over to be understood, and I love seeing it over and over. Outstanding stuff.
• The Player - Brilliant acting...more cameos than The Muppet Movie...dark as dark can get...great paranoia

I'm going with Grosse Pointe Blank...Fight Club...Hoosiers...and Primer. That's the best I can get, a final four. Take it or leave it.

I referred to my critickr rankings for some help here. I really should go back through and update those.

I'll come back tomorrow with the book choices.

In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White
• #35 - no business 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall 
• #16 - Scotland...Wabash...my first college visit home
  
• #19 - No 
• #22 - skydiving
• #24 - Beastie Boys in NYC
  

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 32...37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #24

If you could have front row seats to any concert, who would you like to see?

I'm going to chuck the option of traveling in time to see anybody in history - purely an arbitrary choice. I don't feel like going through whether I'd rather see Bob Dylan in 1962 or 1975, Led Zepplin on which tour, U2 in Sun Devil Stadium, Queen at Live Aid, Beatles in whatever year.

The acts in contention...

• Beastie Boys*
• Richard Thompson*
• Ryan Adams*
• Avett Brothers
• Wilco*
• U2*
• Chris Isaak*
• Beck
• Cake*
• Lyle Lovett*
• Yonder Mountain String Band*

I've already seen many of those in person already (those marked with a *), and some of those were pretty decent seats - Richard Thompson and Yonder Mountain in particular.

I'm gonna go with order of elimination...

• 1st out - Beck - His past couple of albums have left me cold, so I don't know that I'd enjoy all the stuff he plays.
• 2nd out - Richard Thompson - I've seen him in concert a half dozen times. While I've never been in the first couple of rows, I've been in the near balcony just over Richard's shoulder at the Southgate House. I can't imagine it'd be much better directly in front.
• 3rd out - U2 - Bono wanders around a whole lot, and I'm thinking that no one particular seat would do for one of their concerts.
• 4th out - Yonder Mountain String Band - I've seen the people who hang out in front of the stage at the Yonder Mountain concerts, and I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that level of controlled substances without getting a prescription for glaucoma. I like my teachers license.
• 5th out - Chris Isaak - The Girl and I saw him a decadeago, and I have no idea whether Isaaks can still rock the concerts, so I'll pass on the risk.
• 6th out - Avett Brothers - I don't know what kind of show they'd put on, and as much as I dig their music, they just don't quite make the cut compared to the rest of the acts left for me.
• 7th out - Lyle Lovett - He's a little too laid back to need the front row. His concerts are good enough from a few rows back.
• 8th out - Cake - Their music is a rockin' experience and would be good from the front row, but their newest album is way weaker than their previous albums...don't know what they could bring to the concert.
• 9th out - Ryan Adams - Here we start getting to tough choices. Adams isn't a guarantee to show for the concert, so I'm not going to take the risk.
• 10th out - Wilco - Man, this one's tough. They're  without debate my favorite band, and I would love seeing Jeff Tweedy's expressions from down by the stage, but I've seen Wilco a whole bunch of times. They're rock solid, but I'd rather go with...
• My choice - Beastie Boys - They're a rocking band, and they're hilarious in concert (one 45-minute set at the Rock the Vote concert in 2008), so I think seeing them up by the stage would be awesome. I'm down with pretty much their entire oeuvre,  so I'd be able to sing along with everything.

Beastie Boys...I'm sure they'd be thrilled to have me there. Right there at the first row in their next NYC concert.

In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White
• #35 - no business 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall 
• #16 - Scotland...Wabash...my first college visit home
  
• #19 - No 
• #22 - skydiving

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 27...32...37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #22

What would you try if you had no fear?

Well, let's consider my fears...

• heights
• spiders
• general risk

I don't think there are any real other fears that I have. There are things I don't like - eggplants, microfiber, beer, Julia Roberts to name a few - but they aren't things that I'm afraid of. If that's it for my real fears, let's take a look at where that might lead me.

There are a few things I've avoided because of my fear of heights...

• skydiving
• walking on the skyway over the Grand Canyon
• hot air balloon flight

There's pretty much nothing I've missed out on because of my spider fear.

The kinds of choices that I've made because my general fear of risk have steered me toward my career - one where seniority used to protect you - toward a stable house. I'm not one to start a business because it's too much of a risk, not one to throw my money into risky stocks, not one to radically change what I'm doing in the classroom, but none of those are things that I really want to do.

So, the things I've missed out on are because of my fear of heights, and I really do want to go skydiving. The balloon thing would be nice and all, but not as cool, and the skywalk looks neat but seems like it would be disappointing.

Skydiving

In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White
• #35 - no business 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall 
• #16 - Scotland...Wabash...my first college visit home
• #19 - No 
• #22 - skydiving

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 24...27...32...37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #19

Question #19: Is there only one soul mate for each person?

No.

This one's a little awkward to answer since I'm all married and stuff, but in my head it really all comes down to the math of the thing.

I'm one of seven billion or so people on the planet. I'm a fan of girls, so that narrows things down to 3.5 billion for my soul mate.

Let's look at some numbers to see how many of those 3.5 billion I'll ever meet:

• My high school graduating class had about 400 students - 200 or so girls.
• Let's include the girls three or so grades each way of mine. That's 1200 more girls.
• I went to college with no girls. None at all. Shut up. It was a great school.
• By the time my career is over, I figure I will have taught with a couple hundred female teachers.
• I teach somewhere in the range of fifty young women every year. If I teach for thirty-five years, that's 1750 female students.
• I figure I will have bumped into another couple thousand or so women and girls along my life. Let's say 2000 to be safe.

That puts us at 5500 women I will have dealt with in my life. Let's double that number to assume I'm being gregarious. Heck, let's triple it and round up some to hope I maybe meet 20,000 women in my life - many of whom are pretty far out of any age range where I would be possibly even consider spending my life with them.

20,000 / 3.5 billion is 0.00000571 that means at an absolute outside best, I might meet 0.000571% of the female population of the planet. That's a 0.000571% chance I'll meet my soul mate if she exists, and we can assuredly eliminate a huge portion of the 20,000 because I'm not attracted to them...not age appropriate for them...in a crappy mood when I happen to bump into them...too busy failing them...creeped out by the fact that they're like as old as my Grandma...

That means if there is a soul mate out there for everyone, I have to assume that I'm never gonna meet mine, and dang near everybody else is never gonna meet theirs. So if I am to believe that there's a soul mate out there for everybody, then I also have to assume that we're pretty much guaranteed never to find that soul mate. For me that's was more depressing than assuming that we just don't have a soul mate.

That being said, I don't view this as an actually depressing thing. For me, it means that I don't have to hunt for that perfect one. I just have to look for someone who makes me really happy, who I find attractive, and who is a pretty outstanding rommate. I'm all good with that.

In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White
• #35 - no business 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall 
• #16 - What life experience has strengthened you the most?

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 22...24...27...32...37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #16

Today; question #16: What life experience has strengthened you the most?

There are a trio...

I can't remember whether I've related this story on the blog or not. If so, congrats to the regulars for being around long enough (six years, two months, and twenty-six days as of today) to finally hear me repeat myself. I'm sure I've never done it before...in this forum, anyway.

I'd spent much of my elementary, middle, and high school career unintentionally cultivating a tidy little persona as the smart alleck, smartest guy in the room. I was quick with a comment - most likely an unkind one - and snappy with a comeback to pretty much anything said.

I hadn't entirely noticed the totality of my self pigeon-holing until I came back for my first visit home from Wabash. I was at a friend's house -Todd Kanning's, specifically, if that means anything to you. Many of our group of friends was back together for the first time, and I found myself falling far too easily into the role that I seemed to have written for myself. It wasn't a happy feeling, and I decided to change who I was in my group. I can't say that I am not quick witted or that I don't tend to have a snarky comment at the ready much of the time, but I hope I at least recognize that I don't have to lead with those words all the time.

Next up comes the totality of my time at Wabash. I'll admit that I never felt in high school that there was anyone around smarter than I. I wasn't the valedictorian or anything, but I felt I could have been if I'd wanted to, and I was the best test taker (because that matters in the long run) at New Albany High School. I never felt that I needed to work at much throughout the course of high school. I cruised fairly easily through and ended up doing pretty well (I can still quote my class rank, my SAT, and my AP scores in case you're curious as to the depth of my immodesty).

When I got to Wabash, however, the professors generally weren't impressed. I was an intelligent young man, probably on the high side of the bell curve, but I was surrounded by intelligent young men, some of whom were clearly my academic superiors. Even at Wabash I wasn't necessarily working my hardest, but I was working far harder, at least. During the second semester of my freshman year, I took an English class about short stories. I thought myself a pretty good reader and a talented writer, so I assumed I was in for a breeze. Sure, the class was for juniors, but I was one of three or four freshmen in the class, and I wasn't worried. I got my only Wabash C in that class, and I was the better for it. Prof Stern was a creature I hadn't know before, and he demanded a whole lot more than I was ready or - at the time, anyway - able to give him, and I saw these things happening more frequently at Wabash. Sure, I was pushing work off until later than I should have been, but I was having to start the final push earlier and earlier, to work harder and harder, to spend hours in the library studying where I'd been able to do the same in twenty minutes in high school. Academically, Wabash pushed me, and I'm the better for it.

The single most formative experience for me, however, was my time in Scotland. I went overseas knowing almost no-one (there was one other Wabash chem major there, but Doug and I hadn't necessarily been tight in Crawfordsville, and I didn't anticipate being all that tight with him over there.) I was free to create myself as whomever I wanted to be. I could be more outgoing, freer with a drink, more pursuant of the ladies, more whatever, and through the course of the year I found out which aspects of my personality I was happy with, which ones I wanted to jettison (as much as that's possible), who I wanted to be and who I was comfortable being. I came back a much more confident, fully realized person who was ready for the world to begin. I can't think of any experience that was more transformative than my time in Aberdeen. I can't recommend overseas study high enough for anyone. I was revelatory for me, and the classes weren't bad either.

In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White
• #35 - no business 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 19...22...24...27...32...37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #36

Question #36: Which historical event would you like to (have) witness(ed)?

There's kind of a difference here between witnessed and  took part in.

It's we're talking took part in, then there's not even a question for me. I would have wanted to walk on the moon. For my money it's still the single greatest accomplishment that mankind has ever managed. We sent our exemplars to another celestial body where they had to bring every single thing they would ever need (food, water, wait, shelter, all of it), let them wander around (for as much as three full days - check it),  and brought them all back safely.

It's an achievement that will be phenomenal to see if we ever manage to top it, and it's still an event that leaves me speechless. I currently have a book of moon landing photos checked out. I've checked it out a half dozen times. There is nowhere or nowhen that I would rather be...or to have been.

Now, in terms of events that I would have wished to witness happening...

Two answers...the first one is to say any of hundreds of hypothetical/mythical/miraculous events from religions. If I could include the qualifier of 'whichever religion is right', then I would want to see some undeniable, absolute proof that religion is correct. I'd be fine seeing God (or whichever god) create the universe or Earth or life or whatever. I'd be fine seeing Jesus's loaves and fishes or to watch his tomb for three days. I'd be fine to see - and be able to comprehend - anything proving beyond any doubts that some religion (and I don't care which one - I don't have a dog in this fight). I have absolutely no faith in religion, believe that science and random chance over a long time span, and I would be fascinated to hear that I have been wrong low these many years.

On the third hand, if I had to go with picking a real, historical, definitive date, that's tougher.

It's tough to pick any science experiments because so many of the that we speak of as being singular events aren't really singular events.  They're experiments that come out oddly, are repeated, and are are eventually explained over the next few weeks or months. There is rarely a singular event to see with those.

Some of the historical dates that I would want to see, that are among the most important, were also probably rather nondescript. I'm thinking here of the first books being printed by Gutenberg. The actual event itself probably wasn't the fantastic spectator event that a wish like this one should be preserved for.

Maybe I'd go for seeing the Kennedy assassination. It would be nice to once and for all know who shot Kennedy and from where. I could take back recording equipment (if it's within the rules of the wish) and solve the mystery once and for all.

I'm thinking going back to Roanoke to see what happened to the settlers could perhaps be a bit unsafe for me, assuming that I would be physically present at the event I am witnessing. Since we don't know what happened, I'll assume that I would be vulnerable to it happening to me, as well.

Seeing Columbus come ashore on the new world would be pretty impressive.

Witnessing a great sporting event - Babe Ruth's called shot, Bill Mazeroski's home run, the Milan championship basketball game, the Mexico City Olympics with Bob Beamon's long jump for the ages, seeing Larry Bird's duel against Dominique Wilkins in the playoffs, any of Pete Maravich's games, Jordan's 63 in the Garden, Wilt's100, Reggie Jackson's 3 HR World Series game, Pudge's HR in the '75 World Series - would be neat to see, but this one calls, I think, for something grander.

When it's all said and done, I think I would have to pick something that was a singular event, one that we know to be stirring, emotionally rousing, and historically important. That leads me to think about being in the audience for a great speech. As to which one, I'll pick one that's admittedly fairly recent in terms of the scope of human history, but it's the one that exemplifies great speeches to me: MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

The combination of setting (flanked by Lincoln, the Washington monument, the reflecting pool, the capitol), the speaker (MLK's cadence throughout this one is note perfect), the gravitas of the moment (the pinnacle of nonviolent protest against racial injustice in America) makes this my choice.

I would wish to have been a member of the audience for MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech.



In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White (way more detail here)
• #35 - no business (more details here) 
• #36 - MLK, Jr's "I Have a Dream" speech on the National Mall

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 16...19...22...24...27...32...37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #35

Today, question #35: What kind of business would you love to start?

Ok, the most honest answer is that I pretty much have no desire to open any business of my own. Running a small business has to be exhausting, terrifying, and all-encompassing for your life. I don't want to take on the risk associated with mortgaging my economic future and putting it in the hands of market fluctuations, fickle consumer tastes, changing tax laws, and utter random chance. I don't want to put in the long hours that are required when you're the be all and end all boss of things.

I know that every get-rich-quick scheme ad assumes that everyone hates being bossed around and desperately wants the freedom that comes from setting your own schedule, running things the way you want to run them, and holding your future in your own hands, but I don't want any of that. I may grouse and complain about the bosses above me, but I don't want their jobs. I like being a cog in the wheel. I like being guided. Sure, I might not enjoy the way the bosses guide me a lot of the time, and I may not like where they're guiding me, but I don't have the desire/guts/chutzpa/cajones/stones to be the one doing the guiding.I'm not going for my principal's certificate for a definite reason.

All that being said, if you gave me a few million dollars and said 'open your own business,' let me have the financial safety net needed to not worry (and to hire enough help that I didn't have to kill myself just getting the business afloat), and told me to open my own business, I'm not entirely sure what I'd open up. I can see problems and advantages to most any option I can come up with:

• book store - The neighborhood, comfortable, homey book store concept has been done to death by people way more business savvy than I am, and I feel like the chances of making money on a brick and mortar book store at this point is pretty much slim and none, and slim just left town with the growing popularity of iPads, Kindles, Nooks, and the like. Book store's nice and sort of romantic and all, but it's not a business to be starting at the point. Take me back to the 1960's, and maybe a book store would be my choice, but not in the the 2010's.
• comic book store - To some extent I get the same feeling about a comic book store that I do from a book store. Digital is coming, and there's no stopping it. It may not be coming as quickly as the digital general book market is, but it's coming, no doubt. Plus, the number of players that have to figure things out (mostly DC and Marvel for like 80%+ of the comic market) is smaller meaning that once they figure things out, the business is going to change radically and instantly. Might be fun to run a comic/gaming store and all, but the market isn't growing,and it's not a social enough thing for me to do. I've been in comic stores throughout my life, and there are enough times that I'm the only customer in there that I'm guessing it's a lot more lonely lot than most gamers and comic readers imagine. Sure, you can hire all your friends to just hang out with you, but that's pretty much a disastrous business decision.
• music (record/cd) store - Same problems as both of the above. The digital revolution is gonna kill them entirely in the next decade or two. Sure, Record Store Day helps, but it can't be making and realistic change in the market. Yeah, I'd get to hear the newest music all the time, but the novelty of running a record store seems like it would wear off very quickly. Rob's isn't the life I'm looking for.
• restaurant - No interest. I love eating at them, but I can't cook and don't have any clue for a restaurant that's better than or different from anything already out there. I'd pretty much want to recreate Troy's or Waffle House or Jeff Ruby's or the Knotty Pine, and they already exist. Why would anybody want to come to my place when they're already there and established?
• blog writing - There's no money in what I write. Unless you folks are each willing to pony up like a few hundred bucks a month to read my drivel, that's a failure of a business model.
• media critic - I could do that, but I'm guessing it's a pretty tough market to break into as there are like a million other people who are every bit as good as I am at writing about music, movies, television, and that YouTube video they saw yesterday. Plus, I don't think that really qualifies as opening a business. Freelancing, maybe, but not opening a proper business.

I think my answer is gonna have to be 'I don't want to open one.' I'm happy teaching and eventually retiring and traveling around some.


In case you're late to the party, here's the deal...

Here's what I've answered so far...

• #25 - "I Know What Love Is" by Don White (way more detail here)

Already requested answers...they'll be answered (probably in this order)...

• 36...16...19...22...24...27...32...37
  

Feel free to request other answers in the comments.

TableTopics: #25

Question #25: What song evokes the strongest memories for you?

There are a number of songs that are in the running. Before I choose one specific one, I'll nominate a few.

• "I Ride an Old Paint" by Carl Sandberg - My memory of this one isn't of Sandberg's singing but rather of my mother's singing of Sandberg's version. It took me a while, but I did manage to track down Sandberg's version. 
• "Stewball" by Peter, Paul, and Mary (and lots of other people) - This was the other lullaby I remember my mother singing to me as a child. I don't know whether I remember rocking in the rocking chair, but I remember being told that I was rocked in a particular chair while Mom sang me these first two songs.
• "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm" by the Kingston Trio - I remember this one playing on my mother's record player when I was a kid, along with a number of other songs that hold family memories for me in the same way: "All My Children of the Sun" - Pete Seeger, "Don't Go Down to The Quarry" - Peter, Paul, and Mary
• "Wagon Wheel" by Old Crow Medicine Show - This one is far more recent, having come into my world down at Tall Stacks five or six years ago (2006, I looked it up). The Girl and I had gone down to see Wilco perform and caught the end of the OCMS set before Wilco stepped out. The weather was perfect, the night was nice, and this song has meant a great deal to me ever since.
• "I Know What Love Is" by Don White - This one's tough for me. My father's father passed away while The Girl and I were living on Philomena Ave in a house that was just over 100 years old at the time. My grandmother - his wife of sixty or seventy years - had passed away in the same room in a nursing home in New Albany (his and my hometown) not a couple of months earlier. The details of all of this are sketchy to me because I was teaching in Cincinnati and hours away from the passings. Because of this, things were oddly distant for me, but there were two specific incidents when their passings hit me very hard. One was while watching the last episode of Mad About You (May 24, 1999, I looked it up). In the final episode, there's a montage of moments yet to come in the life of Paul & Jamie's daughter (played by Jeanane Garofalo). One of the moments was clearly in the last years of Paul's father's life. He sat at a table celebrating their daughter's birthday, and he was slipping into dementia. (In all honesty, I think this incident came before my grandfather passed away but when he was well into his dying years.) The other time was when I was heading away from our Philomena home and "I Know What Love Is" came on the radio. It was a Sunday evening, and I have no idea where I was going, but I can tell you exactly where I was because I remember having to pull over because I couldn't drive through the tears. The song tells the life of a woman from birth through marriage to mothering to watching her husband die in her room and to finally finding herself taken back into God's loving arms. As I type this, I can still feel the tears welling up just thinking of the song. I spent the next couple of years hunting down the specific version of the song on a single benefit cd that I now own, and it tears at my heart strings every time I hear it to this day.
• "Rainbow Connection" and "The Magic Store" by the Muppets - I love the this movie above nearly every other I've ever seen. The opening and closing numbers make my heart absolutely sing. Whenever the movie's on - whether it's because I've put the DVD on or because it's playing at two in the morning above Relay for Life - I'm sucked in.
• Lots of songs tie me back to tapes that I've made for The Girl or that The Girl made for me. I've covered those before, so I won't dwell on them again. The most emotional of these for me is probably "Wholly Humble Heart" by Martin Stephenson (again, a version only available on a charity collection.)
• "Killkelly" by Mick Moloney - During my senior year at Wabash, the college hosted a Celtic festival and brought in Mick Moloney to perform. I'd never heard of him, but I'd spent the previous year in Scotland, and The Girl was going to be in town, so I got tickets. We'd gone out for a nice, adult-type date before the concert, and got to the new performing arts center as the concert was about to begin. When Moloney introduced this song - written from letters from parents left behind in Ireland - and played it, I was in tears. It's a heart-wrencher.
• "Cecilia" by Simon & Garfunkle -I remember singing this with ColdNorthGamer during our times on WNAS. It's a happy memory.
• "Black" by Pearl Jam - This one harkens me back to my freshman year at Wabash, playing Sega hockey in Nick Salvo's fraternity room. The entirety of the Ten album does, but this one does it most strongly for me.
• "The Sweater" by Meryn Cadel - I love this song. It came into my life in high school when I was the music director at WNAS, and I kept the cd single that was shipped to the station as a promo. (As an aside, nobody sends out cd singles any more do they? How do radio stations get their new music anymore - digitally?) It has stayed one of my favorite songs, and even helped me reassure a not-too-certain sophomore Katydid a few years back at PHS. That's been a heck of a bonus.
• Fumbling Towards Ecstasy by Sarah McLachlan - Kristen the Red (one of those lost friends) loved this album while we were in Scotland together. One night in a hostel somewhere in the Scottish countryside, we sat up playing checkers as the hostel played this album. The album would come back into my life the next year as The Girl played it in her apartment in Bloomington as we fell back in love. It's held me in stead ever since.
• "Lake Marie" by John Prine - At the wedding of two friends, John and Lexie, The Girl begged me to dance. I'm certainly not a dancer by temperament and told her that I would dance if they had this song, one that had been on my playlist at the time. She tottered over to mother of the bride and asked if she could request the song. Turns out that the mother of the bride is a big fan, and the DJ had the song. I danced and loved every minute of it.
• "Closer to Fine" by Indigo Girls - The week after graduation from NAHS, The Girl, Gamer, I, and The Girl's foreign exchange student took off for a week in St Louis. This song played on the tape player, and I think of that wonderful week every time I hear it to this day.
• "Sherry" by The Four Seasons - In Indiana basketball is big. I don't know if you've heard. Every spring our high school basketball team would win the sectional and head to Seymour, IN to play in the regional at the world's fourth largest high school gymnasium. There would be a morning game (starting at either 11 or 1, I think I remember) and hopefully an evening game (7pm maybe). That meant there were hours to kill between games. Some folks rented rooms and held parties. My friends weren't really those kinds of folks, so we would kill time driving around town, visiting Wal-Mart, shopping for cd's ("Wholly Humble Heart" came into my and The Girl's lives on one of those trips). During my sophomore year, I remember singing the high parts to "Sherry" in the back of (I think) Tom Boofter's boat of a car at top volume with The Girl beside me.

So, which one's the winner?

Probably "I Know What Love Is". It wrecks me to this day.

So, Calen, which one did you expect me to say?

And, just because I'm awesome like that, here's all of today's songs in an 8Tracks playlist.

Wanna be starting something...

A year or so ago, The Girl got a Christmas gift of the original Table Topics, a set of 135 cards, each of which has a conversation starter question on it. We aren't exactly dinner party kinds of people, so we haven't, admittedly, had a lot of call for the cube. Some of the questions, however, are interesting enough that I thought I'd throw them out here and answer them one at a time over the next while. - probably one a week, maybe on a regular day.

The questions in the cube aren't numbered, but I'm going to number them and ask if there are any in particular that you folks would like to have answered first. I'll take requests in the order that they come and will answer them starting sometime next week. Oh, I've already taken out the questions that I'm either not willing to answer or that I feel I just don't have anything interesting to say in my answer.

By the way, the questions as printed on the cards have no punctuation - not even a question mark - and don't start with a capital letter. It's annoying to me, so I've gone ahead and corrected that in my list.

1. Do you live more in the past,  present, or future?
2. What obligation do you believe you have to your country?
3. If you could give all human beings one virtue, which would you choose?
4. What's your proudest accomplishment?
5. If you only had 5 more years to live, would you change anything about your life?
6. What would you most like to ask God?
7. What do you wish you were better at saying 'no' to?
8. If you didn't have to worry about money, what would you do with your life?
9. How would you like to spend your elder years?
10. If you had to spend one year living alone in a remote cabin, what would you spend your time doing?
11. What change would you most like to make for your health?
12. If money were no object, what kind of party would you throw and where?
13. Do you believe in coincidence or synchronicity?
14. What do you dream your life will be like in 10 years?
15. Which political issues are the most important to you?
16. What life experience has strengthened you the most?
17. What historical time period would you most like to visit?
18. What are the largest obstacles preventing you from realizing your dreams?
19. Is there only one soul mate for each person?
20. If you were cremated, where would you like to have your ashes spread?
21. Would you like to be proudest of your accomplishments or your character?
22. What would you try if you had no fear?
23. If you could have a conversation with a deceased friend or relative, who would you choose?
24. If you could have front row seats to any concert, who would you like to see?
25. What song evokes the strongest memories for you?
26. What one question would you ask a psychic about the future?
27. What's your favorite book and movie?
28. Would you stop eating all junk food to live 5 years longer?
29. If you could master one instrument, which would it be?
30. If you were offered a seat on the next space shuttle, would you take it?
31. Where would you most like to travel?
32. Who has inspired you as a mentor and why? (I'll change that last word to 'how'.)
33. Would you rather be a great musician, artist, or athlete?
34. If you could have any view from your back porch, what would it be?
35. What kind of business would you love to start?
36. Which historical event would you like to (have) witness(ed)?
37. What's the most beautiful drive you've ever taken?

Looks like there were 98 cards that didn't interest me at all.

Which question do you folks want me to start with?