1. I was able to seize a great opportunity to hear Al Gore speak (fo' free!) at Harvard University. Always love a chance to hear troubling data about the planet in a Southern accent. That experience turned out to be the start of many great speakers in February, including two BBC World journalists, the exiled prince of Iran, and Al Gore's former domestic policy advisor. Now to make sense of it all.
2. I've enjoyed using social media to mock social media with my students.
3. I watched a blizzard klobber Boston (and then walked over 2 miles in that waist-height snow in opposition of cabin fever).
4. I live around some characters who like making lemonade in this snowy, bitter city.
5. We ran into an old colleague and roommate, Marta, while on a school trip to Washington, D.C. The opportunity was a reminder of how social media can work to illuminate two ships passing in the night and allow the chance for a poop deck party.
6. I found my great-uncle's grave stone in Arlington Cemetery. Plot 1776.
John Knight Magner grave at Arlington Cemetery
7. I visited a bookstore near MIT and found a good read...then fantasized about having enough time to read it as well as every other book in my mental queue. Maybe I'll soon finish Video Night in Kathmandu...
Book, The Storytelling Animal, found at MIT book store, Boston, Instagram
Howard Gardner's bookshelf in his office
8. I got the chance to visit Howard Gardner's office at Harvard and poke around at his letters from Piaget and multiple copies of his authored books (translated for half the world, seemingly). This outing reminded me of when my high school English teacher told me I seemed to have bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. And now I was meeting that theory's creator...
9. I discovered the Friendly Toast, an institution it seems many Bostonians think of fondly. Huevos rancheros for dinner with some star students before Oscar-nominated shorts was a swell night out.
Friendly Toast, huevos rancheros, Boston
10. A month and a half later, I'm still mesmerized by my view and the beautiful skyline I get to see every day.
A sunset from my apartment in Boston