Labor Day

Labor day weekend could not have been better. Howard arrived to Princeton from Boston late Friday night. A couple of the trains going from New York broke down before they left (talk about ending before starting). Moments after stepping onto a NJTransit locomotive, a sudden loud exploding bang swept the platform as the lights in the cars dimmed and stayed that way. Word was the transformers blew up, or something. So Howard got back a little late, but a little late is fine.

Boston is a town with multiple nicknames. Title town, The Hub, Beantown, etc. and they speak of the multitude of stories this city has inherited. It’s historical to a fault, where the state house that stood behind the firing red coats in a then contemporary drawing of the Boston Massacre is today a subway stop on the red line. The bay where the Boston tea party occurred is now, well, the Back Bay, where Victorian apartments stand. Even today, surrounding areas of Boston affect popular culture. The Fig Newton is named after the nearby town of Newton, MA. And despite the fervor for sports, no one wears red sox. Or Howard hasn’t seen any except the ones in his drawer he plans on wearing soon.

Leaving Boston felt pretty good. Howard had to get away from the city. The day after he arrived back home, Howard walked around the campus at night with a friend and saw a lot of people wearing white shirts sleeping on the ground. They were pre-frosh going on OA, such again is that time of the year. Of course they were also homeless. It reminded him of when he had to sleep outside for OA four years ago, underneath the stars. Sounds romantic. But the suns, the street lamps, were up all night and it felt like a Van Gogh painting. Howard prayerfully awaited the morning that night, though at the time he did not know that he had misplaced his contact lenses somewhere on the grass.

At Princeton that evening Howard went to a couple places the Orange Key Tour, the admissions tour, does not usually bring aspiring high school graduates: Whitman, The Wa, Forbes, and The Wa’s parking lot. It was one of those cool, dark, medium rare nights that if you were along you’d feel the wind chill and be suspicious of shadows, but if you were with someone, you’d take your time walking from place to place, not knowing or needing to know of any destination in mind but not at all lost.

Back

After a long hiatus, including summer and the beginning of another calamitous and explosive school year, Howard decided to post a blog entry. His good friend John T. suggested that he update this web journal more frequently, and especially upload some of the letters he wrote to eclectic folks during his summer abroad that detailed his adventures on the opposite side of the world (reference point: Princeton, NJ). Point taken, those letters and stories will be up in the forseeable future.

Today Howard, while jogging, found an entirely new area of Princeton he had never seen before: lakeside Chateau's, hand-dug canals from the 1830s, scenic bridges, all along the tow path! He ran, and as he ran, insects sung their courtship songs, little flies congregated in floating social balls, unseen animals surfaced to create concentric ripples in the water on both sides, and all time melted away with the setting sun. Perhaps, as the old bromide goes, after distant journeys one arrives back home to see it for the first time. To keen observers, Princeton continues to be fresh, exciting, full of choices that can lead anywhere. All it takes is a willing explorer.

Oh, and Howard also wishes John the best and to not forget all the things out there that are sublime.

Howard watched TV for the first time in months. Skipping through the channels, he saw Casablanca playing on PBS, which means it is uninterrupted by commercials. That's how the movie should be watched, and given he's never seen it, it's probably a good idea to watch it, he thought. He did. What a beautiful movie. "Here's to looking at you, kid."

Planet Earth

I have been hearing rave review lately about this Planet Earth show, which captures some of the most stunning scenes our planet offers never before seen by the eye of man. It's on Sunday evenings on the Discovery Channel and it is stunning. Lyre birds mimicking chainsaw sounds to attract females, blind cave snakes that can see infrared signatures from bats, great white sharks leaping 20 meters into the air off the coast of South Africa, it is AMAZING. They don't teach this stuff in schools.

Virginia Tech

I can't get today's shootings off my mind. Being on a college campus, living in a college dorm, it could have happened here. Here really isn't that much different from there. I only have three words.

Scary as hell.

Today

The events of today are unbelievable. Truly tragic. Titanically sad.

April Hosting

The pre-frosh have arrived and are already getting lost. Although it was difficult to navigate around today because of the rainy weather. On the radar New Jersey looked like it is covered in a large green leaf that is yellowing in the middle.

Unfortunately my pre-frosh never arrived! It is strange.