What's in your Book of Grace?
Here's what's in mine:
31 March 2010:
- I hung out with Phil today. I haven't seen him in years. We ran
into each other just by chance in one of those moments when NYC is
gracious to her residents. He's an awesome photographer and we used
to hang out years ago at the Poetry Project doing poet's theatre.
Philip started taking pictures when he was in the service. While in
the service he was also friends with LeRoi Jones who today goes by
Amiri Baraka. "Me and Amiri sat around swapping stories and drinking
last week," Phil tells me. Phil has shows in the states and in Korea
he's an art star. He also teaches. He tells his students: "the
word 'amateur' comes from 'amour' and the word 'professional' comes
from 'prostitute.'" And his students laugh cause they get it: that
he wants their work to stay fresh; that he wants their eyes to stay
open.
Right on & Pass it on
xoxo
SLP
When people get really cynical and claim that good things are "not reality," I tell them about two of the most special occurrences in my book of grace, both of which happened in the subway.
ReplyDelete- A young white cop carries the heavy bags of an elderly black man up the subway stairs.
- On a brutally cold winter's night, a homeless black man with no coat and very thin clothes takes a seat on the train, clearly freezing and keeps to himself. When people nearby noticed him, they gave him a scarf and gloves, and some of us gave him money.
Neither of these is the sort of thing that makes the news, but they make grace a reality.