Tuesday I met an Australian couple in their 60's. One was an English teacher who taught Japanese students over the internet from her home in Adelaide, and the other hosted a radio program. She had plenty of tales of hitchhiking and camping back in the 70s.
Wednesday I met a German man and his teenage son. The man was an architect, and his son is entering his final year of high school. He'd been playing classical music since he was very young, and had discovered the joys of playing jazz a few years ago. However, neither of them had actually heard of Hiromi before. They were visiting New York City for the first time ever, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Sometimes I forget that many of the people I see walking on the street don't live in tiny boxes or depend on the subway to get them from A to B. Thus, they were very "of course we're having a great time! It's New York!" about their experience up to then. On top of that, they had planned their final night in the states at the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club. I promised them they would soon realize how lucky they were to be seeing Hiromi for the climax of their journey in my homeland. Sure enough, the father asked me to write down the name of just about every song she played so he could find it online afterward.
Tonight I was seated next to a Japanese family of three. They didn't speak English, so I figured that for one night I wouldn't be getting to know my neighbors, but then a young woman sat down across from me. It turned out she's from Puebla, Mexico, specifically the city of Cholula, where I once visited the Great Pyramid of Cholula, which has the largest base of any pyramid in the world (I really like pyramids). Anyway, she's been studying statistics and sociology for 2 years, while also exploring lots of jazz clubs around the city, and I got a lot of new tips for great places to see more performances. This "visitor" from beyond the border gave me so many new suggestions for musical ways to enjoy my experience in this city I thought I knew somewhat well, whereas all I could do was listen and ask more questions. That was, until I learned that in a week or so she's going back to Mexico for the first time since she started her grad program two years ago. As anyone would, she has very mixed emotions about leaving such a magical place where she's seen so many shows and met so many people, but also returning to her friends and family. We've all been there one way or another. It just so happens that I began rereading Campbell recently, so the motifs of the hero journey, strangers bringing magical aid and the idea that life is a series of intertwining stories where we all structure and reflect each animated life were all fresh in my mind. I was able to give her some advice about the transition and how to "bring the treasure back home," so to speak.
Of course, the most magical treasure was the music of Hiromi's piano and Edmar's harp, especially on "Place to Be"!
After all these years of searching, where's mine?
Wherever I am
Especially in New York
Wednesday I met a German man and his teenage son. The man was an architect, and his son is entering his final year of high school. He'd been playing classical music since he was very young, and had discovered the joys of playing jazz a few years ago. However, neither of them had actually heard of Hiromi before. They were visiting New York City for the first time ever, and were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Sometimes I forget that many of the people I see walking on the street don't live in tiny boxes or depend on the subway to get them from A to B. Thus, they were very "of course we're having a great time! It's New York!" about their experience up to then. On top of that, they had planned their final night in the states at the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club. I promised them they would soon realize how lucky they were to be seeing Hiromi for the climax of their journey in my homeland. Sure enough, the father asked me to write down the name of just about every song she played so he could find it online afterward.
Tonight I was seated next to a Japanese family of three. They didn't speak English, so I figured that for one night I wouldn't be getting to know my neighbors, but then a young woman sat down across from me. It turned out she's from Puebla, Mexico, specifically the city of Cholula, where I once visited the Great Pyramid of Cholula, which has the largest base of any pyramid in the world (I really like pyramids). Anyway, she's been studying statistics and sociology for 2 years, while also exploring lots of jazz clubs around the city, and I got a lot of new tips for great places to see more performances. This "visitor" from beyond the border gave me so many new suggestions for musical ways to enjoy my experience in this city I thought I knew somewhat well, whereas all I could do was listen and ask more questions. That was, until I learned that in a week or so she's going back to Mexico for the first time since she started her grad program two years ago. As anyone would, she has very mixed emotions about leaving such a magical place where she's seen so many shows and met so many people, but also returning to her friends and family. We've all been there one way or another. It just so happens that I began rereading Campbell recently, so the motifs of the hero journey, strangers bringing magical aid and the idea that life is a series of intertwining stories where we all structure and reflect each animated life were all fresh in my mind. I was able to give her some advice about the transition and how to "bring the treasure back home," so to speak.
Of course, the most magical treasure was the music of Hiromi's piano and Edmar's harp, especially on "Place to Be"!
After all these years of searching, where's mine?
Wherever I am
Especially in New York
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