There’s a melon in the soil
I see it in the distance as I lean back in a washed up beach chair.
My toes are in the sand. My chin is raised to the sun.
I pretend to stare at a teal tinted horizon as pale faces pass in proximity.
This soil is rippled with divots like a crater-ridden moon in the midnight sky.
It cozies into the earth like warm bodies under soft sheets on an early morning in late January, but no it does not sleep.
It is wide awake.
It makes no noise, this fruit-filled soil.
No, this melon hugs the roots of sun-spiraled seeds and rests with audacity in hopes to be heard by unplugged ears.
There’s a melon in the soil. I can feel it beneath me.
Yet, it stays underground like Harriet running from Jim in the South.
And the way they look at me seems to suggest that everything I know about myself is inconceivably false.
I smile comfortably and pull my eyes from the sky.
I dig deeper in the ground.
There’s a melon in the soil.
I can feel it beneath me as it stays underground like Harriet running from Jim in the South.
And I wonder what all these people will think if I get up out of my chair, climb to my knees and begin to dig.
Am I the only that feels the labor of this fruit clawing through the ground to show its face to the sun?
I know it’s there, so I’ll say it again.
There’s a melon in the soil.
Systems v. Goals
Another year in the books! One of fruitful manifestations and grateful realizations. Another year of discovering love and enduring loss. One whole year filled with three-hundred and sixty-five days for us to each take part in this thing we call life! I marvel at its pace – its jazz-like rhythm and natural mystique. It feels like an orchestra playing completely in unison. It knows when to speed up and when to slow down. It knows when to keep quiet and when to get loud, and just when you think you found its groove, it switches in a heartbeat. I’ve found that these “tempo-tides”, if you will, come mostly unannounced. You never know what to expect or how it will come, and though it can be off-putting, I’ve found that the unpredictability of these so-called “tempo-tides” are inherently a part of their charm.
This past year, I started studying day trading and something that I learned early on is that the stock market is full of highs and lows. In order to combat these peaks and valleys, I’ve been advised that it’s best to set up systems to facilitate success rather than goals you’d like to achieve. Having said this, it is important to differentiate the two. Goals are targets that we aim for, while systems are what allow us to hit those targets. It’s great to have goals and some may even say necessary in order to stay on path, but to focus only on the goals can ironically result in non-productivity. If you become too goal oriented, you may end up placing too much importance on whether or not you reach them, causing you to become arrogant if you do or paralyzed if you don’t.
Admittedly, creating productive systems can be a difficult task. As days become months and months become years, the discipline to sit down and do what needs to be done (whether it’s writing, practicing an instrument, or staring at my running shoes for three hours before actually putting them on and going for a run) must be rooted in something. At the end of last year, there were a number of things that I wanted to make happen. Some of it was career related, other things were personal and as I pursued these goals, I knew that If I could just do a little bit each day, that eventually it would add up. A system for me meant routine. A regimen that bolsters stability on a rocking boat. When the tides of an ocean begin to clash and the waves start to grow, we need a way to find peace in the storm. After two years of a tumultuous and unprecedented pandemic, I can say that 2022 is the year that this sentiment was fortified.
The end of the year is a time for reflection and setting goals, but it is also a time for looking ahead and creating systems that set ourselves up for success. I pray that as we move forward into the new year we are able to find the balance between pursuing our goals and creating our systems. While my inner child revels in the unpredictability of a heedless adventure, I believe it’s also important to find joy and purpose in working through the mundanity of an ordinary day. It’s seemingly paradoxical, I know, but it is the paradox that I’m pointing to!
GAMEDAY
For those that are removed from the world of sports, a rivalry may seem immaterial — a useless waste of energy that only siblings are familiar with — but for those that bleed the colors of their team, a rivalry is more than an annual collision between two ends of a spectrum. It is the embodiment of a wide range of human emotion. To experience a rivalry is not to experience hate, it is to experience admiration and reverence —to understand that there is an irrefutable importance to the other’s existence.
Growing up, I was surrounded by the vigor of a great American football rivalry: Michigan vs. Ohio State. Twenty something years later, I find myself struggling to remove the maize and blue filtered lens I was so graciously given as a child and see the world, of college football, specifically, with unbiased eyes. And so, this year I’ve decided to ditch those glasses— detach myself from the result of the game, and enjoy the competitive atmosphere of college game day from as much of a non-biased perspective as I can.
Surprisingly enough, I found myself enjoying the game day environment more than I had in my most recent years. Laughter, anger, joy, and disappointment were just a few of the emotions that filled the blaring air. Michigan, however, is not unique in their turbulent competitive spirit. There are groups, individuals and teams all over the world that want nothing more than to beat their opposing rival in the name of human nature. This letter is dedicated to the spirit of an inexplicable phenomenon that we call rivalry. Here’s to Gameday!
