The Runcible Blog

Last year, James Nachtwey, after winning the TED prize, made a cryptic wish:

I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.

Now, he and his TED collaborators are set to reveal his photo story on October 3rd. I am sure Nachtwey's story will be as spectacular as he hopes. He's a role model for the kind of documentarian I wish I could be, and I'm excited to see what he has uncovered.

Spread the word, and check out Time magazine on Friday, as well.

My earliest memory of music is listening to our record collection before going to bed when I was 6 or 7. I remember listening to Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven on 33's, but I think my favorite record was Virgil Fox's Heavy Organ, a live album from 1972. Virgil Fox played Bach like a rock star, drawing large audiences with his lively interpretation and psychedelic light shows. It's hard to imagine people tripping out on Bach; the 70's must've been fun.

We're coming now to the choral preludes. The first one is called "Wachet, auf," and thanks to the Swingle Sisters, the whole country knows this marvelous, original tune that says, "sleepers, awake. Never again fear the dark. There's no need to fear the dark because on this Earth, for all men, there is a savior."

My earliest memory of music is listening to our record collection before going to bed when I was 6 or 7. I remember listening to Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Beethoven on 33's, but I think my favorite record was Virgil Fox's Heavy Organ, a live album from 1972. Virgil Fox played Bach like a rock star, drawing large audiences with his lively interpretation and psychedelic light shows. It's hard to imagine people tripping out on Bach; the 70's must've been fun.

We're coming now to the choral preludes. The first one is called "Wachet, auf," and thanks to the Swingle Sisters, the whole country knows this marvelous, original tune that says, "sleepers, awake. Never again fear the dark. There's no need to fear the dark because on this Earth, for all men, there is a savior."

In my nightmare last night, I was sitting in my apartment when I looked out the window and saw someone outside staring at me.  I felt uncomfortable but shrugged it off and left for work or something.  When I returned home, the staring guy and his girlfriend were in my apartment.  It seems my landlord had decided to rent out half of my place to another tenant (of course, my place isn't big enough for such a crazy idea).  The rest of the dream was about struggling to live with these unwanted, creepy people in a place that I used to think of as my own.  Unable to kick out the invaders, I felt powerless and frustrated at the situation.

It's no wonder I do not have roommates now.  In fact, the dream proves that I'm afraid of the possibility of having to live with strangers someday.  More broadly, my persistent fear lately is not being able to maintain enough financial independence to continue living on my own.  Considering the economic bust we're in and the dreams for my (certainly less lucrative) future, it's not an irrational fear, either.