Anybody up for a summer reading and listening meetups?

My tailend-of-spring-waiting-for-summer-bouncing-music starts with The Cardigans Lovefool; then hits Just A Girl by No Doubt; mixes in another version of Gwen Stefani with The Sweet Escape; (and, of course, a little Call Me Maybe – the version by Carly Rae Jepsen); continues on with Limp Bizkit’s Break Stuff; gives due to MJ with Remember the Time; swings some with the Take Me There Remix – Blackstreet; goes with Try Me, I Know We Can Make It to remember Donna Summer; reminds me why I love a good pop tune when B.o.B. kicks So Good; gets sweet and sassy with Kimbra’s Cameo Lover; and, keeps me moving with Gossip’s Pop Goes the World.

I’m not one for reading on a beach, but here are the words I’ll check out this summer:

• Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other
• The Metropolis Case: ANovel by Matthew Gallaway
• 33 Revolutions per Minute: A History of Protest Songs, from Billie Holiday to Green Day by Dorian Lynskey
• Lawrence Lessig’s Republic, Lost
• The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, Ron Padgett, editor
• David Weinberger’s Too Big To Know: Rethinking Knowledge Now That the Facts Aren’t the Facts, Experts Are Everywhere, and the Smartest Person in the Room Is the Room
• Emotional Equations: Simple Truths for Creating Happiness + Success by Chip Conley
• Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments
• What Was the Hipster?: A Sociological Investigation edited by Mark Greif, Kathleen Ross, and Dayna Tortorici
• Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer
• Toure’s Who’s Afraid of Post Blackness? What It Means to Be Black Now

Let me know if you’re down.

Peace.

We all get jazzed seeing our students successfully searching for their dreams and their passions.

The Boston University community and the student life experience inspire us. During your time at the University, I hope you looked around and caught the vibe. Listened to music. Read as much as you could. I hope you got around campus to see the community at its best.

You’ve been on a long journey. Pause to celebrate. You took deep breaths and listened to the bray of your heart. Congratulations again.

Explanations of the spirit of this place are complicated. This place is about the power of now. There is no script. A place full of split-second decisions to fulfill what the moment requires. This is a grand conversation. Inspired thinking. A cool urban campus. Historic. Caring.

Style floats through this place — it is both lyrical and thought-provoking. Style in a place where the mind and the heart dance together. Hope you enjoyed it and that you see its reflection in the people, streams, conversations, posts, status updates and pictures.

Thank you for making this place vibrant.

May joy walk beside you

Let beauty surround you.

And, let kindness guide you.

Peace.

In addition to our students, credit is due to Sylvia Plath, Wynton Marsalis, and Geoffrey C. Ward, Ilan Stavans and Verónica Albin, George H. Bass, and Brenda Ueland for the inspiration they gave me for writing this post.

Senior Week is on the move and we’re not going to let a few raindrops stop our fun? I didn’t think so!

It’s on! You’re still dancing on the Harbor tonight. Here are few tips for folks in the know:

• First, you’ve got to get there. The party starts on the boat at 6:45 p.m.  We’re dealing with sailors – they like doing things on time.
• Get to the right dock.  It’s the World Trade Center pier.  There’s always a person or two who go elsewhere.  If you’re at the Aquarium pier, Rowes Wharf, or the BU Boathouse you’re at the wrong place – hightail it over to the World Trade Center!
• Now for the party.  Arrggghhh! Rumor has it that it’s a pirate theme. (Really?) We recommend you class that theme out.  Lots of styles for pirates: Punk; airship; professional; Goth; Rock; historic, and, even the online-types. No for your stylist.  Save your cocktail dress or your wingtips for later in the week.
• Dress warm. We know it could put a crimp in your pirate-style choice, but it could be a little chilly. Most of the decks are covered, but prep up anyway.
• Don’t forget to bring your ticket, your I.D., and good, old-fashioned cash – no debit or credit cards – you’ll be on a boat. (A cash bar for those 21 or older will be available, but you must have a valid license or passport.)
• Massachusetts State Troopers will check you in at the dock and before you get on the boat. Good idea to be on your best behavior – mouthing-off is a sure fire way to ensure you get to have dinner with me in the brig at the dock.
• You get there on your own, but we’ll have buses waiting to get you back to campus (should be a return to campus around midnight). Check the BU Senior Week 2012 app for directions. There’s a happening scene around the Waterfront area – if you decide to stick around after the boat ride, make sure you and your friends make arrangements to get home safely.
• No matter what you do, don’t fall — or jump — off the boat!
• (The evening’s suggested hashtag: #imonaboat (if you have to ask, you’re not up on it))

Finally, I can’t make it on the boat. Snap and tweet a photo or two – of course, I’ll be watching the photo streams.  You never know, best picture from the evening might win a prize.

You’re only allowed one pirate noise or pun tonight. Have a great time.  Stay safe.

Peace.

Watch this video on YouTube

With a somber heart.

I have learned to take time each day to celebrate our families, our communities, and the young people who give us their potential and opportunity to be our best selves.  I rarely take the time to celebrate the people who got me to this place — the poets, thinkers, creators, the enthusiastic, the hard working, the young, and, the inspiring. Celebrating achievement and contribution that is present is, personally, preferable to lifting memories.

Each day, I try to take a moment to meditate. I offer you Howard Thurman’s For A Time of Sorrow, that I have carried with me during the last few days, for any of your additional reflection:

I share with you the agony of your grief.

The anguish of your heart finds echo in my own.

I know I cannot enter all you feel

Nor bear with you the burden of your pain;

 

I can but offer what my love does give:

The strength of caring,

The warmth of one who seeks to understand

The silent storm-swept barrenness of so great a loss.

 

This I do in quiet ways,

That on your lonely path

You many not walk alone.

Finally, I will not be shaken from believing in the value of travel. I am humble when I kick it with people I have never met. Sure, it’s challenging and uncomfortable, but my life has been about spending time off the block; out of the neighborhood; in a new place. Travel reminds me of my size and, ultimately, transforms me. I think more when I travel – the more I think, the more human I feel.

Much strength.

Peace.

Twenty days!

After finals, you’ll get together and get reacquainted – during Senior Week – and, on May 20 – just twenty short days away – we recognize your achievement with big style.  The pause to celebrate your journey starts this week – Thursday, May 3 – with Senior Breakfast. Be a part of the tradition where the official announcement of honorary degree recipients and the person who will speak at Commencement takes place. (Let us know if we’ll see you there by registering at this link.)

There is no doubt – you kept this place vital, vibrant, and alive.  Without a script, you made it about the power of now. You pushed grand conversation and inspired us to think, too. You kept the campus hip, caring, and full of lyrical and thought-provoking style.

I appreciate you holding it down. Thank you.

Finally, a bit of just-in-time and on the moment advice. The next twenty days – yipes – are intense: lots to do well and really fast, meetups, and plenty of cocktail chatter. Finish strong, be present during your socializing, and look after yourself and each other.

Take deep breaths and listened to the call of you heart. Until we see each other on Thursday,

Peace.

Keep an eye here for blog posts and watch our tweets during Senior Week. We’ll post additional “food for thought” items, including just in time information about events – both planned and ad hoc, late-breaking news, style tips, and – of course – playlists.

I’m down for a little Coffee and Conversation.

My beautiful children – dripping with the odor of teen spirit – are fired up. They’ve checked out the posts, updates, hashtags, links, and chatter. They’re arguing with me and asking questions. They’re tossing ideas about justice and doing the right thing. They are interested and interesting – for this moment.

What’s the deal with the shooting of Treyvon Martin and should we be down with the April 20, Kony night cover? They still want to talk about it. Should we?

Are my children just giving in to the marketing and oversimplification of an old monster and a recent news story? Are these online clicks the tipping point for putting their bodies to use – for action. Is there a hunger out there that the Kony and Martin gigs have found? A hunger for what – justice? To make a difference?

And, what’s up with all the scorn from the old-heads? Jealousy? Mortality in the new world? Condescending?

What to do in public when the issues are distant and complex? Who tells these stories? How do we tell the story?

I’m down for a little Coffee and Conversation today. Let’s talk about whether I’m just deeding my children’s love of themselves, elitism and indifference. Should the Martin and Kony “stories” be on our front pages and screens? What’s the endgame and has all this done more good than harm?

I’ll bring the coffee, cookies, and different format. Today, we’re live-chatting (and streaming) from the George Sherman Union’s Ballroom – 3-5 p.m.  I’m also bringing Ruha Benjamin (Boston University Sociology Professor) and Margie Dillenberg (former movement director of Invisible Children) to help keep the conversation jumping.

Peace.

Word! It went out a few weeks ago.

Brand, spankin’ new wannabe Terriers are on the street.

First, the practical. Recognize the City as a character in your life – understand the energy of cities and places. It’s the place where you can come to change it up. Restore. Write your songs. Spit your prose. Make your coin. Create. And, do you.

You don’t need and excuse to be interesting around here. Don’t worry, it’s acceptable to think and know about societal innovators; books of note; art and artists; music; film; and, design. Don’t pooh-pooh the fashion and style.

After you’ve got the practical down, start working on your cool.

“Supposed to” has no spot on our squad. Dreams and joy collide on Comm Ave. Come here to have your greatest passions meet the world’s big, bad, and bold needs. Dole out your sweet kisses to the love you know now, but save a few for the love you’ll find.

Snore under those flowers for so many hours.  Wake up every time to a beautiful day.

Can’t wait to see you on the Ave Terrier.

Dream. Get your cool on. Love. (And, a little music for your start.) Peace.

(Many thanks to Frederick Buechner and Lupe Fiasco for the inspiration.)

Sorry I’m not surprised. Cue the sigh of relief for my daughter and son.

I got the memo from my father – back in the day – when I was acting like I could do what ever I wanted on the streets of the City. One of my younger brothers got a talking to after he spoke back to a City police officer (and made it home in one piece to tell us about it). My youngest brother had heard the love note – aloud – several times by just being around. We – our household and the neighborhood – had our own Black Codes.

It was one of the few things we didn’t dare test. Pop’s appeal to us – and exhortation that would give us a fighting chance to live as free as we could as young men. Simple rules: don’t leave the house without some identification; never get mouthy with police; know about Emmett Till and keep his story holy – to give white women space and not be fresh; always show your hands; dress up when you travel – sweatpants and jeans are only for loungin’ around the house; and, never run.

Always hit the full stop.

Make ‘em think someone will come looking for you if you don’t come back.

Yes sir. No ma’am.

These were our family rules for deference and for survival.  The best way my father knew – short of being around 24/7 – to keep his young’uns from getting picked up, housed somewhere, or murdered by people who were not going to give us the benefit of innocence.

I haven’t passed the memo on to my children yet. I hoped there was no longer a need. Was I naïve? Have I been irresponsible? Recent events make me question my judgment. But, response to those recent events keep me hopeful (note Professor Ruha Benjamin’s sociology class’ participation in the Million Hoodies movement at the end of the post). I might save the memo and talk to my children about why we’ve got to hit somebody’s rally; write letters; and, force the deeper – less media-driven – important conversations.

Is it about the guns? The violence? The auto-suspicion? How are we living? Is this how we want to live? Or, why we are now so captivated?

Peace to Trayvon, his family, and all of us?

I started with a simple vision: a weekly meet up with a little conversation on the side. You took it to a new level. Coffee & Conversation has become a gathering point for passions – a place where the ideas and causes you believe in can get a little air and loving criticism.

It’s time for me to get off the floor.

It belongs to you – it was never mine. I’m stepping off but I’ll keep the coffee flowing and the plates of good cookies until the end of the semester. You’re up! Take Coffee & Convo and make it what you need to be.

Jam Session 2.0 from Cain Mosni on Vimeo.

Let me get one last sip – a little unsolicited advice.

• It’s about the meet up, music, and purpose – keep a little bit each week.

• Breaks are not wasted time.

• Silence is the beginning of thought.

• Connect, for real, outside of the room with people and culture – it will make you more interesting.

• Move! National works best. Global is better.

• Have a question session. An afternoon where – if you’re in the room and you want to play – you can only speak with questions.

• Pay attention to the rhythm, the rebel.

• It’s lyrical.

• Topic suggestions: obligation; Iran; heroes and sheroes; the stuff we cannot talk about; evil; and, peace.

• Protect the soft voices.

• The vibe gets more play than the facts – it’s what we remember.

• Walk away from your conversations without being angry at the other folks.

• Respect each other.

• I’ll jump in on future convos about love.

May all your convos be funky!

Peace.

PS – of course I got to drop a quick playlist