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Gabe Lewis

Gabe’s Best Moment: Season Seven, Episode Sixteen: PDA 

When he designs the Treasure Hunt for Erin for Valentine’s Day. There’s a jigsaw puzzle, she gest to visit Darryl, he puts up stars for her, gets her sparkling cider (not champagne) and a cookie that brings her right to him.

Gabe’s Worst Moment: Season Seven, Episode Twenty-Five: Search Party Part 1 

When he signals to Toby and Jim if they would ‘wrap up’ Kelly’s interview and then explaining to her that she’s not qualified or considered a serious candidate.

Gabe’s Best Line: Season Eight, Episode Four: Garden Party

In response to everyone thinking Andy throws the Garden Party to impress Robert California (as we see later it was more to impress his parents) Gabe gets annoyed because that’s a ‘classic Gabe move’

“Hey Andy, how about you don’t steal my business strategies and I won’t dress like my life is just one long brunch” (Season Eight, Episode Four: Garden Party)

Gabe’s Most Memorable Moment: Season Seven, Episode Fifteen: The Search

When Gabe sets these ground rules for the Caption Contest

1.      No captions that insult the company

2.      No pop-culture references

3.      To use the stick-quips

Don’t give up what you love

How can I learn this power?

17 minutes

Today at 10 am local time across the US, students, teachers, staff will be walking out for of their schools. 17 minutes, one minute for each of the 17 victims of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting that occurred four weeks ago. These 17 minutes are not a distraction or disruption of their day. More time is lost to these students every year for the drills hoping to prevent these tragedies and the news outbreaks when they occur

It has been four weeks since the MSD shooting and two weeks since they returned to school where on their first day back news broke out that a teacher in Georgia brought a gun to his school, locked himself in his classroom and contemplated suicide. So today they walk out, today they march, not just as symbolism or a performance or as a statement. They are showing the adults how big this problem is, how far it spreads, all of those whom it impacts. It doesn’t just affect the students who survived the shooting, had to sit in their classrooms wondering if this was it; or the family members who lost their children, cousins, sisters, brothers, their parents and those who lost their friends. The intense gun drills that aim to sacrifice themselves for others when a shooter has entered their classroom and how to be quiet in your greatest, hour-long moments of fear has become part of their lives, part of their school prep like fire drills and the bomb drills of World War II

This affects everyone, and that’s part of why today they walk out, they March; because this is so important to them and so vital to them and their lives. We can’t say that children are too young to understand when they are the ones literally taking the hits for it. We cannot say their opinions are invalid or that they don’t know, that we know better and are taking care of them and are handling things for them while passing over a true epidemic that is killing and terrorizing them.

These 17 minutes are a request for thoughts and prayers; thoughts of those that lost their lives, prayers that they are at peace, both to be followed by real action. This isn’t about concert tickets, clothes, or youtube stars. You could see the bodies they had to pass on their way out when it was finally over, their classmates, their friends; because when it was finally over, it had just begun. And they are saying that enough is enough.

So this is a statement, they cannot vote but are supposed to be protected by us and we should be voting with them in mind. If we say their opinions are not valid or misinformed than we should be working with them, but we’re not because their opinions are not wrong or invalid and we are failing them by letting this continue. They are reminding us that we have the power to protect them and we need to step it up.

In the most three weeks since the shooting (February 21st until now) some of the tags that pop under Florida related to the MSD shooting have disappeared, but Parkland and Gun Control are still up there. It will not leave and this will not leave them. 

Wackadoo to you

So, I have some truly odd quirks. When having difficulty with fractions I could quickly practice my whenever I’d see a digital block with the time and break it down to the smallest fraction (ex. 12:15 because four-fifths) I’d practice my piano songs while sitting at my desk in school to the point where I couldn’t take real notes, and to this day I have issues with inanimate objects not having feelings as food does turn bad has been found to respond to music and toys have faces!

Some movies petrify us for life, but some just confuse or differ our thinking. Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Mary Poppins were early childhood films that I think of as somewhat wackadoo films that were colorful, fun, exciting and maybe lead to some quirky thoughts or habits. Maybe not as funky but later movies such as The Indian Cupboard and the Toy Story franchise should rank high as to reasons why children may have extended imaginations, especially considering imaginary friends or spiritual value given to inanimate objects.

While some of my quirks come from me, and some were extended by stories or films, I love these films just the same. While the magical series almost always involve “muggles” or non-magic folk who have no idea that magic exists, that provide another question I can never scientifically or purely decide on, these are the stories that show either everyone is unaware of and occur if you just pay close enough attention or just luck out in finding the right key--

giving a bit of wonder or magic into your life even as you are old and one of the best part of films.

Born a Crime

Trevor Noah’s (current host of The Daily Show) autobiography Born a Crime about an illegal child born in South Africa during apartheid is not the traditional rags-to-riches story you would expect. He does express breaking out of apartheid and the circle of ‘black payment’ but all before the success of who he is today, actually in only one sentence, as part of background information, does he mention his comedy, his touring and this is all before he came to the states or even left South Africa.  His story of rags-to-riches focuses on the better life he got in South Africa thanks to the willfulness of his mother and some random luck. 

There are a few reasons I love this book so much, for starters, I hear Trevor Noah in every word written, I'm not reading the book, I’m hearing him tell me his story and while watching The Daily Show provides his voice and talking mannerisms the actual art of showing and not telling, portraying his humanness in the story, that’s the beautiful part and it’s not because of The Daily Show. Giving a personal and historical understanding of his experience growing up under apartheid is great for all the obvious reasons: the picture he paints, the life different from ours that he introduces us to, but what he does so seamlessly is showing us our stories within his. 

Once I got old enough I knew I was privileged. Not from the specifics of being white or an upper-middle-class background--everyone I knew was like that, but I did understand that growing up in the states that I always had food and I’d go to college. Growing up Trevor shows us that while very different, that he can show us his world of apartheid and our world all at once, the specifics are different, but the stories are the same: racism, fear, fake personas, heartbreak, domestic violence

He brings us into the understanding of how again were just different types of toasted bread (because really, races aren’t even different types of skin, it’s literally just different levels of shading, this is all so ridiculous--but anyway), how some of us were in to level seven and others 4 and others only level one but we’re all still bread. 

February 14th, 2018

A year ago today, for the next few hours, Emma Gonzalez was giving out hugs and flowers, and love for Valentine’s Day; by the end of the day that would not be the case, by the end of the day a girl still full of love would also be filled (with what I presume) with fury. 

A year ago today 17 people lost their lives due to a domestic terror incident at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Florida. Now, at 10:17 the students and local community are participating in a moment of silence for those lost and the country should be reflecting on how they are impacted by gun violence not just at schools but at home, in malls and out when you’re just trying to enjoy your day and your US Constitution idea of “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

The end of the day, February 14th 2018, was very different than the MSD students and Parkland community expected when they woke up that morning, many who will never be waking up the same way again but that sentiment at the end of the day remains true. The students’ promised that they would be the end of gun violence and mass shootings and they are doing everything in their power to do so. Along with record-breaking youth voter turnout, the No Notoriety campaign, the Town Hall Project that encourages citizens to attend and meet with local politicians (and not vote for those who they can’t meet with) and the March for Our Lives walk that reminded many of the Vietnam War youth protests, over 100 new laws have been enacted related to gun violence where guns are limited to those who have shown a propensity of violence, a limit on assault rifles and bump stocks and many more. The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas have made a great impact on gun violence in the US, even just by keeping us talking. But again, now at 10:17, we take a breath, a moment for those these actions were made for:

                                    Alyssa Alhadeff (14)                

                                      Scott Beigel (35)

                              Martin Duque Anguiano (14)

                                 Nicholas Dworet (17)

                                   Aaron Feis (37)

                               Jaime Guttenberg (14)

                                  Chris Hixon (49)

                                  Luke Hoyer (15)

                                Cara Loughran (14)

                                Gina Montalto (14)

                               Joaquin Oliver (17)

                                 Alaina Petty (14)

                             Meadow Pollack (18)

                                Helena Ramsay (17)

                                Alex Schachter (14)

                             Carmen Schentrup (16)

                                   Peter Wang (15)

you have no idea

Nasjonal bibliotekdag

The population of the entire country of Norway (less than 5.5 million) is less than NYC (8.4 million), allowing for greater oversight of resources and focus on what these resources can do. First off, have a lot of resources. Following the insight of someone who has been to Norway; (1) their libraries focus on the community and this is first highlighted in their listed priorities (2):

To argue and emphasize the importance of libraries in the democratic process and promote freedom of information and speech

 To ensure the principle of the free lending right, independent of technological and political changes in society

To develop and strengthen libraries as promoters of knowledge, information and culture

To develop and strengthen libraries in building and supporting education, and as an arena for learning, research and innovation.

To promote an effective and robust library service of high quality.

To ensure development and innovation in the Norwegian library sector, amongst others promoting the realisation of a Norwegian digital library

To build alliances and co-operate with relevant national and international organisations within the fields of research, education and culture.

Their priorities are noted by strong examples of free access. While they close like all libraries, there are over 800 public libraries; therefore a minimum of one library per every 6,875 people. While that would be a lot of people to all be in one library at once, that is easily one library per small town not including University libraries that are open to the public. This access is increased as one library card gets you access to any and every library in the country including mobile libraries that increase access to those far away.

As of April 2019, the US is the highest GDP in the world, account for 23.6% of the global economy. Taking away the other top 9, the rest of the world still makes up less as 21.2% (3). While both countries have overall well educated and successful; Norway is getting a lot more bang for their buck and has tried to make sure all members of their country and communities are succeeding and have access to opportunities.

(1)    https://www.lifeinnorway.net/libraries-in-norway/

(2)    https://norskbibliotekforening.no/om-foreningen/about-norwegian-library-association/

(3)    https://www.investopedia.com/insights/worlds-top-economies/

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix we are propelled more into the depths and darkness the war will bring out that we see grow throughout the remainder of the series with Molly’s boggart turning into finding out any and all of them have been killed, the picture of the original Order of the Phoenix (most of whom have been killed) and even with the song sung by the Sorting Hat.

There is also an additional level of maturity brought to the story, because while our three are becoming more into their own, they are learning more about the complexities of life and good verse evil. Previously even those who were evil but were masquerading as good, we saw as still just evil when revealed (Pettigrew, Quirrell, Barty Crouch Jr.); but now we have Fudge, Percy, and Umbridge who are supposed to be the good guys but are doing more harm than one could imagine, forcing Harry and the others to not just fight against Voldemort and the Death Eaters, but also the Ministry acting out of fear and for power. Then, this complexity is heightened as we learn more about the relationship between James and Snape. In this context thou, the inclusion of Fred and George’s growing business and the boring task of OWLS, we are reminded that during our worst crisis’, funny or not, life goes on.

As Harry Potter progressed thru out the years, he went from fighting with his friends, fighting on his own, and in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, we see him progress to the next level; trying to navigate being a leader of more than just him, Hermione and Ron. Unfortunately this isn’t a lesson he masters by the end of this year or book and is given a painful lesson in the consequences of his actions and thinking things thru. But he does make some strides, in one of my favourite moments in the series of the films, is when Voldemort possesses Harry Potter and in return Harry chooses to think about choosing love over hate, choosing his friends, and decency and fights off Voldemort.