hello. my name is mike ambs.

Growing up is hard. Growing up with a parent who constantly sets poor examples and displays borderline-abusive logic is especially hard. Erica wrote this email to me yesterday morning and… although it was a personal message, I wanted to share it; I think everyone can relate to being young and watching the adults around you do and say things that went against something inside you, even if that something never was easy to put into words… and everyone can relate to that first time you make your own decision to be… different.

So, today I was talking to Xander on the phone. We were having a good conversation; we played some mad libs and he was telling me about his job as the mail helper at school this week.

At some point he was telling me that Poppo (the giant puppy) knocked him down this morning so he kicked him in the face. I was very alarmed and wanted to talk about that more. We had a discussion and I told him that was not a good thing to do. I explained that our pets are not as smart as people and it’s our job to make sure they behave properly, and if they don’t we need to keep teaching them and that it is never, ever ok to kick or hit an animal. He said his Dad kicks the dogs all the time. He said he told his Dad that he shouldn’t do that, that he keeps kicking them and they keep peeing on the floor anyway. Apparently his Dad said “I understand you love your dogs, but they keep pissing on the floor.” Xander quoted him, mimicked his voice and everything. He sort of kept talking about how his Dad behaves and the reasons why he thinks it’s wrong. I didn’t really say to much, I just let him talk. He kept saying how his Dad does things over and over that don’t work and he doesn’t ever try to do something different. My 6 year old son can see his Dad makes bad choices and can see through his rationalizing abusing the animals. He said he was going to apologize to Poppo right after it happened but he had to leave and that he was going to apologize to him now and tell him it was a mistake and he’s sorry he kicked him… and that he wouldn’t ever do it again. He said it was the only time he had ever done that.

I just wanted to share that with you. I’m so proud of him I can’t stand it. I hope you are too.

via The Fox is Black

[What] I loved most about Bill Cunningham is his endless sense of wonder and creativity and his boundless positivity. To see a man who’s seen and done so much in his life, and still getting up and doing it every day, that’s quite remarkable. As I watched the movie I couldn’t help but smile the entire time, at parts even getting teary eye. The reason is, this man’s life brings him so much happiness, and the fact that he gets to wake up and do it again every day brings him endless joy is nothing short of marvelous. I can honestly say that I’ve never walked out of a documentary, or any movie for that matter, feeling so alive.

I’m very much looking forward to watching this film - not just because I know very, very little about Bill Cunningham and feel as though I need to remedy that as soon as possible, but specifically because of a line from Bill in the trailer, he says, “See, if you don’t take their money, they can’t tell you what to do! That’s the key to the whole thing.” He says it with such warmth and humor and excitement - I really don’t think I’ve ever heard a comment similar to this from someone past the age of 35. To see him so late in life still loving what he does and being content with his photography and not the financial pull of his photography is beautiful. I want to be this man when I’m old and gray. 

via Mark Maynard 

I’ve read that the wealth disparity in America is greater than that in Egypt, where the masses just recently rose up and took back their country. Conventional wisdom seems to be that it can’t happen here, though. Americans, it’s thought, are a complacent bunch, as long as they have decent football to watch, an ample supply of beer and the promise of the lottery. (Porn and reality television help too.) I’ve got to think there’s a breaking point, though. And, I can’t for the life of me understand why the rich in this country can’t see that it’s approaching. I get that it’s nice to be rich, and that it’s hard to hand over money that you feel that you feel as though you’ve earned (even though you likely inherited it), but I can’t see how it makes good business sense to sacrifice stability for another 5%.

Personally, if I were in the Koch brothers’ shoes, I’d rather make a million dollars less a year and live in a country where someone wasn’t waiting around every other corner, looking for an opportunity to hit me in the head with a brick and steal my last crust of bread. I’d want people to have opportunities. I’d want people to have access to health care and a decent education. I’d want neighbors who really believed that, if they worked hard and applied themselves, their children could achieve more than they did. And I know that some folks at the top feel this way, like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, but I don’t get why there are so many who insist on fighting for their loopholes and those few extra percentage points. Stability, I would think, would have to be worth something. I can’t imagine that these people who comprise the top 1% would want to live in the America that they’re creating.

But, I guess they feel insulated, as though they’ll be able to escape what’s coming somehow. I don’t see as how that’s going to be possible, though. And I have to think that some day they’ll regret allowing our schools to crumble, or social safety net to decay, and our public libraries to close.