For years, I’ve been talking about how I concieve of one of my roles in life as being a Curator of Inspiration.
As I’ve struggled to get a focus back to blogging, I thought I’d try getting back to being intentional about curation – so for your weekend enjoyment, here’s what I’ve been finding interesting and inspiring over the past several weeks.
Ellis Island: The Dream of America. Peter Boyer is in the running to take John Williams’ mantle as “King of Orchestral Fanfare.” His work soars and draws my spirit upward. I stumbled across his 2005 album “Ellis Island.” It combines fantastic music with dramatic readings of real life immigrant stories that were captured as part of the Ellis Island Oral History Project.
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American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin. Terrance Hayes and I were both born in 1971 in Columbia, SC. But he and I never met; we grew up in different worlds. Hayes tackles racism, romance, writing, masculinity, and a host of other topics in this collection of clever sonnets. With agile wordplay and intricate interconnection between the poems, this book demands repeat readings to appreciate the power of Hayes poetry.
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The Speed Cubers. This heartwarming documentary focuses on the friendly rivalry of two of the world’s top Rubik’s Cube champions. A refreshing break from toxic nastiness and cutthroat competition.
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Of course, if you need your dose of toxic nastiness, then read up on the Richardson Spite House. Built in 1882 to spoil the view from a building built adjacent to the property, this house was only five feet wide. Richardson and his longsuffering wife lived in the tiny accommodations, “enjoying” their 18 inch wide dining room.
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And finally, I have always known about the Sunk Cost Fallacy. But I learned last week that it was also called the Concorde Fallacy, due to the massive cost overruns associated with the Transatlantic superjet. Enjoy Jim Blasingame’s article about lessons we can learn from Concorde’s misadventure.
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Enjoy these little tidbits. And let me know in the comments what’s inspiring or interesting you this week.
Horizons of the Possible 
The Spite House is unbelievable. Sheesh… I sincerely hope I am never even one tenth as spiteful.
Take good care!
Elizabeth
@chaplaineliza
I know – I’ve had that article in my files, just waiting to use it as a sermon illustration. When we don’t forgive, we wind up living in a really narrow house.