ARI HERZOG

My Personal Blog

Hello 2021!

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My last blog post was six months ago today — when I wrote about normality.

I was offered a job that day, and I’ve been working since as an English teacher at a private elementary school for gifted and talented students. I teach second and third grade. Here’s a link to the impressive faculty.

The pandemic is still with us. Will it ever end?

Vaccines are new. The first U.S. vaccine was given in December 2020. After three months, it seems that most Americans are either fully vaccinated, signing up for an appointment, waiting to get an appointment, or waiting to be eligible.

A February 2021 poll by the Associated Press indicates that 15% of Americans don’t want the vaccine and another 17% probably won’t get it. The jury’s out if herd immunity can exist without them.

Outside of school…

I’ve been keeping busy watching assorted TV shows and movies on Netflix and other Roku channels. I’m enjoying the mindless entertainment of NCIS. I started watching it a few years ago. I’m currently in season 9 (out of 18 and counting).

I subscribe to digital editions of The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The New York Times; and I enjoy reading the different apps for various styles of reporting and storytelling.

Across social media, I use Instagram, Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook Groups the most. For instance, I follow a lot of travel photographers, indoor gardeners, and celebrity animals on Instagram and I constantly get inspired. Tucker the dog and Chunk the groundhog get me to laugh all the time.

I recently watched the first two parts of a YouTube video series featuring dialect coach Erik Singer. He “travels” around the country and explains how accents are born, die, and are connected to each other. Among other things, the first video taught me about monophthongization and the second video taught me about the Northern Cities Vowel Shift. I love learning about language!

Celebrating Days and Months

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There is a website that details every national day — from the serious World Hepatitis Day on July 28 to the fanatic National Ravioli Day on March 20 to the silly Slap Your Annoying Coworker Day on October 23.

Months are also listed, such as Lyme Disease Awareness Month in May, National Immunization Awareness Month in August, and Black History Month in February.

By marking days and months as one-off annual events, we dilute their importance. I’m fine with one day every year to celebrate individual foods (ravioli, spaghetti, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, salsa, etc.) but shouldn’t Lyme Disease be promoted every month? Shouldn’t Black history deserve more than a month?

Some may say that we need to have solitary days and months to commemorate their significance. If Movember wasn’t celebrated in only November but throughout the year, then less attention and fundraising would go toward cancer research. I grasp that.

At the same time, I look at a program such as Small Business Saturday which occurs once a year on the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Shouldn’t more days be devoted for small and local business owners?

Either we keep the status quo of continuing to celebrate days and months when they occur, or we expand some of those celebrations to last longer.

Vacilando

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John Steinbeck and his French poodle, Charley, embarked on a road trip across the United States in 1960. He wrote about his travels in a 1962 book, entitled, “Travels with Charley: In Search of America.”

It’s one of my favorite books. I initially read it after my own cross-country road trip in 2001. Among his nuggets of perspective, Steinbeck wrote about the connection between the journey and the destination.

“In Spanish there is a word for which I can’t find a counterword in English. It is the verb vacilar, present participle vacilando. It does not mean vacillating at all. If one is vacilando, he is going somewhere, but does not greatly care whether or not he gets there, although he has direction.”

The concept of vacilando was the source of some of my most memorable travel stories.

One time, I explored a dirt trail near the Grand Canyon’s south rim. I didn’t expect the dirt to transition into snow. I braked and got stuck! Because I learned to drive in New England, I knew about the drive-reverse-drive method of rocking my car’s engine if I got stuck. I eventually was able to free myself from the snow. Then, I got stuck in the mud! Thankfully, a park ranger appeared as dusk approached and he towed me backwards to drier land. Finally, with thanks and a wave, I drove away to find dinner!

Hancock

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Nestled in the western wilderness of Berkshire County and several miles from the New York border, the town of Hancock, Massachusetts is a hamlet of serenity.

After hiking two miles to the summit of Jiminy Peak on a partly cloudy morning, I gazed over the mountains and valleys that lay spread before me.

Invoking the day’s beauty, I thought about John Hancock’s legacy as the 4th and 13th President of the Continental Congress and the 1st and 3rd Governor of Massachusetts. I wondered how he would react to cellphones, technology, and modern amenities that we take for granted.

On the day I visited the mountain, cellphone service was nonexistent and public internet access was only available in the hotel lobby.

“I would like to issue a complaint,” my sister and I heard a woman say to the front desk manager.

“I have stayed at many Wyndham Vacation resorts but yours is the first that only has one public kiosk. I don’t want to wait in line. The internet should be more accessible.”

We chuckled.

Instead of bringing her own laptop computer (as I did) or waiting in line with everyone else, she used her privilege to complain.

I would like to think that Hancock would agree with me.

One of his quotes is apropos: “A chip on the shoulder is too heavy a piece of baggage to carry through life.”

A version of this blog post was originally written on July 1, 2008.

Printed Books Only, Please

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“I can’t fathom reading a book without tactile sensations of turning pages and smelling paper,” I wrote 10 years ago. I feel the same today.

I’m not alone.

“The book lover loves to have a record of what they’ve read, and it’s about signaling to the rest of the world. It’s about decorating your home, it’s about collecting, I guess, because people are completists aren’t they, they want to have that to indicate about themselves.”

Meryl Halls, managing director of the UK Booksellers Association
Source: CNBC

Four years ago I pondered why “I like reading news online but not books.” Maybe because the online articles are shorter? Maybe because I respected the science behind reading printed media?

When the coronavirus crisis hit American cities and towns, I thought about ordering a Kindle. I went as far as browsing the Amazon catalog and comparing features.

It was a fleeting thought.

Write it Down to Be Real

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This is a quote about dreams and goals.

It is cathartic to write.

I don’t want my head distracting me from what matters, so I transform all of those thoughts and ideas into blog posts and to-do lists.

Matt tells me that he is trying to write. Could he be trying too hard?

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

– Yoda

If you remove your clutter and learn from your failures, you will improve your life and appreciate success.

Choose your own aphorism.

Write down your thoughts — and do it.