Inspiration

I’m flattered by how much people have embraced this project. One of the neatest things I’ve heard so far (which is greater than any donation) is that some teachers at my old high school and elementary school want to do a weekl lesson of “Where in the Country is Bugsy?” Fantastic! I could see it as something many classes would be willing to do to learn about geography in a more exciting way, one state at a time.

Also, several people have sent me inspirational quotes and such, which is a great motivation and gets me more excited about the whole project. Clearly, something must have inspired them for a quote or story to come to mind.

Here are a few.

Heather advised the words of Andy Warhol in case of bad press some day: “Don’t pay any attention to what they write about you. Just measure it in inches.”

My mother and I have always loved sharing quotes with each other. She recently sent me Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Not Taken” (1915).

My friend Kari sent me a fantastic Henry David Thoreau quote. “All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit is the one… characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers.”

And my dear friend Laura left me this:
“What gives value to travel is fear. It is the fact that, at a certain moment, when we are so far from our own country, we are seized by a vague fear, and an instinctive desire to go back to the protection of old habits…This is why we should not say that we travel for pleasure. There is no pleasure in traveling. It is more an occasion for spiritual testing. If we understand by culture the exercise of our most intimate sense - that of eternity - then we travel for culture. Pleasure takes us away from ourselves in the same way as distraction, in Pascal’s use of the word, takes us away from God. Travel, which is like a greater and graver science, brings us back to ourselves.” - Albert Camus

There’s a lot of inspiration out there. A lot of my favorite quotes to draw from. And endless people to draw from for inspiration and creativity. Cheers! -xo