en peacefulloflove@gmail.com Copyright 2010 2010-03-09T17:02:45+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/my_personal_manifesto/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/my_personal_manifesto/#When:16:02:45Z I am presently seated in an office.  Behind me sunlight is banging its fist against a window whose shades are drawn, begging me to notice that Spring is arriving soon.  Perhaps I should be doing work, but instead my mind has turned toward the broader sweep of history, time, philosophy and the role of the individual in the world (it should not be of great surprise that I am embracing such thoughts given that I am reading a biography of one of America’s greatest leaders: John Adams).  I am contemplating the fact that people always seem to “act their age,” that they give in to the demands of “the real world” rather than adhere to the longings of their hearts, and I find myself longing to unfurl my personal manifesto like a flag and plant it deep into the soil of my being. Poets fight fiercely against the constraints of physics and biology (let’s remember that Dylan Thomas wrote about how we should “rage, rage against the dying of the light) and, on rare occasions, they succeed.  The words of Pablo Neruda, Federico García Lorca and Robert Frost emanate from their throats and make the earth upon which we stand tremble with their passion; that they are buried deep within that earth only serves to amplify the effect.  And so it is for this reason that I, too, think, and feel, and write, for to take the violent passion that makes my flesh shudder with love and transform it into the sweet music of poetry, of entrepreneurship and of justice, is the greatest of endeavors. Musings, Prose 2010-03-09T16:02:45+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/renewal/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/renewal/#When:16:35:38Z Renewal It was raining sunlight when I rose, Cascades of warmth densely falling Like poetry written in prose, And my heart, through stops and starts, Galloped ever closer to repose. December 2, 2009 12:00 PM poetry 2009-12-02T16:35:38+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/myth/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/myth/#When:14:39:22Z Myth “The only thing truer than Truth is the story.”—Jewish Proverb Scrawled upon the tattered pages And etched into the voices Of shamans, poets, warriors—the masses, A thousand stories telling the human story Turn men into gods and gods into men. Long before I heard the tale, I saw The actors brandishing swords, hurling Their tears to mingle with the seasons, And knew that though a hand belongs to a man, Its gestures belong to history. And so I beckoned the storytellers, Reached out to the depths of awareness Where metaphors and hopes were born, In search of the hopes and the metaphors That would give meaning to the days. At night the actors were dressed In the wild extremes of emotion, and I danced Cheek to cheek with bliss, despair, unyielding love, Until sleep bled into wakefulness And nothing seemed real. In the crucible of the human psyche Two plots are forged: one reveals The desire to construct cities, institutions, The other explains why mortals toil To make a lasting impression on the earth. Lifting a pen, the poet’s ink mingles with the blood Of the living, the dead and the divine, Yet naked and alone, he must admit that Though all people are poets, all poets gods, No image compares to the beauty of sunlight and stars. Monday, October 12, 2009 poetry 2009-10-12T14:39:22+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/the_poetry_of_the_morning/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/the_poetry_of_the_morning/#When:13:32:48Z The Poetry of the Morning The morning repeats itself, its poetry Heard where feet first touch the floor Upon which the soldiers of old March in lockstep, fighting in vain Against a newer yet ageless force. The morning reveals itself, its long Limbs stretching namelessly Across the face of solitude, While through a thousand windows Sunlight makes mist of dreams and dreamers. The morning teases itself, Its abdomen pressing against The smooth back of darkness, An embrace replete with the hope and fear Of another day. Yet the morning surprises itself, too, Its stark clarity sometimes Sculpting a lover of longing, An action of lofty words, A poem of an idea. Tuesday, September 29, 2009 poetry 2009-09-29T13:32:48+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_cruise_to_the_baltic/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_cruise_to_the_baltic/#When:13:48:50Z I recently got back from a 10-day cruise to the Baltic with my parents, and I wanted to share the photos and thoughts from the trip!  The cruise left from Copenhagen, Denmark on July 5th.  On the 4th, I flew to Newark, New Jersey, where I met up with my parents and from where we flew to Copenhagen via Amsterdam.  Once in Copenhagen, we had a private tour of the city.  Though I had hardly slept on the red-eye flight, I thoroughly enjoyed the tour. For one thing, the weather was absolutely fantastic, and the hundreds of massive wind turbines dotting the landscape were enough to make me fall in love. Throw in the endless bicycles, the quaint streets, and the kind people and, well, I was impressed! When I was younger my mom, grandma and I would take a cruise every summer.  We took quite a few cruises to Alaska, as well as trips to Hawaii, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal and the Mediterranean.  My dad, however, had never joined us on these cruises, in part because he considered them to be “floating troughs” (referring, of course, to the fact that food is available 24 hours a day and the rather, um, large passengers...).  So I was very excited to go on another cruise and to have my dad join us. travel 2009-07-26T13:48:50+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/photos_from_my_graduation_and_thoughts_on_the_last_month_of_my_life/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/photos_from_my_graduation_and_thoughts_on_the_last_month_of_my_life/#When:11:14:54Z The last month has been an absolute blur for me.  I defended, presented and completed my masters thesis.  I then spent the next few weeks working full time on Capital Good Fund and Group stuff, while also dealing with the final stages of purchasing my new condo--which quickly turned into a nightmare of back-and-forth emails, revised documents, etc.  For graduation week, two of my best friends, Jared and Danny, as well as my parents, came out to visit.  The week started out with Jared and I going out for a bike ride on an absolutely beautiful day in Providence.  We had been eagerly anticipating the ride for quite some time because we hadn’t gone for a ride together in a while.  As the ride was starting, I noticed a strange notice coming from my bike, but I didn’t think anything of it until about 10 minutes in when suddenly my rear derailleur snapped completely in half (photo below).  It turns out that as a result of a crash I had about a month and a half ago the carbon faceplate on the derailleur had sustained a tiny crack that got larger until it suddenly failed.  However, Jared and I did end up doing several beautiful rides--with me on my touring bike and him on his race bike--and that about exemplifies how the last month has been: on the whole, absolutely fantastic, but also stressfull and full of surprises.  Read on for more about my graduation! 2009-06-07T11:14:54+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/de_camino_a_la_alhambra/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/de_camino_a_la_alhambra/#When:15:57:42Z De camino a la Alhambra De camino a la Alhambra el sueño se cayó En manos de la realidad, Y como no anticipaba la invasión Me quedé destrozado, buscando Las esquirlas de un amor Que había explicado el caos del mundo. De camino a la Alhambra una promesa Se sometió a la distancia que la transmitía, Y yo, desesperado, con una fe incorruptible, Me puse a cantar como un imán Que de pronto descubre que los creyentes ya no creen; Mis palabras cayeron sobre una muralla que desconocía. De camino a la Alhambra una brisa Se llevó al pasado una historia Que había conquistado el tiempo, Que había establecido un reino De caricias, de miradas penetrantes, De la perfección hecha alcanzable. De camino a la Alhambra mi vida Cambió para siempre, y aunque El dolor no me haya vencido, Las heridas no permiten que me olvide De la luna que iluminó mi corazón Aquella noche antigua que pasamos en la Alhambra. poetry 2009-05-16T15:57:42+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_literary_portrait/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_literary_portrait/#When:12:37:38Z Several months ago I received a request from Helen Mou, a Brown University Junior, to sit down for an interview for a writing class she was taking.  The assignment was to write a literary portrait of a person of interest. I greatly enjoyed the process of being interviewed by Helen, and I think she did a great job of capturing my personality in the portrait.  I want to thank Helen for choosing me and for putting so much care and attention into this work.  Read on for the full-text of what Helen wrote. Musings, Prose 2009-05-02T12:37:38+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_milestone_and_a_crash/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_milestone_and_a_crash/#When:10:55:42Z A little over a month ago I went through another one of my down periods, during which I felt incapable of doing anything.  For a while I was afraid that I would find it impossible to complete my thesis, and I was also very disappointed with the fact that I had once again ceased riding my bike.  When I finally started feeling better, I quietly resolved to ride my bike at least an hour a day, not so that I could achieve glory in cycling, but more importantly so that I would avoid falling into periods of inactivity.  Granted, I had already tried this before, with rather unimpressive results: I made it about 20 days into the goal before I started overtraining (feeling tired, having trouble sleeping, etc) and had to stop.  Yet something felt different this time: I was riding, not with the aim of becoming the fittest cycling in the world, but rather with the goal of feeling fit and happy.  With that positive attitude, I started riding, and I haven’t stopped since.  Yesterday I completed by 30th consecutive ride, and not only have I lost some weight, but I also feel very fit, very happy and I have managed to do all this without the usual overtraining! I was thrilled to reach this milestone yesterday, and indeed the first 35 miles of the ride were absolutely beautiful: my friend Mike and I rode a good, hard pace over country roads in Massachusetts, the weather was great, and I felt really strong.  Unfortunately, as we were cruising back to where we had parked our cars (finally enjoying a tailwind) we both went down at one of the worst railroad crossing I’ve ever ridden across.  Pictures and details after the jump. Cycling 2009-04-20T10:55:42+00:00 http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_fantastic_quote/ http://www.andyposner.org/index.php/posner/blog_personal_comments/a_fantastic_quote/#When:13:50:21Z I wanted to share a fantastic quote by Albert Einstein: The efforts of most human-beings are consumed in the struggle for their daily bread, but most of those who are, either through fortune or some special gift, relieved of this struggle are largely absorbed in further improving their worldly lot. Beneath the effort directed toward the accumulation of worldly goods lies all too frequently the illusion that this is the most substantial and desirable end to be achieved; but there is, fortunately, a minority composed of those who recognize early in their lives that the most beautiful and satisfying experiences open to humankind are not derived from the outside, but are bound up with the development of the individual’s own feeling, thinking and acting. The genuine artists, investigators and thinkers have always been persons of this kind. However inconspicuously the life of these individuals runs its course, none the less the fruits of their endeavors are the most valuable contributions which one generation can make to its successors. Musings 2009-04-07T13:50:21+00:00