The Yankees Again

New York City is baseball crazy! I don't think I've ever been in a city that loves its baseball team so much. I mean wouldn't you think after 26 World Series championships that the 27th would not be that big of a deal? But it is. Today is the Lower Manhattan tickertape parade that has been arranged to celebrate the Yankees' victory, and has it ever turned the City upside down. Traffic is tied up, subways are delayed, even the Staten Island Ferry has been affected. One long-time resident of Staten Island who drives the shuttle from the Ferry to Wagner College claimed that the traffic was worse than he has ever seen it as the throngs hurried in their cars across the Verazzano Narrows bridge or bussed to the ferry station in hopes of getting the best possible vantage point on the parade that is scheduled to go from Battery Park up to City Hall.

But why? To see the players drive by in chaffeur driven limousines with the top down while thousands of onlookers throw little pieces of paper on their heads? That can't be it. It must be something more, something more atavistic and basic, like the need to join with others in acknowledging one's heroes, or, you know, a really great excuse to party. Speaking of excuses, my classes at Wagner today were not at all well attended, all owing to this deeply bred instinct on the part of the students to recognize the mighty Olympians who conquered their enemies. To celebrate that great battle of wits and strength in which one overpowering clan of titans prevails convincingly over another. Or it could be just another opportunity to go wild. What could be more basic than that?

But here's another thought about all this. My natural inclination is to think historically, to consider the Yankees of today in the context of the Yankees of the past. But most folks, especially my Wagner students, don't think this way at all. At the tender age of, say, 20, all they can think about is that there hasn't been a Yankee champion since 2000, which means, in a sense, that there hasn't been a Yankee winner during their most active years as a fan. To have the Yankees of 2009 win it all is something to be celebrated in itself. The fact that they did this 26 other times is not only not much of a concern to them, it doesn't enter into their thoughts at all. So let's hear it for the baseball champions of 2009 - the New York Yankees! They may have done it many times in the past, but this one - the one we can enjoy and taste and savor right now - this one is the best one yet.

New York Winter

There was a time when I shuddered at the coming of winter. The temperatures hovering near zero, the prolonged darkness, the piles of crusted over snow, the overcast skies, the drudgery of trying to move around in it, all made winter feel oppressive and just a bit suffocating. I have lived in quite a few places where the winters were long and frigid, and the prospect of facing those hard, seemingly endless days of unrelenting cold brought sadness and just a touch of desperation.

New York winters feel different to me, in part because it's New York, and I suppose, too, because I'm a somewhat changed person. Changes in weather of any kind don't depress me any more; they interest me, and the coming of winter is no different. I enjoy, at least for a while, wearing sweaters and heavier coats, and I really love the way the winter air feels and smells. Walking in the cold can be particularly invigorating. But the fact that I now live in New York has really transformed my attitude toward winter. Even though the cold may bite at times and the wind may blow powerfully (the winds of New York are, by far, the hardest part of winter for me), the fact remains that it is just a short distance to Lincoln Center, my favorite Bookstores, the partial shelter of Central Park, or the subway which can whisk you easily and directly to many fascinating parts of Manhattan or Brooklyn. Those New York winters just don't seem all that bad when there are so many wonderful ways to pass the time until the warm weather returns.

Will I be tired of winter by late March or early April? Almost certainly. But for now the coming winter brings thoughts of finding refuge in colorful museums, well heated theatres, congenial restaurants, and those little cafes where a hot cup of coffee or a rich container of hot chocolate offer protection from the winter cold that somehow seems to give this season of cold and abbreviated days its very reason for being.

Running

Perhaps inspired by the New York City Marathon, I have started to do some running again for the first time in probably 20 years. I'm still not doing it as regularly as I would like, but I am surprised by how much I enjoy it when I do. My plan is to run softly, calmly, and pretty slowly. I want to save my knees for one thing, but I also want to retain the pleasure and the simplicity of this most elemental of physical activities. We really were meant to run, but not necessarily to compete with others or to see how quickly we can lower our times or even to lose weight. It is rather a natural way for human beings to get around that shouldn't necessitate special gear or other equipment. I mean part of the satisfaction of running is that it can literally be done anywhere at any time.

In my case, at least at this point, I am trying to run in bike pants and walking shoes just after dawn. What I think might help me to sustain this is my route - two blocks East and then a nice trot along the cindery bridle path in Central Park. The delight of being in Central Park three or four mornings a week is a big part of the appeal right now. I enter at 69th and Central Park West, take only a few steps on a paved path and then turn left on to the cinders. The path curves enticingly toward a tunnel where it is hard to see your footing in the dusky light of the new day, then continues on more or less straight before coming to another charming little tunnel and then up toward the main road before reversing direction to return the way I came.

After leaving the Park and heading home via 69th Street itself, I am often struck by what a neighborly place this street is. It is filled with brownstones and old three and four story walk-ups with steep stoops of stairs. During Halloween, virtually everyone had elaborate decorations. On other days, you can't help noticing how carefully everyone maintains their frontage with flowers or other colorful decorations or just by keeping everything very neat and tidy. One day as I ran home, I was surprised to see preparations for a street fair, which the residents organize themselves, both to celebrate their neighborhood and to welcome others in.

So I guess you could say my run is full of little enticements. The run itself, the promise of Central Park, the charm of a New York City neighborhood, and the pleasure of returning once again to our own humble home that looks out so longingly on this great and diverse city.

Oh, and one other thing, I had no post for today, so I wrote this little piece at 6:00 in the morning...instead of takng my little early morning jog. Sometimes just writing about running is as good, if not better, than the run itself.

Seagulls and the Staten Island Ferry

Standing on the back of the Staten Island Ferry last night as it plowed toward Manhattan, with the orange light from the setting sun brilliantly lighting up the western horizon, and the dots of light from the Statue of Liberty's torch and crown coming spectacularly into view, I enjoyed this marvelous moment of profound well being. This feeling continued as I watched the seagulls, dipping and veering over our wake. They seemed to relish their job of escorting the boat all the way into shore. As I watched them, no one could convince me that they weren't having an absolutely terrific time gliding and darting, flapping and careening, floating and banking in the wind. Making the most of who they are and what they can do, their slicing and swooping seemed to be their way of saying we are here on this earth to play our precious, irreplaceable part in the ecology of the sea. Of course, that part is mainly to reproduce, to fish, and to provide sustenance for others, but what if part of that role is to show us to how to play as well, with all the abandon and joy of beings who make beautiful use of whatever the elements have to offer and do so with no other object other than to paint the sky with their vivid and colorful movements.

Human Flourishing

Yesterday I wrote a post about a unifying narrative for President Obama, building on what Tom Friedman said about this subject in his Sunday New York Times column. Today I want to add to this just a bit by describing in somewhat greater detail what the economist Amartya Sen and the philosopher Martha Nussbaum have called the Capabilities Approach to promoting human well being, an approach that I believe should be the basis for that unifying narrative.

In her book Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach, Nussbaum writes that she wants to provide a philosophical justification for ensuring that every person is treated as an end, not merely as a means, able to lead lives worthy of the dignity that goes with being a flourishing, fully realized human being. For her and for Professor Sen, this means that society has a responsibility to ensure that all human beings, without exception, are able to do a set of things - what they call "human functional capabilities" (ten in all) - that permit every human being, without exception, to "live really humanly" (p. 74). She goes on to say that the enumerated human capabilities "can be convincingly argued to be of central importance in any human life, whatever else the person pursues or chooses." Finally, before sharing the list, it must be emphasized that many of these capabilities emerged from the constrained experiences of women from around the world. As Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn argue in their new book Half the Sky , the great human rights issue of the 21st century may well be the opportunity for women everywhere to live securely and fully, without fear of violence or repression. An incredibly large number of women lack these basic rights, which has been one of the chief spurs for the development of the list of capabilities indicated below. Please note I have shortened some of these simply owing to space considerations. See pages 78-80 in Women and Human Development. Finally, I should add that although Amartya Sen has pioneered some of this thinking about capabilities, Martha Nussbaum is wholly responsible for the list below.

1. Life. Being able to live to the end of a human life of normal length; not dying prematurely, or before one's life is so reduced as to be not worth living.

2. Bodily Health. Being able to have good health, including reproductive health, to be adequately nourished, to have adequate shelter.

3. Bodily Integrity. Being able to move freely from place to place; having one's bodily boundaries treated as sovereign; being secure against assault, sexual abuse and other infringements on freedom and safety.

4. Senses, Imagination, and Thought. Being able to use the senses, to imagine, think, and reason -- and to do these things in a "truly human" way, a way informed and cultivated by an adequate education...Being able to search for the ultimate meaning of life in one's own way. Being able to have pleasurable experiences, and to avoid non-necessary pain.

5. Emotions. Being able to have attachments to things and people outside ourselves; to love those who love and care for us, to grieve at their absence; in general, to love, to grieve, to experience longing, gratitude, and justified anger.

6. Practical Reason. Being able to form a conception of the good and to engage in critical reflection about the planning of one's life.

7. Affiliation. Being able to live with and toward others, to recognize and show concern for other human beings, to engage in various forms of social interaction, to be able to imagine the situation of another and to have compassion for that situation; to have the capability for both justice and friendship.

8. Other Species. Being able to live with concern for and in relation to animals, plants, and the world of nature.

9. Play. Being able to laugh, to play, and to enjoy recreational activities.

10. Control Over One's Environment. A. Political. Being able to participate effectively in political choices that govern one's life; having the right of political participation, protections of free speech and association. B.Material. Being able to hold property and having property rights on an equal basis with others; having the right to seek employment on an equal basis with others; having the freedom from unwarranted search and seizure.

A Unifying Narrative

As a respectful but often skeptical reader of Thomas L. Friedman's New York Times column, I wanted to cheer as I read the introduction to the piece he wrote for, yesterday's Times about President Obama's policies (More Poetry, Please, November 1 2009). He indicated that while Obama does not have a problem communicating his message clearly to various audiences, he does have a "narrative" problem in that he "has not tied all his programs into a single narrative that shows the links between his health care, banking, economic, climate, energy, education, and foreign policies." I agree with Friedman that if the President could find this unifying narrative, the support he already enjoys would grow stronger and he might win new constituencies that have been confused by what too often looks like an incoherent, piecemeal approach to policy making.

But once Mr. Friedman identifies the basis for the narrative - "nation building" - he loses me. For one thing, it smacks too much of the 20th century project to dominate and control other countries by focusing on strengthening our own nation, often at the expense of the rest of the world (for a stark contrast, read just about any column by Nicholas Kristof, but the one about solving the problem of obstetric fistulas from the same November 1 issue will do nicely). For another, it is in the end too vague to provide the inspiration we need.

What President Obama really cares about most and what all his policies have in common is a desire to promote human flourishing, to nurture human growth and development to such an extent that people from all around the world, not just in the United States, can get much closer to the goal of realizing themselves as human beings. I refer, of course, to the highest need on Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, but also to the Aristotelian ideal that in order for people to realize their full potential, there are certain goods that they must have, survival goods, yes, but also the goods of education, employment, and a project or projects that give their lives meaning. A modern day equivalent of this approach is philosopher Martha Nussbaum's notion of "capabilities," the things that everyone needs to achieve a life of dignity and fulfillment. I will have more to say about this in the next post, but let me add that a version of these capabilities was introduced as early as FDR's State of the Union Address of 1944 when he declared every American was entitled to a Second Bill of Rights that includes: "a useful and remunerative job; enough money for adequate food, clothing, and recreation; a decent living; a decent home; adequate medical care; adequate protection from economic fears of old age; and the right to a good education."

Of course, nothing like this ever came about, but the fact that these issues were seriously addressed some 65 years ago in a state paper of considerable importance is a small sign of how long these concerns have lingered in the public mind. I think it is possible that President Obama intends to make good on some of this agenda as he moves forward, however glacially, in the years to come to bring this country closer to this humane ideal that has been dreamed of for so long.

Teachers College - Columbia

On occasion, I spend a couple of days at Teachers College - Columbia - helping to give a workshop to their graduate students (there are no undergraduates) on some topic that may appeal to those studying adult learning or leadership or organizational psychology or curriculum and instruction. I did one the other day focusing on leading productive discussions, so I found myself thinking some about this enduring but often maligned institution.

You may have heard the saying that the widest street in the world is New York City's West 120th Street because it is the thoroughfare that divides Columbia University from its poor cousin - Teachers College. Why poor cousin? Because TC has always had only a tenuous relationship to the rest of the university, is entirely focused on educational studies, the lowest status discipline in any university, and, finally, has often been considered the primary culprit in spreading the influence of progressive education as promulgated by ideological liberals like John Dewey, William Heard Kilpatrick, and Maxine Greene. These people and TC in general are hated by many people for perpetuating the idea that education is something that is not primarily conveyed or transmitted to relatively passive pupils, but is an active, constructive process of making meaning and encouraging students to take control over their own learning, and hence their own lives.

Teachers College probably does have a lot to answer for and almost certainly hasn't done nearly enough to make schools more rigorous and accountable, but it really is an exciting and stimulating place where students are not only learning how to become more effective teachers, but are learning as well how to be strong leaders, insightful educational psychologists, experts in conflict resolution, and proficient in organizing ppor neighborhoods to support educational renewal. In the end, I would say that Teachers College offers a great deal to help us solve our educational problems and to make educational institutions of all kinds more responsive to their communities. This has been true since the time of Dewey and continues to be a critical part of its institutional mission.