Past, Present, Piccadilly
The London Bridge to Former Students
Hey kids. Thanks for your kind words and thoughtful responses to the last edition of The Junction, which I churned out pell-mell just before I hopped a flight to London with my kid and her pal. When time permits, I hope to write a follow-up to that meditation on shame and empowerment. Something is brewing. Something.
Look. You might’ve heard that there’s an election in America tomorrow. Hardly headline news. No one’s really talking about it.
Overwhelmed? Me too.
Despite the preferences of some friends and readers, I’ve been pretty darn good about staying out of electoral politics in these pages (for a history and politics teacher, no less). I have my reasons. Buy me a beer and we can discuss them. Buy me another beer and I might even be candid with ya.
But there is no temptation like the weeks leading up to the first Tuesday in November of even-numbered years to opine on politics.
I won’t take the bait.
But I will tell ya this: all I wanna do everyday is wake up healthy, be an upstanding husband and citizen, be the World’s Best #1 Dad, and be of service to my communities. When time permits, I like to do creative things that make me breathe like my breath matters.
Oh. And I try not to be an utter ingrate.
Hey! I said I try.
Among the many things I’m grateful for is my enduring relationships with my students. We share a strange but sacred space in a pivotal junction on their paths. We share ideas and hopes and fears. We learn from and with one another. They move on. I keep truckin’.
But I’m grateful, yes truly grateful, to stay in touch with some of my esteemed students. So it was in London that I had the pleasure–nay the honor–to connect with four students that I taught in three different countries! How lucky am I?
I had the pleasure to reconnect with one of London’s hidden gems, Lili Walker.
It was such a treat to walk London with Walker. We cheerfully stumbled into all sorts of silliness, including this timely tribute to her we found when hunting for caramel corn for my wife’s students for Halloween.
Though we failed to find caramel corn, we did find what my travel companion was seeking: this replica pump commemorating the 1854 Soho cholera outbreak:
Having recovered from cholera, but not from Piccadilly Circus, we saw the longest-running play in the world…
The next day, our squad was joined for a jaunt through the Natural History museum by one of Chicagoland’s finest, Drew Gallaugher.
We exited the museum to that inexplicably wet London rain that seems to fall at a 30° angle, making umbrellas all but useless. So, when in Rome, we popped into a pub for room temp pints of uncarbonated ale that paled in comparison to my company. Drew is every bit as kind, clever, and compassionate as I remember him. Salt of the Earth. Legit. So relatable is he that the girls bombarded him with an array of random questions (What are your top three candy bars? Favorite movie? Best animal?). In absentia, they graded his quiz performance with a C+. Probably the worst grade dude ever got. He’ll be ready next time. Sooner the better.
London also brought me face-to-face with Elina Akhmetova, with whom I shared a classroom in Barcelona in 2005-06. Elina lives at the intersection of grassroots activism and performing arts. She fights for justice in London. She was a distinguished guest on my podcast. You should listen. For real. She was so good that I recorded a song about our conversation. Yeah, that’s right, I used to write songs about podcasts. Anyhoo, we met at the British Library while the kids ran around shoeless on the courtyard patio.
I also had the opportunity to meet up with Elina’s classmate, Simon Holland. He still has such compelling energy. Passes everyone’s vibe check every time. Dude is legend. He’s been splendidly successful many times over as a company founder. Makes sense. His enthusiasm is as contagious today as it was two decades ago when we were both young men in Barcelona. He brings people together, takes calculated risks, and builds stuff. Simon is the real deal…AND I can look forward to seeing him in Hamburg this weekend. I win again.
The day that Simon led me on an autumnal stroll along one of London’s canals, my daughter and I traded in one dynamic daddy-daughter-duo for another, but not before we took a group shot.
My kid had the pleasure to reconnect to one of her closest pals, who moved from Berlin to Cambridge a couple years ago. They FaceTime frequently. Her dad and I will move mountains to get them actual face time. They only had a couple days. It wasn’t easy to say farewell. But we did, right beside track 9¾ at King’s Cross Station.
We arrived back in Berlin just in time to trick or treat as Little Dead Riding Hood.
It was a pleasure to reconnect with my people, embrace London, escape Berlin, and have the perfect excuse to pivot away from the the political passions of the moment. Seeking yet more escapism, I spent Saturday recording a new single (a duet!) with my dear student from 2004, now and old pal, Sir Brian Trahan. Twas an absolutely bananas eight-hour recording session. The rest is in the mix. So I’m in good hands.
Today I return to face work and the political turbulence that awaits us all. But I return grateful, reminded anew that I’ve been enriched, inspired, and empowered by so many students for so many years. We’ll fight together.
Love,
DL