TheListServe Blog

I am an Australian Jew. At a Nazi rally in Berlin around 1935 my great aunt remembers hearing her father say to her mother, 'We must get out of here'. She still doesn't know whether he meant the rally or the country. But they did leave and came to this great land by way of Germany, Poland, The Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia). They were lucky Europeans, doctors, businessmen, radio presenters, smugglers of wet wads of banknotes sewn into buttons of fur coasts, friends of Marlene Dietrich, owners of pearls, POWs of both the Germans and the Japanese, soldiers for the Allies, translators at the Nuremberg trials, Mossad language experts, displaced persons, refugees, Ashkenazi BRCA 2 gene carriers and, in the end, Australian. As Australian as it gets. It was my partner that first coined the phrase Jew-ty. He thinks it's naff. I think it perfectly describes a very personal obligation that is based on a shared cultural history of tz...

I love email and I love The Listserve. It's a fantastic idea that recalls the aspirational, democratic ideals of the early internet. Some of the best uses of modern technology, imho, are those that try to bring people together, to foster communication, to open minds, to leverage this amazing global web for the betterment of humankind, even in modest ways. The Listserve does that. Boingboing, the wonderful blog where I first heard of the Listserve, does that too. The whole ecosystem of online review sites does that (or at least it used to, before most of them descended into gamified sock-puppet botmarts full of fake accounts and spam). And that's also the ambition behind Passing Remarks. This is a free, non-profit site that a friend and I built, which lets road users connect with one another using only their number plates. It's our old-fashioned attempt to use web tech to tackle a very real social problem: road safety. It hit me one day while gazing in terrified awe at a par...

Music has always played a starring role in my life. Growing up, my music teachers told me that I was "musically gifted." It all started with the piano. Then the flute. And the guitar. And the ukulele. Did I mention I was also the champion recorder player in elementary school? Big Deal. I know. BUT that doesn't mean I was actually good at everything, because trust me, I'm not. I might be "gifted," but I can also be lazy. So in addition to playing instruments, I love listening to them aka going to concerts. Maslow was wrong when he said we need to satisfy our physiological needs before we can focus on our other needs; I'd rather starve and attend a show, because priorities. I swoon hard for artists who sound like butter, especially those males. And when I listen to these artists, I like to emulate what I hear. I like to play my instruments and sing. In the shower, in my bed, in the car, on the moon if I could. Now we're going to shift gears and talk ...

Hello, Listserve! My name is Melissa, I’m 48, and I'm a work in progress. Right now, I’m in Washington, DC, staring down an overpriced coffee, pondering life and where my next chapter begins. I’ve been to the foot of Mount Ararat. I’ve snorkeled with sharks in the Andaman Sea. I’ve been held at gunpoint by Chechen Mafiosi and stood at the bottom of the stairs of Air Force One. I’m fun at parties. I’ve rolled naked in the snow after a Russian sauna, been knocked into a sewer in Uzbekistan, and on the first day of my current job, I was blessed by the Dalai Lama. I’m a storyteller, a total geek, a devoted friend, and I’m as capable of loving and being loved passionately and fully as anyone else you will meet. I’m also fat. With many people, that’s all they see, all they care to know, and all they think I am. It saddens me when people judge me exclusively on my physical form. It kills me that many see me as less human than they are—less worthy of respect, dignity, decency, or love—beca...

One time, a world famous comedian stole one of my jokes (word for word) and passed it off as his Twitter/Facebook thought of the day. When faced with actual plagiarism of something I created, I was honored rather than upset. Jeremy California, USA

Hello, planet earth. I'll try to keep this from being tl;dr. Email flows all too naturally in just one direction, and tends to feel plastic / impersonal. The beauty of the Internet is how it can create meaningful dialogue if used correctly and with tact. Making the Internet a more warm, welcoming place can only help electronically-connected mankind. With that said, let's connect and create that dialogue (or at least try). I'll propose three (almost) universally-enjoyed topics: 1) Exploration. I'm from the States but travel / live abroad 100% of my days. I'd love to hear about your excursions, and places that I miss as I conduct mine. I post shots from my iPhone on an Instagram account: @N_AMERICAN_SCUM (no fancy camera - this helps keep it about the experience, not the photo) A few places I've visited over the past year where the sense of adventure felt especially real: -Mount Kinabalu, Borneo -Jungles of Amazonas, Brazil -Mount Kenya -Cradle Mountain, Tasmani...

Hey listservians! I have the same trouble most people express on here. What profundity (that had better be a word..) do I have worthy of this list? My initial thought was absolutely none. I am a boring, middle 30's, white, middle class guy living in suburban USA. What could I possibly have to share? I guess I have lived a bit more interesting life than most people. I am originally from rural New Zealand; lived briefly in Australia (stint in Sydney; shorter time in Brisbane - I would love to move back if I could); moved to the US where I have lived in various parts of the north east (NYC that amazing, expensive, dirty, smelly, chaotic place); wealthy and pretty Connecticut; Boston and its northern suburbs (love New England - sorry CT, you don't count); and now hot, humid, miserable (but winter kicks arse) north eastern Florida. Thanks to my work I have seen so much more of the US/Canada than most Americans/Canadians (or most others really) ever get to see. From Quebec/Montreal/...

I'll be leaving in the next few hours to a remote village in rural India with no electricity so Listserve just hit the right time to choose me! I'm from Portugal and I'm currently in India with engineers without borders. For all the engineers out there, have you ever heard of? You should take a look. And for anyone traveling around India, you should take a look into Auroville. If anyone wants to catch up just let me know. Enjoy life as much as you can, Inês inescastelomachado[AT]gmail.com India

Hi, I’m Vincent.Gosh, where do I even begin?! Obviously with how surreal being chosen to write is! Secondly, a massive thank-you to all the fine penmen and women past and future who have and will continue to make a minute or two of my everyday a little different, a little interesting, a little funny. Most day’s I feel like most people: a little bummed out, a little ungrateful, a little lethargic. But on a rare few special days I feel extremely privileged. Privileged that despite a modest upbringing in one of the poorest countries in the poorest regions of the world, that I have much of the same opportunities as people in the rich world. It isn’t so much that I have these opportunities as it is about the environment in which I have these opportunities: it’s about opportunity with perspective. The opportunities I’ve had means that everywhere I look I invariably see poverty. People whose lives are measured in dollars: less than $2 a day, if that. But perspective means that I also see beau...

I'm interested in what makes funny things funny. If you know, email me. Here's what I've got so far: The root of all humor is "the swerve". This is an element of surprise built into the structure of a joke which pulls the audience off of the implied path into a punchline. The strength of a joke is related to how strongly the implied path is set and then how well you can craft a swerve that people can follow. The simplest joke I know of to use a swerve is a form of comic triple: a to-do list joke ("my weekend projects: 1- fix door, 2- sweep garage, 3- kill my wife"). The first two items establish a straight line to follow and the third swerves from it in a surprising way. Jokes can also intentionally not swerve, and exploit an audience's expectation of a swerve to form the surprise element. One of my favorite types of jokes is latvian joke which as far as I can tell was invented by a guy named Chris Connolly, so (congratulate/get mad at) him for it, n...

Hello Listservians! Before I begin... I ask that if you choose to read this email that you do so with an open mind. I have no intention to offend - only to challenge a way of thinking. Please consider that :) Let’s talk about dogs, shall we? Have you ever wondered how dogs became “pure bred”? Did God create each breed specifically? Maybe natural selection after millions of years created the English Bulldog? Dogs first became domesticated when they learned that they could survive more easily by working with humans than fighting against them. Once we started living with dogs we started preferring the ones that worked to our advantage. We selectively bred dogs that were good hunters, or good protectors, etc. In the last few hundred years we decided that dogs could also be companions, and accessories. We could breed them to be tiny and portable. So we bred dogs to be what we wanted, and then we gave them names. Pitbull. Rat Terrier. Pug. Bulldog. Labrador. German Shepherd. Collie. It is cr...

What an honor to write to you all.When you're having a bad day go for a walk, it will help clear your head Be sure to get a good night's sleep Try to eat a colorful plate Enjoy simple things like a fresh peach or a summer rain storm Don't take yourself too seriously and try not to judge others too harshly Don't forget to look around and take in the majesty of this world. Electronics are great, but the real world is better Try toe-shoes. I know they look stupid but I swear they're really comfortable, especially for running Don't settle for crappy beer, drink good beer that someone put time, effort, and love into making If you travel, see the world from the people who live where you're going's eyes. Tourist destinations are great, but sometimes something as simple as a super market or a neighborhood restaurant will be great memories Don't knock Kansas until you visit. I know it seems like a boring fly-over but the state has a lot to offer and is re...

Hi Listserve! Writing in front of 20,000 people is a pretty hard thing to do.. I've tried and tried but couldn't think of any interesting life stories or advice but there are a couple of quotes that I've never forgotten and want to share with you all to hopefully make your day a bit better."Never worry about what you do around people... it's most likely that they'll have forgotten about it by the end of the day." "You always have everything you need to be happy, Blood to live, air to breathe and lips to smile." Thanks for reading and have a good day! :) C Thegalieteged[AT]hotmail.com Scotland

I have a friend named Michael Short. I only see Michael once a month or so (through our work with the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre) and, when I do, he always gives me a gift: a definition for a new word, a connection to someone wonderful, an affirmation of the way I parent my teens. An introduction to ListServe was one of his gifts, and I'm grateful for the chance to share a little of my life with you. I'm a doctor, lawyer, and company director, living my life between Australia and New Zealand, with my husband and three children. I recently turned 40, and love the courage and integrity that I see in phenomenal women all around me. As I write this, I'm sitting at beautiful Queenstown airport after giving the opening keynote for the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. I shared the stage with an extraordinary young woman named Jen Morris who told her story of having her trust violated during medical "care". I wish more doctors had the chance to hear...

Hi there, world!What's your life like? We will all be okay. Even if I screw up again. These are several of the screwups I had in the past year: Last year I got into the training programme for the job I thought I wanted. It was hard, really hard - but I thought it was worth it and if I just tried harder I could make it. I slowly started dating this boy I really, really liked. It was great. And it all got harder. I gave up more and more to stay in the programme. I told him we shouldn't be seeing each other any more. I hated myself for it. Concentrating on only the programme helped for a while. Then I got kicked out. I had given up everything I liked and wanted. I didn't think I'd ever like anything again. I bounced back though. Now I have a job I like, I'm good at it and I really like the people I work with. I hang out with my friends every night and all weekend - and I'm quitting all that to get my Master's degree. I'm so scared. Suppose I don't like ...

It is a remarkable honor to be chosen to write for The Listserve. It's very hard for me to think of a interesting anecdote, so instead I just want to put something positive out there. Smile. Smiling seems to be the simplest thing you can do in order to change your mood. It's seems ludicrous that a simple facial expression could affect your attitude, but just think of that and smile. I guarantee you won't be in a bad mood for long. Don't let anyone take your smile away. I believe the famous quote should be, "They can take our lives, but they'll never take our grins" Do something for someone else. Unless you're locked in a 4 by 2 foot box, there is someone out there in a worse situation than you. Notice I didn't say 5 by 4 foot box you glutton. But seriously, there are people out there who could use your help. You don't even have to join an organization to do it. I bet there is someone right in your neighborhood who could benefit just from ...

I recently got back my best friend. I didn’t realize how much I missed her until I got her back, or really, that she was even gone. As I grew up I was told that you would grow apart from your high school friends. That connection would never be the same once you graduated and moved away. This rang true for several friendships but not my best friend. We had known each other since the 4th grade and me moving all over the place in pursuit of my dreams didn’t seem to affect our relationship one bit. We texted almost every day and could make each other laugh harder than anyone else in the world. When I would come home we could pick up right where we left off, sometimes in the middle of the same sentence. She met a boy. I didn’t like him. I had hoped it was the over protective mother side of me flaring up. Or even the no one will ever be good enough for my best friend side of me. But it wasn’t. It was that primal gut instinct that drove our prehistoric ancestors to move into attack mode. I bu...

My life turned in exactly the opposite direction to which I expected after dwelling on a famous, old Australian poem written in 1889 by Banjo Patterson called Clancy of the Overflow. As a kid, my primary school teacher--a formidable American woman called Mrs James--forced all of us to learn this poem off by heart. As an eight year old I had no idea how this poem would worm its way back into my life decades later. I lived hard, worked long hours and punctuated my weeks with shopping and bar hopping in a busy Australian city. Still with all this I felt unhappy, dissatisfied and bored. Sure I was earning good money, had a great string of friends and lived in a city that is, to many, enviable but I was missing something. As I ambled down busy city streets reading the boredom in the faces of my fellow travellers I recalled the part of the poem which I had learned almost forty decades earlier: "For townsfolk have no time to grow, they have no time to waste." This poem made me give ...

When you dig a hole in Manhattan, you have to perform archaeology. So much has been put underground with such contradictory or absent documentation that it is impossible to know what you will find in any potential hole. Which means that you have to dig carefully to not break any surprise pipes or subterranean infrastructure. This made city is so complex and layered that we have to treat it as a naturally occurring object to be explored, rather than as a made thing of known properties with attributes described in plans. The Internet is like Manhattan. Every part of it is built, but the whole is grown. The Internet is so complex that we have to revert to observation rather than designs and plans whenever we want to know something about it. Web pages and emails and IM can seem kind of etherial, but they all run atop the Internet, and the Internet is a real thing. We made the Internet, bit by bit, but it is so big and intricate that we no longer understand it, if we ever did. I have tried ...

THAT is the question, my dear fellow listservians! And greetings to all, you, beautiful people all over the world. In the last few years I have gone through really very challenging and NOT so beautiful times, like many of you here, and reading all your emails has become a morning coffee habit, which in turn, supported the so-called “healing process”. Currently, I am at a point in my life, where I enjoy everything that comes my way. Is this a “rise from the ashes like a Phoenix bird” moment? I have NO freaking clue, but it feels just right! And I wish everybody had the inner resources to bounce back so epic awesomely like I did. *motivational part ends here* Now off we go with the funny stuff. :D Where you all, dear friends, get back to me, with your dreams, experiences, likes and dislikes and, obviously, with the mandatory bitching stuff you feel you need to share, but you didn’t dare. Well, here I am… the finest ear you have never had… ready to listen to you. What? What? More about m...

It took me 40 of the 48 hours allocated to figure out what to write. And even at hour 40, I still haven’t chosen a specific topic.It might be due to my strong indecisiveness (probably) or the fact that when you're given infinite possibilities, you don't want to pick just one. But this process has only proven and accentuated one of my biggest faults. I think, too much. There’s so much to write yet so little time. It got to the point where I considered not writing anything at all. Why waste your time and mine? But what’s worse: Giving up without anyone knowing or trying and putting yourself out there? Thankfully, my answer was trying. It hasn’t always been that answer. And if you were to step into my shoes right now, there are still plenty of things in my life where I need to ask myself that exact same question. Or I’ve answered the question but have not done much towards it. But this is another step of many to go. And I’m hoping it’s only a jumping point to keep going forward. I...

For the last six years I’ve worked for an NGO resettling and serving refugees in the U.S. In that time I’ve greeted them at the airport, shown them their first apartment, enrolled their children in school, taught English, shared meals, taught employment workshops of all kinds, found them jobs, fired them from jobs, ridden public transportation at all hours, taught financial literacy, and coordinated field trips to state parks. I’ve sat with clients while they’ve received devastating news from home, I’ve explained to clients that you cannot bathe in public pools, how to take a drug test, that you cannot kill and eat ducks at the park. I’ve helped buy cars and first homes, I’ve seen clients and coworkers become citizens and their children graduate high school and go off to college. I’ve been invited to weddings and funerals of friends and strangers. I’ve gotten to experience a lot through my work and I will always be appreciative. However, life moves in stages and this may all be drawin...

We met at the roof-top party overlooking our beautiful city. It was electric. We danced. We smoked. It felt like we’d known each other forever. His wife was jealous, she didn’t like me. I was young and naïve she said. I was just making a scene she said. My bozo fiancé didn’t care, he didn’t even notice. He just drank whisky and had a good time. They left. I didn’t see him for a long time after that. Bozo and I invited him to come party with us one night. I was drunk. Bozo was somewhere else. I made my intentions clear to him that night – I grinded on him and he stood there and grinned. He wanted more, but I got cold feet. He’s married! I’m about to be married! Heck, I was even at his wedding! No, we can’t. Bozo later tells me that things were getting ugly between him and his wife. They drifted apart, and he drifted into psychosis. A mania fuelled by his music. It was frantic. It was crazy. It hurt. He sang of unrequited love and of being as dirty as sin. He recorded a demo, and sought...

Greetings from Chicago! If there are two things we know how to do well here, it's food and music. Here are a few recommendations for you. Music: The Blisters, favorite songs: 21st Century Gang, One Day Brighton, MA, favorite songs: Touch, Wake the Dead Pizza: If you're in Chicago, order from JB Alberto's in Rogers Park - my favorite is a thin crust with roast beef and giardiniera, essentially an Italian Beef pizza. If you're into Chicago-style pizza, Mr. Gilberti's Place in Hollister, Missouri is the best Chicago-style pizza I've ever had. Recipes: I've been on a bit of a health kick lately and this has been a staple. From the American Heart Association: Fish Tacos 2 - 4oz tilapia fillets 1 tbsp fresh lime juice 1/2 tsp chili powder 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 small plum tomatoes 1 jalapeno pepper 1 green onion 2 tbsp cilantro 3 tbsp yellow cornmeal 2 tsp olive oil 8 corn tortillas 1. Sprinkle the fish with the lime juice, comb...

Some things I have been thinking about recently: I never realized how brave firefighters are until I saw them with my own eyes entering a burning building and appearing in the windows where smoke was gushing out. I have been making decision lately on the belief that life is about new experiences. The more different things you do, places you visit, and people you meet, the more interesting, educated, and understanding you become. Which brings me to my third thought: Being proved wrong can be a good thing. I have always lived near New York City, but my enjoyment of open space and a view of the stars without light pollution always kept me wary of this place. How foolish I was! The people you encounter and places you discover in this city and others like it are what keep life interesting, and I am glad that my views have changed. About me: I am a college student studying business and journalism and I love to surf. If you have any recommendations on places to see great music in NY...

Written 10/12/2012: Everything you’re reading now was written before I was selected to share a message with the Listserve community. Like many of you, as soon as I signed up, I began wondering what I would say if given the chance. Some weeks later, I began to wonder how that message might be different if I were writing it on the assumption that it would never be read versus writing with certainty that it would. So I sat down to write a message, this message, even before I was asked to, which also means that you can think of this as the only email written from the perspective of a non-winner of the Listserve lottery. Part One – Just Gonna Say It… I’m a generally happy, positive person, but I’m also a proud skeptic, a natural contrarian, a sometimes pessimist, and an occasional grump. I tell you this because I don’t want what follows to be read as insulting or critical of the Listserve project or any of the contributors – I look forward to the emails every day, even and especially those ...

Greetings, My name is Ryan. I'm 38 years old. I live in Canada. In the last three months I have quit my import craft beer job in Vancouver - after three years with the company, moved all of my belongings into my brother's garage on Vancouver Island, taken a month-long solo camping road trip down the west coast and across the states, come back to my hometown of London, Canada, to help out my folks with their dog kennel business over the busy summer, while they tend to elderly relatives, spent most of my free evenings enjoying the sunsets on Lake Huron, and in the last two weeks met an amazing girl who I just might fall in love with if I'm not careful... What a long strange trip it's been. My dad died when I was 14. I moved out when I was 16. I've spent the last 20 years moving all over, living in different places, couch-surfing, working different jobs, making music and art, and experiencing different people and places. Always searching. An artist is always in a state...

i am outside right now, trying to find the stars on this cloudy summer night. i've been outside for a few hours, trying to find the right words to say to 24 thousand. i love summer nights. there's just something so intimate and limitless about them.  i once showed a boy the stars i loved the most. i eventually fell more in love with him than the stars. he told me, on a night much like this, that he didn't love me. i've been learning that it's impossible to stop loving someone. after he left, i went about "finding myself." i boxed myself up and then forced myself out. through this, i realized that everything has its natural flow. in some cases, the best way to make something happen is to let it happen.  take a moment tonight and go outside to see the stars. i'll be watching them with you. ---------------------------- a list of things i can't leave out:
- "the fall" by rhye
- humans of new york
- project unbreakable 
- alpha phi omega on a ...

My social media presence is filled with passionate articles, arguments, pictures and pleas concerning humanitarian crises occurring halfway around the world -- yet are close to my heart. I have my unique take on these issues -- some which I have expressed on my own pages and feeds. But I'm not going to talk about that here. Just about eight years ago (August 1, 2006) my mom died suddenly. It was a shock to everyone. I grew up in a traditional Jewish household emphasizing a strong Jewish education and had learned about the process and rituals surrounding death, burial and mourning. But I hadn't experienced it so closely until then. There was the tearing of a necktie I wore which my mom liked. The visitors during the first seven days of mourning (shiva). The walk around a pond I took with my Dad at the end of that week. And the following eleven months of gathering with the community to recite the Mourner's Kaddish, a prayer with which I became all too familiar. "I sh...

Ciao belli, I joined The Listserve exactly one week ago. And I'm not really ready for my turn. This feels like a speech for an Academy Award with the music already playing me off stage… But here is part of my life… I almost jumped from a bridge in April of 2010. It probably wouldn't have killed me – but I wanted to die. Instead of dying, I moved to Hawai'i and worked at a summer camp. And I fell in love with wonderful kids and wonderful co-workers. They truly saved my life. My favorite person there was a girl named Teej Teasdale. A writer from Kenya who worked with me and then later moved to the middle of the Pacific Ocean – Micronesia – to work for the Peace Corps. A girl with a heart big enough to hold the entire world [and all its pain]. She saved my life more than once. But she took her own life last July. It's still intensely painful. And I can't really speak about her in the past tense like she's gone. She is still beautiful and wonderful and ...