Last night, I had a long and riotous conversation with my friend Mitchell, and a brief interlude when Alex got onto the phone, and we raved about our lives, and James Joyce, and many other topics.<\/p>\n
Mitchell was telling me about his upcoming summer job – when he will be – er – what exactly is your title, Mitchell? – with Circus Smirkus<\/a> – a traveling circus, “where kids from across the US and around the world collaborate with professional circus coaches to immerse themselves in exciting, entertaining, and life-enhancing adventures under the Big Top<\/i>!” Mitchell is very involved in these kids lives. He loves them. He is invested in their futures. And they love him right back. One of the kids from last summer (this is Mitchell’s second season with the circus) recently called Mitchell to tell him about his triumph as a wrestler, and that he had also been accepted into one of the best culinary schools in the country – a goal he had confessed to Mitchell last summer. Many of these kids come from nothing, they have had a tough road … and their exposure to life outside their small realm in many cases saves their lives. They come to the circus camp and they have to learn discipline, being on time, having respect for authority, going farther than they think they can, pushing themselves beyond what they think are their limits … all life-skills which will serve them so well.<\/p>\n Mitchell said, in re: culinary-school kid, “He got the letter from the school, and he called me<\/i>. How cool is that?”<\/p>\n I wrote an essay a while back<\/a> about a teacher who, in my estimation, saved Mitchell’s life when she read Stuart Little<\/i> to the class.<\/p>\n So when Mitchell was telling me about how amazing these kids are, and how great it is to see them succeed in life – I said, “You know what you’re doing here, my friend? You are paying it forward, baby. You are doing the Stuart Little pay it forward.”<\/p>\n Mitchell started hollering, “I’M PAYIN’ IT FORWARD, MAN, I’M PAYIN’ IT FORWARD!”<\/p>\n I calmed down. I said, “I actually hated that movie.”<\/p>\n Mitchell said, “I did, too. It was so sickly sweet that I think I developed Type A diabetes while watching it.”<\/p>\n I howled. Type A<\/i> diabetes? Not any other type?<\/p>\n I love how Mitchell’s mind works.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Last night, I had a long and riotous conversation with my friend Mitchell, and a brief interlude when Alex got onto the phone, and we raved about our lives, and James Joyce, and many other topics. Mitchell was telling me … Continue reading