Personal
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Taye Diggs is not 5′10″
Posted by Brooke on 25 Dec 2008 | Tagged as: Personal
It was Fall 1999, the West Village, New York. My friend Liza was having a party and my date and I arrived as the party was in full swing. She greeted me at the door with, “Holy shit, Taye Diggs is at my party.” You know, the actor from ‘Stella Got her Groove Back’? At least that was his biggest role back then.
That was my first party with a famous person and so I had to get a look at him.
My impression: very handsome, very fit, very short. Seriously. Not an inch over 5′4″ and that might be generous. How do I know this? I’m 5′6″ without a slouch and when he walked right past me I had to look down a little bit to meet his eyes.
So I was surprised to see this bit of biography information on Mr. Diggs today. Seriously, I need an agent - I’ve always wanted to be 5′10″ too!
When I let this stuff percolate in my brain alongside some of the other things in there like this, this, and this I start to think about perception.
What is perception? A simple definition from dictionary.com
immediate or intuitive recognition or appreciation, as of moral, psychological, or aesthetic qualities; insight; intuition; discernment: an artist of rare perception.
If Taye Diggs says that he’s 5′10″ and I say that he’s 5′4″ why does the difference exist? Let’s ignore the simple explanation that all actors want to seem taller than they are. Instead let’s turn to a more nuanced discussion of difference. Oh wait, nuance schmuance.
Maybe it is just a case of me being an unreliable witness, an issue being discussed at length by the judicial community.
But I’m confident in my ability to discern the difference of 6 inches in the height of a man. What then?
What Have I Learned?
Posted by Brooke on 16 Oct 2007 | Tagged as: Personal
Has the past year been an exercise in futility? Did I make a wise choice in leaving the hustle and bustle of New York?
This has really been on my mind lately and I think it will take me awhile to come up with a good answer. In a real sense, yes, I made the right choice. Over eight years of living in New York took a toll on my tree-hugging psyche. One year of Louisville has showed me that most of the people in the world are here to just get by.
And what’s wrong with just getting by? Probably not much. I’d like to think that I can slow down and be one of the lumpen proletariat but that only lasts for a day or so and then I am right back to pushing myself. Louisville is helping me to remember that I can push at 80% and still beat the pack.