Friday, April 18, 2008

"They're Both Outdoors"

A few weeks ago, when I was in New York, I took the Chinatown bus from New York to Boston and back again for the weekend. It was a fun adventure to be out on the East Coast traveling by myself, and along the way I met several fun characters on and off the bus.

One of those characters was a girl whose name I forget, but whose personality is unforgettable. She sat next to me on the ride back to New York, with her iPod in hand and her humming voice singing along - she was going to audition for a show. We got to chatting and she told me about how she was doing a show this summer at a theme park, something she didn't seem necessarily proud of, but deep down knew that it was a gig.

As the conversation turned to me, I told her about how I was moving to the City in September to try to make my way as a writer. I told her that my interested varied, but that I was particularly interested in the environmental movement and the professional tennis tour, which are two completely different things.

"Well," she replied. "They're both outdoors."

Yes, I thought, they are both outdoors - sometimes. Needless to say, she was being kind and trying to make a connection, something that I appreciated from her.

Those two issues - the environmental movement and tennis - are what my two most recent published writings include. My column at GreenforGood.com, "The Greener Grad" continues this week with a look at how the green movement is often seen as a competition when it shouldn't be. And, over at TENNIS.com, I wrote an article about my own school, Seattle University, going Division I and bringing back their storied tennis program.

Check both of them out when you have time, and get out and enjoy the outdoors when you get the chance! There's lot to do out there, separate from tennis and the environment, of course.

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