In a rustic little space in Dogtown, at the end of a row of shops, is The Corner Cup, a coffee joint for lovers of all things caffeinated. On a gray morning Kyle and I sat at a corner table, steaming cups in hand. In his request to meet, he had hinted that he participated in some interesting hobbies. But we started with the basics...
8 Feet In The Air
Kyle grew up in Springfield, Illinois, a town he says is "good for families, but..." He quickly learned that a weekend trip to St. Louis yielded opportunities and adventures unavailable to him there, and made Sunday field trips a part of his regular routine. These trips were spent at concerts, walking the Delmar Loop, museums, or even taking a class in trapeze, participating in improv classes, and playing roller derby.
So, what was his impetus for finally making the move to St. Louis? "I was kind of floundering. I was very comfortable there, but I wasn't challenged. Not being married, raising a kid, or working for government, I was bored."
8 Feet In The Air
Kyle grew up in Springfield, Illinois, a town he says is "good for families, but..." He quickly learned that a weekend trip to St. Louis yielded opportunities and adventures unavailable to him there, and made Sunday field trips a part of his regular routine. These trips were spent at concerts, walking the Delmar Loop, museums, or even taking a class in trapeze, participating in improv classes, and playing roller derby.
So, what was his impetus for finally making the move to St. Louis? "I was kind of floundering. I was very comfortable there, but I wasn't challenged. Not being married, raising a kid, or working for government, I was bored."
In 2012 a friend of Kyle's invited him to take a free local trapeze class and for 90 minutes he hung suspended 8 feet above the ground learning basic aerial moves. It was there, suspended above the floor, that he decided he would move here. "That was the first place I said out loud 'I'd be surprised if I don't live here by the end of the year'." He was right. Seven months later he made the move and he loves it.
"Now I can do trapeze, I can do improve, go to the museum. Yesterday I went to see a play that was all from text on Craigslist, the entire play was just posts from Craigslist! I think a lot of people lose sight of where they are and forget what's available to them. I don't want to lose sight of that."
How To Nail A Phone Interview
Before signing up for more trapeze classes or joining an improv group, Kyle had to find a job that would allow him to make the move. When he saw a job working for a large bank, he applied, even though he wouldn't have "picked the job out of a lineup". He researched how to nail a phone interview and shortly thereafter he was hired.
"My job is a mix of technical and financial support; for example, on Friday I had 2 hour and 15 minute phone call with a 90-year old man resetting his password on the website. So I can do something like that, or it could be a financial advisor who needs to do something for a client and I tell them how to do it within regulations."
The Spirit Of The Staircase
L'esprit d'escalier. The spirit of the staircase. While this is the literal translation, the French use this phrase to describe when you're walking away and think of the exact thing you should have said. It's something Kyle's been thinking a lot about. "When we sit down and think about something, we only know our language so we only use that set of words. So only things that can be expressed in this set of words are things we’re going to think about."
As you may have guessed based on his articulation of the shortcomings of the English language, Kyle is a writer. Shortly after the move he began a micro-fiction blog where he writes stories and scenes in 150 words or less. When we met though, he'd only written 2 scenes. "When you sit down to write, you don’t try, things should just come."
Because of his economy of words in one story that he wrote, the reader's interpretations were dramatically different from Kyle's original intention and the story became something different for each individual. That was an incredible realization for Kyle. The story eventually sold for three dollars.
Wrapping Up
The morning weather hadn't improved much during the one hour we spent hovering over steaming mugs. In fact, a gray fog now clung to everything.
Gathering our warm wrappings, Kyle summed up his thoughts. "There's a lot of 'why?' in the world. You have to bring the 'why not?'". This sentiment gave me a perfect explanation for all of the unique hobbies Kyle has discovered since moving to St. Louis
"Now I can do trapeze, I can do improve, go to the museum. Yesterday I went to see a play that was all from text on Craigslist, the entire play was just posts from Craigslist! I think a lot of people lose sight of where they are and forget what's available to them. I don't want to lose sight of that."
How To Nail A Phone Interview
Before signing up for more trapeze classes or joining an improv group, Kyle had to find a job that would allow him to make the move. When he saw a job working for a large bank, he applied, even though he wouldn't have "picked the job out of a lineup". He researched how to nail a phone interview and shortly thereafter he was hired.
"My job is a mix of technical and financial support; for example, on Friday I had 2 hour and 15 minute phone call with a 90-year old man resetting his password on the website. So I can do something like that, or it could be a financial advisor who needs to do something for a client and I tell them how to do it within regulations."
The Spirit Of The Staircase
L'esprit d'escalier. The spirit of the staircase. While this is the literal translation, the French use this phrase to describe when you're walking away and think of the exact thing you should have said. It's something Kyle's been thinking a lot about. "When we sit down and think about something, we only know our language so we only use that set of words. So only things that can be expressed in this set of words are things we’re going to think about."
As you may have guessed based on his articulation of the shortcomings of the English language, Kyle is a writer. Shortly after the move he began a micro-fiction blog where he writes stories and scenes in 150 words or less. When we met though, he'd only written 2 scenes. "When you sit down to write, you don’t try, things should just come."
Because of his economy of words in one story that he wrote, the reader's interpretations were dramatically different from Kyle's original intention and the story became something different for each individual. That was an incredible realization for Kyle. The story eventually sold for three dollars.
Wrapping Up
The morning weather hadn't improved much during the one hour we spent hovering over steaming mugs. In fact, a gray fog now clung to everything.
Gathering our warm wrappings, Kyle summed up his thoughts. "There's a lot of 'why?' in the world. You have to bring the 'why not?'". This sentiment gave me a perfect explanation for all of the unique hobbies Kyle has discovered since moving to St. Louis
