dear readers,

the july project is still under way.  i promise.  i have been meeting, speaking with, and learning from new people every day.  i am just behind in documenting the wisdom that has been most recently acquired!

i should also mention that my method has shifted slightly.  in recent conversations, i haven't mentioned the project at all, as i feel that it makes the wisdom more authentic and less "canned," if you will..

i just make sure to ask the right questions and listen intently, genuinely interested in hearing their best advice.  this method has achieved the wisdom that is undoubtedly real and personal to them, not just "something good that they read or heard once."

if there is one thing that i have learned, it is that people are very caring and generous in trying to help if they feel that they are needed and being taken seriously.  what makes this project different than doing thirty-one posts of quotes by history's brightest philosophers is that the things that i am learning are not merely good ideas that sound eloquent, but real bits of truth that have really made a difference in someone's actual life.

and anyway, who is to say that these amazing, everyday people that i meet on the streets of new york are any less wise or important than those that are renowned and quoted regularly?  my friend drew always is writing home from his mission about the worth of every soul.  well, in this short time that i have been given in the city, i also am realizing the worth of every soul, and it is amazing and beautiful.

so with that change (again, only in some cases) a photo will also be absent from that given post.  i know that putting a face to the words not only makes the project seem more dramatic and real, but it also shows that even those who you might not expect to be profoundly "wise" at first glance (oh, how terrible our natural first-judgments can be..) really do have valuable bits and pieces to share.  so valuable that, if applied, could change my own life in great ways.

so for that, i regret the lack of photos that are {not} to come, but when it comes right down to it, this project never was a "pictures of strangers" thing, but a "wisdom from strangers" thing, which is exactly what i am excited to catch up on sharing with you.

thanks for your comments and for sticking around!
-kate

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