I met an old college friend today for lunch at the new whole foods on Houston street. Besides being impressed by the innovative supermarket-cafe design of the building, my friend (AR) told me a remarkable story that is quite instructive.
AR is rising college senior at Wesleyan, and was spending the summer living in New York and doing a crappy part-time internship at the Onion. A few weeks into the internship, it was clear that his summer was going nowhere fast, at least professionally.
While in a coffee shop, AR overheard a man explaining his new technology start-up to a friend. After listening, he politely interjected with interest, and got into a conversation with the entrepreneur/owner.
The conversation led to an invitation for drinks with the owner's partner, and they offered AR a trial part-time job (well paid for college student). It clicked, and he's now working a full-time (albeit with flexible hours), and has abandoned the Onion.
As I've always argued, if you are observant/attentive and take verbal risks with strangers, the potential gain is enormous.
Loisaida is a term derived from the Latino (and especially Puerto Rican) pronunciation of "Lower East Side", a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. Loisaida Avenue is now an alternate name for Avenue C in the Alphabet City neighborhood of New York City, whose population has largely been Hispanic (mainly Puerto Rican) since the late 1960s.
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