The Starfish Story

adapted from The Star Thrower

by Loren Eiseley (1907 - 1977)

Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out "Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?"

The young man paused, looked up, and replied "Throwing starfish into the ocean."

"I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?" asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, "The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don't throw them in, they'll die."

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, "But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can't possibly make a difference!"

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, "It made a difference for that one."

What's In A Name?

I do not believe I have ever told anyone to call me 'Vicious.'

Its just a name that I made up half-heartedly when I had aspirations of being a world-class boxer or at least pretty awesome street fighter. I needed a name that struck fear in my opponents eyes. You know, like 'Iron Mike' or Hector 'Macho' Camacho. 'Samuel Lee' just wasn't going to cut it.

After experimenting with various names in my life, I came across a list of the most popular DJs in the world. I saw the name 'Johnny Vicious' somewhere along the 60s or something. I didn't bother looking up his music or anything. He could have been all about suicidal death music or something and I still wouldn't know. The name was what caught my attention.

From that moment on, 'sammyVicious' was born.

The only time I would ever use the name was on my Xanga. Yes, thats how old this story is. I put up a big ass banner on top with the name in glowing glowing in red. I never told anyone to ever call me 'Vicious.' And noone really did. Until Jackie GSN. If you don't know who she is, then this story prob means nothing to you, but once she started calling me 'Vicious', the entire world caught on.

Today, this is a very common conversation:

person: hello?
me: hey.
person: who is this? sorry, new phone.
me: its sam
person: sam who?
me: sam from hunter/brooklyn/tech/fkcb/etc
person: which sam?
me: sam lee
person: *silence
me: VICIOUS
person: OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. WHY DIDNT YOU SAY SO?!?!

yeah. so thats my name now. But it's not like I want the world to call me Vicious. Its just more convenient. Can you imagine how hard it would be to find me on Facebook if I was just 'Samuel Lee'???? I started a fb group called 'The Coalition of Sam Lee' and we had over 200 members, and that was BEFORE we included 'Sam Li's'. (where is this group now? ask me about it in person. I get too angry to write about it).

But the real reason I wrote this note is because people don't know how to spell my name. Its a branding thing. People should get it right. Here is the official style guide for my name:

-When writing in full, it should be listed as one word, small 's', capital 'V'. (sammyVicious).

-For brevity, the following variations are acceptable: Vicious, sV, sammyV, V, samVicious

-If you want to call me 'sammy', you have stick in the 'V' or 'Vicious'. The only people in the world that are allowed to just call me 'sammy' are my 5th Grade teacher Mr. Vershleiser and the Hsu brothers. I'd actually prefer 'Samuel' over 'Sammy'

-Samuel 'Vicious' Lee is acceptable. sam vicious is also acceptable but not as preferred.




that is all.