Land of the free
Imagine 25 people dressed in riot gear, complete with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering your home. You are handcuffed and forced to lay on the floor, while these officers search through all of your closets, drawers, under beds. Your computer is seized; even your Read the rest of this entry »
Still Reeling
Yesterday a new friend looked me in the eye and told me that Governor Palin has more experience than Senator Obama. Really? I humored him, I’m looking forward to learning about that. Read the rest of this entry »
Town Hall Meeting
Q. Governor Palin, congratulations on the recent birth of your 5th child! Given that he is only 4 months old, aren’t you concerned that serving your country in such a huge capacity will stand in the way of your parenting? Particularly due to the fact that he has Down’s Syndrome? Is your husband a stay-at-home dad?
Thank you, Senator Obama
The world has been inspired by great leaders before.
We’ve seen the impossible happen right before our very eyes.
Iconic images of freedom and peace can be brought forth with a few key strokes.
. . . . . . .
But something about tonight is special.
Yes. Historic.
I can’t speak for the world, but one thing’s for sure,
I know that I am changed. For the Better.
Changing the world
The convention tonight got me in the mood to post a flashback . . .
1992. Lucky enough to have nailed a job in my chosen field, I started work (the Grown-up 65-hour-a-week-kind) six days after college graduation. Decked out in my new career clothes, I entered the Operations Department at a post house in Washington, D.C. just as the ’92 Presidential Campaign was heating up. NO, not the post office! A television post-production facility. Where we finished National Geographic Specials and Discovery Channel shows and lots and lots of political campaign spots for then, Governor Bill Clinton (among other candidates).
Working with Clinton’s media agency was the highlight of my early career. They were our biggest client—and did most of their post with us for more than several simultaneous campaigns. There were about six producers (charming, handsome young men, who we called “The Greer Boys”) from the agency who came to supervise edit and voice-over sessions with us day in and day out – pulling long hours, always rushing to make sure the content was as up to date as possible before we shipped hundreds of dubs to hundreds of TV stations. These were the days before cell phones and e-mail were commonly used—so I got to transfer calls from George Stephanopoulos to Mandy Grunwald and rush faxed scripts to the sound booth. The faxes were marked confidential, and the truth is— Read the rest of this entry »
My precious
The first time I heard of ocean glass I was less than 4 feet tall standing in church. The person giving the children’s mini-sermon let us reach our hands into a paper bag of dull shards – bottle fragments worn harmless by the tide and sand.
Broken glass submerged, tossed for days and years, until every edge is eroded smooth. That is how the universe heals all of us. Isn’t this ring amazing? No one died for it, no one was enslaved for it. My mom cringes when I talk this way because diamonds are so so lovely to look at and wear. I assure her, and all of my friends with pretty gems that my avoidance of the precious jewelry trade is a personal decision. It doesn’t reflect on my feelings about their wardrobes at all. But I’m getting ahead of myself here . . .
This past weekend, my far away niece and I did some on-line shopping together to celebrate her birthday. We’ve shopped this way together before, but this time I gave her a “birthday gift allowance” and I told her, we’re not going to the ordinary virtual mall to patronize Aeropostale. I introduced the idea of shopping from and supporting artists instead of big companies. We also spent some time at The Animal Rescue Site and their partner shops, where she could read first hand about fair trade. We had a great time. She found a lot of very cool jewelry. And so did I.
The ring pictured here is enroute to me now. It was made by a woman who has an Etsy shop called Morasha Jewelry. And guess what? She blogs!. I hope you’ll swing by her shop periodically. Her work is special. Stay tuned for more on my thoughts about this ring. But first, my day job is a-callin’.
p.s. Anyone who buys that Vintage Fruit necklace had better be prepared to share it with me. I’ve got my eye on it!
- – - -
09/14/08 UPDATE: I want to thank Christina Schmidt for posting this at her blog. It’s a wonderful story of diamonds, camaraderie, transformation and joy.
All hail CSPAN!
I am, again, infuriated by the American press which refuses to actually engage in aggressive investigation, examination and/or accurate reporting of . . . of anything that’s important.
Is it incompetence, neglect or worse, a silent form of censorship deployed by media owners? Thank goodness for Media Matters, a great resource for those who prefer to learn the truth.
Before labeling me a “liberal alarmist” for being dissatisfied with the status quo, consider the fact that radio personalities in Rwanda played a major role in literally encouraging mass murder. But that’s for another post.
Back to today. 12:46pm PST, live coverage from Springfield, IL. We broke away from CSPAN to see what the majority of people might be watching. All stations had similar visuals: Barack, Joe, Michelle and Jill greeting the crowd after the speeches. There were babies held aloft. Don’t you love seeing those babies? Kiss the baby. Kiss the baby! What I couldn’t get over was the sound bites.
FOX – The voice over is saying something to the effect that Obama says McCain is unqualified for the Presidency because he voted for the war, but Biden voted for the war.
Logic of a 4 year old. I will not waste my time arguing at that level of stupidity.
CNN – We hear: Many American’s don’t understand Obama’s values.
Is that a fact? What’s the source? Which values?
CSPAN – No voice over. We hear the sounds of the crowd gathered.
We are left to think for ourselves.
What Is
I’m trying to avoid taking a Western approach to my mandala coloring; yet, perhaps the very act of “trying” to divert from my own culture is futile. I could write about this for paragraphs. But surrendering to what is is in order. Not only am I a western thinker, I’m also short on time. That place with the bosses and the clients and the numbers to tend to is demanding my attention. Bye for now.
Mother knows best
My growing discontent with work (the place where I’m paid to go) has led me to more passionately explore ways to relax in my free hours. Hearing about my yoga/meditation flirtations, Mom recommended that I pull out the old mandala coloring pages.
I don’t have a printer here at home, but come tomorrow night, I’ll have the image above available on a piece of paper. Armed with my ready supply of art pencils, I’m going to fill in some color. I’ll report back to you afterwards to let you know how it feels. I’m breathing easier just imagining it.
Maybe I’ll even do some photography while I’m at it so that I can have a little fun with animation. Ahh, here comes the creativity, already. Sigh. Yes.
Speaking of that, check out what I made last weekend. Fun!
Following my yes
Last month I wrote about how my intuition keeps waking up around the idea of my future involvement in prison reform. Yeah, I think it’s strange, too. But I’m going with it. It feels right. And I felt it again the other morning. Read the rest of this entry »
When I’m 90
This morning I considered, without fear or reservation, what it will be like to be 90. To be in this body, and have it be 90 years old.
Up until now, I hadn’t even considered being 64. I had sung the words, but never really let myself think about the day “when I get older, losing my hair, many years from now.” All of The Beatles should have been so lucky. My grandmother, Mary, outlived George Harrison.
Today, I imagined what 2059 could be like for me if I’m lucky enough to have Grandma’s health and prosperity. Assuming that the polar ice caps will somehow hold out, Read the rest of this entry »
Simple
“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly, now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”– The Talmud
I’m beginning to deliberately transform into someone who only buys what she really needs, and even then, does everything within her power to buy products that have not been related in the suffering of other beings.
I’m a long ways away from where I need to be with this endeavor. I have so much to learn and so many habits to break. When I think of the polar bears, it feels urgent. But I’ll be gentle with myself along the way. I figure a slow start is better than no start.
Reading Responsible Shopper in my free time has been a good place to begin learning. Thank goodness the internet resources are vast.
I just found out about a weaving cooperative called “Ruth & Naomi” in Guatemala. This is one of their pieces:
I think my wardrobe is going to take a colorful turn. Sweet!
Up & Coming
I have a long time–on again/off again–writing teacher who often times starts workshops by asking students to complete the sentence, “I want to write about _____,” (in writing) over and over again for 20 minutes or so. Without doing that exercise, I have the impulse to let you know what I have a mind to write about in the short term future.
I want to write about (in no particular order):
- Yesterday. Before the sun set, as I drove westward toward home from a day complete with happy adventures, I had declared it among my top 5 days in Los Angeles.
- The other top 4 days in Los Angeles.
- What it was like to experience my first marathon.
- Today’s headline: Stampede kills 145 at remote Hindu temple in India.
- My recent experience falling in love with the movie “The Year of Living Dangerously.”
- How it feels to begin watching Season 3 of Battlestar on DVD. The prevailing thought running through my mind is holy frak, if that’s not Iraq — wait, no “ifs” about it, that’s Iraq! Way to go, SciFi Channel. Fraking-A!
Spontaneous Homage to Grandpa
I would guess that Grandpa (and later Grandma) kept their journals to have a record of daily activities. No need to go back and forth discussing what was served for supper last Sunday – the journal would settle it. Weather, golf scores, bedtimes . . . all noted. The pages don’t reveal many, if any, conversations; there are hardly any opinions expounded. Rather, the shape of each day shows up silhouetted from start to finish.
From Mary & Bob’s Journal 1979:
Thursday, August 2
Up at 7:45. Juice, toast, sausage, and coffee for breakfast.
Bob and Cy to course but heavy rain overnight caused course to be closed to carts until noon. Had coffee and went back home.
Bob got a haircut at 11:45.
Mary & Bob downtown for paper and coffee, back home at 1:55. No mail yet!!
2:25 – left for Adrian to pick up prescription and eye drops. Also stopped at Rink’s [?] and had late lunch – Burger Chef. Stopped at Mowry’s on way home. Visited there about two hours, arriving home around seven. Polly stopped in for a few minutes and Burke and Ruth [my great uncle & aunt] also visited for a while.
To bed about 11:35.
I hope Grandma and Grandpa knew that they would have left an imprint even if we never found the spiral notebooks. Maya Angelou said it best:
“ . . . people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
Sweet dreams, Grandma & Grandpa. Thank you for making us feel loved.
