Thursday, February 28, 2008
It's so exciting....
...to see a new generation of voters getting inspired about a candidate; and it is even more exciting that we have an inspiring candidate for the first time since 1988. So I have included below some comments by somebody other than me, information I found fascinating to read and have decided to share.
GUEST COMMENTATORS: New Mommy Dialogues on Politics
My brain hurts from all this [election talk] and I need someone with a clear head to help me sort through it. I have absorbed and am beginning to comprehend more political facts (and rhetoric) in the past year than I have ever cared to in my adult life. I'm no Huffington or Steinem; I don't put my thoughts down as cohesively as I usta could, but please bear with me.
When my mother jumped on the Air America/Greg Palast/MSNBC bandwagon three or so years ago, I did not engage. Palast's investigative reports on foreign affairs, the Katrina debacle, the Bushs' financial ties to Saudi princes, the film Zeitgeist, and many many others were fascinating to watch during family visits. I would sit with my jaw wide-open in disbelief and exclaiming, "That's despicable!" But as soon as it was time to change a diaper, mix a bottle or whip out a boob, all of that information was redirected to the "there's nothing I can do about it" file in my brain.
I dismissed it all because as a new wife and mother I simply did not have enough room in my brain to lend any of its precious energy to dialogue that was over my head and of little or no perceived immediate consequence to me or my new family. She could not understand why I was not in tears like she was over Darfur or "the war for no reason in Iraq." One Thanksgiving after I raved about one of my daughter's accomplishments, she thoughtlessly interjected, "I used to think my daughter was brilliant until a few years ago...pass the cornbread...."
I later defended myself, but my point is that she has always been so politically charged and could not understand why I was not, particularly NOW. She couldn't understand how I, who had always been so headstrong and gung-ho & "fight tooth and nail to survive," had become complacent and depressed-- content with the fact that getting from sunrise to bedtime was the only energy I would ever be able to muster. I was just fine going day to day trying to ensure we had diapers and special (more-expensive) formula and bills paid, trying to make sure I got an A+ at each well-baby visit, trying to make sure I was accomplishing wifely duties and keeping the complaining about loss of self and career to a minimum.
But things have changed. And with due respect to Mrs. Obama who said it first (so far), for the first time in my adult life I am really proud of this country! There has been a shift in my perspective and that shift is Barack Hussein Obama's fault. Yes, I am offended when I hear Hannity or Limbaugh or O'Reilly referring to me as a misguided dreamer, an idiot for getting chills when this "American Idol" speaks. Aside from the obvious fact that I identify with him and the way he was raised, (our upbringing was similar; raised in a white family with little or no black influences, an extensive internal search for identity and place in society and raised by thinkers who are not afraid to go against the grain), Barack Obama has proven the ability to engage people like me in this process. He has inspired millions to take part in this political process because we actually feel like our opinions are taken into account. We are sick and tired of politics as usual. The people have spoken and it's time the conservatives stop poo-pooing us and take notice. I'm preaching to the choir here so I'll move on.
My life has been replete with disappointment and unrealized dreams; partly due to unrealistic expectations (1) of myself and (2) of other people to simply do the right thing. I have become a cynic; do people really have my best interest at heart? Really?
The reason I write this is that I am feeling emotionally charged but extremely vulnerable. It has only been 40 years since the civil rights accomplishments. It has only been 50 years since schools in the south were integrated and met with unspeakable hostility. Those people who fought those changes are still alive. We will never truly know how many still think that way. I suppose it will come out at the polls. If Barack Obama receives the nomination and is perceived to be the projected winner of the election, I don't trust the extremists & corporate bigwigs in this country to just sit down and take it. There is too much for them to lose if he is our President.
If, for example, Obama is assassinated, what good can he do the world then? On the other hand, why shouldn't the staunch conservatives just go ahead ease up a bit. We're talking about four years. If the majority of the people want a change in the way DC is operating, what is so horrible about giving Obama a chance? Let's give this "change" a shot for four years. Lord knows there will be people falling in line to replace Obama if he takes us in the wrong direction. Would it be so horrible to see how this goes for a few years? In the grand scheme of things, is four years that long? Policies can be amended or undone. And it's not like the (Ds) and (Rs) in congress are going to unanimously agree with everything the Pres wants. How often is that the case? And what is going to be done about filibusters? Can that continue? How is a Democratic president going to get anything done?
For years I have been announcing that I have very few organic opinions. I wait for smart people (George Carlin, Jon Stewart, Randy Rhodes, my mother, and lately political commentators and my friend Brigetta ) to form them for me. But when Obama speaks, I understand what he's saying. He's talking about me and my family. He breaks it down in a way that my exhausted brain can intake the information and process it. Whether or not he serves as President of the United States of America, he has served as the catalyst for change. The (Rs) are listening. They see what moves people now. How many people out there have considered themselves Republican all these years and are now aligning themselves with the Dems. They are seeing how damaging the true conservative viewpoint can be.
So, after this little peek into my brain, you can see that I have no idea what I'm talking about. I have probably misperceived the facts & this is where I look to you for guidance. Tell me what points I have made correctly and steer me where I am wrong. thank you for your time.
lyz
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3374
http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/elizabethdukesmelancon
http://ivettestoneagency.com
Lyz,
First off, what a delightful read! You underestimate your skills in expressing your views, maybe because you don't realize the value in communicating mixed feelings this articulately. I very much enjoyed reading this email over and over again.
On being a mom and being a person, more on that in another email (more too, on mothers and daughters and their differences in that email), but let me assure that when Ruby was your children's ages, I was pretty much unplugged. I had only the most vague idea what was going on in the world around me. My energies were all consumed by trying to provide (physically, emotionally, mentally) for my young daughter. Even now, when political discussion turn to the events of the early to mid 90s, I fall silent. I don't know all that much about that time, so I tend to just listen.
My point being, as a mother of young children, your priorities are necessarily shifted. Your children are your main focus and there is nothing wrong with that. Your mother may have been able to immerse herself politically when you were so young and if that's true, I applaud her. I was not like that myself, and I know this is true of a great many women. Most mothers are trying to do their best and I for one believe that we just have to be 'good enough' mothers and 'good enough' people. We are so hard on ourselves. Everyone else is going to be hard on us, I, for one, finally learned to cut myself a break. ;-)
On to this specific political season; this is amazing. What is happening around us is unlike anything that has happened in my adult lifetime, and I question whether this might not be a first in American history on many more levels than just race or gender.
I'm 46 years old this year, I missed the energy of the '60s and I'm not saying that this era is like the '60s, but there might be some similarities. Something is sweeping through us, through US, the 'little' people. It's very surprising to me, after the past eight years. We've been made to feel as though we couldn't matter, we couldn't make a difference, that our government was bought and sold and out of our price range. There has been an era of apathy that whithers the soul, and who would have imagined that it could possibly shift so dramatically?
Not I.
Obama's amazing gift is less about him and more about what he evoked in US. It's a shame that this quality is being derided in the press, derided by people who are too cynical to allow themselves to use their hearts along with their heads, to use intuition AND logic to try to process what is happening in our country and where we are trying to go now. In that sense I think Obama has evolved into a symbol. Symbols can be incredibly powerful, it would be a great mistake to down play the importance of symbols. He seems to represent a probable future in which we DO matter, in which we CAN make our voices heard, in which there is a way out of some of this quagmire that we've been sinking in over the past many years.
I am not saying that symbolism alone can turn this situation around. I'm saying it's a start. I do feel that his abilities have the capacity to reach across lines and to create a different climate in our country, one where we are 'not as divided as our politics suggest'. I actually think that he is the more experienced candidate in terms of the things that I value. His work as a community organizer is the kind of work (like mine) that is undervalued in this society. Hillary's experience has ingratiated her to the power players, replete with backroom deals and implied promises. That's not the kind of experience that changes anything, all she can promise is more of the same with a few more of the scraps from her dinner table doled out to the common man. That may be harsh but it's how I see it. If she were a little less concerned about her own prosperity, I would have imagined that she would have used (not loaned) more of her own fortune in this campaign. Mitt Romney did. If she believes in herself so strongly, why not put her money where her mouth is, she's got plenty of it.
Contrast that with Obama's campaign, financed in no small part by US, the little guys, the common folk. That's an extraordinarily powerful and uncommon phenomenon, one that I always fantasized about seeing happen but never really thought that I would. In the words of the old '60s song, truly, "There's somethin' happenin' here."
Like you I feel, why not just take that chance? Roll the dice and see if we might not just win one? Maybe we'll be disappointed in the results, maybe we'll be voting against him in four years. My head tells me a lot of things and I listen. My heart tells me other things...and I listen. I try to find a balance between the two, when my head and my heart say different things. In this case I say, "Roll the dice." From where I sit, I can't see that we have too much to lose.
I say that in part because I so strongly feel that there is no way in hell that Hillary Clinton can win a general election. I honestly believe that, if she is the Democratic candidate, the GOP will be overjoyed and the DNC will have handed the presidency over to the Republicans for another 4-8 years. I don't know if this country can take another 4-8 years of the GOP. In my view, Obama is not only the greatly preferred Democratic candidate, but also the only viable candidate in a general election.
So...moving on to the general election.
I don't want it to sound like my words are cavalier when I discuss the potential of assassination; I don't know how to fully express how much I understand the grave risk that Obama and his family are taking with his candidacy. Nor can I find words to express both my admiration that his family is willing to take that risk, nor my GRATITUDE for their bravery. For this kind of 'first', that risk is heavy and only a fool would deny it.
But the way I see it, there is no way to mitigate that risk for the first black president. So...should we avoid a black president in fear of assassination? I don't think so. I think that risk is unavoidable for the first black president. From a merely philosophical view, I say, we can't let fear hold us back. From a more personal, humanitarian view, I say, that is not our choice to make. That's the Obama family's decision and they have already made their choice. It's up to us to support them in their choice, IMO.
Yes, it has only been 40 years since the great accomplishments of the civil rights era. You are absolutely right. Yes some of those people are still alive...BUT...the world has been in an unprecedented cycle of change over the past 40 years. Can you imagine what a person who died in 1962 might think if the could magically appear in the world today? The Internet alone has wrought unbelievable changes. We see gay characters in tv shows without (most of us) blinking an eye. Interracial marriage is so much more common than it used to be and you can actually expect to live if you marry outside of your race. At one time that was a death defying feat.
The incredible energy behind the Obama campaign is testimony of how much change has occurred in those 40 years. I dare to say that even TEN years ago this campaign and it's extraordinary success would have been unthinkable. I think we are changing. Change is always too slow, especially if you are in one of the groups who experiences oppression. But change is inevitable. Those who would stand against Obama's candidacy just because of the change it represents are doomed by time, not unlike the dinosaurs, IMO. There is no stopping this change.
If you look at our youngest adults, the 'echo boomers', you will find that they (for the most part) are unaffected by the racism that preceded them. They support gay marriage by an enormous margin. They indicate to us that our social mores and norms are in a tremendous cycle of change and that that change will continue it's evolution beyond our lifetimes. They give me hope. : )
The general election may be a great culture clash; the religious fundamentalists and their ilk clashing with the ideals and beliefs of the echo boomers and the more liberal segments of our society. This clash is inevitable and HAS to happen sooner or later. In my view, this is later, not sooner. This has been a long time coming.
I really do believe that there are more of 'us' than of 'them', in terms of the religious fundamentalists who have, in my view, been manipulated by the powers that be to put them and keep them in power. In 2004, I watched the gay marriage issue bring them out in droves and wondered, what kind of issue would bring the NORMAL people out in droves? What energizes OUR base? I thought this was a critical question but I could not find an answer to it.
This election season, I think Obama provides that answer. Only instead of it being an issue that we all turn out to vote AGAINST, to my enormous surprise and pleasure, it's a concept that we are turning out to vote FOR! That concept is too nuanced and complex to turn into a sound bite, the words 'change' and 'hope' have had to do, but that are woefully inadequate. It's all about the possibility of a different future and that possibility has a symbol in Barack Obama.
As you so astutely noted, Obama is already serving as a catalyst for change now, in the primaries. I don't think that energy has even begun to approach critical mass. I think there is much more about to happen, and it's an unbelievably exciting time to be an American.
Who'd have thunk it after Bush was reelected...that we'd end up in this place where we find ourselves today? What's happening now is to me, an incredibly beautiful thing.
Like I said, I am intuitive. Here's what I'm 'intuiting'; Obama is going to win this election. Not just the nomination, but the election. The GOP attack machine will do its thing, and some people will be motivated by it but most will be disgusted with it and sick of it and vote against the Rovian B.S. that has manipulated so many people for so long. This is foretold in Clinton's imminent defeat, IMO.
In conclusion, I don't think you are 'wrong' anywhere. I think you're right on target with your observations, thoughts and feelings. I think your voice speaks for millions of Americans who are thinking the same kinds of thoughts and feeling those same feelings, the stirrings of hope.
Only one thing that you wrote would I disagree with, and that is your description of yourself as having become a cynic. I don't see you as cynical at all. I see you as being realistic. HUGE difference. Over the past 8 years, apathy and all of the feelings that accompany it have been realistic. But suddenly we are at a different place in the world and maybe these horrible 8 years are what it took to get us to this place where we collectively wake up and realize that we don't care about race or gender or anything like that, we care about our kids' FUTURES and they're being sold down the river unless we stand up now and do something about it.
BB
When my mother jumped on the Air America/Greg Palast/MSNBC bandwagon three or so years ago, I did not engage. Palast's investigative reports on foreign affairs, the Katrina debacle, the Bushs' financial ties to Saudi princes, the film Zeitgeist, and many many others were fascinating to watch during family visits. I would sit with my jaw wide-open in disbelief and exclaiming, "That's despicable!" But as soon as it was time to change a diaper, mix a bottle or whip out a boob, all of that information was redirected to the "there's nothing I can do about it" file in my brain.
I dismissed it all because as a new wife and mother I simply did not have enough room in my brain to lend any of its precious energy to dialogue that was over my head and of little or no perceived immediate consequence to me or my new family. She could not understand why I was not in tears like she was over Darfur or "the war for no reason in Iraq." One Thanksgiving after I raved about one of my daughter's accomplishments, she thoughtlessly interjected, "I used to think my daughter was brilliant until a few years ago...pass the cornbread...."
I later defended myself, but my point is that she has always been so politically charged and could not understand why I was not, particularly NOW. She couldn't understand how I, who had always been so headstrong and gung-ho & "fight tooth and nail to survive," had become complacent and depressed-- content with the fact that getting from sunrise to bedtime was the only energy I would ever be able to muster. I was just fine going day to day trying to ensure we had diapers and special (more-expensive) formula and bills paid, trying to make sure I got an A+ at each well-baby visit, trying to make sure I was accomplishing wifely duties and keeping the complaining about loss of self and career to a minimum.
But things have changed. And with due respect to Mrs. Obama who said it first (so far), for the first time in my adult life I am really proud of this country! There has been a shift in my perspective and that shift is Barack Hussein Obama's fault. Yes, I am offended when I hear Hannity or Limbaugh or O'Reilly referring to me as a misguided dreamer, an idiot for getting chills when this "American Idol" speaks. Aside from the obvious fact that I identify with him and the way he was raised, (our upbringing was similar; raised in a white family with little or no black influences, an extensive internal search for identity and place in society and raised by thinkers who are not afraid to go against the grain), Barack Obama has proven the ability to engage people like me in this process. He has inspired millions to take part in this political process because we actually feel like our opinions are taken into account. We are sick and tired of politics as usual. The people have spoken and it's time the conservatives stop poo-pooing us and take notice. I'm preaching to the choir here so I'll move on.
My life has been replete with disappointment and unrealized dreams; partly due to unrealistic expectations (1) of myself and (2) of other people to simply do the right thing. I have become a cynic; do people really have my best interest at heart? Really?
The reason I write this is that I am feeling emotionally charged but extremely vulnerable. It has only been 40 years since the civil rights accomplishments. It has only been 50 years since schools in the south were integrated and met with unspeakable hostility. Those people who fought those changes are still alive. We will never truly know how many still think that way. I suppose it will come out at the polls. If Barack Obama receives the nomination and is perceived to be the projected winner of the election, I don't trust the extremists & corporate bigwigs in this country to just sit down and take it. There is too much for them to lose if he is our President.
If, for example, Obama is assassinated, what good can he do the world then? On the other hand, why shouldn't the staunch conservatives just go ahead ease up a bit. We're talking about four years. If the majority of the people want a change in the way DC is operating, what is so horrible about giving Obama a chance? Let's give this "change" a shot for four years. Lord knows there will be people falling in line to replace Obama if he takes us in the wrong direction. Would it be so horrible to see how this goes for a few years? In the grand scheme of things, is four years that long? Policies can be amended or undone. And it's not like the (Ds) and (Rs) in congress are going to unanimously agree with everything the Pres wants. How often is that the case? And what is going to be done about filibusters? Can that continue? How is a Democratic president going to get anything done?
For years I have been announcing that I have very few organic opinions. I wait for smart people (George Carlin, Jon Stewart, Randy Rhodes, my mother, and lately political commentators and my friend Brigetta ) to form them for me. But when Obama speaks, I understand what he's saying. He's talking about me and my family. He breaks it down in a way that my exhausted brain can intake the information and process it. Whether or not he serves as President of the United States of America, he has served as the catalyst for change. The (Rs) are listening. They see what moves people now. How many people out there have considered themselves Republican all these years and are now aligning themselves with the Dems. They are seeing how damaging the true conservative viewpoint can be.
So, after this little peek into my brain, you can see that I have no idea what I'm talking about. I have probably misperceived the facts & this is where I look to you for guidance. Tell me what points I have made correctly and steer me where I am wrong. thank you for your time.
lyz
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=3374
http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/elizabethdukesmelancon
http://ivettestoneagency.com
Response:
Lyz,
First off, what a delightful read! You underestimate your skills in expressing your views, maybe because you don't realize the value in communicating mixed feelings this articulately. I very much enjoyed reading this email over and over again.
On being a mom and being a person, more on that in another email (more too, on mothers and daughters and their differences in that email), but let me assure that when Ruby was your children's ages, I was pretty much unplugged. I had only the most vague idea what was going on in the world around me. My energies were all consumed by trying to provide (physically, emotionally, mentally) for my young daughter. Even now, when political discussion turn to the events of the early to mid 90s, I fall silent. I don't know all that much about that time, so I tend to just listen.
My point being, as a mother of young children, your priorities are necessarily shifted. Your children are your main focus and there is nothing wrong with that. Your mother may have been able to immerse herself politically when you were so young and if that's true, I applaud her. I was not like that myself, and I know this is true of a great many women. Most mothers are trying to do their best and I for one believe that we just have to be 'good enough' mothers and 'good enough' people. We are so hard on ourselves. Everyone else is going to be hard on us, I, for one, finally learned to cut myself a break. ;-)
On to this specific political season; this is amazing. What is happening around us is unlike anything that has happened in my adult lifetime, and I question whether this might not be a first in American history on many more levels than just race or gender.
I'm 46 years old this year, I missed the energy of the '60s and I'm not saying that this era is like the '60s, but there might be some similarities. Something is sweeping through us, through US, the 'little' people. It's very surprising to me, after the past eight years. We've been made to feel as though we couldn't matter, we couldn't make a difference, that our government was bought and sold and out of our price range. There has been an era of apathy that whithers the soul, and who would have imagined that it could possibly shift so dramatically?
Not I.
Obama's amazing gift is less about him and more about what he evoked in US. It's a shame that this quality is being derided in the press, derided by people who are too cynical to allow themselves to use their hearts along with their heads, to use intuition AND logic to try to process what is happening in our country and where we are trying to go now. In that sense I think Obama has evolved into a symbol. Symbols can be incredibly powerful, it would be a great mistake to down play the importance of symbols. He seems to represent a probable future in which we DO matter, in which we CAN make our voices heard, in which there is a way out of some of this quagmire that we've been sinking in over the past many years.
I am not saying that symbolism alone can turn this situation around. I'm saying it's a start. I do feel that his abilities have the capacity to reach across lines and to create a different climate in our country, one where we are 'not as divided as our politics suggest'. I actually think that he is the more experienced candidate in terms of the things that I value. His work as a community organizer is the kind of work (like mine) that is undervalued in this society. Hillary's experience has ingratiated her to the power players, replete with backroom deals and implied promises. That's not the kind of experience that changes anything, all she can promise is more of the same with a few more of the scraps from her dinner table doled out to the common man. That may be harsh but it's how I see it. If she were a little less concerned about her own prosperity, I would have imagined that she would have used (not loaned) more of her own fortune in this campaign. Mitt Romney did. If she believes in herself so strongly, why not put her money where her mouth is, she's got plenty of it.
Contrast that with Obama's campaign, financed in no small part by US, the little guys, the common folk. That's an extraordinarily powerful and uncommon phenomenon, one that I always fantasized about seeing happen but never really thought that I would. In the words of the old '60s song, truly, "There's somethin' happenin' here."
Like you I feel, why not just take that chance? Roll the dice and see if we might not just win one? Maybe we'll be disappointed in the results, maybe we'll be voting against him in four years. My head tells me a lot of things and I listen. My heart tells me other things...and I listen. I try to find a balance between the two, when my head and my heart say different things. In this case I say, "Roll the dice." From where I sit, I can't see that we have too much to lose.
I say that in part because I so strongly feel that there is no way in hell that Hillary Clinton can win a general election. I honestly believe that, if she is the Democratic candidate, the GOP will be overjoyed and the DNC will have handed the presidency over to the Republicans for another 4-8 years. I don't know if this country can take another 4-8 years of the GOP. In my view, Obama is not only the greatly preferred Democratic candidate, but also the only viable candidate in a general election.
So...moving on to the general election.
I don't want it to sound like my words are cavalier when I discuss the potential of assassination; I don't know how to fully express how much I understand the grave risk that Obama and his family are taking with his candidacy. Nor can I find words to express both my admiration that his family is willing to take that risk, nor my GRATITUDE for their bravery. For this kind of 'first', that risk is heavy and only a fool would deny it.
But the way I see it, there is no way to mitigate that risk for the first black president. So...should we avoid a black president in fear of assassination? I don't think so. I think that risk is unavoidable for the first black president. From a merely philosophical view, I say, we can't let fear hold us back. From a more personal, humanitarian view, I say, that is not our choice to make. That's the Obama family's decision and they have already made their choice. It's up to us to support them in their choice, IMO.
Yes, it has only been 40 years since the great accomplishments of the civil rights era. You are absolutely right. Yes some of those people are still alive...BUT...the world has been in an unprecedented cycle of change over the past 40 years. Can you imagine what a person who died in 1962 might think if the could magically appear in the world today? The Internet alone has wrought unbelievable changes. We see gay characters in tv shows without (most of us) blinking an eye. Interracial marriage is so much more common than it used to be and you can actually expect to live if you marry outside of your race. At one time that was a death defying feat.
The incredible energy behind the Obama campaign is testimony of how much change has occurred in those 40 years. I dare to say that even TEN years ago this campaign and it's extraordinary success would have been unthinkable. I think we are changing. Change is always too slow, especially if you are in one of the groups who experiences oppression. But change is inevitable. Those who would stand against Obama's candidacy just because of the change it represents are doomed by time, not unlike the dinosaurs, IMO. There is no stopping this change.
If you look at our youngest adults, the 'echo boomers', you will find that they (for the most part) are unaffected by the racism that preceded them. They support gay marriage by an enormous margin. They indicate to us that our social mores and norms are in a tremendous cycle of change and that that change will continue it's evolution beyond our lifetimes. They give me hope. : )
The general election may be a great culture clash; the religious fundamentalists and their ilk clashing with the ideals and beliefs of the echo boomers and the more liberal segments of our society. This clash is inevitable and HAS to happen sooner or later. In my view, this is later, not sooner. This has been a long time coming.
I really do believe that there are more of 'us' than of 'them', in terms of the religious fundamentalists who have, in my view, been manipulated by the powers that be to put them and keep them in power. In 2004, I watched the gay marriage issue bring them out in droves and wondered, what kind of issue would bring the NORMAL people out in droves? What energizes OUR base? I thought this was a critical question but I could not find an answer to it.
This election season, I think Obama provides that answer. Only instead of it being an issue that we all turn out to vote AGAINST, to my enormous surprise and pleasure, it's a concept that we are turning out to vote FOR! That concept is too nuanced and complex to turn into a sound bite, the words 'change' and 'hope' have had to do, but that are woefully inadequate. It's all about the possibility of a different future and that possibility has a symbol in Barack Obama.
As you so astutely noted, Obama is already serving as a catalyst for change now, in the primaries. I don't think that energy has even begun to approach critical mass. I think there is much more about to happen, and it's an unbelievably exciting time to be an American.
Who'd have thunk it after Bush was reelected...that we'd end up in this place where we find ourselves today? What's happening now is to me, an incredibly beautiful thing.
Like I said, I am intuitive. Here's what I'm 'intuiting'; Obama is going to win this election. Not just the nomination, but the election. The GOP attack machine will do its thing, and some people will be motivated by it but most will be disgusted with it and sick of it and vote against the Rovian B.S. that has manipulated so many people for so long. This is foretold in Clinton's imminent defeat, IMO.
In conclusion, I don't think you are 'wrong' anywhere. I think you're right on target with your observations, thoughts and feelings. I think your voice speaks for millions of Americans who are thinking the same kinds of thoughts and feeling those same feelings, the stirrings of hope.
Only one thing that you wrote would I disagree with, and that is your description of yourself as having become a cynic. I don't see you as cynical at all. I see you as being realistic. HUGE difference. Over the past 8 years, apathy and all of the feelings that accompany it have been realistic. But suddenly we are at a different place in the world and maybe these horrible 8 years are what it took to get us to this place where we collectively wake up and realize that we don't care about race or gender or anything like that, we care about our kids' FUTURES and they're being sold down the river unless we stand up now and do something about it.
BB
Thursday, February 07, 2008
On to Texas
I got my wish.
Obama's election will matter in Texas. West Texas will go to Hillary, Dallas probably doesn't have a Democratic primary, and Southeast Texas will go for Obama. So I guess Texas will split 50-50 like everywhere else.
Obama's election will matter in Texas. West Texas will go to Hillary, Dallas probably doesn't have a Democratic primary, and Southeast Texas will go for Obama. So I guess Texas will split 50-50 like everywhere else.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
So what's so hard about redeploying?
I see that the Center for American Progress has laid out plans for the United States to leave Iraq, and they have explained it in terms even I can follow. It may even be the same or similar as Senator Obama's plan.
So it's not that we "can't" do it, or that there is no way to leave in a relatively safe way. There's something else going on that I still can't put my finger on.
We know that the goal in the beginning was to secure our own control of the oil in the region, oil that under our present level of energy usage we need. Few of us want to give up our air conditioners or our Ipod chargers. Nobody has admitted this, but it's fact. The other reason for going about it in this hell-bent manner was to secure the right to refining this oil for American and British companies. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this.
But what if we behaved like civilized buyers. When I go into Target to buy something, I don't go in with guns blazing trying to take over the store in order to do it. Maybe I'm naive, but I believe it's possible to buy oil from the Middle East without trying to annex the countries there.
As far as Iraq is concerned, for Pete's sake, let those people define their own borders and govern themselves however they'd like to. They have no money if they don't sell their oil to somebody, either us or China. If they don't want to sell to us, then we buy from Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia. Or, what if we just developed our own alternative energy sources with some of the billions we are spending in Iraq?
What is confusing to me is why we are still all sitting around chit-chatting about this, on talk shows, in newspaper columns, arguing about what Congress can or cannot do, while the status quo goes on. Can the Republicans not see beyond the next quarterly profit report from the oil companies? Are the Democrats more interested in re-election than in doing what they are supposed to be doing? What is so wonderful about being in Congress if you're not in fact doing the nation's business? Unfortunately I think we know the answer.
I am reading Senator Obama's second book now, "The Audacity of Hope." He has a chapter on the United States Constitution that gave me goose bumps. This country was set up carefully by thinking people who realized there would be short-sighted politicians in the power structures one day; they had a few even then. But it is designed to prevent all the power going to people like this. During the first six years of the Bush administration the crowd in Washington showed up just to say yes to everything while they pursued what to them were more important priorities. Whatever they were, they didn't involved American security.
I understand the fascination of the press with the presidential election in the United States, but sometimes they're reaching for news. The tit for tat blithering between candidates is not important; Britney Spears and OJ Simpson are not important. And I think we all know where each candidate stands by now on every possible issue because this has been going on for a year. Besides, we have the Internet now. Instead, I believe it is more important for the press to stay focused on the issue of Americans pressing for disengagement from the Iraqi civil war (that we caused) and not just assume we are prepared to lose another thousand American lives -- more if we count the contractors. The entire occupation of this destroyed country must be ended.
Enough already. This administration should not be allowed to ignore General Petraeus's bosses, or the Iraq Study Group, or the American citizens, or the Center for American Progress. I don't even understand why impeachment is off the table. These same people would like to destroy Iran too.
There has to be some pay-off for stretching this situation out as long as possible -- payoffs for both sides. I just don't see what it could possibly be.
So it's not that we "can't" do it, or that there is no way to leave in a relatively safe way. There's something else going on that I still can't put my finger on.
We know that the goal in the beginning was to secure our own control of the oil in the region, oil that under our present level of energy usage we need. Few of us want to give up our air conditioners or our Ipod chargers. Nobody has admitted this, but it's fact. The other reason for going about it in this hell-bent manner was to secure the right to refining this oil for American and British companies. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to see this.
But what if we behaved like civilized buyers. When I go into Target to buy something, I don't go in with guns blazing trying to take over the store in order to do it. Maybe I'm naive, but I believe it's possible to buy oil from the Middle East without trying to annex the countries there.
As far as Iraq is concerned, for Pete's sake, let those people define their own borders and govern themselves however they'd like to. They have no money if they don't sell their oil to somebody, either us or China. If they don't want to sell to us, then we buy from Venezuela, or Saudi Arabia. Or, what if we just developed our own alternative energy sources with some of the billions we are spending in Iraq?
What is confusing to me is why we are still all sitting around chit-chatting about this, on talk shows, in newspaper columns, arguing about what Congress can or cannot do, while the status quo goes on. Can the Republicans not see beyond the next quarterly profit report from the oil companies? Are the Democrats more interested in re-election than in doing what they are supposed to be doing? What is so wonderful about being in Congress if you're not in fact doing the nation's business? Unfortunately I think we know the answer.
I am reading Senator Obama's second book now, "The Audacity of Hope." He has a chapter on the United States Constitution that gave me goose bumps. This country was set up carefully by thinking people who realized there would be short-sighted politicians in the power structures one day; they had a few even then. But it is designed to prevent all the power going to people like this. During the first six years of the Bush administration the crowd in Washington showed up just to say yes to everything while they pursued what to them were more important priorities. Whatever they were, they didn't involved American security.
I understand the fascination of the press with the presidential election in the United States, but sometimes they're reaching for news. The tit for tat blithering between candidates is not important; Britney Spears and OJ Simpson are not important. And I think we all know where each candidate stands by now on every possible issue because this has been going on for a year. Besides, we have the Internet now. Instead, I believe it is more important for the press to stay focused on the issue of Americans pressing for disengagement from the Iraqi civil war (that we caused) and not just assume we are prepared to lose another thousand American lives -- more if we count the contractors. The entire occupation of this destroyed country must be ended.
Enough already. This administration should not be allowed to ignore General Petraeus's bosses, or the Iraq Study Group, or the American citizens, or the Center for American Progress. I don't even understand why impeachment is off the table. These same people would like to destroy Iran too.
There has to be some pay-off for stretching this situation out as long as possible -- payoffs for both sides. I just don't see what it could possibly be.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Will the Texas Primary Matter?
Every presidential election year Texas Democrats loyally show up and vote in the primary, but somebody else Somewhere has decided who our nominee is to be before we have voted. This year may be different.
In my lifetime -- (FDR was President when I was born) there has never been such a powerful slate of Democratic candidates for President. Sure, there have often been two or three good ones, but for some reason the one I favored, and voted for in the Primary, was not the one chosen by the cigar-smokers in the back room. This year those cigar-smokers have been trying to do it the same way, and they chose Hillary some time back. It's not that I think Hillary isn't better than the Republican candidates, but she's not my first choice, nor the first choice of anyone I know. However, usually it doesn't matter by the time Texas gets to vote.
This year it may matter. With the wealth of candidates, the early primaries may be so tied or close to it, enough so that the progressive Texas Democrats might actually get to be in a group of delegates that matters at the Convention. Oh, let it be so.
In my lifetime -- (FDR was President when I was born) there has never been such a powerful slate of Democratic candidates for President. Sure, there have often been two or three good ones, but for some reason the one I favored, and voted for in the Primary, was not the one chosen by the cigar-smokers in the back room. This year those cigar-smokers have been trying to do it the same way, and they chose Hillary some time back. It's not that I think Hillary isn't better than the Republican candidates, but she's not my first choice, nor the first choice of anyone I know. However, usually it doesn't matter by the time Texas gets to vote.
This year it may matter. With the wealth of candidates, the early primaries may be so tied or close to it, enough so that the progressive Texas Democrats might actually get to be in a group of delegates that matters at the Convention. Oh, let it be so.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
A point about Goldberg and Envy
I have never read any columnist so obtuse or narcissistic as Jonah Goldberg, as exhibited by his recent column , "A Liberal Dose of Envy..." I never knew that people of whatever social class he considers himself part of, believed that those who work for economic independence and human rights for all people do so out of "envy."
I have seen first-hand the two Americas of which John Edwards speaks; in addition, there are many other "Americas" I have seen, subsets of the others. The America experienced by single mothers, that experienced by the handicapped, that experienced by people of color, of different religions, of victims of natural disasters, and those who are victims of greed and power. I have seen the America of the ignorant, the uninformed, and the America of the children of wealth.
People without salaries high enough to make ends meet realize they could make more if they had been able to go to college; but do people who have more than they could ever spend realize they have acquired it primarily on the backs of others? Why do employers fight paying living wages? Why do they not understand why healthcare should be subsidized when they themselves have been subsidized all their lives in a more "acceptable" manner? And don't even get me started on tax loopholes.
I have been rich, I have been poor. I have never seen the envy Goldberg imagines, but I have seen greed and cruelty. I have seen entire governments bought. I have seen the wealthy exploited by "professionals" with no conscience who charge what the market can bear. And I have seen idiotic assumptions made by people of one economic class about others.
It has been my great fortune to be in a position to bridge these Americas many times and I will continue to do so at every opportunity, even as the gaps grow ever wider.
We are all of the same species with the same needs, but perhaps born into different circumstances which often change. Period.
I have seen first-hand the two Americas of which John Edwards speaks; in addition, there are many other "Americas" I have seen, subsets of the others. The America experienced by single mothers, that experienced by the handicapped, that experienced by people of color, of different religions, of victims of natural disasters, and those who are victims of greed and power. I have seen the America of the ignorant, the uninformed, and the America of the children of wealth.
People without salaries high enough to make ends meet realize they could make more if they had been able to go to college; but do people who have more than they could ever spend realize they have acquired it primarily on the backs of others? Why do employers fight paying living wages? Why do they not understand why healthcare should be subsidized when they themselves have been subsidized all their lives in a more "acceptable" manner? And don't even get me started on tax loopholes.
I have been rich, I have been poor. I have never seen the envy Goldberg imagines, but I have seen greed and cruelty. I have seen entire governments bought. I have seen the wealthy exploited by "professionals" with no conscience who charge what the market can bear. And I have seen idiotic assumptions made by people of one economic class about others.
It has been my great fortune to be in a position to bridge these Americas many times and I will continue to do so at every opportunity, even as the gaps grow ever wider.
We are all of the same species with the same needs, but perhaps born into different circumstances which often change. Period.
Monday, October 02, 2006
I have seen heaven...
I have seen heaven, and it is Western North Carolina.
Imagine a place that is incomparably beautiful, quiet, away from TV or radio or newspapers or Internet, but with air conditioning and the best food in the world; a place that insists you find your own soul, and that compels you to express your personal creativity in a sharing and noncompetitive manner. That place was where I have been.
My husband and I rather accidentally learned about the John C. Campbell Folk Art School through an ad I saw in the Artists’ Magazine last April or May. I looked it up on the Internet and ordered the catalog. Reluctantly – because somehow things rarely are as advertised – we registered for classes back in July and sent our money in. My husband signed up for Nature Writing, and I for Drawing.
The trip began on a sour note, courtesy of Delta Airlines again; our flight from Houston to Atlanta was cancelled, we were switched to a Continental flight some three hours later, but of course our luggage was not. So we arrived at the school late Saturday without any of my art supplies or my camera or the other things I think I can’t live without. None of that showed up until Tuesday morning.
I was immeasurably stressed when we got there; but the dining room staff had saved some dinner for us and the student host gave us a map with our cabin circled in red. On the reverse side of the map was a schedule of the week’s activities. Classes were already meeting to get acquainted, and we each found our spots. At 9 p.m. Morris came to find me, and without a flashlight we stumbled to our room, some distance away.
In spite of the relaxed environment, the trains do in fact run on time at the Campbell School. Morning Song (a short musical program that I never got to) starts at 7, and breakfast is from 8:15 until 9. If you snooze, you lose, and that goes for any meal. However, there is homemade bread and peanut butter available for anybody who is hungry between scheduled meal times. Classes start at 9, and the schedule is fairly tight the rest of the day, ending with some special activity or program after dinner.
Those are the details; the rest was enchantment. Monday night there was a musical program of Appalachian music, sung by a couple of people who must have been 90. The music affected me so deeply I was moved to near sobbing, and I had to ask Morris if we could leave early. I still don’t understand exactly what happened, but since my paternal ancestry traces back to those mountains some three hundred years ago, maybe it was some genetic memory. But it was a powerful experience I won’t forget. Already I was hooked, and felt I had found my soul.
I have always been such a cynic, and a little ashamed of my Appalachian heritage. After all, I have understood these people to have been described as ignorant moon-shiners, “poor white trash” and Deliverance-types. (Who would want to claim that?) But I found out that whether or not that description is fair, this ancestry is a deeply felt part of who I am. Far from fear of terrorism, concern with politics or nuclear war, this place gave me a sense of safety and connection I haven’t felt since early childhood.
I bought a few books on the southern highlanders – people who came from Northern Ireland, the Scotch-Irish. Their ways were different from other immigrants, and many of them were indentured servants when they made their way across the Atlantic. When they had worked off their debts they drifted west from Virginia or wherever, and settled up in the Appalachians where they ate only what they could grow or kill. They sang and they danced, adapting music from England and Ireland, and the culture eventually was blended with that of early African slaves and some hint of Cherokee.
My own ancestors were here before the Revolution. Eventually they drifted south, and then west, and ended up in Texas shortly before the Civil War. But there is something left over that resonates deep within me. The beauty, the silence, the natural environment, the foggy mountains early in the morning and the clear skies at night; the acorns on the paths, the loblolly pines, the plethora of butterflies and hummingbirds, the creeks and streams, these are the scenes of my early childhood and it still exists in Western North Carolina even if it has long since disappeared from Texas.
I am planning to go back. But if I should die tomorrow, I don’t care; I have seen Paradise. And I know where I belong.
Imagine a place that is incomparably beautiful, quiet, away from TV or radio or newspapers or Internet, but with air conditioning and the best food in the world; a place that insists you find your own soul, and that compels you to express your personal creativity in a sharing and noncompetitive manner. That place was where I have been.
My husband and I rather accidentally learned about the John C. Campbell Folk Art School through an ad I saw in the Artists’ Magazine last April or May. I looked it up on the Internet and ordered the catalog. Reluctantly – because somehow things rarely are as advertised – we registered for classes back in July and sent our money in. My husband signed up for Nature Writing, and I for Drawing.
The trip began on a sour note, courtesy of Delta Airlines again; our flight from Houston to Atlanta was cancelled, we were switched to a Continental flight some three hours later, but of course our luggage was not. So we arrived at the school late Saturday without any of my art supplies or my camera or the other things I think I can’t live without. None of that showed up until Tuesday morning.
I was immeasurably stressed when we got there; but the dining room staff had saved some dinner for us and the student host gave us a map with our cabin circled in red. On the reverse side of the map was a schedule of the week’s activities. Classes were already meeting to get acquainted, and we each found our spots. At 9 p.m. Morris came to find me, and without a flashlight we stumbled to our room, some distance away.
In spite of the relaxed environment, the trains do in fact run on time at the Campbell School. Morning Song (a short musical program that I never got to) starts at 7, and breakfast is from 8:15 until 9. If you snooze, you lose, and that goes for any meal. However, there is homemade bread and peanut butter available for anybody who is hungry between scheduled meal times. Classes start at 9, and the schedule is fairly tight the rest of the day, ending with some special activity or program after dinner.
Those are the details; the rest was enchantment. Monday night there was a musical program of Appalachian music, sung by a couple of people who must have been 90. The music affected me so deeply I was moved to near sobbing, and I had to ask Morris if we could leave early. I still don’t understand exactly what happened, but since my paternal ancestry traces back to those mountains some three hundred years ago, maybe it was some genetic memory. But it was a powerful experience I won’t forget. Already I was hooked, and felt I had found my soul.
I have always been such a cynic, and a little ashamed of my Appalachian heritage. After all, I have understood these people to have been described as ignorant moon-shiners, “poor white trash” and Deliverance-types. (Who would want to claim that?) But I found out that whether or not that description is fair, this ancestry is a deeply felt part of who I am. Far from fear of terrorism, concern with politics or nuclear war, this place gave me a sense of safety and connection I haven’t felt since early childhood.
I bought a few books on the southern highlanders – people who came from Northern Ireland, the Scotch-Irish. Their ways were different from other immigrants, and many of them were indentured servants when they made their way across the Atlantic. When they had worked off their debts they drifted west from Virginia or wherever, and settled up in the Appalachians where they ate only what they could grow or kill. They sang and they danced, adapting music from England and Ireland, and the culture eventually was blended with that of early African slaves and some hint of Cherokee.
My own ancestors were here before the Revolution. Eventually they drifted south, and then west, and ended up in Texas shortly before the Civil War. But there is something left over that resonates deep within me. The beauty, the silence, the natural environment, the foggy mountains early in the morning and the clear skies at night; the acorns on the paths, the loblolly pines, the plethora of butterflies and hummingbirds, the creeks and streams, these are the scenes of my early childhood and it still exists in Western North Carolina even if it has long since disappeared from Texas.
I am planning to go back. But if I should die tomorrow, I don’t care; I have seen Paradise. And I know where I belong.
Friday, April 28, 2006
New Domain
Finally I updated my website. After I filed for a new domain name after the old one expired and the bureaucracy wouldn’t allow me to renew it. Even though it was my own name. Go figure. So now my site is moved to AndreaFriedell.com from A.S. Friedell.com, through no fault of my own. Somebody else now owns A.S. Friedell.com now, and I’ll be (bleep) if I’m going to buy it back from them.
Greg Palast’s new book is finished and is on the market in June. Order your copy early and you’ll be part of the crowd… it’s a bestseller on Amazon already. Greg has found a way to tell the entire story of our present status all in one book. It’s getting too complicated to try and follow the news every night. I end up switching to three or four different cable news channels just to get the important stories of the day.
I think it is sad that somebody either was or wasn’t raped at Duke University, and I hate that people go missing in Aruba, but in the case of the end of the world and priorities, I think the prospects of nuclear war started by Mr. End-Timer really needs to be the headline here. And how is it that people who believe that they have to instigate Armageddon also think it’s important to get rid of estate taxes? I mean, it’s either one or the other, right?
Greg Palast’s new book is finished and is on the market in June. Order your copy early and you’ll be part of the crowd… it’s a bestseller on Amazon already. Greg has found a way to tell the entire story of our present status all in one book. It’s getting too complicated to try and follow the news every night. I end up switching to three or four different cable news channels just to get the important stories of the day.
I think it is sad that somebody either was or wasn’t raped at Duke University, and I hate that people go missing in Aruba, but in the case of the end of the world and priorities, I think the prospects of nuclear war started by Mr. End-Timer really needs to be the headline here. And how is it that people who believe that they have to instigate Armageddon also think it’s important to get rid of estate taxes? I mean, it’s either one or the other, right?
Saturday, December 17, 2005
Still on the train...
Although I am certainly not a fan of hers, I have to give credit where it is due, I suppose. Barbara Bush recently said something that resonates with me. This is from today’s Houston Chronicle, covering the First Mother’s recent address at Texas A&M.
She described life as a train trip that will have a final stop for everybody.
“The true joy of life is the trip, so stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles,” she said. “Instead, climb more mountains, read a book for fun… watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less.”
She described life as a train trip that will have a final stop for everybody.
“The true joy of life is the trip, so stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles,” she said. “Instead, climb more mountains, read a book for fun… watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less.”
Sunday, October 02, 2005
So, where was I?
So.. where was I?
The circumstance of Katrina and Rita and the exposure of the underbelly of what has been called civilization in this country, gives us all something new to ponder. And I have learned a lot.
The circumstance of Katrina and Rita and the exposure of the underbelly of what has been called civilization in this country, gives us all something new to ponder. And I have learned a lot.
- Adrenalin is a great thing and apparently is unaffected by aging. It was on pure adrenalin that I was able to work some long days as a volunteer after Katrina. I hadn’t done anything like that in years… yet it all came back naturally.
- Electricity is a necessity. The thought of living without electricity even for one day, much less weeks is what drove me to hysterically evacuate before Rita hit Houston. Which it didn’t.
- Gasoline is expensive. I think the generation of my children will be the first to really make some changes in their lifestyle because of this. If they were in the oil business, they’d be delighted. Otherwise, it’s time for us all to go into the bicycle business.
- We need to return to self-contained communities, where we can all walk (or ride horseback) to stores, schools, churches. Alternative energy sources are not impossible dreams.
- And I think the funniest thing about self-preservation for this mother hen, is the immediate urge to have all my chickens under one roof. Meanwhile I’ll look for a new prescription for anxiety medication.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Big fish and little fish
I feed the fish in my pond several times a day. I have koi, goldfish and mollies. Without fail, the koi always get to the food first.
Koi are the big fish. The goldfish and the mollies are very small by comparison. Sometimes, seeing the big fish grab all the food, I throw out another handful so the others can get another shot. Yet, the big koi, like little water bulldozers will shove the goldfish and the mollies away from the food and gobble it down.
“Survival of the fittest,” I think to myself. But are they the fittest because they tend to get the most food? Is that maybe what makes them bigger? In other words, are they the biggest because they’re big? And what about the little fish, don’t they need to eat something? They get only the leftovers, just enough to keep them alive.
As I watch the coverage of Katrina and hear about the deaths of the people who couldn’t afford to leave their homes, I see the victims as the little fish. In many cases these people who stayed had no transportation even to the shelter. Sometimes it was because they were handicapped physically and no one saw to it that they were moved. I think it is no accident that the poorest neighborhood is the one where people were in their attics still crying to be rescued late yesterday, as live power lines and gas leaks kept the boats out of the area after dark and as the water kept rising.
The people in the long lines of traffic we saw leaving the area on Sunday had one thing in common: they had automobiles and they had gasoline. They had money for hotels, or they had contacts where they could stay – either a shelter or family on higher ground. They are the big fish.
In this case, the “big fish” are not being greedy, they are just better equipped to deal with a survival issue. So what accounts for the difference between the two? Why is it that some fish are bigger than others? How is it that some people seem blessed with abundance and others are not? Why are koi bigger than goldfish? How do they become koi and not goldfish in the first place?
This is not to say that well-equipped people aren’t suffering great losses in this hurricane season, but mostly it is property. And I am well aware of the fact that many of the people who fled used their entire paycheck from last week to buy the gasoline and the hotel room and will quickly reach a financial dead end because their jobs have been lost forever to the waters. But life is what I am talking about here.
I will wonder about this today.
Koi are the big fish. The goldfish and the mollies are very small by comparison. Sometimes, seeing the big fish grab all the food, I throw out another handful so the others can get another shot. Yet, the big koi, like little water bulldozers will shove the goldfish and the mollies away from the food and gobble it down.
“Survival of the fittest,” I think to myself. But are they the fittest because they tend to get the most food? Is that maybe what makes them bigger? In other words, are they the biggest because they’re big? And what about the little fish, don’t they need to eat something? They get only the leftovers, just enough to keep them alive.
As I watch the coverage of Katrina and hear about the deaths of the people who couldn’t afford to leave their homes, I see the victims as the little fish. In many cases these people who stayed had no transportation even to the shelter. Sometimes it was because they were handicapped physically and no one saw to it that they were moved. I think it is no accident that the poorest neighborhood is the one where people were in their attics still crying to be rescued late yesterday, as live power lines and gas leaks kept the boats out of the area after dark and as the water kept rising.
The people in the long lines of traffic we saw leaving the area on Sunday had one thing in common: they had automobiles and they had gasoline. They had money for hotels, or they had contacts where they could stay – either a shelter or family on higher ground. They are the big fish.
In this case, the “big fish” are not being greedy, they are just better equipped to deal with a survival issue. So what accounts for the difference between the two? Why is it that some fish are bigger than others? How is it that some people seem blessed with abundance and others are not? Why are koi bigger than goldfish? How do they become koi and not goldfish in the first place?
This is not to say that well-equipped people aren’t suffering great losses in this hurricane season, but mostly it is property. And I am well aware of the fact that many of the people who fled used their entire paycheck from last week to buy the gasoline and the hotel room and will quickly reach a financial dead end because their jobs have been lost forever to the waters. But life is what I am talking about here.
I will wonder about this today.
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Goodbye, Peter
Peter Jennings.
Hmmph. (My daughter says I say “hmmph” a lot lately. It just means I have concluded an important thought in my mind, or come to some conclusion. Never used to do it this way.)
When Peter made his announcement in the spring that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, I was sad to hear it, but with people like Peter Giuliani and Lance Armstrong bouncing back from cancer, it never occurred to me that Peter would die any time soon.
I missed him during his sick leave, as well as what I was convinced was his input into World News Tonight. Seemed to me the coverage was more about missing blondes and sports figures, not anything relevant to our lives.
And then he died.
Peter isn’t … Sorry. Peter wasn’t that much older than I am. And I smoked for 42 years, twice as long as he did. I stopped inhaling only three years ago. So do I go get one of those lung scans to see whether there’s any sign of abnormal cells? And if I do and somebody decides it means lung cancer is incubating, then what? My husband will probably insist I suffer through chemotherapy. Well, it didn’t work for Peter.
The grief I felt for Peter’s death was not only because I believed I knew him, and that I believed we could all trust him to tell us about anything really important happening anywhere in the world. He even told us about things I didn’t find important at the time, and learned later he was right on about. If Peter had been in charge, everyone would have heard about the Downing Street Memo much earlier and more clearly; if Peter had been in charge, Cindy Sheehan’s camp-out would have been covered from its beginning, rather than waiting – as other editors did – until there was a pro-war group to cover at the same time.
I noticed a few years ago that Peter, like me, was getting a bit wide around the middle. But he was still smart. He could read a propagandized story with a straight face, then add a sentence at the end and let you know from the turn of his mouth that he really knew the truth and that we do too, if we think about it. And each night now when I see Martha Raddatz reporting on Pentagon matters, I think how sad that Peter is gone and none of the bad things in the world have changed one whit. Maybe he could have explained it better if he were here a while longer; people wouldn’t believe nonsense quite as often.
I was 21 when John Kennedy died. It was an end to an era, an idealism, a faith that things are always going to turn out okay.
My shock and sadness now at having Peter Jennings taken away forever is a lot like my feelings were then.
Hmmph. (My daughter says I say “hmmph” a lot lately. It just means I have concluded an important thought in my mind, or come to some conclusion. Never used to do it this way.)
When Peter made his announcement in the spring that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer, I was sad to hear it, but with people like Peter Giuliani and Lance Armstrong bouncing back from cancer, it never occurred to me that Peter would die any time soon.
I missed him during his sick leave, as well as what I was convinced was his input into World News Tonight. Seemed to me the coverage was more about missing blondes and sports figures, not anything relevant to our lives.
And then he died.
Peter isn’t … Sorry. Peter wasn’t that much older than I am. And I smoked for 42 years, twice as long as he did. I stopped inhaling only three years ago. So do I go get one of those lung scans to see whether there’s any sign of abnormal cells? And if I do and somebody decides it means lung cancer is incubating, then what? My husband will probably insist I suffer through chemotherapy. Well, it didn’t work for Peter.
The grief I felt for Peter’s death was not only because I believed I knew him, and that I believed we could all trust him to tell us about anything really important happening anywhere in the world. He even told us about things I didn’t find important at the time, and learned later he was right on about. If Peter had been in charge, everyone would have heard about the Downing Street Memo much earlier and more clearly; if Peter had been in charge, Cindy Sheehan’s camp-out would have been covered from its beginning, rather than waiting – as other editors did – until there was a pro-war group to cover at the same time.
I noticed a few years ago that Peter, like me, was getting a bit wide around the middle. But he was still smart. He could read a propagandized story with a straight face, then add a sentence at the end and let you know from the turn of his mouth that he really knew the truth and that we do too, if we think about it. And each night now when I see Martha Raddatz reporting on Pentagon matters, I think how sad that Peter is gone and none of the bad things in the world have changed one whit. Maybe he could have explained it better if he were here a while longer; people wouldn’t believe nonsense quite as often.
I was 21 when John Kennedy died. It was an end to an era, an idealism, a faith that things are always going to turn out okay.
My shock and sadness now at having Peter Jennings taken away forever is a lot like my feelings were then.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Ponderous
As I stumble into the dreaded abyss of aging, I grab for a handhold. Lately it’s painting or drawing, in an attempt to leave traces of myself. Last year it was a book. Next year, maybe another book. But moving onward ever so slowly, I understand that I can stop only momentarily to leave a footprint.
Within the course of a year, I witnessed the birth of a grandchild and the death of that same child’s grandfather. How frail, how fragile we animals are both at beginning and at end.
Rock and Hawk
by Robinson Jeffers
Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts watch their own eyes.
This gray rock, standing tall on the headland,
Where the sea-wind lets no tree grow.
Earthquake-proved, and signatured by ages of storms:
On its peak a falcon has perched.
I think, here is your emblem to hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive, but this;
Bright power, dark peace, fierce consciousness joined
With final disinterestedness.
Life with calm death; the falcon’s realistic eyes and act
Married to the massive mysticism of stone.
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.
As I experience aging, I remember Daniel Pearl. Bobby Darin. Marilyn Monroe. John Kennedy. They didn’t have the opportunity to plan for a facelift or maybe just Botox.
A child never said youth is wasted on the young. Wisdom is only entrenched knowledge, our dreams of youth and we return to the music of those days, remembering mostly with fondness. But was it real? Perhaps the music and the memories are no more than revisited fantasies. Our grief has selfish roots.
I cannot stay away from computer as analogy. Dreams defragment the mind; a newborn baby’s mind a blank video card, much like the coma of one’s last hours. Surely there is no more dreaming in this deep sleep, the no operating system of dementia.
Within the course of a year, I witnessed the birth of a grandchild and the death of that same child’s grandfather. How frail, how fragile we animals are both at beginning and at end.
Rock and Hawk
by Robinson Jeffers
Here is a symbol in which
Many high tragic thoughts watch their own eyes.
This gray rock, standing tall on the headland,
Where the sea-wind lets no tree grow.
Earthquake-proved, and signatured by ages of storms:
On its peak a falcon has perched.
I think, here is your emblem to hang in the future sky;
Not the cross, not the hive, but this;
Bright power, dark peace, fierce consciousness joined
With final disinterestedness.
Life with calm death; the falcon’s realistic eyes and act
Married to the massive mysticism of stone.
Which failure cannot cast down
Nor success make proud.
As I experience aging, I remember Daniel Pearl. Bobby Darin. Marilyn Monroe. John Kennedy. They didn’t have the opportunity to plan for a facelift or maybe just Botox.
A child never said youth is wasted on the young. Wisdom is only entrenched knowledge, our dreams of youth and we return to the music of those days, remembering mostly with fondness. But was it real? Perhaps the music and the memories are no more than revisited fantasies. Our grief has selfish roots.
I cannot stay away from computer as analogy. Dreams defragment the mind; a newborn baby’s mind a blank video card, much like the coma of one’s last hours. Surely there is no more dreaming in this deep sleep, the no operating system of dementia.
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