Tales of an Acid-Washed Indigo Warrior

Today is the day Americans celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (it was actually on January 15th). He would have been 80 years old. Tomorrow, Barack Obama will be inaugurated as the 44th president.

Two professors where I teach organized an amazing trip for some of the journalism students, including one student from my class last semester.

Here's the link to their story and their blogs.

Obama's Use of Complete Sentences Stirs Controversy:
Stunning Break with Last Eight Years

In the first two weeks since the election, President-elect Barack Obama has broken with a tradition established over the past eight years through his controversial use of complete sentences, political observers say.

Millions of Americans who watched Mr. Obama's appearance on CBS' "Sixty Minutes" on Sunday witnessed the president-elect's unorthodox verbal tick, which had Mr. Obama employing grammatically correct sentences virtually every time he opened his mouth.

But Mr. Obama's decision to use complete sentences in his public pronouncements carries with it certain risks, since after the last eight years many Americans may find his odd speaking style jarring.

According to presidential historian Davis Logsdon of the University of Minnesota , some Americans might find it "alienating" to have a President who speaks English as if it were his first language.

"Every time Obama opens his mouth, his subjects and verbs are in agreement," says Mr. Logsdon. "If he keeps it up, he is running the risk of sounding like an elitist."

The historian said that if Mr. Obama insists on using complete sentences in his speeches, the public may find itself saying, "Okay, subject, predicate, subject predicate - we get it, stop showing off."

The President-elect's stubborn insistence on using complete sentences has already attracted a rebuke from one of his harshest critics, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska .

"Talking with complete sentences there and also too talking in a way that ordinary Americans like Joe the Plumber and Tito the Builder can't really do there, I think needing to do that isn't tapping into what Americans are needing also," she said.

(I didn't write this, just sharing it)

I hope your day is full of laughter and love!

Here's a virtual Christmas card for those who want one.

It's been a mad rush to get here for me. I had 140 final projects, plus 35 final exams to grade. That's in addition to generating two newsletters, handling countless marketing "emergencies", and trying to spend time with my kids and friends.

Oh, and I started a weekly paid blog on human rights... what was I thinking???

Still, I'm grateful to have arrived here healthy, reasonably wealthy (compared to most of the world), and somewhat wiser than before.

I'm grateful that my kids want to spend some time with me today.

I'm grateful that one of my clients is going to let my daughter observe a surgery on Friday, then she and I are going to spend the day in SF, shopping (my present to her).

I'm grateful that Kiva lets you give loans to friends, so they can personally choose who they want to support. I think that's an awesome gift that just keeps giving.

I'm grateful for good friends who seem to thing that I'd be better off with some pretty woman around.

I'm grateful for good music that makes me smile, remember what's important, or feel inspired.

I'm grateful for a couple days off.

And I wish all of you Hippy Hula Days!

The website Care2.com offered me a blog spot on human rights. I convinced them that writing about people who are providing hope to those who need it most was the best thing I could do, and they agreed.

So today, my first paid blog up and running here. Please stop by and check it out, then let me know what you think.

Happy birthday red_silk_robe! I know I gave you birthday wishes via other media and in person, and here they are in print. Hope you had fun.

"This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of being a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

"I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no 'brief candle' to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations."
— George Bernard Shaw, Irish Writer and Playwright

You've always entertained me, and I'll never again look at a map of Norway without stifling a giggle. Hope you have a wonderful birthday!

Christmas is rapidly approaching... and I look good in black...



You can buy it here!

Last night I was back at the hospital. My friend's son is not doing well. The cancer is so aggressive it has taken over most of one lung. He has no feeling in his legs. They're giving him a month or so.

Yet he smiled when I walked in. I called him "Bro" -- something his dad and I call each other. He smiled again, happy to be included. The kid's a trooper. He just turned 18. He just got his driver's license over the summer. He wants to go to the same college as my son.

Somehow, it's not right.

I know, I know, there are things that I can't understand. There are purposes. There are life lessons. There are agreements. There is letting go and trusting the Universe.

But this isn't fair.

So today, I'm picking up my daughter and taking her to the doctor. She likes it better when I take her for sports injuries, because I've been there and done that. Her mom still doesn't understand that stuff.

And I'll hug her. I'll cherish every minute with her. I'll hang on her every word.

Saturday I see my son. I'm picking him up from the train. And I'll do the same thing with him.

Because I'm so very blessed to have them in my life. And right now, I want to relish every single second with them.

Hope you take this opportunity to shower the people you love with love.

The challenge with catching the 6:22 train is that I often forget to include enough time in my preparations to imbibe the necessary amount of caffeine for the day. Today was one such day.

So I got off the Jitney bus across from the Mission Street Peet's Coffee. Mind you, I've been struggling with the lessons that come from watching people close to you struggle. From a 17-year-old man's struggles with cancer, pneumonia, and back surgery, to my friend's heart attack, to another friend's concern for his son, to my son's desire to be with his girlfriend (instead of in college).

It's all got me thinking, "There, but for the grace of God go I." And it's got me thinking, all we really have is today. Be in the here and now.

So I'm waiting for one of my favorite loving gifts from God -- a soy mocha -- when I look outside to see a man about my age holding up a sign, asking for 49 cents. And I thought back to something Neal Donald Walsh said in "The Moses Code". "I am that... I am," I thought. Then I remembered that song by EverLast (talk about a group of Indigo Warriors) called "What it's like" and suddenly flashed on the movie "Conversations With God" -- and I pulled a dollar out of my pocket.

I walked up to the man, who had moved to help me open the door. I held out the dollar and smiled at him. He thanked me and blessed me (I'm always grateful when somebody blesses me). I invited him to have a good day, and he said this was a good start. Then he said might have found a job. I congratulated him and smiled again. Once again, he blessed me.

And my heart opened a little wider.

Walking down the street to the office of the nonprofit where I work on Wednesday, I wondered how I could survive without as much work -- I have too much work right now (unfortunately, none of it pays spectacularly, but it's all with good people). I crossed the street, past the Old Mint, and saw three or four people sleeping on cardboard on the sidewalk.

"I am that, I am."

And the tears welled up under my glasses. I looked at the two men I passed on the way to my office. And I saw beauty in their sleeping faces. And I felt grateful for all that I have. All that I am. All that I do.

We are all one. And when you pause to notice it, you find that it really is a beautiful thing.

Namaste.

Here's why I give my change to most who ask.

"What It's Like"

We've all seen the man at the liquor store
Beggin' for your change
The hair on his face is dirty,
Dreadlocked and full of mange
He ask the man for what he could spare
With shame in his eyes
"Get a job, you fuckin' slob"
Is all he replied

God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in his shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to sing the blues
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like

Mary got pregnant from a kid named Tom
Who said he was in love
He said, "Don't worry about a thing baby doll,
"I'm the man you've been dreamin' of"
But three months later he said he won't date her
Or return her call
And she sweared "God damn if I find that man,
"I'm cuttin' off his balls"
And then she heads for the clinic
And she gets some static
Walkin' through the doors
They call her a killer,
And they call her a sinner,
And they call her a whore

God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to choose
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like

I've seen a rich man beg
I've seen a good man sin
I've seen a tough man cry
I've seen a loser win
And a sad man grin
I heard an honest man lie
I've seen the good side of bad
And the down side of up
And everything between
I licked the silver spoon
Drank from the golden cup
Smoked the finest green
I stroked the baddest dimes at least a couple of times
Before I broke their heart
You know where it ends
Yo, it usually depends on where you start

I knew this kid named Max
He used to get fat stacks out on the corner with drugs
He liked to hang out late at night
Liked to get shit-faced
And keep pace with thugs
Until late one night there was a big gun fight
Max lost his head
He pulled out his chrome .45
Talked some shit
And wound up dead

Now his wife and his kids are caught in the midst of all of his pain
You know it crumbles that way
At least that's what they say when you play the game

God forbid you ever had to wake up to hear the news
'Cause then you really might know what it's like to have to lose
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like
Then you really might know what it's like
To have to lose...

If you want to read the whole thread, start here.

You can find more at www.sinfest.net

One of the nice things about being on the faculty email lists at a university is that you often get some pretty smart links. Here's one discussing Sarah Palin's experience.

Enjoy.