Black is the New.....Black?

In the months during the general election and period leading up to the Inauguration, I've watched countless news stories and special interest pieces where folks, mainly pundits and talk-show hosts discuss and theorize about what it means to be black in America in this "post racial or post-racist" Obama era. The stories, have been....well, compelling but the conclusions have largely left me shaking or scratching my head.

They ask questions like (no joke, I've heard these new things):

"Will black kids learn better?," "Will black people feel the urge and find the strength to rise above the poverty line" "Will black on black crime come to an immediate halt? I would say no to most of these things. Not because I am hopelessly pessimistic, but because I am a cynical optimist.

While I hate to answer a question with a question, I ask this in response "Will the issues that plague black folks be treated as issues/ flaws in the system rather than the self-induced plight of a people who, until recently, lacked representation by a man seemingly at the top of his game?"

"Will black people be given the opportunities that they have been so long denied, the same opportunities granted to a certain current President of ours?"

***Point of clarification: I do believe that flawed decision making skills and poor personal choices stand alone, no matter what race you are.

Those are the questions that we should be asking ourselves. Truly. It's mentally and socially heavy lifting and it doesn't make for heart-warming stories but our moral defense of these issues should not weaken for any reason. Not even a black President.

For as long as I can remember, the default, almost comical response of Black people feeling the pressure of society was to "Blame it on the white man." Because he was and is, for all intense purposes the high and mighty authority. But now, as we see, both the white and black man have some of the same issues....we are BROKE and in many cases, hopeless. Plus, THE MAN (the president) is now OUR MAN (Barack Obama), so what now? I don't see any of our issues disappearing quite yet, not as quickly as people expected them too...and not, in my opinion until we address the issues systematically. Nov 4th changed the game in a huge way....no doubt. But the system still rears it's ugly head. I think, and this is a bit daring, that moral issue like social and racial oppression are SOCIAL issues that can only be solved by SOCIETY. There's no real democracy about it. And no, I'm not a social anarchist. I just think that the government cannot solve the problems that you have with your neighbor across the Mason-Dixon line, except to legislate that you cannot kill him or deny him the right to vote. Big deal. You can't legislate love. The steps that we take to heal a nation, as I've learned, are bold and they don't require any bureaucracy or even a black President.

I could be totally wrong, but think that we as a race (human and African American) are in a unique place to evaluate where we are going. So I guess we should not be asking ourselves how far WE have come, but rather how far forward we have moved on the scale of issues that affect us most and the system that they all revolve around. It's a shame (or a blessing, you decide) that being black is sometimes more about a platform of issues than a celebration of heritage.

I grew up in an age, post Black Panther, pre-Black President, where black folks were getting a little slice of the pie (more like crumbs) and we gained some idea of upward mobility. Get a house, lease a car, get a desk job....etc. Still, there were glaring injustices that gave rise to folks like the Reverend Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton who were spokespersons for many of these issues. We've all seen the news clips where the family and supporters of a victim of police brutality are shown and Jesse and Al are giving the same speech that they gave when this last happened. "The government is unfair....we demand respect, etc." But truly, what will happen to the forward movement when we aren't making stump speeches about how much the Bush administration hates us?? Hmmm.

On another note, where are we are on the cultural front? I mean, the Obama campaign did something to invigorate the spirits of young men and women everywhere, and if only for a moment, politics became intertwined into popular culture. Thank goodness, because considering that are being passed the societal torch, I was getting a little worried. Is that the place for it though? I think so, but decide for yourself. As long as we don't pair justice with popularity, I think it will be ok. Rest assured though, conservative and old folks alike, kids wearing baggy pants named Dequan won't be defiling your daughters (at least not in large numbers) and running your country just yet. We've still got some work to do, because as soon as we get comfortable with the progress that we have made, the movement has found another cause, another corner of the earth to penetrate and we are left behind reveling in our hay-day. So, in honor of this Valentine's Day weekend, I'll have to say that my heart is taken. Captured this notion, this opportunity to change. I love the fact that I have been called to be apart of it, and that it has become apart of me.

Black is the new black, eh? So FINALLY, in 2009, it's ok for me to be black girl from the North Atlanta suburbs with righteous indignence in her soul and an afro pic in her purse, speaking her mind in complete sentences with subject-verb agreement?? Well.....maybe. I won't push my luck. On the other hand, it's only mid-February. I've got a least a few more days.

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!!

The Minimalist Effect

Ok, so I originally had no clue what the ACTUAL idea behind Minimalism was, so I did some scholarly research, which, in 2009 consists of typing the words "Minimalism" into a search engine and clicking on the top, seemingly most relevant return. Here's what I learned.

"Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where work is stripped down to it's most fundamental features."

**That's all I found that was particularly relevant to this post, so I'll spare you the cut and paste.
Given my predilection toward making things/concepts applicable to real life, here's my sociological interpretation:

Life is an intricate and elaborate piece of work in which people and systems interact in a way that influences, heck...DETERMINES the course of human history. Despite this intricacy, there are only a few elements that we cannot live without as humans(love, hope, peace, joy, justice, etc), barring what society says. What is fundamentally necessary to me is probably necessary to others, therefore we are connected in that vein. We all impact one another, both consciously and subconsciously. Fundamentally, we are linked and our realization of such a fact helps us to look beyond the petty happenings and sometimes tragic events of our lives to glimpse into the suffering of humanity. It also help us to realize that, regardless of what we endure, there is the potential of hope that lies dormant at our very core.

In short hand cliche phrases: Something bad happens you, it could be worse, at least you are still alive. Minimizing thinking about past hurts and failures, helps to maximize our potential to do great and meaningful work in the earth. The glass is half full, etc.

These sub-concepts have in common the premise that we focus on the POSITIVE and the NECESSARY, what is most essential to human survival and growth, leaving all other things behind. Most importantly though, we are to structure, design, our lives to reflect those things that are fundamental and necessary. Fundamental and necessary to what? To our life's purpose. If you have at least a vague idea of what your life purpose is, the minimalist approach will work for you (or at least it shouldn't be too hard to understand). While I know that society is fraught with way too much cynicism and judgment and pity to actually operate out of this model, it's something to consider.

Example: So I was in an accident last week and I was pretty broken up about it. Then I realized that I, the other dude, or some bystander could have died, there could have been major damage to my car. and further more, that I could have not had insurance to pay for it. Or to turn on the evening news and learn that a young man, your age, celebrating college graduation, is killed in a hit and run. Well, when you put it that way, my fender bender sucked, well....less.

Another example: Sitting around thinking about how much debt you're in, wallowing is a pool of self-pity, only to receive a call hours later telling you that your cousin has just lost her battle with lung canger.

I'm not suggesting that we should all live in world of relative pessimism. I am simply observing that a little bit of perspective goes a long way. These kinds of sobering realizations draw us away from the smallness of situation and into the fullness of life. We are given permission to strip away the unnecessary, even if that only consists of other people's opinions. In a more idealist-realist view: We understand, simultaneously, the world as it is and as it should be.

I saw the movie, Revolutionary Road, last night and it framed my thinking about this concept in a very interesting way, more focused on the outward expression of many of these same concepts. Oh, and here's a SPOILER WARNING:

A young, fresh, married couple start as idealists but quickly become jaded by the business of social climbing (stuff accumulation). This realization weaves a web of emotional turmoil in their lives. They attempt to simplify. They try desperately to move to another country where people "really live" but are unable to escape the life that they have built for themselves. The life that is supposed to make them happy. What a tragedy. Perhaps the bigger tragedy?

The inevitability that many of us will end up this way if we aren't careful. Not to say that you can't drink the kool-aid every once in a while, get married, have some kids....but we risk building fortresses around our comfort, getting wrapped up in the simple mindedness of our own struggle and loosing that thing that causes us to live....passionately. I see that in some of my friends....already. I don't plan to spend the rest of my life lacking permanent companionship, but I will (I vow) to have enough flexibility to, should I choose,wake up one morning, turn to my husband and say "Baby, lets move to Dubai....tomorrow" (my friend Sarah and I decided that a week would give a foothold to too many obstacles and doubt). He'll be like "Cool. Let's go." Or the freedom to say, "Let's move to and join the revolution." There should be room in our lives, and more importantly, room in our thinking for just a little bit of that."

Back to the movie: The couple couldn't, try as they might, leave behind something that they themselves had created. They became victims of a utopian existence. Who has ever heard of that? Probably not many people. Because we are taught that people who live as they lived, have lots of stuff, good looking kids and a house to put it in...have all that they need. There existence, however narrow, is secure. But after awhile, we are prisoners of these things and people and societal pressures. Especially in circumstances where the man wears the pants and the woman wears the high-waisted pencil skirt. To make matters worse, they knew, because they had tasted, what was so epherial, invigorating and TRUE about life but did not have the guts to recapture it. Such as shame.

The STANDard here, and my strong advice: Live life, giving special and strong consideration to minimalism (in both speech and action) and the freedom and TRUTH therein. The minimalist approach to thinking and living isn't minimal in practice, actually, it's quite rich and abundant. It is so, because it incorporates the abundance of humanity without the smallness that keeps us from believing that it's unimportant.

The Federalist-Socialist-Democratic Republic of the Little People

Wow. That title is a mouthful, but it truly captures the essence of the last 6 weeks of my life.

All of our lives, we are taught to develop some tough outer shell of self-importance that will carry us toward the shining beacon of healthy adulthood. So we try, in our short time on the earth to accomplish an impossible (nothing is impossible really), rather unrealistic, To Do list that is often polluted with a number of self-serving items that do little more than give us something to talk about when we want to impress the pants off of people or a good opening line that ends with us passing along our business card. Little do we know, and few people discover that the truth behind living a good, worthwhile and healthy lies in the the small things that we do for others.

Ever since I finished with Jim Martin's runoff campaign, I've been searching (both my soul and the classifieds) for the NEXT BIG THING that would launch my career and the fast track to a Time Magazine cover shoot. I was waiting impatiently for my trip to DC for inauguration and looking forward to seeing all of my organizer friends. Little did I know that the NEXT BIG THING was working with little people. Not midgets. I now have a gig at a Christian Day School. Don't laugh. Because I really...well...love it. If you know anything about me, you know that naturally, I protested a bit because I thought myself "not the kid type," through I suppose I was one at some point. But along the way, and by way, I mean 1 and a half weeks, little people have been the source of multiple epiphanies. While I've spent most of my life as a social scientist, studying people, systems and the behavior that connect them, working with these kids has been like a crash course in democracy, where the subjects include:

1) Relationships yield effectiveness in discipline- Have you ever listened attentively to someone you didn't like, didn't trust or didn't respect?? Probably not. What is that? I supposed it's because people require relationships, even kids. You must seek to understand them and then prepare to be misunderstood by them (kids). Nonetheless, legitimacy goes along way. They will only heed your correction if they know you care about them.

2) Monotony...Psh!! Discipline is important. Routines in life (get up, work, come home, sleep, repeat) aren't meant to such the fun out of life....they are, in my opinion, a way to get us to understand that the earth-shattering task of reform is based upon our ability to retain livelihood. Or, as my Deputy Field Director in MO would say, "Earth shattering things begin with the little things."

3) SELF IMPORTANCE. Why do we desire to be so gosh-darn IMPORTANT? It seems we are all in a rat race, so that we can spend our whole lives basking in the glow of...... ourselves. The political world lends itself to this. In light of such things, I asked God for little humility. A bit help me serve and a bit to keep me sane, and he sent me somewhere where none cared who I was. It didn't matter that I was a college grad...or a community organizer...or even that my name was Jonae. They're KIDS for crying out loud. I'm Miss Jonae that makes them snack and reads them stories. It's refreshing really. In conversation, I'm usually referred to in a manner that accompanies a litany of positive adjectives and before I know it, they began to define me. And while I don't protest having nice things said about me, we have to be careful not to be boxed in by our own ambition.

4) Civil unrest- I witnessed, last week, the purest form of civil unrest there is....a group of kids (4 year olds), totally unprompted, started marching around the playground chanting "No more babies." It was led by a little boy whom I refer to as the little Marcus Garvey. But this whole epidose made my heart swell. When you've learned to protest, you've learned democracy. :-)

5) We are shaping a movement for them, sowing seeds- Just like my time spent organizing in Southwest Missouri, I feel that my time spent at this school is another way to sow seeds into the community. What I've realized is that once you've been apart of the movement, you have an inherent responsibility to stand on the sidelines for a bit and guide those who are coming after. Instead of resenting their immaturity, teach them the way to go.

6) Fundamentals of communication- We must learn to communicate outside of our comfort. I'm used to striking up conversation about the latest post on Huffington Post or Fivethirtyeight.com and anyone who could do so, immediately had my attention. These kids, much like most of the world, don't read blogs and don't spend nearly as much time on the computer as I do. I've had to bring my vocab down a couple notches and focus much more on the meaning. We should all try it.

7)Diplomacy- Negotiation is something that anyone, who desires to be successful at almost anything, needs to learn how to do. I swear, negotiating naptime, the dispensation of toys on the playground, and being an arbiter for 4-yo fist fights is sometimes like negotiating peace in the Middle East. Hilary Clinton could take notes.

8) Something out of nothing- Lastly, the thing that I admire most about these kids is their purity of heart. They see the world as we desperately wish we could. No one has (and I won't be the one to do it) told them how the world is and what it can and cannot be. They look at 3 hoola hops on the playground and imagine that it's a castle...or something. I wish I had that. Maybe you do to. While we may have the courage to remake the world, we must also have the imagination.

In short, I left the general election campaign and the runoff looking for hope that could sustain me a lifetime, I found it in the eyes of a child. I'm not trying to liken my experience at this school to the enormous, seemingly insurmountable obstacles that our society faces. I'm certainly won't try to sell you on my "change a diaper, change the world" brand of thinking but I can't help but think that the time and patience that it takes to rock a child to sleep, may just be the tenderness that we need to cure the world of it's ills. Surely, there's a direct parallel.

The world, as I alluded to earlier, won't be won through intense shouting matches filled with multi-syllabic words; it will be won by looking into the eyes of an individual, cynical or pure and of heart and asking them to make choices about their lives and the lives that are connected to them. That's the kind of stuff that I do everyday with people who are young enough to be my own children. I've spent my life, verbally or physically protesting, unjust and unfair authority. Now, I have a chance to be that authority and set that standard. But I'm careful with that responsibility because the tenderness of the heart and spirit of a child bears striking resemblance to that of an ailing nation. I am careful not to, even as I reprimand them, break their spirits. I simply can't. They may be the last hope to redeem the cynicism of a nation. And I could probably do this thing half- heartedly, but at this moment in history and at this moment it my life, I believe this job requires my complete, undying attention. So, I am momentarily pausing on my aspiration to be a politico.

To spare you a closing rendition of "We are the World," and for the sake of not making this entry any longer. I'll say this. Children, like the virtues of liberty, justice, and "the American way" are placed in the earth for us to steward, providing, sometimes forging an environment for them to grow and flourish. Therein lies the connection between me, Jonae, the community organizer and me, Jonae, the young adult that works with kids. So I'm not, just in case you were worried, CHANGING professions (once an organizer, always and organizer), I'm simply channeling what I have learned :-)

One Step for Government, One Giant Leap for Confidence Therein

Dear America,

I write to you from the other side of history. The right....no....CORRECT side. The side that we as a nation have been patiently waiting and sometimes violently protesting to be on. I say that only because the civil uproar of the Civil rights movement can be paired with every moment that we have tolerated blatant racism and discrimination and said NOTHING. Anyhow, OUR GUY is in!! I was fortunate enough to be in the Nation's Capital during that amazing time, and to attempt to regurgitate the experience would do it's many special moments no justice. History has been made, but the moment instantly becomes just that, history, and the REAL WORK begins. But I've heard that said almost a million times, and now, I'm quite sick of that phrase. It was like the phrase"reaching across the aisle" in the general election.

Don't know why I hate that phrase. Probably because it undermines a much greater story of how America came to be. We've just added more laborers to harvest the land, the sometimes barren political landscape. My confidence in this administration lies not just in Barack Obama (though I think he's wonderful, I'll admit) but in the little people. And sure, you've heard it before, but it irks me to think that the mainstream media and those who sit too high on Capitol Hill to be in touch with the rest of us, think that the Barack Obama campaign was the 1st time that Americans rolled up their sleeves and did anything. Pah!! Of significance?? Maybe. Like 4 months working tirelessly on 1 campaign was all that we needed to elect a black dude named Barack Obama. Hardly. It reminds me of a really great t-shirt that I saw while volunteering in MD for National Day of Service. It read:

"Rosa Sat, so Martin could walk"
"Martin Walked so that Obama could run"
"Obama ran so that our Children could fly."

Suppose any one of these people, throughout history had failed to be obedient to the call of justice. We wouldn't be where we are today, certainly.

Ok, sure, we currently lack severely in the social capital department and the righteous indignance needed to turn the world upside down, but the only reason that we a took a GIANT LEAP January 20th was because we've taken countless, un-sung baby steps. We exist, as a society, on the fault lines of compromise no matter how liberal or conservative or liberal you think our country is. Hmmm. I hate those words anyway. I'd like to go back to the old days when the fight was between righteous and unjust; Because let's face it, the future of true progress in our country will not rest on rhetoric, it will be based on the unrighteousness that we can undo.

So I spent my lunch break today reading excerpts of MLK's Letters From Birmingham Jail, and the words that he wrote, stare deep into the soul of our present situation, almost bearing a hole through it. Amazing passages that I highly recommend. The question he answers makes everything in this post-election, post-inauguration season so very clear. The movement of the many, in a positive direction, long-term, depends not entirely on the powerful or the powerless, but on the recognition that they are intrinsically linked and have a shared interest in up holding this thing called democracy. Lots of other great epiphanies too.

But where do we go now? Certainly not backward. God no. But we must certainly, as King says in his letters, uproot the complacency that injustice and silence afford us We certainly have the willpower to do it now. But are we looking to go radical? Martin all but condems incrumental change, but what do we, my generation, know about change? Except that we want it...Are we treking back to the motherland liberals or breaking down the doors at Exxon-Mobil folks? I think that right now, we are on a new journey to figure it out. We must choose, as King says, between justice and order and how we will use time. Will we bend it it in the direction of progress? Or allow time to be an agent of social stagnation? It will employ the greatest minds of past, present and future generations, so hurry and get your seat at the table, it's sure to be a long night. Sorry. It's nothing that a press briefing by Robert Gibbs can fix.:-)

So, in reflection on the dawning of this Obama-Biden administration, I don't have all of the answers. Clearly. But I've got something that I've been craving my entire life, HOPE. Maybe I should call it faith. You know, the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. Not in the men that represent us, but in the people that they serve. Frankly, that's more than I had before.

Good night America! You're looking better everyday....:-)

DC Bound!!: Chaos and History

With the exception of Atlanta, D.C is one of my absolute FAVORITE cities in the world. It's the nation's summit: a mixture of everything that's awesome and everything that sucks and needs to be changed about the US. The poverty that plagues many of its natives, in stark contrast with the promise of its rich history. Regardless of its flaws, I cannot wait to be huddled together with people that I love and care about, around the Capitol for what surely be the defining moment of my life and my generation: Barack Hussein being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America.

I'm anticipating more things than I can handle honestly. Among them are:

1) Frigid Temperatures. Can we say thermal underwear?

2) Random people screaming "Obamaaaaaaa!!" and engendering spurts of loud cheering...in the streets.

3) Scared Police. Really scared.

4) An assortment of furs that span the animal kingdom and makes PETA hang their heads in shame

5) Streets lined with cars where people have taken refuge, having no hotel accommodations or supporter housing

6) Numerous folks who will not remember this weekend due to heavy intoxication.

7) AT LEAST a handful of arrests for public drunkenness

8) Lastly, individual moments when the true magnitude of what is happening this weekend will hit people, resulting, likely, in tears.

So, how will all of this CHAOS turn into history?? Much like everything else does I suppose. Like the riots in the streets of LA and South Africa turned the tide of change and put power in the hands of the people, if only for a moment. But these moments are crystallized and cannot be stolen from the people who were there. Though we still have a long way to walk on this path of "liberty and justice for all" I will take heart in knowing that the steps that will be taken by one man, will be many steps taken for us all.

GOP NEWS BREAK:

Bush to the First in a Trilogy of Dr. Seuss Books....or have someone write them for him.

First Sarah Palin, now this. Is the GOP trying to pull the wool over our eyes or is someone in need of a ghetto pass??

SEE YOU GUYS ON THE OTHER SIDE OF HISTORY!! :-)

BLACK and BLUE

This really should have been the title of this whole blog.....

I've always believed myself to be a cultural mutt of sorts. I see things through the eyes of a girl born black; the daughter of a father from the ghettos of Houston and mother from backwoods SC; growing up in a conservative, racially homogeneous, borderline xenophobic, blood-red suburb; a sarcastic girl with a thirst for knowledge who has never been the same after having seen the movie "Malcolm X" at 8 years old. Somehow, at that point, the world began to fascinate me. So I took hold of it, and have been captivated since.

I was always that 1 black kid in my class (I pray that there were more in your class) who was asked to give the BLACK people's perspective on everything:

Teacher: "Marquisha, (thats my first name, and the name I used to be called by, before I met one too many phonetically challenged people) How do you feel about the Emancipation Proclamation? "

Me: "Great."

I was the white girl's playground date. They always wanted to touch my puffy jet black hair, like I was a science experiment. I was their gateway to learning what a weave was. ("Can you take your hair out so I can play with it?") Some of those very same girls grew up to be my best friends and as a result, know better :-)

I spend the first half of my life oblivious to how unlike me my classmates and neighbors were, the next portion becoming painfully aware of such things, and the most recent part building the toughest outer shell of self-awareness and resilience that you have ever seen.

Somewhere in there, I managed to develop a unique and often confusing view of the world. I've had the opportunity to go to schools where students are indoctrinated with the "sky's the limit" mentality and mega churches that make Sarah Palin proud but there's something about the condition of the world and the injustice that so deeply divides the "haves" and "havenots" that has pricked my heart much deeper than any one of those.

So why would a good little brown, God-fearing, Georgia girl ever want to check her ballot Democrat? Remember the time that I told you I fell in love with the world? It was because the world, in many ways, despite the occasional punch in the stomach, loved me back. Not in the systematic way, of course. Heck, if I was still relying on the system I'd still be in the bathroom scrubbing my skin, trying to purge it of every trace of my ancestors struggle. It has been in the way that I have been able to learn and be inspired by the most unlikely people that the world has otherwise discarded. Amazing people that have bolstered my compassion for humankind and caused me to fall in love with the movement that unite us in purpose and live. In my adulthood, aligning myself with the Democratic party has been the closest fit (notice I didn't say perfect fit).

The reality (sprinkled with a tad bit of opinion) that I live by is this: I love God, but God loves the person sitting next to me too. The compassion that we show, as Christians, the judgment we reserve when others dole it out freely, will be our mark. I believe in the bible, I believe in the law that it represents, but I'd hate for my belief to smother my tolerance for those who don't. I believe that's what Republicans have done, use the bible as a branding iron for the undesirable, the overt sinners; the folks who swear like those are the only words in their vocabulary; the people that drink until their liver hails a cab home; the folks that lay down with just about anyone, even those of those of the same sex" It makes me ill because it's the worse kind of discrimination and oppression possible. The kind of ill that makes you want to blog!! Grrrr.

You see, we focus almost entirely on the reasons that Christ lives in heaven, and forget the reasons why he came to earth to begin with. He came, representing the virtues that we have tried desperately to restore in the world. We've used institutions, relationships, heck, even WARS to force into existence the very things that Christ embodied: loving-kindness, tolerance. He tells us, often, to bury these things in our hearts and let them flourish. These things didn't come out of nowhere. That, most simply, is why I believe and follow Christ while still voting Democrat. Because just as I believe in the bible, I believe in the mercy, grace and compassion that God has commanded us to show others. So, whoever says that Christians are these brainwashed people, sent to earth to judge and ostracize people, might have it all wrong. Or they might have been following a person (imperfect) instead of God.

This is not an ode to my beliefs and certainly not an ode to self-righteousness. Moreover, being a Democrat doesn't explain everything about me. No check mark or ballot box should ever do that. It's just a bit of perspective so you don't think that this Georgia girl is talking out of the side of her neck when she steps up to the mic. (metaphorically speaking).

My Moma (Missouri mother from the Obama campaign) once told me in opposition to my half-baked idea to get fist tattooed on my body, "Jojo, Don't get a first tattoo on your body, you already have one on your brain." Ya know, maybe she is right. So I'll keep living like there is a fist on my brain to fight against the ignorance and the misconceptions that float among us and a fist on my heart to love mightily, those who judge me. I know, I'm weird. I'm just a Georgia that loves her Jesus and her politics.

E= MC Meathead??

First Post of 09!! Whoo!! I pledge that this will be a year chalk full of insight, humor, sarcasm and convoluted ideas expressed in run-on sentences. :-)

Ok, so Remember those meatheads that you hated in high school and college?? The kind that could crush cans with their heads.? The ones that you weren't sure could read, but positive that they could count sets of reps at the gym? Well, in many distant years of retrospect, I've to KINDA come to understand. No, I haven't become a gym buff, but the last couple weeks during which I have gone back to the gym and gone to see Cirque de Soleil (fantastic show!!), I have realized a couple general and specific things about the human mind, body and will.

For the few days that I have worked with a personal trainer, he has been like a life coach. Though he brings me to tears almost regularly, I really have to will myself through all of the stuff that he makes me do. The workout, once my body is physically tired, becomes a test of the will of my mind connecting to the strength of my body. The meat head pumping iron next to me might be experiencing the very same thing (doubtful). The circus act contortionist that bends herself to her limits does her job by bringing her body under the submission of her mind. Once you have experienced the limits of the human body and the will to push past these limits, you are unstoppable. :-)

Sometimes, when I was organizing, I felt the very same way. Organizing flexed, strained and strengthened every muscle in my body. My RFD (Regional Field Director) was kind of like my personal trainer. He didn't care if my muscles were sore. He didn't care if it took everything I had to get to where I was going.....he still expected and demanded it. Seemed harsh at times, but in my post-organizing life, as those muscles heal, it's was all for the good. I didn't always hit it out of the park, but I'm more toned than I have ever been. I've learned how far that I can go. No excuses can be made for not exceeding this height.

I'm not saying that everyone should run out to the gym or join the Circus and exhaust every ounce of physical strength in order to create the change that the world needs. The realization is this: Our bodies are instruments of our will. So if we want to loose weight, change the world, or champion a dear cause, the first task that we must undertake is connecting our ideas, with our will to get them accomplished and force our bodies and minds to rise to the occasions.

The STANDard here? Bring our bodies and wills into alignment. Not the cult-like kind. But truly, align them with the purposes of our lives.

So, to truly walk out this principle in my own life, I've decided to train for a marathon. No. Really. Don't laugh. I think 2009 is the year to set my sights on something higher. Its not about the phyiscal race that I will be running either. It's about the will that it will take to get there. So, join me on this journey of self-discovery.

Lastly, turn your attention to these Good Reads courtesy of Huffington Post:

To the Shock in Awe of Absolutely None.....except MAYBE 5 people.

Read the update from FOX. Is that supposed to be some type of apology!?!? They could have kept that. Geez.

1) I Love it 2) Do you think that they can provide Obama organizer supporter housing?? LOL.

Aside from being humored by the though of a Republican diaspora out of DC and surrounding areas, I think this truly shows up the divisive nature of the party. It's back to an US and them type of thinking that has gotten us so far. Hmmm. White flight anyone? "They" are coming for Inauguration so "We" have to leave! They might as well have pasted the sound bite of Saxby Chambliss calling us the "other folks" on the RNC website. I mean, where, exactly, are these people going?? To a place where Barack Obama won't be the 44th President of the US? I hear Iraq is taking visitors.

Good Strategy Dude. Good Strategy.

The most clear and decisive step in diplomacy for the Bush administration.

Classic HATERation

I bet Ann Coulter would not say this to Michelle's face, because my money is on Michelle.

**Sorry that all of my news clips alluded to how childish, simple-minded and divisive republicans can be. :-(There's always next time.

Personal Notes: 1) Jonae needs a hustle and quick. Idealism does not pay the bills. 2) I wish that we could skip all of the jazz of the next 2 weeks and skip straight to D.C and Inauguration....sigh.