Poem for Easter April 5, 2007

My friend and biz partner Mike turned me on to Walt Whitman’s “Song of the Open Road.” I’ve put some excerpts pasted it below. Go here to see the full version.

Whitman’s voice seems to me to be constantly that of someone who just finished a 50 mile bike ride on a beautiful spring day after a great sleep, drinks up from a delicious mountain stream, takes a deep breath of clear mountain air, and then sings out his exultation of the universe. In other words, our best selves. Who we should strive to be regularly.

I like this poem particularly for Easter. Walt here is seeing the God in all things, how all things are connected together, and the beauty of that connection. Inhaling that connection, loving all of it, he urges us to boldly head out to be our best selves, to be the Christ within each of us, and live our lives to the fullest.

A great message as we celebrate the Spring, Christ, and re-birth. Enjoy.

Or as Whitman would say, “ENJOY! ENJOY! ENJOY!“

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Song of the Open Road

1
AFOOT and light-hearted I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune,
Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing,
Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms,
Strong and content I travel the open road.

The earth, that is sufficient,
I do not want the constellations any nearer,
I know they are very well where they are,
I know they suffice for those who belong to them.

Obama The Inevitable April 4, 2007

I’m trying to figure out which one of these images best captures Hillary’s expression when she learned the news today that Barack has raised $25M in Q107, almost equal to her record-setting $26M. Why would she be so shocked? The Fix on Washingtonpost.com explains:

One of Clinton’s keys to the nomination all along has been the idea that no candidate will be able to compete with her financially. That perception is now debunked . . .  the reality is that Obama’s number has knocked out one of the main pillars of the Clinton “inevitability” argument.

Another great step forward for the Obama campaign. Hillary should give up. Here we go!

Annie in Baltimore March 29, 2007

Our family and a bunch of Frederick other families went to the “big city” of Baltimore on Sunday night to see Annie.

It was awesome. Great musicals are magical experiences. And Evie and Lucie had memorized the soundtrack through the DVD and CD. And there eyes were huge throughout.

An experience like that at their age leaves a mark.

Gig at Church March 20, 2007

I sang and played “Shine a Light” by the Rolling Stones at church this weekend. I was on the guitar and Dave, who is our fantastic church pianst, was on the keyboard. It went very well and everyone was kindly very enthusiastic.

Though I of course didn’t do it as well as Mick, here he is doing the song:

It Takes Respect March 14, 2007

Mayan leaders in Guatemala are going to cleanse the spirit of one of their temples following Presdient Bush’s recent visit there. Great. Yet another example of great feeling toward the U.S.

Is this deserved? Is this a fair gesture toward not just the President but our country? It doesn’t really matter. The fact is, it is the attitude of more and more people around the world.

There’s resentment towards our political and economic preeminence in the world. And there is legitimate resentment towards our heavy-handed, arrogant approach to world affairs.

So what’s the solution? The right set of policies? Certain alliances? Proper diplomatic strategy?

David Ignatius writes in the Washington Post today about “Second Chance,” a book by Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security adviser under Carter. In it, he says that it really isn’t about policies or strategies. Rather so much can be done just through the behavior of our presidency and how we present ourselves to the rest of the world.

More than anything, he argues, the rest of the world is striving for dignity, for respect. If our materially-crazed nation continues to run around the globe running over economies and the environment, invading sovereign nations with no respect for other countries, we will continue to be more and more despised. But if we can more display our own humanity, our humility, our own similarity to all the other people’s of the world, we can earn their respect and their friendship. And the chief exporter of this image of who we are sits with the presidency.

It is all about how the presidency provides an opportunity for much more than just politics and policy, but a platform for moral leadership. And Ignatius concludes that of course my man, Barack Obama, is the person best suited to take up Brzezinski’s call and restore our standing in the world. Let’s hope it happens!

Who Leads Like This? No one. March 6, 2007

On Sunday Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton both appeared in Selma, AL to mark the anniversary of the famed civil rights march there. Most of the press was around the hype of the simeltaneous apperance, and not about the substance of their visits.

The substance, however, revealed how Obama is truly a remarkable leader, none like I’ve ever seen before. Here is an excerpt from his speech:

One of the signature aspects of the civil rights movement was the degree of discipline and fortitude that was instilled in all the people who participated. Imagine young people, 16, 17, 20, 21, backs straight, eyes clear, suit and tie, sitting down at a lunch counter knowing somebody is going to spill milk on you but you have the discipline to understand that you are not going to retaliate because in showing the world how disciplined we were as a people, we were able to win over the conscience of the nation. I can’t say for certain that we have instilled that same sense of moral clarity and purpose in this generation. Bishop, sometimes I feel like we’ve lost it a little bit.

I’m fighting to make sure that our schools are adequately funded all across the country. With the inequities of relying on property taxes and people who are born in wealthy districts getting better schools than folks born in poor districts and that’s now how it’s supposed to be. That’s not the American way. but I’ll tell you what — even as I fight on behalf of more education funding, more equity, I have to also say that , if parents don’t turn off the television set when the child comes home from school and make sure they sit down and do their homework and go talk to the teachers and find out how they’re doing, and if we don’t start instilling a sense in our young children that there is nothing to be ashamed about in educational achievement, I don’t know who taught them that reading and writing and conjugating your verbs was something white.

Who leads like this? Who actually tells people like it is? Who actually points out voters shortcomings, and then challenges them about how they (and not government) can make things better? (The example here is specific to the black community but this is his approach across the board).

Really no one. No one that I’m aware of on either party. And policies aside, I’d support Obama on this simple courage and sincerity alone. (Plus I like his  policies).

Why does our federal government have to be just about making promises to voters and then wrestling in DC to bring back the most loot? It does not, but that’s what it has evolved to. In the presidency there is more potential impact in moral leadership than there is legislative or executive actions. But it takes a courageous, principled, and inspired person to make it happen. And I think we’ve found one!

Driving Ourselves Crazy March 5, 2007

There was a good editorial in the Washington Post today about American life by Susan Coll. She talks about the stresses she and her family endures in the college admissions process specifically and in the competitiveness of upper middle class life in general. She says:

we glide right over the structural changes in society that have created a new culture of child-rearing, and some of the ways we respond are not entirely within our control. In other words, there may be something in the water supply that is turning us into nuts.

How much hovering does it take to qualify as a helicopter parent, and how many extracurriculars does it take to land you in the realm of the clinically extreme? It seems that at least part of the answer has to do with sprawl. Our suburban existence and our car-centric culture means that a disproportionate amount of time and energy is devoted to each activity: The joy of watching your kid kick a soccer ball is eclipsed by the dread of an I-270 commute to the Germantown SoccerPlex; the drum lesson becomes a logistical nightmare of rush-hour traffic and no place to park. And then, when lacrosse practice runs late, the already fragile scaffolding collapses as someone is stranded at a flute lesson, and dinner becomes an afterthought around the time that stomachs begin to growl.

Modern life whizzes by so fast. And our blind faith in technological and economic progress makes it hard for us to question or even perceive the changes that roll by.

But what do we really want out of life? And how do the patterns of modern life, the “structural changes” deny us from what we really want? So much is available to us in our incredibly prosperous society. The challenge is to decide to do less when prevailing culture always insists on doing more.

There is “something in the water” in my mind. The upper-middle class status quo  in modern America is nuts. The lives that that status quo expects one are exhausting and lame. The strain comes from the high financial achievement that is expected. And, worst of all, most participants in it all don’t even realize how nuts it all is.

Somehow we need to realize how well we can all live with less, and with focusing our resources on collective goods instead of private ones.  We’d be left with a lot more time and energy left for what really matters.

Caleb Stine & Roots February 26, 2007

We were back at Frederick Cellars last night for more music. This time it was Caleb Stine, a roots rock artist from Baltimore. We’ve been on such a roll seeing music around Frederick but it still continues. Caleb was awesome. More living proof that great music is everywhere and has really nothing to do with what is at the top of the charts.

Caleb plays what I think is my favorite sort of music right now. Some sort of mix of old-time country and folk that people like to call “roots.” He referred to his Mt. Rushmore of roots rock which he sees as Woody Gutherie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, and Louis Armstrong.

Caleb is a super nice guy and mixed lots of conversation in with his music. Our humanity is what he’s looking to explore in his music, and he achieves it very well. Here’s one of the songs that he played, “Devil”:

It is such a blessing to have our little city bringing in such great music. And it is such a treasure for all of us to have such great musicians around such as Caleb. I wish him the best: I’d imagine that it is a tough road to hoe. Somehow we need to better connect listeners with musicians, and instead of a few mega-stars have many, many more great musicians making a good living doing what they do. Let’s hope that’s what Qloud achieves.

In the meantime, I look forward to seeing him again. And he’s inspired me to learn some other old songs: “This Little Light of Mine,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and “I’ll Fly Away.”

Beginning of a Great New Day for America February 10, 2007

Barack Obama announced his campaign for Presidency today from Springfield, IL.

I watched the speech with Kita at the gym. Man, was it inspiring in the way no other Presidential candidate or political leader of any sort has ever been! He has Reagan or Clinton’s gift for oratory, but that is further coupled with deep credibility, which makes you want to march forward with and for him.

In particular, I liked this about his speech:

All of us know what those challenges are today - a war with no end, a dependence on oil that threatens our future, schools where too many children aren’t learning, and families struggling paycheck to paycheck despite working as hard as they can. We know the challenges. We’ve heard them. We’ve talked about them for years.

What’s stopped us from meeting these challenges is not the absence of sound policies and sensible plans. What’s stopped us is the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics - the ease with which we’re distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems.

The issue with government is far beyond just policy today, though most politicians really only ever talk about policy. The issue is less about what government does, but how it does it. Obama is one of the first to really address that. He would be the first to say that many leaders on both sides of the aisle are smart and reasonable. But it is because of how we go about our process of governing that citizens are so dissatisfied and our country remains so far below its potential.

I’m eager to participate. His candidacy could really change America for the better.

What if real life were a video game? February 9, 2007

 Funny video to music from The Go! Team