HIllary to McCain, really?

What would you think about someone who says to you: "I am really interested in buying a roomy, fuel efficient car." Then this friend proceeds to tell you a story of how they went to the Toyota dealer to see the Camry Hybrid. However, when they got there, the dealer said that the Camry Hybrid is on back-order for 6 months. They didn't know what else to do so they bought this HUMMER!"

Naturally, you would look at your friend/acquaintance like he/she was crazy!!! You would challenge them on their commitment to getting a roomy, fuel efficient car, wouldn't you? (well, maybe you wouldn't question the "roomy" part).. You might even ask, why didn't you go over to the Honda dealership?

This is how I feel when I hear about people who say that they were HUGE Hillary Clinton supporters and now support McHummer.. oops, I mean, McCain. I am forced to ask "REALLY?" Hillary and Obama are so closely aligned on so many of the issues that I can't imagine how you can make the philosophical/political leap from her to McCain??? Affinity! Well, if that is the case then it is racial affinity because Palin was not on the ticket when most of these folks made the leap. And, come on, Palin is going to sway your vote because she is a woman?! She is more anti-woman than any man I know.. Shit, she is to women what Clarence Thomas is to African Americans. And, while I am thrilled and excited about Obama's candidacy, I would never vote blindly for an African American. Imagine if Bigger-oops, I mean Clarence was on the Republican ticket running against Hillary and whoever?! I WOULD NEVER vote for that clown!

Come on, y'all, if you made the "leap" from Hillary to McCain, please pull out your mirrors and take a long look in it and try to search your soul... I am not calling you a racist.. I'll let you figure that out for yourself!!

Damn, I said I wasn't going to talk politics on this blog.. Oh well, first and last time.. I promise..

Ready, set, go....

Ok.. I can't pretend I am going to die in 1 year - I just can't! I am too afraid to put that kind of thought/energy/vibe out there in the universe (maybe it'll be heard too literally and I have too much to live for....). I know... I know... I KNOW.. it is silly. Hey, I didn't know that about myself but it is what it is.. So, I am going to take a little twist on this theme- I am going to act as if I am only going to be here in America/working for the next year and then I am gone - checked out, moved on - living the island life never to be heard from again... LOST BABY LOST..

I have given this thing a lot of thought over this past weekend. Well, as much thought as "I" can give something (consciously)... My wife has been tremendously helpful.. There are a couple of things I know that I want to do (have wanted to do for quite some time). Here is the preliminary list:

1) Start a school

2) Write Book for African American boys

3) Get my children's book illustrated and published

4) Golf project

5) Take immaculate care of myself

6) learn an instrument (guitar)

7) Shoot even par..

Whoa..

The funny thing is that imposing this kind of urgency on myself and my life makes me realize how deeply my disregard for the passage of time runs inside of me.. Also, it has caused me to look in the mirror and face the fact that I don't take myself seriously enough (always the clown). It is OK to have an ego and a little pride!! ( not the same as ego-centric and prideful). Hmmm. Note, that these goals have to do with ME and me alone (I feel pretty good and comfortable with the other "stuff" - fatherhood, being a husband, friend, son, brother, uncle, etc. ) - I will keep working on that important stuff since, ultimately, that is what I care most about and I feel like that is what I will be judged upon. However, folks in my life have challenged me to do things for myself for once..

So it begins quietly....

What would you do if you only had 1 year left to live?

I don't know if you find this question as interesting as I do... I guess, for some, it might drum up the same feelings as the question: "how would you live if you had no fear?" For others, it might not be interesting at all because it would simply be a recipe to spend every dime, cheat on their spouse, run with the bulls, climb a mountain, etc.

No matter, someone posed that question to me earlier today and after I got past the morbid aspects of this question and the fear of "putting the thought out in the universe," I thought about what it would mean and what an interesting exercise this might be. Would this push me to have a sense of urgency about some of my dreams? Would this push me to have a sense of urgency about my relationships? Would this make me say and do things I would not do or say if I believe I have a lifetime to take care of business? Would this sense of urgency cause my tolerance for BS to dwindle to 0? Would I try to take immaculate care of myself? Would I try to make up for last time and would I become much more conscious of the passage of time?

OR.... would I just let time pass as it has- taking each moment as it comes without connecting one moment to the next?

I think I want to engage in this exercise and I'd like to document the experience here.. It is late and I am tired. However, tonight, I am going to think about the "ground rules" for this exercise and I am going to begin tommorow, 9/13/08.

Going back to the farm

Congrats mom & dad!!

How do we get this train back on track???

I don’t have one friend (and I have a lot of friends) who is not deeply committed to making a difference in our society today! Pick the issue – hunger, poverty, education, environment, racism, sexism, homophobia, homelessness, disease, AIDS, orphaned children, animal rights, etc… We are all interested in doing something. Unfortunately for us, we grew up in the shadow of BABY BOOMERS and Civil Rights folks who are obviously going to take every baton with them to their graves. I CAN’T WAIT TO start my tee-shirt company so I can sell shirts that say something like “THE BABY BOOM WAS A BUST!!” – I am still working on the language but you get the gist J . I say it is unfortunate for us because a lot of us grew up listening to stories of all of the work that they put into making change and saw many things go backwards. At the same time, they wanted us to WAIT for everything (you know… 40 is the new 20, etc.) and they didn’t want us to go through what they went through.. So, a lot of us followed the rules and are sitting here as adults wondering how we could have left these issues to be addressed by the “me” generation.. Yikes, I have such a huge blind spot with respect to that generation that I am letting it affect my ability to stay ‘on point’ – sorry for the digression.

Anyway, I am struggling to find a way to get us all together and working effectively towards our collective end – a safe and equitable society where everyone is valued and no one falls through the cracks!! The one thing we always hear is that we would like to do something but we just don’t know what to do…. By the way, we can’t look to politicians and our so-called leaders… This has to start with us.. The dirty little secret in this country is that most folks have more in common with each other than they do with any of the people we call leaders. We often find ourselves distracted by arbitrary differences like race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, geography, etc. This is no accident – what if the country woke up out of its collective slumber and recognized that 98% are fighting over 2 % of the crumbs??? – there would be mayhem and madness!!. Or would there be?? EVERY DAY, something happens that should be driving the majority of us out into the streets ready to burn this mf down! We can start with fighting a meaningless war - a war where most of us CHOOSE to ignore how many people we are killing every day and focus on its cost (and, somehow, despite Mr. Cheney’s ulterior motive behind this war, we are sitting by watching gas prices soar over $4 per gallon). We should be livid that we are able to fund this war but we can’t find $$$ to educate our children (oh, that’s right, if we educated everyone equitably, who would fight our wars??). We should be freaked out by the fact that there are still homeless people and countless empty homes. We should be terrified that jobs are disappearing and people are losing their homes in record numbers. Is this the perfect storm that they talk about before the end of an empire?? What about global warming? We should be sick to our stomachs (well, we are but you know what I mean…) that we are sitting by and idly watching our planet heat up because of our neglect – we can change this and we are sitting on our hands (screw the debate about whether we are impacting the earth negatively – either side you come out on- you can’t conclude that we shouldn’t change our behavior)..
The list is seemingly endless.. WE can change the direction of this story.. I know we can but it is going to take all of us- seriously!! I am going to start blogging about my ideas and the ideas of my friends – I would love to hear what you think about how we can get together and affect real change. (don’t get me started on how folks like Gates could make very real change if they were so moved….. ).

Sorry to rant.. I promise to go back to more coherent posts soon.

Stacked over ball

Man, it is funny how the universe works.. I have been having more breakthroughs with respect to my golf swing ever since we had a baby and I can't get out and play.. This morning, at the range, I had another epiphany- I need to feel like I am stacked over the ball at contact - this felt great and allowed me to swing out after impact (I AM DYING TO GET ON THE COURSE).

Swinging against the left side

Alright... Alright... I should have bought an impact bag a loooooooooooonnnnnnnnng time ago.. Jeez, I don't think I ever understood what it meant to swing into the left side before. Yesterday, I was working on 2 things at the driving range when I got a strange sensation (for me, at least), I felt what it was like to "release" the club.. I was working on feeling like my right hand was pressing against my left thumb on the take away (to help "width" of the backswing) and I was working on shortening my backswing with the sensation that my club was dropping as a first move.. I accidentally started to swing into my left side and the ball started making a different sound at impact - a powerful "thud" and it felt like my club was going to fly out of my hands.. WOW.. I need to go back to the range a few times before I can fully process it ... I will keep you POSTED..