Saturday, November 14, 2009

I just need a compass...

and a willing accomplice...

All my doubts that fill my head are skidding up and down again
Up and down and round again, down and up and round again.

Oh, I've had my chances and I've taken them all.
Just to end up right back here on the floor.
To end up right back here in on the floor.

Love just needs a witness
and a little forgiveness;
And a halo of patience
... and a less sporadic pace

~Pink

Friday, September 11, 2009


I remember

A post about the anniversary of 9/11 was one of the last posts I made on my old blog. It's hard to believe that was 3 years ago, and even harder to believe that 9/11 was eight years ago. So much has changed for me personally in the past 8 years -my job (twice) , my address (twice), my status as an aunt (twice) and my status as a parent ( twice? almost.)

It's amazing though, how much I remember about that day eight years ago.

I remember-
the blue skies that day...that my co-worker Alaina was the one to tell me what was going on...calling Kevin to make sure he was watching TV...receiving calls from friends and family who couldn't believe what had happened and who just wanted to talk to the people they loved...the L&C tower being evacuated....the panic on everyone's face as they looked up at the roofs of buildings....

I remember-
getting out of downtown with Sandy for lunch...trying (and failing) to act normally during a job interview I had that afternoon.. the pinstripe jacket I wore to the interview....the long lines at the gas pumps...Keisha coming over to watch the coverage...the peace rally...how strangers spoke to each other in the elevator the next day... a friend's child's drawing of a plane and a building...

I remember-
how scared I was when I flew 3 weeks later...how 107.5 played the Star-Spangled Banner every morning for a while afterwards....feeling lucky...and then guilty about feeling lucky....Tom Brokaw crying (did that really happen?)...and all the missing posters.
May we never forget. God bless us all.


Thursday, June 04, 2009

Me again

Oh, how I wanted to be a parent, but oh how I did not want to be a parent that lost my identity completely, that put everything about me aside. So I'm glad to be back here. Yeah, it took me 6 months to get back here, but I'm here. And I want to talk about -of all things- politics. ?! Yes, politics.

I have never been very political. OK, to be completely honest, I've been downright apathetic. I have in the past, ashamedly, had the opinion that whether the President was a Democrat or a Republican had little bearing on me personally. I have never felt terribly strongly one way or the other. My knee-jerk reaction was always to say that I am a Democrat, but if pressed, I would have had trouble articulating the reasons why.

During the last election, though, I decided to do some research and try to fully understand my knee-jerk party affiliation. I decided to poll all of my Republican friends and acquaintances to see why they were voting for McCain. This is a sampling of what I got:

"He's a war hero." That alone didn't convince me.
"He's been around forever." Again, not moved.
"He's old. It's his last chance. Obama has plenty of time to be elected. " Seriously?
"I feel bad for him. He's a little old man. He can't even comb his hair." Pity? That's a reason?
"I'm scared of Obama. I think he is a Muslim."

I finally gave up. Oh, I heard a few arguments that were better articulated, but nothing convincing. And the majority of the arguments I heard were similar to the crap above.

Today I tried again. After I read the transcript of Obama's speech in Cairo, I decided to get the opinion of two people I work with that I knew would have some criticism. I was generally interested in hearing their side. I thought, "Maybe I'm missing something." I am, admittedly, not a student of politics. Maybe I could learn something, I foolishly thought.

I listened to them bash the speech and Obama for a few minutes. Then I asked, ,"So you watched the speech?" They hadn't. "Oh, well I didn't watch it either. I read the transcript. Did you read the transcript?" They hadn't.

AARRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH

They said they didn't like the way "things feel." They thought that Obama had deep seated roots in Islam. That he was secretly a Muslim. They scoffed at his use of "assalaamu alaykum." They snorted at the fact that he quoted from the Koran, and said he probably didn't quote from the Bible. ( He did.) They talked about how he once said that that America wasn't a Christian nation. They really went on about that one. I don't know if he said it or not. Maybe he did. But are we? As much as we might want to be, are we? Are we really? Yes, somewhere between 70-80% of Amercians say they are Christians. But are 70-80% of the people you come in contact with every day Christians? Look around. Does it look like a Christian nation to you? Do I want the leader of our country to be a Christian? Sure. But can you or I ever really be sure if they really are?

Anyway, I was disappointed again. They spew so much criticisim of Obama and the people who voted for him. They say those people are stupid, and then give stupid reasons like the ones I've listed here.

Maybe we're all stupid.

O.K. this post has run out of steam.

More later. Hopefully not six months later, but later.