New in Minnesota...

It seems to me that each generation is more progressive than the last. In my mother's youth, she had non-white friends at school or through sports, but it was understood that she would not bring them to her suburban Philadelphia home. Not spoken, maybe, but understood. I, on the other hand, had kids of color at my birthday parties before I was old enough to invite them myself. Growing up in the city meant always having non-white friends. When I dated a boy of color, however, that was a little different story. It was "OK," but not exactly applauded. Today, we have progressed even further: my daughter's dates have been Jewish, Latino, black and white. Her friends could hardly care less. Racial & cultural differences are interesting, not unusual.

I was intrigued a few months ago when a friend emailed to say that another friend was starting up a group for multiracial families - since that does describe both my immediate and extended family!

MOSAIC - multi-cultural off-spring and interracial couples - got started with about 8 couples/families, and is steadily growing! I think it's a cool idea. Next weekend the group gathers again both for play and for learning - children play (supervised) while the adults gather for discussion.

The mission is twofold - for support and for socializing. Research shows that it's important for mixed kids to hang out with other children like them, so this gives kids a venue through which to see their families as the norm! Ditto for the adults - a place to relax & enjoy the company of other couples with similar experiences. (Heaven knows Minnesotans can be a pretty homogenous lot - though Minneapolis is home to a very interesting mix of folks!)

Check it out: http://www.mosaicmn.com/

Some day, I expect that my daughter will create her own mixed family. Maybe she won't need it, but I hope there's a group like this around for her.

New Perspective

New addition to the blogroll today - Riverbend's "Baghdad Burning". I just received her book from my brother for my birthday, and then today (before I even had a chance to look up her blog) I came across it on another site. The stars align! A first-hand perspective on the war in Iraq - not something I would normally be devoting a lot of space here too, but it's just in my face this week, and I'm intrigued! Blessedly, this blog is not just news - recent posts are very funny!

It's easy to be overwhelmed by the war and just tune out... until a relative or friend gets called up & it gets personal...

Saw a great political button the other day: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

Yes, these concepts connect somehow... I think when it comes to the war, it's true that I'm not outraged BECAUSE I'm not paying attention. I tune it out. I have the excuse that my work is difficult and my students take most of my energy - and my daughter gets the rest - so I don't have much left with which to worry about how America is destroying itself as it destroys Iraq...

Lame but true. Which begs the question: to what extent is this true of much of our generation?

X Runs the Schools

How cool is this?

The new superintendent of schools for St Paul is only 36! And the president of the St Paul teachers' union is in her 30's as well. Interesting times! :)

Check it out: http://www.startribune.com/1592/story/345465.html

It's fun to have a younger person in a position of authority with people significantly older than she is - not the traditional "put in your time" hierarchy model. It will be interesting to see how everyone responds to her!

Gen X in charge - woo hoo!

Feeling my age!

Holy cow - no better way to feel every minute of 38 years old than visit colleges with my KID! We did the whirlwind college tour of DC and PA last week - Penn, Georgetown, GW, Howard... it was interesting, but strange to be the parent in that scenario.

One entertaining way to look at it: I'll be an empty-nester before I'm 40! Looking at it that way, I don't feel so old...

Also cool - got to celebrate my b-day with extended family on the big day, and got to celebrate with my two April b-day friends in Washington whom I have not seen in person for our b-days in years. Will continue the celebrations this weekend with friends at home, so it's all good. 38 doesn't suck too much. :)

I'm a Gr'up...

This idea has been brewing in the back of my mind, but now is front & center in mainstream media! Check it out - a new article from New York magazine (a favorite of mine) about Gen X as adults.

One interesting thought from the article: "If being a Grup [contraction for grown-up] means being 35, and having a job, and using a messenger bag instead of a briefcase, and staying out too late too often, and owning more pairs of sneakers (eleven) than suits (one), and downloading a Hot Hot Heat song from iTunes because it was on a playlist titled “Saturday Errands,” and generally being uneasy and slightly confused about just what it means to be an adult in these modern times—in short, if it means living your life in fundamentally the same way that you did when you were, say, 22—then, let’s face it, I’m a Grup."

I can relate. I may not stay out "too" late or wear sneakers, but I use a pink shoulder bag instead of a briefcase and believe I am still allowed to have fun at a dance club even though I'm over 30. I think the confusion they refer to comes from forging a new path - it's always harder to make our own way than to follow our parents. I do not live the way my mom did at this age - and that's a conscious choice.

It's nice to see that I have a lot of company! :)

Quotes for April

Some great quotes I came across today (thanks bcbutterfly!)...

"I've learned there are troubles of more than one kind.

Some come from ahead and some come from behind.

But I've bought a big bat, I'm all ready you see.

Now my troubles are going to have troubles with me."

- Dr. Seuss

"Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed.
Maybe they're supposed to run wild
until they find someone -- just as wild -- to run with."
- SatC

"Life doesn't have to be perfect in order to be wonderful."
- Annette Funicello

The big April Fool's joke today is that it's daylight savings - the first Saturday of my spring break & we lose an hour! Not so funny! But that's OK because I'm on break - I don't have to get up early anyway! :)

Three Very Interesting Weeks...

So the logic board fritzed out on my laptop, and for reasons I will never understand it took Apple over 2 weeks to find a logic board to put in it, after which it took about a day & a half to repair & return it. I finally have it back - but going without it was a lifestyle change in itself! Even though I have another computer at home & at work, it was still really frustrating...

...which I know is really pathetic.

And then my car has also been in the shop for 3 weeks - the SAME 3 weeks, coincidentally - so that's been an adventure. I was eventually able to go up & get a bunch of stuff I didn't think to grab before they towed it away, and that helped. But even though I have my old car to drive, it's not the same! I want my car back! Hopefully, it will be done tomorrow...

The first two weeks, I actually did OK. I waited and got on with other things. But that was long enough. The third week has just been nothing but a pain.

Yes, the experience has made me thankful for my many blessings, blah blah blah... but it has mostly made me thankful for insurance and for God. This has been a lesson in patience that I know I sorely needed. So OK, I get it. I'm working on it. I promise.

Can I have my car back now???????

Blessings on a Bad Day

Amazing how a day of problems can be, in retrospect, a day of blessings! Monday I started the day (Monday, remember) waking up to my cell phone ringing - which it shouldn't have been not only because sane people don't call each other at 6am, but also because I usually keep it on vibrate to avoid such problems! BUT I realized as I woke up that I had no power - and no alarm - and it was already 6am so I was thankful for the wake-up after all! :)

Then out to drive to work in a snowstorm - yuck - but made it safely, so thankful for that! Only about 1/4 of the students came to school, so although my plans for the week were messed up (grr) it was a mellow & enjoyable day, so that was nice too. Got a lot of work done - thankful again.

Driving home through the ice & snow to pick up my daughter, my car spun out on the freeway & slammed into the concrete median - smashed up the car pretty badly - but I'm mostly fine, I have good insurance, AAA, a great mom who will go pick up my kid when I can't, and another car to use while this one's in the shop, so I'm again feeling blessed & thankful.

And one more little blessing: my laptop is in the shop - huge annoyance - but it wasn't in the car to get thrown around the back seat like the folders in my bag!

Life is good! :)

CRASH

OK, before the results are revealed, I want to be on the record... Crash is the movie that SHOULD win the Oscar, and whether or not it does, I still think it's the real groundbreaking movie this year.

Rent it!

If You're Not...

A colleague once said to me:

“If you’re not liberal when you’re young, you have no heart. But if you’re not conservative when you’re older…”

“You have no money?” I guessed.

“You have no brains,” he replied.

Ha.

Juxtaposition

I was struck this morning by a one-two reality punch.

First, George Will’s column about why conservatives are happier than liberals – for the first time EVER, I agreed with the whole thing. I usually think he’s full of it, but in this case I thought he was right on – he says conservatives have lower expectations, so they are not often disappointed. Makes sense. Even his requisite FDR attack was not completely unreasonable…

But then I turned to Nick Coleman’s local column, and his reminder of why we can’t leave people – little children in particular – to their bootstraps was like a slap in my momentarily complacent face. The sate of MN has cut $61 million in child-care spending – who knew we ever spent that much in the first place?!! Imagine for a minute how many pre-schools can be run on $61 million a year… and are now closed.

I suspect that most folks would agree that being liberal with children & conservative with adults is fair – and yet policy never quite gets there.

Someday?

Read the columns:
WILL
COLEMAN

Top Jobs?

According to Fast Company magazine, the "top jobs" for 2006 are those that combine high demand, high salary & education - and are appealing to an educated person, so in putting together the list they focused on business, professional, and creative fields. See what you think:

• Lawyer
• Personal financial advisor
• Sales manager
• Management analyst
• Computer and information systems manager
• Financial manager
• Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agent
• Marketing manager
• Computer software engineer
• Chiropractor
• Postsecondary education administrator
• Medical scientist
• Market research analyst
• Dentist
• Medical and health services manager
• Producers and directors
• Financial analyst
• Wholesale and manufacturing sales representative
• Engineering manager
• Advertising and promotions manager
• Compensation and benefits manager
• Clinical, counseling, and school psychologist
• Real estate sales agent
• Training and development manager
• Public relations manager

Check out the whole article at: http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2006/01/top-jobs-main.html

A lot of health care & management! Where's the creativity? Good thing I'm not job-hunting because none of them look interesting to me... and I don't think they would look interesting to my daughter, either.

It's fascinating looking at the world through the eyes of a 17-year-old... what she considers for college majors & careers is only what she enjoys - everything is potential! No worries about making a living or being successful - just figuring out what she loves. What an amazing place to be in life! (Remember when? :)

College Hunting

OK, this is a million miles away from most Gen X minds, but because my daughter happens to be a high school junior, I’ve got colleges on the brain! And because her SAT scores were good (yea! :) there are many to choose from. It’s dizzying.

I just spent over an hour on college websites this morning…

Granted, colleges didn’t have websites in the ‘80’s. But even if they had, I doubt I would have spent much time pouring over them. I had a big box of mail from colleges, much of which I don’t recall reading at all. I knew what I wanted.

I’m not sure why I was so dead-set on attending the University of MN myself – I didn’t even apply anywhere else. (Maybe because they accepted me in my junior year so that allowed me to float through my senior year without concern for my GPA? Nah…) I do remember looking through the course catalog – which at the U was a novel-size book – and drooling over the extensive History and interesting Journalism offerings.

But my daughter is approaching it on another level entirely! Our spring break will be spent visiting schools in DC and Philly – and I anticipate trips this summer and next fall as well. She's looking everywhere from Boston to LA. Because she’s not so sure what she wants, the culture of the place – how it feels to be there – will be important for her.

It’s going to be an interesting year!

Smile!

X Perspective got its first link! Io Palmer, from Folwell Urban Initiatives, has been working w/ our students at PHHS and some of their work is one Northside Stories site – cool stuff! Also check out some of our students with Teens Rock the Mic at the Juno Collective site. Much to be proud of!

Kisses!

Quick - what was your most memorable kiss?

A much more interesting question, I think, than what's the most memorable Hollywood kiss? (Check out answers to that one at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11257793/ - Spiderman or Casablanca or...)

To the first?

8th grade making out with Mario at CTC - with braces, of course... around '94 with Mark in the back entryway of my building as he wasn't leaving... first kiss with Matt overlooking the nighttime city skyline... in high school making out in a movie when suddenly the whole theater goes silent & we realize we just missed the tragic death scene...

Happy Valentines Day!

Let's Give 'Em Something to Talk About

Today's column by David Brooks of the NY Times makes the interesting point that what he calls "Islamists" (as distiguished from Muslims - apparently this is a new label for fundamentalists) don't just have different ideas than we do, they have a different realtionship to ideas. They are opposed to freedom of thought, not just freedom of speech. Scary!

Scarier, to me, is the mention that many of these radical leaders were "educated in the West" but recoiled from a society they found not just distasteful, but shocking. So these are not ignorant people - they are educated & understand our way of life - and they loathe it.

Try to walk a mile in those shoes!

Incidentally, I was amused that you can't read Brooks' column on line at NYTimes w/o paying a fee, but you can read it on the STrib's website, no problem. Lucky for us! :) Check it out!

What Do You REALLY Think?

So it turns out that what we THINK we think and what we REALLY think are not always the same! Our conscious and unconscious opinions are not as much the same as we would like… Malcolm Gladwell got into this in his book “Blink”, and Project Implict, a joint effort of Harvard University, U of Virginia and the U of Washington, is currently conducting research on the topic.

To check it out – and even participate – go to:
https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/research/

They have 100 different quizzes, assigned randomly. I just took a quiz on attitudes toward corporations & no-profits, and came out with an implicit attitude leaning toward corporations - not what you might expect if you know me.

Gladwell’s book has an association quiz on race that’s really interesting, too. Even non-white people (Gladwell included) tended to have more positive views of whites than blacks.

Oh, the power of modern media!

Something Other Than the SOTU

This morning on NPR I was surprised to hear a commentator say it was a shame the Red Lake school shooter was a coward & killed himself… hello? Why is that a shame – because we can't get an eye for an eye? We want to get him back, and can’t do that because he already took care of it for us?

I was thinking that, if God is a just God, murderers will spend eternity as servants of their victims. How cool would that be?

Great bumper sticker from www.gaialovegraffiti.com: "Any Fool can Start a War… Peace takes Leadership" This is more true in middle school than anywhere! :)

What Do Gen X Workers Want?

Fortune mag asks the question & comes up with some interesting info – including some from a book called The NeXt Revolution. Check out the article: http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/17/news/companies/bestcos_genx/index.htm?cnn=yes

I found the stats on workplace turnover & priorities interesting…
* 77% of Gen X poll respondents say they'd quit in a minute if offered "increased intellectual stimulation" at a different company
* 51% would quit for the chance to telecommute
* 61% of Gen X women would leave their current jobs if they were offered more flexible hours elsewhere
* The average employee in his or her late twenties has already switched jobs five or six times.

So one stereotype of us that seems to bear out is that we’re not “company men” in the traditionalist sense – whereas my dad worked for one firm (through three mergers) for over 20 years. Not too common these days!

The poll also said that the top three things Gen X respondents want in a job are:
- positive relationships with colleagues,
- interesting work,
- continuous opportunities for learning.

True?

Controversy

“Generation X” turns out to be a controversial term! Apparently, some people think of “Gen X” as the equivalent of “slacker” – which few of us are, so I admit that is annoying.

And it may or may not coincide with the “baby bust” years, which according to some sources are not ’64-77, as is commonly cited, but closer to ’58-68. Hmmm. (You’d think that was just a matter of statistics… why the disagreement?) To be honest, I always thought that “Gen X” and “Baby Bust” were different labels for the same thing – but not so! (Amazing what you can learn on the Internet…)

I agree with a friend who commented – because she doesn’t like the Gen X label – that you just can’t lump her in a group w/ other people by age, because who we have things in common with is not always age-related! True.

Maybe we just have to acknowledge that all the labels & generalizations are for the media, and not for us!

More on X

I am teaching the work of Malcolm X for the first time – and I’m intrigued. The real man is quite different from the image I’ve had. For some reason, it seems that Martin Luther King has always been presented as the good guy and Malcolm X as the bad guy, (did you have that idea, too?) even though X was the one who was faithful to his wife and religion, didn’t drink, modeled a positive lifestyle, and really tried to do the right thing. (After he got out of prison, of course.) His thinking also evolved a lot during his years as an activist, and many of his positions changed as he traveled and learned.

What do we, commonly called Generation X, have in common with him?

Malcolm was born Malcolm Little, but abandoned his last name when he learned that most slaves had their master’s last names. I bring him up because our generation shares a name with him – a somewhat random, but still interesting, connection….

Generation XIII

I used to think that Gen X referred to us being the tenth generation in America, but it turns out we are really the 13th. Who knew?

MLK Day

As we pause to remember the man who changed America… oh wait, most people are working today. Other than teachers & postal workers, who gets MLK Day off anymore?

Bigger question: who will be our generation's MLK?

A Better Way to Change the World?

Fast Company's "Social Capitalist Awards 2006" identifies 25 Entrepreneurs Who Are Changing the World - a nod to companies & groups who are not just trying to make a difference, but succeeding. Interesting list! The magazine lauds them for: " a better way to do good... using the disciplines of the corporate world to tackle daunting social problems."

Check it out: http://www.fastcompany.com/social/

Question Your Work

I have read that Gen X is more likely than its predecessors to work just for the income rather than insisting on finding joy (or at least satisfaction) at work. I don’t believe it. I would agree that we expect a well-rounded life and are more likely to leave at 5pm for friends or family, but I don’t see the “it’s just a job” mind-set in people I know. My Gen X friends are proud of their professional accomplishments!

I remember my dad (a traditionalist – not a boomer) explaining that he didn’t expect to love his work, because work was what he did so that he could do what he loved outside of work. (And he had a great, successful career!) I didn’t buy it. I still think if you’re going to put that many hours into something, you had better love it.

Check out Suzy Welch’s questions (thanks Oprah mag 9-05) for determining the best job for you:

1. Does this job allow me to work with “my people” – individuals who share my sensibilities about life – or do I have to put on a persona to get through the day?
2. Does this job challenge, stretch, change, and otherwise make me smarter – or does it leave my brain in neutral?
3. Does this job, because of the company’s brand or my level of responsibility, open the door to future opportunities?
4. Does this job represent a considerable compromise for the sake of my family, and if so, do I sincerely accept that deal with all of its consequences?
5. Does this job – the stuff I actually do day-to-day – touch my heart and feed my soul in meaningful ways?

For me, these questions are affirming that although my job is really frustrating at times, I do love it and it’s perfect for me. ¿Y tu?

Who’s Afraid of Illegal Immigrants?

Does it occur to anyone that the reason people enter the US illegally is because we make legal entrance so darn difficult? And why is that, anyway? This country has not only survived many massive waves of immigration, but thrived precisely because of it – and yet the zenophobes howl that we should keep more people out. Why?

So now the state of Minnesota (of all places) is in a tizzy about how much illegal immigrants are costing us. And Congress is considering making it a crime to give aid at the border. Imagine: a group of conservative Christians making the Good Samaritan a criminal.

Lord have mercy on us all.

Not Thinking about Poverty

I just figured out that one reason my winter break (from teaching) has been so relaxing is that I have not had to deal with poverty in almost two weeks. I – and pretty much everyone around me – have been comfortable. My daily work life is immersed in trying to mitigate the effects of poverty on my students, (and in figuring out the extent to which the schools can even do that,) punctuated by dealing with the crises that arise, often linked to poverty and the cultures of generational poverty.

It’s exhausting. I believe in fighting the good fight, but it’s been pretty great to have a break.

We're Sick of Talking about Abortion...

You see "abortion" in the title and want to scroll right on by. We all know what we believe, what we want to see happen in this country, and what we are personally willing to do about it. (If Alito is confirmed, this apathy will be part of the reason!) But here's a twist to consider:

From Andrew Sullivan (http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php 1-5-06)
"We do well to remember that banning something doesn't stop people from doing it, it just allows the government to punish those who do... If zygotes or blastulae or embryoes become 14th Amendment persons, entitled to all the protections thereof, how do we go about ensuring their protection against say, negligent acts by the mother? Could we start refusing to sell alcohol to breeding-age women? Refuse to let them ski, ride horseback, or cycle? All those activities can cause miscarriages, and 14th Amendment persons have the right to be protected from other 14th Amendment persons' harm, intentional or otherwise..."

Of course, we say, we would never let that happen. But are we paying enough attention to where abortion laws are going in this country? There are no doctors in the state of South Dakota performing abortions anymore. If not for four doctors flying in once in awhile from Minnesota, there would be no abortions available there at all.

Unlike G Bush senior - who wanted abortion to be illegal but said he would support his own granddaughters having one - I suspect most Gen X members are the opposite: would not choose it for themselves, but want it to be legal for other people.

Makes sense to me. Wish it made sense to the Bushes...

Windows

Where does our generation find hope?

We are not known as an optimistic group - why not?

What nurtures our optimism? (What kills it? Ooh, that's an easy list...)

Windows symbolize hope - possibility - opportunity - make me smile.

A New Gender Gap?

In yesterday’s NY Times, columnist John Tierney points out that 57% of today’s college graduates are female, and as the trend continues, we will very soon see three female college graduates for every two males. So he asks: Who will the third woman marry?

According to Tierney, research says that while men don’t mind a spouse who makes more money than they do, women DO mind a spouse who makes less. This seems to create a conundrum for both high-school educated men and college-educated women.

Feels to me like more of the: “Oh no, if you’re not married by 30 you never will be!” alarmism that rears its ugly head to scare women in new variations every decade or so.

I’m 37 and single. Divorced, even. With two college degrees. Looks like my marriage prospects are pretty slim.

Oh no, oh no!

A Good Heart

Friday night I was out with some friends for drinks, and as we encouraged one guy to move on to new relationships, we asked him what his criteria was for a woman he’d date (in case we had one to set him up with, of course). His first response: a good heart. This provoked a lively discussion about how exactly that’s defined: what constitutes a good heart? What does that mean?

Later, it got me thinking – as this time of year always does – about the extent to which I can believe with confidence that I have a “good heart”. On the surface, I seem to have the credentials: foster mother, urban teacher, faithful Christian…

However, since my divorce I have suspected that I may be a rather selfish person – I really didn’t want to “stay & work it out” – I wanted to run my own life. I was never able to make my life revolve around my husband, or even to make him feel like he was the center of my universe. What does that say about my heart?

I come from a Scandinavian Methodist tradition: faith = good works. We don’t talk much about it, we just do the right thing. Integrity is everything. It is very important to me not only to be perceived to be doing the right thing, but actually to be doing the right thing, and so… when what’s right for me is not the same as what’s right for someone else, (hence, my divorce,) I struggle. Who am I to put myself first? Though it feels necessary, it doesn’t always feel right.

I wonder why not.

The X Perspective

So is there such a thing as the Gen X perspective? It is certainly not well represented in the mainstream media – if we believe that entertainers do not necessarily represent the rest of us. So what I know about “us” comes from my friends, colleagues and acquaintances, not from any research I’ve come across so far.

I suppose it should be perspectives, plural… but I find it interesting to think about what the common threads are through our generation. We are an interesting group!

Much of what has been written about us does not really resonate with me. Although I may have been a partier, (I admit nothing!) I never considered myself – or anyone I knew – a “slacker”. I knew a few burn-outs & bums, sure, but every generation has those. As the research now shows, we have always been a very hardworking group.

I also don’t relate so much to those who are pessimistic about America or about our leadership. I don’t think Gen X is particularly "tuned out" or apathetic. We do care, and when we eventually take the reins – we’re already beginning, in many ways – and I think we’ll do better job than our predecessors. There is every reason to be optimistic about America with Gen X running things! One stereotype that I suspect IS true about us is that, comparatively, we don’t tolerate bullshit the way others seem to, which may help in Washington…

So what do we have in common? How do we tend to see the world, and our place in it? And who cares?

New Year's Eve

I recently read an article about a proposed change to the drunk driving laws in MN - to lower the legal limit from .08 to zero.

How would that affect your lifestyle???

Where’s the Outrage?

12-30-05 Molly Ivins correctly points out today that Nixon was driven from office over a crime just like what Bush has done – and there is no surprise that so many of the same players (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc) have been involved w/ both administrations.

The big question she raises is whether the public will summon the outrage this time necessary to remove him from office. I suspect not, and I suspect that the reason is that some of us have been outraged at Bush for 6 years to no effect…

If outrage at needless deaths gets us nowhere, how can we summon outrage for the trampling of our rights? It’s hard for me, personally, to get in a tizzy about my privacy rights when my brother made it home from the Middle East alive. I know I should, but... This administration sucks on so many levels that it’s hard to stay sane unless you flat out ignore it. (Yes, that makes us complicit. And just as bad. And wussies.)

Check out the whole column (at least for a few days) at: http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=miv

Happy new year.

Where are the Gen X heroes?

12-29-05 I’m teaching a unit on Malcolm X & Frederick Douglass to my high school juniors… and the following week I am discussing the extent to which we may expect Gen X to save the world – or at least America…

Harmonious convergence. (I have no idea what harmonic convergence means.) It just falls together. The X as the signifier of choosing one's own identity, rather than mindlessly accepting that which was otherwise thrust upon us.

Gen X seems to lack the identity that the generations before us had – the defining moments, the character-forging experiences – so we have to create it for ourselves. We also have to create the world for ourselves – to change it for the better, even though so many of our age-mates don’t think that’s even possible.

We are making it on our own, and yet not quite stepping up to leadership in the ways we will need to in the very near future. (Name a few prominent Gen X leaders who are not entertainers!) Leadership will be the next important step for us...

How old is Barak Obama?

Merry Tuesday after Xmas

12-27-05
Christmas was nice - it always is.

This week is the time of hearing from friends who either avoided their family or went (or hosted) and then regretted it. It amazes me how problematic folks can make the holidays. Why are some people so unkind to their own relatives? I don't get it. The "reason for the season" seems to get lost in the chaos...

Maya Angelou's new poem "Amazing Peace" speaks to the peace that we all want, yet find so hard to attain in today's culture:

"...We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit...
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds...

Peace, my brother.
Peace, my sister.
Peace, my soul."

Amen.