I am writing this week to remind myself and anyone who might read here that the passage of time does not make the circumstances of last week’s blog any less immediate – any less critical than they were. Racism and all other forms of social oppression are not gone. The violence – physical, emotional, intellectual, physical – continues daily. Please listen to this. Linten in yourself. Listen in the experiences and profound… Read More
On Wednesday of last week I heard a story. It was a story of a little boy, a four-year-old skipping and playing and laughing because he had completed two chemo-therapy treatments and for the first time in almost as long as he could remember, he didn’t feel icky. He felt great! Despite his cancer, and almost as if he’d forgotten he had it, he wanted to jump and run and swing with… Read More
In a week of exceptions — a meteorite crashing through an otherwise ordinary Russian sky, a Pope resigning for the first time in 600 years – an unlikely story of a racist street fighter turned modest-but-powerful spiritual teacher beloved by people of all walks of life seems right in line. For context, I’ll tell you about this picture. This is the sunrise earlier this month over a mountain in southern India. Surrounding… Read More
It looked like a done deal to lots of folks who are paid to make authoritative calls on such things. Chances were slim, they said a week ago, that Gingrich, Perry or Santorum could stage a comeback in the South Carolina primary that took place last Saturday. It’s heard of, but none of those campaigns appeared anywhere near as strong as Romney’s given the current playing field with its corporations=people, money=free speech rulebook. Enter… Read More
Art Garcia holds one of many distinctions as Voice #2 in 100 VOICES — AMERICANS TALK ABOUT CHANGE. Today I got a text message: “Check your front porch.” Then a second message followed “: )” — Both were from Art. I wasn’t home at the time, so I called David, my world’s best ever next door neighbor and asked if he’d go see what Art had left. “It’s flowers,” David said…. Read More
Listen to the voices of your neighbors. One hundred voices from across the U.S. All talking about change. All speaking their dreams. Give the book to yourself, to friends or family. Join us in the EX:Change as it continues to offer its invitation to all of us — Listen to each other. See what is there in those with whom you think you have nothing in common. See what is there in… Read More
Several years ago I became aware of a newly formed nonprofit organization called Onward Oregon http://onwardoregon.org/. Shortly after learning of the organization, I received an e-mail inviting me to be on their mailing list. In that introductory email, following the words “What We Believe” came this: “We inherit the good that flowed from the people who came before us and the societies they created and will continue building on that foundation. The… Read More
It’s going to take a while. I don’t want to speak for blacks, but from my perspective being a black man with what I have observed in my lifetime, I will feel as though I’m going to be shortchanged because of the history behind us. I will feel that until I see some definite improvement. If they tell you that you can be equal, but you never make any gains, you’re going… Read More
The 19th voice in the EX:Change was Lena Baucum. I’ve found myself quoting her often in these entries. Maybe it’s by chance, but more likely for reasons of her attentiveness. Many of the themes of the 100 voices were given first mention in Lena’s words that early February day in 2009. Just now I ran across commentary entitled The Willie Hortonization of Barack Obama. Ari Rabin-Havt’s blog responds to the effect of… Read More
“We’re not as divided as the media tell us we are.” “Good luck. We need this — to know what Americans are really thinking.” baristas at the Starbucks in York, NE Only two days into the EX:Change road trip the Mini Cooper’s front end came between me and the sturdy steel pole of a highway sign. At the time, I was blissfully if distractedly motoring south on U.S. Route 97, the stretch… Read More
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