The Biggest Day

It's been two weeks since my daughter got married at Fort Mason in San Francisco on April 5th. It's been even longer since I wrote a blog, but those two realities have been related. After my adventure of Opening Day in Oakland my parents and my sister and brother in law hit town in preparation for the big event.

The wedding was truly wonderful. It was the perfect combination of the life that Jen and Andy live, the friends and families that they bring together and the meaningful, hopeful, lovingly playful spirit that is them, and in them, wherever and however they seem to be. In this way, the party after (and the wonderful vegetarian dinner that accompanied it) was more significant, and more about them, than all the rest (though the rest was great).

One of the best moments for me was the "Dad and Daughter Dance" that I got to share with Jen, as Paul Simon sang Father and Daughter playing off the iPod I borrowed for the occasion from my friend Steve. We started out with Jen dancing on the tops of my shoes like she did when she was little, talked and laughed as the dance went on, and ended with "eskimo, butterfly, and ear whacks." Likely the last time I will get to play that silly goodnight game with the little girl that has always been the true light and center of my life.

Ironically, just a few days before the wedding I moved into a new house - a new place to begin a new life - something that feels perfectly timed and perfectly right. As Jen and Andy (or Jandy as the photographer called them) move out into their new life together, I am myself starting a new life of my own. Life changes every day (some days more than others) and we find our life's meaning in those moments in between.

It was a wonderful wedding; it was a beautiful day... Congratulations Mr. and Ms. Park.

New Park and Park Classic

You're Never Too Old For Opening Day

I'm 53 years old. I was born in Cincinnati, grew up in South Florida where the Braves always had spring training and went to a church where they always came each year for "Father and Son Dinner." For the last 30 years I've lived in the SF Bay Area where both the Giants and the As play and I've been to maybe a total of 10 Major League Baseball games in my whole life.

I've NEVER been to opening day... until today!

This evening in Oakland, Karen's As will play Zach's Red Sox and I'll be sucking up hot dogs. peanuts, cracker jack, and beer with the best of them. I'll salute the flag and sing the national anthem, stand and sing "Take Me Out" in the 7th inning stretch and WHISPER "Manny Manny" when he comes up to bat (I am with an As fan after all!)


It's OPENING DAY OF BASEBALL SEASON and I'm as excited as a little kid!

The Tide Is Turning

Okay... I know that my YouTubing is getting out of hand, and I really wish I could stop it... BUT there is so much good stuff being sent out into the cyber-universe right now that it's really hard to control myself.

This piece, put together by producer and huffpo contributer, Bob Cesca, is the latest example of this wonderful phenomenon. Combining Obama's recent speech with an old Roger Waters tune from Radio KAOS it brought tears to my eyes within the first fifteen seconds.

I've said it before, and I'm planning on saying it over and over and over (so get used to it) between now and November... THIS IS WHAT WE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT.

We, as a country and a people, have suffered through so much wrong headedness, presidential laziness, lies, and hubris during the last eight year the newness, the dream, and THE CALL to a new way of being goes over me like a soothing ointment and a soft massage, and it sets me up to put my body, my self and my future on the line.

I LOVE FEELING LIKE THIS... I actually have HOPE again and it calls me - like all hope should - to change myself too.

The Word Of The Lord

There has been much talk over the last week regarding eEv. Dr. Jeremiah Wright and his infamous "hate sermon" but most of this talk has been more heat than light, more smoke than mirror. In this ten minute excerpt, which I found on a blog created to give context and information about Rev. Wright's church you can hear the wider context... and truly, The Word Of The Lord.

On this Easter Weekend, I hope you will take the time to watch it. We live in a country deeply divided in so many ways and over so many things, yet we CLAIM to be a "Christian Nation."

Frankly, despite being an ordained Baptist minister myself, I do not believe that we are - not should we be - a "Christian Nation." It was clearly the founder's intention for this country to have a non-religious government;, to be a pluralistic society where people were free to live and worship as their own conscience guided. Yet, despite this, our current presidential race lives and dies on issues of faith and religion.

Well... if we're going to go there, how about we give a listen to what the God that all the candidates are so busy quoting has to say about the way WE choose to live. Reverend Wright does a pretty good job.

Barack, in a speech that might be the best political speech I've ever heard, simultaneously distanced himself from Rev. Wright, and Spoke about his comments in context. Here, I disagree with Barack. Rev. Wright... indeed... has it right.

For more on the famous sermon (more than the little blip you've seen so far), you can GO HERE... AND HERE.

Please watch... please think... please pray... and then VOTE!

Thanks be to God.

Everything Old Is New Again

24 years ago, in the summer of 1984, with my then 2 year old daughter on my shoulder, I stood with a number of good friends, and thousands of like minded acquaintances, as, inside San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, Geraldine Ferraro accepted the Democratic nomination as the first female vice presidential candidate in U.S, history. In the second sentence of her nomination speech she quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to express the great joy of the astonishing new moment in history.

Most of us already knew that the Mondale/Ferraro (the first time Super Delegates came into play) ticket was doomed in their race against Reagan's second term, but it didn't matter all that much, because we believed that, as Democrats, we were on the side of right... REGARDLESS. My great joy and my great hope was that the daughter I carried on my shoulders that day would grow up in a world represented by "Gerry's" candidacy and the possibility of a woman like Hillary as President. We knew it wouldn't happen then... but we knew that the door had opened and it was only a matter of time. Truth, Justice, and the American Way (all those 1950's Super Man values) would eventually triumph.

Over the weekend, Geraldine trashed BOTH her legacy and the legacy of the Democratic party with a backhanded, racist remark she made about Obama, that competed head to head with the kind of ugly, sexist remarks that were made about her 24 years ago.

I wrote some more about this (and included a video commentary from Keith Olberman) on George Washington's Cousin, but here, all I want to do is acknowledge the shame I feel as someone who at one time supported BOTH Geraldine Ferraro AND Hillary Clinton.

No matter what the situation... no matter what the stakes... INTEGRITY MATTERS, and it matters most when times are tough.

Someone very close to me reminded me of that just last night.

With this latest strike, the Clintons, and their army of subservient lackies, have lost my support forever.