I got a call last night from New Orleans. My friend Mary had called to ask me to go to the website of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, the patron of New Orleans, and to pray... and to KEEP PRAYING. Knowing me, and my rather dubious spirituality, she wasn't 100% serious... she was only 99.97% serious.
Mary already had much of her stuff packed and was preparing to get things, like risers for her bed, if and when the flooding comes. Mary knows the drill. She lost her house three years ago when The Thing took us out last time.
Yesterday, Louisiana Governor (and possible McCain running mate) Bobby Jindal made statement trying to reassure everyone that plans were well in hand and that comes as soon as Thursday, the state might start "activating bus contracts" with contraflow escape routes starting as early as sometime Saturday. Of course, during this time, a week away from probable landfall, C. Ray Nay-gone has yet to utter a word (at least any word that I can find) and Governor Jindal is probably feeling pretty pissed that he might have to miss the Republican Convention.
So here we go again. Gustav has already killed 11 in Haiti and will no doubt cause even more havoc in Cuba when it blasts that little island sometime tomorrow. The fact of the matter is that wherever this storm goes, it's likely to be massive. I have friends on the West Coast of Florida that could get hit if it heads East, and friends in Mississippi that will get hit if it heads down the middle, and lots and lots of dear folks in New Orleans (who I expect will get the hell outta Dodge pretty quickly), if it stays on the track the weather service is now predicting.
So... I'm heeding Mary's request and taking the prayer to Our Lady of Prompt Succor out to the backyard where I can pray it in front of the statue of The Virgin that my landlord has in my little "Garden of Good Graces." Care to join me?
Yesterday was my birthday and in an ongoing change of lifestyle that has been rolling out ever since last year at this time, I actually TOOK THE DAY OFF!
What did I do instead of spending the majority of my waking hours staring at the screen of my Mac? Well... to read about that go over to FoodFetish and take a look. It mostly has to do with Karen and I heading out in search of bubbles... many many bubbles.
Watching his speech felt like a significant part of my birthday, for it ended a truly perfect day with the up note of positivity, hope for the future (even in the face of brain cancer) and the idea that a change really just might be around the corner.
It was a very good day. Indeed... it was a BEAUTIFUL day.
The Olympics, which I love... always... and which I think are, and should be, mostly apolitical are ending tonight in Beijing.
Because yesterday I was accidentally (in that internet sorta way) directed toward a new site with very interesting and informed connections, I have been fully confronted with a reality I was very aware of, a reality I was having a problem with, and a reality that disturbs me on many many levels.
19 years ago this summer I stood in the living room of my home in Sonoma, watching a black blank TV tuned to CNN as reporters screamed news about an unbelievable event happening at that very moment. I was stunned. My mouth open, my mind astonished. There was a real revolution happening right before our ears and the juxtaposition of voyeurism and compassion was nearly impossible to stand.
These moments were then followed by one of the most astonishing images to ever cross a media screen. The single image of one man, staring down a line of tanks.
Since that time there have been many changes in China... changes theoretically for the good, and changes theoretically for the better.
One of the main changes is that in the 19 years since Tiananmen Square the Chinese government has come to own a massive percentage of our Dubya created debt. They also are creating an ubelievable market economy that, as usual, ignores, and even exploits, the reality of the lower classes in the rural areas.
But the most compelling question with regard to China still comes back to those days 19 years ago when first students, and then the general population stood up to say STOP. There is an amazing documentary on the event and on the inspiration of "Tank Man" which takes 90 minutes to watch, but is completely available on You Tube. Most importantly, this documentary looks at how the west has chosen to accommodate the Chinese government and it's abuses for the simple fact that there is profit... LOTS of profit... to be made there.
At the same time that we as a government, and individuals, sell ourselves out hook, line and sinker to the authoritarian government of China, we are closing in on 50 years of embargo against a little tiny island 90 miles from our shores. Because both sides of our government cowtow to the Gusanos in Miami, in search of the ever present dollar and the ever elusive chad, our government permanently (at least in my life time) exists within a reality between selling out to a set of big time "communists" on one continent and big time greed heads on our own, while pretending that "Amerkkka" stands for freedom.
I'm 54 years old tomorrow, and I don't think I can remember when we have ever REALLY stood for freedom, despite our rhetoric and despite what I want to believe. I am pretty sure, on this evening before my anniversaire, that I don't want to live life in any way that ignores any longer the basics of what really matters. But I've struggled with that reality for my whole life (literally my WHOLE life) and I still don't have a decent answer regarding how to both exist in a life that is lovely to live, AND a life that matters.
Somewhere about 22 years ago (more or less) I was visiting new friends in LA, when one of those new friends made a comment that transformed my life. Sitting around the middle of his living room, drinking wine and pontificating about what mattered in the world, a whole collection of us waxed eloquent about the way things ought to be in the age of Reagan. At that time, I had just come back from the first Witness for Peace trip to Nicaragua, and my business partner and I were developing a gospel album that chose to truly take on the ongoing story of American militarism that included, Iran, Iraq, Guatemala, Nicaragua and more (the fact that one of the songs being worked on at that very moment could have been written yesterday is for another blog at another time). My friend stopped the conversation (and stopped my heart, my brain and forever my ongoing sense of what matters) with the comment, "Plato said that three things matter; Justice, Truth, and Beauty, and I'm ready for a little beauty." We were very big on justice and truth in those days, and I thought his advocacy of beauty was vitally important.
Right now, at nearly twice the age I was when we had that conversation, I am once again looking for truth and justice, but with the added hope that maybe we could include beauty as well. I've never been able to really pull this off, and I am forever, and rather unsuccessfully, searching for it.
But these days... I seem to have a bit more hope, and on this birthday eve I really am hoping that we might get there this time.It is indeed MY AMERICAN PRAYER.
Okay... so the suspense is over. I didn't get my promised text message last night though. Several weeks ago the Obama campaign txt messaged (can that REALLY be a verb!?!?) me stating that Barack would be announcing his VP choice by txt message in the coming weeks so all us lucky millions of minions should stand by our phones.
Well... I did. Don't ask me why. It's not like I didn't have plenty of other things to do besides checking my cell phone, but there I was all day yesterday, checking and rechecking the little silver Motorola in my pocket every time I felt a stray buzz or heard a faraway beep. Other people got the call, but not me.
So this morning I get up and turn on CNN only to find out that John King has scooped me! Joe Biden is the VP selection, and while it left me feeling a bit jilted, I have to say that this really is MY Dream Ticket.
I have admired Joe Biden since I was in college and he was a freshman senator during the Watergate hearings. I have never ceased to be impressed by him ever since. There have been many times when he felt a little too conservative for my most leftward leanings, and other times when his straight talk, down the line, dog with a bone questioning in Senate hearings has made me smile and made me proud. He's always been one of those people that makes me feel glad about being American. He's given me a lot of those "see what humans can do" kind of moments.
Joe Biden is, as one commentator I heard described him this morning, a "happy warrior." He is perpetually smiling while at the same time you get the sense that the man is about as grounded as it's possible to be. It's going to be tough for the McCain campaign to weasel in on Joe. He provides the stability that people keep trying to claim is lacking in Barack (I don't agree with those people by the way, but that's for another blog).
Besides all that... he's a real snappy dresser!
Right now though, I wanna know how come I didn't get that 3 am phone call.
It's been nearly a month since I actually wrote a blog. It's not that I haven't been writing (au contrare) it's just that focusing on BLOG writing, or even taking the time to put some of the things I have written for blog consumption ON LINE has been completely unavailable. I've tried to address that a little bit by starting a "mini blog" at Twitter, which you can find here, but in general it's just been a little bit like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride over the last few weeks.
About three months ago I volunteered to co-chair the Petaluma Sesquicentennial River Fest committee. I thought, hey... it'll be fun; it will get me more connected with the town (something that hasn't happened since I moved to New Orleans three years ago) it won't take that much time, I'll be working with people with whom I enjoy interacting, it's far enough down the line that most of the critical stuff has been taken care of. Well... I couldn't have been more wrong, except for the people part. Most of the people I've worked with on this have been fantastic and have made it truly a worthwhile experience despite the insanity). What I never counted on (and I should have because, hell... I used to be in the CHURCH) was the way literally every waking moment would be sucked into the black hole of this exciting, though poorly planned and poorly executed adventure. Pretty much ALL of my assumptions about what had been done, needed to be done, and the time it would take were wrong. By the time I learned this it was indeed too late. That's pretty much the way such things go in general, and like I said, I should have known that.
What I'm glad about is that I have indeed found my way into deeper connection with the town where I live at present and in another way altogether, a deeper connection with myself in that way that only doing things outside your comfort level, and for others around you, can do.
It's going to be a GREAT event! If you're in Northern California this weekend you should stop by P-Town on Sunday and check it out for yourself. As for me... I'm going to be REALLY GLAD for this week to end so I can get back to WORK.
I am a freelance writer and audio/film producer based in Petaluma, CA My most recent film is Raven Awakens. You can reach me and find more information on my activites at http://www.thombutler.com
I got a call last night from New Orleans. My friend Mary had called to ask me to go to the website of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, the patron of New Orleans, and to pray... and to KEEP PRAYING. Knowing me, and my rather dubious spirituality, she wasn't 100% serious... she was only 99.97% serious.
So here we go again. Gustav has already killed 11 in Haiti and will no doubt cause even more havoc in Cuba when it blasts that little island sometime tomorrow. The fact of the matter is that wherever this storm goes, it's likely to be massive. I have friends on the West Coast of Florida that could get hit if it heads East, and friends in Mississippi that will get hit if it heads down the middle, and lots and lots of dear folks in New Orleans (who I expect will get the hell outta Dodge pretty quickly), if it stays on the track the weather service is now predicting.
