The cleansing power of presidential sunshine

Sometimes, I get criticized for finding the good in the worst of life on this planet.
Like with the election.
If Hillary Clinton can endure running for office backwards and in heels with almost every man in her life throwing word grenades at her every damn day, she deserves to be president. Foreign leaders don't stand a chance against this battle-tested sister.
Yeah, she lies. We. All. Do. All women lie when we want to put on a good face. Men lie when they want to hide their true face. Yet I actually want a president who can lie with conviction as long as her actions back up the truth of the situation.
She has yet to be shown to be unfaithful but is inextricably tied to the men around her who have. They have the fun and she gets the blame. What the...
And yet, we get to see what bravery and perseverance and badass in a pantsuit look like. And I am here for all of it.
In this election season, we also get to see the seams of the fabric of racism, the smothering tapestry of hate laid bare in the disinfectant power of sunshine. Prejudice has been comfortable feeding off itself in the dank hollows of the heart of some intolerants but now flows free in the streets and on the airwaves. And we now get to see where and who it comes from and those of us who disagree will remember. Even those who refused to acknowledge that racism even exists have been forced to see it with fresh eyes and look away in shame.
I pray the change of heart continues and that love truly trumps hate.

The pursuit of happiness...and gratitude

Thanksgiving.

Thanks. Giving.

Giving thanks.

This is the month where one day is set aside to give thanks, although everyday I wake up I say a prayer of thanksgiving for everything I hold dear. My children. My siblings. My dogs. Their health. My health. And a petition of grace for those in my life dealing with various challenges: I call it my prayer list.

There's extra gratitude for this month of birth: my brother, my daughter, my niece, my nephew. All precious lights on my path. A strong light of love was also extinguished in this month but I am grateful for our walk together.

And so I invite you to fullstop, take a deep breath and search your mind for the things, the people, the places that give you joy.  Remember joy is internally driven so you may need two breaths to relax long enough to find it. When you find it, smile at the discovery, whether carnal or spiritual.

It has made you the "you" you are today.

At least until you find the next thing that makes your heart smile and gives you joy.

If my many Novembers have taught me anything, it is that it is far better to pursue happiness than be chased by doubt.

Be well.

....and we're back

As they say on talk shows "....and we're back."

After years of streaming my rage and curiosity on my Facebook page, I've decided to return to awaken my blogging spirit.
Ever since I "retired" in April, I've been running away from this destiny to write. Fear of failure,  I guess.
But thanks to Blogher.com's designation of November as National Blog Posting Month, I'm banging the keyboard again.
For those who have been urging me to write, I'm hoping you will support my daily postings and bring friends to my musings starting November 1. By the way, I am leaving my old posts up, especially the one I wrote about HRC in 2008.
As always, feedback is welcome. Thanks for taking this literary walk with me.

Changing my attitude

I can't lie: the last four months were nothing like I expected. Now, as I have every year before my birthday, it's time to take stock of where I've been and where I'm going.
I don't do anything without thinking through all options and moving forward. That eliminates regret for me. I make my decision, leave the table and move on. So I don't regret leaving Madison.
That being said, the long walk in the valley I've taken has taxed everything in me and in the process I've become something I loathe: a defeatist. Small victories are eclipsed by the fear of stepping into another hole. Hope has been replaced by fear.
I've had plenty of setbacks in my life but this time it's been a true test of who I am. And I have failed at holding on to my core, my spirit, my belief in who I am. I never doubted God. I doubted myself.
That changes today.
A friend of mine posted a video of someone saying it's time to show more gratitude for the things I do have, not concentrate on what I don't. While I've been doing that, episodes have been few and far between. I actually felt sorry for me and was willing to walk away from the gifts God gave me to search for jobs I knew would not be good for my spirit but good for my creditors. But those creditors will be there no matter what I feel or have or don't feel or don't have.
I declare now that I am grateful for the essence of God's love for me. I am grateful for my son's increased health. I am grateful for what I've been given and for what I'm about to receive because I know He has my best interests at heart and is working to put me where He wants me to be so I'm grateful for His love and am working my spirit to me more worthy of what He has in store for me.
I will be more positive in my outlook and work to attract positivity in my life and my surroundings. I am so grateful for the place He gave me to live, the ability to travel and enjoy what this city has to offer and to be able to be closer to my two children whom I love so desperately.
Thank you God for what You have done, for what You're doing now and for what You're about to reveal to me, my family, my friends and friends to come.
I....am....grateful.

A friend of mine recently posted in a chat room...
"To the point at hand, Rev Dr. King, Jr. was all but ostracized from the
'mainstream' civil rights movement for speaking out against the Vietnam War
in 1967."

While I agree with much of what Jeffrey says, the above statement is misleading. The objections on King's global view were because of the movement's narrowcasted view of the achievements of civil rights. America has a bad habit of trying to solve its own problems first before asking other countries to follow its lead. In other words, others in the movement were not so much "ostracizing" King for speaking out against the war and being upset that he was not keeping focus on the problems at home. King, on the other hand, saw injustice and inequity as a global issue to be vanquished hopefully in his lifetime.
He was a visionary. He had to be because of what he knew would be a short time to do a lot of the Lord's work.
All these attempts to wrap Obama in the cloak of history as if his ascendancy is the cure rather than a benchmark can only result in a hope hangover for the country. He has the potential to take us farther than we deserve and make us all better citizens of the world. Obama has been gifted with King's global vision but our collective nearsightedness threatens to leave us all blind to the possibilities of being the world leader we used to be....and can become again.

Freedom in more ways than one

Before I drill deeper and write about last night, I share an email I sent to a friend who remarked on last night's election and how glad he was to be wrong that it could happen...


As many of you know, I believed early he would at least make it to the nomination stage and only after his speech on race did I believe Barack could become president. Not because of what he said, but because he wasn't dismissed by the populace for addressing an issue we still choose to whisper but not to discuss.
While I'm glad the immigrant felt a sense of pride about Barack's election, I feel McCain worked just as hard and his only downfall was committing the ultimate relationship killer: he tried to become something else in order to please someone (the GOP) who didn't want him. I hope he finds his true self in time to work as vigorously for this country as he has in the past. But don't think that wedges of division will ever diminish. There are those factions that depend on it to survive and they help keep us on our toes to not be complacent.
Although I worked really hard since my arrival in Madison, I find myself an unmade careerist not by my own actions (or maybe because of it, but I digress) so the practice does not always match the theory.
Nevertheless, I am delighted this time the kids under 21 got their way, either by direct engagement or by mere peering over into the electoral process to make sure we old folks did the right thing. It's up to all of us to stay engaged and be more than casual observers to our future.
One good thing about being on the outside is that it gave me the opportunity to openly campaign for a candidate, something I haven't done since 1992. Walking around in a campaign office is indeed rarified air that should be bottled and sold to replace antidepressants.
I have also never been so happy... to be alive at a time like this, a time this former college radical never thought she'd see.
"And the times they are a-changin'".....

Why you should vote

My darling daughter, who currently lives in Nay-ash-vee-uhl Ten-see, told me recently about a conversation she had with a friend who bemoaned the fact that they both dwell in the reddest of red states. They both wondered whether their two little votes would only amount to a drops in the republican bucket as Tennessee's electoral votes went into McCain's column.
I tell you now what I told her: your vote is personal. It is a personal act of love to Barack Obama and all he stands for. He may not win your state but he needs to know someone in Tennessee heard him. The vote totals, no matter how small, are an act of defiance in the face of overwhelming odds, much as his campaign has been.
He needs to know what he has gone through was appreciated, what we've all gone through, is worth the sacrifice, past and future. That vote, that one little number, can drown a sea of negativity when we all stand together.
I guess that's the same as saying every vote counts. It may not add up to victory, but it counts as one voice saying yes. To not vote is to stay silent. To stay silent increases your chance of being ignored when it counts. Silence means there's no objection to what's happened in this country for the last eight years.
I contend there is much to object to and to vote is say loud and clear that change is due.
"Now is the time," he said. "It's our time."
If you never vote again, this time it counts.....

WRITTEN IN GRATEFUL MEMORY OF TUTU....