New Year

Well, it is near the end of the old year. I am trying to change, to not be in constant mourning for things I cannot change. I have tried to become a better person, to improve myself and get out in the world more. Most of all I have tried not to live in the past. But at this time of year it is hard not to feel a certain melancholy for lost family and friends. I miss my son, my father, my stepson, my grandparents. I think about old friends who have been missing from my life for a long time. I recently made a facebook page, and the first friend I added was a man I went to high school with. He still is friends, and I mean active friends, with people he knew in school. I am in contact with a couple of people from my past, but as for seeing or talking to them, or hanging out with them, that doesn't happen. Distance has a part in that, but more it is the nature of me to let things slide, to not reach out to people. It is a flaw; I need to change that, be more friendly with my friends. That will be my New Year's Resolution.

Bowie Meets Crosby

nat king cole - the christmas song

Beautiful song, beautiful man.

Vanessa Williams

'please come home for christmas' (Eagles)

John Edwards Volunteers Go Door-to-Door in Iowa

These are devoted people. I wish I could go there, but I do what I can here.

A Republican John Edwards Volunteer

Health care is the issue that will decide this election--most of us are more afraid of our health care costs than we are of some annonymous terrorist, and we should be.

John Edwards - A New Year's Wish

speaks for itself

John Edwards and Tim Robbins in Iowa

It's not inevitable that HRC or BHO will get the nomination--John Edwards is the candidate who is in it for us, not himself.

We are the world

I watched this video yet again, and I am moved by it all over again. None of the people who worked on this song were or are perfect. Michael Jackson, for one, if not a pedophile is just flat out weird. But they did this one really good thing, to help people less fortunate than themselves. They didn't get paid, as I recall. They volunteered their time, their talents, their hearts, to raise money for children in Africa.

I don't think everything is a liberal/conservative thing. I think there are a lot of people who consider themselves conservatives who give liberally of their time, their money and their prayers for others. They vote for Republicans because the Republican party has a lot of leaders who are very good dissemblers. The leaders convince these voters that they share their concerns about high taxes, about abortion, about "Christian values". Maybe some do. But I think more of them are concerned with power, with running things the way that will benefit themselves and those like them--and if you think Joe the farmer in overalls is someone who even registers in the mind of someone like Mitt Romney or Rudy Giuliani or almost any other Republican candidate as his equal, I can sell you a bridge...

Stone Soup

I thought last night of a story I read as a child. There's a hobo, traveling through a village. He stops at house after house, asking for a bit of supper, and at every house the inhabitants tell him they don't have enough for themselves, much less enough to share. Finally he stops in a field and builds a cooking fire. He sets up his cookpot and puts in water, a stone, and some salt and pepper he carries in his knapsack.
As his water boils, he hums a little song to himself. Soon a villager stops by, and asks what is in the pot? I thought you were without food, why did you ask me for supper when you had food all along? Well, says the hobo, this is stone soup. It's really good, but with a little extra it would be even better. The villager suggests that he has some potatoes he could add, he will run and fetch them. Soon other villagers stop by and each adds something to the pot. Eventually the stone soup becomes a lovely pot of soup, and there is enough for everyone.

This isn't to advocate socialism. Whatever my utopian ideals, I am practical enough to realize that the human race could not make socialism work. And I admit it, I have stuff I really like too! But in some areas, when the good of the individual also is the good of society, as it is in the matter of health care, it is past time for some sort of collective approach.

Insurance

I am trying to change my son's insurance to something cheaper. I filled out the application online and am waiting to hear. Hopefully it will save me some money until the Democrats take charge and set us up with a national health plan.

My life as an activist

I am a shy person by nature. People who know me will say I talk a lot, sometimes too much. My children will point out that I will talk to complete strangers in stores, even on the street. But despite those undeniable facts, I am shy. I often get sick when I am supposed to go to parties with people I know, because being with people in a work situation and in a social situation are so totally different. Thursday night I went to a Democratic Women's Council Holiday party, even though I don't go to the monthly meetings, so that I could meet John Edwards. I have wanted to meet him for years, and was so determined that I overcame my normal shyness for it. It turned out better than I could have ever dreamed, and it was good that I was there, in a sense, because someone I know who really doesn't know that many people in Charleston was also there, and seeing me and having someone to talk to helped him.

I started this to kind of explain how I act on behalf of candidates. Last year I very bravely (for me) volunteered to make telephone calls for the congressional races in Ohio and another state, I can't remember off the bat which one. It was great, because I did it from home, using my computer and my telephone, and I felt that I was helping (even though I didn't really talk to that many people). Tonight I wrote letters to people in Iowa, and maybe they will throw them out or maybe they won't but for me it was a pretty brave thing.

Years ago, when Bill Clinton first ran for president, I felt hope when I heard him talk about change for America. I haven't felt that hope for a long time, but when I hear John Edwards talk about the things we need to change, and what he will do to help bring it about, hope once again stirs, and even stronger than back then. He has the courage of his convictions. And he is fearless. When you have lost a child, as he and Elizabeth have (and incidentally as I have), you realize that life can't throw anything worse at you, and you start to know what is really important. Losing my child has made me braver, just as losing my outgoing brother inspired me to talk to strangers in stores. Death is not the ideal cure for shyness, but death and the fear of what the Republicans have done to this country over the last two decades (and even before) have given me courage. Unlike me, JRE is not afraid of the Republicans, because he has faith that Americans are ready to do the right thing and throw them out. I pray he is right.

Introduction to

This is the intro to the song below, it explains a lot.

Christmas in Fallujah - Cass Dillon and Billy Joel

We have asked so much of our soldiers, and they have given so much, and to what end? Is this really how we ought to be using our precious resources, our young people?

Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child

someone mentioned this song to Mr.
Belafonte in my presence; I had forgotten how beautiful it is, and found this video to share. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Sting - Gabriel's Message

I love this song, I think one of the most beautiful sting has ever recorded. Merry Christmas, everyone.

we are the world

It's hard to believe that this is 22 years old. And yet we still have so many people dying, starving, suffering. What have we learned in those 22 years?

John Edwards - Hair

John Edwards in South Carolina: Newsclip 12.07.07

My moment--the woman in purple!

Excited

I am so excited. I met John Edwards tonight at a local event. Harry Belafonte was there with him. John made some wonderful remarks, and even though many of them were things I had heard him say before it was still exciting to hear him in person, and to speak with him. This is the man who should be our next president.