Some news today

Don't know how to start this post except to take a deep breath and commence typing.

Andrew Breitbart, a commentator for the Washington Times, is on my sh*t list for two reasons. More broadly, I'm feelin angry and upset about shit going down in Washington (and all over). First, Breitbart blames my U.S. representative for being called the n-word last weekend. Speaking of John Lewis and Jim Clyburn, after they were harassed between their office and the capitol, Breitbart says "they should be the objects of ridicule [for walking through the crowd]."

Secondly, Breitbart has now issued a reward offer of $10,000 for video of the harassment Congressman Lewis and colleagues experienced. If anyone has video that the N-word was thrown at the Congressmen, Breitbart will cut a check to the UNCF. By the way, countless news sources have reported the N-word was yelled. Raising his profile seems to be Breitbart's intent here.

By now, there are critics of members of congress even responding to requests for comment. Its all of a sudden a partisan act when one states the facts of an incident... I'm upset this is all so fucking hateful - or is it anymore hateful than usual, only now just coming to the surface?

Good for the creative loafing for having a sense of humor - at least humor is somewhat constructive, as opposed to the Tea Party who have done little except tear people down. So what can Congressman Lewis do - or anyone else concerned about the issue of health insurance reform but also decency and positivity? Respond to the demand for video? Ignore it and leave the hateful activists to roast in the light of day?

Recap

The weather has turned fairly sour so its time to take a look at what made 2009 what it was...

January - new year's celebration in new york and inauguration in the nation's capitol (i picked out the post i wrote from the car because i was so excited about what the weekend might be like. and i joined twitter the week i got back from the trip)

February - why i travel alot helps me deal with the emotional hangover and close out the inauguration series. not having the resources for alumni weekend 2010 makes me sad. lily's here

March - a difficult month emotionally. I took these pictures during a visit to DC but had my mind on sad news. The gray sky, unintentionally, represents that.

April - its almost ultimate season and the emotions from March remind me to tell some stories, get feelings out. got to seattle later this year.

May - one week of vacation and one week of work in DC, two weddings and lots of traveling deserves a post and a mention in the recap.

June - the world's economy experiences ups and downs. here's my rant on the whole ordeal

July - this is what inspired me to write a recap. Who knew, back in the summer and its miserable heat, that Chain would finish the year national champions? i don't think i even thought about nationals until August. all the travel, training, and teamwork paid off.

August - the post about my Seattle trip that didn't focus on ultimate and instead has a picture of teammate Dave B post-double flip

September - cause I mention Swine Flu, not at all cause of the picture, inside this post

October - its ultimate season.

November - Lily is worth mentioning again because of all the time I've been spending with her. And did I mention Chain won the national championship?

December - check back

Clearer pictures from CBC

Friday night happy hour in Dupont Circle with Jack and Shed.

Saturday night Coke reception with Jesse, Jamila, and Tom.

Accounts from the CBC Annual Legislative Conference Awards Dinner

I was invited to join my colleagues boss at this year's Legislative Conference put on by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. The whole weekend is meant to be a learning, networking event. But the Awards Dinner, at which I was taking notes of the cool people around, is a fundraiser. I was very lucky to be at the event and at the table - very close to the stage.

Saw danny glover outside the cbc dinner :)

Just met charlie rangel inside the cbc awards dinner area! Weak handshake

Sat at same table as majority leader Steny Hoyer

Wyclef presented with award

Met rep elijah cummings

Shook rev Sharpton's hand

Met tavis smiley :)

Saw Yolanda Adams up close

Wishing I could meet US Ambassador (to the UN) Susan Rice - here she receives an award as first African American woman in her position

Saw Obama speak. He and the First Lady kissed on the stage and he talked about injustices, health care, and received a Phoenix Award - low resolution picture below

Current Events

Swine flu persists in the news. Here in Atlanta, Emory students with the virus are being isolated. According to the university, the isolation is voluntary. Speaking of isolation because of flu virus, just got saw on Jen's blog that she's stuck in her room cause of the flu. Jeez!

In other news, Chain Lightning won the Chesapeake Open in Poolesville, Maryland, for the second year in a row. Check out Chain's home page for a short summary - and to buy some team merchandise. Also, there are a couple dozen videos of Chain from the weekend (dubbed Chesterpeake in honor of our biggest fan). Visit MattandKat's youtube page for those videos and to catch a glimpse of Chesterpeake. One of my personal highlights from play this weekend was captured in this shot (smaller version below). The rest of the gallery is really good, too.

Heads up: in only four and a half weeks, Chain will host Regionals for the first time in a long time (maybe the first time this millenium). So we need lots of local folks - decked out in Chain gear - cheering for us at the Georgia Soccer Park. The top teams from that tournament qualify for Nationals in Sarasota, which is in exactly eight weeks.

Happy Labor Day everyone. Good luck to Ozone in Santa Cruz this weekend! And get better for all those swine flu sufferers...

Bocce

Sitting in training, I felt like reliving the other night. Friends' bocce ball team, sponsored by DC legendary restaurant Ben's Chili Bowl, had a game on capital hill.

Here's a pic of Tim and me between bocce tosses, Good Stuff burgers and beers. Sorry for the blurry picture. Cell phones...

lessons post-college

One thing I heard often in college was "just show up and you'll do fine." Teachers preached that presence was 90% of success. If you know me well you've heard me talk about falling asleep in every chair, row, whatever in most of my classes. Still - and I bought into it - with my intelligence, I thought making it to class was all I had to do and the rest would work itself out.

Well now, in the work world, I realize its not so easy. And more importantly, in the world in general, just showing up doesn't yield a high quality of life. Life takes hard work and struggle; to get things done and influence people takes a real presence of mind, not just body. So I'm upset at the college mantra of "you'll do fine - just bring yo ass to class."

DC Stay

My greatest motivation for taking pictures is sharing then saving them. And because this blog provides a seemingly endless repository for everyone's pictures, I often think while I'm taking pictures to post 'em up here. So here's three separate photos from my hotel room last month in the L'Enfant district of DC. Lastly is a Photoshop composite of all three put together.

Inauguration Good Night

With all the drama and major legislation marking up the beginning of Obama's administration, its now a certainty that he's in office. So I should really close out the whole series of posts from Inauguration. I did the final picture purge yesterday; today's a little emotional additive.

Here's what I recorded the evening I got back to Atlanta after inauguration weekend. Setting is I'm in my rocking chair for the first time in a week, about to close my eyes for the night, and wanting to grasp the moment just a little longer. I'll let it speak for itself...

I'm resisting the temptation to get in bed and let the weekend slip into a memory. Now the inauguration,t he people and closeness of humanity, and the weary feeling of travel there/back... these sensations are still frseh in my heart and body.

The ten hour drive from dc today went well though I could feel the distance before I had even departed. Instead of visiting friends latel ast night I chose to retire early (if 1am is early). And my regret for things undone, people underconnected with, and... just rambling now.

The point is that this weekend made world history and surpassed most, if not all, weekends in personal history. My strong love for GW ultimate and the friends from there continues to give me strength when we're together. But when we're apart my pride mixes with sadness at the separation between us.

I believe I saw Obama's silhouette last night (in his pimp limo) and the motorcade of Joe Biden, both times only a few yards away. I'm looking forward to developing the pictures and framing some of the weekend's memorobilia. 

Inauguration Closing

Got some pictures I've decided to wrap up into one big post. Inauguration season on this blog is almost over...

On the way to DC, Mitch spilled coffee all over the back seat mat :)

After the 10.5 hour car ride up to DC, the four of us were still all smiles 

Saturday party preparation: the jello shot chef admiring his work 

Getting the job done out in the cold

Packing the car with two laundry baskets full of jello shots

Late night Sunday three of us get into some serious shenanigans 

Making we sure we returned all the cans of beer, just like we found them a couple hours earlier

Beer makes people do stupid things, like fight

(Dave's looking to tap out as) Ashley is rendered incapacitated with laughter

The car ride back - done completely in daylight on Wednesday - with this group of folk

Why I Travel Alot

Talking with hippo-friend, Christina, I had a kind of emotional moment this morning. She and I are emailing back and forth, and this thread is about favorite foods. I mentioned I plan to be home this weekend and may be able to cook some of those delicious things we were talking about (banana nut pancakes).

And I had this immediate, wrenching, sad sensation when I wrote that I plan to be home. I am going to be here in Atlanta this weekend, alone in the house, cooking brunch for myself -- before going to play goaltimate or something else Saturday afternoon. 

And my realization was that I want to be back in DC, where I was a couple weeks ago -- enjoying meals and parties with the best friends in the world. And I want to be hanging out with them some more, seeing them and sleeping on the same pull-out couch mattress-on-the-basement floor with them, etc.

If I can't hang out with these friends, then at least I want to be traveling -- not stuck at home without anybody, ya know. So that's Why I Travel      Alot.

Inauguration is Over but the Blogs Continue

Here's my fourth entry (of five) from Inauguration morning. Before recording the entry, I ran into a couple friends in the crowd, fellow Atlanta dems. The picture above is of Leslie, (what's the friend's name?), Nikema, Katie and me.

And here's what I wrote while exiting the Mall area: 

Standing in a crowd of exiting inauguration goers. 

People climbed the fences to our right and are congregating outside the road we're on (see photo below) next to the American Indian museum. 

Bush's helicopter flew out from the capital a minute ago; met with middle fingers and some waves. Slow going towards the exit. Next Katie and I are going to her place to watch the parade.

Not in the original memo: as was apparent to everyone witnessing the inauguration and reading this blog, the crowd last Tuesday was packed. So we had the obligation, sometimes the pleasure, of getting to know some strangers around us. One woman was a GW student from Moorestown, NJ (E! A! G! L! E! S!). During the inauguration, I concurred with her that it was useless to boo McCain and others on the inaugural stage, even those we might disagree with. This came up again when Bush's helicopter flew him away from Pennsylvania Ave for hopefully the last time. I've wanted to see that moment for a long time; but I wouldn't have felt any better if I had saluted him with my middle finger. 

Its funny that I write that because, to be completely honest, I was the supreme culprit of giving Bush the middle finger when I played ultimate on the Ellipse.

ps Good to see Bert, Ed, Faust, and House this weekend. Where are the inauguration recaps homies?

Inauguration 3

My third 'memo' (of five) from last week's Presidential Inauguration, with accompanying pictures: 

(looking west towards the Washington Monument as the crowd listens to Joe Biden take the oath of office)

12:05 Joe Biden just took the oath of office. I have been crying and snotting or having my breath taken away by this, this, I don't know what to call it. I feel that the music, the speaking, and surprisingly the prayer by Rick Warren, is all so much to bear. 

The crowd is as tight now as at any point today. And with the exception of a couple people bickering nearby, these millions of citizens of the world are united. The unity and focus, resolve and support, seem true, good and well. Yo Yo Ma and accompianists are playing.

(Obviously, view of the Capitol as music plays and we edge closer to Obama's swearing-in and address)

inauguration 2

This is a relatively unedited version of my second post of the day last Tuesday. Katie and I have just made it through security and are debating where to stand for the swearing-in.

Were in a really tightly packed crowd right under the shade of a jumbotron. People are much warmer this close together. But we are no longer with the good spirited teacher doing trivia.
A couple people nearby complained when the two of us walked up that there was no room. And they were pretty right. But the lead cynic was kind of bitchy.
Music just started; I haven't cried yet but the emotion of the moment comes at short intervals.
For now we have to be content to visit with our neighbors very intimately. (Katie laughs as I write 'intimately')
This was a mobile post; don't know how to insert pictured this way. More coming soon.

Inauguration 1.5

Shameless plug for another blog: please visit Moleskine Journal Around the World right now and share a few words.

Photo #1: Looking behind us before getting to the Silver area gates, here is an idea of what we walked through to get to the Mall. 

Photo #2: In front of us... the ticket-checking process that police officers conducted for the Silver section. "Everyone hold up your ticket!"

If this was how the all ticketed areas were being checked its no surprise that people with tickets didn't get in. Cause people without tickets easily could have packed the area and gotten through. I could have lost my piece of paper (Katie actually did, but found it ten seconds later) but still gotten in. And any forged ticket would certainly have passed the test the officer gave to see who had tickets. (understandably, for the Purple section, this created havoc)

Inauguration 1

Here are a couple notes I made on inauguration morning.

8:52am Left the house at ten minutes to seven. Got to Katie at the Capitol South Metro. This is where I saw the first major crowd of the day, noisy and pushy coming out of the station.

Katie and I and thousands of people walked down C or D street SE towards the ticketed entry points. After about 30 minutes of slow walking, the crowd came to a halt in front of the Silver gate.

Waiting here, we've met people from Indiana, Chicago, and LA. We've moved only a hundred yards in the last hour. I'm still not close enough to the stage to see any detail, even with binoculars. 

I'm writing this as a memo and not a live-blog cause the internet is out. 

(It turned out that I never got close enough to see the stage (or president) with my bare eyes, even if you count binoculars my bare eyes. Below is a picture of Monday, the day before the inauguration, and people waiting outside House Office Buildings to pick up their tickets. Some people waited as long as 4 hours in the 20 degree weather)

On the Road

The Obamaration overnight car just entered North Carolina!

So far the fun moments include Bird Walk, latrinology at the gas station (also had the world's slowest clerk), and learning the lyrics to 'Half Brick'http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb7JLO2lWlQ&client=mv-google&gl=US&hl=en

This is probably the one time I would use somethin like Twitter... an overnight car trip.

Overnight driving

My plan is to drive overnight to alumni weekend. Atlanta to Washington. One (possibly two) passengers. 

Earliest possible departure time from Atlanta is 5:30pm Friday and my deadline arrival time is 10am Saturday in DC.

Here's the rough plan: 

• 7:00pm leave Atlanta
  
• 9:00 stop around Greenville, SC
  
• Midnight long stop around Greensboro, NC
  
• 2:00am stop around Henderson, NC
  
• 4:00 long stop around Richmond, VA
  
• 7:00 arrive in Washington area
  
• 8:00 meet friend for breakfast
  
• 10:00 alumni and current teams mixed ultimate
  

What I have to look forward to: 

• the 2006 spring season DVD, a la House
  
• the biggest, baddest alumni dinner and party ever
• brunch
• parties
• family time
• Inauguration of the 44th president

Any advice for the trip?

Sayin Somethin Significant

I would like to use as a subject from which to preach this morning: "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution." The text for the morning is found in the book of Revelation. There are two passages that I would like to quote, in the sixteenth chapter of that book: "Behold, I make all things new; former things are passed away."

On March 31, 1968, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr visited Washington, DC to spoke these words at the famous National Cathedral.

The first thing that strikes me about the above introduction is the similarity between the words revolution and revelation. Using this history of the latin revolvere and this etymology of the latin revelare, we understand that revolution means more re-birth or renewal and revelation denotes more disclosure and revealing. For Dr King, just like today's pronunciation, the two were intertwined.

Dr King is quite up front in "Remaining Awake" about the triple evils of his day:

• poverty
• racism
• militarism

And he talks about the challenges for people of good conscience in facing those threats. Mainly, time is on the side of the oppressor. And a narrow worldview will always limit the possibilities of an international brotherhood of the human race.

Failing to develop new attitudes and mental responses is a symptom of sleeping through a revolution. With poor people from across America, Dr King and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference planned to "call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment; to make the invisible [i.e. poverty, the poor] visible."

In addition to making demands of the government, Dr King's campaign was carrying out strategic boycotts of products and companies across the south: for failure to hire Black workers, invest in Black communities, and offer the dignity that humans deserve.

Before ending this eloquent and direct sermon, Dr King reminded us that standing against war was not popular. The media, along with people within the civil rights movement, lobbied Dr King to silence his opposition to the War in Vietnam. But Dr King did not seek the consensus. From his days in the Montgomery bus boycott, Dr King and the people there aimed to move the consensus.

Though his positions were not always expedient, they came from his conscience. Dr King was fatally shot only five days after this 'Remaining Awake' speech, giving his words, spoken in the nation's capitol, even more weight.

In his truly anti-war speech, Dr King noted that "true compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar....it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring." This, indeed, is a revolution worth remaining awake for.

Organizing

Next week I am visiting Washington, DC, for my first business-related trip ever to the nation's capital. The New Organizing Institute is hosting training, workshops, and talks for online organizers from across the non-profit and progressive worlds.

Along these lines, I want to know your thoughts (yes, you, the reader of this) on online communication. If you have spent any time emailing, blogging, e-networking, or using other online communication, please share your thoughts on the experience here. A couple questions to jumpstart it:

1. Can you trust the people you email with, chat with, meet on myspace, and other sites?
2. What do you like to do online - political talk, meeting friends, sharing news, researching?
3. How do you think we can use the internet better as we promote a social justice agenda?
   

(I want to see your thoughts -- this means you, Lisa; you too, Liz; all that g-chatting applies, Kate; your facebook time counts, Kyle -- everyone, share your thoughts).

I'll post more about this, with resources for bloggers and other users of web-communication tools, soon. I need your thoughts.


Ben

p.s. Thanks to Liz for feedback on the self-interest topic and 'love as social philosophy' posts.