Winter Walk

There's something about bundling up on a winter's morning, and braving the wild, windy woods that takes us back to a part of our childhood, or at least a simpler time.  Having to face the elements, trudging off into a threatening, unforgiving environment is something two people can do together to share their commitment to each other, and demonstrate the depth of their bond.  It's like heading into the unknown and hostile in many other parts of life, only more elemental and harsh.  It's also more basic, and easier to understand the nature of the threat.  It's easier still to see how well a relationship shields us from the cold and wind when we return to hot chocolate and a crackling fire.  Life doesn't get any better, and it's the contrast between cold and warmth that brings that out.

books, books, books

 Stacks

Thompson Library OSU Main

The picture was taken from the stairwell adjacent to the main stacks in Thompson Libarary at OSU.  This is a small slice of the real collection, a minor parcel of the astounding resource available here.  This is just a glimpse of over one million books in this library, a resource unimaginable less than 100 years ago, and one we take for granted today.  We are a rich nation, a land where we're able to take things like this for granted.  But we shouldn't; we ought to celebrate this incredible asset for what it is, a window into a myriad of strange, different, challenging, exotic, inspiring, stimulating, irritating, and yes, aggravating stories beyond the narrow confines of our own.  And here's the rest of the story: for every book you see here, there are a thousand thousand more, and more arriving all the time.  So go read something!

 

From one racist to another, welcome to Black History Month.  Not a racist, you say?  Baloney, I say.  Our first ever black president notwithstanding, we’re all racists, and to deny it would be an insult to the icons of equality, Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, Barbara Jordan, the list goes on and on of people who devoted their lives to, if not ending racism, at least making us aware of its insidious presence in our lives. 
    And the ‘R‘ word infects all of us, make no mistake.  My wife and I lived in Hawaii for a number of years, and as ‘haoles’, we had the privilege to sense and experience racism, albeit a nominal strain hardly worth mentioning.  I say privileged, because the subtle rejections gave us a minor taste of what a lot of ‘different‘ people simply incorporate into their daily lives: We were ignored at lunch counters and retail checkouts; local people often snapped at us over the smallest matter; we were steered in quietly nuanced ways on a choice of where and where not to find housing; and yes, I did once get pulled over by a Hawaiian policeman for no apparent reason.  Quote: “You know what you did was illegal sir.”  It was a statement, not a question.  ‘Driving while haole’, I guess.  The fellow wouldn’t tell me why he’d stopped me, and let me go with a ‘warning’.
    And racism is itself color blind, and pervasive.  The Reverend Jesse Jackson was walking home one night in Chicago, when he heard footsteps fall in behind him.  Alone, several blocks from home, he walked on, his heart racing, beginning to sweat, as the person gained on him.  He finally gathered the courage to turn and face his stalker, and the result was chilling.  Reverend Jackson said later, “Imagine my humiliation when I saw it was a white man, and I was relieved!”  Quite a statement about our culture’s collective assumptions that are hopefully fading away.   
        Here’s a list of questions: Have you ever needed a blood transfusion, or donated blood or plasma for a relative?  Every college student has given plasma for book or beer money, of course, so the answer is yes.  Have you ever stopped at a traffic signal?  Flipped on an incandescent light?  Seen an energetic person traipsing door to door selling beauty products?  Ever crunched into a crispy potato chip?  Opened a refrigerator?  Heard the furnace click on in the dead of a winter night?  Have you ever taken any of those inventions and devices for granted?  We all do, and that’s too bad, because they all have something in common.  All were invented, or perfected by African Americans.  Each in their own way enriched the American experience, while chipping away at the racism that kept them second class citizens for much of their lives. 
    Perhaps what we need, in addition to a black history month, is a ‘different‘ history month.  Our approach to eradicating racism in America hasn’t worked, and that’s because we’re intent on creating the ‘race blind‘ society that we all secretly know will never be.  Perhaps a different history month might help, by forcing us to look at the diversity in front of us, learning to celebrate it, and bringing us the understanding that those differences are what make Americans unique in all of history.
    Black history month is an opportunity to begin celebrating that singularity.  

Whole new world

 The Planets

Nothing to report today, or to blog about, just a very cool picture, and the idea of a whole new world when we launch ourselves into the unknown.  We never know just what realms we'll explore when we decide to throw caution to the wind, and step off our cozy little place.  Remember, life begins where you're CZ ends.

OSU Lantern Piece

OSU Lantern

1-25-10

As this is written, the California Supreme Court is once again hearing both sides of the contentious and controversial issue of so-called same-sex marriage.  Regardless of which way the court rules in California, this issue is not going away, and should not, as marriage equality is the civil rights issue of our time.  Better than most issues, civil marriage equality contains the definitions and determinants of who we are as Americans.
    So who are we?  We Americans are not the hyperbolic Tea-Party set, those foaming at the mouth downshouters screaming about whatever right-wing, anti-government diatribe will fit on a bumper sticker.  Nor are we the radical left, just short of Marxist types, who would prefer a proliferation of communes (with hot tubs), a Prius in every driveway, and a Whole Foods on every block.  We’re by and large a center-right country, a nation of hard-working, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens who, rightly, tend to sniff out obvious unfairnesses, and decide, on our own, that they’re, well, unfair.  Which is why, once the dust settles, civil marriage equality will be a given, a normal, fair, conservative feature of society.
    Why conservative?  It would seem that allowing gays & lesbians to marry each other would be a radical, socially polarizing, ‘Big-L’ Liberal, slippery-slope issue right up there with Medicare, or national hug-a-tree day.  But let’s dissect this carefully.  What do conservatives claim?  Their values rest on personal responsibility, self-sufficiency, social order, stability, the rule of law, fiscal responsibility and an adherence to cherished traditions.  Few would argue that marriage is the most conservative institution ever, a status that enshrines all the above stated values and more.  Marriage demands responsibility, stability, order, and a level of fidelity to another, both sexual and otherwise.  Marriage brands us as adults.  Marriage is indeed the cornerstone of community.
    So here we have a group of people, our LGBT brethren, who are desperate to commit to another, to proclaim their fidelity, to establish a stable, solid, safe environment with them.  They want to create a home together, work, pay taxes, be good consumers, create a safe, nurturing place for their kids, educate them, and teach them to be solid citizens.  They want to help make stronger, more vibrant communities.  They want to do all the things the rest of us take for granted every day.  In short, they want to marry.  Instead of denying them this right, it is in societies interest to encourage them in this endeavor.  Indeed, for those who wish to partake of societies available rights, protections and privileges as a couple, and there are many of them, we ought to insist on marriage as the mechanism.  Should LGBT people, or anyone else, be required to marry to obtain equality?  Of course not.  But equal access to marriage must be an option for those who desire it.
    Viewed objectively, without all the hype and stridency from either right or left, civil marriage equality is a very conservative issue.  It will happen, is happening, wherever reasonable people are able to see the issue for what it is, and to welcome it as a new way to demonstrate the depth and durability of the conservative values we all share as Americans.     

Gramps

 Gramps & Henry P

Zilker Park Austin January 21 2010

Okay, maybe this post doesn't seem to fit on the ME blog.  But it is the reason I've not posted in some time.  I've been away, in Texas, making Henry's acquaintance.  That's Henry you see above, my first grandchild, age two days, on his first outing with mom & gramps.  The kid is great, I tell ya'.  I think he likes me already, at least from what I can tell.  For instance, he hasn't bit me yet, or done any of those nasty things kids love to do to old people.  Actually, we have a lot in common: we sleep a lot, we tend to grouse at the slightest provocation, we prefer soft food, rely on other people to check for wardrobe malfunctions and we have to pee about every five minutes.  One big difference, the kid has more hair than me.  The educational part of all this is simple to see.  Henry will teach something to everyone he contacts, and I'm prepared to take a lesson or two from him in whatever topic comes along.  

One thing that occurred to me as I held young Henry, and saw his mom and dad interact with him, was just how achingly sweet the moments were.  Those two really love that child, and I can see already just how lucky the little guy is to have such engaging, caring, concerned parents.  Then another thought: How sad that we as a society strive to deny the same kind of sweet, loving interaction to our LGBT brethren, or anyone else.  There's something wrong with a group of people who collectively work toward restriction of the tenderness and proto-human exchage I witnessed between that child and his parents.  If two people desire that, the most cherished and compassionate event possible between humans, how can it be anything but right, and true, and virtuous?  This is real life.  We ought to be encouraging this, not denying it to anyone.

Love is Love

If the aged, the sterile, the a-religious can marry,
marriage is for everyone.

Byron Edgington