In the event you had not come across the NYTimes Op-ed, here it is for your reading. It is widely distributed that Senator Kennedy will be announcing his endorsement of fellow Senator Obama on Monday Jan 28. Remember Feb 5, is a big voting day for primaries across the nation.
January 27, 2008
Op-Ed Contributor
A President Like My Father
By CAROLINE KENNEDY
OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did when my father was president. This sense is even more profound today. That is why I am supporting a presidential candidate in the Democratic primaries, Barack Obama.
My reasons are patriotic, political and personal, and the three are intertwined. All my life, people have told me that my father changed their lives, that they got involved in public service or politics because he asked them to. And the generation he inspired has passed that spirit on to its children. I meet young people who were born long after John F. Kennedy was president, yet who ask me how to live out his ideals.
Sometimes it takes a while to recognize that someone has a special ability to get us to believe in ourselves, to tie that belief to our highest ideals and imagine that together we can do great things. In those rare moments, when such a person comes along, we need to put aside our plans and reach for what we know is possible.
We have that kind of opportunity with Senator Obama. It isn’t that the other candidates are not experienced or knowledgeable. But this year, that may not be enough. We need a change in the leadership of this country — just as we did in 1960.
Most of us would prefer to base our voting decision on policy differences. However, the candidates’ goals are similar. They have all laid out detailed plans on everything from strengthening our middle class to investing in early childhood education. So qualities of leadership, character and judgment play a larger role than usual.
Senator Obama has demonstrated these qualities throughout his more than two decades of public service, not just in the United States Senate but in Illinois, where he helped turn around struggling communities, taught constitutional law and was an elected state official for eight years. And Senator Obama is showing the same qualities today. He has built a movement that is changing the face of politics in this country, and he has demonstrated a special gift for inspiring young people — known for a willingness to volunteer, but an aversion to politics — to become engaged in the political process.
I have spent the past five years working in the New York City public schools and have three teenage children of my own. There is a generation coming of age that is hopeful, hard-working, innovative and imaginative. But too many of them are also hopeless, defeated and disengaged. As parents, we have a responsibility to help our children to believe in themselves and in their power to shape their future. Senator Obama is inspiring my children, my parents’ grandchildren, with that sense of possibility.
Senator Obama is running a dignified and honest campaign. He has spoken eloquently about the role of faith in his life, and opened a window into his character in two compelling books. And when it comes to judgment, Barack Obama made the right call on the most important issue of our time by opposing the war in Iraq from the beginning.
I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved.
I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans.
Caroline Kennedy is the author of “A Patriot’s Handbook: Songs, Poems, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love.”
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Senator Obama speaks with SF Chronical Editorial Board
Many of us are in the throes of decision making regarding the upcoming CA and other state primaries. Attached is link to a 52 minute dialogue with Senator Obama.
What is clear to me, he is forging a process more in line to participatory democracy that realizes big money, multinationals and the wealthy have vested interest in maintaining the status quo. He offers understandable and un-spun views on how to proceed on key issues that can be local, national, and international in scope.
What is disarming about him, he comes across genuine, thoughtful, and someone who has a plan for reinvigorating American society.
Though you may have made a decision, I can only asks that you be open to hearing him out, and see how your views can expand or focus based on what he says.
Note it is 50 min long, make time to watch and hear.
http://www.brightcove.tv/title .jsp?title=1381682549
What is clear to me, he is forging a process more in line to participatory democracy that realizes big money, multinationals and the wealthy have vested interest in maintaining the status quo. He offers understandable and un-spun views on how to proceed on key issues that can be local, national, and international in scope.
What is disarming about him, he comes across genuine, thoughtful, and someone who has a plan for reinvigorating American society.
Though you may have made a decision, I can only asks that you be open to hearing him out, and see how your views can expand or focus based on what he says.
Note it is 50 min long, make time to watch and hear.
http://www.brightcove.tv/title .jsp?title=1381682549
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Confounding the Racial Calculus -- Maxim Thorne, Esq
Mr. Thorne, offers an astute observation on the shift in the political strategy of Hillary Clinton. One has to weigh his perspective and not to view it as another "conspiracy theorist" or hapless victim of identity politics.
Thorne is a Yale Law graduate and an advocate in the New York city area.
Barack Obama has been confounding the racial calculus of millions of Americans for the last year- including (apparently) the Clintons . It’s difficult being black even in the liberal democratic world. What we have seen in the last couple of weeks is first the outward frustration of the Clinton campaign in trying to understand how they calculated so wrong- and more recently their heinous attempts to restore the racial status quo.
Barack immediately started confounding conventional wisdom through fundraising. The Clintons could not imagine that a Black politician completely outside of the party machinery they had lorded over for more than a decade was able to amass a war chest to rival Hillary's. Not only had Barack gotten the support and dollars of legion of white Americans but also many upwardly-mobile people of color. These folks really don't exist in the Clintonian vision of the poor and desperate Black and Brown masses waiting for a white knight to lead them to the promised land (re – It took LBJ…).
And then came Iowa . Like he did in Illinois, Barack won Iowa by having a wider focus and broader vision that the Black candidates who had come before him. Barack spoke to the concerns of urban folks struggling with failing schools and lack of health care. He also spoke to the concerns of rural Americans who face the erosion of communities by big agricultural conglomerates and dwindling populations. He spoke to Americans in general and people responded. He has inspired in Democrats an ability to dream and hope- to believe that while the progressive agenda has been derailed it can once again be put back on track. The Clintons had believed that most Americans had been so cowed by the disasters of the Bush years that they would pine for- hope for- nothing more ambitious than the Clinton years. What she was offering was not the America of their dreams but of their memories. Barack offered something intrinsically better.
But the Clintons don't seem to believe this. From their actions over the last couple of weeks it seems that their remedy to Barack's potential to win this nomination is not to counter him with an even better vision but to revert to race politics. They want to remind Americans that he's black. The Clintons seem incensed that Iowans- and the other Democrats who have allowed Barack to erase Hillary's once overwhelming lead in national polls- didn't just vote on race. "BUT HE'S BLACK- CAN'T YOU SEE !" is what Hillary and Bill have been telegraphing for weeks now.
To a Democratic electorate that seems to have finally begun to move beyond base race concerns the Clintons- the paragons of progress- are dedicated to dragging the party back to the depths of poisonous racial history. And not a moment too soon. Across the country the Clintons are on a remembrance tour- reminding Hispanics of the historic rivalry with Blacks; reminding Southerners of their latent fear of the Black man; reminding white suburbanites in the North and Midwest of the imagery of Black drug-dealers and gangsters that inspired the white flight to suburbs.
And it may be that the simple message of 'BUT REMEMBER HE'S STILL BLACK' will resonate far and wide within Democratic ranks: both black and white. Hillary and Bill are most convincing in their 'civil rights commitments' when it comes to vague imagery (Bill as the 'first Black president'; Hillary as the white partner in an 'interracial marriage') but they get in trouble when specifics come in. Hillary endured an onslaught of criticism when she claimed last year in Selma to have had a life-changing moment when she heard Dr. King speak in 1963. Yet in 1964 she was a Goldwater Girl. Goldwater was no ordinary presidential candidate. In addition to fathering the modern conservative movement that now strangles the Republican Party he was a pioneer of what would become known as the Southern Strategy. Goldwater was at the vanguard of GOP radicals in the early 1960s who saw opportunity in the Democratic Party's embrace of civil rights under JFK and LBJ. Goldwater was one of the few Republican senators to join Southern Democrats in very public opposition to civil rights and equality. Goldwater ran a campaign in 1964 that was in direct opposition to everything Dr. King hoped for. It is shocking that Hillary Clinton- a political astute college entrant who would head the Young Republicans at Wellesley- would not realize that Goldwater's narrow exploitation of white fears of Black equality didn't real gel with the civil rights agenda.
What Hillary and Bill do know, however, is that while the national Democratic Party quickly embraced a progressive agenda from the 1960s on it has been much slower going among the grassroots. Republican presidential candidates from Goldwater onward have gained the support of legions of Southern Democrats by appealing to latent racism over the years. Barack Obama's potency in national polls and his support among white voters across the country may well mark a period of transition as those voters come to terms with their fears of the past and move on. But not if the Clintons have anything to do with it. Perhaps Bob Johnson said it best for the Clintons when he warned South Carolinians that Barack Obama is no Sidney Poitier. In other words he may look and act like the 'Good Negro' but it's just an act; he's really an inner-city drug fiend.
And if Latinos- a critical voting block in Nevada but also in Feb. 5 primaries in states like California and New York- were thinking of moving beyond racial suspicions and voting for Barack on the issues the Clinton folks were nice enough to print a poster in Nevada reminding Hispanics of their history of not supporting Black candidates. Hillary Clinton said it’s not to revive racial memories; it's to make a historic statement.
But just to cover her bases the Clinton folks have gone to court in Nevada to prevent caucusing at the casinos where thousands of Democratic union workers- heavily Latino and Black- are working on Saturday while the caucuses are being held. The Clintons thought it was a good idea when the plan has made last year but changed their minds when an expected endorsement from the powerful Culinary Workers union went to Barack Obama instead. (A federal court judge rejected a temporary injunction and the caucuses will be held in the casinos).
Iowa made a lot of Americans feel good about the direction of race relations in this country but those good vibes may have been premature. That the Clintons of all people would think it pragmatic- and acceptable- to use race in this way is telling about how far we truly need to go. A truce on the race issue seems to be holding but unfortunately some damage has been done.
I believe Barack Obama has the ability to overcome this damage. His victory will be a testament to the progress we have made as a nation and an inspiration to our children who can still believe they can grow up to be President.
Best wishes,
Maxim
Maxim Thorne, Esq.
maxim@maximthorne.com
cell 202-460-4966
a you tube video is also online search Maxim Thorne
Thorne is a Yale Law graduate and an advocate in the New York city area.
Confounding the Racial Calculus
Barack Obama has been confounding the racial calculus of millions of Americans for the last year- including (apparently) the Clintons . It’s difficult being black even in the liberal democratic world. What we have seen in the last couple of weeks is first the outward frustration of the Clinton campaign in trying to understand how they calculated so wrong- and more recently their heinous attempts to restore the racial status quo.
Barack Obama has not only proven that he is a singularly unique Black politician but that he has the awareness and vision and commitment to rise above the sometimes toxic muck of American race relations (particularly within the Democratic Party). The old calculus would have rendered Barack's presidential bid a folly. It has been near impossible for Black politicians to win statewide offices like Senator and Governor. Even today there are just one sitting Black senator (Obama) and one sitting Black governor (Deval Patrick of Massachusetts ).
Barack immediately started confounding conventional wisdom through fundraising. The Clintons could not imagine that a Black politician completely outside of the party machinery they had lorded over for more than a decade was able to amass a war chest to rival Hillary's. Not only had Barack gotten the support and dollars of legion of white Americans but also many upwardly-mobile people of color. These folks really don't exist in the Clintonian vision of the poor and desperate Black and Brown masses waiting for a white knight to lead them to the promised land (re – It took LBJ…).
And then came Iowa . Like he did in Illinois, Barack won Iowa by having a wider focus and broader vision that the Black candidates who had come before him. Barack spoke to the concerns of urban folks struggling with failing schools and lack of health care. He also spoke to the concerns of rural Americans who face the erosion of communities by big agricultural conglomerates and dwindling populations. He spoke to Americans in general and people responded. He has inspired in Democrats an ability to dream and hope- to believe that while the progressive agenda has been derailed it can once again be put back on track. The Clintons had believed that most Americans had been so cowed by the disasters of the Bush years that they would pine for- hope for- nothing more ambitious than the Clinton years. What she was offering was not the America of their dreams but of their memories. Barack offered something intrinsically better.
But the Clintons don't seem to believe this. From their actions over the last couple of weeks it seems that their remedy to Barack's potential to win this nomination is not to counter him with an even better vision but to revert to race politics. They want to remind Americans that he's black. The Clintons seem incensed that Iowans- and the other Democrats who have allowed Barack to erase Hillary's once overwhelming lead in national polls- didn't just vote on race. "BUT HE'S BLACK- CAN'T YOU SEE !" is what Hillary and Bill have been telegraphing for weeks now.
To a Democratic electorate that seems to have finally begun to move beyond base race concerns the Clintons- the paragons of progress- are dedicated to dragging the party back to the depths of poisonous racial history. And not a moment too soon. Across the country the Clintons are on a remembrance tour- reminding Hispanics of the historic rivalry with Blacks; reminding Southerners of their latent fear of the Black man; reminding white suburbanites in the North and Midwest of the imagery of Black drug-dealers and gangsters that inspired the white flight to suburbs.
And it may be that the simple message of 'BUT REMEMBER HE'S STILL BLACK' will resonate far and wide within Democratic ranks: both black and white. Hillary and Bill are most convincing in their 'civil rights commitments' when it comes to vague imagery (Bill as the 'first Black president'; Hillary as the white partner in an 'interracial marriage') but they get in trouble when specifics come in. Hillary endured an onslaught of criticism when she claimed last year in Selma to have had a life-changing moment when she heard Dr. King speak in 1963. Yet in 1964 she was a Goldwater Girl. Goldwater was no ordinary presidential candidate. In addition to fathering the modern conservative movement that now strangles the Republican Party he was a pioneer of what would become known as the Southern Strategy. Goldwater was at the vanguard of GOP radicals in the early 1960s who saw opportunity in the Democratic Party's embrace of civil rights under JFK and LBJ. Goldwater was one of the few Republican senators to join Southern Democrats in very public opposition to civil rights and equality. Goldwater ran a campaign in 1964 that was in direct opposition to everything Dr. King hoped for. It is shocking that Hillary Clinton- a political astute college entrant who would head the Young Republicans at Wellesley- would not realize that Goldwater's narrow exploitation of white fears of Black equality didn't real gel with the civil rights agenda.
What Hillary and Bill do know, however, is that while the national Democratic Party quickly embraced a progressive agenda from the 1960s on it has been much slower going among the grassroots. Republican presidential candidates from Goldwater onward have gained the support of legions of Southern Democrats by appealing to latent racism over the years. Barack Obama's potency in national polls and his support among white voters across the country may well mark a period of transition as those voters come to terms with their fears of the past and move on. But not if the Clintons have anything to do with it. Perhaps Bob Johnson said it best for the Clintons when he warned South Carolinians that Barack Obama is no Sidney Poitier. In other words he may look and act like the 'Good Negro' but it's just an act; he's really an inner-city drug fiend.
And if Latinos- a critical voting block in Nevada but also in Feb. 5 primaries in states like California and New York- were thinking of moving beyond racial suspicions and voting for Barack on the issues the Clinton folks were nice enough to print a poster in Nevada reminding Hispanics of their history of not supporting Black candidates. Hillary Clinton said it’s not to revive racial memories; it's to make a historic statement.
But just to cover her bases the Clinton folks have gone to court in Nevada to prevent caucusing at the casinos where thousands of Democratic union workers- heavily Latino and Black- are working on Saturday while the caucuses are being held. The Clintons thought it was a good idea when the plan has made last year but changed their minds when an expected endorsement from the powerful Culinary Workers union went to Barack Obama instead. (A federal court judge rejected a temporary injunction and the caucuses will be held in the casinos).
Iowa made a lot of Americans feel good about the direction of race relations in this country but those good vibes may have been premature. That the Clintons of all people would think it pragmatic- and acceptable- to use race in this way is telling about how far we truly need to go. A truce on the race issue seems to be holding but unfortunately some damage has been done.
I believe Barack Obama has the ability to overcome this damage. His victory will be a testament to the progress we have made as a nation and an inspiration to our children who can still believe they can grow up to be President.
Best wishes,
Maxim
Maxim Thorne, Esq.
maxim@maximthorne.com
cell 202-460-4966
a you tube video is also online search Maxim Thorne
Monday, January 21, 2008
A long and full weekend
Living in the Bay Area of California has to be the second greatest gift life can offer, the first is life itself, day to day. Saturday (Jan 21) a day predicted to be cloudy with a chance of rain ended up being sunny in Napa Valley.
One of many life's indulgence is a trek one and a half hour north to taste vino. Today sparkling wines called to me. In part my friend who drove and I both enjoy champagne. Mustard flowers were beginning to blossom by the road side, surrounding hills sent grass shoots made them hills appear less blond, a hawk perched itself on a signposts looking for its prey in the field.
A picnic basket with salad, apples, flour less chocolate cake prepared by Tom were our accompaniment to the Chandon tasting as we sat on the patio, listening to the oak leaves rustling with the wind, looking at Magritte styled clouds, while the sun bathe warmth on a winter day.
Living life as it is: tasting at Mumm Napa and discovering the value of magnum bottled wines --softening the fruit, the acidity, and the carbon dioxide combo after nearly 7 years in the bottle fermenting. How delightful. Sometimes life can not be better met than to toast it with new discovery.
Monday MLK Day was a day for quite reflection and setting out a plan for work life in the coming year. I did not underestimate the privilege of living in one of the most beautiful and wealthiest areas in the world. Part of the blessings we enjoy in the region, better than average brain trust, a knack for risk taking and higher than average wages to go with our sky high living standards. As to the day itself, I stand proud to be an affirmative action baby and by product of good ole California public education (at a time when the state was known nationally as having the best post secondary public institutions).
To digress, California is now perhaps recognize as being in the penitentiary business, let us accept your poor, hungry, and marginally employable. Allow us to corral them into correctional facilities, where we call the question, is correction a benevolent term.
What can one do to mark the day of continued struggle for equality, just society, and democracy? Take a breath, be reminded of the accomplishments of immigrants of color like many peers and mentors, accept -- not complacently, struggle continues. For those of us in the educated middle class, or the white collar itinerant class -- less we be placated by our seeming material wealth, we seek each other and support one another bring others up as we climb.
A day in the country, breath taking topography in the winter light, shaded by the coming full moon, one can breath for a moment and move forward to take the next small step if awakened the next day.
One of many life's indulgence is a trek one and a half hour north to taste vino. Today sparkling wines called to me. In part my friend who drove and I both enjoy champagne. Mustard flowers were beginning to blossom by the road side, surrounding hills sent grass shoots made them hills appear less blond, a hawk perched itself on a signposts looking for its prey in the field.
A picnic basket with salad, apples, flour less chocolate cake prepared by Tom were our accompaniment to the Chandon tasting as we sat on the patio, listening to the oak leaves rustling with the wind, looking at Magritte styled clouds, while the sun bathe warmth on a winter day.
Living life as it is: tasting at Mumm Napa and discovering the value of magnum bottled wines --softening the fruit, the acidity, and the carbon dioxide combo after nearly 7 years in the bottle fermenting. How delightful. Sometimes life can not be better met than to toast it with new discovery.
Monday MLK Day was a day for quite reflection and setting out a plan for work life in the coming year. I did not underestimate the privilege of living in one of the most beautiful and wealthiest areas in the world. Part of the blessings we enjoy in the region, better than average brain trust, a knack for risk taking and higher than average wages to go with our sky high living standards. As to the day itself, I stand proud to be an affirmative action baby and by product of good ole California public education (at a time when the state was known nationally as having the best post secondary public institutions).
To digress, California is now perhaps recognize as being in the penitentiary business, let us accept your poor, hungry, and marginally employable. Allow us to corral them into correctional facilities, where we call the question, is correction a benevolent term.
What can one do to mark the day of continued struggle for equality, just society, and democracy? Take a breath, be reminded of the accomplishments of immigrants of color like many peers and mentors, accept -- not complacently, struggle continues. For those of us in the educated middle class, or the white collar itinerant class -- less we be placated by our seeming material wealth, we seek each other and support one another bring others up as we climb.
A day in the country, breath taking topography in the winter light, shaded by the coming full moon, one can breath for a moment and move forward to take the next small step if awakened the next day.
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
What a difference days can make
Many days since last post and as many significant events at work, personal, and political took place. At times, one has to take pause to appreciate the moment that has come and gone.
Jan 3, celebrated my birthday by going to work and then to yoga. At work, an atypical day it turned out to be, terminating a staff and a client moving into a higher level of care transported out of the facility handcuffed and escorted by 3 adults plus one sheriff.
A challenging combination to one's psyche and paused to grasp it all with equanimity. Found it hard not to be irritated by actions of others: namely transporting a client, though not clinically indicated, handcuffed, surrounded by 3 escorts, and passed through kitchen, client common room, through the hallway pass the medical exam rooms and staff office, was troublesome. I was thrown off by the seeming insensitivity and lack of respect by these personnel for the other clients, facility staff and the profession. A lengthy conversation with the Supervising nurse of the team who behaved in this way was necessary, framing an intervention to consider the milieu, potential client backlash in perceiving how mental health professionals treat young people needing medical/psychiatric support, and alternative exit paths to minimize the potential adverse impact of this “professional” behavior on people.
Yoga, with teacher Tony Eason http://www.ynottony.com/ was a salve for the day’s course of events. Tony announced at the end of class my birthday and to offer a greeting, someone commented to all, "that's hardcore." I took his comments to mean, yoga class as a way of celebrating. To those in hearing distance, they are aware of how much effort it took for me to incorporate additional days of yoga into weekly routine in the past five years. An act of affirmation and appreciation to be able to attend a class, to enjoy the benefits of yoga.
Meals with friends and family alike: performance of Delesi at Yoshi's, grazing at Mecca and Tangerine on a Friday evening. Sat evening dinner with mom and bro at our favorite place. Old style calamari with noodles, Chianti and sumptuous flat bread were on our minds. Sunday a return trip, after many years, to Tofu on Sanchez for the most fresh sashimi (mouth watering, deeply satisfying) I've had since the days when an old friend seasonally brought back tuna for home made maguro. WOW.
Tuesday's Iowa caucus brought to the fore the "electability" factor of Obama as a potential Democratic nominee. What was striking in so many levels where the increased interest of the populace in participating. Of note: the analysis of who broke for which candidate, namely the under 30 sect, independents and women--underpinned by the fact the state is over 90% Caucasian.
New Hampshire primaries as it portrayed is the rebalanced of primary contenders: Clinton and McCain where given the nod. After the parsing of who voted for whom, what is true for both elections were the high numbers of participants. Will this be sustainable post Super Tuesday?
Jan 3, celebrated my birthday by going to work and then to yoga. At work, an atypical day it turned out to be, terminating a staff and a client moving into a higher level of care transported out of the facility handcuffed and escorted by 3 adults plus one sheriff.
A challenging combination to one's psyche and paused to grasp it all with equanimity. Found it hard not to be irritated by actions of others: namely transporting a client, though not clinically indicated, handcuffed, surrounded by 3 escorts, and passed through kitchen, client common room, through the hallway pass the medical exam rooms and staff office, was troublesome. I was thrown off by the seeming insensitivity and lack of respect by these personnel for the other clients, facility staff and the profession. A lengthy conversation with the Supervising nurse of the team who behaved in this way was necessary, framing an intervention to consider the milieu, potential client backlash in perceiving how mental health professionals treat young people needing medical/psychiatric support, and alternative exit paths to minimize the potential adverse impact of this “professional” behavior on people.
Yoga, with teacher Tony Eason http://www.ynottony.com/ was a salve for the day’s course of events. Tony announced at the end of class my birthday and to offer a greeting, someone commented to all, "that's hardcore." I took his comments to mean, yoga class as a way of celebrating. To those in hearing distance, they are aware of how much effort it took for me to incorporate additional days of yoga into weekly routine in the past five years. An act of affirmation and appreciation to be able to attend a class, to enjoy the benefits of yoga.
Meals with friends and family alike: performance of Delesi at Yoshi's, grazing at Mecca and Tangerine on a Friday evening. Sat evening dinner with mom and bro at our favorite place. Old style calamari with noodles, Chianti and sumptuous flat bread were on our minds. Sunday a return trip, after many years, to Tofu on Sanchez for the most fresh sashimi (mouth watering, deeply satisfying) I've had since the days when an old friend seasonally brought back tuna for home made maguro. WOW.
Tuesday's Iowa caucus brought to the fore the "electability" factor of Obama as a potential Democratic nominee. What was striking in so many levels where the increased interest of the populace in participating. Of note: the analysis of who broke for which candidate, namely the under 30 sect, independents and women--underpinned by the fact the state is over 90% Caucasian.
New Hampshire primaries as it portrayed is the rebalanced of primary contenders: Clinton and McCain where given the nod. After the parsing of who voted for whom, what is true for both elections were the high numbers of participants. Will this be sustainable post Super Tuesday?
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
The first day of '08 and the closing of '07
A day of editors.
Tom and I after brunch, nap and shower, attended a party in the mish at Peter's (photographer/editor for the Chron). The New Year's Day open house was peopled with SF Front Runners and at least 6 editors. Front Runners SF loaded on carbs and protein after completing their annual across the Golden Gate Bridge run.
Independent editors and a book publisher, behind the scenes and the true ghost writers of our times. Are they scribes, or transcribers? Current and past projects, intersections of friendships and work made for stimulating and intriguing conversations to have the pleasure of listening. What is it that editors share among themselves? The state of writing or public speaking in today’s media injected dioramas. It appears most of what passes for writing is generally poor.
A night of literati.
NYE 07 marked by the blogger with conversations in a Duboce Triangle Edwardian, peopled by: a Harvard librarian and editor, whose current project is a bibliography of Gore Vidal's work, a former non-profit Executive from LA, a copy writer/editor friends and partners. Topics ranged from Social Work practice in the UK, the Kennedy-Bouvier-Vidal connection, current lot of Democratic Presidential aspirants, and China -the not so new imperialists.
Conversation flowed easily, punctuated by Champagne, sparkling wine, cava, vegetarian bean soup with dumplings, a roasted beat salad over arugula and the fire works viewed from the flat's porch.
Sunday Nite at Jellies.
A cold and damp evening on the waterfront. Club filled with transplanted Caribbean and Central American people dancing to a live Salsa band and dj. Salsa dancing is maybe an alternative to the tropical heat and accompanying sweat that one can not experience readily in the cool and temperate days of Bay Area life. Discernible are the styles of Cubans, Mexicans (cumbia style), Puerto Ricans iterations of the salsa beat and dance.
A Bday gathering for Rona F. I longed for an evening in Havana, dancing with friends and new friends to sonorous beats.
Saturday evening in a SOMA warehouse.
A rainy evening centered on stone soup. The hosts live in a warehouse on a busy SOMA street, a space with production office for video, music, and film projects. The house filled with Art work, many noteworthy paintings, various club decor objects, and very lively plants. The back garden had tropical air leading me to believe, I had escaped the city, only hundred yards away. A Jacuzzi, patio deck, and a bar in a lush setting.
The evening’s entertainment included a reading from Ms. Cora Values, accompanied by Sister Dana Inequity and his banjo. Host and cook du jour provided home made pulled pork, 2 pots of stone soup one vegetarian and the other not. Life an imitation of art, or is living artfully a facsimile of life as a stage. Perhaps links and pix to be attached.
Tom and I after brunch, nap and shower, attended a party in the mish at Peter's (photographer/editor for the Chron). The New Year's Day open house was peopled with SF Front Runners and at least 6 editors. Front Runners SF loaded on carbs and protein after completing their annual across the Golden Gate Bridge run.
Independent editors and a book publisher, behind the scenes and the true ghost writers of our times. Are they scribes, or transcribers? Current and past projects, intersections of friendships and work made for stimulating and intriguing conversations to have the pleasure of listening. What is it that editors share among themselves? The state of writing or public speaking in today’s media injected dioramas. It appears most of what passes for writing is generally poor.
A night of literati.
NYE 07 marked by the blogger with conversations in a Duboce Triangle Edwardian, peopled by: a Harvard librarian and editor, whose current project is a bibliography of Gore Vidal's work, a former non-profit Executive from LA, a copy writer/editor friends and partners. Topics ranged from Social Work practice in the UK, the Kennedy-Bouvier-Vidal connection, current lot of Democratic Presidential aspirants, and China -the not so new imperialists.
Conversation flowed easily, punctuated by Champagne, sparkling wine, cava, vegetarian bean soup with dumplings, a roasted beat salad over arugula and the fire works viewed from the flat's porch.
Sunday Nite at Jellies.
A cold and damp evening on the waterfront. Club filled with transplanted Caribbean and Central American people dancing to a live Salsa band and dj. Salsa dancing is maybe an alternative to the tropical heat and accompanying sweat that one can not experience readily in the cool and temperate days of Bay Area life. Discernible are the styles of Cubans, Mexicans (cumbia style), Puerto Ricans iterations of the salsa beat and dance.
A Bday gathering for Rona F. I longed for an evening in Havana, dancing with friends and new friends to sonorous beats.
Saturday evening in a SOMA warehouse.
A rainy evening centered on stone soup. The hosts live in a warehouse on a busy SOMA street, a space with production office for video, music, and film projects. The house filled with Art work, many noteworthy paintings, various club decor objects, and very lively plants. The back garden had tropical air leading me to believe, I had escaped the city, only hundred yards away. A Jacuzzi, patio deck, and a bar in a lush setting.
The evening’s entertainment included a reading from Ms. Cora Values, accompanied by Sister Dana Inequity and his banjo. Host and cook du jour provided home made pulled pork, 2 pots of stone soup one vegetarian and the other not. Life an imitation of art, or is living artfully a facsimile of life as a stage. Perhaps links and pix to be attached.
A shout out to my fellow CAPS
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): French author and statesman AndrÈ Malraux observed that Jesus Christ was the only anarchist who ever really succeeded. It's no coincidence that Christ was a Capricorn, I might add, since the evolved members of your tribe have many of the qualities necessary to thrive in situations where there are no formal rules or laws. If you would like to move more in the direction of being the highly evolved Capricorn you were born to be -- and I think 2008 will be a very favorable time to do just that -- you should cultivate the qualities of a successful anarchist. In other words, be self-motivated, disciplined, and respectful of the needs of other people. Do the right thing without having to be coerced to do the right thing. Foster in yourself a reverence for freedom and a knack for making constructive use of your freedom.
Caps in the house:
Inaki, Rona F, Steff S, Robynn B, your's truly, Angelamia B, Donal G.
Caps in the house:
Inaki, Rona F, Steff S, Robynn B, your's truly, Angelamia B, Donal G.
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