There's too much harmonic convergence going on.
Watching Fox is not helping stem the tide of giddiness welling up in me, with the "We Are The World" Capitol Mall musical Sunday and people infused with optimism everywhere I go. The country has gone pitch-perfect, happy, and increasingly broke at the same time. Go figure. Hard times only for skeptics like me.
At a Marin dinner the other night at Peter and Stefanie Coyote's, there was a deeply interesting group: producer Marsha Williams, metal rocker Lars Ulrich, actress Connie Nielsen, filmmaker Jesse Dylan (Bob's son) and Lars' dad, Torben, a former tennis pro, a jazz musician and writer, and his dad's wife, Molly. Much as I tried to season the evening with a sobering thought or two, everyone was uniformly whooping it up about the Obama future.
Likewise at Sunday's fundraiser for the Arhoolie Foundation in Richmond. Berkeley-based Arhoolie records founder and roots music uber-statesman Chris Strachwitz had drawn big, folksy stars. Taj Mahal, Ry Cooder, and Linda Rondstadt did their talented best to be all about the music, playing to the packed, down-home crowd at Los Cenzontles Mexican Art Center. But there were yet more political statements from the stage about the great new era dawning this week.
George Bush is obliging the mood, having spirited his furniture out of the White House early - he probably can't wait to get the hell out of there - showing he's certainly not a slacker about moving.
Did Martin Luther King, Jr. know in advance that his birthday would serve as oratorical and inspirational intro to the inauguration of the phrase Mr. Obama refuses to say but everyone says for him: the first African American president? And, just as conveniently, along comes a CNN poll showing that "two-thirds of blacks believe MLK's vision for race relations has been fulfilled." White people are cooperating in the transformation as well, according to the poll, by feeling guilty enough about race issues that only 46 percent of them agree that Rev. King's goals have been accomplished. White people worried on behalf of black people. That's a long way from police dogs and separate facilities.
Thank God we've got "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" to remind us that not everything these days has the happy aura of history and gravitas surrounding it. Our culture has not yet been completely overrun by moral purpose; the weekend's biggest movie audience paid $33.8 million to see a fat guy and social loser cruising on a Segway and falling on his face.
Even Israel, remarkably resistant to general popular opinion around the world, is pulling out of Gaza when they could have used the cover of the rest of the globe's riveted attention on Washington for at least another few days of deadly pyrotechnics. Maybe they're concerned about a lower level of support from a new administration, but their unilateral ceasefire became another voice in the general hallelujah chorus.
And the final note of triumph may be that the bad guys, al-Qaeda, are apparently suffering an outbreak of Bubonic Plague at their secret camps. How convenient. At least according to Britain's The Sun, one of my best sources for reliable news since Weekly World News went under. The Plague "spreads quickly and kills within hours," The Sun quotes one "security source" as saying. "This will be really worrying al-Qaeda."
You can find good news locally as well, and I don't mean Gavin Newsom's push to tie himself to the Obama wagon. The plague of sexually transmitted diseases is worse in Memphis and Milwaukee than it is here in SF, says the Centers for Disease Control. We'll take it.
Personally, I'm hoping the good mood continues at least through tomorrow, when I'll be hunting down local parties that don't cost $25,000. NextArts, putting on the Civic Center inaugural event, only requires clean socks and underwear.
Money does not always buy happiness in the Obama era. That's worth celebrating.
The result is this really joyful video / photo essay.
http://www.emilytroutman.blogspot.com
or http://vimeo.com/2895468 (high def)
I hope you'll check it out... it helps me keep my optimism separate from all the analysis that will take over everything soon!!! ---emily
“I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here: I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs. I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking. Hey wait a minute, there's one guy holding up both puppets! Shut up! Go back to bed America, your government is in control."
from your standpoint the world is gonna end soon. Oh well , what a great 2 hour presidency that was.
Its funny how people can see the same thing and yet see it so differently.
It's decidedly not funny that people like you cannot seem to understand that we are living in a world that requires snipers on the rooftops bomb detectors in the crowd at an event such as this. It is a sad truth.
There are always those protective measures in place.
I'm not afraid. Period.
He was Hillary's national campaign co-chair!
Don't think Obama doesn't know all that.
>>>> You can find good news locally as well, and I don't mean Gavin Newsom's push to tie himself to the Obama wagon. The plague of sexually transmitted diseases is worse in Memphis and Milwaukee than it is here in SF, says the Centers for Disease Control. We'll take it.
You're wrong.
I could focus on the packing for the trip. I could focus on the expense and the travel time. I could focus on the weather at my destination.
Or, I can focus on the joy of getting away from it all. Of seeing some different scenery for a change.
For a change.
I'm sure looking forward to this vacation from Bush.
Sure, the vacation won't be perfect. It will surely rain a couple of days. But damn! It's gonna be nice to see some different scenery for a change.
Bill Cosby says take responsibility: no one listens and he's laughed at
Conservatives push individual responsibility: they're right wing loons
Mom says be responsible: kids don't listen
Grandma says be responsible: No one listens to an old person with different values
Teachers say be reponsible: "Yea, right, like an education can help me"
Obama says be more responsible: The "Great Leader" has spoken and it shall be done.
The masses all come together, like lemmings who have never heard about personal responsibilty. The Great Leader's wife said............ and it shall be, The Great Leader's daughters said...........and it shall be.
Soon the massive re-education camps of North Korea and Mao's China are built, part of our economic renewal. The Great Leader says, "You are responsible for change, not me", as he delegates any responsibilty at all. "If I fail, it's because of the masses, " the Great Leader says. "They didn't support me by being more responsible, so it's not my fault," the Great Leader says.....
Naive? Hardly.....
As far as Dr. King's visions coming true? Who can say? You can tell me that you know what he was hoping for until you run out of breath, but no one ever truly knew but him. I personally think he was looking forward to the day that we didn't look at the fact that we elected a black president, but that we elected a good man, not taking into consideration his color and ethnic background. I thought it a little sad that I heard obsolutely nothing today about Dr. King. I personally do hope that Obama brings this amazing future that everyone is so looking to, I'm glad he's going to be our president, but I'm not deluded about how quickly things will improve.