Slowly Migrating to WordPress…

And I feel like this friggin’ kitten.

Not since I pitted myself against Photoshop 7, back in the day, have I faced such a steep learning curve. Wow.

We’ll see how it goes…

First Thoughts on the G20 Protests

It’s weird to be on the government’s side.

I’ve been protesting things for seventeen years now, starting with a walkout in eighth grade to oppose year-round school. I held signs and circulated petitions throughout the Nineties, helping raise awareness about global warming and government abuses.

And then the Bush Years came, and taught us all what “bad government” really meant. Protesting took on other forms besides just marches and signs—an entire online civilization was built around opposition to the Bush regime, and I’m glad I participated in it.

And here we are in 2009, with Obama in one hand and a fucked-up world in the other. We’re all balancing those two things as best we can.

And frankly, there’s nothing quite as stirring as a good old-fashioned mass of people—which is exactly what London got this weekend.

For eight years, whenever my president would poke his head out of the drapes in a foreign country, thousands of people would be right there to do the equivalent of throwing shoes at him. He made going abroad difficult for his “fellow Americans”, and yes, I did catch some shit for being from the U.S.

One of Obama’s sterling points to his supporters was the figure he’d cut with our overseas friends, and the distant possibility of one day being able to travel to other countries with our Americanness as a positive comfort, not a defiant shield or an awkwardness.

All my life, I’ve aimed myself at my government, at any government; not necessarily as an antagonist or opponent, but a watchdog. I’ve also criticized some protests and thrown myself into others. I now find myself ambivalent about whose side I’m on.

“My guy” is now the one to sit with the world leaders at the G20 summit, and it still feels like a revolutionary thing. “My guy” is black in a racist country, liberal in a land still swarming with feral conservatives, and he came to power on a promise of hope, in a nation that had nearly lost that capacity.

Are these protests for him? No. That’s a nice change, in and of itself. They’re for a broken system, one he’s inherited. He brings to the table a representation of a country that claims most of the blame for this situation–but he also brings blistering intelligence, pragmatism, and willingness to listen and cooperate.

So I find myself supporting Obama, rooting for the G20 to be a success, and also siding with the protesters at the same time. Without a doubt, if I’d been in London this spring like I’d originally planned, I’d be marching right along with them—down the Mall towards the palace, and over into the massive old trees of Hyde Park.

But I’d be wearing a flag pin. And I’d defend America’s potential leadership in this crisis with much more passion and confidence than I’ve been able to muster for over a decade.

Because we’re no longer an evil empire.

What’s in my bag?

photo uploaded to Flickr by the catalyst…

…But then I got high.

Got my implant put in at the oral surgeon yesterday. There’s nothing quite like nitrous oxide to let you understand, by tone of voice alone, just how much a douchebag someone is.

I love men, but there’s a Cranky Old White Bastard subset that I just don’t favor.

Speaking of nitrous, how’s this for an effect of growing up in what’s fundamentally still a Puritan country: I felt like I had to periodically make a point to show the doctor and nurse that I was breathing out of my mouth, and not the happy-gas nose tube, so they wouldn’t think I was “enjoying” the nitrous too much.

Because they’d laugh at me, and think I was a druggie…while they drilled into my jawbone.

Sssnnnnniiiiffffffff…

Keep Your Peanut Butter Out of My Chocolate

No, not everything is peachy-fine. Not everything is hunky-dory. But everything WILL be.

Not because Comrade Obama will crap unicorns for us. And not because of any tea retards are throwing into their local suburban retaining ponds. It will be okay, because of this great universal truth:

Nothing ever lasts.

I am sorry that some of you have lost your homes and your salaries. If I had a home, or a non-food-service job myself, I’d probably be pretty worried, too. But I don’t, yet. I will. And so will you again, too. Meanwhile take a look around rock bottom. There’s more freedom, more possibility, more potential for true joy here than you might ever have been taught.

Should this have happened? Should things be this way? Of course not. But they are.

I realize that most people are just putting their heads down and doing what needs to be done to pull through. Like it or not, we’re all Americans, and we are all in this together. And it’s the combined efforts of people that keep focused on what’s really important, that will pull us through this. I have nothing but gratitude for patriots like that.

But for all of you fanning the flames, please die in a fire. Nobody’s head should be put on a pike, not really. Most of you’d lose your lunch if you actually saw that happen.

And you Right-of-Republicans, divesting yourself so determinedly of any scrap of reasonable discourse…do yourself a favor and put the friggin’ guns down. You will not win an armed insurrection against the U.S. military. You will not be remembered as patriots. You will be remembered with pity and embarrassment. Find another way.

I’m as patriotic as you are, as much a taxpayer, as interested in upholding the Constitution. But I’m also realistic. This is not 1789. You won’t win.

We all need to get a grip. Whether there’s “gonna be riots” or not, nothing is a better weapon right now than a sense of calm perspective. Get it through prayer, get it through humor, get it through looking at the new buds springing out on all the plants. But get it.

Because if you let panic, fearmongering, and doomsday prophecies take root in your head, you’ve already lost the most important thing worth having in life.

And if you let that poison infect you, don’t be surprised when you’re shunned by those who’ve resisted.

photo uploaded to Flickr by the catalyst…

Spring In Florida

In Support of Tibet

Today is the 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan revolt against the Chinese that led to the Dalai Lama’s exile. He has made a speech, reported on the BBC website, that likened the Tibetan people’s experience since then to “hell on earth”.

I don’t have anything to say about this occupation that hasn’t already been said by much more articulate and informed people than myself. I only want to offer my tiny bit of support to this unique, irreplaceable, and nearly-extinct culture.

The good guys don’t always win, it seems. It makes our recent bloodless revolution—and deeply-appreciated transfer of power—all the more precious to me. We still have the right to protest, here in America; we still have the ability to throw out bad leadership. I wish deeply that all nations were that lucky.

Peace to everyone involved in this conflict.