Former KKK Leader defeated by courageous (and hilarious!) reverend

Yeah, another video post (which I admit is cheating), but I just can't get over this one. I've watched it over and over again today. I've no doubt that this former KKK leader has perfected the telling of this story over the years (read: likely embellished), but I've also no doubt that basic facts remain true -- a black reverend head of the NAACP completely disarmed this racist man using humor and extreme interpretation of Jesus idea of unconditional love towards enemies.



I keep watching this video and I'm not able to believe it because I'm not sure I could exhibit such extreme love and patience for someone that has threatened my family, burned down my church, and taken my community hostage with hostility, hate, and rage. My own reaction would be fear, hate, and anger and I would use everything within my legal power to make sure such a man went to prison where he belonged. This Leader of the KKK was unarguably a homegrown terrorists taking his hate and ignorance to inflict fear, terror, and pain for political and religious purposes.

I could never react in the way Rev. Watts did. Luckily for Johnny Lee Clary, he met up with a man of God willing to take the words of Jesus literally.

EDIT: more on the life of Rev. Wade Watts of Oklahoma who sounds like an awesome, intelligent, and extremely clever fellow

Because it's been a rough work week.

A video of a little boy seeing a lobster for the first time.

Teddy

I have a pretty poor gap in my education of American History. This isn't to say that my school did not emphasize it (they did!), but that I feel I didn't get a thorough, balanced view of American History. In college, I stayed away from modern American history classes. I wanted to branch out and learn about the world. I think that was good decision, but it still left me lacking in this area.

A few years ago I read Loewen's American History book and that was a good start, but I needed to narrow my focus. I decided to start with my favorite President and then just move around. I read Team of Rivals to get my Lincoln fix and I realized my Civil War knowledge was not nearly what I thought it should be. I wanted to go right into Battle Cry of Freedom by McPherson, but then school started this summer and reading became a chore again. I have about a month before classes start again and so I feel like I need to devour what books I can before I hate reading again. Battle Cry seemed just too long and I besides, I had new presidential obsession : Teddy Roosevelt.

Why Teddy Roosevelt? Well, my initial interest was not quite academic. You see about a year ago, we went to a Washington Nationals Game where we were greeted by the "Giant Presidents."

From ¿Dónde está la Biblioteca?

The running joke at the National's games is that Teddy Roosevelt is kind of a rebel. During the race about the field that evening (a regular event), Teddy didn't participate because he was the bar chatting up the ladies. It's a standard joke that Teddy never wins the race. I don't know why, but I had to buy a Teddy doll that evening. Yeah, it confused the dogs, too.

From ¿Dónde está la Biblioteca?

People would come over and see the Teddy doll and I had to explain this story to them. I thought to myself, I should really know more about this President if I'm going to display this doll.

Fast forward to this August I have knocked the first volume down of Edmund Morris' Theodore Roosevelt biographies. The first volume is the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" and it covers the early years of Teddy and follows him as he becomes a natural historian, a writer, a cowboy, a rancher, a colonel, a governor, widower, and, eventually, the vice president for McKinley's second term. It's been a fascinating experience to read this biography. I've been struck by just how much energy this man had. He seems just like a pure action and strong will. I will comment further about Teddy after I finish "Theodore Rex" Morris' second volume covering Teddy's Presidential time, but I already feel a lot better about displaying my Teddy doll. It was an unorthodox introduction, but whatever it takes to learn something new, I guess!

Health Care Horror Stories

Just about everyone has a health care horror story, one that either happened to you or someone you know. I've been very lucky in my life to have never been without coverage. Once I finished college I managed to keep myself working for employers that provide coverage and I definitely took advantage of it.

Still, it wasn't until I was covered under one of the most desirable plans in the country that I ran into my first health care insurance problem. My husband is a federal employee and so I enjoy what is supposed to be one of the best health care options in all of America. Federal employees basically get there choice of prime health care plans from just about every big insurance company you can think of with great premiums and excellent service. That's the idea anyway.

I found out this week that my insurance would not cover my crown. I had to have basically an emergency root canal 6 months ago (which was not covered) and I hoped my plan would cover the crown. Turns out, they would not. I have a "waiting period" before my insurance will cover this procedure, meaning that even though I have been paying money to them, I am not getting anything in return. Awesome.

So today I go for my regular cleaning and have to pay $500 out of pocket for my previously uncovered crown. During my exam, the dentist reminds me that I need to another crown we had previously discussed. I tell her I have this waiting period that won't expire until next year and ask if it can wait. She says if I wait I will likely need another root canal ($1,000) and then the crown ($500). I can't afford either at the moment after just paying them 500, paying rent, and I have to pay tuition in next few weeks. She says then I need to have the filling replaced this week. So instead off just getting the crown done when my dentist says it needs to be done and avoiding a painful and expensive root canal, I have to have an extra unnecessary filling to keep me going until I can afford my crown next year. Freaking ridiculous.

I came home today and tried to read the fine print my dental plan, but could not make heads or tails of it. The pertinent part came in the disclaimer where the insurance company says they will only pay for necessary procedures, but that the "Company" and not the provider is the final say on what is necessary for coverage and they reserve the right to deny what they want, when they want, and can drop you for no reason at any time. AWESOME! I AM SO GLAD I AM SENDING THEM SO MUCH MONEY EVERY MONTH!

Anyway, my story is not nearly as bad as folks who have had life saving liver transplants and cancer treatments denied, but I think it important to remember that we already have someone standing between us and our doctors and they are called the board members of insurance companies. I don't understand the ins & outs of health care reform, but it is pure ignorance to believe that what we have now is sufficient/working/moral. Think about it, can you think of any other billion dollar industry/business that takes your money every month, but that makes it profits by figuring out ways not to provide a service to you and maximizes revenue by getting rid of the customers that need them most?

More Maru

Holy schnikeys I love this cat. Maru on Moving Day.

Becoming my father

I write about my mother and grandmother a lot and how I see myself becoming them in certain ways (or least hope I am in fact becoming like them). I don't write much about my father. This is because I feel I have developed the kind of belief system that is opposite the one my father expressly tried to instill in me. You see, my father is a preacher and my father is extremely conservative. For much of my life, I considered him to be one of the smartest, wisest men I ever knew. As I grew into myself and into my own life, I realized that I had a very narrow interpretation of the world and I had to choose between believing my father was smart and wise and believing everything else I could see to be true. I know that seems like an extreme either/or decision, but it was the kind language and rhetoric my father used and these were the parameters he himself set. As a result, growing as a person and learning about the world meant I had to leave my father's belief system behind.

Early on in my young adulthood, this was a pretty difficult situation to handle. I got into more than a few debates with my father that never left me feeling good. Now a days, I am okay with it all. I don't know exactly how to explain it, but I think I moved passed seeing the situation in such black & white-either/or choices. Even though he may see me as complete opposite of him, I know that he and I share a lot in common in our world view. We've just let the world decide how to value each of our views. I refuse to let the rest of world define the salience of our differences when I think we have so much more in common.

All of that being said, I have a confession to make: Although I have come to terms with being like my mother, I am still quite disturbed whenever I catch myself acting like my father. For example, today I noticed that during a tense and possible volatile situation, instead of having my voice raise and my tone sharpen during a heated discussion, I found myself lowering my voice, slowing down my speech, and speaking in a deliberate, calm fashion. This is exactly what my dad used to do whenever the kids would start yelling at him. He never had to hit me, he just stood there, remained calm, and spoke to me in an even, cool, collected voice...and it drove me crazy! I wanted to yell and have an all out shouting match with him and here he was acting like he was just telling me today's weather!

Now I am happy about this example he set for me. Being cool and collected made the other party listen to me and consider the content of my words and not the package. I don't know when exactly I picked up this trait because I normally do still lose my emotional cool in these situations, but somewhere along the line, it clicked and I'm thankful for that. So, even though we have a our differences, Dad, I'm happy to see myself become more like you.

I am Maru

I'm a dog person, but this is the coolest cat in the world.

Soto es muy mayor!

About a month ago, I wrote out this really long, really detailed blog about Sonia Sotomayor's nomination. I spent about an hour and half writing this thing, but after proof reading, I realized I had absolutely no idea what I was talking about. Obviously, it was never published.

I did not watch the senate judiciary hearings this week, but I kept up with little bits of information here and there from my twitter feed, news feed, and links to clips online (I've given up on anything to do with tv news). It was quite disheartening to see the kind of spectacle these hearings have become (always have been?) so I'm glad I missed it. I don't think I would have had very constructive things to say about it.

I'm not going to get into the detailed politics of all of this (I think we've had enough of that, eh?), but I think it would be wrong of me not to mention that this whole "sotoshow"(as the twitter hashtags called it) hits a bit close to home. You have to understand, being a Latina myself, I never thought it was possible for a Latina to be on the Supreme Court. I know that we are told we live in America and that anyone can be anything they want and blah, blah, blah, but the reality is that until Pres Obama was elected, those words had not proved to be true for young black men considering the ultimate political office and until this year, that certainly was not true for any young Latina such as myself considering a career in law or dreaming of the Supreme Court. I had never known of any female attorneys growing up much less any Hispanic female attorneys. My young mind could never fathom a Latina on the Supreme Court. I never seriously consider going into law as a kid because it was implied to me that this was out of reach.

I know we teach our kids that with enough hard work they can succeed at anything they want, but we also have to remember that young children pick up on not only what they are told, but on what they see in the world around them. Taking in the explicit and implicit information, I learned that with enough hard work I could do whatever I want WITHIN THESE CERTAIN LIMITS. I never thought to ask why I seemed to have these limits that other non-minorities did not until I had been in college for several years.

I guess I just want to get out there, without getting into the politics of this, that I am really excited about Judge Sotomayor and I'm so encouraged to know that my future children will grow up in a world where we've had a Black President, a Latina Supreme Court Justice, and where it is quite regular for a woman to run for President (Hillary) and to be picked as vice president (Sarah Palin). Oh and I can't forget my fellow Southern Coloradoan and fellow Colorado College grad and now Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar.

Food for thought: It seems to me that we have one big-elephant-in-the-room of a glass ceiling left to topple and I don't know if this will happen in my lifetime. How long before we have our first gay President? Actually, that should read: How long before we have our first OPENLY gay President. I think we might have the largest, openly gay generation growing up right now, so the odds seem good, but I can't imagine this happens before older generations are gone.

Dropping Science

I've been on a science reading kick lately. I picked up Michio Kaku's The Physics of the Impossible months ago but, because of class work, I am just finishing it now. Since school is out I am starving to read for fun again. There is nothing like a dull textbook or a poorly written article to test the limits of one's love of reading. No wonder we have problems getting kids interested in reading. We make them read terribly boring, flat literature and then expect them to pick up a book for fun. I can feel your pain, little ones. (Which isn't to say that my class was not interesting; just the most of the reading was boring)

This is why I loved Michio Kaku's book so much. Here we have a book on Physics, something I know nothing about & have trouble understanding, but Michio managed to make it exciting and adventurous. I now have thirst for more on the topic, but I don't want to be dulled back into tv watching or internet surfing if I happen to pick up a dull science book. It's truly amazing when a great writer manages to turn the mundane and intellectually difficult into something that is not just palatable, but hugely exciting. Let me put it this way, certain times while reading Michio's book, I got so excited about the science in it, that I felt little tingles in my body. The kind of playful tingles that usually accompany laughter except this was brought on from simply having parts of quantum physics explained to me. Although, I am still trying to wrap my head around the differences between anti-matter, negative matter, and dark matter. (Also, did you know that time travel is theoretically possible in the laws of physics? I mean, this stuff is so crazy!)

Last night I decided it was time to expand my science kick into Richard Feynman. Professor Feynman is known for his QED (quantum electrodynamics) theory, but I don't think I'm quite ready to tackle that book yet. Instead I bought "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" which is an biographical essay book about funny and interesting moments in Professor Feynman's life. I think I'll ease my way into his theories from here.

I also stumbled upon this amazing documentary on NOVA called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives about the lead singer of the band The Eels whose father just happened to be a brilliant physicists. His father's ideas were rejected by the field at the time, but are experiencing a resurgence in academia today. His father died rather young & the son is just now getting around to learning about his father's controversial theory (regarding parallel universes) and exploring his father's life. It was really, really good as well as really informative. That's the kind of science dropping I love. I love the idea of putting science into the context of the people exploring it. Maybe it is just my learning style, but I need the human side of the story to better understand the strict factual side of science.

As I mentioned, school is out for the summer and I'm enjoying my 6 weeks or so of summer vacation with some great reading, some great running, and visiting some great friends in Oklahoma. Hopefully I will find time to blog more and find topics a little more interesting than this one. I'm easing my way back into this :)

No one's laughing at God

I have one more week of school before my month of summer vacation. Until then, here is a song I heard tonight by the great Regina Skektor that touched my soul. I hope you enjoy it.



"But God can be funny
At a cocktail party when listening to a good God-themed joke, or
Or when the crazies say He hates us
And they get so red in the head you think they’re ‘bout to choke
God can be funny,
When told he’ll give you money if you just pray the right way
And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini
Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus
God can be so hilarious
Ha ha
Ha ha"
Hope you enjoyed it.

I'm still alive

Yes, it is true...I still live & breathe. First, an update: The race was fantastic! It went better than I could have imagined. I ran my 10k in 53:40, which was a personal record for me. I had so much fun on the run and it felt more like a party or parade than a grueling race. I definitely want to go again next year and I'm thinking about a half-marathon in the fall. I wanted to have pictures ready for this post, but I forgot to charge my camera battery on the day of the race and the disposable one the great hubby picked up has yet to be developed.

Second, one of the major reasons why I have not posted is that I started graduate school the week after my race. My life now revolves around class and homework (and yes, the full time job I work in between those). Even my running workouts have suffered. I used to train at least 5 days a week, if not 6, and now I'm down to at most 4, but usually only 3. My body has gotten used to being active and to have it confined to a desk for 8 hours of work and then over 3 hours of class (and travel time) has made me extra antsy. I have lots of pent up energy with no place to go and yet paradoxically , I'm exhausted all the time for lack of sleep. Thankfully, summer session is over in about 3 weeks and I can get back some of my summer before it starts again in the fall.


I've been trying to figure out what to do with this blog. I haven't posted in quite a while and, honestly, I've kind of lost the overwhelming urge to do so. I wanted to change the topic over to books and grad school, but I'm not sure that will do it. For my current class, I have to write an essay for every class day which is basically like writing a blog post all the time. I don't have the energy to do it for fun as well. Truth is, I still have lots of things to say and lots of things I want to write about, but I don't have time to give these topics the even-handed analysis they deserve. Rather than look like a complete fool, I will keep my mouth shut for the time being.

I'm hoping that I will get used to being in school again and that once it becomes routine, I will make time for this blog. Until then, I hope everyone is well and I keep your eye out for random posts. I shall return.

One very long run in the making

A little over a year ago, I made a commitment to change my bad health and eating habits and to start a new, healthier lifestyle. I also made a commitment to start running and to attempt my first running race ever at the Bolder Boulder on Memorial Day. I am less than 2 weeks away from race day and now seems like a good time to reflect.

It's one thing to decide you are going to run a race when its over year away and whole different can o' beans when race day is looming. I know I can run this race right now. After all, I've been training several days a week in the gym and on the streets and trails and anytime in between; I lost 40lbs and I'm wearing pants 3 & 4 sizes smaller; for the first time in at least a decade I just feel good all around and feel good about myself; I even got myself to run 10 miles a couple of times.

And yet I am super-uber nervous right now. I've never raced before nor have I ever attempted to run with others around. I also have been training this year at all of 68ft and the race will take place in Boulder which I think is somewhere close to 5,500 ft. The lack of oxygen frightens me, the hordes of people around me frighten me, and, oh yeah, that whole idea of "HOLY CRAP I'M GOING TO BE RUNNING A RACE!" frightens me.

I've played teams sports most of my life and this is the first time I've ever had to face a sporting event alone. Once you get the hang of being a runner you find that the biggest obstacle is your own mind. Your muscles get used to running and your lungs get used to the stress and eventually your body becomes more efficient during your run. Your mind, however, is much harder to train. It just takes one teenie, tiny bit of self doubt to derail an entire run. At this stage my body never gives up first; its always my mind that kills it. I know my legs will take me only as far as my mind lets me believe I can go.

And so on Memorial Day I think my best shot is go into race day with ridiculous, over the top confidence and swagga. I'm gonna pump up the hip-hop, take deep breaths, and hit the road like the crazy woman everyone thinks I am to even consider running this race. And when I cross the finish line I'm going to think back on all of the hard work, sweat, pain, aches and miles I put into this thing and, I'm sorry, but I'm gonna be pretty damn proud of myself.

No.

Photo taken from a new art installation in the garden at work

So freaking cute

A momma squirrel tries to teach a baby squirrel to go over a wall. Watch the little squirrel make it with a little outside help:

Zombie-pocalypse!

Every once and a while I get crazy about Zombies. Wait, let me rephrase : Every once and a while I get OBSESSED with zombies. It's something I don't really understand, but I will wake up one day and think, "Boy, I would really like to read a story about Zombies right now." I swear that's how it happens. Two days ago I woke up and I just felt an overwhelming urge to read "World War Z" by Max Brooks (son of the legendary Mel Brooks). Unfortunately, despite being sure I owned TWO copies, I couldn't find the book in the apartment. I quickly ordered it from the awesome www.betterworldbooks.com along with a few other undead themed books.

While waiting for my undead package, I am rereading Max's original zombie opus "Zombie Survival Guide : Complete Protection from the Living Dead". Brooks put together a tongue-in-cheek manual for surviving all sorts of zombie attacks listing appropriate weapons and defense techniques, long-term siege prep, and attack methods. It's pretty hilarious. Besides humoring my commute, it also gave me a theory as to why I woke up this week with the zombie bug. Brooks discusses how the undead are creating via a virus called "Solanum" and I think I associated world wide pandemic with Zombie-pocalypse. Ah, the strange connections of the human mind.

This leads me to something else that popped into my head during my run this evening. Anthropologists, sociologists, and historians alike love to analyze the monsters, gods, and supernatural beings created by different societies and how those portrayals and attributes reflect certain aspects of their societies. What do Zombies say about American society? Or, here's a better question, why does it say about me that I periodically turn to zombies for entertainment? Is it because I fear becoming a mindless, conforming drone never again allowed to rest in peace? Or maybe I fear consuming and devouring too much? Or maybe I just watch Shaun of the Dead too much? Regardless, it is time....it is zombie time.

Oh, I almost forgot -- Yes, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" is on my list to-read.

UPDATE: I can see I was not only one to make the zombie-pocalypse/swine flu connection. Check out this very well done BBC News page hoax on "zombism" in London as a result of a mutation of H1N1 into H1Z1.