Checking in... testing 1, 2, 3

Yep still works. Apparently they didn't pull the plug on this dormant thing so here I be, back in the saddle.

Life is crazy busy for me (Brave Writer high season) and kids are ever busy with friends, King's Island, church, and preparation for the fall school season. Caitrin woke up today and before even opening facebook, opened her math book. We started the review. Time to dust off the long division skills and get back to work.

Liam will go to the freshman school for two classes so we'll enroll him this week. He says adamantly, "No one can make me go." But I think I may win this one. :) Oh, I'm non-coercive on the whole. Anyone who knows me knows that. I mean: stay up until 5:00 a.m. playing Warcraft - dooode be my guest! But this time, his main reason for staying home and not schooling it?? Sleeping in! Ha! (Maybe that Warcraft all nighter-ing is starting to take its toll.) So I'm more like, "Uh, not this time, pal." If he wants to ski in January every Wednesday, he's got to rise with the dawn and garbage trucks for the whole year. That's the only way it will work. And that, my friends, is what we call holding your child over a ski barrel.

I head out to be with the crazy liberals who want to impose healthcare on recalcitrant birthers and Republicans next week: Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh. Seriously excited about this. I'm such a complete political novice. But I came to love that "little" (cough sputter) community of 200,000 last year during Campaign "No One Can Stop the Man Born in Kenya." We hung out and bled our veins for Obama and ahhhh. Now he's in office and all the ones who hated him then, hate him more now and they ask me things like, "What do you think now that Obama is ruining the country and everything is worse than ever and no one has jobs and he wants to make us have healthcare against our wills and he's not even American and he has to read all his jokes off a teleprompter?"

I'm kind of at a loss. I mean, for crying out loud in the night! I gave freaking George W. Bush EIGHT years! EIGHT that we'll never get back. I let Bush invade a sovereign nation, allow for the deregulation of energy (which led to the Enron crime of the century - the one crime that made me think the death penalty is not punishment enough for white collar criminals - and the subsequent bankrupting of California), violate our citizens' rights to privacy, support and condone torture, and send our country spiraling into out of control debt as well as bailing out banks! And I'm supposed to convert to being a "hater" of Obama, who's been in office, what, 7ish months because it's taking awhile to get the economy righted after the disaster Bush left behind?

Come on! I gotta give the man a little more time and love than that! You know I do!

Anyway.

Life is actually pretty okay these days despite the obvious sources of angst. Had a great time in CA. Feels good to be home in Cincy. Really good. Like, I'm Beyonce "crazy in love" with this city. I knew it when I got off the plane this time that Cincy really is home now. I heart Cincinnati.

Okay, let's hope this little freewheeling freewrite gets me back in the groove for blogging. I've missed you all.

You mean God hates happiness?

So my kids came bounding out of "Reset," their Wednesday night "small group wrapped in a big group wrapped in an enigma" at their church. They hurled themselves into my car, which literally rocked sideways by the force of their exuberance, oh wait, scratch that, their energetic gleeful annoyance. They relished their anger, diffidence, outrage.

"Mom, Mom. You can't believe what Carl (youth pastor) is making us do! He's soooo mean!"

Laughter, lurching bodies, locking doors, punching radio buttons, zwipped seatbelting ensued.

They were ooc. "Carl is making us love God this week."

Oh the horror.

"He says we can't do ANYTHING that we like. We can't go on Facebook, can't watch TV (even American Idol!), can't play Halo or the Wii, can't use the computer for any entertainment. We have to turn off our cell phones, can't text or IM, or even listen to our iPods (unless it's [here they did the mocking voice of preteens] 'Christian music' which totally sucks because we hate Christian music). This week, we have to give up anything that makes us happy so we can learn to be happy with God only. It SUCKS!"

Not to be stopped (because believe me, by now I was ready to kneecap Carl and give him a supreme noogie on his head for wrecking God by inferring he(sic) hated happy kids), my two wild-haired middlers went on, "We HAVE to do it. If we don't, Carl won't let us come back next week. EVERYONE has to. We don't have a CHOICE!"

My brain worked itself into a tizzy - two contradictory threads of thought:

1) What an idiotic idea - that God is somehow squeezed out of life because you are happily engaged in activities that bring you joy and connect you to other people.

2) My kids LOVE this. They can't wait to suffer!

A delicate balance had to follow. How do I subvert heresy (yes, I get the irony of calling it heresy since I don't subscribe to orthodoxy) while joining in on the fun of exuberant self-flaggellation? Basically I did a lousy job of both, but saved it by singing really loud to Flo Rida's "Right Round" as we got near home.

Kids flopped on the couch once inside to indulge in their last moments of electronic saturation (they had until midnight), literally clicking the remote, setting up the DVR, writing elaborate FB status updates to reflect their newly adopted ascetic zeal.

I asked at one point: "How will you know you're loving God better than you were when you were happy?"

Blink, blink.

Carl forgot to mention that. They had no idea. I asked if they were supposed to pray more, read the Bible, use their time to serve the needy... They couldn't remember, even between the two of them. Liam said, "I'm pretty sure he does want us to read the Bible, but he never said so." Caitrin rejoined, "I don't pray to their idea of God anyway. I pray to the Universe, to karma, to Buddha." The next thing you know, we were talking about God (what God is, how to define God). I shared about this translation project I'm watching unfold on a e-list where all the God references are being changed to Godde to reflect the divine feminine, not just masculine.

Liam mentioned that God is neither male nor female and we all know that. Caitrin countered, "Yes, but if you say 'God,' your imagination goes straight to the beard." Which is why, currently, she prays to the universe. :)

I found the whole thing a crazy study in how too many people miss the point. If God, if Godde, if Goddess, (invisible, not audible - except perhaps for a few lucky people in history who report otherwise), how else would you experience happiness in the divine than happiness in the fullness of life? Wouldn't joy at singing the lyrics from Rent at the top of your lungs count as connection? Wouldn't chatting eagerly with friends online represent a reaching out to community in love and fondness? Wouldn't time with family in front of a TV count as a happy expression of bondedness? Why do we assume the divine isn't already being loved, felt, honored and known when we are happy?

I don't get how teaching children, especially, to distrust their happiness (to see it as competing with love of God!! What a charge!) is productive spiritually, emotionally or mentally? In fact, I'd say the opposite. It creates that strange split where any time you feel good, you have to call it sin... And that leads to all the stuff we deal with in mid-life. But Carl is too young to know it!

And well, there is a certain happiness to be found in abstaining... we love that at that age.

Sigh...

The Zen of Shoveling Snow

By about 5:00 p.m. yesterday, it dawned on me (ha! maybe it sunset-ed on me) that daylight was fading and the snow had not magically disappeared from the driveway. My car stood rooted to the icy ground, buried in snow and ice. The drive looked particularly long. So, I hoisted a shovel to my shoulder and got to work, digging out the car and clearing the cement of the 10 inches of accumulation. And I didn't mind. I like shoveling. It's a bit like mowing the lawn or ironing. You see instant progress, you get into a "zone" where each "row" feels like a micro-achievement in the larger project of clearing the whole. In a season where my internal world is at loose ends, where shoes rarely get put away, where days bleed into each other without much definition and no clarity about tomorrow, shoveling snow brought a profound sense of accomplishment.

While I shoveled, I plugged in my headphones... which had the annoying habit of popping out of my ears as my arms or the shovel handle snagged the cord each time I shifted my body. It became quite the antagonistic relationship - me and my white cord vying for control: that slippery snake with the earbuds marked R and L to tell you which ear they must go in, which I can't read without my reading glasses! I couldn't allow the music to stop (shoveling routine would lose rhythm) yet I couldn't seem to keep the earbuds happy enough to stay put. I tried hanging the cord off my back (but the twisting motions dislodged them again). I tried stringing them through my coat, putting the iPod in my back pocket instead of front. The whole struggle became epic, including a few choice words I launched audibly at Steve Jobs for not caring about me in particular, stranded here in Ohio in the knee-deep snow! (Uh, yeah, I got carried away.)

Eventually, I yielded to the halting success, enjoying the music while the buds stayed plugged in and stopping to adjust them as they subtly shifted. I focused on lyrics. I let Oasis blare guitars. They soothed and spoke for and to me. And weirdly enough, the mix began with my first scoop of snow (starting with song one "Wonderwall") and literally ended with the last scrape off the frozen windshield of my car as "Champagne Supernova" erupted and fizzled at the end.

The push, lift, hurl and retread habits of shoveling got all my body parts working. The music accompanied my loud (seemingly acapella) singing (I have a habit of belting out tunes while mowing too, but at least the mowers drown me out). I didn't care. The fading light made the icicles glitter. I even licked a few of them on a low hanging branch. The snow moved easily with a push and made a nice long row of mounds. I like to keep my edges crisp, so I would work a lane and then push the little scattered snowballs up the edges on a second pass.

As the moments went by, I felt an increasing sense of well-being. Words spoke to me:

And all the roads we have to walk along are winding
And all the lights that lead us there are blinding

Maybe I will never be
All the things that I want to be
But now is not the time to cry
Now's the time to find out why

But the little things they make me so happy
All I want to do is live by the sea
Little things they make me so happy
But it's good it's good it's good to be free

I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
And when I leave this island I'll book myself into a soul asylum
Cos I can feel the warning signs running around my mind

But all the things that you've seen
Will slowly fade away

Gonna write a song so she can see
Give her all the love she gives to me
Talk of better days that have yet to come
Never felt this love from anyone

Cos all of the stars are fading away
Just try not to worry you'll see them some day
Take what you need and be on your way
And stop crying your heart out

The wheels of your life
Have slowly fallen off
Little by little

And because it was the last song:

Someday you will find me
Caught beneath the landslide
In a champagne supernova in the sky...

Driveway looks great. I felt free of whatever oppression had settled on me in our blue box of a house.

Precinct #44

Meet my canvassing partners: Jayla, Jada, Jaesa and Kayla.

I arrived yesterday at precinct #44 with a list of more than 70 doors to knock. In Butler county, it's a critical precinct: section 8 housing with many Democrats who often don't vote to the rate that they could. It has always gone red. Senator Kerry lost Ohio by 7 votes per precinct. My one goal for this election: win seven votes. Steal them from the GOP. We knew we needed #44 this time if we were going to do our part for this election, to cut into the Butler County GOP votes.

As a result, we sent a canvasser first thing in the morning and then I went back to all the same doors three hours later, to follow up and make sure they all voted. I arrived in the bright sunshine, parked my car and was immediately surrounded by curious children. I let them in on my goal for the day and the next thing you know, I was led by the hand door-by-door.

Jaesa grabbed the clipboard and Jada helped me find the door numbers.

"Stay on the stoop. This house? They got a big dog and he bites."

"Is my momma on yo' list?"

I'd look (uh-oh, no!) and say, "Yes! Let's go see your momma." And we'd go.

One little boy saw my white button and asked to swap me for a blue one. I gladly did. Then I gave the blue one away to a grandmother who had never had the chance to get to an HQ to obtain one for herself. Her comment, "I just want a piece of history for myself." Well of course she does! We all do.

I was introduced to everyone, spoke to many more families than my list indicated. One woman had been told that she couldn't vote because she was no longer living in her precinct. Not true! I called our field organizer and got campaign lawyers to tell us how to help her vote. Provisional ballot. Found three more in this neighborhood who had been also discouraged from voting for the same reason.

People stopped me to find out the polling location, when the polls closed, wondering how to actually vote! One woman told me that the polling place was on a street where they began construction on election day right in the front making parking nearly impossible. So I reminded every voter: be patient. Park, vote. (What kind of bone-headed city worker set up road work on election day?!)

I met so many wonderful people, had a gang of about six kids trailing me by the time I was done (including two boys on bikes). It took me nearly four hours to meet everyone and help them get out to vote. I saw many who had voted between the first and second canvass.

By the time I left, I felt so wonderful that this group, these lower income families living in what we sometimes call "White Chester," were going to see an African American elected and their votes would help him get there.

Last night, our big Butler County volunteer team met at Champs to watch the results roll in. CNN projected for Ohio, and we cheered, wept openly, hugged each other, screamed till we were hoarse. We knew we had done it!

When CNN projected Obama President Elect, the house fell down. Noise, screams, phone calls, text messages, everyone hugging each other, even waiters rolled into our raucous party! I felt used up, totally exhausted, thoroughly happy... and then, Allan, our canvassing captain hurried to me to drag me over to one of our co-workers.

One of the poll workers from Precinct #44 had come to the party. Allan said, "Listen to her. You won't believe it."

"Julie, Precinct #44 went blue.... by 11 votes."

My jaw dropped. 11 votes.

She went on, "They streamed in all afternoon until about 5:00 p.m. I watched them and they came with their door hangers, looking up the polling place and showing up to vote. They were happy and proud."

That's when this election became utterly personal for me. All that work, the thousands of calls and door knocks, the hours, the passion, the writing... It all felt deeply worthwhile. I know my community in a way I never did before, I felt bonded to people I had not even known lived within miles of me, I felt united in spirit with the hopes of my neighbors.

11 votes. When I started back in February, I had hoped to get 7. We did it.

Church this morning.... the sense of history grows!

This morning at church, our pastor preached a sermon called "I am my brother's keeper." In it, he talked about five murders this weekend (one of a local African American pastor and four others of young blacks in Avondale). He is doing a series on how the church can make a difference to the neighborhoods of Cincinnati by knocking on every door for Jesus.

The sermon made an interesting contrast to the Youtbue he played at the start of the service. We watched a video montage of the history of the African American struggle for civil rights. It included pictures and drawings that traced the history through Jim Crow, Civil Rights, lynchings, MLK Jr., Katrina and more. By the end, when the "Change we need" signs flooded the screen, we were all in tears.

Church ended with everyone reminding each other to vote, offering rides to the precincts, finding out where to get buttons and more. The whole experience was so exhilarating. You could feel the palpable sense of anticipation over what promises to be a historic day... one RFK Jr. predicted on the campaign trail in 1968:

Things are moving so fast in race relations a Negro could be president in 40 years. There’s no question about it, in the next 40 years a Negro can achieve the same position that my brother has. Prejudice exists and probably will continue to, but we have tried to make progress and we are making progress. We are not going to accept the status quo.

40 years later, 2008... here we are, on the brink of that momentous occasion. Don't underestimate the value to our national pride, international identity and internal race relations the election of Obama represents. I'm in awe, to be quite blunt about it. Humbled to be a part of it.

Tonight, Obama speaks to 35,000 at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. We're taking the kids. We want them to remember seeing the next president of the United States of America in their own city.

The Bell-Weather Cookie Poll: Obama over McCain

Obama Ahead in All-Important Cookie Poll
Ohio PR Stunt Has Predicted Winner Since Inception

By Jack Neff

Published: October 23, 2008

BATAVIA, Ohio (AdAge.com) -- Conventional polls this year are fraught with doubts -- from the "Bradley Effect" to the elusive cellphone-only households. But one poll based in the all-important swing state of Ohio has never failed since its inception in 1984, and it has Barack Obama with an almost insurmountable lead over John McCain.

The Busken Cookie Poll, in which the chain of Cincinnati-area retail bakeries sells cookies bearing cartoon images of each candidate, as of Thursday morning had Mr. Obama ahead 6,477 to 3,090 -- a 68% to 32% margin. Daily updates can be found at www.busken.com.

Unscientific? Perhaps. But Brian Busken, VP-marketing of the family business, said that since the poll's inception in 1984, it has accurately predicted the winner of the presidential election every four years and never been further than 4 percentage points from the final popular vote tally nationwide. (Note: While the website shows a smiling Obama cookie and a frowning McCain cookie, the cookies sold in stores have both smiling.)

"We've never seen a spread like this before in the numbers," Mr. Busken said. "I don't know if there's going to be a crumbslide or not. ... We may still predict the winner, but probably by way too many cookies."

Already there are allegations of irregularities. Commenters on a story at the website of the Cincinnati Business Courier allege some bookstores have Obama cookies up front, McCain cookies in the back, and that Remke stores in Northern Kentucky had run out of the McCain cookies.

Mr. Busken said wholesale sales such as those referenced in the comments don't count. Nor does a recent bulk purchase of 400 McCain cookies by Rob Portman, former Republican congressman and White House budget director. If Acorn buys cookies online for the Dallas Cowboys and their cheerleaders, those don't count either. Only cookies sold in the 11 Ohio stores tracked by the poll count.

Busken milks the poll, of course, for all the publicity it can get, and has incorporated it into outdoor ads from the Creative Department, Cincinnati. The chain will advertise cookie-poll results on the Norton Digital Network in the area during the four days leading up to the election.

Copyright © 1992-2008 Crain Communications

Your chance at history

Yesterday a member of the Cincinnati Obama list sent out the following story after a trip to the Board of Elections to early vote.

"Upon arriving at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati to vote early today I happened upon some friends of my mother's -- three small, elderly Jewish women. They were quite upset as they were being refused admitance to the polling location due to their Obama T-Shirts, hats and buttons. Apparently you cannot wear Obama/McCain gear into polling locations here in Ohio.... They were practically on the verge of tears.

After a minute or two of this a huge man (6'5", 300 lbs easy) wearing a Dale Earnhardt jacket and Bengal's baseball cap left the voting line, came up to us and introduced himself as Mike. He told us he had overheard our conversation and asked if the ladies would like to borrow his jacket to put over their t-shirts so they could go in and vote. The ladies quickly agreed. As long as I live I will never forget the image of these 80-plus-year-old Jewish ladies walking into the polling location wearing a huge Dale Earnhardt racing jacket that came over their hands and down to their knees!

Mike patiently waited for each woman to cast their vote, accepted their many thanks and then got back in line (I saved him a place while he was helping out the ladies). When Mike got back in line I asked him if he was an Obama supporter. He said that he was not, but that he couldn't stand to see those ladies so upset. I thanked him for being a gentleman in a time of bitter partisanship and wished him well.

After I voted I walked out to the street to find my mother's friends surrouding our new friend Mike -- they were laughing and having a great time. I joined them and soon learned that Mike had changed his mind in the polling booth and ended up voting for Obama. When I asked him why he changed his mind at the last minute, he explained that while he was waiting for his jacket he got into a conversation with one of the ladies who had explained how the Jewish community, and she, had worked side by side with the black community during the civil rights movements of the '60s, and that this vote was the culmination of those personal and community efforts so many years ago. That this election for her was more than just a vote ... but a chance at history.

Mike looked at me and said, "Obama's going to win, and I didn't want to tell my grandchildren some day that I had an opportunity to vote for the first black president, but I missed my chance at history and voted for the other guy."

Fairfield Ohio: Effigy of Obama hung... People I'm scared!

I have not wanted to believe that racism was this deep or that close to the surface in our own neighborhoods! For those of you out of state, Fairfield is the town over from ours. It's where my son goes for math tutoring, it's where our favorite big supermarket, Jungle Jim's, is located, it's where a large number of our friends live. This is an ordinary middle-class suburb outside of Cincinnati, not Appalachia.


I'm horrified by both yard displays (it is despicable to depict John McCain as a member of the KKK). The other display (and subject of this local news report) that features Obama swinging from a tree, however, really frightens me. The Jewish star on his head, the name upside down, the middle name across the ghostly body, all hanging from a tree... these images really scare me. To think that the owner of the home was reported to have said that this is a "white Christian nation" and he doesn't want a black man running it... What does that really mean? How far will these kinds of people go to be sure that doesn't happen?

And just when I was feeling heartened by the enthusiasm for Obama in my own neighborhood (out of 75 doors knocked on Sat., I made 32 contacts and 25 were for Obama!). Unheard of in GOP land...

If you pray, pray for Obama's safety. My God. What is wrong with us?

My professor, Adam Clark, mused on FB this a.m.

Adam is wondering why Democrats are forced to distance themselves from sixties radicals but Republicans never have to distance themselves from sixties segregationists.

Yeah, I wonder that too!

Lakota West Band is expected to play at Palin event

We are registering complaints at the Board of Elections and The Lakota School District as well as Lakota West High School.

Publicly funded schools should not take kids out of classes to perform at a campaign rally for a particular candidate since we do not promote one candidate or party over another in school itself.

Phone numbers to call:

Lakota West High School: (513) 874-5699

Lakota School District Board of Education: (513) 874-5505

Board of Elections Hamilton County: (513) 887-3700

I met Sarah Palin!

In my dreams last night. She was, actually, really nice. Last night I saw her on television with Down's Syndrome children at her rallies and felt warm toward her for possibly the first time. I can't deny that giving visibility to special needs children is a much welcomed aspect of her remarkable run (a run for v.p. that continues to mystify me on the level of real public policy, but that apparently is connecting at the heart level with a huge number of moms everywhere).

Here's the funny thing: I just got a call (robocall) from John Boehner (our local congressman) inviting me to a free Sarah Palin rally on Friday here in West Chester! Good grief. So now the question is, Do I bother to go? Perhaps she really is wanting to meet me! What do the interpreters of dreamz think? Say?

Still seems nightmarish to contemplate her running the country. But I'm fascinated by her fan-base and her ability to create in the eyes of her fans, a real zeal and faith in her despite any concrete evidence that she is competent to lead our nation!

This has been a surreal election season. Were they ever this interesting when we were kids?

Power out in Cincinnati

Over one million without power now in Cinci, due to the ravages of Ike. Findlay Market (right across the street from my church downtown!) caught fire and several of the buildings adjacent as well. Hope my church is okay. :(

We are all congregating at Panera in the great Y2K diaspora, 8 years late. Wi-fi and hot coffee have drawn every small business owner and "out of school" teen to the electricity-providing bagel place.

We may be without electricity for a week. It's all McCain's fault, by the way. And Bush's. You know if Palin is such an energy expert, where is she? Hmm? Just sayin'.

Anyway, one more reason to vote Obama, obviously.

See you soon, I hope!

The tick tick tick of summer's end

One thing I'm not used to in Ohio is the fact that these midwesterners believe they can end summer by picking a date on the calendar. Labor Day, they randomly assign, is summer's end. So they close the pools, put the canoes up on blocks, end the rentals of pedal boats and hang their bikes from hooks in the garage.

I'm opposed to this falsification of summer's end. I missed July, August glued us to TVs for the Olympics and I'm just now ready for summer! Of course, on cue, we've got thunder storms. Sigh.

"This is not your year..." (The Weepies)

Liam and Linkin Park

I wasn't the only parent attending this concert with a teen (or younger kid!). But I might have been the only parent who knew the lyrics to all the songs, jumped up and down (which is not a risk-free proposition for a mother who's given birth five times) and devil horns'ed Chester and Mike.

I don't know what it is about Linkin Park, but I love that band. Their sound is original for rock, Chester and Mike trade off so easily and with what appears to be genuine respect for what each one brings to the table. Their lyrics accurately (painfully) depict the inner world of a teen misunderstood by a parent (a dad!) or a lover or a friend.

Pathos combined with trademark screams, DJ, drums, killer guitars... such an emotional concert. Cathartic.

Chester Bennington exerts relentless energy on the stage (akin to a young Bono - there I said it!). He doesn't waste vocal chords or time talking to the audience about getting drunk or smoking weed (like the "still not prime time" bands that went before LP). He puts everything (rippling muscles, voice, soul and tattoos) into each lyric. I have no idea how he sustains the melodic, tuneful part of his voice when he gives each scream the maximum "nails on the blackboard" screech that lasts as long as Michael Phelps under water after a turn. Some people are born to perform. Chester is one of them.

The combination of lights (awesome light show), intensity of performance, the tight band which never missed a note, chord change or drum beat, and the natural, friendly interplay between the two front men make Linkin Park a likely candidate to be one of those "great bands" we all feel glad to have seen in the early years. I told Liam that when he's in his thirties, I fully expect him to take one of his kids to see LP and he'll be saying he saw them when they only had three-ish albums to draw from.

I left exhausted... in the happiest way. Liam and I hugged, sang, shouted, jumped, and hugged again. Nothing but exhilaration. And further proof that I'm just not indie at core. Give me rock... but make it fresh.

Set list to come.

Out of 9 years, we've had 6 Fourths in Ohio

and of those 6, only 3 have not involved rain. One year the storm was so blinding, the jam-packed Sharon Woods park evacuated right before fireworks as lightening flashed and thunder cracked directly overhead (like, you know, no time to count one-one-thousand, two-one-thousand). I've never seen such scurrying except when watching rats flee light in a subway tunnel in France. We barely got to the sanctuary of our metal cars without being electrocuted. Yes, of course Jon was in California that year. I drove half a mile and pulled over for the most torrential downpour I'd ever experienced in my southern-Californian-desert-conditions-in-the-summer life.

Last year, the rain stayed away until it was time to start the neighborhood fireworks show. The poor 14 year old who had invested his life's savings (which at that age was about $250 bucks) into the contraband from South Carolina had only set off four of the eye-blinding, smoke creating crackers when the rains got serious and wiped out the audience.

So this morning, when I'm really looking forward to the swim party at our friends' house so I can wear my much beloved, "signs of summer" tank top, I look out on a bleak grey morning, sopping wet deck chairs, beadlets of mist slicking the pavement and abundant lawn which we just mowed and will need to mow again once the sun decides to return with its usual lazer beam intensity that sucks the grass to the sky in 2 inch spurts every couple hours.

No badminton. No croquet. No swimming. Just "if it rains, we will move the party indoors." Yeah, when did we ever put that on an invitation to anything in California?

Is it any wonder people flee Ohio in the summer? Jake's in Florida. Good call.

Happy Fourth, otherwise.

Black Theology Reprise

Adam Clark, my black theology professor, wrote the following article for the Cincinnati Enquirer, addressing the Rev. Wright flap. I think he did it well.

Wright's teachings are part of African-American opposition to empire

Excerpt:

The presidential candidacy of Obama can be assessed on its own terms. But the uproar over the rhetoric of Wright is largely a result of America's unfamiliarity with the history and language of the black church. The political character of black sermons such as Wright's are not rooted in the give and take of electoral politics, they derive from biblical faith. The black church has historically identified with the minority Jewish population of the first century. They regard the Jewish population's relationship to the Roman Empire as similar to their own relationship to the American Empire. This identification has caused black Christians to make a distinction between the biblical Jesus and the American Christ. The American Christ is a product of the American middle class, a deity who endorses empire and converts his followers into being pro-war, pro-death penalty and anti-abortion. The biblical Jesus reveals a God who is provocative, a God who upsets the powers and is eventually rejected and crucified by them.

The language of the black church that conveys this oppositionality does not translate well into the arena of presidential politics. It was never intended to. The black church's language is the language and worldview of a people who have been at the margins of social power - a symbolic language, not a literal language. Words seldom have a one-to-one correspondence with events. Black religious language is inherently evocative, hyperbolic and impassioned - aimed more toward devotion than debate. It is intended to convey divine ecstasy and anger to parishioners, not dialogue among pundits.

In response, a local Catholic apologist has weighed in:
Clark's Defense is insulting

What's more, Wright's so-called Black Liberation Theology bears nothing in common with "biblical faith." The Gospel message is universal. It is the message of salvation from the slavery of sin through the passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The race-based theology - ideology is a better word - espoused by Wright and defended by Clark is something else entirely.

Honestly, I find the reductionistic approach to Cone's theology insulting. And since when is the "Gospel universal" - as if the Catholics even mean the same things by that word as the Protestants, let alone black Christians struggling for civil rights?

In any event, read both and weigh the issues yourself. I did post a response to Leonardi's editorial on his blog (listed at the end of his article).

The Boss: Springsteen in Cincinnati

While the hot cross buns are rising...

Let's talk about Bruuuuuuuce...

Spent last night alone in the US Bank Arena with Bruce and the E-Street Band. I've never gone to a concert alone. Jon and I went out to dinner first, watched Xavier just about put away Purdue, and then listened to the rest of the game on the radio as he drove me downtown. Jon dropped me off, texted me the results of the game and went to a movie while I partied with the "born in the 1950's and 60's" crowd.

Of note: I showed up in Springsteen style—black top, jeans and boots. 7 in 20 women were wearing the identical look... and so was the Boss-man.

Next to me was a couple in their early 30's and they looked out of place. When I told the husband I saw Bruce for the first time in 1981, he calculated quickly and told me he was four years old "back then." Uh huh.

Two women in front of me were old friends. They now live in Boulder CO and Cincinnati. They had seen Bruce together in college and hadn't seen him again since. They'd planned this night together for months and were giddy when the lights went down, danced and sang to every song. Made me think of my college Srpingsteen friends... and miss them!

Bruce was great... he always is. His message could easily have stood in for the Democratic platform wherein he addressed blue collar workers (who used to race cars), immigrants who were beaten up (or worse killed) for building the railroads, cities and machines of America (Bruce's Irish jig version of U2's "The Hands that Built America"), and his announcement that the last eight years amount to "magic tricks" (title of his newest CD: "Magic"). He quipped, "I think someone's been riflin' through my passport..." Vintage Bruce.

He stunned me when he broke into "Candy's Room." Apparently it's been on the set list earlier in the tour, but I had never heard it live. What a great song. "Darkness on the Edge of Town" is still my favorite Springsteen album and he gave us three songs off of it.

Like a U2 concert, he has such an extensive back catalog that there will always be songs you wish he'd played and delightful surprises you never thought to guess he'd play. "Candy's Room" was the latter for me. Made the whole night.

Bruce stunned the crowd when he played "Lost in the Flood" off his very first album, "Greetings from Asbury Park." Not even sure how many people knew that song. The whole night was designed for long term fans and in that sense, it was well worth the trip.

Clearly his voice was tired and he drank gallons of water to keep things going. As a result, he was a lot less chatty than in previous concerts. Also, the band played many musical interludes (which were awesome - we are so lucky to see the E Street Band after 30 years of skill development) and Bruce shared singing honors with the audience or Steven Van Zandt.

The encore featured "Glory Days" which may be my least favorite Springsteen hit. It kills me that in other shows he played the "Jungleland/Thunder Road" combo as this is my favorite set that Springsteen does. Sigh. The encore seemed to end quickly and we were all done at 10:25. Lights came up, everyone packed their gear back into bags, all around me fans were saying, "That's it? Oh well. Bruce is getting old. Gotta give him a break." They began the long shuffling descent to the bottom....

When suddenly the band burst through the tunnel into the fluorescent lights and Bruce yelled on mike: "What time is it? I said, what time is it? Is it time to go home? Nooooooo. It's Boss time!" Lights kicked off (as fans tumbled down stairs - j/k) and suddenly the room was filled with music again while fans streamed back to their seats as best they could.

Startling! They played a long version of "Kitty's Back," got us singing along and THEN sent us home closer to 10:45. :) The three hour+ concert is a thing of the past, but just as well. For all the beer being drunk by middle-agers, I think it was time for everyone to go home, too.



Set List:

March 22, 2008
Cincinnati, Ohio
U.S. Bank Arena

Darlington County
Radio Nowhere
Lonesome Day
Gypsy Biker
Magic
Reason To Believe
Candy's Room
Prove It All Night
She's The One
Livin' In The Future
The Promised Land
Be True
Lost In The Flood Tour Premiere
Devil's Arcade
The Rising
Last To Die
Long Walk Home
Badlands

Glory Days Tour Premiere
Born To Run
Dancing In The Dark
American Land


Kitty's Back

Cincinnati: 61% Obama 38% Clinton

Despite our loss last night in Ohio, Cincinnati delivered for Obama! We had the highest percentage in the state for Obama. Also, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland all went Obama. What is striking is just how many rural counties there are and how substantial the percentages are, yet how few the votes!

The road ahead is long (I feel like singing a spiritual!). But we have come a long way and it is far from over. Barack's speech in San Antonio last night was of the spirit and nature I've come to expect from this campaign - positive, respectful, issues-driven, calm, direct. This morning, Barack sent this email to my in-box:

Julie --

We may not know the final outcome of today's voting until morning, but the results so far make one thing clear.

When the dust settles from today's contests, we will maintain our substantial lead in delegates. And thanks to millions of people standing for change, we will keep adding delegates and capture the Democratic nomination.

We knew from the day we began this journey that the road would be long. And we knew what we were up against.

We knew that the closer we got to the change we seek, the more we'd see of the politics we're trying to end -- the attacks and distortions that try to distract us from the issues that matter to people's lives, the stunts and the tactics that ask us to fear instead of hope.

But this time -- this year -- it will not work. The challenges are too great. The stakes are too high.

Americans need real change.

In the coming weeks, we will begin a great debate about the future of this country with a man who has served it bravely and loves it dearly. And we will offer two very different visions of the America we see in the twenty-first century.

John McCain has already dismissed our call for change as eloquent but empty.

But he should know that it's a call that did not begin with my words. It's the resounding call from every corner of this country, from first-time voters and lifelong cynics, from Democrats and Republicans alike.

And together you and I are going to grow this movement to deliver that change in November.

Thank you,

Barack

Hillary's attacks worked, in my opinion. She went negative and fear-based, allowed for doubt to be cast about Obama's faith on 60 Minutes, sustained misinformation about Obama and Canada's NAFTA conversations and used sleeping children as a ploy to evoke votes. (And she says she's about the issues...)

Every single Obama ad that I saw (and believe me, they were on every ten minutes this weekend) focused on a single issue, well-articulated, clearly outlined. He never went low, didn't attack Hillary, stayed on message. The whole campaign constantly reminds us to stay on message, to stay above the fray of negative campaigning. Even on our list which is still recovering from the losses last night, there is respectful conversation and avoidance of bashing any other candidate.

I'm so weary of this constant need to play on the emotions of our electorate. It is time for a real change and Obama is the face of that change.

Last night while I sat with the Cincinnati team and friends at the Cadillac Ranch for the primary party, three of our table mates received free drinks from a couple of businessmen at the table next to us. All of them were African Americans. We discussed why we, white folk, were supporting Obama. As I got up to leave, one of the drink-senders stood and literally bowed in my direction, "Thank you so much for supporting Senator Obama. You have no idea. No idea what this means. Thank YOU."

I imagine that the entire world will have that response if Senator Obama wins the nomination and then the election (as I expect him to). We have no idea... only a glimpse of what it could be like for the face of America to change in both appearance and substance.

Yes. We. Can.

Obama 08

A morning from hell...

Without casting aspersions or blame, let's just say that this morning didn't go quite the way I had hoped. It's class registration day for Brave Writer and my FTP program decided to quit working right after Jon's computer's start up disk took a late winter's nap. Ergo, I had no way to make the registration page go live at the 12:00 noon time mothers around the world were waiting for. In fact, I got an email from a mother in Australia telling me she had stayed up until 3 a.m. her time for that magical "live" moment... which didn't come.

After 100 attempts to fix the problem before the clock struck noon, I writhed on the floor in desperation and then stopped the hemorrhaging by sending out an email with the registration links (only to discover that the email itself had the wrong links in it!). Oh horribly cruel world!

At that point, I sent another email, slathered the information on my BW blog, yahoo lists, the public Brave Writer forums and answered the endlessly ringing phone with sincere moms who were sure that they had done something wrong (Btw, can I just say I love women? They are always so much more willing to assume the best about you and the worst about themselves than the men who call...). In any case, of course they had done nothing and they all immediately empathized with my plight, offering me verbal hugs and ladle sized doses of forgiveness.

For some unknown reason to any but the computer gremlins, my FTP program decided to work again about ten minutes ago for ten minutes. It is now officially not working again, but it was enough time to make the links go live. Which matters. Johannah's college fund will thank it.

And now I am sitting in my office, staring at a dreary, rainy world of downpours (which means bailing water in the basement). All I can think about is the election, the importance of these returns, the enthusiasm of the campaign this month and the heart-break it will be if Clinton hangs on to her lead. I can't stomach any more of the attacks - her aligning with McCain saying they have experience and Obama has speeches, intimating on Sixty Minutes that "Of course Obama is not a Muslim... as far as I know." It's enough. She's willing to tear the party apart to win. Obama just keeps pounding his platform.

So today is a fittingly stressful grey unsunny day. May the skies clear tonight!

Today's the day!

Vote today - Ohio and Texas!

One of our local Cincinnati volunteers posted the following report about the ground crew in Ohio and I share it with you now:

Greetings and salutations to all of you have committed your time, your devotion, your money and your hearts to the most unique, most uplifting, most positive Democratic Campaign for President that most of us have ever seen... Obama For America.

After 11 straight wins and a huge lead in delegates, I know everyone is hoping we can keep this trend alive in Texas and Ohio. I know that our friends in Texas are working their butts off, and I can assure you that here in Ohio, we're doing the same.

Here are a few things that the polls just don't reflect that I hope everyone will take into account as they watch the returns Tuesday night:

- Here in Ohio, we embarked on an historic effort over the weekend: the largest Get Out The Vote canvassing operation every assembled. Together, volunteers across the state participated in the One Million For Change canvassing campaign. Men and women, young and old, political activists and newbies, and people from every walk of life took to the streets and to the homes of our neighbors to encourage them to give their vote to Barack Obama on Tuesday. It was the most incredible political event I have ever participated in. I can guarantee you that no such ground effort was underway this weekend in southwestern Ohio from the Clinton campaign.

- Not only does the Obama campaign rule the ground in Ohio, they rule the airwaves. It doesn't matter if you're watching American Idol, Meet The Press, Jericho or Big Brother, you're going to see three to four Obama ads (and zero Clinton ads) within that hour. And it's been that way for two solid weeks now. Every ad is positive and persuasive, youthful and upbeat. The only Clinton ad I've seen is that "Obama will allow your children to die in their beds while he has the phone ringer on 'silent'" crap when it is played ad nauseum on the cable political shows and Sunday talk programs. I honestly do not see her on television or hear her on the radio, while Obama is just everywhere. Oh, including in two full-page Cincinnati Enquirer ads in the past week!

- The major Ohio newspapers are behind Obama. The Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Toledo Blade, The Canton Repository, The Dayton Daily News, the Cincinnati Enquirer. Not sure if the Columbus Dispatch has endorsed yet. I understand some paper down in Zanesville and another in Akron are big on Clinton, though. ;-)

- Obama wins the sign wars! You might see a few Hillary signs on public corners, but in front of houses, Obama has the clear "loud and proud" advantage.

- Obama wins the visibility wars! Every Friday and Monday for three weeks now, during rush hour, you'll see dozens of Obama supporters at enthusiastic "Honk-and-Wave" events across this area. On the way to Obama HQ yesterday (Sunday), I drove by the largest one I'd seen yet... over 100 people spread across all four corners of one of Cincinnati's busiest intersections. There was so much honking and jumping up and down that I had tears in my eyes. :cry:

- Ohio has A LOT of college students. I mean, A LOT. And of the major universities, only the University of Toledo is on Spring Break this week. ;-)

- Supporters from across the country are phonebanking Ohio in a massive effort that began in earnest last Wednesday and continues through 7:15 pm on Tuesday. OH and I forgot to mention the busloads of Chicago volunteers that flooded Cincinnati on Saturday... including our own DUer, mopinko! It was SO fun canvassing with them!

In closing, don't forget that just a few weeks ago, Hillary Clinton was leading Ohio by double-digits. We're closing this thing fast, and if we had another week, I'd be more confident in saying we'd win comfortably tomorrow. We may be victorious tomorrow, we may not... but it won't be because we didn't pour our hearts and souls into it in this state. We gave it everything we had, and then got up the next day and gave more. Please remember our effort as the returns come in. And no matter what... we're confident when the votes are counted, at the very least we will have drawn to a de facto delegate tie with Clinton coming out of Ohio while closing a twenty-point gap in a matter of days. The Clinton campaign will not take from Ohio what they had hoped to just a few weeks ago.

There is something happening in America, and it's too important and meaningful to show up in some poll. You hear it in voices. You see it on faces. You feel it in hearts.

So, my Obama friends, think happy thoughts tonight and tomorrow, and log on to MyBarackObama.com and give the Buckeye State a ring!

Yes, We Can, Ohio! Yes, We Can, Texas! Yes, We Can, Rhode Island! Yes, We Can, Vermont!

All of my love and support,
Jennifer in Cincinnati

I'm proud of the positive nature of the campaign and all the hard work.

Yes We Can!

Obama 08