Friday, November 21, 2008

Home

I love reading my old journals. I wish I still wrote in one regularly, but I don't. It's very, very sporadic. For instance, I have a journal that is almost half full. The first entry in it is from 8/19/04 and the last is from 7/20/08. I re-read all of the entries recently and I was stuck by the first one, so I thought I would re-type it here. Remember that we moved from L.A. to Lexington in June of '04

8/19/04:

I am on the plane, on my way to L.A. It's very surreal. I wish I was staying for longer than 3 nights. Even though I have peace about our move to Kentucky, something about the thought of the plane landing and stepping off into that place I love and hate, makes me incredibly happy. I have such an affection for so many places I have lived. I fell the same when i drive into Indianapolis or arrive in South Bend. I often dream of the tears of joy if I ever get to go back to Northern Ireland. Every place feels likes home. I think it's because of the flood of emotions and memories that come up each time - they are so real, I can almost taste, touch, hear them. In each place, a new piece of me has been formed. For L.A., there is a particular affection. I started my career, I met my husband, I lived as an adult for the first time. When I met Carl I was more self-aware, more comfortable in my own skin than I ever had been - and more so than I am now. Sometimes when I think about us living in Lexington, I think, "I am finally home." But then every time I step off the plane or drive into one of those familiar cities I feel like that place is home. I suppose it is. Home is where I grow and change - where I love and get my heart broken, where I make friends and lose friends and I meet people who see the me that is when I am in that place. I used to think only one place could be home - where you could feel safe and loved and be "yourself." But in each of those places, I am my self - the self that has evolved as a result of my experiences there. And each time I come home, I am reminded of who I was when I first arrived and who I was when I first left and I know better who I am now.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

The redemption of George Wallace

Wow. Read this article by Peggy Wallace Kennedy about her father, George Wallace, and her support of Barack Obama. Being a child of the South and having witnessed redemption in the lives of so many family members and loved ones with regard to their views on race, I found it very touching.

Here's an excerpt:
When I was a young voter and had little interest in politics, my father
would mark my ballot for me. As I thought about the woman in the cemetery, I
mused that if he were alive and I had made the same request for this election,
there would be a substantial chance, though not a certainty, that he would put
an "X" by Obama's name.
Perhaps it would be the last chapter in his search for inner peace that became so important to him after becoming a victim of hatred and violence himself when he was shot and gravely injured in a Laurel, Maryland, shopping center parking lot. Perhaps it would be a way of reconciling in his own mind that what he once stood for did not prevent freedom of opportunity and self-advancement from coming full circle; his final absolution.

And I love this line:

Today, Barack Obama is hope for a better tomorrow for all Americans. He
stands on the shoulders of all those people who have incessantly prayed for a
day when "justice will run down like waters and righteousness as a mighty
stream" (Amos 5:24).


Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Dear Jordan and Trevor,

Today, you were a part of making history. You accompanied daddy and me to vote for the President of the United States. We voted for a man named Barack Obama. Like you, Barack Obama is biracial. Your mommy, like his, is white, and your daddy is black and Indian. Barack Obama’s father was black, born in a country called Kenya. Barack Obama is the first black man to be selected as a political party’s nominee for President. I know you are too young to understand the significance of that. Really, mommy and daddy are even too young to truly understand it. But not that long ago (in the lifetime of your gramma, nana and grandpas), it would not have been possible. People are sometimes scared of what is different and for a long time, in our country, many white people were scared of people with darker skin than them. For reasons I cannot explain, many white people even thought they were better than black people. So they made rules and laws to keep black people, and others, from doing certain things, like eating at the same restaurants as them, drinking from the same water fountain and even voting . It would not have been possible then for Barack Obama to run for President. But today, the world changed, and you were a part of making that happen.

Equally important is that a woman named Sarah Palin is running for Vice-President with the Republican nominee, John McCain. We didn’t vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin, but it is important for you to know, as boys, that you have privileges that have not always been allowed to women. Just like white people didn’t allow black people to do certain things, women have not been allowed to do the same things as men. As a matter of fact, black men were allowed to vote before women of any color were allowed to vote. Sarah Palin, like Barack Obama, is brave, and has been a part of changing the world for people like your mommy, your aunties, and your cousin Gracie, who we will get to meet soon.

It is so important that you remember that all people – of all colors, from all countries, whether they are men or women, gay or straight– are part of God’s creation and we should treat them all with the same love and respect that we want them to treat us. Mommy and Daddy voted for Barack Obama today, not because of the color of his skin, but because we believe in what he wants to do to make our country, and our world, a better place to live, for all of us. Because of people like him, and because of what you helped us do today, you can be anything you want to be.

Love,
Mommy

Monday, November 3, 2008

First Amendment

One of my pet peeves is when people talk about their "rights," but don't have any idea what they are talking about. It seems like every time a government, or worse, private business decision, is made that affects someone personally, they claim their "rights" are being violated. Read the Bill of Rights. I understand that they are open to some interpretation, but they are really pretty clear. The First Amendment right to "free speech" seems to be one of the most abused, and apparently, even our illustrious Republican vice-presidential candidate doesn't understand it. If you need a primer on the First Amendment, or you need another reason to be scared if Sarah Palin goes to Washington, read here.