“Every eye fixed itself upon him
with parted lips and bated breath
the audience hung upon his words
taking no note of time
rapt in the ghastly fascinations of the tale”
-Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer

And now we wait.
All of them, all of us,
to see if it is possible.
To see the dream realized,
or the believers made fools of.
For the celebration,
the disappointment,
the [...]

Where were you the day the world changed?
Will you remember where you were when you heard that the United States had elected the first black president?
I will tell my children about the night I sat with three friends in a living room in Florida. There were dots on the walls and ceilings and a [...]

The press is not impressed. They are not giddy with anticipation or soaking up their surroundings in big, huge gulps. Maybe you get used to having this kind of access to the world.
But I, well, I am beyond impressed. I am in awe.
I am 50 yards from the podium. With a [...]

I hesitate to write this because I am not an expert and this is not a political blog. I’m well aware that my readers don’t come here to get their policy lessons.
But I believe in civic responsibility. And today, the first day of early voting in Florida, I believe that it is my [...]

After Tuesday’s presidential debate, the pundits weighed in and the facts were checked. Most “experts” declared Obama the winner, but only marginally so. None of this of course means anything in the face of the looming election date.
What everyone really wants to know is what did the undecided voters think? Did they hear [...]

You need to see this before the weekend is over.

In many states, you must be registered to vote by tomorrow – October 4th.
If you’re already registered because you care, help someone you know who isn’t registered. You’d be amazed how many people don’t vote because they don’t register ahead of time – because they [...]

I’m going to do something tonight that scares the hell out of me.
Tonight, instead of a happy hour after work or a movie night with the family, I will be packing up a store bought pot luck offering and heading to the home of a complete stranger. I will sit with other strangers and [...]

I wrote this post last year.  I could have written parts of it yesterday:

Today is September 11 – obviously.  Six years since what we have just started calling “The Attacks”.  For some reason I was thinking about this last night, and wondering if anyone was going to do some big commemorative type posts.  Apparently that’s [...]

Dear Undecided Voters,
The presidential election is less than 60 days away, and yet the chief complaint I hear from you is “no one has told me what they’re going to do.  Everyone talks about change and no one tells me how they’re going to bring change“.
My friends, to you I say, bullshit.
Perhaps what you mean [...]

I wonder how many people won’t click through to read this post once they see the title in their feed reader.
I wonder how many people will read it out of morbid curiosity, but refuse to comment because “that’s just one of those things I don’t discuss with people”.
I don’t get that.
I’ve heard about The Party [...]

I’ve been thinking about this post for almost two weeks now, waiting to see if the anger would subside.
I don’t write well when I’m angry – or at least, I don’t always write clearly. And I was hoping that if the fury would calm itself, then maybe I would be able to say something [...]

I know no one wants to hear anymore about politics. I know.
Let me, instead, tell you about my broken heart.
I am 28 years old, born in 1980.
I have heard stories about the 70’s. I’ve read about the 60’s. I’ve seen Martin Luther King, JR. and John F. Kennedy speak via old newsreels [...]

I rarely post viral videos.
It is unusual for me to repost someone else’s words. And there’s a good chance that you’ve already seen this anyway.
But if you haven’t, you should. I don’t care who you vote for. It doesn’t matter what your opinions are on the war or health care or social [...]

Sometimes when you read someone’s blog, or chat with them via IM, or live next door to them for your entire life, you assume you know what they think and how they feel about everything.  You know where they stand on one issue, you know which jokes they laugh at, you know what kind of [...]