crazyblackministergate

Some spicy Sante Fe soup, crackers, lots of water, 6 episodes of Freaks and Geeks, and 12 hours of sleep later I'm...here. I'm better, I guess, though I woke up feeling as if I'd been hit by a truck. Listening to Diane Rehm's show about Obama's speech definitely helped lift my spirits. When crazyblackministergate broke I dismissed it as a nonstory. I mean, what person in their right mind sits in a church and agrees with every single thing their minister says? Plus, anyone who doesn't take into account the cultural differences between, say, a white Methodist church and a black Baptist church is just not very bright. But the story wouldn't die so Barack Obama charged bravely forth and delivered what will undoubtedly go down as a historic speech. I read it when I got to work today and was blown away. Peter wondered if it was too intelligent for America to which I said if America doesn't get it this country doesn't deserve to be saved. As usual, Diane Rehm had a host of lunatic callers: "I've had 42 years of psychological analysis and this speech wasn't brave, it was defensive. Only John McCain is out there talking about our most important issue: saving our children in Iraq." (Uh, you sent your children to Iraq?! I was under the impression those serving in Iraq signed up for the armed services. And had to be 18 years old. And isn't John McCain the only candidate who isn't interested in ending the war?) "Doesn't anyone see how hypocritical this all is? I mean, the man sat in a church with his daughters for 20 years and listened to that man say 9/11 was our fault." (Actually his daughters are only 9 and 7 so they haven't been sitting there for 20 years plus, unless I'm mistaken, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said 9/11 was our fault too and they're 2 old white guys...) Race in America is a very complicated issue. Kudos to Barack Obama for forcing this country to face it head on.

Yesterday I had a meeting with 2 people from 2 different groups on co-sponsoring a film series/discussion group on sustainability. The groups both focus on the environmental, social equity, and economic issues. To say I'm psyched about this is an understatement. We're going to do one a month for a year and see how it goes. The first up is The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. Yeah, we thought we'd just jump right in and challenge our small little conservative community. The nice thing is having the complete support of our public relations person who is more than happy to defend our choices to the community should conflict arise.

Tonight, however, I get to play Hearts which is a little hilarious as I'm not very good at playing Hearts. The whole taking tricks with points is a bad thing is tough for me to grasp. It should be fun. We have no idea how many people are going to show up. Could be 2, could be 20.

I'm secretly hoping for somewhere in between.