merry christmas

Project Homeless: Citizen's Groove

It seems that no matter the city I reside in – the very core of it can be overwhelming and certainly San Diego has its groove. From the glitz to the poor – there is activity everywhere and it doesn't seem to stop. People coming and going – looking for an answer to their complicated lives.

Amazing to me are the number of homeless I encounter every day, more so than anywhere I have lived yet. There are entire blocks that are lined with shopping carts – overflowing with possessions, recycling, trash and all covered with blue tarps and blankets. There are people – couples too, spread here or there in the middle of a sidewalk with their sleeping-bags and blankets.

The sight is one that is heartbreaking to see - “God bless” and a cheerful “Merry Christmas” do not 

ever seem to be enough. Nevertheless, - if all one can do is offer a kind word, I can only imagine they are grateful to be recognized.

Their livelihood is desperate during this season. It's cold and wet (in most of the world) and their hiding place is harder to find. But if you're one that rarely has a quarter or dime in your pocket – remember that a nod and a hello can go a long way. They, too, are our neighbors and they too understand the season's urgency - and the longing for it's peace.

Free The Press!

"I sat there a long time, and thought about a lot of things. Foremost among them was the suspicion that my strange and ungovernable instincts might do me in before I had a chance to get rich. No matter how much I wanted all those things that I needed money to buy, there was some devilish current push me off in another direction – toward anarchy and poverty and craziness.” (H.S. Thompson)

Such is the life of a journalist. It's true!


“Curiosity killed the Cat,” is a serious understatement for someone who seeks to discover the world. Whether it be investigative questions or evaluating, intensely, acquired information: the journalist knows no rest, no fortune nor any alliance. At least, this is their intended purpose.


Several weeks ago, a man by the name of Ted Koppel wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington Post coming down on the likes of FOX News and MSNBC. Though not flawless, the old time journalist had valuable things to say in the face of current media standards. In short – such broadcast networks are throwing away the pursuit and delivery of fact-based-journalism. Rather: they are corporations, one to the right, one to the left – that are touting for their audience an opinion they hope will be bought – at the price of truth.


Koppel noted that 30/40 years ago, though every journalist has their own strong opinion, the networks, the newspapers stumbled over their persuasions to deliver a story that often had many sides. The audience had only one task: decide for themselves how they felt about it. And in the modern age, a vicious cycle tit for tat has taken place to feed the audience what they should think and in turn the audience demands it.


But I find that those truly passionate about story-telling, do so in a way that makes the world a fair and just place. In the US, this means that the First Amendment becomes a clear ambition – a right that is defended and defined. Oh, it's true – FOX and MSNBC, they are using their First Amendment right, but they are also calling themselves “fair” press and they are
not.


Hunter S. Thompson, while out of his mind, most of the time, is revered by journalists for a reason: he integrated himself so far into the stories he covered – that you were only left with plot and the characters. Your distaste or your pleasure came from your observances, not because you were told.


No riches or wealth ever truly came from telling other people's stories. Rather, more appropriately, it was a passionate business that kept it's constituents in the brink of drama – and gained them public respect. 


This is not to say a journalist is not worth their time or their story per word and page, but it does mean, that the average journalist doesn't enter the profession for the flare of money falling off trees, no matter how nice that would that be for all the stuff we thing we need.


And it must be noted that we are living in a generation that feels the pains of sensational media news rather than special interest stories and investigative or critical thinking and the presentation of facts.


Where it will go: only time will tell. But certainly I set out to do journalism the write way - the way that inspired our Founding Fathers to establish my right to do it - and present each story as it is - to the best of my ability, then? Let you decide. 


My instincts are wild and take me to absurd places where outrageous people have insane ideas, but certainly nothing is out reach or impossible - and because of that alone, while it might rustle a few feathers, or "do me in before I had the chance to get rich," - I go after it anyway.

Take a Breath

"What decreases in a culture of affluence is precisely and strangely...time
-- along with wisdom and friendship." (Richard Rohr)

Time...how many opportunities in a day do you take just for...time? Those few moments to yourself where the small desperate prayer escapes your lips? Or perhaps that breath you needed during an anxious moment and didn't bother to acknowledge? The society we live in inhales busyness as if it could possibly go out of style. And each and every being that buys it – knows no exhale. It is suffocating.

Yet if you, if I – would just take a minute and let all the stress of the day pass, even if only for a moment, perhaps the peace the heart craves would exist continuously.

As of late: I have been forced to embrace those moments of time – it seems I didn't take advantage of its presence before. So, now, as I search for daily solutions to my nuances, I am confronted with the need, with the ability to avert my eyes outward and my thoughts toward forceful, crashing white waves. Perhaps it is the season beckoning me to remember what it is in the earth right now. Or perhaps, it is calling for me to still – and release, whether it lasts a minute or a day...it is time and beauty that can be the most rejuvenating and it demands my attention.

Watching the film, Anna & The King, last night, there is a moment, when she becomes flustered as to why she was not rushed to a promised home outside the palace walls. The Prime Minister responded, “In Siam, everything has it's own time.”

It is this idea that not everything is meant for a rush. Not every moment needs to be “busy” with stuff or events. And not every occasion must be surrounded by others. Rather, to be alone, and in an order that defies chaos – such carries a commanding authority that can release grace and clarity.

So in this season that celebrates the coming of Greatness, as you hustle to keep the Grinch from stealing Santa Claus: remember that small family in the barn – who's time was a breath, a moment of release and quiet, - bringing clarity to the world - one subjected to the insanity of busy-work.