Reading DavidSeth and TiaRachel's lovely essays yesterday at Docudharma sent me on a search to find a little tale my Dad wrote & had published on-line last December. The link from his e-mail no longer worked, so I tried the google. Imagine my surprise to find page after page of sites with his story. I already had permission from him to do anything I wanted with it, so I thought this would be the perfect time to share it here, with you.
My Dad is a Great Guy, his experiences varied and many... in a 'Big Fish' kind of way. He served in WWII and later became the fencing coach of Columbia University in the 1940's-50s and was an early advocate of civil rights in sports, eventually retiring to California. Not long ago Columbia University honoured him with a lovely (ceremony dinner function thingey) as it had been recently discovered his fencing team was the only one to achieve NCAA. More about this can be found at Columbia's web site.

Originally at Docudharma

Enjoy!

The Shabbes Goy by Joe Velarde -- a pleasant read in a troubled world

    Each year at Thanksgiving it is a tradition at our house, while the oyster stew is eaten, to tell what you are thankful for this year.

    It is so easy to get caught up in what is wrong, what you'd like to change. This one day is the perfect time to count your blessings, reflect on what you have, & what you are truly thankful for.

    This year I am thankful that....

My daughter called last night and related this story about her first day of Religion class. She has put this class off, finally taking it her final year. She attends a Lutheran (sponsored?) college & religion is a required course there.  She picked this school because it is in the same county that she lives; therefore she gets a small break on tuition  and has no dorm expenses. They were also helpful in finding scholarships, grants etc for her. Actually they pretty much bent over backwards to get her there- she’s doing a double major: Bio/Chem.
So here’s the call (not word for word, but nearly!)

h/t to Pfiore8 whose lovely diary the other day  in defense of nothing was the impetus for this one.  

I encourage you to take the time to go read it, I’ll wait...

...The space between
What's wrong and right
Is where you'll find me hiding waiting for you
The space between your heart and mind
Is the space we'll fill with time
The space between
The tears we cry is the laughter keeps us coming back for more
The space between our wicked lies
Where we hope to keep safe from pain
The space between...

• - -dave matthews

So the question being asked is Why... Why do we, or what we do, why does any of this matter?  

  I just got off the phone with Senator Graham. Okay, I didn't actually get to talk to him, but I was far along enough that they'd asked for my name and question. He was having what he called a 'Tele-Town Hall Meeting' and I really thought it was pretty cool that he was doing it. I'm not sure how many people were on the line, but the questions were pretty decent, a few people said they didn't like his positions and wouldn't vote for him again.

Take the jump & I'll tell you the rest...
 

We're on the brink of a HealthCare Crisis and hardly anyone seems to know!
That's why I'm using my one diary today to pimp OneCrankyDom's diary:GO HERE, read about this upcoming crisis.

     I live in SC and ALL the people I voted for lost. This is the fourth straight time this has happened :(

    This time, it's okay. This time I'm not curled up in a fetal ball on Xanax to take away my depression. This time after the initial cloud of despair there came a shining ray of hope. It peaked out from behind that cloud and played hide & seek with it all day yesterday.
Then a song started in my head: Brand New Day by Sting. Then buhdydharma had a diary last night called Brand New Day! and this morning it was the first song I heard!

Until I found DailyKos I was clueless about politics. I had no idea that I could make a difference. I had no idea that I could support candidates I believe in, even if they're from another state. I had no idea that it mattered that every candidate I believe in, that has values & ideas I support,  win their election & make it to DC. That each additional voice in DC can change the minority into the majority.
    I have never really been involved in politics. Yes I have voted, I've voted for Democrats every election even though I live in SC. Every voting day, usually before noon, the pundits claim my state has gone Republican. This pisses me off.
    That is why I'm writing today, asking for your support to change the colour of politics in South Carolina. I've read about candidates from other states that I wouldn't have heard of before & seen their poll numbers change because of netroots activism. I'm hoping you'll rise up & help us change this red state blue to match our state flag!

TITLE HAS BEEN CHANGED by suggestion, it was: Best. Title. Ever. (worst omen ever?)  my real intro wouldn't fit - this is the pseudo intro- the original follows and please add whatever tags you think fit, its taken me 2 FN days to figure this out, my poor wee head can't do any FN tags right now!

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Maybe everyone here already knows all this. I'm new to politics and have recently found out some disturbing information. Maybe the reason we are at war in Iraq and Afganistan is because the Saudi royal family wanted to expand their oil holdings.
 If this is all repeat info please forgive me and tell me how to un-post a diary.

I'm going to my Doctor tommorow and for once I'm happy about it! I have no appointment and plan to stay less than 5 minutes. You see I'm just making sure he sees two articles I read today.

I received this e-mail today and am posting it here as my civic duty for the day. This was so important to me I found courage to finally post a diary. Sneak Attack on Organic Standards in Congress Continues: