This I Believe: We Are All Related
(Original written submission for National Public Radio's "This I Believe" Story Program, by Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, November 09, 2009)
We are all related. I believe we are, though we try our best to deny it. We have had our share of global family feuds that make the ferocity of the Hatfields and the McCoys look like child’s play. Even the Berlin wall – the 20th century’s most visible family feud - did not last, as we witnessed twenty years ago today. We have a very big, very dysfunctional family. But we have had our moments in history where we strove to preemptively fix the more crooked branches of the family tree. Isn’t that what the United States’ Declaration of Independence was shooting for? Wasn’t the equality of humans and an end to the bickering the premise of the United Nations? Equal and related, they go hand and hand for me, my version of blind faith. I believe it unequivocally and deeply. Maybe it should be the United Relations and the Declaration of Dependence. The old idiom states “you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.” Well, I believe that extends to the whole human race, so we won’t always be best friends with all our relatives, but we do remain related, for better or for worse.
When I swabbed my cheek awhile back for a basic DNA test I had no idea how profound the results would be to me. The blood of my father’s father’s father’s father’s father (you get the point) going back 60,000 years tells me that most of my distant cousins today are in the Middle East, Northern Africa, and around the Mediterranean – Israel, Egypt, Crete, Jordan, Greece, Sicily – this was supposed to be that intangible Hungarian side of me. Intangible is right. And this was just one line from so many in that complicated double helix still so full of mystery that we all carry.
Sure, we can claim countries, borders, religions, languages, cultures, customs, genders, tribes, political parties, ethnicities, sports teams and hometowns – and all of these are to be respected, embraced and explored. They make things interesting, but they also help us keep our more defined place in the world and I too have my moments of just wanting to be left alone to be a Yankees fan. But I believe we are one race, for better or worse, and we ultimately have so much more in common with each other as human beings. Imagine if this simple but powerful phrase lived on the edifices of our worldly nations, in the mighty documents of our civic order, in the faithful definitions that guide so many of us. Imagine if our world leaders embraced this in their negotiations and decision making. As we close this first decade of our new millennium, I take seriously the fact that embracing our relations, all of them, could be our salvation. Because I believe we are one people at heart. So let’s send out the invitations for the next big family reunion! We are all invited. We are all related.
01 January 2010
31 March 2009
Putting the Citizen in Global
(originally posted to the Global Citizenship blog at the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management)
Putting the Citizen in Global
Over the past month or so I have been reminded of what it might mean to be a global citizen and how our classmates, peers, business partners and others from the larger Thunderbird world exemplify that global citizenship. This reminder came in two forms – a fellow TBird and friend we wish to honor, and the TBirds who choose to honor him – as part of one effort. Let me explain. When I came to Thunderbird in the Fall of 1989, one of the first people I met was Donny Howell.
Donny and I hit it off early on in the semester and after a couple of road trips and some on-campus adventures at the pool and playing rugby, our friendship was sealed. In the Fall of 1990, Sumner Wyman chose Donny and me to serve on the same InterAd team, so I finished my time in Glendale before heading to Germany in that intensive manner with Donny and our other fantastic teammates. As fond as these memories are, this is not just about my relationship with Donny, it is about Donny’s relationship and affect on so many other people. And the fact that Donny is no longer with us, just adds to that sense of his presence in some way.
While at Thunderbird, Donny was the ASLC President, a Pub Bartender and he wrote a regular column for Das Tor, “Donny’s Wild Kingdom,” just for starters. And there was so much more beyond Thunderbird for Donny. He traveled the world as a member of the Circumnavigators Club, the place for those that have truly circled the world, which Donny had done. The primary purpose of that club – “Through Friendship, To Leave This World A Little Better than We Found It.” – says a lot about how many of us saw Donny and saw our role as Thunderbird global citizens.
Many of us will remember the pictures of Donny from his many journeys (and the stories that went with them). I recall a picture of him with a group of monks and after he told me the story of meeting them, he took a necklace off his neck and handed it to me. “Take this, it is a fertility symbol that was given to me,” he said with that Belushi smile. “You should have it.” This was his style. We all have stories like that.
Donny left us too soon in the year 2005. He was only 42. He was living in Hawaii, surfing every morning before work, at the top of his game working for Marriot and loving life. That love of life is something that anyone who met Donny immediately recognized and we all remember him fondly. My memories have been reawakened by digging for pictures and scanning to create a small memorial album for Donny on Facebook, as well as sending them on to the T-bird rugby page.
I found a clipping of a Fall 1989 Das Tor column concerning one of our early adventures and was brought back to those days. I also found his final column from December 1990, where he meditated on graduation. I read the final two paragraphs of that column out loud to my wife, who never had the chance to meet Donny. They say it pretty well and I share them here for all our global citizenry, those long graduated and those still to walk in the long black-robed line:
“Find a great and fulfilling job, but don’t lose sight of the fact that a job is only part of a great and fulfilling life. Drink great wines, listen to wonderful music, play with children, learn to fly an airplane, visit the most exotic place you can imagine, read the finest books ever written, walk in the forest at midnight, help the hungry, get married, have children, help save the environment, do a triathlon. Do everything you have always wanted to do and make the time and plans to achieve your life’s dreams.
We’re Thunderbirds and the world is our playground. This isn’t graduation, it is recess. It is time to leave the classroom and act out our dreams on the stage of reality. Break a leg.”
This is pure Donny and I believe he was one example of a global citizen, as we try to picture ourselves. He surely loved Thunderbird with all his heart – a heart that beat furiously and passionately for too short a time on this earth. Which brings me to that second reminder I received. In his honor, a group of classmates from overlapping semesters is gathering funds to donate to the Tower Restoration, in particular to “buy some floor space for Donny” in the new T-bird Pub location.
I thought we might raise $500 so we could buy a square to remember him by, but we have already raised over $1,000 and the donations keep coming. Here are Donny’s friends from all over the country and the world, sending checks and wire transfers in remembrance of their fellow traveler in life. These too are exemplary global citizens of the Thunderbird kind. My hat is off to them and to all of you who live those fulfilling lives. This is global citizenship to me.
Original blog url: http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/globalcitizenship/2009/03/30/howell/
Putting the Citizen in Global
Over the past month or so I have been reminded of what it might mean to be a global citizen and how our classmates, peers, business partners and others from the larger Thunderbird world exemplify that global citizenship. This reminder came in two forms – a fellow TBird and friend we wish to honor, and the TBirds who choose to honor him – as part of one effort. Let me explain. When I came to Thunderbird in the Fall of 1989, one of the first people I met was Donny Howell.
Donny and I hit it off early on in the semester and after a couple of road trips and some on-campus adventures at the pool and playing rugby, our friendship was sealed. In the Fall of 1990, Sumner Wyman chose Donny and me to serve on the same InterAd team, so I finished my time in Glendale before heading to Germany in that intensive manner with Donny and our other fantastic teammates. As fond as these memories are, this is not just about my relationship with Donny, it is about Donny’s relationship and affect on so many other people. And the fact that Donny is no longer with us, just adds to that sense of his presence in some way.
While at Thunderbird, Donny was the ASLC President, a Pub Bartender and he wrote a regular column for Das Tor, “Donny’s Wild Kingdom,” just for starters. And there was so much more beyond Thunderbird for Donny. He traveled the world as a member of the Circumnavigators Club, the place for those that have truly circled the world, which Donny had done. The primary purpose of that club – “Through Friendship, To Leave This World A Little Better than We Found It.” – says a lot about how many of us saw Donny and saw our role as Thunderbird global citizens.
Many of us will remember the pictures of Donny from his many journeys (and the stories that went with them). I recall a picture of him with a group of monks and after he told me the story of meeting them, he took a necklace off his neck and handed it to me. “Take this, it is a fertility symbol that was given to me,” he said with that Belushi smile. “You should have it.” This was his style. We all have stories like that.
Donny left us too soon in the year 2005. He was only 42. He was living in Hawaii, surfing every morning before work, at the top of his game working for Marriot and loving life. That love of life is something that anyone who met Donny immediately recognized and we all remember him fondly. My memories have been reawakened by digging for pictures and scanning to create a small memorial album for Donny on Facebook, as well as sending them on to the T-bird rugby page.
I found a clipping of a Fall 1989 Das Tor column concerning one of our early adventures and was brought back to those days. I also found his final column from December 1990, where he meditated on graduation. I read the final two paragraphs of that column out loud to my wife, who never had the chance to meet Donny. They say it pretty well and I share them here for all our global citizenry, those long graduated and those still to walk in the long black-robed line:
“Find a great and fulfilling job, but don’t lose sight of the fact that a job is only part of a great and fulfilling life. Drink great wines, listen to wonderful music, play with children, learn to fly an airplane, visit the most exotic place you can imagine, read the finest books ever written, walk in the forest at midnight, help the hungry, get married, have children, help save the environment, do a triathlon. Do everything you have always wanted to do and make the time and plans to achieve your life’s dreams.
We’re Thunderbirds and the world is our playground. This isn’t graduation, it is recess. It is time to leave the classroom and act out our dreams on the stage of reality. Break a leg.”
This is pure Donny and I believe he was one example of a global citizen, as we try to picture ourselves. He surely loved Thunderbird with all his heart – a heart that beat furiously and passionately for too short a time on this earth. Which brings me to that second reminder I received. In his honor, a group of classmates from overlapping semesters is gathering funds to donate to the Tower Restoration, in particular to “buy some floor space for Donny” in the new T-bird Pub location.
I thought we might raise $500 so we could buy a square to remember him by, but we have already raised over $1,000 and the donations keep coming. Here are Donny’s friends from all over the country and the world, sending checks and wire transfers in remembrance of their fellow traveler in life. These too are exemplary global citizens of the Thunderbird kind. My hat is off to them and to all of you who live those fulfilling lives. This is global citizenship to me.
Original blog url: http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/globalcitizenship/2009/03/30/howell/
Building Community in Native 'Nations Within Nations"
(originally posted to the Global Citizenship blog at the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management)
Building Community in Native ‘Nations Within Nations’
Greetings global citizens. My name is Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, a 1991 Thunderbird graduate. First let me say it is a real honor and pleasure to be a part of this new adventure in blogging. I do a little blogging of my own for personal and professional reasons elsewhere, and I stay active personally and professionally with Facebook. So this seemed like a natural progression in my local, regional and global connections. Now a little about me and my organization for this first time around: I am the vice president and chief operating officer for Oweesta, a U.S. Native community development intermediary based in Rapid City, S.D., serving indigenous people throughout the United States.
We also liaise at times with international indigenous organizations, and I was fortunate last fall to attend the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. We were the only Native organization at the event, and it was great to see the global focus with all the work necessary for Native nations in the United States. Since then, I have had a number of topics on my mind that have driven my work and might be lead topics to throw around here on this blog.
At Oweesta we focus on the development of small Native community-based lending and capacity building institutions, known as CDFIs (community development financial institutions). These are primarily nonprofit Native loan funds, but there are also Native credit unions, banks, venture capital funds and microenterprise funds. We also provide training and technical assistance in the areas of enterprise and entrepreneurship development and financial education and asset building for Native communities and nations. Oweesta acts as an investor/lender to these local institutions as well, once they have reached a certain level of maturity.
Our work requires what I call a “nimble and locally sensitive” approach to each community we work in. With more than 500 different federally recognized Indian tribes and many more state recognized, non-recognized, urban, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native communities and nations, we must have a global approach to “nations within nations.” This kind of community development investing touches upon socially responsible investing, social entrepreneurs, sustainable economies, Native values, ethics, customs and creating independent, sovereign Native communities. At its core, the work is “feel good” but very personal for all of us and directed toward the practical aspects of small business development, home ownership, asset creation, wealth development – things that every nation, small or large, and every citizen, global or local, should be able to achieve.
We are hopeful that, with the changes in the U.S. administration, change will come to the First Peoples of America and that there will be concerted efforts to improve the lives of Native people. I look forward to the coming conversations here and elsewhere.
Original blog url: http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/globalcitizenship/2009/01/23/sarkozy-banoczy/
Building Community in Native ‘Nations Within Nations’
Greetings global citizens. My name is Stewart Sarkozy-Banoczy, a 1991 Thunderbird graduate. First let me say it is a real honor and pleasure to be a part of this new adventure in blogging. I do a little blogging of my own for personal and professional reasons elsewhere, and I stay active personally and professionally with Facebook. So this seemed like a natural progression in my local, regional and global connections. Now a little about me and my organization for this first time around: I am the vice president and chief operating officer for Oweesta, a U.S. Native community development intermediary based in Rapid City, S.D., serving indigenous people throughout the United States.
We also liaise at times with international indigenous organizations, and I was fortunate last fall to attend the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. We were the only Native organization at the event, and it was great to see the global focus with all the work necessary for Native nations in the United States. Since then, I have had a number of topics on my mind that have driven my work and might be lead topics to throw around here on this blog.
At Oweesta we focus on the development of small Native community-based lending and capacity building institutions, known as CDFIs (community development financial institutions). These are primarily nonprofit Native loan funds, but there are also Native credit unions, banks, venture capital funds and microenterprise funds. We also provide training and technical assistance in the areas of enterprise and entrepreneurship development and financial education and asset building for Native communities and nations. Oweesta acts as an investor/lender to these local institutions as well, once they have reached a certain level of maturity.
Our work requires what I call a “nimble and locally sensitive” approach to each community we work in. With more than 500 different federally recognized Indian tribes and many more state recognized, non-recognized, urban, Native Hawaiian and Alaska Native communities and nations, we must have a global approach to “nations within nations.” This kind of community development investing touches upon socially responsible investing, social entrepreneurs, sustainable economies, Native values, ethics, customs and creating independent, sovereign Native communities. At its core, the work is “feel good” but very personal for all of us and directed toward the practical aspects of small business development, home ownership, asset creation, wealth development – things that every nation, small or large, and every citizen, global or local, should be able to achieve.
We are hopeful that, with the changes in the U.S. administration, change will come to the First Peoples of America and that there will be concerted efforts to improve the lives of Native people. I look forward to the coming conversations here and elsewhere.
Original blog url: http://knowledgenetwork.thunderbird.edu/globalcitizenship/2009/01/23/sarkozy-banoczy/
10 October 2008
The Tricks of Racism: Switch Your Mind
This really made me think. Please share wildly.
Subject: blatant pro-intellect email
Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things were switched around?.....think about it.
Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit?Ponder the following:
What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, includinga three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severedisfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair whilehe was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?(The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruptionin 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savingsand Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on manyoccasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?
You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizespositive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities inanother when there is a color difference.
Educational Background:
Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.S
yracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna Colle ge - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.McCain or Obama? Stay updated on coverage of the Presidential race while you browse - Download Now!
Subject: blatant pro-intellect email
Obama/Biden vs McCain/Palin, what if things were switched around?.....think about it.
Would the country's collective point of view be different? Could racism be the culprit?Ponder the following:
What if the Obamas had paraded five children across the stage, includinga three month old infant and an unwed, pregnant teenage daughter?
What if John McCain was a former president of the Harvard Law Review?
What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class?
What if McCain had only married once, and Obama was a divorcee?
What if Obama was the candidate who left his first wife after a severedisfiguring car accident, when she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Obama had met his second wife in a bar and had a long affair whilehe was still married?
What if Michelle Obama was the wife who not only became addicted to painkillers but also acquired them illegally through her charitable organization?
What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard?
What if Obama had been a member of the Keating Five?(The Keating Five were five United States Senators accused of corruptionin 1989, igniting a major political scandal as part of the larger Savingsand Loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s.)
What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
What if Obama couldn't read from a teleprompter?
What if Obama was the one who had military experience that included discipline problems and a record of crashing seven planes?
What if Obama was the one who was known to display publicly, on manyoccasions, a serious anger management problem?
What if Michelle Obama's family had made their money from beer distribution?
What if the Obamas had adopted a white child?
You could easily add to this list. If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizespositive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities inanother when there is a color difference.
Educational Background:
Barack Obama:
Columbia University - B.A. Political Science with a Specialization in International Relations.
Harvard - Juris Doctor (J.D.) Magna Cum Laude
Joseph Biden:
University of Delaware - B.A. in History and B.A. in Political Science.S
yracuse University College of Law - Juris Doctor (J.D.)
vs.
John McCain:
United States Naval Academy - Class rank: 894 of 899
Sarah Palin:
Hawaii Pacific University - 1 semester
North Idaho College - 2 semesters - general study
University of Idaho - 2 semesters - journalism
Matanuska-Susitna Colle ge - 1 semester
University of Idaho - 3 semesters - B.A. in Journalism
Education isn't everything, but this is about the two highest offices in the land as well as our standing in the world. You make the call.McCain or Obama? Stay updated on coverage of the Presidential race while you browse - Download Now!
27 September 2008
Paul Newman
I have always admired Paul Newman. Through my childhood his movies made an impression on me. When I did my stint in acting school and went to my auditions I thought often about those movies like The Sting, that my young mind and heart remembered. But it was my later impressions and experiences that made me admire him even more. During those 'creative years' in New York City one activity I got engaged with was to volunteer with the kids of Hell's Kitchen at the 52nd Street Project. The 52nd Street Project "...matches the kids (9 to 18) of Hell's Kitchen in New York City with professional theater artists to create original theater." Kids write plays and act them out with and without adults and some amazing moments happen through the process (and not just on the stage).
There are well know actors (unlike me) who participate in helping the kids write the plays, act the plays, direct and generally help pull the productions together. I was fortunate to work on playwriting, backstage and as an actor in some of the plays. The kids were incredible every time and it was one of the most rewarding things I did while living in New York (certainly better than some of those auditions!).
So, why all this about the 52nd Street Project? Because Paul Newman and his Newman's Own Foundation support the work of the 52nd Street Project, like so many other important contributions that they make. That's where the impression on me comes from. Paul Newman's generousity is legendary and something I grew to admire more and more over time, in particular because of my direct connection with the 52nd Street Project during that period. Even better, Mr. Newman would sometimes come to the shows with Joanne Woodward to watch the kids (and those of us that felt like kids in his presence). He seemed to really enjoy every show and feeling a part of the production. On one occasion he came backstage and started visiting with all of us for quite a while and Joanne had to come back and get him. I remember him winking at me and saying "hold on, hold on, I want to just hang out back here with these boys for awhile." She finally came back in and took him back up to the seats. I watched him watch the show as he laughed as hard or harder than anyone in the crowd along with Joanne. I will never forget those moments.
I mourn his passing in my own special way and only want to add to the feeling of loss that many may feel. Paul Newman was a great actor, but he was far more than that. He gave of himself on screen and in so many other ways. His giving changed so many lives for the better, including those kids of the 52nd Street Project. He will be missed.
There are well know actors (unlike me) who participate in helping the kids write the plays, act the plays, direct and generally help pull the productions together. I was fortunate to work on playwriting, backstage and as an actor in some of the plays. The kids were incredible every time and it was one of the most rewarding things I did while living in New York (certainly better than some of those auditions!).
So, why all this about the 52nd Street Project? Because Paul Newman and his Newman's Own Foundation support the work of the 52nd Street Project, like so many other important contributions that they make. That's where the impression on me comes from. Paul Newman's generousity is legendary and something I grew to admire more and more over time, in particular because of my direct connection with the 52nd Street Project during that period. Even better, Mr. Newman would sometimes come to the shows with Joanne Woodward to watch the kids (and those of us that felt like kids in his presence). He seemed to really enjoy every show and feeling a part of the production. On one occasion he came backstage and started visiting with all of us for quite a while and Joanne had to come back and get him. I remember him winking at me and saying "hold on, hold on, I want to just hang out back here with these boys for awhile." She finally came back in and took him back up to the seats. I watched him watch the show as he laughed as hard or harder than anyone in the crowd along with Joanne. I will never forget those moments.
I mourn his passing in my own special way and only want to add to the feeling of loss that many may feel. Paul Newman was a great actor, but he was far more than that. He gave of himself on screen and in so many other ways. His giving changed so many lives for the better, including those kids of the 52nd Street Project. He will be missed.
12 September 2008
Just Sharing: You'll Never Be Vice President: A Letter to My Daughter, the Community Organizer
Something worth reading, especially if you have daughters and/or you work on behalf of communities, like so many...
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You'll Never Be Vice President:
A Letter to My Daughter, the Community Organizer
Why didn't I nip all this in the bud and buy you a well-oiled Remington 12-gauge?
By Marc Cooper
published: September 11, 2008
Daughter Dearest,
It is with great pain and a certain measure of shame that I write you this note. Having grown up in the ’60s and watched, sometimes at glaringly close range, the emergence of the women’s liberation movement, I had always harbored great dreams and aspirations for you.
But as I listened to Governor Sarah Palin address the nation the other night, I had to confess that — as your father — I have clearly failed. Honey, you will never be able to achieve the greatness of being nominated for vice president of the United States. Forget about it.
And for this sad reality, I accept all blame. ’Twas I who steered you wrong.
Here you are, almost 25, with what your mother and I believed was a solid education behind you, and yet you are nothing but a common community organizer. Yes, the labor union you work for represents nearly 2 million service workers — about three times the population of Alaska. But, alas, as Governor Palin pointed out, you have no real responsibilities. By helping janitors, security guards, nursing aides and orderlies gain a living wage,p aid health care insurance and a retirement fund, you have only robbed them of the personal initiative to go out there and make something better of themselves. You have rendered them feebly dependent on Big Labor and tax-and-spend Big Government — and all in their own crass self-interest in survival.
I’m not sure when I helped nudge you on to such a mistaken road. Probably sometime while you were attending that government-run high school in which we enrolled you. You could have joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, as Ms. Palin did. Instead, I pushed you to become a columnist on the school paper. You could have spent your afternoons becoming the local barracuda on the courts. But, nope, your mom and I indulged your trivial passions for staging and directing the plays of Shakespeare. You could have competed to be Miss Woodland Hills or even Miss Congenial California, but — no — there were your mom and dad encouraging you to finish writing your first play. Sorry.
From there, the mistakes only multiplied. Instead of letting you wait until the responsible age of 44 before letting you secure a passport, we strained our family budget and squandered who knows how many thousands by putting you on countless Flights to Nowhere: New York, Washington, New Orleans, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Santiago, Mexico City. And to what end? So you could return home — as the huggable Mayor Giuliani so neatly put it — some sort of “cosmopolitan”? Exposure to so many foreign ideas (like the notion of spending an idle afternoon reading a book in a café instead of learning to field-dress a moose) only contaminated you, rendering you insensitive and contemptuous to the day-to-day needs of bowling league members in Michigan’s Macomb County. Worse, you returned from those European jaunts a brainwashed follower of the elite, angry, left media. By the 12th grade, all the warning signs were there. I’d walk into your room at 1 in the morning and catch you with a flashlight under the covers, reading the book pages of The Atlantic.Why didn’t I nip this all in the bud and buy you a well-oiled Remington 12-gauge so you could plink the coyotes south of Ventura Boulevard?
The real disaster came, of course, in college. Four straight years wasted at UCLA, when you could have been following the course of the governor, sampling five different schools in six years. You were reading Orwell. By then she was practicing doublespeak. You were studying public policy, by then she was figuring out how to win the 909 votes she needed to become mayor of Wasilla. You were inclined to donate $100 to the ACLU. She was way ahead of you, sweetie, as she calculated how to avoid the ACLU when she made her inquiries into pruning the local library of un-American and anti-Christian propaganda. She was on her way up and you, dear child, were dead-ended in the silly task of trying to organize seven hospitals back to back.
It’s not healthy to dwell on so many regrets, I know. And as I said, this is mostly the fault of your parents. While you are the victim of these reckless choices, your mom and I, nevertheless, pay a heavy price. If we had only been sage enough to bar you from sex-ed class and contraceptives and instead had let you rely on abstinence and prayer, there was an even chance you could have been pregnant by age 17. You’d have a joyous 7-year-old child right now to help you get through your 10-hour workday. The father might have married you. And we’d have a lovely grandchild who a mere decade from now could produce us a great-grandchild and we would all still be young enough to go snowmobiling together — the next time it snows in WoodlandHills.
Ah, but better not to dwell on the negative. Make the best of the little we have given you, and grant us your understanding and forgiveness. And don’t despair too much. Remember, when McCain-Palin come to power, real change is gonna come, and we’ll all be better off.
Love, Dad
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You'll Never Be Vice President:
A Letter to My Daughter, the Community Organizer
Why didn't I nip all this in the bud and buy you a well-oiled Remington 12-gauge?
By Marc Cooper
published: September 11, 2008
Daughter Dearest,
It is with great pain and a certain measure of shame that I write you this note. Having grown up in the ’60s and watched, sometimes at glaringly close range, the emergence of the women’s liberation movement, I had always harbored great dreams and aspirations for you.
But as I listened to Governor Sarah Palin address the nation the other night, I had to confess that — as your father — I have clearly failed. Honey, you will never be able to achieve the greatness of being nominated for vice president of the United States. Forget about it.
And for this sad reality, I accept all blame. ’Twas I who steered you wrong.
Here you are, almost 25, with what your mother and I believed was a solid education behind you, and yet you are nothing but a common community organizer. Yes, the labor union you work for represents nearly 2 million service workers — about three times the population of Alaska. But, alas, as Governor Palin pointed out, you have no real responsibilities. By helping janitors, security guards, nursing aides and orderlies gain a living wage,p aid health care insurance and a retirement fund, you have only robbed them of the personal initiative to go out there and make something better of themselves. You have rendered them feebly dependent on Big Labor and tax-and-spend Big Government — and all in their own crass self-interest in survival.
I’m not sure when I helped nudge you on to such a mistaken road. Probably sometime while you were attending that government-run high school in which we enrolled you. You could have joined the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, as Ms. Palin did. Instead, I pushed you to become a columnist on the school paper. You could have spent your afternoons becoming the local barracuda on the courts. But, nope, your mom and I indulged your trivial passions for staging and directing the plays of Shakespeare. You could have competed to be Miss Woodland Hills or even Miss Congenial California, but — no — there were your mom and dad encouraging you to finish writing your first play. Sorry.
From there, the mistakes only multiplied. Instead of letting you wait until the responsible age of 44 before letting you secure a passport, we strained our family budget and squandered who knows how many thousands by putting you on countless Flights to Nowhere: New York, Washington, New Orleans, Rome, Paris, Amsterdam, Santiago, Mexico City. And to what end? So you could return home — as the huggable Mayor Giuliani so neatly put it — some sort of “cosmopolitan”? Exposure to so many foreign ideas (like the notion of spending an idle afternoon reading a book in a café instead of learning to field-dress a moose) only contaminated you, rendering you insensitive and contemptuous to the day-to-day needs of bowling league members in Michigan’s Macomb County. Worse, you returned from those European jaunts a brainwashed follower of the elite, angry, left media. By the 12th grade, all the warning signs were there. I’d walk into your room at 1 in the morning and catch you with a flashlight under the covers, reading the book pages of The Atlantic.Why didn’t I nip this all in the bud and buy you a well-oiled Remington 12-gauge so you could plink the coyotes south of Ventura Boulevard?
The real disaster came, of course, in college. Four straight years wasted at UCLA, when you could have been following the course of the governor, sampling five different schools in six years. You were reading Orwell. By then she was practicing doublespeak. You were studying public policy, by then she was figuring out how to win the 909 votes she needed to become mayor of Wasilla. You were inclined to donate $100 to the ACLU. She was way ahead of you, sweetie, as she calculated how to avoid the ACLU when she made her inquiries into pruning the local library of un-American and anti-Christian propaganda. She was on her way up and you, dear child, were dead-ended in the silly task of trying to organize seven hospitals back to back.
It’s not healthy to dwell on so many regrets, I know. And as I said, this is mostly the fault of your parents. While you are the victim of these reckless choices, your mom and I, nevertheless, pay a heavy price. If we had only been sage enough to bar you from sex-ed class and contraceptives and instead had let you rely on abstinence and prayer, there was an even chance you could have been pregnant by age 17. You’d have a joyous 7-year-old child right now to help you get through your 10-hour workday. The father might have married you. And we’d have a lovely grandchild who a mere decade from now could produce us a great-grandchild and we would all still be young enough to go snowmobiling together — the next time it snows in WoodlandHills.
Ah, but better not to dwell on the negative. Make the best of the little we have given you, and grant us your understanding and forgiveness. And don’t despair too much. Remember, when McCain-Palin come to power, real change is gonna come, and we’ll all be better off.
Love, Dad
09 September 2008
Kitty? No Rowan, THAT is a BIG mountain lion
I was driving home tonight from work and had just turned on to our little road south of Custer, near Pringle, not really paying attention. The house was just ahead and my two year old son, Rowan, was entertaining me as I glanced now and then at my Blackberry. I saw the deer cross the road out of the corner of my eye on the left and put on the brakes so I would not hit him/her. But it was not a deer, much to my surprise. It was a big (male?) mountain lion just trotting across the road where I would have run him over, with no apparent urgency.
I finally snapped out of my daze and yelled to my son that it was a mountain lion, while I threw down my phone and fumbled for my digital camera in my attache case. I was very slow on the draw and I watched him continue through the creek bottom and up the other side of the road on the hill. I thought to myself that he was just huge, but with his pace and the distance, he just looked like a big kitten. Which is sort of what Rowan started yelling at that point: "Kitty, kitty, roarrr, lion" and by then I found my camera and ran out to try and get a picture, since it had a tracking collar and was such a big fella. Well, I was too slow and by then the deer, the horses and everything else within half a mile, including my own dog and horse down the road were all riled up. I tried to spot it in the grass or treeline and looked for tracks but no sign was found.
So, keep your eyes open down Carroll Creek Road around Red Star Drive or, who knows, if he is a male, he may be just passing through or on the way home. We will certainly be watching the dusk and dawn times with the kids....
I finally snapped out of my daze and yelled to my son that it was a mountain lion, while I threw down my phone and fumbled for my digital camera in my attache case. I was very slow on the draw and I watched him continue through the creek bottom and up the other side of the road on the hill. I thought to myself that he was just huge, but with his pace and the distance, he just looked like a big kitten. Which is sort of what Rowan started yelling at that point: "Kitty, kitty, roarrr, lion" and by then I found my camera and ran out to try and get a picture, since it had a tracking collar and was such a big fella. Well, I was too slow and by then the deer, the horses and everything else within half a mile, including my own dog and horse down the road were all riled up. I tried to spot it in the grass or treeline and looked for tracks but no sign was found.
So, keep your eyes open down Carroll Creek Road around Red Star Drive or, who knows, if he is a male, he may be just passing through or on the way home. We will certainly be watching the dusk and dawn times with the kids....
07 September 2008
Community Organize THIS!
My friend and colleague (yes, we are both tainted community organizers), Greg Morishige, wrote this short introduction to a YouTube piece on community organizing, with a link to the video:
"The complete disrespect of Obama's history as a community organizer is offensive, not just to Obama, but to the history of America and those who have fought to defend human rights. This YouTube clip does an exceptional job of saying just that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IMTDLS0k8k"
I also posted this comment about the video to Facebook, which I would like to share further on this blog and beyond:
"As one of those community development folks who were wasting our time not working on Wall Street, but instead helping our communities grow and prosper, I was not only personally mystified by the disrespect shown, but it also further convinced me of the ignorance of John McCan't, Sarah Playin', and the "speech righters" of the Bush/Rove agenda. I guess they forgot that voter registration (of all parties), small business development, soccer (and hockey) moms, the Minutemen (of old and new), PTA, business chambers of commerce, etc., etc. all come about through community organizing and development. Let's organize them out of this election..."
Please forward at will...
"The complete disrespect of Obama's history as a community organizer is offensive, not just to Obama, but to the history of America and those who have fought to defend human rights. This YouTube clip does an exceptional job of saying just that. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IMTDLS0k8k"
I also posted this comment about the video to Facebook, which I would like to share further on this blog and beyond:
"As one of those community development folks who were wasting our time not working on Wall Street, but instead helping our communities grow and prosper, I was not only personally mystified by the disrespect shown, but it also further convinced me of the ignorance of John McCan't, Sarah Playin', and the "speech righters" of the Bush/Rove agenda. I guess they forgot that voter registration (of all parties), small business development, soccer (and hockey) moms, the Minutemen (of old and new), PTA, business chambers of commerce, etc., etc. all come about through community organizing and development. Let's organize them out of this election..."
Please forward at will...
05 February 2008
Sarkozy Backs Obama!
What, you thought it was Sir Nicholas of France? I doubt my non-relation could wrap his love-sick brain around this vision. And it doesn't matter anyway.
You may not believe in the man, but you must believe in some of the message: YES WE CAN. Please view the video and tell me how you can remain unmoved - I double dog dare you: www.yeswecansong.com.
Maybe it is a dream, but it an American dream. It is a dream I believe in. It is an America I believe in. Obama may not win the nomination and if he does, he may not win the Presidency, but the times have changed. Forever. For the better.
I leave you with this:
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
Patanjali
(thanks to JSB for that passing that one on...)
You may not believe in the man, but you must believe in some of the message: YES WE CAN. Please view the video and tell me how you can remain unmoved - I double dog dare you: www.yeswecansong.com.
Maybe it is a dream, but it an American dream. It is a dream I believe in. It is an America I believe in. Obama may not win the nomination and if he does, he may not win the Presidency, but the times have changed. Forever. For the better.
I leave you with this:
“When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds: Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties and talents become alive, and your discover yourself to be a greater person by far than you ever dreamed yourself to be.”
Patanjali
(thanks to JSB for that passing that one on...)
30 October 2007
Home On the Range - the NEW Homestead Act?!
A group of senators have come together to create a New Homestead Act (S. 602) with some very good intentions as rural populations shrink across the Great Plains and beyond - summary of bill below taken from Senator Dorgan's website where the bill is described as "Where history meets hope and opportunity". I understand where the hope and opportunity come from in these desperate and disappearing homesteader communities, but the history part I will get to in a minute.
I recently received a newsletter touting the overwhelming positive nature of the bill from a rural community economic development organization that will remain unnamed, with the hope, at this point, that their enthusiastic support of the bill was due to a lack of due diligence, cultural awareness and just plan naivete. I hope that their more aware friends and partners teach them a little about what this NEW act has for roots. Why do I say this? Back to the history....
A quick historical review of the ORIGINAL Homestead Act and its justifications and ramifications, clearly show it was a blatant (and eventually violent) move to take the manifest destiny in this country to a new level. Passed in 1862 and not repealed completely until 1976, it was the ultimate case of the pen (and paper) being mightier than the sword, although the sword had its day as well. To the point, land was given away to homesteaders in 160 acre parcels for them to farm and settle. Land that did not belong to the U.S. government, land that was protected by treaties, land that the Native people of this country were promised and was referred to as "unoccupied". This original act even led to land on reservations created after 1862 to be given away right from under the true owners through the sly use of allotments (see the Allotment or Dawes Act for another sordid chapter).
Oh, I understand that its water under the bridge and some will say that it was just part of what made the country come to be. And they would be correct. But at what cost?
So, I have a proposal, let's ask Senator Dorgan to add some very important language to what you see below. I have a few ideas about how to RENEW this act and I know there will be many more:
Contact Senator Dorgan, contact your senator, make your voice known. There should be NO New Homestead Act unless the tribes are part of the process. It is the right thing to do.
----
Summary of S. 1093
I. New Homestead Opportunities for individuals who locate in high out-migration counties*
Repay up to 50% of college loans for recent grads who live and work there for 5 years (maximum of $10,000)
Provide a $5,000 tax credit for the home purchases of individuals who locate there for 5 years (or 10% of purchase price, whichever is lower)
Protect home values by allowing losses in home value to be deducted from federal income taxes
Establish Individual Homestead Accounts to help build savings and increase access to credit
individuals can contribute a maximum of $2,500 per year for up to 5 years
government can provide a match of 12.5-50% (depending on income)
tax and penalty-free distributions can be made after 5 years for small business loans, education expenses, first-time home purchases, and unreimbursed medical expenses
accounts can grow tax-free and all funds are available for withdrawal upon retirement
II. New Incentives for Businesses to expand or locate in high out-migration areas
Create Rural Investment Tax Credits to target investments in high out-migration counties
states receive $1 million of these credits per high out-migration county
they allocate these credits to businesses that move to or expand there
businesses use these credits to offset the cost of newly constructed or existing buildings
over a 10-year period, businesses can use these credits to reduce their taxes by as much as 80% of their total investment
Offer Micro-enterprise Tax Credits to aid small businesses in high out-migration counties
states may choose to allocate up to 20% of their total rural investment tax credit allocation to qualifying start-up or expanding micro-enterprises with five or fewer employees
micro-enterprises would use these credits to offset the cost of new funding needed for business expansion
micro-enterprises can use these credits to reduce their taxes by 30% of their qualifying new investment (limited to $25,000 lifetime).
Accelerate depreciation for equipment purchases tied to Rural Investment Tax Credit projects
III. New Homestead Venture Capital Fund to promote business development in high out-migration areas
Establish $3 billion venture capital fund to invest in businesses in high out-migration counties
the fund can guarantee up to 40% of private investments in existing business and start-ups, and up to 60% of such investments in manufacturing or high-technology ventures
the fund can take equity positions and extend credit to other approved entities
it can provide technical assistance to potential applicants
the federal government would invest $200 million per year for 10 years
states and private investors would be required to provide yearly match of $50 million each
--------------------------------------------------
* A high out-migration county is defined as any non-metro county that has suffered net out-migration of at least 10% over the past 20 years
I recently received a newsletter touting the overwhelming positive nature of the bill from a rural community economic development organization that will remain unnamed, with the hope, at this point, that their enthusiastic support of the bill was due to a lack of due diligence, cultural awareness and just plan naivete. I hope that their more aware friends and partners teach them a little about what this NEW act has for roots. Why do I say this? Back to the history....
A quick historical review of the ORIGINAL Homestead Act and its justifications and ramifications, clearly show it was a blatant (and eventually violent) move to take the manifest destiny in this country to a new level. Passed in 1862 and not repealed completely until 1976, it was the ultimate case of the pen (and paper) being mightier than the sword, although the sword had its day as well. To the point, land was given away to homesteaders in 160 acre parcels for them to farm and settle. Land that did not belong to the U.S. government, land that was protected by treaties, land that the Native people of this country were promised and was referred to as "unoccupied". This original act even led to land on reservations created after 1862 to be given away right from under the true owners through the sly use of allotments (see the Allotment or Dawes Act for another sordid chapter).
Oh, I understand that its water under the bridge and some will say that it was just part of what made the country come to be. And they would be correct. But at what cost?
So, I have a proposal, let's ask Senator Dorgan to add some very important language to what you see below. I have a few ideas about how to RENEW this act and I know there will be many more:
- How about recognizing that (some or all of) the land now with a questionable future due to out migration was taken from Native people in the first place and should be in part given back?
- How about recognizing the fact that Native people are not leaving their present reservations in droves, but populations are increasing and more land is an ethical solution that this act could support?
- How about about a wide variety of grant, scholarship, loan and investment incentives for Native business owners, students, homeowners, community members to match what is described below?
- How about the expansion of Native Individual Development Accounts to create savings, businesses and home ownership with a specific fund from land sales to private, public and tribal land owners?
- How about not using such a loaded name as the New Homestead Act? Didn't anyone do their research?
Contact Senator Dorgan, contact your senator, make your voice known. There should be NO New Homestead Act unless the tribes are part of the process. It is the right thing to do.
----
Summary of S. 1093
I. New Homestead Opportunities for individuals who locate in high out-migration counties*
Repay up to 50% of college loans for recent grads who live and work there for 5 years (maximum of $10,000)
Provide a $5,000 tax credit for the home purchases of individuals who locate there for 5 years (or 10% of purchase price, whichever is lower)
Protect home values by allowing losses in home value to be deducted from federal income taxes
Establish Individual Homestead Accounts to help build savings and increase access to credit
individuals can contribute a maximum of $2,500 per year for up to 5 years
government can provide a match of 12.5-50% (depending on income)
tax and penalty-free distributions can be made after 5 years for small business loans, education expenses, first-time home purchases, and unreimbursed medical expenses
accounts can grow tax-free and all funds are available for withdrawal upon retirement
II. New Incentives for Businesses to expand or locate in high out-migration areas
Create Rural Investment Tax Credits to target investments in high out-migration counties
states receive $1 million of these credits per high out-migration county
they allocate these credits to businesses that move to or expand there
businesses use these credits to offset the cost of newly constructed or existing buildings
over a 10-year period, businesses can use these credits to reduce their taxes by as much as 80% of their total investment
Offer Micro-enterprise Tax Credits to aid small businesses in high out-migration counties
states may choose to allocate up to 20% of their total rural investment tax credit allocation to qualifying start-up or expanding micro-enterprises with five or fewer employees
micro-enterprises would use these credits to offset the cost of new funding needed for business expansion
micro-enterprises can use these credits to reduce their taxes by 30% of their qualifying new investment (limited to $25,000 lifetime).
Accelerate depreciation for equipment purchases tied to Rural Investment Tax Credit projects
III. New Homestead Venture Capital Fund to promote business development in high out-migration areas
Establish $3 billion venture capital fund to invest in businesses in high out-migration counties
the fund can guarantee up to 40% of private investments in existing business and start-ups, and up to 60% of such investments in manufacturing or high-technology ventures
the fund can take equity positions and extend credit to other approved entities
it can provide technical assistance to potential applicants
the federal government would invest $200 million per year for 10 years
states and private investors would be required to provide yearly match of $50 million each
--------------------------------------------------
* A high out-migration county is defined as any non-metro county that has suffered net out-migration of at least 10% over the past 20 years
26 October 2007
How Many More Motors in the Black Hills?
The hum and wine of motorized vehicles in the national forest will never go away completely. Nor should it, I guess. But we have enough roads and trails for motorized vehicles. More than enough. In fact, my vote is to reduce the number of motorized trails and roads and open up more for hiking and other activities. It is a well known fact that we have a more roads here than practically anywhere in the national forest system. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that this proposed travel management plan that is backed by the motorized vehicle crowd is good for the health of the forest. Or fair to other users. It is not. We need to reduce the motorized roads and trails and let the hikers, mountain bikers, horse enthusiasts and others have their place...
20 October 2007
Spirituality
This passage below was started as a poem of some kind, but it took on the form of something different. Something that may have started with the words here. I had these thoughts as I listened to a news story concerning yet one more tragedy brought on by the hatred of one religion, one people, against another and the continuous struggle for power that so often occurs. I hope (yes, and pray) that it will never come to this again in this country. I say again, because religion drove early conflict in this country, confining, destroying and marginalizing whole communities (immigrant and non-immigrant) along the way to create what is now this country. Some never recovered, but our country continued on its way to the whole that it is today. May it not be splintered by spiritual power struggles or a rewriting of our history to the exclusiveness of one religion. We are country of many peoples, creeds, religions and we should remain so. We are many things as a whole. What makes America an exclusive club that so many wish to join is that we are not exclusive. We are the sum of all our differences, we are the magic web of all that we have in common, because we are all human.
----
Spirituality can and shall inform our lives, our ways, our laws, our decisions and indecision. But never shall it deform our common morals and laws to the strict code of one religion. Never shall it debase one human life in favor of another. Never shall it delineate another race, creed or standing in our society. And never, ever will it place one spirituality over another in our halls of justice, law and ethics.
(11 Oct 07)
----
Spirituality can and shall inform our lives, our ways, our laws, our decisions and indecision. But never shall it deform our common morals and laws to the strict code of one religion. Never shall it debase one human life in favor of another. Never shall it delineate another race, creed or standing in our society. And never, ever will it place one spirituality over another in our halls of justice, law and ethics.
(11 Oct 07)
Our Senator Johnson
"He's in." That is how the top of the fold story in the Rapid City Journal started. Good. I am pleased to see Senator Tim Johnson run again and it appears that his health is no hindrance, though as the race progresses I am sure much will be made of that, true or not. I hope that the people of South Dakota have enough sense to see through the smoke and mirrors that is sure to come when the opposing candidates begin their campaigns against Senator Johnson. It has already begun, if you will remember. And as of this writing the daily 'Quick Poll' at http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/ has 51% of 1291 web respondents in favor of Senator Johnson's decision to run for office, with 49% not in favor. I wonder, is that a true reflection of the general response to the Senator running, or just a reflection of the split of voters in the state? We'll see how the poll changes the rest of the night. We'll see how the election proceeds... we know the nay-sayers and haters will continue their attacks on Senator Johnson from now until election night. Stay tuned...
18 October 2007
China
Sure, we have heard a lot lately about the foods and toys from China laden with a variety of toxins and tonics that have shocked the public. I think about my kids just like everyone else and wonder how bad it is. Or how bad it could get. We hear about journalists being detained for questioning the products at factories in China and being harassed on city street corners. It seems like something new is being recalled every day.
But is anyone really that surprised? This a 'developing democracy' but let's be real. This is a communist country with only a capitalistic veneer of democracy. A capitalism run by the factory bosses who listen to no one and the communist leaders meet in their politburo of lies.
These moments are rare lately, but I was proud of George Bush the Younger this week. He put a new face on the lies of China by standing proud next to the Dalai Llama of Tibet. As part of this week's celebration of the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Llama, President Bush met with the Dalai Llama, despite protests from China. China still occupies Tibet and the Dalai Llama reacted to the threats of 'grave consequences' with his usual calm, saying "that always happens."
I don't want to get carried away with boycotts on toys and other products, especially when there are American companies that are managing the production of some of those products that are entering our market. Perhaps they are the ones that need talking to, the ones that need a product boycott?
But there are other reasons to boycott Chinese products. Tibet, human rights abuses, press freedom, the list goes on. The Chinese government said there would be consequences if the Dalai Llama is so honored. What consequences? More poisonous toys sent to the world's children? More tainted food to the people of the world?
China continues to be a trading partner and ally of convenience for our politicians. But I don't think it is convenient to ignore the 'real' China. Not convenient at all.
But is anyone really that surprised? This a 'developing democracy' but let's be real. This is a communist country with only a capitalistic veneer of democracy. A capitalism run by the factory bosses who listen to no one and the communist leaders meet in their politburo of lies.
These moments are rare lately, but I was proud of George Bush the Younger this week. He put a new face on the lies of China by standing proud next to the Dalai Llama of Tibet. As part of this week's celebration of the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the Dalai Llama, President Bush met with the Dalai Llama, despite protests from China. China still occupies Tibet and the Dalai Llama reacted to the threats of 'grave consequences' with his usual calm, saying "that always happens."
I don't want to get carried away with boycotts on toys and other products, especially when there are American companies that are managing the production of some of those products that are entering our market. Perhaps they are the ones that need talking to, the ones that need a product boycott?
But there are other reasons to boycott Chinese products. Tibet, human rights abuses, press freedom, the list goes on. The Chinese government said there would be consequences if the Dalai Llama is so honored. What consequences? More poisonous toys sent to the world's children? More tainted food to the people of the world?
China continues to be a trading partner and ally of convenience for our politicians. But I don't think it is convenient to ignore the 'real' China. Not convenient at all.
Native Culture + Business Nature
An interesting take on culture and business in Native communities. Post your own thoughts.
Sarbloggy
-----
MARGE ANDERSON
Chief Executive, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Delivered to the First Friday Club of the Twin Cities, Sponsored by St. Thomas Alumni, St.
Paul, Minnesota, March 5, 1999
THE VALUE OF INDIAN CULTURE
Aaniin. Thank you for inviting me here today. When I was asked to speak to you, I was told you are interested in hearing about the improvements we are making on the Mille Lacs Reservation, and about our investment of casino dollars back into our community through schools, health care facilities, and other services. And I do want to talk to you about these things, because they are tremendously important, and I am very proud of them.
But before I do, I want to take a few minutes to talk to you about something else, something I'm not asked about very often. I want to talk to you about what it means to be Indian. About how my people experience the world. About the fundamental way in which our culture differs from yours. And about why you should care about all this.
The differences between Indians and non-Indians have created a lot of controversy lately. Casinos, treaty rights, tribal sovereignty - these issues have stirred such anger and bitterness.
I believe the accusations against us are made out of ignorance. The vast majority of non-Indians do not understand how my people view the world, what we value, what motivates us.
They do not know these things for one simple reason: they've never heard us talk about them. For many years, the only stories that non-Indians heard about my people came from other non-Indians. As a result, the picture you got of us was fanciful, or distorted, or so shadowy, it hardly existed at all. It's time for Indian voices to tell Indian stories.
Now, I'm sure at least a few of you are wondering, "Why do I need to hear these stories? Why should I care about what Indian people think, and feel, and believe?" I think the most eloquent answer I can give you comes from the namesake of this university, St. Thomas Aquinas. St.
Thomas wrote that dialogue is the struggle to learn from each other. This struggle, he said, is like Jacob wrestling the angel - it leaves one wounded and blessed at the same time. Indian people know this struggle very well. The wounds we've suffered in our dialogue with non-Indians are well-documented; I don't need to give you a laundry list of complaints.
We also know some of the blessings of this struggle. As American Indians, we live in two worlds - ours, and yours. In the 500 years since you first came to our lands, we have struggled to learn how to take the best of what your culture has to offer in arts, science, technology and more, and then weave them into the fabric of our traditional ways. But for non-Indians, the struggle is new. Now that our people have begun to achieve success, now that we are in business and in the headlines, you are starting to wrestle with understanding us. Your wounds from this struggle are fresh, and the pain might make it hard for you to see beyond them. But if you try, you'll begin to see the blessings as well - the blessings of what a deepened knowledge of Indian culture can bring to you. I'd like to share a few of those blessings with you today.
Earlier I mentioned that there is a fundamental difference between the way Indians and non-Indians experience the world. This difference goes all the way back to the bible, and Genesis.
In Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, God creates man in his own image. Then God says, "be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, and all living animals on the earth."
Masters. Conquer. Nothing, nothing could be further from the way Indian people view the world and our place in it. Here are the words of the great nineteenth century Chief Seattle: "You are a part of the earth, and the earth is a part of you. You did not weave the web of life, you are merely a strand in it. Whatever you do to the web, you do to yourself."
In our tradition, there is no mastery. There is no conquering. Instead, there is kinship among all creation-humans, animals, birds, plants, even rocks. We are all part of the sacred hoop of the world, and we must all live in harmony with each other if that hoop is to remain unbroken.
When you begin to see the world this way - through Indian eyes - you will begin to understand our view of land, and treaties, very differently. You will begin to understand that when we speak of Father Sun and Mother Earth, these are not new-age catchwords - they are very real terms of respect for very real beings.
And when you understand this, then you will understand that our fight for treaty rights is not just about hunting deer or catching fish. It is about teaching our children to honor Mother Earth and Father Sun. It is about teaching them to respectfully receive the gifts these loving parents offer us in return for the care we give them. And it is about teaching this generation and the generations yet to come about their place in the web of life. Our culture and the fish, our values and the deer, the lessons we learn and the rice we harvest- everything is tied together. You can no more separate one from the other than you can divide a person's spirit from his body.
When you understand how we view the world and our place in it, it's easier to appreciate why our casinos are so important to us. The reason we defend our businesses so fiercely isn't because we want to have something that others don't. The reason is because these businesses allow us to give back to others - to our People, our communities, and the Creator. I'd like to take a minute and mention just a few of the ways we've already given back:
We've opened new schools, new health care facilities, and new community centers where our children get a better education, where our elders get better medical care, and where our families can gather to socialize and keep our traditions alive.
We've built new ceremonial buildings, and new powwow and celebration grounds. We've renovated an elderly center, and plan to build three culturally sensitive assisted living facilities for our elders. We've created programs to teach and preserve our language and cultural traditions. We've created a Small Business Development Program to help band members start their own businesses. We've created more than twenty-eight hundred jobs for band members, people from other tribes, and non-Indians. We've spurred the development of more than one thousand jobs in other local businesses. We've generated more than fifty million dollars in federal taxes, and more than fifteen million dollars in state taxes through wages paid to employees. And we've given back more than two million dollars in charitable donations. The list goes on and on.
But rather than flood you with more numbers, I'll tell you a story that sums up how my people view business through the lens of our traditional values.
Last year, the Woodlands National Bank, which is owned and operated by the Mille Lacs Band, was approached by the city of Onamia and asked to forgive a mortgage on a building in the downtown area. The building had been abandoned and was an eyesore on Main Street. The city planned to renovate and sell the building, and return it to the tax rolls. Although the band would lose money by forgiving the mortgage, our business leaders could see the wisdom in improving the community. The opportunity to help our neighbors was an opportunity to strengthen the web of life. So we forgave the mortgage.
Now, I know this is not a decision everyone would agree with. Some people feel that in business, you have to look out for number one. But my people feel that in business - and in life - you have to look out for every one. And this, I believe, is one of the blessings that Indian culture has to offer you and other non-Indians. We have a different perspective on so many things, from caring for the environment, to healing the body, mind and soul. But if our culture disappears, if the Indian ways are swallowed up by the dominant American culture, no one will be able to learn from them. Not Indian children. Not your children. No one. All that knowledge, all that wisdom, will be lost forever.
The struggle of dialogue will be over. Yes, there will be no more wounds. But there will also be no more blessings. There is still so much we have to learn from each other, and we have already wasted so much time. Our world grows smaller every day. And every day, more of our unsettling, surprising, wonderful differences vanish. And when that happens, part of each of us vanishes, too. I'd like to end with one of my favorite stories. It's a funny little story about Indians and non-Indians, but its message is serious: you can see something differently if you are willing to learn from those around you.
This is the story: Years ago, white settlers came to this area and built the first European-style homes. When Indian People walked by these homes and saw see-through things in the walls, they looked through them to see what the strangers inside were doing. The settlers were shocked, but it makes sense when you think about it: windows are made to be looked through from both sides. Since then, my people have spent many years looking at the world through your window. I hope today I've given you a reason to look at it through ours.
Mii gwetch.
Sarbloggy
-----
MARGE ANDERSON
Chief Executive, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Delivered to the First Friday Club of the Twin Cities, Sponsored by St. Thomas Alumni, St.
Paul, Minnesota, March 5, 1999
THE VALUE OF INDIAN CULTURE
Aaniin. Thank you for inviting me here today. When I was asked to speak to you, I was told you are interested in hearing about the improvements we are making on the Mille Lacs Reservation, and about our investment of casino dollars back into our community through schools, health care facilities, and other services. And I do want to talk to you about these things, because they are tremendously important, and I am very proud of them.
But before I do, I want to take a few minutes to talk to you about something else, something I'm not asked about very often. I want to talk to you about what it means to be Indian. About how my people experience the world. About the fundamental way in which our culture differs from yours. And about why you should care about all this.
The differences between Indians and non-Indians have created a lot of controversy lately. Casinos, treaty rights, tribal sovereignty - these issues have stirred such anger and bitterness.
I believe the accusations against us are made out of ignorance. The vast majority of non-Indians do not understand how my people view the world, what we value, what motivates us.
They do not know these things for one simple reason: they've never heard us talk about them. For many years, the only stories that non-Indians heard about my people came from other non-Indians. As a result, the picture you got of us was fanciful, or distorted, or so shadowy, it hardly existed at all. It's time for Indian voices to tell Indian stories.
Now, I'm sure at least a few of you are wondering, "Why do I need to hear these stories? Why should I care about what Indian people think, and feel, and believe?" I think the most eloquent answer I can give you comes from the namesake of this university, St. Thomas Aquinas. St.
Thomas wrote that dialogue is the struggle to learn from each other. This struggle, he said, is like Jacob wrestling the angel - it leaves one wounded and blessed at the same time. Indian people know this struggle very well. The wounds we've suffered in our dialogue with non-Indians are well-documented; I don't need to give you a laundry list of complaints.
We also know some of the blessings of this struggle. As American Indians, we live in two worlds - ours, and yours. In the 500 years since you first came to our lands, we have struggled to learn how to take the best of what your culture has to offer in arts, science, technology and more, and then weave them into the fabric of our traditional ways. But for non-Indians, the struggle is new. Now that our people have begun to achieve success, now that we are in business and in the headlines, you are starting to wrestle with understanding us. Your wounds from this struggle are fresh, and the pain might make it hard for you to see beyond them. But if you try, you'll begin to see the blessings as well - the blessings of what a deepened knowledge of Indian culture can bring to you. I'd like to share a few of those blessings with you today.
Earlier I mentioned that there is a fundamental difference between the way Indians and non-Indians experience the world. This difference goes all the way back to the bible, and Genesis.
In Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, God creates man in his own image. Then God says, "be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and conquer it. Be masters of the fish of the sea, the birds of the heaven, and all living animals on the earth."
Masters. Conquer. Nothing, nothing could be further from the way Indian people view the world and our place in it. Here are the words of the great nineteenth century Chief Seattle: "You are a part of the earth, and the earth is a part of you. You did not weave the web of life, you are merely a strand in it. Whatever you do to the web, you do to yourself."
In our tradition, there is no mastery. There is no conquering. Instead, there is kinship among all creation-humans, animals, birds, plants, even rocks. We are all part of the sacred hoop of the world, and we must all live in harmony with each other if that hoop is to remain unbroken.
When you begin to see the world this way - through Indian eyes - you will begin to understand our view of land, and treaties, very differently. You will begin to understand that when we speak of Father Sun and Mother Earth, these are not new-age catchwords - they are very real terms of respect for very real beings.
And when you understand this, then you will understand that our fight for treaty rights is not just about hunting deer or catching fish. It is about teaching our children to honor Mother Earth and Father Sun. It is about teaching them to respectfully receive the gifts these loving parents offer us in return for the care we give them. And it is about teaching this generation and the generations yet to come about their place in the web of life. Our culture and the fish, our values and the deer, the lessons we learn and the rice we harvest- everything is tied together. You can no more separate one from the other than you can divide a person's spirit from his body.
When you understand how we view the world and our place in it, it's easier to appreciate why our casinos are so important to us. The reason we defend our businesses so fiercely isn't because we want to have something that others don't. The reason is because these businesses allow us to give back to others - to our People, our communities, and the Creator. I'd like to take a minute and mention just a few of the ways we've already given back:
We've opened new schools, new health care facilities, and new community centers where our children get a better education, where our elders get better medical care, and where our families can gather to socialize and keep our traditions alive.
We've built new ceremonial buildings, and new powwow and celebration grounds. We've renovated an elderly center, and plan to build three culturally sensitive assisted living facilities for our elders. We've created programs to teach and preserve our language and cultural traditions. We've created a Small Business Development Program to help band members start their own businesses. We've created more than twenty-eight hundred jobs for band members, people from other tribes, and non-Indians. We've spurred the development of more than one thousand jobs in other local businesses. We've generated more than fifty million dollars in federal taxes, and more than fifteen million dollars in state taxes through wages paid to employees. And we've given back more than two million dollars in charitable donations. The list goes on and on.
But rather than flood you with more numbers, I'll tell you a story that sums up how my people view business through the lens of our traditional values.
Last year, the Woodlands National Bank, which is owned and operated by the Mille Lacs Band, was approached by the city of Onamia and asked to forgive a mortgage on a building in the downtown area. The building had been abandoned and was an eyesore on Main Street. The city planned to renovate and sell the building, and return it to the tax rolls. Although the band would lose money by forgiving the mortgage, our business leaders could see the wisdom in improving the community. The opportunity to help our neighbors was an opportunity to strengthen the web of life. So we forgave the mortgage.
Now, I know this is not a decision everyone would agree with. Some people feel that in business, you have to look out for number one. But my people feel that in business - and in life - you have to look out for every one. And this, I believe, is one of the blessings that Indian culture has to offer you and other non-Indians. We have a different perspective on so many things, from caring for the environment, to healing the body, mind and soul. But if our culture disappears, if the Indian ways are swallowed up by the dominant American culture, no one will be able to learn from them. Not Indian children. Not your children. No one. All that knowledge, all that wisdom, will be lost forever.
The struggle of dialogue will be over. Yes, there will be no more wounds. But there will also be no more blessings. There is still so much we have to learn from each other, and we have already wasted so much time. Our world grows smaller every day. And every day, more of our unsettling, surprising, wonderful differences vanish. And when that happens, part of each of us vanishes, too. I'd like to end with one of my favorite stories. It's a funny little story about Indians and non-Indians, but its message is serious: you can see something differently if you are willing to learn from those around you.
This is the story: Years ago, white settlers came to this area and built the first European-style homes. When Indian People walked by these homes and saw see-through things in the walls, they looked through them to see what the strangers inside were doing. The settlers were shocked, but it makes sense when you think about it: windows are made to be looked through from both sides. Since then, my people have spent many years looking at the world through your window. I hope today I've given you a reason to look at it through ours.
Mii gwetch.
16 October 2007
For Starters...
Welcome to Sarbloggy, aka Sarkozy-Sarbloggy, home to my first official blog as a citizen. No promises about content, timing or grammar, but it might get interesting.
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