farewell mrs. shriver

i like to say that life is about making memories. a few of my fondest memories are from my college years and it was during that time that i had the opportunity to get to know eunice kennedy shriver. what started as an internship at the kennedy foundation and the dc office of best buddies evolved into running errands and doing odd jobs for mrs. shriver during my junior and senior years. i'm not going to lie - she wasn't the easiest of people. (to give you an idea - mr. shriver had the same assistant, jeannie, for almost his entire career; whereas mrs. shriver went through at least 5 personal assistants in the 2 1/2 years that i was around!) she was very particular and demanded the most of people - just like she did of herself - but, for whatever reason, we clicked and got along famously. she inspired me with her commitment to people with disabilities and encouraged me to pursue a career in the field of special education - because i was oh so well prepared with my degree in international affairs! but, in the end, she was right - you follow your passion and everything else will work out.

farewell mrs. shriver, farewell

in a facebook posting?

apparently sarah palin is hoping to influence domestic policy from her facebook page. yep, the fancy pageant walker is back in the policy debate declaring in a facebook post that health care reform would bring about "death panels" - bureaucrats sitting around deciding who is worthy to live (and will receive appropriate treatment) and who's better off dead (sorry, no treatment for you!).

i could go on and on about the ridiculousness of this assertion, but andrew sullivan said it so much better! my final comment - keep the posts to what you had for dinner.

the anacostia is liquid shit ...

... regardless of the side on which you live. and that's why, as always, i take offense when reporters use the easy-out phrase "wrong side of the anacostia" to describe the neighborhood of a person who may not have had the same opportunities as someone from the east side of the potomac.

that's what happened in this piece about a kid from southeast dc - a recent high school graduate from an intact family on his way to the university of arizona with a stop along the way as a summer intern at the white house. all i can say is why???

why this random phrase in the middle of an otherwise straightforward piece about a district kid who's getting the chance of a lifetime - irrespective of his address? is it so that all the rest of us will say - oh okay, i get it - he's special because he's from one of those neighborhoods?

so frustrating!

here's the happy news

antonio dixon makes me want to be a redskins fan

where's the HAPPY news?

have you noticed how depressing the news is? foreclosures, death, debt, war, sickness, despair - these are the times in which we live ... believe me, i get it. but, would it be SO bad to publish or air a happy story now and again. good, no GREAT, things happen every day in this world and yet we rarely hear about them - unless of course they're somehow related to foreclosures, death, debt, sickness, despair. let's break that trend.

the news of the day - THE HAPPY VERSION

my neighbor gave us a big piece of melon just because.
14 people donated kidneys at georgetown medical center - just because
my summer intern sent me the nicest card
a baby giraffe was born at the la zoo
two journalists were released from confinement in north korea
my two favorite teenagers are leaving for disney world on a once in a lifetime trip

now add to the list!

the power of oxygen

oxygen has played a significant role in my life over the past few months. taking in oxygen through deep breaths and the breath of god has made all the difference in my physical and mental health and the oxygenated stain-fighting power of ...


... has made just as much of a difference in my laundry and on my shower walls. you see - my absence from the flipflopfed o'sphere is attributed to many things - lack of oxygen, lack of motivation, lack of sleep and an over-abundance of mildew on my shower walls. that was until today. i have no idea what makes this stuff work, but a nice thick paste left to dry on the grout stripped away all of my problems.

so now i'm back breathing better.

well ... if i wasn't out before ...

in columbus, oh right now for the biennial mennonite church usa convention. the gathering brings together the adult delegates of the church to worship together and then also to conduct church business. but the REAL draw is the gathering of more than 4,000 mennonite youth from across the country and canada. it's an amazing thing to see this many kids all fired up. we're here because we, along with our friends scott and kathleen, are the youth leaders at our church.

generally, this wouldn't be all that blog-worthy save for these facts --

mennonite church usa is struggling with the inclusion of lgbt members in its churches. (in fact, hyattsville mennonite, my home church and a leader of the inclusion movement, has been disciplined and stripped of its voting rights because of our more than 20 year practice of allowing lgbt members - two of whom are me and kristin.) this year, a group of lgbt mennonites and allies have decided to really push the issue. a group named "pink menno" was formed to bring the issue to the forefront. they organized tshirts, worship services, a safe gathering space, workshops and a press conference.

on the way to the press conference, kristin, wearing a pink menno tshirt, happened to be stopped by a woman on her way to the press conference. and this woman happened to be a reporter for the AP. and this woman happened to start talking to kristin about the pink menno campaign and kristin's affiliation. and it just so happens that they began to talk about the fact that kristin and her "lesbian partner" were the youth leaders of a certain youth group. and it just so happens that this story got picked up by --

nbc news - columbus
fox news
the columbus ledger-enquierer
the buffalo news
the sacremento bee
the miami herald
the washington post
the san francisco chronicle

and more than 200 other news outlets!

guess i'm out now!