Sunday, November 23, 2008
Epic Win.
It's amazing, really, that something so trivial as a football game can mean so much.
This time last year, I was in excruciating pain. Not just because my team got beat by their rivals, hitting rock bottom in a season where we were seconds away from being the #1 team in the country. Nope, I was in actual physical agony, squirming in my chair, trying to find a position that would let me stay comfortable for just a few minutes without acute pain shooting down my leg.
Today, I returned to Memorial Stadium in Berkeley for the first time since last season's downpour against USC. That was the day, as I stood in driving rain for three hours, that I started to realize the numbness in my foot and the discomfort in my back was not going away. Four months out of surgery, it was great to be able to walk freely around Berkeley and its cumbersome hills with a minimum of discomfort. We did quite a bit of walking too, because after the game, we walked to get yogurt, we walked to get dinner, we did some shopping at Comic Relief and Half Price Books on Shattuck. And while I am undeniably exhausted, I have confidence that with some rest tomorrow I'm going to be OK and able to do it again next season.
I won't say it didn't matter that we won - of course it mattered. They call it the Big Game for a reason. We lost 3 out of 4 of them when I was in school and 4 more after I graduated to make it 7 straight. But to get out there for a day in beautiful sunny weather, to watch my team run all over our hated rivals, to not have to worry about health or work or whether I'll have a job in two months - that made me happier today than I really deserved to be.
This time last year, I was in excruciating pain. Not just because my team got beat by their rivals, hitting rock bottom in a season where we were seconds away from being the #1 team in the country. Nope, I was in actual physical agony, squirming in my chair, trying to find a position that would let me stay comfortable for just a few minutes without acute pain shooting down my leg.
Today, I returned to Memorial Stadium in Berkeley for the first time since last season's downpour against USC. That was the day, as I stood in driving rain for three hours, that I started to realize the numbness in my foot and the discomfort in my back was not going away. Four months out of surgery, it was great to be able to walk freely around Berkeley and its cumbersome hills with a minimum of discomfort. We did quite a bit of walking too, because after the game, we walked to get yogurt, we walked to get dinner, we did some shopping at Comic Relief and Half Price Books on Shattuck. And while I am undeniably exhausted, I have confidence that with some rest tomorrow I'm going to be OK and able to do it again next season.
I won't say it didn't matter that we won - of course it mattered. They call it the Big Game for a reason. We lost 3 out of 4 of them when I was in school and 4 more after I graduated to make it 7 straight. But to get out there for a day in beautiful sunny weather, to watch my team run all over our hated rivals, to not have to worry about health or work or whether I'll have a job in two months - that made me happier today than I really deserved to be.
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Separate but equal, round two.
Whereas the election of Obama helped me feel better about my fellow Americans, the possible (likely? imminent?) passage of Proposition 8 just makes me feel sad about the sorry state of California.
Californians have a history of disappointing me (Prop 187, Prop 209, 8 years of Pete Wilson, the recall election) and, apparently, this will be no different. While the fate of Prop 8 is still up in the air while absentee ballots are counted, it would take nothing short of a miracle to close the 3.8% gap that currently exists.
It's pretty upsetting that Latino and (especially) black voters helped get this discriminatory proposition passed. I really believe the Yes campaign was so well-funded that they could just saturate the airwaves with lies and half-truths that the No campaign was unable to counter them. For example, I received a "robocall" Monday night that implied that Barack Obama was supporting Prop 8, which is not his position. It contained a soundbyte of the first part of that clip, but not the part where he said, "that's not what America is about."
I'm very uneasy about the complicity of the Catholic Church in funding the Yes on 8 campaign. The Knights of Columbus donated a million dollars to Yes on 8. A lot of attention went to the Mormons and their efforts (and with fair reason, you think they, of all people, would sympathize with non-traditional marriage arrangements), but I don't think No on 8 was hard enough on the K of C. Maybe they didn't want to alienate the Catholic voters, I don't know.
What I do know at this point is I'm done with pancake breakfasts. Knights of Columbus will not see another nickel from me, if this is how they spend it. What kept me up last night is that maybe I'm done with church too. Not done with God, mind you. Just done with the people who make decisions in Jesus's name for things I don't think He would have any part of. What happened to, "and they'll know we are Christians by our love"? I've been more than a little apathetic about the Church and its leanings for a while, and this is not helping matters.
So today, I am proud to be an American but ashamed to be a Californian and a Catholic. Again, not for the first time.
Californians have a history of disappointing me (Prop 187, Prop 209, 8 years of Pete Wilson, the recall election) and, apparently, this will be no different. While the fate of Prop 8 is still up in the air while absentee ballots are counted, it would take nothing short of a miracle to close the 3.8% gap that currently exists.
It's pretty upsetting that Latino and (especially) black voters helped get this discriminatory proposition passed. I really believe the Yes campaign was so well-funded that they could just saturate the airwaves with lies and half-truths that the No campaign was unable to counter them. For example, I received a "robocall" Monday night that implied that Barack Obama was supporting Prop 8, which is not his position. It contained a soundbyte of the first part of that clip, but not the part where he said, "that's not what America is about."
I'm very uneasy about the complicity of the Catholic Church in funding the Yes on 8 campaign. The Knights of Columbus donated a million dollars to Yes on 8. A lot of attention went to the Mormons and their efforts (and with fair reason, you think they, of all people, would sympathize with non-traditional marriage arrangements), but I don't think No on 8 was hard enough on the K of C. Maybe they didn't want to alienate the Catholic voters, I don't know.
What I do know at this point is I'm done with pancake breakfasts. Knights of Columbus will not see another nickel from me, if this is how they spend it. What kept me up last night is that maybe I'm done with church too. Not done with God, mind you. Just done with the people who make decisions in Jesus's name for things I don't think He would have any part of. What happened to, "and they'll know we are Christians by our love"? I've been more than a little apathetic about the Church and its leanings for a while, and this is not helping matters.
So today, I am proud to be an American but ashamed to be a Californian and a Catholic. Again, not for the first time.
Yes, we did.
I think Gerald Ford said it best: "Our long national nightmare is over."
Whether you are happy with the outcome or not, this is world history. Not just American history. World. It has been less than fifty years since segregation and discrimination were the norm in this country, and now we've elected a black man President. No country with a white majority has ever been governed by a non-white person. Marinate on that for a while.
This election has helped restore my faith in America - or should I say, Americans. There was no "Bradley Effect." This wasn't your typical Democrat vote - blue in New England and the West Coast with spots here and there in the Midwest. Even in states he lost, Obama did much better than Kerry did in 2004. This said two things to me: many Republican voters are just as dissatisfied with their party as I am, and most white Americans don't have an inherent problem with voting for a person of color.
Can Obama live up to the immense hype that has built up over the past two years? Maybe not. Hell, probably not. But he can begin the process of repairing our damaged reputation with the rest of the world, and I think that is a pretty good start.
Whether you are happy with the outcome or not, this is world history. Not just American history. World. It has been less than fifty years since segregation and discrimination were the norm in this country, and now we've elected a black man President. No country with a white majority has ever been governed by a non-white person. Marinate on that for a while.
This election has helped restore my faith in America - or should I say, Americans. There was no "Bradley Effect." This wasn't your typical Democrat vote - blue in New England and the West Coast with spots here and there in the Midwest. Even in states he lost, Obama did much better than Kerry did in 2004. This said two things to me: many Republican voters are just as dissatisfied with their party as I am, and most white Americans don't have an inherent problem with voting for a person of color.
Can Obama live up to the immense hype that has built up over the past two years? Maybe not. Hell, probably not. But he can begin the process of repairing our damaged reputation with the rest of the world, and I think that is a pretty good start.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
It's "go" time.
Hey folks, it's me again. I've been staying pretty busy, as if that wasn't obvious by the gap since the last time I posted. My back is holding up well. Work is keeping my occupied. My wife is busy and stressed out but still liking her new job better than the last one.
I'm writing today on the offhand chance you will read this, and you are still undecided about the election next week. I don't think it's hyperbole to say this is the most important election of my lifetime, and I wanted to elaborate a little on a couple of issues.
I have been on the Barack Obama bandwagon since March. This is not news. Nothing I say will make you switch your vote if you are in McCain's corner, and I suspect most of my readers are already in Obama's, so I won't get into the rationale.
What I will say is this: we Obama supporters cannot afford to get cocky. The polls have our guy leading, but they are just polls - we have to get out there and vote for the man. If the projections on TV have Obama running away with it, don't be complacent and stay home, because your candidates and propositions in state and local elections will suffer.
Which brings me to my second concern: the controversial Proposition 8. People have strong religious beliefs about homosexuality, and I can understand that. But contrary to what Prop 8 proponents would have you believe, this law is not about protecting marriage or our children. It's about discrimination, plain and simple.
Look, I'm Catholic, so I'll use the Catholic Church as an example. The Catholic Church does not allow gay marriage, even if the state of California does. In the eyes of the Church, any marriage that doesn't take place in the Church doesn't count - whether the couple is gay or not. So Prop 8 is not going to change anything in that respect.
As far as schools go, what happened in Massachusetts (and what is exploited in the television ads) can't happen in California. Sexual education, including talking about marriage, is voluntary. Parents can ask to have their kids excluded from such instruction.
Sure, gay couples have civil unions. Isn't that the same thing as "separate but equal"? Why are people so threatened by civil wedding ceremonies between people in love? I just don't see what the big deal is.
The reason I feel so strongly about voting No on Prop 8 stems from my education at UC Berkeley. As a person of mixed racial heritage, I learned about anti-miscegenation laws used to prevent people of different races from getting married. Throughout history, Americans have created laws to discriminate against people who are different from themselves. In this case, I really don't see a difference. Proposition 8 is about denying basic rights to a group of people based on their sexual orientation, and that is just wrong.
Prior to this year, I had never contributed to a political campaign. But in this important election, I contributed to both these causes, as well as a third: our friend Dillon Delvo, who is running in Stockton as an incumbent on the school board. I have never been this excited about an election, nor as nervous - I've literally been praying for these causes for the last three weeks.
On Tuesday, vote Obama/Biden. No on Prop 8. If you live in his district, Delvo for SUSD. Let's make this happen.
I'm writing today on the offhand chance you will read this, and you are still undecided about the election next week. I don't think it's hyperbole to say this is the most important election of my lifetime, and I wanted to elaborate a little on a couple of issues.
I have been on the Barack Obama bandwagon since March. This is not news. Nothing I say will make you switch your vote if you are in McCain's corner, and I suspect most of my readers are already in Obama's, so I won't get into the rationale.
What I will say is this: we Obama supporters cannot afford to get cocky. The polls have our guy leading, but they are just polls - we have to get out there and vote for the man. If the projections on TV have Obama running away with it, don't be complacent and stay home, because your candidates and propositions in state and local elections will suffer.
Which brings me to my second concern: the controversial Proposition 8. People have strong religious beliefs about homosexuality, and I can understand that. But contrary to what Prop 8 proponents would have you believe, this law is not about protecting marriage or our children. It's about discrimination, plain and simple.
Look, I'm Catholic, so I'll use the Catholic Church as an example. The Catholic Church does not allow gay marriage, even if the state of California does. In the eyes of the Church, any marriage that doesn't take place in the Church doesn't count - whether the couple is gay or not. So Prop 8 is not going to change anything in that respect.
As far as schools go, what happened in Massachusetts (and what is exploited in the television ads) can't happen in California. Sexual education, including talking about marriage, is voluntary. Parents can ask to have their kids excluded from such instruction.
Sure, gay couples have civil unions. Isn't that the same thing as "separate but equal"? Why are people so threatened by civil wedding ceremonies between people in love? I just don't see what the big deal is.
The reason I feel so strongly about voting No on Prop 8 stems from my education at UC Berkeley. As a person of mixed racial heritage, I learned about anti-miscegenation laws used to prevent people of different races from getting married. Throughout history, Americans have created laws to discriminate against people who are different from themselves. In this case, I really don't see a difference. Proposition 8 is about denying basic rights to a group of people based on their sexual orientation, and that is just wrong.
Prior to this year, I had never contributed to a political campaign. But in this important election, I contributed to both these causes, as well as a third: our friend Dillon Delvo, who is running in Stockton as an incumbent on the school board. I have never been this excited about an election, nor as nervous - I've literally been praying for these causes for the last three weeks.
On Tuesday, vote Obama/Biden. No on Prop 8. If you live in his district, Delvo for SUSD. Let's make this happen.
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