Climate Change and the Search for Truth

(Recently on a progressive e-list I’m on a person pointed to the work done by Science and Public Policy Institute and suggested that we “learn the truth” about climate change. The following is my response to him)

When someone claims to hold the truth to a question I tend to want to believe them.  In my own life I want truth more than anything,  so I my nature is to want to believe what people say.  In third grade Ricky Crawford told me that his father worked for NASA and that his father had told him secretly that aliens from Pluto were attacking and would be here in three days. For three days I cried a lot, hid a lot, and waited for news to break that the aliens were attacking. When I realized that I’d been tricked,  I trusted other people a lot less.

I’ve found consistently through my life that though I want to believe what people say,  I have to dig down and see if there is a more sinister or politically motivated reason underneath. Many people (Christian creationists, for example) start with a belief and amass data to support their belief while dismissing anything that doesn’t support their beliefs.
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The Pressure to Date is Off

For many years I thought I needed someone else to make me whole. Someone to “complete me.” I’ve tried many ways to find that completeness, but sometimes the cliché is the truth. The easy truth is sometimes the hardest to actualize/realize/deal with.

Ultimately I realized that I never needed anything outside my own acceptance, my own love, and my own respect. Do I want those things from other people? Yes. Do I need them to be complete? Hardly.

But saying that doesn’t mean I want to be alone. It means I can be, and that’s ok. I had a recent bout of loneliness that came over me quickly and pressed down on me like an imploding house. But even in that, the above realization was always with me. I’m at a point in my life where my needs and wants are clearly defined. It helps to know the difference, especially when I get lonely. Filling that void in my life is a want, not a need. That is such a relief/weight lifted, I can’t even explain it enough for one to understand the gravity it implies.

Dokken: Chicken Fucking Heavy Metal Rock Gods

I recently was watching the new Dokken/Norton Antivirus commercial (DENY version):

I think they’re funny as hell, but they led me to watch this old video:

My Story Corps Interview

This recording was done at a mobile StoryCorps trailer on September 16th, 2007.  The StoryCorps website describes itself this way:

StoryCorps is an independent nonprofit project whose mission is to honor and celebrate one another’s lives through listening.

By recording the stories of our lives with the people we care about, we experience our history, hopes, and humanity. Since 2003, tens of thousands of everyday people have interviewed family and friends through StoryCorps. Each conversation is recorded on a free CD to take home and share, and is archived for generations to come at the Library of Congress. Millions listen to our award-winning broadcasts on public radio and the Internet. StoryCorps is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind, creating a growing portrait of who we really are as Americans.

I love doing this kind of interview. Listening to it now is like a time capsule, and it was only two years ago.

My Civilization’s Dying

Music kept me alive and sane when I was a teen/tween. One of my favorite bands was the Zero Boys. This song crystallizes that moment in time:

The really fucked up thing about the song is that it could be written today:

Civilization’s dying
And no one’s realizing
The position of hate stuck inside the gun

Civilization’s crying
And I won’t try to deny it
We got a problem son,
Something’s gotta be done

With the Pope
And the president
And the big rock star who made a lot of money
All got one thing in common
They know it ain’t no fun to get shot with a gun

Civilization’s dying
And no one’s realizing
The position of hate stuck inside the gun

Civilization’s crying
And I won’t try to deny it
We got a problem son,
Something’s gotta be done

Civilization’s dying
And no one’s realizing
The position of hate stuck inside the gun

Civilization’s crying
And I won’t try to deny it
We got a problem son,
Something’s gotta be done

With the Pope, and the president, and the big rock star who made a lot of money
Made a lot of money, made a lot of money, made a lot of money
Yeah!

Great Balls of Turkey!

Late last Wednesday I started my trek across Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin to Madison for Thanksgiving. About 2 AM on Thanksgiving morning  I stopped at a 7/11 in Huntley, Illinois to take a restroom break and to get a java refill. When I brought my coffee and snacks up to the counter the cashier tried to make small talk, and said: “So did you just come from the Turkey Testicle Festival? ”

I said “excuse me? Are you joking?” He said, “No, tonight was the Huntley Turkey Testicle Festival, right down the road.” I started to walk away and turned to him and said, “I’m really sorry I missed that! How unfortunate!” as I walked out the door.

Who the hell else but me would stop in a town with a Turkey Testicle Festival?  What are the odds? You can read about it here and here. Life can be really amusing sometimes… especially when turkey testicle festivals are involved. The only thing that could of made it more amusing would have been Sarah Palin emceeing the event.

Anyone hungry?

If You've Ever Wondered What Privilege And Entitlement Are All About

Then you should read this. It's the best piece on white privilege and entitlement I've read in a while.

Most Significant Teachers

I recently wrote about my high school experience over at Classmates.com:

I had so much bad stuff going on in my life, I came to school to get away from the drama at home. I really didn’t care to do the work (something I regret now). School was more of a social hour for me than anything else. But there were a few teachers that stood out for me. It took me 4 years to pass 10th and 11th grade English (if you count summer school as a year). One class I didn’t fail was Mrs. Stumpf’s 11th grade English. She saw through my troubled exterior and gave me the tools to become the writer/blogger that I am today. In my teen years I searched for an outlet to express myself and be creative. She gave me the tools to find it, and I’ll be forever grateful to her for that gift.

Mr. Wright was another teacher that inspired me. It wasn’t so much how he taught or what he taught, but how he treated others. He taught through all the bullshit that was going in my life and inspired me enough to fall in love with American history and politics. He was strict in the classroom, but he was totally fair. I saw him recently and he hasn’t changed much at all. I’m sure he still talks about Cool Hand Luke and adores Ronald Reagan.

I have to include Mr Hawkins as inspiration. It wasn’t on a positive note that he inspired me. He was kind of a nasty person. But one day I was looking for my girlfriend (Suzy Adamo) and I overheard Mr. Hawkins and another teacher comment about me. In reference to me he said, “oh, he’ll never amount to anything.” That and the fact that Suzy’s parents thought I’d never “become anything”, drove me in my twenties to do all the things I did that made me successful. They both filled me with the fear of being a failure in life. I also wanted, in the back of my mind, to prove them wrong. Those words and thoughts hurt me at the time, but I’m grateful for them now.

These three teachers were the most significant to me because they all had one thing in common… impact. They cut through all my problems and spoke to my heart and inspired me to do and be a better human being. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

Kinda Killed My Buzz

Recently I went to the health department to get a copy of my birth certificate. One of the women at the ISDOH pulled me into an office to tell me, “Usually, it doesn’t take so long to process this, but since you’re adopted, it takes longer.”

I must have looked punched… she covered her mouth and said, “You didn’t know?”

So, ya… thanks, Mom.

Feeling Good, Looking Forward

I can’t believe it, but I’ve kinda got the workout fever thing going on. I usually try and work out Tues-Sat. Lately that workout schedule has been pretty even, and rather intense. (Friday I biked 6.5 miles, ran 2 miles, then biked back 6.5 miles.  I thought I’d feel exhuasted, but I actually had the urge to run today, but didn’t because I want to give my body time to heal.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to running 7 minute miles, but that’s the goal. I’m setting a goal right now. I want to run the 2009 Mini-Marathon. If I remember correctly, I ran in the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Mini Marathon.  I want to point myself back towards being able to run a five miler every day like I used to be able to do. I’m shocked at how much I miss it.  I love my bike too. I want to spend a lot more time on it. It’s a Specialized that kind looks like this:

I really want to put some miles on it. I hope the weather allows me to. It seems more like winter here now, than spring. I really miss Tuscon weather.