sand art

Beautiful

Creativity and the Human Spirit

Zeitoun

I just finished reading Dave Eggers new book, Zeitoun, a post-Katrina novel. I picked it up after reading Timothy Egan's review in the New York Times: "Fifty years from now, when people want to know what happened to this once-great city during a shameful episode of our history, they will still be talking about a family named Zeitoun."

Read this book a you will experience a combination of heartbreak, outrage, admiration, appall and redemption. It is an elegant tale of a man who was trying to do the right thing in the aftermath of an unprecedented catastrophe.

All proceeds from the sale of this book go to the Zeitoun Foundation.

Learn more about the ZEITOUN FOUNDATION.

Read an interview of Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun

Words...

I found this a timely article by Danny Brown.

Why You Matter

Read - if you have ever wondered about the worth of your words in the world.

Intention Friday

Set your intention for the weekend.

My intent is to reach out and touch another's life with positive encouragement.

What's yours?

home is...

We've been on-the-go all summer.

But today I realized something:

home is

smiling - even though you're washing the fifth load of laundry of the day - because your kids are singing at the top of their lungs while coloring.

maybe home is the same as gratitude.

town hall face

When I see people behaving poorly, I think to my self "Wow, that's ugly." When I catch myself behaving poorly, I try to remember what ugly looks like ... and I make a better choice.

Newsweek magazine has compiled some photos of what bad behavior looks like at a town hall meeting:

What fear and misinformation look like...

Warning: It's not pretty

Town Hall Face

(I added this photo to add a little "happy" to the situation. Check out the guy with the sunglasses ... I love his smile and his sign!)

Post-it Tuesday

Boise, Idaho

Remembering the price and the promise Citizenship

I was listening to President Obama's inaugural address on itunes this morning while I was running. It was interesting to listen to it again... now in hind site of all that was still to come since that January day... and how partisan things have gotten once again.

Listening to the address again, I am reminded that:

On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.

We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.

Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions - who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

a trip around the sun

Fantastic! Wish I'd thought of this... it's never too late to begin...