Unapologetic

I am writing this here for catharsis and because I refuse to clog Facebook with a rant like this, even with all of 3 readers. (<3 you guys).  This is what I would post on Facebook today:

I voted for President Obama and I'm not ashamed. I voted for President Obama and I'm not ignorant, uneducated, uninformed, or lazy. In fact, I have a law degree, am well-read, and I stay informed on current events.  I don't live off the government. I work hard and so does my husband. We pay taxes. We are "responsible" for our lives. So are many of my friends and colleagues who also re-elected the president. Some of the smartest and kindest people I know. 

I don't expect government handouts but my experience tells me that there are people in our country much less fortunate and in many ways through no fault of their own who do need help. My career is dedicated to serving the underprivileged. While it is true that some poor people take advantage of government benefits, it is also true that big corporations and the wealthy take advantage of them, too. Entitlement isn't just a poor problem. You might want to put all the blame on the President for economic state of the country, but how about taking individual responsibility, too? For example, stop supporting chains like Walmart that sell you mass produced products from other countries with terrible working conditions, and buy local. Don't spend beyond your means and then complain about paying taxes. You don't really need to spend $500 on the latest I-phone, do you? How about you volunteer to mentor someone who needs job training? And how about you give credit where it's due? If you bought a house this year, the record low mortgage rates are thanks to the government policies. 

I'm not blind to the fact that our system is in need of reform and that our national debt is a problem. I just don't believe that cutting spending on important things like investing in sustainable energy and education is the way  to do it. Investments are important- and all business-minded people should know this. I also don't believe that the private health care industry can be expected to provide reasonable health care for the average person, and I do believe that we are spending a lot of money on the uninsured. I believe it will take more than 4 years to get out of the mess that was made during the Bush years. 

Besides all that, while Mitt Romney himself has led an impressive life, his party stands for the oppression of minorities- they support the "show your papers" law in Arizona, they want to force their particular brand of religion on gay and lesbian people who want to get married, and while they moan about government intervening in their lives, they are okay with the government interfering with women's lives when it comes to contraception and child-bearing. I could never get behind a party who operates in one exclusive world-view.

So the next time you decide to post some hateful comment about how stupid more than half of your fellow citizens are, consider that you are publicly pigeon-holing more than half of the county into a category that just isn't fair, and is not reality. No, I didn't vote for him "just because he's black." That is offensive. No, I'm not ignorant. No, I'm not stupid. No, I'm not blind to the problems that our nation is facing. I just have a different view on how to move forward, and I'm trying (perhaps too hard) to respect your differences by not belittling you on Facebook with rash and offensive generalizations about people who voted for Romney (and believe me, I have plenty). 

Thanks,

Your fellow Citizen.

Good Reads- Fall 2012

When I was a kid, I read voraciously. I would read a book under my desk during class in grade school or read while walking in single-file line. (Do they still make kids do that?)  In high school I would get busted for staying up late into the night reading, when blocking the light in the door crack didn't work so well. Fiction is and has always been an escape for me. A good story might be the only place my singular attention can be captured, and I can be fully absorbed. Since moving back to Cincinnati, I've had the luxury to have more time and more brain energy left to read on a consistent basis, and a kindle that makes it possible for me to get a book while sitting on the couch. I've also had some family drama that probably contributed to my desire to block out and escape. Plus the Cincinnati Public Library system is the bomb. It seems silly that I would make lists and not include one about books. So here it is, my current top book recommendations in no particular order, with a short description, to answer the commonly seen Facebook post: "Any book recommendations?" Enjoy!

1. Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving: A dense, richly detailed novel about a cook and his son, who at the age of 12 mistakenly thought the local constable's wife was a bear. The two become fugitives, and the story tracks their progression from town to town and city to city. One of my favorite Irving books.
2. American Salvage, Bonnie Jo Campbell. Gritty meth country short stories.
3. The Devil all the Time, Donald Ray Pollack. A dark look into the lives of rural Ohio serial killers...
4. Chemistry and Other Stories, Ron Rash. Great short story collection, very poignant. 
5. The Art of Fielding, Char Harbach
6. In One Person, John Irving. A book about sexuality: transgender transformations, bi-sexuality, and relationships. 
7. Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern. Very beautiful and imaginative book about magic and the circus. 
8. Waiting, Ha Jin. A Chinese doctor caught between his wife and another woman, who exist in vastly different worlds- painfully beautiful book about betrayal, action and inaction... 
9. Lowboy, John Wray. A story following the journey of a mentally ill teenaged boy in New York. 
10. A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Eagan. Collection of intersecting short stories of characters in the music industry.
11. 1Q84, Haruki Murakami. Bizzarely wonderful Japanese crime/mystery novel. Worth the long read.
12. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Diaz. Another book that is worth the long read- rich in Dominican political history- follows the life of poor, overweight, hapless Oscar Wao. One of my favorite contemporary authors. 
13. The Bayou Trilogy, Daniel Woodrell. Amazing writing, amazing stories. Think The Wire set in Louisiana. 

NYC and Love, Not Hate

I forgot how the heat encompasses you during a summer in New York City, but it certainly could not be ignored as I walked out of Penn Station  into the busy streams of pedestrians coming from all sides last month. I lived in NYC for just one summer, and it was long enough and short enough for me to still feel romantic about it- all the food, the lights, the people, the seemingly endless mass of neighborhoods and boroughs. Play Jay-Z and Alicia Keys "New York" in the background... 

During this visit, I had a chance to visit the 9-11 Memorial. I'm not sure how to put this- I'm not someone who was personally impacted by this event, just someone who was struck and saddened by the tragedy like any other American. I am patriotic in the sense that I love and acknowledge the freedom and privileges that most in our country can enjoy, and believe that the U.S. still has a lot of people who believe in being a force for good and have the ability to come together in strife. But I'm not someone who wears red, white and blue or will have flags in my yard. All this is to say that despite all that, I saw the reflection pools and all I could say was a breathless, "Whoa." The two pools sit where the twin towers were. The vastness of the pools, seemingly bottomless, quietly expresses a mutely deep grief over the loss of so many innocent lives. And maybe a mourning for the pre-911 America. It seems like so much has changed since then (or am I just older and wiser now?)- it's unleashed a blind "patriotism" and a vitriol that maybe was always simmering under the surface. Maybe it's just fear. But in honor of the day, this week I choose to remember the times when the country came together and were kind to each other, and hope that memories of those days will sustain us and lead the way in the decades to come.

On a lighter note...

Didn't know Mr. Ban Ki Moon had my email address! Found in my spam and made me laugh out loud:

Thoughts on a Tragedy

I woke up this morning to the news of the horrible shooting at the Aurora, CO movie theater. It feels so heavy, not just because Denver has such a special place in my heart, but because senseless violence like this is so hard to reconcile. There will be a heated debate, again, about gun control and gun rights. There will be finger pointing about who is responsible, rhetoric about what should have been done and what needs to be done to prevent this kind of thing again.

Lost in the mix will be the truth of the matter: this is an unspeakable tragedy to those killed, injured, and affected. Lost in the mix will be the fact that we cannot prevent every violent anomaly from taking place, and that no amount of tightened security or concealed weapons will stop unpredictable and random violence.

I hope this means, at least for me and those I love, that we appreciate each other that much more and cherish life. I hope it means that I remember to be kind to everyone I encounter, because who knows what sort of on-going internal anger this young man has had towards his fellow human beings and all the small and great actions that contributed to the terrible decision he made.

There really are not words to encapsulate this- so I'll leave it at that.