Happy Birthday Mr. President

Like some twisted Zen koan, the names Nelson Mandela and Amy Winehouse have surfaced together. Apparently she performed, in London, at a 90th birthday celebration for Mandela. I'd love to hear the rationale for this one. Yet, in meditating further, the synchronicity of this pair of prisoners makes sense. Yes, they both have spent time in cages; Mandela is, of course now free. I don't think folks expect either to live more than 10 more years. At 24, Winehouse has been alive fewer years than Mandela was incarcerated. Her death wish is no doubt equally as strong as Mandela's will to live.
Racism seems to have played a major role in the drama of both actor's lives. Violence too. What must go through Mandela's mind as he enjoys his birthday concert? He does enjoy it, doesn't he? Mandela, and South Africa may be best known for the Truth and Reconciliation committee. The will to bring to the surface the horrors of Apartheid, admit culpability, deal with the consequences, and attempt to move on is admirable. It is something few countries with similar backgrounds in oppression have done. It's a form of rehab, isn't it?

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To a Tee

I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt. They are the foundational garment of my life. My day starts with selecting a t-shirt and it ends with sleeping in one. Once thought of as under garments, t-shirts are now original art and no doubt, a billion dollar business. You can get a t-shirt with anybody's picture displayed. You can commemorate an event, a birthday, a death, even a specular play in any sport. Family reunions usually have a commemorative t-shirt. Also, any organization that solicits your support in the form of a donation is likely to offer you a t-shirt. Where once I only had the basic white t-shirt, my drawers are filled with all manner of colorful choices. Some recognize major events in my life, some, spectacular performances or plays I have witnessed, and some unforgettable places I have been. I say I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt because I have taken the bait on what I perceived as a must-have only to be disappointed. ...

Body Language

I'm sitting there in a hospital gown, waiting for my doctor to complete my yearly physical. This is when I look at everything on the walls, read the medical posters, the instructions on any equipment in the room, look in every corner and behind every chair. I study the paper on the examination table, laugh out loud at the picture of a smiling child holding a bouquet of broccoli, and the note the placement of the computer in the room. Finally, wondering if the gown I'm wearing is on correctly, I focus on myself. At this point in my life I'm fairly comfortable in a doctor's office. But it always seems to take so long when waiting for the doc to enter. So I fidget. Then I begin a tour of myself. Scars are tattoos. I look at the one on my knee and see myself at 12. Whittling a piece of wood with my Boy Scout jack knife. The blade slips and I cut a crescent slash through my jeans and into my flesh for life. 50 years later ...

Sex, Religion, and Politics

Watching TV to keep up with the news is like going to a party. Sex, religion and politics, in any order. Those are the topics of choice. We hear about "twerking," and are confronted with all manner of exhibitionism in local news. Should women be wearing yoga pants in non-yoga areas. The office, the workplace, school, church...and that's just the teachers! Religion encroaches in all the right places. Christian Mingle, the online dating service pops up on the screen during the grisliest of crime shows, the politician's speeches and the sit-coms so full of sexual innuendo that every second of canned laughter barely hides the grins, the gasps, the outcries, or the mindless guffaws. So what's the message? Are we a society and culture in decline or just rapidly changing? Probably both. I recall a student once coming to school with a most offensive tee shirt. Offensive in that the cartoon image on the front made it impossible for hi...

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