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I'm thinking of creating a website called I was scared today where each day users upload content describing on thing they did that scared them. The idea comes from the Eleanor Roosevelt quote Anne at Flowerdust posted earlier this week.

It would have rich content - images, text, video or audio - and a support network. For example, let's say I was going to speak in church tomorrow, something that frightens me immensely. I'd post it up and the network would send encouraging words my way. Or, say I wanted to go downtown tonight to hand out leftovers to a homeless section. I'd post it up, and a local network of people would come together and do that with me.

What say you?

Today was a day of opposites, or rather, of complements. I was called a b*tch and a queen by two complete strangers. Less than one hour after dealing with an email server fiasco, I was in a room talking about the deep emotional, physical, fiscal and educational neglect our community was facing. And even within that space where we drew out the long and complicated histories of a depressed neighborhood, I felt this long, radiating, blood boiling wave of hope. Movements were possible, were already happening and would continue to happen.

I feel as if I have been to an edge of myself that wants to touch that moment. That place pulls me.

I attend the South Bay California branch of an international church called Gospel Faith Mission International. Each year the entire organization uses a part of scripture as an anchor for the year.

 The anchor for 2009 is Isaiah 41:11 - "All they that are angered against you shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing."

 So... watch out haters! :)

 To everyone who reads this: peace and blessings in 2009!

 -ann!

Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”  Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” Luke 2:9-14

Christmas has a long tradition of... well, traditions.  There are the myriad of ancient winter traditions, some of which Christianity eventually absorbed in order to gain the lost masses.  There are the family traditions, like where the first person to pack up all the torn wrapping paper gets to take it all out.  There are the traditions we have today including, Shop Till You Drop, Yule Logs, Christmas Lights, and the ever-sacred, ever-loved Black Friday.

Christmas Music is the one tradition that weaves its melodious path through all of these modern ways of honoring the birth of our Lord Jesus, or the coldest days of our year.  Christmas Music, often slow and sappy, dripping with the sweet tentacles of sublimnal messaging, courses through these several weeks.  Every year I notice how the music seems false, the harmonies a little dated in the aftermath of a year full of several new leaps in our entertainment culture.

I mean, come on! This scripture describes pure joy! Surely this night was holy, but it certainly wasn't silent.  The angels were rejoicing. Re. Joy. Sing. Most of these Christmas songs we sing in sacred choral harmonies don't even make me feel like swaying, talk less of busting a move and gettin down with pure joy.  "Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others" like they couldn't hold back their praise any longer.  Here, the best kept secret of all time, only revealed through basically all of scripture until then, was finally in the human timeline.  These angels were stotally toked.

How about we make some new music this Christmas.  Music that's full of rejoicing, understanding that this isn't some solemn holiday where our songs are slow and dated, but one where we bring traditions and change together to create a new melody.  This is "good news that will bring joy to all people" that we're celebrating! "The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus" came to earth, died and rose again.

1 - Ron Mehl

2 - Wallet, laptop

3 - earrings

4 - earrings

5 - shoes! or knit cowl

6 - man purse :)

1R - scarf

2R - earrings

Big R - tie

Lil M - crayons and coloring book

CDS - a shirt

CDN - makeup kit!

CDP - baby stuffs :)

CDA - scarf! a long, long scarf

JYO - mix cd, earrings

When President-Elect Barack Obama says "wealth distribution" many people hear "take all the money from the rich and give it to the poor."

Anyone who thinks has a limited understanding of what wealth is.

When President-Elect Barack Obama says "wealth distribution" I hear "distribute opportunities to gain a decent education, knowledge, solid financial history, and a better way of life to more people in the United States."

That is not communism, or socialism by a far cry.

It's fairnessism.

I've crashed my phone twice trying to post to this.  It's entertaining, to say the least.

What we need to be doing, instead of talking all this damn Palin nonsense and since no one seems ready to ask Obama some serious presidential questions, and therefore we're never going to get to the real issues anyway, is registering folks to vote, making sure our relatives are registered, and reassuring families who have lost their homes in this mortgage mess.