Category: Uncategorized (Page 4 of 13)

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“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

Sam: Why don’t have breast like Crystal’s
Melissa: When you have pecs like Pablo, then you can ask me that question
Conversation with my boyfriend at the time in 1990 or 1991

I met Pablo at a summer camp for gifted and talented kids in 1990. He had a tendency to go topless, which showed off his dedication to physical fitness. He had a girlfriend to whom he was faithful and that unavailability made him the most desired young man at camp. He was kind and never had a bad word to say about anybody.

Ten years later, it was around the time that people were wanting to have a 10 year reunion for our gifted and talented summer camp. I was in New York as a law clerk at Legal Aid and he was working for Sun. He traveled a lot but his office was in one of the World Trade Center buildings. I was in Brooklyn. We met for lunch in Brooklyn and ended up somewhere on Montague street. We chatted and caught up on old times. He had two kids. He had also lived in the DC area. He had good memories of our summer camp those many years ago. We talked about how amazing New York City was. We talked about plans for the future. Then almost as quickly as it began, lunch was over and we went back to our lives.

Life moved on. I went back to DC to finish my third year of law school. He went on raising his family. That fateful day I had already graduated law school and had been away from DC for about a month. I remembered my friend Becky mentioning that one of the towers had been hit by a plane. It was stunning. I remembered Legal Aid headquarters being near the towers. I was watching the tv when the plane hit the other tower. I don’t remember exactly when I remembered that Pablo worked in one of the buildings. I spent the rest of day in shock- trying to find Pablo. I had went out to eat dinner and spent the evening driving around. I came home to find a message on my voicemail from Pablo. He had changed jobs and was working on Long Island.

I remember this united sense of shock and grief. People wanted to know why. Then they wanted those who did it to pay. Then they wanted to make sure something like this would never happen again.

Along the way, I think a lot of people got lost and blinded by their fear. When I thought about what to write on this page regarding today, I was reminded of the Yoda quote that I put above. I wonder if the fear of a violent and sudden death on American soil has been exploited. There is no one hundred percent safe place. Life is full of risks and there are no guarantees for everything. Ultimately, we (or the US government) did find the “people who did this” but there is a question of cost.

Today, I am reminded today to cherish my friends. I am reminded that life isn’t fair nor does it always make sense. I am reminded that people are far more good and far more heroic than I can ever imagine. I am also reminded that people are far more evil than I ever thought. Also, life is short. I have no idea how much time I have here and I should make each moment count.

As an Arkansan, I remember hearing about this case on the news when it happened. It was a Satanic killing and there was torture and it was all kinds of spooky. Later after I moved to DC in early 1996, I saw Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hears at the Key Theater in Washington DC. I had just moved to DC and read that the filmmakers were going to be there. It was about Arkansas and I was very interested in how Arkansas was going to be portrayed.

As you know by now, Arkansas does not come out looking very good in this movie. The murders of the three young boys and the subsequent conviction of three teenagers might be one of the biggest injustices in America today. The West Memphis 3 were convicted on innuendo, speculation, and a fear of the devil.

Later today, the West Memphis three will have a special hearing in Jonesboro. Each member took all of his belongings from the prison when he left. Now rumors are speculating that they will be freed.

So they might get to go home.

Your genuine action will explain itself, and will explain your other genuine actions. Your conformity explains nothing. The force of character is cumulative. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance

If ‘the voyage of the best ship is a zigzag line of a hundred tacks,’ then it is more genuine to be present today than to recount yesterdays. How would you describe today using only one sentence? Tell today’s sentence to one other person. Repeat each day.

(Author: Liz Danzico)

1. Today was HOT!

Travel by Chris Guillebeau
If we live truly, we shall see truly. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Not everyone wants to travel the world, but most people can identify at least one place in the world they’d like to visit before they die. Where is that place for you, and what will you do to make sure you get there?
(Author: Chris Guillebeau)

There’s so many places that I want to go that I can’t even list them all. I would love to go on one of those around the world trips. If I had to pick one place, I would go back to Africa.

#Trust30 is an online initiative and 30-day writing challenge that encourages you to look within and trust yourself. Find out more at http://ralphwaldoemerson.me

Here’s a random spattering of topics for your amusement.

1. Drink your milk. Eat your cheese. Don’t eat up like these! My father got his last staples removed from his leg surgery. He fell down on some slick mud. Yeah, that’s right. I said “slick mud.” He had surgery two weeks ago. On Wednesday, my grandmother fell down and broke her femur in multiple places. She had surgery on her leg as well. So far so good. I hope you can’t overdose on calcium.
2. I don’t know how I found this but here it is. Veronica Mars Season 4.

   I am a squeeing fangirl over here. Apparently, this is the footage that Rob Thomas made and showed to the network in a last ditch effort to convince them not to cancel the show. It’s a couple of years later and Veronica is in the FBI. Rob THomas has stated that if he does a Veronica Mars movie that she will not be in the FBI. I want a Veronica Mars movie, dammit! You have no idea how much I love this show.

3. Keelber Coconut Dreams really do taste like Girl Scout Samoas cookies. WOWZA
4. I think I’m going to do a long run of six miles or more every weekend.
5. I love Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters coming! Too much excitement! Too much excitement!

1. My weekend in Tulsa visiting my friend Tiffany and seeing Conan O’Brien on tour
2. Reading True Grit
3. moments playing with my cat (shut up!)
4. Going to Memphis in May and attending the NACDL spring meeting
5. Tasting Gus’s World Famous Fried chicken. (if I had to tell Yankees what fried chicken is supposed to taste like, I would take them to Gus’s. Wow)
6. My tour of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis at the old Lorraine Hotel building
7. The BALSA spring gala
8. Seeing the B-52s in concert
9. My birthday dinner with my friend Angela. It was the last time I saw her alive.
10. I would want to remember hearing about her dying because otherwise I would attempt to go to her house and be very unpleasantly surprised
11. Angela’s funeral. LIke I said, I wouldn’t want to be so unpleasantly surprised in 2011
12. Seeing The Social Network
13. The first time I heard “FUCK YOU” by Cee LO. That song is AWESOME.
14. The 5k in North Little Rock this year.

Grover smells like a monster or does he? It’s a spoof off the Old Spice ads.

Joel Burns, a Fort Worth city councilman, uses his time at a meeting to tell gay teens that “It gets better.” This one has made the tv news so I won’t go into it much except to say it tug at my heartstrings and is so heartfelt. I hope someone hears it.

New York Governor David Patterson tells us “It gets better” But wait, this one is awesome in a way that some of the others. He was the only African American in some of his classes. He was the only legally blind person in his school. At some point, he got so frustrated with the teachers not doing anything. “I hit a kid in the face with a lunch box. And you know something, even forty years later, I’m not sorry.” That’s right!! Totally awsome!!

Okay I am in LOVE with these “IT Gets better” videos. Here’s one with Tim Gunn where he admits he attempted suicide when he was 17.

Do you know what lawyers love to talk about when they go on a retreat?

Restaurants, video games, and trashy TV.