test blog #10

Everyone is very nervous. Everyone I speak to or email with is fearful and anxious. The other day I made some phone calls for ACT's PA trips - the response has been so overwhelming, organizers needed help getting back to everyone who had signed up. All I was doing was giving people info, but a good dozen people took the opportunity to talk about their fear and anxiety. I do believe we will prevail. Organizers on the ground in OH, PA, Oregon, Colorado and other battleground states are feeling strong and confident. Thousands of polling-place monitors and attorneys and democracy-friendly judges are standing by to protect the integrity of the votes. An army of volunteers will be getting out the vote. But of course, we don't know. We don't know if enough of the public knows the facts (as opposed to the lies), and will vote in their own self-interest (against W). We don't know if the election will be fair. I believe we will win, but we don't know. Everyone on the planet,...

The publishers of New Mobility magazine, to which I contributed for many years, have published the groundbreaking Kids On Wheels . I have many stories on the website, mostly in the "Roll Models" and "Cool Kids On Wheels" sections. (Just enter through the "under construction" message.) Kids On Wheels is the first-ever resource guide for young people who use wheelchairs and parents and professionals who interact with them. There are two editions, one for kids and one for adults. I wrote the sports chapter and some other profiles for the kids' edition. If the book is successful, a magazine will follow, and I'm hoping to get a regular gig with that as well. It's a great fit for me, since I have more than a decade of experience writing about disability issues and a life-long love of writing for young people. Writing the sports chapter, I had the opportunity to speak with kids all over the country who use wheelchairs and are doing sports. I had a g...

The publishers of New Mobility magazine, to which I contributed for many years, have published the groundbreaking Kids On Wheels . I have many stories on the website, mostly in the "Roll Models" and "Cool Kids On Wheels" sections. (Just enter through the "under construction" message.) Kids On Wheels is the first-ever resource guide for young people who use wheelchairs and parents and professionals who interact with them. There are two editions, one for kids and one for adults. I wrote the sports chapter and some other profiles for the kids' edition. If the book is successful, a magazine will follow, and I'm hoping to get a regular gig with that as well. It's a great fit for me, since I have more than a decade of experience writing about disability issues and a life-long love of writing for young people. Writing the sports chapter, I had the opportunity to speak with kids all over the country who use wheelchairs and are doing sports. I had a g...

The world looks exactly the same as it did yesterday, but everything has changed. Congratulations to the World Champion Boston Red Sox and their loyal, long-suffering fans. Congratulations doesn't seem like a strong enough word. For years Allan and I have talked about what it will be like in New England when the Red Sox finally bring home a championship. Now we will find out. Some Red Sox fan neighbors stopped by last night for hugs and champagne, and told us that their Yankee-fan friends are depressed and angry. Like a Yankees fan has anything to be depressed about. And you know I say that as a lifelong fan - minus 1.5 seasons. My favorite Yankees fan, Matt, called around midnight to congratulate Allan. Now that's class. Matt and I watched most of the 1986 World Series together; he was 5 years old. Allan was still living in Vermont. We go back a ways. I'll stop now, as I generally try to keep this blog somewhat focused, and I sense I am babbling. Check out Allan's blo...

The world looks exactly the same as it did yesterday, but everything has changed. Congratulations to the World Champion Boston Red Sox and their loyal, long-suffering fans. Congratulations doesn't seem like a strong enough word. For years Allan and I have talked about what it will be like in New England when the Red Sox finally bring home a championship. Now we will find out. Some Red Sox fan neighbors stopped by last night for hugs and champagne, and told us that their Yankee-fan friends are depressed and angry. Like a Yankees fan has anything to be depressed about. And you know I say that as a lifelong fan - minus 1.5 seasons. My favorite Yankees fan, Matt, called around midnight to congratulate Allan. Now that's class. Matt and I watched most of the 1986 World Series together; he was 5 years old. Allan was still living in Vermont. We go back a ways. I'll stop now, as I generally try to keep this blog somewhat focused, and I sense I am babbling. Check out Allan's blo...

72. The number of volunteer phone-bankers at the ACT NY campaign this morning. Our biggest day yet. 32,000. The number of phone calls made from one ACT NY call center to Florida voters yesterday. That's from one center, on one day. I'm told NYC is logging more calls than many national campaigns. I love New Yorkers! 41. The number of electoral votes in Pennsylvania (21) and Ohio (20) combined. All going to John Kerry. 85. Days left in the George W. Bush presidency. (Also known as days until John F. Kerry is inaugurated.) 1. The number of wins the Red Sox need to win their first World Series in 86 years. R.I.P. 1918.

72. The number of volunteer phone-bankers at the ACT NY campaign this morning. Our biggest day yet. 32,000. The number of phone calls made from one ACT NY call center to Florida voters yesterday. That's from one center, on one day. I'm told NYC is logging more calls than many national campaigns. I love New Yorkers! 41. The number of electoral votes in Pennsylvania (21) and Ohio (20) combined. All going to John Kerry. 85. Days left in the George W. Bush presidency. (Also known as days until John F. Kerry is inaugurated.) 1. The number of wins the Red Sox need to win their first World Series in 86 years. R.I.P. 1918.

This is it. One week to go. Phone-banking is going gangbusters. When I started on the morning shift we had 10 or 12 people each day. Last week we had 25-30 a day. Today: 65. ACT Ohio and ACT PA have changed their outlook from "optimistic" to "confident - as long as we do the work between now and Nov 2". Let's do the work, folks. Here's what to do, in order of priority: - If you can take four days off, go to Ohio . Free transportation by bus, free hotel. If you want to fly or drive, you can still get the free hotel room. - If you can't take four days, go to Pennsylvania . Free round-trip buses Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. If you do either of the above, be sure to get your absentee ballot in right away! - If you can't travel, join the phone-bank marathon at the SEIU call center. We'll be there from 9:00 a.m. til 11:00 p.m., doing get-out-the-vote calls in every time zone. There'll be a TV on to watch returns, food, people, energy...

This is it. One week to go. Phone-banking is going gangbusters. When I started on the morning shift we had 10 or 12 people each day. Last week we had 25-30 a day. Today: 65. ACT Ohio and ACT PA have changed their outlook from "optimistic" to "confident - as long as we do the work between now and Nov 2". Let's do the work, folks. Here's what to do, in order of priority: - If you can take four days off, go to Ohio . Free transportation by bus, free hotel. If you want to fly or drive, you can still get the free hotel room. - If you can't take four days, go to Pennsylvania . Free round-trip buses Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. If you do either of the above, be sure to get your absentee ballot in right away! - If you can't travel, join the phone-bank marathon at the SEIU call center. We'll be there from 9:00 a.m. til 11:00 p.m., doing get-out-the-vote calls in every time zone. There'll be a TV on to watch returns, food, people, energy...

In the final weeks of the 2003 baseball season, I stopped cheering for the New York Yankees. I didn't plan it. It just happened. To further twist my mind, I started cheering for the Boston Red Sox. This might seem amusing to many of you reading this, but to me it was very serious. I don't give my loyalty lightly, don't change hats as a team rises and falls in the standings. My team loyalty runs very deep. Being a Yankees fan has been a big part of my identity. When the Yankees won the World Series in 96, 98, 99 (etc.), people I hadn't heard from in years left messages on my answering machine. Casual acquaintances know they can always ask me how the Yankees did last night. (I always know.) Add to that the peculiar circumstances of my home and relationship – that Allan and I have always been diehard fans of rival teams - and the identity grows even stronger. (Somehow the word "rival" is too small to describe the relationship between the Yankees and the Red Sox. ...

When chatting about the upcoming election, several people have told me they are thinking about what they will do should what we dread and fear actually come to pass. They say things like, "I've been thinking about my plan, what I'll do personally, for my own life". If you have shared those thoughts with me, or if you've had similar thoughts yourself, could I ask you to elaborate? What type of plans are you thinking of? If BushCo is elected, how will you personally change your life? What will you do differently? Please feel free to leave comments here (anonymously, if you wish) or to email me (link to the right). Thank you.

When chatting about the upcoming election, several people have told me they are thinking about what they will do should what we dread and fear actually come to pass. They say things like, "I've been thinking about my plan, what I'll do personally, for my own life". If you have shared those thoughts with me, or if you've had similar thoughts yourself, could I ask you to elaborate? What type of plans are you thinking of? If BushCo is elected, how will you personally change your life? What will you do differently? Please feel free to leave comments here (anonymously, if you wish) or to email me (link to the right). Thank you.

In his powerful memoir You Can't Be Neutral On A Moving Train , Howard Zinn tells the story of how, when he was teaching at Spelman College, the historically African-American women's college in Atlanta, he participated in an action to allow blacks access to the public libraries in Atlanta. Each day, a couple of polite, well dressed, conservative-looking students from Spelman and its brother school, Morehouse, would walk into the library and ask to take out a book. They would ask for John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding , John Stuart Mill's On Liberty , Tom Paine's Common Sense , the Declaration of Independence, or the United States Constitution. Each day, they were turned away: No Coloreds. They made it clear to the powers that controlled Atlanta that they would not be giving up. As they were discussing what steps to take next, a phone call came: they had won the battle. Zinn writes: "I have told about the modest campaign to desegregate Atlanta...

On September 11, 2001, teams of hijackers flew two passenger planes, loaded with jet fuel, into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in downtown Manhattan, and the ensuing catastrophe killed close to three thousand people who were burned or crushed to death as the buildings burst into flames and collapsed. Like so many others who saw those events on television, I was horrified. And when President George W. Bush immediately announced to the nation that we were now at war, I was horrified again because solving problems with bombs has never worked. It seemed clear to me that this was exactly the wrong response to the act of terrorism that had just occurred. And when, soon after, the United States began bombing Afghanistan, I considered that, if terrorism can be defined as the willingness to kill innocent people for some presumed good cause, this was another form of terrorism -- one I had seen up close many years ago after meeting the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki who also suffe...

The Boston Red Sox made baseball history . So did the New York Yankees . Let's have a Massachusetts vs Texas World Series. MA can make a clean sweep: first the World Series, then the White House! And while we're at it, let's sell some books !!

The Boston Red Sox made baseball history . So did the New York Yankees . Let's have a Massachusetts vs Texas World Series. MA can make a clean sweep: first the World Series, then the White House! And while we're at it, let's sell some books !!

The polls are making me sick. Almost literally. I swore I wasn't going to pay attention to the polls, but my relentlessly obsessive thinking about the election gobbles up everything in its path. Zogby, Gallup, NY Times/CBS, Newsweek/MSNBC... on and on it goes. Those that look too scary, I discard. Those that look hopeful, I cling to. It's ridiculous, because I believe they are meaningless, manipulated, media driven. What's more, we're going to do what we're going to do, regardless. It's not like I'm going to quit in the home stretch because some guy named Rasmussen tells me W is ahead by a statistical sneeze. But still, I gape at them. Two weeks to go. Two weeks - and two games?

Once again, I've been accused of "sounding like a Red Sox fan". Last year I wasn't sufficiently outraged at Pedro tossing Zimmer. (I thought it was hilarious!) This year I do not necessarily believe that the Yankees will win and the Red Sox will collapse. In other words, I don't have blind loyalty. My objective assessment of the situation doesn't lead me to the same conclusion, therefore I am not a good fan. To that I say a quiet but emphatic Go To Hell. The behavior of most Yankees fans these days absolutely disgusts me. (As did the Red Sox fans chanting "Where Is Roger" in 1999.) We've had so much winning, the Yankees have given us so much to be proud of, yet it seems that most fans can only spew bitterness and hatred. Given the historical lopsided outcome of the rivalry, I don't know what there is to be so mean about. Red Sox fans' hatred of the Yankees - that makes sense. I'd feel the same way if I were them. But why so much mean...

Once again, I've been accused of "sounding like a Red Sox fan". Last year I wasn't sufficiently outraged at Pedro tossing Zimmer. (I thought it was hilarious!) This year I do not necessarily believe that the Yankees will win and the Red Sox will collapse. In other words, I don't have blind loyalty. My objective assessment of the situation doesn't lead me to the same conclusion, therefore I am not a good fan. To that I say a quiet but emphatic Go To Hell. The behavior of most Yankees fans these days absolutely disgusts me. (As did the Red Sox fans chanting "Where Is Roger" in 1999.) We've had so much winning, the Yankees have given us so much to be proud of, yet it seems that most fans can only spew bitterness and hatred. Given the historical lopsided outcome of the rivalry, I don't know what there is to be so mean about. Red Sox fans' hatred of the Yankees - that makes sense. I'd feel the same way if I were them. But why so much mean...

If you want to discover a great, under-appreciated novelist, try William Trevor . His work his hard to characterize - darkly beautiful, with a pinpoint perception of human motivation. But don't try Fools of Fortune . Bleh. Read Felicia's Journey , Death in Summer , or the haunting and heartbreaking The Story of Lucy Gault . Fools of Fortune goes back to the library today, and I'll start Pat Barker.

Sigh. I swore this wasn't going to turn into What I Did Today. But it seems that once one is blogging, the impulse to record more about one's life is very strong. Also, it's already an easy and convenient way to update friends I don't see or speak to often, even before the move. So it seems I have succumbed. I will, however, keep these entries brief, and give them an easily identifiable headline so they're easy to skip over if they bore you to pieces. So what am I doing? - I'm leading (along with another wonderful volunteer and generally cool person) an ACT phone banking crew every morning except Monday. It's terrific - very upbeat, I get to be around liberal or progressive activist/volunteers every day, and it gives me an outlet through which to channel my zeal about the election. All that while helping Kerry win the all-important state of Ohio. Great stuff, I highly recommend it. We're doing a get-out-the-vote marathon on Election Day, calling eve...

Love you. Hope you have a better outcome than last year.

I finally finished The Power Broker . (See this entry .) I highly recommend you take a few month's worth of reading time to tackle this truly great book. Needing a break, I read two young-adult novels by the terrific YA writer Chris Crutcher: Staying Fat For Sarah Byrnes and Ironman . Like a lot of good YA novelists, Crutcher's work becomes a little repetitious if you read too many at once, but presumably young readers are not doing that. Since then, I've been casting about, novel-less. I started Reading Lolita In Tehran , a gift from a friend, but couldn't get into it. It looks very good, and I love the idea of exploring the relationship between fiction and our lives, but it's not the right time. On a break from work today, I went to the library and took out three novels: Fools Of Fortune by the wonderful and under-rated Irish author William Trevor, Double Vision by Pat Barker, who wrote the Regeneration Trilogy , and The Road Home , by Jim Harrison. Last year, ...

Many people are asking me how they can get involved in this final month before the election. I think the best and easiest thing to do is go to this website . ACT is America Coming Together, the largest voter mobilization project in history. (More info on the national organization here .) It is very well organized and efficient, using volunteer power from all over the country to target the 17 battleground states. Put in your zip code and a reasonable "miles from" number, and all the different options in your area will come up: phone banking at various times and locations, letter writing, road trips, fundraising ideas and so on. The Scranton Report. Our trip to Scranton, PA this week was exhilirating, exhausting, somewhat frustrating and ultimately very successful. We had some problems, but that's almost a given when doing this work. More importantly, we registered 140 voters and increased awareness of the need to register and to vote. Also, 36 like-minded people traveled ...

Many people are asking me how they can get involved in this final month before the election. I think the best and easiest thing to do is go to this website . ACT is America Coming Together, the largest voter mobilization project in history. (More info on the national organization here .) It is very well organized and efficient, using volunteer power from all over the country to target the 17 battleground states. Put in your zip code and a reasonable "miles from" number, and all the different options in your area will come up: phone banking at various times and locations, letter writing, road trips, fundraising ideas and so on. The Scranton Report. Our trip to Scranton, PA this week was exhilirating, exhausting, somewhat frustrating and ultimately very successful. We had some problems, but that's almost a given when doing this work. More importantly, we registered 140 voters and increased awareness of the need to register and to vote. Also, 36 like-minded people traveled ...