Calling For Stories

This blog is called everyday people. I conceived, initially, of a place where I could share the stories of some of the inspiring people I met through my radio show. Instead, the feverish months up to the presidential election transformed this virtual space into an area where I could vent my frustrations, scream my anger and shout my hope.

It is time to consciously change the direction of this blog, and bring it back closer to my original intent.

I want to hear your stories, and I will share the ones you will allow me to share. I want to hear what's happening to you and your family, how secure your employment feels or what's happening to you if you've lost your job. I want to hear how the recession is affecting you - and if you want to call it a depression I won't argue with you.

I want this blog to be a place where all of us can be heard...and as we all begin to speak together our voices will be louder. We are truly all in this together. And it is time for the Everyday People Project to finally live up to its name.

Write to me at everydaypeopleproject@gmail.com Tell me your stories, tell me if you are willing to allow me to share them or if you are writing just because you had to tell somebody, but you're not willing to tell everybody. Send me photos if you want. Write a poem.

Share your story. It matters.

What I Learned From the Election

Now that the dust has nearly settled (we still don't know about that filibuster-proof Senate yet, do we?) I've realized I've gotten a lot of lessons from the election of 2008. And I'm a big believer in taking note of lessons learned, since if you ignore them they tend to come up over and over.

1. People are easily scared: Hillary's three ayem phone ad was, according to polls, actually effective. Obama was seen as the less-steady hand, the shaking newby who would crack under pressure. Seems pretty silly now, doesn't it? The man's proving to be a rock - and a confident one.

2. Scared people get angry: Once the fear of Obama was spread around thickly enough, people reacted with anger. Who can forget the Republican crowds screaming "terrorist!" "Kill him!" And that anger turned against John McCain when he tried to reassure them they had nothing to fear from an Obama presidency. And these were his supporters!

3. Scared people will latch onto things that make them feel safer. Conservatives clutched Just Sarah From Wausilla to their hearts. She was young, she was pretty and she was absolutely certain everything was going to be okay. Progressives held Obama equally tight. Ditto. Luckily for Just Sarah, she's not going to be held accountable for this poop soup that used to be our economy. Our president-elect, you must admit, is a brave soul. I wouldn't want to take this job on.

4. Even scared people can be won over. I have some very conservative relatives. One of them will also freely admit to being a racist. So imagine my surprise when, in a recent conversation, he told me he "didn't think too badly of Obama" anymore. "He's certainly smart," he told me, "and he seems to be sincerely trying to fix things. I wish him well and hope he can do it." Score one for the Obama Team.

5. The people in charge don't necessarily know more than I do. It's a holdover from childhood - this assumption that if you're in charge, you must know more than me. You'd think that eight years of George W. Bush would have beaten that out of me. But it took Hank Paulson to do it once and for all. The poor man is clearly in way over his head - he's trying to come up with a rescue plan without a firm handle on what might work and a mandate to take care of old pals....but don't forget to not totally alienate public opinion! Remember that old Star Trek episode where Kirk used logic to short out the bad robot? "You say you are lying, but you tell the truth..." Paulson's conflicting imperatives are forcing a series of epic flip flops and I am expecting to soon see steam coming from his ears as his circuits overheat. I believe this problem is going to take a committee - a bunch of smart people bouncing it around until they come up with a plan...not a unilateral fix that is politically expedient. Score another for the Obama Transition - the team's gelling.

6. The media is ridiculous. Yes, I know. I'm one of them. But really. It's downright embarrassing. Because cable and satellite have created a 24 hour news cycle, the news shows most resemble a bunch of old people sitting around a table hashing and rehashing the same topic as they play canasta. "Is this change or just more of the same?" "Should Obama be keeping a lower profile?" "Is Obama taking charge too soon?" "Which dog will the Obama's get?"
It's the same stuff over and over and over and there's rarely anything new. When there is, everyone pounces on it like a pack of dogs in an alley. Pretty soon it's so mangled there's nothing left but a little bone.

7. Rachel Maddow and Jon Stewart rock. Jon Stewart is my favorite media watchdog. He's smart, he's willing to take on the people he likes as well as the ones he disagrees with, and he's essentially good hearted. This man brought on the tightly wound Bill O'Reilly and offered him not a tongue lashing, but a cup of cocoa and a teddy bear. It was a dig, but there was an element of sincerity. Stewart's essential warmth (remember him after 9-11) and obvious idealism make him the critic with a heart. And man, does the media need to be watched. Opinion masquerades as news everywhere now.
Maddow has a similar warmth. She may be progressive, she may be snarky, but she's human. When she says she's been waiting years for infrastructure to get sexy, you know she means it - and she's thrilled that it's happening. She's not standing on the sidelines jeering, she's emotionally in the middle of things and talking about things that she believes matter. I can't watch the news much now - it makes me twitch. But Stewart and Maddow still tell me what they're thinking most nights.

8. I Don't Know Much. I never thought I knew much...lots of people had more information and lots more opinions. I've come to realize I know very little - and any opinions I hold are subject to change as more information becomes available. I think the good thing is once you know you don't know much, you're willing to listen and learn. I'm listening.

Thanks for Your Efforts to Create a Bipartisan Coalition in This Time of Crisis

This is what I found in my email inbox today. No comment.

An urgent message from our Townhall Sponsor, The National Republican Trust PAC

Dear Townhall Reader:

D-Day has begun.

With your help and the help of almost 50,000 other Americans, we at the National Republican Trust PAC - also known as GOPtrust.com - have begun our TV assault in Georgia against Barack Obama and the left-wing Democrats who want total control over Congress.

Our new TV ad has begun to run across Georgia exposing Obama's plans.

As you know, Republican Senator Saxby Chambliss is fighting to keep his Georgia seat in GOP hands.

It is critical he does so. Chambliss will be the key Senate vote in stopping Obama's radical agenda.

But Sen. Chambliss faces an incredibly stiff challenge from his opponent Jim Martin.

Just last week Obama, Chuck Schumer and Washington Democrats poured almost $1 million into the state to defeat him.

They are bussing in thousands of "organizers" to snatch this election from the GOP.

This is why our campaign is so vitally important.

Fox News analyst Dick Morris says this election is vitally important to all of us across the country.

Morris says if Obama wins the Georgia seat, he will ram through Congress a radical agenda on taxes, guns, abortion - he can even shut down talk radio!

Dick Morris says we at the National Republican Trust PAC "are leading the fight to save Chambliss and keep Obama from getting a filibuster-proof Senate."

Dick says this won't be easy for Chambliss because the Obama camp has more money and they are experts at voter turn-out - the key to winning this race.

But Dick says we can still defeat Martin and Obama.

We need your help today to do it!

Please donate to our cause by Going Here Now

See our new TV ad exposing Obama and Martin - Go Here Now

Thank you.

Scott Wheeler
Executive Director

Tales From the Trenches

Time out for a reality check. Yes, I'm optimistic about this president. Yes, I believe he will do all he can in tough times. And yes, I have my doubts that things are going to get better for most of us anytime soon.



I am anxiously watching every bit of news pertaining to banks' willingness to renegotiate mortgages with people who are hanging on to their homes by their teeth. I am one of them. So far, my bank can't do anything for me - I haven't missed a payment, I have a decent interest rate. No one could predict that the economy would tank and money we budgeted for has not materialized.

I am sorely tempted to stop paying. My daily stress would drop instantly, I'd have money for other bills (and no, I don't have tremendous debt besides the mortgage - that's the one that's killing me), and my bank would perhaps be willing to work with me if I was in default. Of course, I could also lose my home and everything I've invested in it. Catch 22.

I know a retired person who has lost his life savings - a substantial sum. He paid off his home, and now is looking at a reverse mortgage so he could have money for necessary expenses. He doesn't want to do it - he wanted to leave his family a home when he is gone.

I know a man who would sell a car to get some ready cash - no one will buy it. No one CAN buy it.

I know a man whose finances are in good order - but he's scared to death that his many years of service at one company makes him a target for a cost-cutting layoff. He makes more than others with less experience.

I know a family that's quietly paid the taxes on a less fortunate relative's home for years. And now they're wondering how long they'll continue to do it. What happens when those relatives have to move? Where will they go?

These are troubling times. There are thousands of other stories - millions of them. And there are going to be more. It's not an American depression - it's a global depression. And it's hard to see how long it will last and what will start to pull us out of it.

The only thing I'm certain of is that we will have to all be pulling together.

This is Democracy in Action?

Here's the latest from the polls in one liberal enclave...it'll be interesting to see how this compares to the rest of the country:

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wamc/news.newsmain?action=article&ARTICLE_ID=1406553

Why do we even have to be concerned about voter fraud? Don't we live in a democracy? Doesn't one person, one vote form part of the foundation of our political system? What's going on here?

I'm hearing too many stories of people who aren't going to get to vote - and not because they're not eligible or didn't register. This New York Times article discusses the problem...it isn't about voting machine glitches, fraudulent registrations or lost absentee ballots...though all of that happens as well...it's about keeping people away from the polls.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/opinion/13tue1.html

Here's a story from CNN's IReport on a guy who went to vote and discovered his registration had been lost in the mail:

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-131829

And here's a book entirely devoted to the subject...

http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/fund200409130633.asp

I'm not pointing fingers at one party - this garbage is going on all over the country. My cousin, who supports McCain, registered for an absentee ballot because he's disabled. The ballot never arrived. He checked with the election board in New Mexico and was told that because he'd been sent a ballot, even if he didn't get it, he couldn't go vote in person. Bottom line: he can't vote.
He's outraged.

There are stories out of West Virginia that show some machines automatically flipped votes for Obama to McCain. Their solution is to recalibrate the machines. There are other stories of machines that will cancel an Obama vote if you vote the straight ticket after casting your presidential vote. Not a rumor...confirmed on Snopes. You must vote each candidate individually to be sure your vote is counted correctly.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/ballot/straightticket.asp

It amazes me that the country seems to accept that our president stole the election in 2000, stacked the deck in his favor in 2004, has mandated new voting machines, many of which eliminate backup paper ballots, and we're placidly sitting around, wondering if maybe the person who gets the most votes this year won't win yet again.

CNN has a place where you can make noise if you think your vote isn't being counted or recorded properly.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/voter.hotline/

And Mother Jones (been keeping everyone honest for years, bless 'em) is watching and counting.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2008/11/election-fraud-map.html


Obama's campaign isn't sitting on their hands. They've got a link and a phone number to report if you have trouble voting. And right now that's our only defense - making noise if we're not allowed to vote.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/vpcreport

But it may be that this country has reached the point where we have to call in UN supervisors to guarantee a fair election. Wouldn't that just be ironic.

What's Wrong With Using Your Head?

Barack Obama's been doing the last-minute media blitz, and it's been a great opportunity to get into his head a little. All the speeches in the world won't tell you what one good interview will.

Here's what I see: He's clearly an ambitious guy - no one who wasn't would run the godawful gauntlet our election process has become. And he's organized - you can tell that from the descriptions reporters have of his staff...they can, at a moment's prodding, spill over with every fact, figure and possible remedy for every rumor of election suppression that comes up while maintaining a calm facade of optimism. As Dana Bash said on CNN, "They KNOW what's going on."

He's not a great off-the-cuff raconteur: his scripted jokes in NYC were hilarious - but his attempts to tell a joke during an interview sometimes fall a little flat. But he likes to laugh and does so easily.

He's thoughtful, he's measured in his answers and Handsome Significant Other noticed one important thing as we watched Obama speak with Rachel Maddow last night (by the way - I want HER if I ever have to put together a softball team!): Obama loves this stuff. He clearly relishes the problem-solving aspects of being president. His answers on issues are not emotional - they reflect a mind that circles a problem, checks out every angle, considers the possible results of each solution and finally settles on the one that seems to best suit the situation.

I'd bet money I'm right. All the evidence is there - his unflappable demeanor which spreads to his campaign staff ( dubbed "No Drama Obama" by the press), his choice of a campaign director who has created a noiseless engine for victory using computers and cellphones as well as good old enthusiasm, the campaign's clear attempts to stay on message and not descend into the negative campaigning hole that swallows candidates alive, Obama's constant use of reason instead of emotion to try to get his message across.

Here's a perfect example: John McCain and Sarah Palin in particular whip up the Republican crowds to a frenzy by bashing the Democratic ticket. The crowds respond with boos, shouts of 'terrorist' and 'kill him'. Palin doesn't miss a beat. McCain finally had to stop a woman as she clutched the microphone and told him that Obama was a Muslim. Flip that view...look at Obama this week as he spoke before a cheering crowd. He said McCain's name and the crowd started to boo. His response was lightning quick. He told them he didn't need them to boo...he needed them to vote. Emotions defused, rerouted, and turned into positive energy.

So the guy's smart. He's got a logical bent. Why, oh why, America, is that so threatening to some of you? The people who love Joe the Plumber and Sarah Palin cheer when they call Obama 'elite'. What is elite about him? He doesn't have more money that John McCain. He doesn't have as many houses or cars as John McCain. He went to an Ivy League school, but McCain went to private boarding schools and Annapolis. That's pretty elite. McCain was a Navy brat, traveling from school to school. Obama was a kid without a father raised by his mother and grandparents.

So if Obama's background doesn't make him elite, what is it? I submit that it's his intelligence.

McCain is no dummy - I hear he's a bright guy and an avid reader. But his appeal to voters is always emotional - "my friends," he calls us as his campaign tries to either make us fearful or mistrustful of his opponent. It's a classic appeal to the emotions and when he ventures into substance, it's usually to criticize particulars of Obama's plans for health care or economic relief or foreign policy.

Obama's appeal, at first, was also purely emotional. He spoke to the hope for unity, the hope for a better country and our hopes for the future. When his campaign fell flat was when it went negative, but they seemed to figure that out and used it sparingly. (You must remember my vantage is from a state that is considered a lock for the Democrats...what people are experiencing in swing states may be very, very different).

But every emotional appeal seems delivered from a higher place - a vantage just a bit above the usual which is looking farther into the distance and taking the wider view. Obama, for instance, won't bash Republicans. Why? Because, he told Rachel Maddow, we're going to need them to help rebuild this country. He says there are many moderate Republicans who might be willing to work with Democrats so long as they're not actively pushed away. He wants to invite their participation. He's not expecting their vote - he's looking past the election to the need to work cooperatively after the election. He's the kind of guy I can see accepting a position in a McCain administration because it would be best for the country. That's putting your head before your emotions...and that's a quality I think may be the best medicine this country could get.

Acting Our Age?

This sure is a young country. It must be - because the people in it act like we're choosing the most popular kid in class - not the president.

If I like my guy better, the philosophy appears to be, all is fair in attempts to make sure everyone agrees with me.

There's the pathetic story of the McCain volunteer who made up an attack against her. There are stories coming in indicating that the vote won't be counted fairly or accurately. And there are those pesky campaign signs.

Ours was stolen from our front yard this week. I live in a town that is overwhelmingly supporting Obama and it seemed a bit like preaching to the choir to put a sign in the yard, but it also seemed important to put our yard where our hearts are. All the signs around town disappeared this week. Apparently some McCain supporter believed that if you took our signs, we wouldn't be sure who to vote for. I must admit I'm reconsidering now, Mr. or Ms. Thief. Thanks for your help.

This is bipartisan idiocy. I have a relative who lives on the other side of the country in an equally Democratic community. He is retired. He supports McCain. He has a bumper sticker on his car saying so. His car has been keyed and finally the sticker was ripped off. He wears a McCain hat. He was accosted in a parking lot recently by a man who swore at him and told him where he could put his vote (while pointing to the appropriate part of his own anatomy).

The increasing hysteria from the GOP as McCain appears to be behind in the polls isn't just ear-splitting - it's disturbing. And the message the Obama began the campaign with, hope, has been distorted by many of his supporters into salvation.

McCain's not my choice for president, but I truly do not believe he is evil or even a bad person. I disagree with his political philosophy and I think it's the wrong choice to lead this country into the future. Obama's views are more aligned with mine but I don't kid myself that he's some kind of messiah. He is, I hope, a decent guy with an open mind who will bring intelligence and a spirit of cooperation to the White House. But he's been nominated by what I believe is essentially a corrupt political system, so he has to have played the game to a degree to get where he is. The compromises McCain has made to win the nomination are obvious - candidate McCain doesn't agree with Senator McCain on many fundamental views. Obama has no doubt made similar bargains with the devil. They don't let you run unless you do.

So it's frightened people looking for a guru to show them how to pull the country together who invest these two men with some sort of magical power. And anything they can do to tear down the opponent, even symbolically, makes them feel they're helping bring their guy a step closer to that all-important victory.

Stealing and lying are no big deal when they're for a good cause, right?

My Fellow Prisoners?

I have a growing concern about the GOP campaign. A couple of concerns, actually - ones I hadn't even considered until recently.

The more I watch John McCain, the more I see a very, very angry man. There's a thinly covered hostility when he debates Barack Obama. Sometimes it's not even veiled..."that one," for instance. I didn't take it as a racial thing - I took it as a condescending, aggressive remark I'd expect toward someone for whom you have no respect whatsoever. Not good politics.

But even more, I read about McCain's reputation for having a nasty temper and wonder just what his experiences as a prisoner of war have done to his psyche. I realize there's a lot of garbage out there that passes for information and I don't want to overreact, but there's one story after another about McCain's loss of control - either physically or verbally. And then there's his latest gaffe..."my friends" and "my fellow Americans" gave way to "my fellow prisoners." If you haven't heard about it, you can read it here....

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/10/08/1517943.aspx

John McCain has been through hell. There's no disputing that. And that kind of trauma leaves a mark. Has anyone really looked into that? Is this man wounded emotionally as well as physically?

Then there's the increasingly strident and ugly rhetoric at the campaign rallies. Sarah Palin whips the crowd up to an angry frenzy and some people shout to actually physically harm the Democratic candidate. Does Palin or McCain say, "Whoa, now...wait a minute. This is about philosophy and politics and democracy - not about eliminating your opposition!"? No. Not that I've seen, anyway.

And if they don't, they are encouraging something that has no place in the America they say they believe in. We don't kill. We don't torture. We don't do violence to those who disagree with us. At least that's what we say.

John McCain and Sarah Palin have a moral obligation to keep this campaign under control. If they incite violence, I hope they never sleep well again. And I hope they understand that they, more than anything they believe Barack Obama could do, will have helped destroy America.

LATER NOTE: Since I wrote this, John McCain did try to defuse the growing hysteria among some of his supporters. He assured people at a rally that they didn't have to fear a Barack Obama presidency. He told them Obama is a decent, Christian man who loves his family and his country. And McCain's supporters booed him. The fear some of the Republican faithful have of the Democratic candidate is beyond reason - and the mob mentality is growing so strong that they will even turn on their own man if he tells them it has no basis in reality.
Tonight, I'm betting John McCain is wondering what kind of monster his campaign has unleashed. And I'll be truthful. I'm afraid.

Thank God for Comedy Central

The Depression had Will Rogers. We've got Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.



I've loved Jon Stewart since September 11, 2001. He's a real mensch. And he loves this country, despite the fact that he skewers its hypocrisies on a nightly basis. He strikes me as a man with a conscience.

Colbert took me a lot longer. He's a loud, bratty kid. He's cute as hell and he knows it. That can get old.

But the economic crisis has brought out the best in both of them. They're poking fun at the candidates, at the media, and pointing out just how stupid most of the 'solutions' we're being offered are.

I watch CNN a lot. But I'm glued to the television for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. After a day of reporting on the news, talking to people counseling homeowners in foreclosure, hearing our local congressman rail against the corruption and ineptitude of our government and seeing people lining up at the convenience store buying lottery tickets by the fistful, I need a laugh.

You Must Be Joking

They did it. They passed the bailout plan. But not before tacking on 150 BILLION dollars more in garbage to get the House Republicans to approve it.
I am outraged.
THIS is democracy?
Shame on them. Shame on them all.

Life With an Indie Musician

www.cdbaby.com/kevinbartlett2

www.myspace.com/kevinbartlettmusic


America is a very odd place. We love creative people - we admire them, we idolize them when they're famous, we envy them even when they're not. But we sure don't make it easy for them to be creative.

That starving artist in a garret is so romantic. It's one of the reasons we took "Rent" to our hearts...the bohemian rebels who would rather die than conform are the people we wish we could be. Until we get hungry, of course.

I've learned a lot from living with a man who has too much talent, too many ideas and will never have enough time to share all the music he hears in his head. It's a constant inner battle - does he choose security or does he choose to be true to the gift he's been given? Every CD is an open-handed offering of something intensely personal, something true, something beautiful, to the world. And every sale is not only a few dollars to help pay the bills, but a confirmation that those sounds in his head are as unique and worthwhile as he hopes they are.

Why does our country put our artists on a pedestal, but not support them as they do the work we admire? Where is the program that offers creativity the security that allows it to continue?

It's not just musicians. Painters, writers, poets, sculptors, artists of all kinds are forced every day to choose between doing what they know they are here to do and doing what they have to do to eat and pay the rent.

Go ahead - tell me it builds character. I don't buy it. If a child is gifted in math or science, we are thrilled, knowing those studies will lead to jobs that will give them comfortable lives. If a child is a gifted artist we worry.

"How will you make a living?" we ask.

And many, many of them give up the one thing that they truly love to do because it just can't be done in our nine to five world. The world is poorer because of it.

I recently interviewed the author of Furious Improvisation
It's a book about Hallie Flanagan and the WPA's theatre project during the Depression.
It got me thinking. A make-work project for artists launched the careers of Orson Welles, John Houseman and many others. The plays they put on were cutting edge; sometimes so cutting edge that they were considered subversive. They pushed at society's rules, integrating the casts, giving minorities lead roles, dramatizing the social and economic problems of the times. Eventually, the project was abandoned as the country's fear of communism built toward the blacklisting that would eventually rip through the performing arts and leave many careers ruined along the way.

The Depression (and will it still be capitalized once the new depression is upon us?) showed us the best and worst we could do for artists. The government put actors and playwrites to work at a desperate time. And the country's fear and narrow mindedness tried to restrict what those artists could do...finally shutting them down.

I want to live in a country that values creativity as highly as it values money. Does such a place exist?

Disaster as Spectator Sport

I'm amazed by the media coverage of Hurricane Ike.

I sat, eyes glued to the television, and watched reporters being pummeled by high winds and roaring surf as satellite connections blinked out and they told us about the danger to people who hadn't evacuated Galveston yet.

One thought kept going through my mind, and after an hour or so I was actually yelling at the reporters.

"GET OUT!"

Geraldo Rivera, bless him, had the most dramatic moments that I'm aware of. Of course he did. Geraldo has made a career of dramatic moments, starting back when he was a cub reporter in NYC breaking into Willowbrook to show the world how the poor patients there were being neglected.

Today the Internet is full of video of Geraldo getting knocked on his keister by Hurricane Ike. I tuned in later in the evening, but he was still getting blown sideways and soaked as the anchors back in the warm, cozy studio asked him for the latest conditions.

"The nearby hotel," I heard him say, "has already taken a hit from Ike. Bricks have blown off the building."

Bricks blowing off buildings should be a pretty clear indication that it's time to get indoors and find shelter. But no, the American public needs to know what's going on. We need to see the hurricane as it happens. It's gripping video. And that gets ratings.

This is what the media has come to. A natural disaster can be covered as it happens, reporters who want to make a name for themselves can risk their lives to be in the thick of it, and we can all sit at home and tut-tut over the tragedy. And some can laugh as they watch Geraldo blow over again and again.

I saw the movie "Twister." What I watched felt a lot like that, only it was real. So the line between news and entertainment has grown that much blurrier.

Have we become a nation, perhaps even a world, of voyeurs? Do we need to be able to see everything as it happens because it gives us a visceral punch, makes us feel like we've experienced something?

The news has become our pimp...they give us our fix, keep us revved up with scandal, controversy, adrenaline-pumping danger. And we sit back and watch and demand more.

The news will perform a service after the disaster. It will make us aware of people in need, make the aftermath immediate enough that many of us will be moved to help. But what I saw last night was just another disaster movie. I think I'd have been far more impressed if Geraldo had gotten in out of the weather and encouraged everyone else there to do the same.

Let the Games Begin

Sarah Palin made her acceptance speech at the RNC. I watched. She was smart, she was charming, she was funny, she was sincere. She cracked a good joke about the grit of soccer moms. She went for the heart with a vow that parents of special needs kids could count on her support if she wins the election. She went for the jugular with a crack about community organizers doing what mayors do, but without any responsibility.

What she didn't do was explain how her strong family values reconcile with her refusal to put environmental concerns anywhere near the importance she places on energy exploration. She didn't talk about her lawsuit to keep the government from putting polar bears on the endangered list or identify a unique species of whale in an area where she supports oil drilling.

That's to be expected. She's preaching to the choir, as Democrats did just a week ago. She's standing on the pedestal of right, of conviction, of virtue.

Barack Obama's had that podium pretty much to himself up until now. And now both sides will do their best to knock the other off it. Whoever is King (or Queen) of the Hill at the end of election day wins.

It was interesting to watch Rudy Guiliani play head cheerleader for a man he did his best to bury on the campaign trail a few months ago. But again, that's politics. If you don't win, you'd better get behind the one who does and cheer him on.

But I find myself growing tired of it all. Thousands of rabid Republicans chanting for more drilling, angry activists mugging GOP delegates, Democrats taking swipes at their opponents and hoping some of the blows connect - this is a strange way to run a railroad, as my mom would have said.

American politics seems to have come down to a simple question: "Who do you dislike less on election day?"

What if the answer is - "I'm sick of all of you?"

Leon, Nukes and Same Sex Marriage

It's a typical day...lots going on although it's hard to say anything is particularly happening.

I've got a half day off so HSO and I can travel upstate to see a dear friend I've never met - Leon Russell. I guess I need to explain that.

I grew up in Woodstock, a pretty straight, Donna Reed-raised kid in a town that was a heaving mass of dirty, happy, drugged-out hippies. I wasn't part of the scene, but I loved their attitude. Leon Russell was one of my few links to the counter-culture.

I know, I know...his music wasn't particularly subversive...but he could beat the hell out of a piano and his hair scared my dad to death. That was big fun.

I never saw him in person until many years later. I was grown and had children and he was appearing at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Massachusetts. I hadn't seen any recent pictures and was shocked when he took the stage: when had the man whose nails-on-a-blackboard voice was part of my history become Santa Claus? The years had changed us both, but Leon certainly showed the changes more. His long, lean body was very well fed and his long, long hair was snow white.

When the show started, I was in a time warp and very happy to be there.

That was probably ten years ago. He's going to be appearing at a free event in Albany, New York. He's not the headliner - KT Tunstall is. How times change. But HSO knows I love Leon and we're going...unless it pours rain.

My morning began with interviews regarding our local nuclear power plant. It's up for relicensing and it seems there's always some problem or other there - whether it's non-functioning sirens, rotting infrastructure or the latest news - the finding of 'trace' amounts of a radioactive element that was the chief problem after the Chernobyl disaster.

"Because a second element wasn't present in the monitoring well," the company spokesman told me, "we think this is just leftover fallout from Cold War nuclear tests."

The NRC didn't rubber stamp that explanation, but the federal spokesman did say it was a very, very small amount...not a danger.

Local environmental groups expressed frustration - they say the feds stack the deck in the nuclear industry's favor when relicensing hearings are held. The feds decide what arguments they're willing to hear. Out of about 150 complaints, 15 have been accepted as worth hearing. The saga is unlikely to end anytime soon.

From that I moved on to an interview with a woman who had to go to court to get her employer, a state university, to offer her wife and child the family benefits that heterosexual couples are automatically entitled to. This is a follow up to an interview I did with a gay couple who'd just returned from California where they'd gotten married. I'm sorry to hear that one of them is back in the hospital...apparently he's got heart trouble. At least they've now got the legal standing of a married couple as they deal with his illness.

It's one of those days when I realize my job suits me perfectly - I have trouble sticking with one thing for very long before my mind goes flying off in another direction. This job lets me dig as deep as I possibly can in a limited time, then demands I shut down and open the books on something new.

The best story today? The 83 year old guy who was taken to court after he shot a bear that kept showing up in his garage. The judge put him on accelerated probation...if he behaves, his record will be wiped clean. Think he's happy he's finally an outlaw?

Vaguely Off

Ever have one of those "I'm not sick but I'm not well" days? Weeks, even? Me, too.

I couldn't tell you what exactly is wrong. Maybe Lyme is rearing its ugly head again (it does that sometimes). Maybe I'm sublimating stress and it's leaking into my skull and stomach. Maybe I'm just sick...or going to be.

All I can tell you is that I'm usually pretty even-tempered, if a bit neurotic. But I've been cranky. By my own rather strict standards, perhaps even bitchy.

Not a good move when you're living with a highly sensitive man. A bit of what's bothering me hissed out in his direction last night, so in addition to not feeling well I felt horribly guilty.

I apologized with all my heart and took me off to bed at nine pm, where I stayed for a solid ten hours and still felt 'off' when I woke in the morning.

Took myself off to work, did what was required and even a bit more, but just couldn't face a media panel after work. They wanted to know how they could get more media coverage and as my head began to roar I had to call and tell them that, today at least, they just didn't want to hear what I would probably say.

I'll pay a few bills tonight and perhaps fall into bed early again. Ah, life in the fast lane.

New York's In Trouble

That's the conclusion of Governor David Paterson and he seems to know what he's talking about. I spent most of this week tracking down what that might mean...cuts to spending, cuts in staff, hiring freezes, and what about the oh-so-heavily-promoted Quadricentennial celebration? No answers so far, but it was interesting to have one assembly member tell me that 'before we make any cuts that hurt the people of this state or ask them to spend more to prevent any cuts, we should look at those kinds of projects a second time, at the very least put them off until a better time or maybe look at whether we should be in that business at all.' That got a rise out of the head of the Quad committee, who has to deal with said assembly member on her committee. "Why would he cut off a very big source of potential revenue to his own district by putting the brakes on a project that would benefit his area most of all?"

She was talking about the Walkway of Terror...better known as the Walkway Over the Hudson. It's a 35 million dollar project to convert a former railroad bridge into a massive pedestrian walkway. I'd scoff, but I've been on top of the Eiffel Tower. It's pretty cool. I suppose it's possible people will travel a long way to walk a mile above the Hudson.

Then there were interviews for The Show. I spoke with the founders of Ode magazine. I love the concept: highlight what's good in the world. It's not a Pollyanna magazine and it's not escapist. It looks at the issue we're all confronting but doesn't just moan or try to scare us to death - it looks at solutions.

The founders are a couple who used to be journalists. She's French, he's Dutch. He's measured in his responses, hers were so peppered with swear words that I'm going have to do some editing to make her FCC-acceptable. But they weren't gratuitous swears...they sprang from her frustration with a media obsessed with finding disaster everywhere.

I like Ode.

Then I spoke with the woman who gave up a bank job to run the Heidelberg Project in Detroit. I had never heard of it before I stumbled across a story on it this week. It's wonderful. An artist took some run down buildings in the most derelict part of the city and turned them into wild and amazing art. It's grown into a huge tourist destination and he's even being recognized by a prestigious international architectural competition.

"Are you surprised by the way your life has changed?" I asked her.

"I never saw this coming," she laughed. But she's having fun.

She told me too many people live the lives people expect of them...and then get trapped in the boxes they build.

I understand that. And I guess my efforts to live outside a box have led me here...and will undoubtedly take me places I haven't even imagined yet.

My Name is Susan and I Have a Perfection Problem

It's interesting how situations can force you to confront your character, showing you things you never wanted to admit about yourself.

This show is a challenge - as I have mentioned, I am doing two jobs at the same time. At first, I was in a panic. I was frantically cranking out edited shows in a desperate attempt to stay a week or two ahead of the air schedule. It's not a good thing when the show date arrives and there's nothing to put there.

Then I had a couple of weeks of low production - I was doing interviews, stockpiling sound from the other sources and beginning to line up the dominoes of future shows in my mind.

As this was going on, I noticed something - I was relaxing my standards for my daily news job. Not that I wasn't getting the stories told, but I was less concerned about being wildly creative or breathtakingly sound-rich. And it bothers me. My fixation on doing a good job led to three awards for three different stories in 2008 and I'm prouder of that achievement than I admit to myself. I don't see any awards coming from the stories I've produced since taking over The Show With Issues.

Perhaps I'm a perfectionist?

It seems unlikely, really. I'm not a meticulous person - when I paint a room, I make a mess and clean up the slop later. I clean house but I miss the dustballs in the corner. When I write I tend to go with my first draft with very few revisions. That doesn't sound like a perfectionist to me.

Yet when I noticed that I was also making The Show less complex, easier to edit and basically cutting corners to make my life a little easier, it bothered me. A lot. The Show and my news stories have me all over them...it's my writing, my name and my voice. And I want who I am to be identified with something really, really good.

Yet this past week, I did the usual seven stories for the daily news, plus cranked out four (yes four!) half hour edited shows. As I filed the last one, I got an email back from my supervisor saying, "Okay, insane lady." And I had to agree. Why on earth am I pushing so hard to be the most stellar worker on the planet?

I don't think I am looking for public acclaim (although that's up for discussion and thought as well) but I most certainly want the people I work with to say "Good job!" when that's what I've done.

So am I going to drive myself into the ground trying to be so terrific that my colleagues will not be able to avoid giving me kudos? That's sick. Or am I so horrified by incompetence that I go overboard to make sure I never get stuck with that label?

I am finding that the one part of the job where I thought I was weak is becoming a strength- I interview well. The people I'm talking with are thoroughly enjoying themselves and the resulting interviews are fascinating - we go in depth in a hurry.

I spoke with two authors on books about the Iraq war and its connection with big oil. We covered the bases in twenty minutes and had a good time doing it. Then I spoke with actress Laila Robins for the arts segment of the show and we ended up having a really good discussion about violence in the movies and on stage and what that means about our society. It's nowhere either of us thought we'd be going, but we poked around and she had some really strong opinions that I think the listeners are going to find compelling.

So goody - Perfect Me has something to feel good about. But Perfect Me isn't so happy with the quality of her day to day work, and Perfect Me is noticing every compromise in The Show. Where I plugged in two or three songs between stories, I now do one. I'm getting it down to a formula, and that makes it far easier to do. But something's being lost because of a time crunch and I'm sorry to see it go.

A Day in the Life

Back to work today - I could get used to a schedule like this. One day off, a day on, two days off, work another day and then....the weekend! Sadly, this won't happen again for awhile. But it was a great breather.

Fridays are my day to work on The Show. And I had a full day scheduled. As usual, it started off a little strangely. I knew I had to interview someone at eleven and I'd written her name in my planner...but I couldn't remember why I was going to talk to her.

It's a strange feeling to know a name and a number and not have a clue why you were going to be talking. Fortunately, after a fruitless internet search for her name, I found a file card I'd made with one word on it: Thailand. That was enough. She was a woman I'd spoken to for a news story and in the course of conversation she revealed that she had just returned to the States after moving to Thailand. She and her husband had retired, packed their bags and moved there a couple of years ago. The only reason they'd returned was that the rental on their home in the States hadn't worked out and they had to come back to do repairs and figure out what to do next. Selling isn't an option in the current economy and she was asked to return to her old job on a temporary basis, so she seemed happy with the situation. But I wanted to know what it had been like, pulling up stakes and moving somewhere so completely different.

The main thing that struck me after I spoke with her today was the story she told me about going to the local markets after she'd lived there awhile and people telling her it was time she spoke to them in their own language.

"You live here, you stay here, you speak Thai," she was told.

It sounded a lot like what I hear around the U.S. these days.

That interview was immediately followed by a phone call to the sustainability department head at Ford Motors. She's a nice young woman with an engineering degree whose job is to steer Ford into the future.

"Is there a perception in the industry that maybe you're all getting on board too late?" I asked her.

"Maybe a little. But we've started now and all we can do is the best we can."

The next interview (I told you it was a full day) was the woman who hosts the women's issues page at About.com. I first got in touch with her when I got The Show and she was very enthusiastic about getting involved. She used to have a radio show and she misses it. I figured she'd be a great person to talk to about women in the media. It's an upcoming theme on The Show (I have a great interview with Barbara Walters courtesy the host of another show at the station) and she'd written an editorial about the flap over CBS's Lara Logan. I didn't know who Logan was, but I watched some of her reports on YouTube and was particularly taken with her interview on The Daily Show. She told Jon Stewart that if she watched the news the rest of us watched, she'd want to blow her brains out. That's what I call refreshing candor.

About.com's Linda Lowen thinks the tabloid's fascination with Logan's personal life wouldn't exist if Logan wasn't a beautiful woman. She compares Logan to Jessica Savitch...another smart, savvy woman who moved up fast in broadcasting. That sent me on a hunt for Savitch and I came up with gold - a very frank interview she did with David Letterman after she wrote her book, Anchorwoman. Savitch said what ticked her off the most was when she was referred to as a 'newsgirl'.

"Just once I'd like to see someone say, 'And today, newsboy Tom Brokaw said...'."

Linda and I enthusiastically agreed that we love CNN's Candy Crowley because she breaks every mold and every myth...and she does a damned good job without anyone making a big deal about it. Here's where you can see what Linda has to say on a lot of topics. www.womensissues.about.com

My last interview of the day was with two women from Project Vote Smart. They're trying very hard to make people aware they exist. I'm amazed everyone doesn't know. If you don't, you should go to www.votesmart.org

They are a non-partisan, non-profit group that keeps painstaking records of every politician's vote on every issue and makes that information available to the public free of charge. Their goal is to make voters able to make educated choices at the polls.

I asked them about the presidential campaign and they said although John McCain and Barack Obama have some clear differences on the issues, the one unfortunate thing they have in common is the way they campaign. Candidates, they have found, don't want to be too open about their own stands on the the issues...it's not good for the campaign. Instead, they poll voters, find out where their own strengths are and where their opponents are weakest, and campaign on those issues. That's something the people from Vote Smart think is unfortunate, and also something they don't see changing anytime soon. It's how our elections are run.

I spent the last couple of hours of the day editing the women in the news-themed show. That's a fun job...playing with a computer editing program, chopping up sound files, adding music and creating a finished product. It's a lot like a video game.

The bad news is that's not the next show scheduled to air. That one is almost ready to go, but I'm holding on until the last moment in hopes of getting a woman considered 'the voice of Tibet' to talk to me in time for a show that airs the day a peaceful candelight protest is scheduled against China's policy on Tibet.

If things went smoothly, I'd have nothing to stress about. And what fun would that be?

Trace Adkins and How I Lost Fifty Bucks

I took two days off from work. That sounds simple, but it's not when you're the only one responsible for creating a weekly half hour radio program. There was a lot of "get it done before you go" and "set it up for when you get back" going on. I'm finding this show takes a great deal of organizational skills - something I've never been accused of having in excess.

But I reached the end of the day Tuesday and decided that wherever I was in the process was going to have to do; I was going to a casino.

HSO's son, a grown man with a family of his own, is on the road crew on the Trace Adkins tour. Trace, if you don't know, is a big, burley, cowboy-hatted country singer with a deep bass voice and a rabid following of aspiring Hot Mamas inspired by his song of the same name. HSO's boy sets up the lights and spends a good part of the year living out of the tour bus. It's a strange life but one that seems to suit him.

"We'll be at the casino in New York," he told his father. "Come on up, stay a night, see the show and I'll get you in to meet Trace."

His father is a musician who cut his teeth on big hair bands and glam rock. He has a new album out that music critics seem to find difficult to categorize. I'd call it 'cinematic': it sounds like a movie soundtrack. One reviewer ended up calling HSO a 'mutant guitarist'. We kind of like that. "Swing, Battah Battah, Swing" isn't exactly HSO's style. But this is his boy offering, and it's a lovely gesture.

"Want to go?" he asked me.

I wouldn't miss it.

So we drove over three hours to a casino we'd only seen in commercials. The hotel tower stands alone amid miles of flat fields. It wasn't hard to find.

Inside, we found a bustling, modern, clean facility built around the concept of encouraging visitors to throw away their money. And they do.

The lobby is bright, shiny and welcoming. The rooms are more of the same. And the only thing to do there, unless you golf or want to spend the day getting a pedicure, is gamble. The casino is a massive, luxurious and dimly lit area in the center of the building and no matter where you go, someone nearby is betting on something.

The machines are bright and attractive. Many suck you in with familiarity - there's The Price is Right, Monopoly, and the classic match the fruit and win games. Others feel like video games - we saw an Alien game (presumably the Alien doesn't eat you if you lose), a pirate themed game (without Johnny Depp), a pharoah game (reminiscent of The Mummy), and everyone's favorites, Lotto and Keno. What is Keno, anyway? Everywhere we went, Keno numbers were flashing on flat screen televisions instead of the news.

We watched, mesmerized, as a woman kept pushing the button on her Keno game over and over, sometimes winning a dollar, more often losing. She didn't even look at what she was doing. She was talking to the woman beside her. Another woman was playing a match the fruit game. She patted the screen with her hands, willing it to stop where she wanted it to. It didn't look like that method helped much.

I handed over thirty dollars and got a plastic debit card which allowed me to play. Within ten minutes I was broke. I was dejected. I went to watch my companion play. HSO started out slowly, not sure how to play the video poker game he'd chosen. But soon he was hooked.

"I'm winning!" he announced. "I'm up twelve dollars!"

He paused.

"Maybe I should quit now."

But his machine had him in thrall and he pushed the button again, watching the cards flip over and reveal his hand.

HSO ended his gambling experience by walking away with a small win. Enough of a win that he gave me ten dollars to get me to stop grumbling about the money I'd lost.

"You," he informed me, "have a gambling problem."

"Yes," I agreed. "The problem is that I stink at it."

We had dinner with his son. The catering room was lined with a series of dishes that would do any fine restaurant proud. But the crew doesn't get to enjoy it. On show day, they run in and bolt down food while getting calls on their walkie talkies about last minute problems that need to be addressed.

"I have to run," we were told by our host. "There are some lights that aren't working and one of them caught fire."

We understood.

Our job was to line up in the lobby with others holding the coveted Trace Adkins Meet and Greet passes, from where we would eventually be escorted into the artist's presence for a quick hello and a photo opp.

I felt kind of bad about taking the spot from someone who might find it more of a treat, but HSO said he really wanted to let Trace know how much his son liked working for him. I agreed that was a good reason to take advantage of the opportunity.

Trace Adkins, if you don't know, is tall. I'm accustomed to tall people; my own son is six foot seven. But I don't meet many people close to his height. Trace, I'm told, is six foot six. Without his cowboy hat.

About fifty people lined up around the edge of the room and slowly made their way to Trace. A group of women started tittering before they even got next to him, and were so giddy by the time they got there they piled into him and nearly knocked him over.

"That poor, poor man," I whispered to HSO.

Trace posed briefly with each person in line, though many people were nice enough to observe the request that group shots be made whenever possible. The couple ahead of us invited Trace to a ball game if he was ever around. Trace seemed to consider it.

It was our turn. I, for once, didn't have to do or say a thing. I just walked up with HSO, he was introduced as the father of the lighting guy, and the two of them had a brief chat. The camera, unfortunately, chose that moment to blink out, and we ended up with two very blurry pictures of a short woman and two tall men, one of them wearing a cowboy hat.

After that we stayed for the concert. It was loud. Very loud. HSO, who has been quitting cigarettes for forty years, peeled off two filters for me to stick in my ears. They helped.

We watched the show, thanked HSO's son as he hustled around breaking down the set which would be trucked to Michigan along with the entire crew within the next two hours, and went back to the casino.

"What you need," HSO told me, "is a big drink with an umbrella in it in a quiet bar."

What I got was a lemonade in the casino karaoke bar. Because what we discovered is that this casino is dry. Bone dry. Which added a whole new element of oddity to the experience.

"Not one of these people is drunk!" we exclaimed in shock.

If they weren't drunk, how do we explain why they were staggering around the casino, yelling at each other happily, staring fixedly at video screens and losing money with abandon? I just don't know. But it sure was interesting to watch.