America's Youth - America's Future

My wife and I were helping appraise our state Destination Imagination tournament yesterday. There were hundreds of wildly imaginative and creative children presenting their solutions to challenges provided by the program. It was a lot of fun and we'll keep working with the organization for as long as we are able.

If I wasn't there I would still have been around young people yesterday. I would have gone to one of the many, many marches in America as part of the March for Life. Our youth are leading the attack on gun violence and they are making their voices heard. I am excited about their energy and commitment.

In the sixties the youth of America stood up against the war in Vietnam and the fight for civil rights here at home, but we weren't as well organized. We didn't have social media to help quickly link so many people together almost instantaneously. Hell, the Internet was just a dream of a few researchers at DARPA, and Tim Berners-Lee was years away from inventing the web. On the other hand, our children were born to this digital environment. The students of Douglas Stoneman High School are a tech savvy bunch with a cause and a message, and the means to spread that message far faster than my generation could imagine. I am proud of them and I stand with them.

Art by Jim Carrey, 2018

Catching Up On Things

I've been off the radar, so to say, since the end of December. I've been focused on other things. We had a good family Christmas, snow days for the grandchildren, birthdays and remembrances.

I spent some time working with my local Democratic committee as well met with candidates and listened to their plans for taking down Dave Brat in the Virginia 7th. The district committee decided on a primary versus caucuses. The Blue Wave is coming.

Even though I live in a heavily gerrymandered district, we know we can beat Brat, by getting out the vote. His record is abysmal and his core constituency is starting to feel the pain of rising healthcare cost, and low paying jobs.

The children of America are rising up as well. After what seems like continuous mass murders with weapons of war, the students of Parkland Florida said enough is enough. They are leading a revolt against legislatures controlled by NRA bribes. Some of them can't vote yet, but they are lighting a fire of public opinion against (mostly) republican politicians who time and time again only offer 'thoughts and prayers' to the families of the dead.

I would be remiss if I didn't update you and the Bad Pixie. Since the New Year she was close to death a couple of times. She suffered several strokes. One kept her in the hospital for a week. She is homebound now and spends most of her days in bed.

I haven't written about her because I still have some positive feeling for her. God only knows why. As she lays in her bed she still spits out her alt-right, white nationalist venom whenever she can. She will die believing that Trump is the best president we ever had, that whites are superior to all other races, and that liberals are all baby killers. She bemoans her rising health costs while supporting the very people who have been destroying our healthcare system. I pity her.