BARACK, DAVID AND JP

It was a little after midnight on Election Night. I was standing downstairs at the Paris Commune restaurant in the Village, surrounded by people who were there to both watch the Presidential returns and share in the spirit and work that My First Vote propelled. And, despite the surroundings, the optimism that was crackling all around, the champagne that was flowing, I felt somewhat in my own “bubble”, trying to keep my “what if it doesn’t happen” uneasiness at bay…I had been SO anxious and wary all day…all night…all week. The extraordinary experience of being out there, on the road, with great people, in and of itself was life transforming…add to that the very real feeling that I had been given such a gift of passion and spirit and hope and wonder from each person, each student, who had touched me every day, I had found myself in somewhat of an “altered state” in the 10 days since we returned – personally a bit more fragile, while maintaining hope about the possibility of profound change in this country. At a touch before 11PM, as Obama’s Electoral Count stood at 205 with the entire far West Coast Blue States about to close their polls, I still couldn’t totally shake my unease and believe what everyone was telling me was now in the bag…the incredible inevitable of this new dawn in America. And as, moments later, the Audacity of Hope transformed into the Tears of Joy and Wonder, I was both overwhelmed and numb…my usual Geminiacal dichotomy of emotions and reflection…and release…

It was profoundly clear to me on November 4 that the change that I have been feeling brewing for quite some time, the rumblings from within and the visible signs from without, are deeper and more widespread than is simply manifested in the election of Barack Obama as President. And, while it is probably true that if Bush hadn’t been such an abomination – as a leader, as a reflection of who we are as a country – if the times were/are not as challenging as they are, Americans may well have elected John McCain, as much out of a fear (of change), as anything else. It had to get pretty dark to be able to see, or find, the light…and the light switch that will, I feel, allow us to see ourselves, and each other, in a new way, with a clearer lens. What I am struck by is what Barack Obama represents to us on many different levels – as a father, as a husband, as a leader…as a Man. A Kind Man. A Compassionate Man. A Strong Man. There is an amazing shift going on right now with the traditional male paradigm, part of a continuum that had already been well in motion, and now which seems to be more fully, and openly, ready to truly blossom.

Two days before Election Day, I went to the wedding of my extraordinary Rabbi, David Ingber, and his wonderful (now) wife, and partner, Ariel Rosen. Spouses and partners. Those two words and roles and concepts, unfortunately are not always joined together at all, let alone seamlessly, congruently, elevationally. Ariel is David’s partner in the vision to manifest David’s vision for Romemu (www.romemu.org) to its full possibility, and in the full-on experience of their lives – individually and together. How clearly that is evident to all whom they touch, and was experienced by everyone who was blessed to bask in the glow of their love at their wedding ceremony. I stood in the back of the synagogue, and breathed in so deeply the life force and love and energy that they created together, each component of their connection embodied in every aspect of the who, what, why, when and how of their wedding. I really can’t underscore that enough – I have never experienced anything like that in my life, regardless of the beauty and wonder of ceremonies, rituals and people who have previously touched me. As I wrote to them the next day, “it was so completely congruent with who you are, individually and as partners, it is hard to describe to others...the level of your love, consciousness, mutual support, joy and wisdom permeated each component of your wedding...the abundance swirling around, and through, you is so uplifting to those who were there, all of those whom you touch. Listening to one of the Rabbis who married them say how it takes an integration of one's inner and outer lives to feel fully whole, in both individuals to be able to show up fully for themselves, and then for and with another, is so true, something that I think about so often...and, I have seen first-hand how that has been embodied in you both since you have evolved together. By simply your presence and willingness to share who you are so deeply with others, you have set the "bar" wonderfully high, as a three-dimensional example of what is possible when deep love, between two people, is open and present.” Standing in the back, able to move about and watch everyone in the circle that surrounded David and Ariel watching them, I couldn’t help but look under the chuppa, at my Rabbi and friend, and fellow Peaceful Warrior, David…and feel such pride to be an open man, by feeling his love, and the love of the “brothers” (and sisters) who can embrace open, caring, emotional men…the kind of men who are ready, willing and able to be true life partners because of their ability to embrace, and share, all sides of themselves…to allow the yin and the yang to work together, to not shy away from pieces of themselves that may be perceived to be “soft” or “sensitive” (as if that’s a bad thing)…to “be a man” in all respects, including as a confidante and lover and friend. As I have been steadily developing different projects over the last few years around the male-female connection, as I have been exploring ways to help explode (or at least shift) the framework and shape of the traditional male paradigm, I have continuously asked both men and women who they see as the “role models” for the 21st Century man…there have been so many female breakthroughers and leaders (intended or otherwise) and mirrors from whom women can see, and then derive, that self-motivational spark to push their own envelope…regardless of where one might sit on the spectrum. And, who are the comparable reflectors and guides for men? We may know some personally, yet who are the more public figures who could be held up as representatives of a new way of “acting like a man”? As an example, men who might put family first (at least equal), while also (not instead of) maintaining their own sense of self, and their personal dreams…men who might see compassion as a neither male nor female quality, and who can partner-up with strong women while both not fear losing themselves in a relationship AND celebrate who these women are…inside. So, after this last week, I do have renewed and increasing hope about that “State of Man”, and what is possible…as much about the men as about the women who, hopefully, do indeed celebrate these ever evolving men…guys who embrace the journey as opposed to being merely focused on some destination…men who can honor those parts of themselves that may be still considered, in the lexicon of sexual identity, “female”…as I looked at David Ingber and Ariel Rosen look at each other, as I see photos and video of Barack Obama being with his beloved Michelle and their kids, I experience the kind of devotional love that a man can ONLY have by celebrating all parts of who he is, and what is possible…it’s a great thing.

MY BIRTHDAY GUN...

We had spent our last night before heading home in Wheeling, West Virginia, and as we headed back home, we stopped at Cabela’s, a chain of the largest sporting goods stores in the country. Huge physical spaces, almost like Costco’s. And, for someone who thinks of Paragon as “sporting goods”, a place that has equipment or clothing for SPORTS - tennis or baseball or swimming or golf, I was quite struck by what I saw when I entered Cabela’s. None of THOSE sports, for sure. A kind of Disney meets The Museum of Natural History meets Stew Leonard’s meets Patagonia meets the NRA. Camping and fishing and hunting and hunting and hunting. Oh yeah, hunting, too. Exhibitions and dioramas and interactive exhibits and everything and anything you could (well, I could not) think of relating to the “outdoors” (I like to play sports outdoors...)…two floors, a café, helpful sales people and as we wound through the last part of the store we had not yet seen, more guns and rifles and bullets and knives and stuff to kill (animals/people?) with than one (I) could ever imagine. Behind the long counter, in the main part of this particular wing of Cabela’s was a well populated exhibit that would certainly make any museum proud. Filled with deer, a taxidermist’s heaven. Each one marked with a calligraphied sign that indicated the type of deer each one was, and when, and by whom, it had been “taken.” Not “killed.” Taken. There was something about this word that blew me away. Why not just come out and say what happened. Is that a word choice of “sport”? Certainly makes the whole concept appear more palatable, less jarring...and, I am sure, helps in the whole indoctrination of new, younger and better hunters…"I took that deer." Almost has a sexual connotation to it. Yanni had actually done some editing for a local NY-based rifle manufacturer a year ago…a nice family business. So we were all standing there gazing at the wares – from rifles to handguns to assault weapons, when a very friendly salesman, Greg – 44, stocky, moustache, matted down hair as if he just came back from the woods - asked us if we needed any assistance. Yanni asked about the make of rifle from the company he had worked for, and Greg assured us that they make very good rifles. “In fact,” said Greg, “that’s my birthday rifle. Got it for my birthday last year.” And then he proceeded to show us his “Christmas gun” and so on, until he moved down behind the counter, sharing with us the wonderful attributes of much smaller rifles, in different colors like pink and blue, for kids. From a mechanical design perspective, they were certainly noticeable with their long lines, and open handles, seemingly carved from a master. From a cultural perspective, I just stood there taking it in, feeling disconnected from my then reality. At one point I looked up and saw the section behind Greg filled with assault weapons – AK-47’s and their brethren and cousins and friends. Seeing one first hand made me understand more viscerally the power of these weapons, and the ways that they have been used, in this country, as real weapons of mass destruction. When one of us asked why one would use a weapon like that, Greg said that he has one…and, he uses it for “Plankin’”. Now, it was early, and I couldn’t really hear him well, and it surely sounded like something I had heard of before, although it didn’t make sense why one would need an assault weapon to have anything to do with boiled beef....even killing it…lots of people have killed a good pioece of meat - in the oven...but I asked, nonetheless. “Flanken?” No, he said. “Plankin’…shooting across a back yard into wood planks…target practice.” That’s all it''s for? “Well,” he added, “also in case they come and invade us.” I continued to the checkout counter and paid for a yellow shirt that was on sale for $5.80...down from $35.00...always the bargain hunter...and, there was an addeds store promotional discount (maybe because it was the Cabela brand of shirt) for an additionbal 20%...cost me less than the Burt's Bees lip block...

I didn’t even want to stay around and find out who is the "they" that Greg noted...feeling way more uneasy about some of the threats of within…and, this feels even more relevant this morning, reading about the Feds stymieing an alleged plot by two skinhead neo-Nazis to kill blacks students and go after Obama. The kind of news that so many have been thinking, fewer willing to voice…and, the reality of what we know is going on in the minds of too many. We asked, on our Tour, at least 50% of the kids about whether they think that racism has had a role in this election. Blacks and whites. And, the responses were always honestly felt, and most reflected that while it did not affect THEIR decision, they know that it has been a factor with so many, and how they have heard about people not voting for Obama because he is biracial. And, on the other hand, many young people, whites too, who believe that it would be the greatest of moments for this country to elect a Black man, to reflect back to the world where we have gone, how we have moved…even more than who Obama is, what he REPRESENTS for us at this critical time in the world…and, when friends email me and tell me that Obama has it in the bag, I get very direct with them about NEVER letting any complacency enter into this process…the notion that ANYONE might stay home and not vote because they think it’s a done deal…as Obama said recently, we all need to go forth with the passion and commitment as if he is 20 points behind in the polls…

Unrelated random word/phrase thought: “settling down”…as someone who thinks about the power of words, and what they convey, I have always been struck by the “settle” in settling down…I know that’s not what most people think of when they say they are settling down…probably more akin to placing down roots…and, to me, settling really doesn’t have an aspirational quality to it, nor would it be to most, I believe…“I settled for that” doesn’t make me want to jump on and scream “yay”, even more so when combined with another word that is the opposite of reaching UP…I wonder what the concept really means, what’s in people’s hearts when they feel that they are “settling down”…

YA' DIG…?

Wednesday, in its own nutshell, was completely reflective of the entire weeklong experience. Started out in the morning roaming, and filming students, at the University of Pittsburgh (“Pitt”), a large private university in the middle of the city…gorgeous buildings, open city campus…I can’t say enough about how nice everyone was in Pittsburgh, it seems so “livable” there (I was joking that while most people I know say they want to move to Bali, or Hawaii, or someplace exotic, Pittsburgh seems like a good place to me!)…Rust Belt meets edge of Midwest meets edge of East Coast…incredible architecture…way cooler than Cleveland, not as northeast of a vibe as Philly…

Anyway, we moved from there, heading west to Ohio…our interim stops were to interview two first-time voters who live in a town about ½ hour outside of Pittsburgh called Donora…I had been introduced via email to two people who had never voted before (because they had never registered in previous years) by Tina Jones, a woman whom I emailed after having googled “Obama and Pittsburgh” a few weeks ago, and got her phone number and email address…amazing how technology has played such a part in what My First Vote is doing, I cannot even imagine what we would be doing…and, “how?”…these two fellow church members of Tina turned out to be two African-Americans, Nycole Wilkins, 30 years old, and Joe Williams, 54. We first visited Joe in his apartment in Donora, a town with no one on the streets at Noon on a weekday, except for 3 residents of an assisted living home for mentally challenged people down the street…as we were crossing the river to Donora, I had to call Joe for alternative directions because our Bus was too high to fit under the bridge overhang…within his first five words, Joe would say to/ask me, as a connective point of understanding, “Ya’ dig?”…I was suddenly in a jazz riff with him…the conversation for directions was peppered throughout with “ya’ dig?”, as Joe got us through to an alternative route…Joe’s walk-up apartment, in classic Midwest style 3 story housing, was sparsely furnished, and the warmth from Joe, his openness, filled the room. Joe is about 5’6”, maybe 200 pounds, gold loops in each ear. As it turns out, Joe had never voted before because he was a felon in the penitentiary for many years, now a recovering drug addict, admitting to being addicted to drugs for more than half his life. People had told him that he couldn’t vote, so he never bothered to check it out. Leaning down against his kitchen sink, Joe told us that he was “saved” five years ago, embracing full-on his Christianity…he has turned his life around completely, and is so excited to now vote, loving that there is a Black man running for President, humbled to be able to engage in the kinds of citizenship that “regular people” can. Joyous to be part of the process. And (literally), every third word/phrase throughout the 10-minute conversation was “ya’ dig?”…Joe had his own unique rhythm, and the depth of his most pure of sentiments was truly humbling….I felt as though if any eligible voter, of ANY age, saw a snippet of Joe’s clarity, the sense of importance in what he is about to do for the first time, they would have no choice but to cast their vote on Election Day…they couldn’t come away and say “my vote deson’t matter”, or “what’s the big deal?”…it IS a big deal…

We then drove to meet up with Nycole, a very attractive mulatto-skinned woman, who got pregnant at 15…had a daughter at 16 who is now 14. Blew my mind that Nycole and I have kids the same age, Nycole herself being old enough to be my daughter. We visited with her outside of her place of employment, a Rehab Center, where she is a social worker, kind of in the middle of “nowhere” in Western PA…at her Church one day there was a voter registration drive, with Tina heading it up…her daughter told Tina that her mom was not registered to vote…Nycole said her kid “shamed her into it”, she just never had given voting much thought…and then, once she was registered, she felt a part of being a citizen in a different way…I often am shocked when who I think someone may be does not link up with actually who they are…I would have, just by the way she looked (half-Black, young, kind of sexy) assumed that she would be voting for Obama…and, as soon as she answered the question, “what are the isues that are most important to you in this election?”, with “as a Christian,…”, I knew that Obama didn’t have Nycole Wilkins’ vote. The candidates’ stance on the right to an abortion is the single most important issue for her…her position on that issue seemingly having been formed as a young mother who chose to keep her unexpected child, even after considering having an abortion...firmly believing that the right for a woman to choose abortion as an option should not exist…I again thought, as I have so many times over the years, that it feels wrong that the people who want to deny women the right to choose are called “pro-life”…as if those of us who are PRO-CHOICE are against life…and, regardless of anything else, I was so honored to be in the presence of someone who wanted to share their story with us, their viewpoint, a piece of their soul…Nycole and her clarity, and her willingness to investigate the issues, and her wonderful sense of self (with her daughter telling her to vote for Obama) moved me so much…I feel that I have become more open this week, at least about the bigger view into the variety of points of view, where people come from…at least when those opinions are coming from one’s personal value systems, and not simply motivated by ignorance, hate, or other foundations of divisiveness that I have seen so prevalent as well…watching TV for a brief moment in the motel lobby the other morning, there was a pro-McCain ad that was paid for by a fear-mongering private organization that can stay outside of the rules that still somewhat limit the bullshit that candidates can say about each other…it was incredible..we never see this stuff in New York…out here, in the Purple states, where many people still wavering on their choice, where fear is powerful, where issues of race are like a heated skillet, some people will do or say anything to stay in power…and, support the old paradigm…to not give up the mantle…to perpetuate ways that are not working…we have no idea what will happen in the next couple of weeks…what will be thrown out there…

We drove to Ohio, and went to the Parking Lot at the WalMart in Mt. Vernon, Ohio, the next town to Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon College, in Gambier, Ohio, the place that had originally been Maia’s first choice college…where she and I had visited in the Spring…we got there after nightfall, and interviewed a first time voter, Jeff, a local kid from Mt. Vernon...we were all freezing outside, the temperature had dropped drastically in those few hours we had been driving…Jeff is a McCain supporter…the issues important to him? Abortion, the War, Gun Control…

It may only be 5 minutes from WalMart to Kenyon, but it might as well have been the distance (in miles and politics) between Alaska and Greenwich Village…it’s not just that the physical campus at Kenyon is extraordinarily beautiful, the place where HARRY POTTER was going to be filmed if they had elected to shoot in the States…it’s the student body itself…mostly white, privileged, incredibly well informed and engaged…and, surely, so many are sheltered from some of the economic issues and immediate consequences that are sitting there on the dinner table in Mt. Vernon, or Donora or so many of the places that we have seen…it’s all interesting, to me…and, according to every Kenyon student we talked to, one more engaged than the next, EVERY student there is voting for Obama…and, I could not help but feel at that moment that regardless of the difference in opportunities, or possibilities, or religions or hometowns or political views or degrees of being informed, every person we talk(ed) to does ultimately want the same thing…a life that feels meaningful to them (even if they don’t even ask themselves what that might even mean) or, at the very least, one filled with hope for them and their families…the OneNess of us all has been hitting us every day…

Here are some pieces that we posted yesterday/today...the first one is Joe, the second and third a troupe of musicians/folk-singers (the blonde woman, Colleen Kattau, has been called a female Pete Seeger) who are traveling through the Purple States performing in an effort to get the youth vote out...I encountered them yesterday at Ohio State, stopped them, and asked them to perform impromptu...their are a group of them traveling, maybe 10 in all, they have been organized by the folk singer, Holly Near...

http://www.myfirstvote.tv/video/73/wake-up-tour-ya-dig

http://www.myfirstvote.tv/video/71/wake-up-tour-sing-out-the-vote

http://www.myfirstvote.tv/video/70/wake-up-tour-sing-out-the-vote-only-1

Ya dig?

FAITH, FEAR AND A FALSE GOD

Yesterday our team was at Slippery Rock State University, one hour from Pitssburgh, to speak with students there, in a working class town in Western PA, one hour from Pittsburgh…a different environment than many of the campuses we had visited this trip…generally, more blue collar, loess elite (even at some of the larger State schools, a tad more rarified air)…the kids at Slippery Rock were SOOOO wonderful, in certain ways more passionate and engaging than they have been in certain other places…maybe because there is less between their lives and “out there”…they feel what’s going on in the world profoundly, and it seems to an extent, have been for longer…less posturing, more right here...because, without question, at this school whose student body is pretty much exclusively made up of kids from families from Main Street, there are no Wall Street descendants there…their answers and goals and desires at Slippery Rock so direct and incisive…the kind of people who have learned experientially, who have seen so much, with their eyes, not just in the news…

I got to thinking, while driving through the hills here (I have always wanted to visit Pittsburgh…and, I now know why friends have recommended it…it has a great energy, the architecture is fabulous, the Three Rivers surrounding it make for amazing views and bridges, the people are that unique combo of Rust Belt, East, Midwest), it struck me right between my eyes how so many people really struggle during tough economic times because they have worshipped the “False God of $”...believing that wealth and possessions, and “success” would take them through, carry them over, shield them from the pains and feelings and full-bodied experience of life...and, when THAT God, that idol (yes, an "American Idol"...maybe the world's Idol), falls away, when one can’t rely on what one has grown up to understand to be a measuring stick, what is it that gets me/you/us through...what have any of us developed to fall back on, if not faith...one needs to believe in SOMETHING...so many people elected to invest that energy and hope and attachment to money, success, wealth, accumulation...often at the expense of other values...so, now, we see so many of our fellow citizens freaking out, people having no choice (I think) but to have to re-examine where they had allocated their emotional, personal resources for so many years...for what end game...they look at their “bank accounts” and see less there than had been there a day before…how to make sense out of what happened…

So, that is why this has shook people to their core, because the confluence of events have shocked the foundation of their, and society’s, belief system...the values that we have all been programmed, generally to believe in…if you take a money focus out of the equation, what are you left with? Each person has their own definition of what that means, how it impacts one’s lives. What to do, how to be, how to have “faith” (as differentiated from fear) if you don’t have something to really hold to inside – within - something to keep oneself solidified in times of stress, or when we are “shaken”…in simple mathematics language (I know, me with a math metaphor?...so weird!), “life” minus “success” (or money, or whatever or however one may externally determine, not personally define, senses of what that actually means, individually) equals what? What is often left is so much emptiness, a free fall…fear.

What does one replace that with? If one hasn’t really exercised that “muscle”, how can we be strong for ourselves…and, thus, for our kids and loved ones? It seems to me that for myself, it has had to be opening up to something of sustenance, and sustainability, to help me dig in and transcend the tough times, the fear-based messages that are incessantly thrown at us by society and individuals and perpetuated by the media…as someone who grew up, as so many of us, in fear-based households, it has been a long journey, one that is forever evolving, deepening and often… it’s one thing when we “adults” may not have the grist inside to draw on…however, it can certainly be even more frightening for kids, who don’t have the breadth of life experiences, and the life lessons that can be found in picking oneself up after getting knocked down, to learn that the REAL manna from heaven is inside of us, not on the outside…that is where the substantive nurturing and inner peace comes from, as I see it…

So, it is for that reason, among many, that I feel we really need to develop these skill sets, to help young people learn that value of aspirations that touch on a congruent life…to be successful in understanding the wonderful possibilities in creating our own senses of a successful life, integrating celebrations of mind, body and spirit…

In talking to a multitude of kids from all types of family backgrounds, who have grown up in all types of communities, one of the things that really strikes me, that saddens AND pisses me off so much, is how the last 8 years have really ripped out the innocence of youth... the world of being an “adult” has so dramatically, and seemingly suddenly, infiltrated their lives…earlier than they expected…certainly they are not the only generation to feel it, and they are surely experiencing it now, all of them… I see it in so many kids, in their eyes...in their questions…wondering if there will be jobs for them, wondering if there will be student loans and affordable education and healthcare…their focus on economic conditions, the disquiet they are reading and hearing about constantly, has been profound…and, whether their friends, who are in Iraq, will come back…and, come back OK…their neighbors and siblings and classmates…

Obviously, 9/11 affected, and affects, us all…and, those of us who lived in NYC felt that horror in different ways, in ways that touched us more directly and experientially than those who lived elsewhere…for these kids, who are now at least a third of their lives older than in 2001, the “world economic crisis” (as most call it verbatim) is the most pervasively impactful events that they have lived through…I remember Cooper (then almost 7), on 9/13/01, asking questions to Maia and me as we walked down Macdougal Street, the smell of the Towers still so very full in the air…and, Maia, then 11, saying to him, “usually kids look to their parents for answers to make it OK…Cooper, now is a time when parents don’t have the answers.” I remember being blown away by that comment…how absolutely right she was, and how that is certainly true today (one could replace “parents” with “experts” or “government” or “business”, and it would be true as well)…we need to help our kids develop values that will aid them in holding themselves up, in addition to also appreciating the wonder that comes from helping and supporting each other…sustainability…for ourselves, so essential, I feel, at a time when people in general are feeling insecure, unsafe, on all levels…the grounding has to start inside, for it to be really impactful…

My friend, and colleague, Bob Ciosek, has done substantive market research, on a very complex level...for major companies and entities, including in media and entertainment and politics...in his political research 4 years ago, it was clear to him that people do not generally, deeply, vote about the "issues" first, it is generally about something more subtle...

UNLESS...

“it” impacts them personally...and, there are daily reminders at this place, at this time in history, that what is going on impacts everyone...PARTICULARLY the youth, who are now conscious that they will be paying for their elder's allocations or resources and their government's "mistakes"...they see the priorities of this country, and that war and banking take precedence over education and healthcare...the cost of a semester in college...the ability to gain student loans...very real shit, my friends, that is not just words in a newspaper column...the girl at Penn State who noted that her parent’s annuities (a word I didn’t even know at 19) had lost half their value in the last month…oh yeah, she is voting for John McCain because she doesn’t want her father, who has worked hard, to pay for lazy people and to suffer as a result of what Democrats will do with taxes…

There is no escaping the reality…and, as my friend Susan Epstein said to me in an email a week ago, "I'm still waiting for people to talk seriously about changing our lifestyles and the system of consumption on which the world economy is unsustainably built, but I think the shit is going to have to really hit the fan in the guise of lots of hungry, unemployed and perhaps homeless Americans bringing that reality home. Denial is a powerful thing and human beings are so incredibly resistant to change...we do what we can and hope for the best..." How much loss or pain are we, as a society, going to have to bear before we listen and make substantive transformations…

I was thinking about this Bus Tour (while rolling through PA) and realized that “everything starts with nothing”…every great project or opportunity started just with the spark of thought in someone’s head…nothing more…the coming together of My First Vote certainly reinforces that to me…

A sidebar: this trip has been what I have called either “The IntuitionTour”…we have bee in synch, and have all witnessed first hand that thoughts do become things…early yesterday morning, I was carrying the computer early through the “oliday Inn”….saying to my colleagues, outloud, that today feels like it’s going to be a good media day…I had gotten some emails that just felt good..5 hours later, I got a call from a producer at Good Morning America telling me that they found our site (through googling around), loved what we are doing, LOVE the site, and that they want to use pieces of our footage on a piece about youth voters..this morning…it took my breath away…we worked late into last night picking clips and uploading them (the whole technology aspect of what we are doing is such a trip, editing in the back of an RV, and sending videos and documents from the road, without wires)…anyway, it was suppose to run this morning, it didn’t, and regardless, ABC wants to use us in other pieces, they say…we will see…and, certainly hope so…in the end, it was such a wonderful reinforcement for us, of what we are doing…and, we will for the next few days continue to do our version of “synchronized swimming”…on the road…

MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA, SUNDAY 4AM

We pulled into the EconoLodge in Morgantown a few minutes ago, after a long, and extraordinarily productive and moving, day. As I opened the door to Room 132, the invisible wave of inhaled (and exhaled) Marlboro’s, Lucky’s, Camels, Tareyton’s from years of consumption here in 132 shot up through my entire being. A nasal salute. Looking down and seeing the burns on the “motelmoldgreen” carpet, from stamped out butts, told me all that I needed to know. I went back to speak to Violet at the front desk, (ageless at somewhere in the 62, 72, 82 year old range, with the most mind-blowing high-hair wig I have ever seen, made Sarah Palin seem like she had shaved her head) about getting a “nonsmoking” room…I learned that we had taken the last 2 rooms available…the welcoming beckoning of a bed, after our third post-2AM wrap in a row, reinforced how grateful I was to just be here, at rest…even with it being 27 degrees outside, the AC would have to keep me company during the night for some semblance of air purifying.

There are so many stories and people to talk about, I can’t even keep up with them in my head…someone asked me the other day how I know the people I am traveling with, my fellow teammates on this road trip – they are part Willbury’s, already part family, certainly part colleagues, absolutely all wonderful. It would be impossible to truly get a feel for what we are doing, whom we are touching, and what the experience is like together, without having some sense for who they, and thus we, are…the dynamics of the people and the mechanics of the environment certainly flow from there.

Menna and Yanni. Soon after EUE agreed to partner up with me on My First Vote, we needed to bring in someone to work with us to produce and edit the film productions, but coordinate the overall logistics of our initiative. I knew that I had the right people in Menna Olvera, and her husband Yanni Feder, a wonderful artist/filmmaker/editor…I knew who they ARE, the quality of them as people on top of the committed nature of their work ethic…Yanni, with his Zen-like spirit and Menna with her equanimity, openness and beingness as a “Passionate Yogini”…kind of like the female Peaceful Warrior… I laughed on the bus as I recalled how I had originally met Menna. Like so many elemental relationships, it all grew out of the “random serendipity” this one because of my interest in women’s lingerie. A few years ago, I had been given a ticket to the Lingerie trade show (what a trip that was) in my search for potential partners for the online women’s channel I have been developing. I started a conversation with Stacey Blume, the founder of Blumegirl (http://www.blumegirl.com/), at her booth, just because she seemed open, smart and wise…I could see it in her eyes. After Stacey heard what I was doing, she thought that I should meet Menna because of similarities in our spiritual outlook… and, once I met her and Yanni, I knew they were “lifers”…MFV could not have unfolded and materialized as it has without their unwavering commitment, both professionally and personally. They just jumped-in - head/spirit/body first…for all the right reasons.

Ollie. Ollie is our cameraman and young buck…24…funny, wise and a great combination of Midwest (Cincinatti) homespun with New York acerbia…the kids we interview surely connect in with him, and he’s already turned me on to one of the best sandwiches I have ever made at a chain called Jimmy Johns that is, apparently, only in cities/towns with large state Universities…like a drummer with a wonderful back beat….

Mike and Debbie. When EUE committed to backing the Bus Tour, we decided to start it off in Wilmington, North Carolina, where they own the largest movie studios east of the Mississippi…ironically, it’s where we produced ALAN AND NAOMI the Summer that Maia was born…anyway, I looked up in our meeting and said, “who the hell is going to drive this Purple Bus?” Bill Vassar, who runs those Wilmington studios, recommended to Chris Cooney, a local guy, Mike Hewitt, the top location scout down there and an all around production ace and problem solver. We had some production/logistic conference calls with Mike before we headed down, seemed like a good guy…when Menna, Yanni, Ollie and I arrived in Wilmington, we were met with a message that Mike had been rear-ended on his way to get us, and his wife would be picking is up instead…as it turned out, Mike’s short-term pain and tzuris would become our enormous bonus. Debbie just walked into our lives, and this opportunity, and became such elemental pieces on the team. Mike only suffered some minor back strain, and while Debbie was only supposed to be with us for the one day we were in Wilmington, I turned to Menna that first night and suggested that she come with us…Mike and Debbie are so great, and individually and together they have such a way with people, his resourcefulness in getting us into great and better situations, his unbelievable captainship of the driving, to working out logistical details, Debbie having this uncanny ability to be in “intuitive service…both of them, actually…they are the closest I’ve ever felt to the experience of being in total synch like with the waitstaff the one time I went to the restaurant, Chanterelle…the moment that you think you want or need something they have already intercepted your thought and are there with whatever you dreamed up…completely wild…Debbie is like a human Swiss Army Knife, there's nothing she can't seem to handle, and Mike does things like gets us a perfect spot (even when everyone said it couldn't happen) right by the Homecoming Parade at Penn State... so, I knew that Debbie’s presence would make Mike happy, and an extra pair of hands (to shoot video, drive, photograph, shop, support, produce magic) would be so welcome…and, it has in spades…all of us, barreling down the highway in the middle of the night, in a flow of conversation, camaraderie, mutual support and bonding over creating great work with wonderful people, have become an efficient and congruent team…professionally and personally…the deep conversations, the common wavelengths, the profound connection among a group that ranges from one in his early 20’s, 3 in their 30’s, one in their 40’s, and me, the elder of the group, of this journey…we represent a cross section of not only age, but ethnicities, religious backgrounds, hometowns, musical loves and beyond…as I know only too well, the building of a team on any project can be such a fragile linking…having had more implosions of intended collaborations than I want to remember, more experiences working with unyielding narcissists pretending to be givers than I can even recall, it is such a gift being with truly wonderful people who are there to elevate the dream…

It can be challenging to spend this much time with ANYONE, let alone 4 or 5 other people…none of whom do you know that well (or, at least that long)…all day and, seemingly, most of all night…so much of it in relatively little space, the inside of this RV measuring not more than 7 feet wide and 20 feet long in the main compartment…one couch behind the driver, could seat 3…one swivel chair behind the “stadium” passenger seat…a breakfast-type nook-table, with two benches that come down to form a bed…an oven/stove and refrigerator, I would have loved to cook on the longer trips, yet, the stove is the base now for our printer…the bedroom in the back, with a platform double bed, we took the mattress off, it now supports a portable Mac editing set-up where Yanni works importing the videos, then cutting together pieces for our Channel and iploading off of wireless cel phone cards (the only way to get email access)…at every turn, Mike calls out the direction of the turn, so Yanni knows to prepare the hold on the table and equipment (all secured down, yet you never know)…kind of like the instructions from a guide on a white-water raft…we all taking turns by simply flowing from one seat to another (except for driving, I did take a spin in a parking lot this morning) as feels right, a pretty fluid dance that we have seemed to have executed wordlessly…so, yes, tonight at dinner, the 5 of us (Menna left on Saturday morning to NYC for her yoga teaching intensive weekend, she will meet back with us Monday afternoon in Pittsburgh) commenting on the amount of bound-at-the-hip time that we are spending together, and enjoying the experience massively…being with these young voters – wherever we can find them - is unbelievably inspiring…

I am fading here, so much more to say, stories to tell, kids to talk about, the feelings of joy and connectivity…admiration for their willingness and openness to talk, and share of themselves generously…having their legacies, their voices, hearts and souls recorded, and broadcast on our Channel seems to really do what we wanted to – reinforce for all of them that their opinions count, that there is a platform to communicate their feelings, hopes, and dreams (while also giving them an opportunity to become even more informed), and that this is their first real opportunity to get involved in a passage that, to them, has previously only been done by “adults.” No more. They are now able to exercise a very essential liberty and privilege of American citizenship, and almost everyone, in every state we have traveled, seems to be taking this “voting thing” VERY seriously…seemingly more than ever.

You can’t believe what it feels like to hear several kids at Penn State, looking right at the camera, and saying, “I am a registered Republican, and I am voting for Barack Obama.”…

I really get that I am doing the work that I am supposed to be doing…when I walked away from being a lawyer, one of the voices in my head said (sometimes in a whisper, sometimes screaming), “do something important”…I always felt that yearning, when I was lawyering, for “more”…not for money, but for those moments that make one’s spirit sing, that hold time in a transcendent almost standstill, that give one those sometimes too rare opportunity to feel the integration of all aspects of one’s life…I am blessed….

Been eating at Denny’s more than ever in my life…I feel like I’ve gained 20 pounds….maybe I have...

IT IS THE WORST OF DAYS, IT IS THE BEST OF DAYS"

As America seems to be burning before our eyes, the foundations of what so many have come to believe in melting on a daily basis, as the news reports incessantly pummel people's psyches with not only "bad news" but fear on all levels, I am having, without question, one of the greatest experiences of my life...I am feeling incredibly fortunate, and grateful, to be able to have these days on the road, to focus in on the wonder of this opportunity and to be touched each day by the passion of America's youth, their hopes and dreams and fears and concerns...and, to so many, they do not see those hopes and dreams becoming closer, and clearer, through the front windshield...they wonder if those desires and intentions are actually somehow receding somehow in the rear view mirror...what is real, they ask, and what is an illusion? Or, is it that "Objects in the rear view mirror may be closer than they appear"? Clearly, time will tell as their personal stories, their life experiences and the future of this country unfold...

It is quite extraordinary that we are here, in the heartland, right on the heels of the deluge of recent events, from the Wall Street meltdown to the end of the Presidential debates...so, for ALL of these young people, the issues are front and center and immediate and more real than they could ever have expected...life seems to be moving so fast for them. And, for me, particularly as the parent of two teenagers, it saddens me that youthful passion and exuberance and hope and spirit is, quite naturally, so tempered by what is going on in the world right now...fear has made a more than usual visit into all of their lives. And, it has occurred to us that the economic crisis in this world is surely fueling what appears to be Obama's passionate and overwhelming appeal to the youth voters...yes, we have spoken to McCain supporters, we have even sought more out...and, young people OVERWHELMINGLY appear to be committed to Obama...and, if they are telling the truth, and in deed the ones who say they are registered really are...and, if the ones who say they are voting really do (which is - literally - 100% of the students we've talked to), then this election should have an incredibly large turnout...it seems to bode well for Obama...

Someone asked me yesterday what are the things that I am most struck by, as we spend time with, and talk to, kids (kids?), this millenial generation, on the road...on campuses...in the streets...I would say that the primary thought is how incredibly thoughtful and informed most of them are...not only aware, they are deeply immersed in what is going on, so much more so than I would have thought...engaging with them spontaneously energizes me beyond words, gives me hope that we can shift the priorities of this country. Another thing that strikes me so profoundly is the focus that they have on the economic issues facing them and all of us...the Iraq War is huge, health care, etc., all play a part...and, economics - from the cost of student loans, to education expenses to their having to quite clearly pay the "price" for the bailout and the war and social security andandand is what is so present on their minds...it is the Big Kahuna, and not the Pink Elephant as everyone is talking about it...and, so touchingly, many talk about how they worry about how the economic issues affect their parents, and their parents' well-being and future...how their parents can't relax as they had hoped...and, of course, so many worried about themselves and their future EXCLUSIVELY...makes total sense......they seem to get it...

We were at Penn State last evening for Homecoming, the Parade was incredible, unlike nothing I have ever witnessed (other than the Rose Bowl Parade 20 years ago)...the school spirit, the floats, the small town love...we are back today, tailgating before the Michigan-Penn State game, the energy should be wild...

Thank you to all who have encouraged me to write about this road trip, and who have been so supportive of me doing this and the nature of the work we are all doing together...in a simple way, it does feel like we are doing "god's work", connecting deeply with kids and reinforcing the deep rotted feeling that WE all have (even if they don't) that their voices and opinions matter...that their vote counts, as much as their parents and their grandparents...they seem to get it...I have so many stories from the last few days, kids who touched me especially...I had hoped to get this up sooner, so I will keep posting as they strike me and inspire me...we had a great time in North Carolina, my compatriots on this bus are a wonderful group, we have developed a great camaraderie...I haven't spent more than a week straight with ANYONE other than my kids, in the last 10 years, so it's been very cool just experiencing multihuman dynamics....more about everyone later...

With gratitude,

Jonathan