For hope burns bright!
“All… will be well.” It’s a phrase that has its roots in various cultures and religions. However this phrase became part of my daily mantra when Saint Walker of the Blue Lanterns first appeared in Green Lantern VOL 4. #25 in 2007, as part of the Final Crisis: Rage of the Red Lanterns first issue.
And although it sounds a bit hokey or artificial, it’s a phrase that inspires me to see the best in humanity and appreciate the daily blessings in my life. Sure it’s a comic book if you want to be a chump about it, but it provides a narrative for how to react to problems. To put it another way, yes it will get better and you are not alone.
Family
So what exactly am I talking about? Like the Blue Lantern that is fueled by hope, they’re power was to charge the ring of the Green Lantern, going as far as to double its power and never leave the side of the Green Lanterns (fueled by will, in relation to the emotional spectrum). In a similar manner this is what family does. Do we always agree with each other? If you are anything like my family, the answer is no. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have your back and listen to you respectfully.
For me I’m blessed to have a wife that supports my ideas, who willing and logically talks me through my illogical points of view, and corrects me (never in public) when my comments stray from my core values. More importantly we are partners in every sense of the word. Whether it’s making breakfast together, picking up the kids from daycare, to offering a shoulder to cry on because she feels inadequate as a mom due to a lack of breast milk production, we hold one another up when times are tough. A marriage or partnership is huge and can make a world of difference in those hard times.
This also extends to children. I’m lucky because my kids are small and every moment is a wondrous experience that I can miss if I’m not paying close enough attention. As a young family there is joy in dropping my daughter off at the bus each morning and watching her waves as she gets on the bus, and blowing kisses to me from the window until the bus drives away.
And like his sister my five-month old son has a smile and laugh that can make any person smile. Every time my son looks at me it’s as if whatever I went through that day is out the window. Perhaps I’m a bit biased in that remark but it’s safe to say that most parents feel the same way about their kids.
Giving of yourself
All of this reminds me of something that my father used to say. I was six when I asked my father “Dad, how come you never hang out with your friends?” He replied, “Mejo (son in Spanish) I hang out with my best friends all day. All my free time is spent with your mom, your brother, sister and you. You guys are the only friends I need.”
At the time I thought my dad was being cute but now I get what he was telling me. As a parent you give of yourself to your kids, your partner and in turn they give back to you. Sometimes it’s a smile, a hug. Other times it’s a comment like “Daddy, you’re not fat, I love you just the way you are.” Either way it’s a relationship that is cyclical (until kids become teens and things become symbiotic). Either way these comments are a reflection of my investment in my children, which is illustrated back to me on a daily basis. Am I a perfect person or father? Absolutely not. I too sometimes forget to sign a form for school or don’t feel like watching Zootopia for a third time or making dinner for that matter.
However the take away is this, I’m happy to have parents that instilled these values that were used to cultivate successful people in this world. And because of the investment my parents took upon my siblings and I, this then extends to my family e.g., my kids. Yet I still find myself going back and seeking their wisdom (my parents) on a number of matters to this day. That’s because their life experiences contain wisdom that they bring to any situation I may be going through. By doing so they provide a lens and often a solution that I may not have considered when looking at the problem. Most importantly my parents have always stressed that I am not alone and by this I refer to my faith.
Faith
At its core faith is the complete confidence or trust in someone or something. Whether it’s a concept or deity it really doesn’t matter because it should be personal to you and your walk. The element of trust, especially in human beings is one that is earned. Usually by experiences or the old adage “seeing, is believing.” For me it is my God. And while I personalize my maker it is because God has shown himself to be real in my life.
While I could demonstrate countless stories where divine intervention has come to my aid, or my family’s (sometimes following prayer but not immediately) there’s really no need. That’s because I would never want to impress my beliefs upon others. That is the fundamental love of respecting and loving my neighbor as a Christian. I don’t have to ridicule others, nor criticize their beliefs because ultimately who am I to judge? All of us have things we’re not proud of.
What then is the role that faith plays in all our lives? It is this, that we are not we are not alone. That when needed most, we can pull that power from within ourselves because our maker has been divine enough to instill that property within us. Why?
Namely we are most effective when we are with others of a like mind rather than being on our own. We are at are best when we have partners, colleagues, mentors, even man’s best friend for some (Tony Vaupel) offers a glimpse in the grand design of life. Despite what some may state is contrary to my statement and their ability to achieve the things they wanted, they never did so on their own.
In 1997 Fred Rogers accepted a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Emmy’s for his work in Public Broadcasting on the Mister Rogers Show. In his acceptance speech Rogers asked for ten seconds of silence,
“To think of the people who have helped you become who you are. Those who have cared about you, and wanted what was best for you in life.”
In that moment among stars, media and other of influential people, Rogers reminded us all, that others carried us on our individual journeys through life. More importantly he shared that it took a village to build the person we see in the mirror each day. To put it differently faith played an integral part in shaping you to your full capacity.
Always Hope
Without a doubt this has not been an easy week to look back on. With protests in the country, an election looming, and overall divisive issues plaguing our world and communities, this week in the news has been tumultuous. And I for one don’t need to rehash those stories to get a few extra links to my webpage. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with the number of bills you have, the comments made by the pundits but it is so much sweeter to take in the joys of this world too. I’m not saying to ignore your responsibilities or even your opinions, but maybe a little more hope can change fractious landscape of our world.
While Saint Walker demonstrated to Hal Jordan and the Green Lanterns that he would be there for them until his dying breath, Lord Tennyson reminds us that all will be well in another way. In his poem, “The Larger Hope,” Tennyson writes:
I can but trust that good shall fall
At last – far off – at last to all
And every winter change to spring.
I Can’t Drive 55…, Anytime Soon
On Tuesday the Department of Transportation set out guidelines in a 122-page document that paves the way for self-driving cars to become a reality.
What was once a science fiction fantasy, is becoming closer to everyday commonplace. And as worrisome as that may be for some luddites, a collaborative effort among government, car makers and tech companies will ensure the transition from current transportation standards, towards tomorrow.
According to the L.A. Times the government has a 15-point checklist auto makers will have to abide by.
Pomp and Circumstance
Earlier this month Uber rolled out its small but initial test of self-driving cars in Pittsburgh, PA. Although there were issues (e.g., right-turns, reaction to obstacles in the road) that still need to be worked out, the company plans to roll out the self-driving cars in its Pittsburgh fleet to the public before the end of the year.
As a precaution the company requires a live driver on board in order to adjust to potential problems. Perhaps it’s a way to err on the side of caution but critics see it as a way of not being totally ready.
Despite the Department of Transportation’s guidelines, individual states ultimately structure how those guidelines fit into the lives of their citizens. California is looking to self-driving cars but only with a chaperone on board.
According to the Los Angeles Daily News this is sort of like being handed the keys to the kingdom but being locked inside.
More critics remain among drivers over 50 which I have spoken with. Reasons range from a loss of driving freedom and personal control, to simply trusting machines.
Hopefully millennial drivers will be shape the self-driving car efforts by being early adopters. Something tech companies generally take notice of. Read the rest of this entry
FEELING THE BERN
This morning you were either really pissed or confused if you were a Bernie Sanders supporter. It’s understandable. But you’re not alone.
Supporters of Howard Dean felt the same way after his infamous scream following the Iowa caucus in 2004. While Michael Dukakis supporters felt equally confused in 1988, when the Democratic candidate admitted that he would “not support the death penalty” even if his wife was raped and murdered. However instead of millennials being angry with the system they need to assess the situation for what it is.
Bernie Sanders is an erudite speaker who brought real issues to the table that deserve real discussion. That’s why he’s meeting with President Obama tomorrow. The question remains how both Sanders and Clinton will unify their party. It’s the only option they have available if they plan to overcome the populism of Donald Trump. His rise is nothing short of modern-day demagoguery, demonstrating that the Edward Bernays methodology of ‘engineering consent’ is alive and well. After all it’s not the media that’s the problem–it’s the marketing firms and public relations companies feeding the public message.
Tomorrow Bernie Sanders will have the table with the POTUS. Hopefully he’ll find a way to balance the support of his supporters, while working towards unifying his party. So instead of feeling butt-hurt about the process being rigged, it’s time to sit down and talk it out. Only then can progressives find a way for every day folks to “take the power back.”
A grateful father
Father’s day is not as valued as Mother’s day. It’s a fact. Chris Rock expressed the contrast ardently pointing out that “No one says, hey thanks Dad for paying the light bill so I can do my homework”.
Maybe that’s because fathers are expected to pull the weight, working 40-60 hours a week without complaint. And if you happen to be a father that is a stay at home dad, or are a solo provider for your child then society looks at you as a “loser,” and your child as a risk.
It is a stereotype which has been prevalent for decades. Yet, organizations like Daddyshome Inc., is working to change that perception. This is not to take away from mothers or single and solo moms who have traditionally had to overcome single-parent stigmas and fallout. The organization’s mission statement credits “men, who change diapers, change the world”.
However, Daddyshome Inc., is a lot more than an organization for stay-at-home dad’s to exchange recipes and plan play dates. They highlight a paradigm shift in the culture of single-parenthood. In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the number of dead-beat-moms who were delinquent on their payments had jumped to 46-percent.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau men make some or all of their financial obligations 77-percent of the time while women make full or partial payments 75-percent of the time. So each gender is on par with one another while women head the pack south. In the past, I never would have considered this topic because like so many I assumed it was the fathers who failed to meet their financial obligations. That was until it happened to me.
I happen to be part of the 15-percent of men who have sole custody of their child. Despite being awarded financial support by the judge my daughter will most likely never see a dime. And even though I left my career as a journalist to raise my daughter it qualifies as the second best thing that has ever happened to me. The first of course being the day she was born… which providentially fell on father’s day.
It has been nothing short of sheer bliss being there when she did her first potty in the training seat or hearing her first full sentence. The delight of discovering her taste palate change from the bottles to solid food and hearing a “yum, daddy,” has been more fun and messy than I would have ever imagined. And it is the astonishment that her vocabulary has grown from 50 words to 200 in less than a year.
Most of all it is the admiration and elation I have for my toddler who understands the importance of being responsible for her own actions. When she makes a mess, she tells me “I clean it up,” and scurries for the broom and dust pan or follows me to the laundry room because she wants to help me with starting the washing machine. Many times she makes a mess, but it’s the thought that counts. And she is polite too. Often she uses “thank you, please, excuse me,” when she feels it apropos to the situation.
I may have gone through hell with the life and custody battle I had with her mother. While the judge assigned to the case: overlooks her outbursts and tirades in court, seems to look the other way when she does not follow court orders, then praises my ex for how she looks despite her carrying-out a rash of crimes, failing a number of drug tests, hiding the facts from the court and being dropped from a supervised parenting location I get to experience fatherhood from every angle. Literally, I could write a book and a blockbuster movie treatment to what I have gone through and continue to go through with my ex.
Do I wish that her mother would get her act together? You bet. But I am not the only father in this situation. I even wish that her maternal grandmother would work with me and be part of her granddaughter’s life. Instead she expects me to stick my toddler daughter on a plane and send her out to the Midwest for two weeks every 90-days and follow-up with just a phone call.
Sure it can be hell with externalities like these which obviously do not make the situation easy. There are some days that I am totally wiped out. But the reward comes when my little princess shows me that I can be the father I always wanted to be. And I am grateful of course for the accolades from complete strangers who see firsthand how my little girl has become a little lady.
Rookie mistakes and veteran jabs.
Earlier this week I was watching the local CBS affiliate, KPHO 5 PM newscast. The overall image seemed stacked wrong and there was more national news rather than local. Many affiliates do this in order to fill up multiple back-to-back newscasts or if they are really lazy they will simply rehash the same news in the second half hour.
Some General Managers think this is a proven formula for success but in reality it insults viewers who are turning away in droves thanks to the volatility of the broadcast television. Additionally it exemplifies the lack of integrity and honesty in some broadcast news stations today.
However, the most unnerving thing to watch was a rookie producer mistake which included a phone number for an organization on a CG name key rather than a separate fullscreen graphic. Difficult to watch but it happens to all newbies. What made it worse was the anchorman’s comment about “all this technology and we still can’t make it easier for the viewers.”
Granted it was the fault of the producer but viewers at home most likely didn’t want that number anyway. Further, it was more of a dig on the producer for screwing up. If the anchor wanted to be a little more on top of his game he would of realized that the unemployment claims story they ran lacked a complete picture. Although they provided a positive outlook for the month of december the real outlook was much more murky.
The story they ran was so out of the park that it was insulting to the viewer but most of all lacked the integrity of “telling it like it is.” In the future when a rook makes a mistake it is up to the vets to cushion the blow but also to guide those individuals to moving beyond the mistake. I really don’t think the anchor did it intentionally but it really brings to light a situation that could have just moved with the next story.
Visiting Families and the Holidays
For most, the holidays are a time to come together and enjoy the company for friends, relatives and loved ones. However, there seems to be a lack of social etiquette on the part of the visiting children and their parent’s lack of managing their own kids.
Over this holiday this family came over. A single mother with three kids. The oldest was a 14 year-old girl (acting parental figure), the next was a 7 year-old girl and a 5 year-old boy. I have met all the children before and each seemed fine, however on this occasion the boy upon 20 minutes of being in the house began to play with my 18 month old daughter’s toys. I didn’t see a problem until he began jumping on her toddler cars which he was much to big for. I told the boy nicely “I think you are too big for those” but he continued to ignore me. Then he began stuffing items into the seat of the car and when it wouldn’t close was about to kick it shut. This prompted me to tell the boy “Okay, now you need to get off because you are going to break it.”
It was at this point that the 14 year-old got upset with me and was defensive of her brother placing me in a “Larry David” situation. Meanwhile the mother kept yakking away with the rest of the fam ignoring the situation.
Why should I feel like I did something wrong? When I go to someone’s house I watch my kid. I don’t let her wander into rooms or take toys from corners without asking. Is she perfect, “no.” But I do this because this is what my parents taught me. The whole time though I was having flashbacks to when I was a kid and visiting kids from church which I didn’t know or want to know came over to my house and raided my toy surplus, wrecked my stuff, stole little weapons for my action figures and my mother just told me to “let it go because they are less fortunate.”
Now as an adult I won’t stand for it and personally I hate being the one to say “no, don’t touch,” but if you come to my house and can’t control your kids well then… it can’t be helped.
Merry Christmas
2012 Election on the horizon and nothing to say…
Watching and reading the news for the past two weeks, I slowly began to realize that often the media has little to say about the candidates in the upcoming 2012 election than the candidates themselves.
As one editorialist so succinctly put it by saying”Little brings this into sharper focus than the modern, protracted presidential campaign, where the media strain to fill an entire year with newsworthy observations.” S.E. Cupp.
In two days I have read two stories about Campaign 2012 and yet they revealed absolutely nothing. Simply new b-roll and a new quote packaged in yesterday’s minute and thirty seconds.
Meanwhile as Stephen Colbert put it this evening, “Won’t you help Sarah Palin learn basic facts about American history for just pennies a day?”
And while we can make the case for Tim Pawlenty or even Mitt Romney as serious viable candidates with an agenda, the truth is that image has taken precedence over substance. Not neccessarily a new relevation but the veil which used to hide the man behind the curtain is no longer necessary. 
But wait there’s more… what makes this run special is that Bachmann has been given the go ahead by God, which I can relate to. However, I not really certain how that statment makes for political gains – (see Pat Robertson). And yet even though she did make this statement in the 99 counties of Iowa and the fact that she is from Waterloo, gives her words more resonance. But how long will it last and will she be able to connect with the rest of the country?
Each week when I go home I pass two billboards one, of President George W. Bush which read’s “Miss Me Yet,” and another of Ronald Reagan which reads “Remember real hope and change?” 
Despite either of these two leader’s faults (and yes they had them) I do recall that these men had substance, something to say and a definitve plan for this country.
We can only hope that these two ladies don’t become freenemies like McCain and Bush after their politcal endeavors ended.
Ames businesses rebuild after floods.
Two weeks ago 57 counties were flooded after days of heavy rain. In Ames the clean-up continues for many small businesses, but some may never recover. Roland Maldonado reports.
Ames businesses rebuild after floods.
On August 11th many in Ames woke up to find their homes and businesses flooded from heavy rainfall.
Near the Squaw Creek, flood plain waters reached more than 18 inches damaging many restaurants and retail shops along South Duff Avenue.
Iowa Socialist Party…on the ballot.
Iowa’s Socialist Workers Party has four candidates on November’s election ballot. David Rosenfeld the party’s gubernatorial candidate is a tire factory worker who ran for the Des Moines city council in 2009.
From left to right, Lt. governor candidate Helen Meyers, gubernatorial candidate David Rosenfeld and Ag. Secretary candidate, Margaret Trowe.
Helen Meyers an industrial worker is Rosenfeld’s running mate. She says Iowa needs to focus more on the needs of its workers.
Meyers says “Iowa legislators need to be building some of the facilities that we need as opposed to laying off teachers throughout the state and as opposed to closing many of the recreational facilities or shortening the hours of facilities in this state. The social services need to be expanded”.
Margaret Trowe is the party’s candidate for secretary of agriculture. Rebecca Williamson will run in Iowa’s 3rd congressional district against democratic incumbent Leonard Boswell and Republican challenger Brad Zaun.
Rosenfeld says his party may be short of funds but they’re taking their message around Iowa on a grassroots campaign.
Auto Dealer Legistlation
The Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office oversees
West Des Moines Dealer Fleets.
complaints about auto dealers. In the last three years it took in almost 1000 complaints. 28 percent involve consumer credit issues. This left consumer advocates and dealers at odds over the exclusion of car dealers from the new Federal Consumer Protection Law.
Roland Maldonado 