A tribute

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A golden opportunity to express thanks

What better way to honor our seniors in their golden years than to provide them with  a better quality of life. This Friday evening, July 27, 2012, residents of Greater Lansing have a golden opportunity to give back for all they have done for us by contributing and participating in the 7th Annual Ingham County TRIAD Senior Prom.

A $25 donation allows you to partake in some of the finest dining in Mid-Michigan at the East Lansing Marriott, as well as hors d’oeuvres from Lou & Harry’s and yummy dessert items from Grand Traverse Pie Company.

The mission of the Ingham County TRIAD is:

 “A partnership among Law Enforcement Agencies, Fire Personnel, Senior Citizens (60+) and Community Members which promotes elder quality of life through advocacy, assistance, education and training.”

Furthermore, Ingham County TRIAD:

“Recognizes the dignity and worth of all senior citizens while addressing the unique needs and concerns of our aging population in a creative, sensitive and effective manner. Ingham County TRIAD pledges to maintain the trust and confidence of our elders by:

• Promoting senior safety through education and training
• Enhancing the delivery of law enforcement services to senior citizens
• Continuing collaborative efforts to meet the needs of our senior community
• Reducing criminal victimization to elder individuals
• Improving the overall quality of life for seniors.”

Sounds like a great, fun, and tasty way to assist senior citizens in the Greater Lansing community. Please consider attending the Senior Prom on July 27th or making a donation to the organization. Either way, it’s a golden opportunity to say thank you.

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The heart of “Brave”

Saw the newest Pixar movie, Brave yesterday afternoon in a theater stuffed to the rafters. While not my favorite Pixar movie of all time, it ranks up there with the best. An excellent film full of howling laughs, edge of your seat action, drama, lovely animated scenery that made me feel I was back in Scotland, and an important moral to the story -

“you must be brave enough to follow your fate.”

The best and most important aspect of the film was the two strong central characters were both women. Both Merida and her mother, the Queen are excellent characters who carry the storyline on their own. They are the heart and soul of the picture.

Most of the men in the movie are rather comical, except Merida’s father. One the three suitors for Merida even vaguely resembled a Middle Ages’ Napoleon Dynamite.

All in all, an enjoyable film that was worth every penny. One caution, small children may get frightened by some of the battle scenes, so use good judgment. Lastly, it is very nice to see Pixar back at the top of its game. Kudos on a terrific film.

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Scenes from Michigan’s vagina support rally

Here are some of my photos taken last night at the Michigan rally in support of vaginas held at the steps of the State Capitol in downtown Lansing. At least 5,000 people attended in support of Women’s Rights.

Sheroes of the day – Rep. Barbara Byrum and Rep. Lisa Brown

“Vagina Monologues” being presented

Under a beautiful June evening sky.

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Michigan vagina rally

I am currently attending the Rally for Vaginas at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing. This is easily the largest crowd I have seen at a capitol rally with at least 5,000 women and men of all ages attending.

The rally is in response to the overtly prudish and arrogant actions of the conservative, male dominated state house of representatives where the leader censured two female representatives last week. More will be posted tomorrow.

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“MIB 3″ – half a terrific movie thanks to Josh Brolin

If one could combine the terrific first half of Dark Shadows with the terrific second half of MIB 3, you would have one special film. Once MIB 3 goes back into the past (to 1969), it becomes a superb science fiction/action film. Up until that point, it is a bit of a yawner. Same jokes as MIB and MIB 2.

Enter Josh Brolin who absolutely tears it up and kick’s serious ass playing a young Agent K . He has Tommy Lee Jones voice and mannerisms down perfectly. It is almost eerie.

Will Smith is good too, especially paired with Brolin. I also really liked the character Griffin, played by Michael Stuhlbarg.

MIB 3 gets better and better as the movie rolls along. The climax and conclusion will no doubt touch your heart. I just wish they could have enlivened the first 30 minutes.

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A disturbing example of role reversal

In 2010, the Supreme Court decided in the Citizen United case that corporations are “people.” More recently, I have seen and heard references to people as something other than “people.”  I have heard “units” utilized on a television commercial for Colonial Penn Life Insurance and “giving units” at two different churches to describe people who donate to the church. While this may be accounting lingo, I find it very disturbing that corporations are being called “people” while people are being described as “units.”

This may seem innocent to some, but my concern is these subtle alterations slowly but surely dehumanize people into something other than human beings, while raising corporations up to a standard of perception that frankly, they do not deserve.  When you dehumanize people, it can be the start of a very slippery slope towards mistreating and disrespecting them. It is much easier to dispose of a “unit” than a “person.” We all know history is littered with the corpses of those poor souls who were dehumanized by their enemies.

To keep humankind from repeating some of history’s lowest moments, it is high time for all of us to re-emphasize our love and respect for ALL of humanity, whether they are our friends, family, neighbors, fellow citizens, or our enemies. Love is life’s greatest gift. It is time for each and every one of us on the planet to start behaving like we appreciate this generous blessing.

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A dose of sad sixties sitcom sexism

One of my all-time favorite television shows is the Dick Van Dyke Show. It aired in the early to mid-1960s and won many Emmy Awards. One of the reasons I like the show, aside from it being very funny, is the show was trendsetting for its day. It was one of the first television shows to include a professional working woman as a principal character - Sally Rogers who was played by Rose Marie. I also felt the lead characters had great working, family, and personal relationships.

However, last night I was watching a rerun of the Dick Van Dyke Show on Me-TV and was quite disappointed by the tenor of the episode. In the show, the young son of Rob Petrie (Dick Van Dyke) and Laura Petrie (Mary Tyler Moore) was to sing in a school play. Unfortunately for Rob, the day before the play, his boss Alan Brady (Carl Reiner) asked him to travel to Washington to hear a singer they were considering for appearing on the fictional Alan Brady Show.

The episode centered around Rob Petrie’s guilt over disappointing his boss and seeing the play or disappointing his wife and son by going to Washington. What troubled me was the fact that he accused his wife of treating him like a puppet by expecting him to always be there, meanwhile there was no similar reference to his employer treating him like a puppet by expecting him to change his plans at the drop of a hat. There was a particularly uncomfortable scene where Rob’s supervisor Mel, played by Richard Deacon, described how he had told his wife they were not going dancing one evening because he had work to do. To the show’s credit, several of the characters expressed their contempt for his actions and attitude. In a later troubling scene, Rob Petrie even had the gall to reference the old “love, honor, and obey” portion of then-common marriage vows to his wife Laura,

As the episode was concluding I was desperately hoping Rob would apologize to Laura for his actions and statements. Instead, we got a tirade of how he was in the right on an airplane full of men returning to New York City and a capitulation from his wife Laura for getting mad at him in the first place. All this despite the fact that the trip was a complete and utter waste of time because the singer had laryngitis and could not perform.

From time to time in my own career I have had to make tough decisions between family and work responsibilities. Several decades ago. it was necessary for me to tell an employer I would not agree to travel to meetings four nights a week, because I wanted to see my three sons group up and not just hear about their activities and accomplishments. By doing that, I essentially ended my career with that particular employer. In my mind, being there is part of parenthood and despite some corporate attitudes to the contrary, is light years more important than any business activity.

To a certain extent, the current vogue of setting televisions series like Mad Men and Pan Am in the 1950s and 60s, almost seems to be a tacit desire on the part of some to reestablish the sexist morals of the past.  If that is the case, I find that reason to be a disgusting premise. Who needs a whole new generation thinking and acting in such an arcane manner?

So, the Dick Van Dyke Show is no longer brightly shining atop my pedestal of television icons. That does not mean I will never watch the show again. It just means the show has fallen a couple of notches. Great entertainment and funny yes – perfect, no.

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See and discuss “The Purity Myth” on May 19th

I had an opportunity to preview the documentary, entitled The Purity Myth last night. It is a powerful film, based on the book of the same name by Jessica Valenti, which documents and critiques the ongoing war against women that is being waged primarily by conservative right-wing male zealots who see women’s rights and feminism as a threat to their puritanical interpretations and how American society should return to a patriarchal order. The film depicts and then clearly dispels the myths that are being perpetuated by both male and female right-wing politicians, religious leaders, personalities, media pundits, and educators.

Here is the trailer for the film:

A screening of The Purity Myth will be shown by the Women’s Rights Task Force of the Peace Education Center on Saturday, May 19, 2012, starting at 2:00 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greater Lansing, located at 855 Grove Road in East Lansing. A discussion will follow the film. For more information, please contact the Peace Education Center at 517-515-5634 or peaceedcenter@gmail.com.

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May 16, 2012 – A rolling tribute to cyclists’ we’ve lost

Source: Greater Lansing Ride of Silence

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