March 9, 2010
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The Daily News
1 Poring over a wonderful book called A Box of Rain by the venerable poet Robert Hunter.2 Hunter is the lyricist for The Grateful Dead, but he is also a well respected poet in his own right.
3 Here's a taste, from the loving song, Franklin's Tower:
In Franklin's Tower the four winds sleep
Like four lean hounds the lighthouse keep
Wildflower seed in the sand and wind
May the four winds blow you home again...
4 Love the lyrics, and in fact I have a beautiful poster hanging in my garage that has the four winds line beneath a lithograph of Jerry Garcia.
5 Ahh, is there anything better than beautiful words borne of a flight of air in the mind of a cosmic thinker?6 Goin' deep.
7 In this age of ridiculousness, sweet words and kind thoughts tend to rule the day.
8 And I like it that way. The litho says May the four winds blow you home again.
9 Easy wind, my goodly friends, all the way.
10 Lovin' the rain.
11 Lovin' the intelligence.
12 What more is there, when it all clears up?
13 I hear laughter and good times all around me.
14 That's the spirit!
15 Sometimes, amid all our glorious screw-ups, it is nice to see words that we can hug and nurture.
16 Hope you're enjoying these wonderful days.
17 Moving on, Part the First: the first few cuts in education landed at 10:30 yesterday morning.
18 Once again, I found myself talking with incredibly talented people who were getting pink slips.
19 I don't mean to sound like a radical, or even a beastly saint. I DO wish to ask everyone to join the cause of saving our schools.
20 Yes, many protesters blocked traffic and seemed obnoxious.
21 But the reality is that public education is slipping, and affordable college disappearing. Opportunities are diminishing, and society will pay the price.
22 To me, it is an outrage.
23 For example, I found out yesterday that the Activities Directors are being pretty much de-commissioned in our district.
24 As everyone moves on and looks the other way, I see students who ordinarily would have been involved in so many good causes, clubs, and entire worlds suddenly looking at NO activities, no after-school drama programs, or poetry programs, or chess programs, and on and on. Sports won't be too far behind. Then what?
25 Entire worlds are collapsing, as well as truly inspiring people, people like you and me, disappearing from the lives and memories of literally millions of students.
26 The fight to keep education alive and respected as a beacon of where we are headed as a society is vanishing at an alarming rate. The schools are not making this stuff up.
27 I won't stay long on this; I'll just ask that we ALL take a good look at schools without the essentials trying to keep our country not only intelligent and questioning, but affordable and inspiring.
28 The time to think about it is over.
29 The time to become awake and militant is on the horizon.
30 I'm ready to fight for the future of America.
31 The racist and ridiculous policies that are eliminating all thought and consciousness need to cease, and we need to focus fully on the importance of education in all walks of life.
32 Moving on, Part the Second: Okay, so I'm now off my soapbox.
33 I'm actually having a wonderful night, where everything seems to be falling into place.
34 So please don't trip that I'm using the DN to promote support for education.
35 It is time for everybody who has kids, or even who doesn't, to rise up and scream about this.
37 Well, thank you so much for abiding my thoughts. Take it to your friends, families, and your children. It is a HUGE issue, and needs to be louder and more directly in front of the American people, and particularly the people of California.
38 I'm happy to join the cause, and to speak for the cause.
39 Save our schools. Save our children's future.
40 I love you all, everything.
41 Peace.
~H~
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