Grace

I've been listening to the Ezra Klein Show a lot lately. I listen to it as a podcast, but there's also the YouTube Channel.

I'm finding that almost every time I listen to an episode, I want to share it with someone, but it's really hard getting someone to listen to a 1-hour (plus) podcast and have them get back to you for conversation. I'm hoping maybe you (whoever you are) will listen and get in touch. At least now I am having a conversation with myself about it and also with you, even if part is in my imagination.

Today I listened to an interview with Sarah McBride, and it was GOOD. Sarah was talking about her experiences as the first trans congressperson, among other things. She was explaining how essential it was for her to act with grace.

Grace was common theme in their discussion, in politics and in conversation and discourse. As they were defining it, grace is meeting those you disagree with using empathy, curiosity, and faith in good intent. Grace is the discipline to keep a composed self-respect in the face of the ingenuine or the hateful.

As I think about it, grace comes from our internal self-identity, not from the surface. If grace isn't used with a strong sense of self, it comes across in other ways; condescendence, fear, submission, or despair.

Grace is a word that I never used, yet I know now think of it as a major part of my best self. It is the way of a good bartender and of a good architect. Jobs where you have to assume the best of who you're working with; look for the good intent.

I (still) believe that all people want to do good. We all tell ourselves how we do good for those around us. We all ultimately draw a line between the people we do good for and those we don't, but we don't all feel the same way about drawing or recognizing that line.

I think I believe that all people understand the reason for grace. If two strangers were isolated in a room together, they would look for common ground in their conversation. They wouldn't want to separate themselves from the only person they were with. Grace is the willingness to look for the commonality in another person; to assume it's there.

By contrast social media interactions don't provide room for grace. Grace gets little up/down reaction on social media and thus is invisible there. You can't convince someone who disagrees with you that you have a lot in common if you focus on what is not in common. 

Jumping back to the real world, if you don't feel like you have anything in common with someone you can't work together on things you both care about. This can be further extrapolated...

I'm officially old. The first posts on this blog predate most modern social media. Maybe that's why I enjoyed Ezra and Sarah's conversation. 

MAST, the ZOOM Bus, and LD 673

I've been working with other members of MAST to promote LD 673, submitted by Representative Bradley Moulton of the York, Maine area. This bill would offer a significant improvement to the regional transportation infrastructure of Southern Maine.

In a nutshell, this bill would: (click here to read the bill)

• Expand the existing ZOOM Bus route to go from York, to Augusta.
• Require the MTA to turn over 3% of  its operating revenue for use on non-turnpike Maine roads.
• Fund the installation of wifi on all ZOOM buses to encourage transit use as a more productive way to travel.

I made this poster to be used to promote the bill:

You can download the poster here.







Some thoughts from others on LD 673:

• Tux Terkel of the Portland Press Herald wrote this on the proposal.
• Christian Milneil wrote this great op.ed. on the subject
• The Conservation Law Foundation has posted this blog on the proposal.

Please consider telling your Maine legislator to support this bill!

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A Mayor for Portland!

Next year, Portland will have an elected mayor for the first time in eighty years. The Mayor will be granted limited political powers allowing him or her to lead and organize the City Council,  hire the City Manager, veto the municipal budget, and represent the city to the world beyond.

While the new Mayor will certainly face the serious logistical challenges of educating our children, maintaining services, and balancing the budget, the Mayor must also be expected to be kind of person who can bring Portland forward.

The “first” Mayor of Portland should be a person with the optimism to inspire pride and motivation within the city, the charisma to sell Portland’s image to vacationers and prospective businesses, and the dexterity to negotiate stronger regional agreements between the municipalities of Greater Portland.

The way in which the new Mayor performs his or her duties will set a precedent for how a mayor in Portland should act and what a mayor’s responsibilities will be for decades to come. The “first” elected mayor of Portland should look beyond written policy to provide an atmosphere of collaboration and consider these suggestions:

- Thank local organizations. Portland is a diverse city and will benefit from the continued diversity of services. The new Mayor should be prepared to work with, promote, and support local non-profits already providing civic services that the city does not have to supply.

- Enable local businesses. The movement to keep business local is strong, but survival for a small business in Portland is always precarious. The new Mayor must review city procedures to ensure that permitting and licensing processes are prompt and predictable for all business ventures.

- Support local farmers. The farmers’ markets in Portland have been very successful. The new Mayor will need to be part of a regional dialogue about land use to ensure that local food and natural resources are both available for years to come.

- Praise local artists. Portland will continue to be a vacation destination, and the presence of street art vendors, galleries, and an artistic culture create the kind of excitement that tourists expect. A strong relationship between the city and all artists will help Portland continue to be a tourist destination.

- Encourage local music venues and musicians. Portland is a hotbed for original music and musical performance, but has the venue infrastructure of a much larger city. The new Mayor should consider ways to create events or festivals that would bring new attention to Portland as a musical destination.

- Recognize Portland’s residents. Portland rests on the shoulders of its residents who choose to live here. A mayor for Portland must be a community organizer who will encourage neighborhood, community and city-wide events such as clean-up days, crime watch meetings, and neighborhood meet-and-greets.

The “first” elected Mayor of Portland must have the discipline to handle the daily challenges of running the city, but must also recognize that Portland is a city of willpower that continues to thrive because it is something to believe in.

Election Fall-out

I would like to draw attention to a previous post of mine:
http://evancarroll.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-will-i-think-of-next.html

I think of our government system as on a continuum of evolution. It will either flourish, or become extinct.

Our national government is really quite young and there is no reason that it won't become extinct. Monarchies have lasted much longer. Dictatorships have lasted much longer. Smaller, social governing or self ruling methods of indigenous peoples have lasted the longest.

The reason we like (the U.S. of) America is because of its aspirations. It's an amazing concept. . . give every person the same chance at life, liberty and happiness. The question of course is how to deliver on this promise. . .

I am officially fed up with the crucifixion of the incumbent. . . unless of course you see the two major parties collectively as the incumbent. If you see it that way then I'm with you. . . let's get out our torches and pitchforks!

It's becoming more and more obvious that we are in a bi-partisan stagnation. Whatever happens in elections two years from now will surely be reversed in four years.

(This has officially been a rant.)All that I am trying to say is that unless we find a way to alter the two party system then I'm not going to expect much.

Right now instant-runoff voting sounds pretty good to me. It would allow people to vote for their favorite candidate without concern for political strategy. Americans have become too political. Politics - literally - are about maneuvering and manipulating, and that is simply not a positive way of thinking about things.

That is my stance: I'm not interested in politics; i'm interested in DOING things. I (perhaps naively) think that a country could be run this way. Give me my instant-runoff voting, and let us all vote for what we believe in.

Narratives

I recently heard on NPR a theory that all we are (our identity) is a narrative. We are a story, that we have created about ourselves. I can see how this might feel like a negative concept. It can seem scary to be nothing more that a story you tell yourself over and over again. I think I am inspired by the idea though. It would suggest that I am in complete control of myself and what I aspire to be.

I think the idea of the "story" can explain all our constructs. When we learn history in school we are really learning the narrative of time that we tell ourselves as a society and that we feel best explains our society.

The reason we can understand abstract concepts like LOVE is because we connect a whole life's catalog of experiences, memories and feelings to the word. We create very complex narratives to explain all sorts of things in our lives and then somehow, we condense them into this gut feeling or image or moment that can be recalled almost instantaneously. That instantaneous recollection becomes meaning, but it's really just a super condensed narrative.

Why am I thinking about all of this at 2:30 in the morning? Well it has something to do with how I don't seem to have the stomach for politics. I think that for me at least, the pace of politics, policy, and advocacy etc. is faster than I can form meaningful stories to justify my involvement.

I am beginning to think for me to satisfy my desire to make the world a better place I should create and export my own narratives. Choosing this path would couple well with my naive optimism that most people out there are just trying to do the best that they can with the information that they have. It would then follow that if I could create a narrative about an issue that was important to me, say as a video or slide-show, I could then help others understand how it was important.

The aspiration to teach and communicate, condense and reformulate, and shape concepts into a pearl of meaning has been a passion of mine for quite some time. But it has not been part of my identity lately.

How do we make our mark on the world? In my personal narrative I will be making a mark somehow, and I just keep rewriting the details.

I guess I'm liberal

Over the last month I have accumulated a few things that I thought were cool and interesting. There is no hiding my leanings though. the things I will show here are as follows:
-Really cool art about American consumerism.
-The Barack Obama speech on race in America.
-The feature from PBS's Frontline called "Bush's War."

The art:
http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=7
When my mom sent me this link i just thought these pieces were fantastic. I would love for this artist to come to Portland, so that I could stand next to them and look at them. I think that is were they really become art. . . when you experience the scale for yourself. . . theoretically. . . seeing as I haven't.

The Speech :
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88478467
I am already an Obama supporter, but I really feel this was a great speech! I appreciate that Obama doesn't answer complicated questions with simple answers. I worry that much of America is not as impressed with this approach as I am, but I am happy to feel like I don't have to compromise on finding a candidate I like. I really feel that Obama is the right guy.

The Program:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/bushswar/
This program on the Iraq War is well done. It actually had me dreaming about Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld. Not pleasant, but it says a lot about the influence it had on me. I have not even finished watching it.

I hope any or all of you get something from these links. They really stand out from other things I've seen in the last few months.

What about Barack?

I'm going to re-establish the use of my once famous site, "Truth Crusader." I have a new issue to discuss, because I'm looking to get involved. I want to know what people know and think about Barack Obama. Please check-out what I have to say, make your own comments, and read the comments of others HERE.

Westbrook Metro

I've got another thing to be excited about. (I use "excited" in a way only I could use it.) I went to a meeting today about making changes to the schedule of the bus (#4) that I ride every day. I got to talk to some cool bus-supporting, bus-riding people, and of course give some input. And I came out of it with a job that needs doing: I need to convince Westbrook city councilors to spend just a little more money on the Metro than they do already. I hear that convincing people to spend is not always easy. . . perfect! Sounds like fun.

Metro Website

Humanism

That's right. . . humanism. Toph informed me awhile ago that I was probably a humanist. He sent me this link:
http://www.iheu.org/adamdecl.htm
I have to say I basically agree with most of it. One thing that annoys me though: the site capitalizes "humanism." Enough said. It is a creed, and that annoys me, even if I agree with it. I have yet to read the Wikipedia article on it.

Planning Board Ward 3, Westbrook, Maine

Hello everyone. I put this page here to allow people in Westbrook to post comments about Planning Board matters.
-Please realize that there is a good chance that I will have to disclose any comments made here to the Planning Board at the next meeting.

At this time I am not sure what to use this for, but I figured it would be a good idea to have this here for later use. It would allow people to leave comments that others could read publicly.

Many, Many Things

I have many things to note and talk about, and even though this is always true, what is different about today is that I am doing it. Yes, there is a reason:
During my lunch break today I went to One City Center in Portland and joined a crowd of people who supported Net Neutrality. We listened to three speakers and then delivered a petition of over 4000 signatures to Olympia Snowe's office. The whole this was quite interesting to me despite the fact that I don't really know how to "keep the network neutral." I certainly fear an internet where some people get more exposure to their sites by paying a price, while others get very little. I don't like the idea of that at all. That said I have no idea what the solution would be and how it would be legislated etc. If you have any doubts on the complexity of the issue there is tons of stuff on wikipedia.
Like I said though, the event was very interesting. I met a number of very active and motivated people, including Eli Pariser, the head person for moveon.org. Eli has recently moved to Portland! (of all places) and is 25 years old. Needless to say, I am at least a little inspired by him and what he has done.

In other news, I have in general been trying to switch gears this week. For the last 18 years of my life I would see this as a time to return to self-enriching endeavors, and I figure I can still try to use that model. Specifically this means that I am now reading the Land Use Ordinances of the City of Westbrook and I will be at my first Westbrook Planning Board meeting next Tuesday the 5th. I discovered in downloading documents from Westbrook that Michael Foley is a Councilor at Large! He is the little brother of a friend of mine! At least I will have one person to talk to if I start going to council meetings too.
Here is the link to the zoning map. . . why? Because for some reason I could look at that thing for hours. . . you might not get that pleasure though if you don't live in Westbrook.

I am adding a bunch of links to the MISC par of my site, so I'll just cue people into them now:
Another friend with a site: myninjaplease
More funny stuff!
Another good site: Portland Buy Local

I think that is it for this entry. . . good!