9.30.10

9.29.10 – Yum

9.28.10

9.27.10 – Longing for travel

9.26.10

9.25.10 – Fall Arrivals

9.24.10

9.23.10

9.22.10

9.21.10 – Taking it all back

Recently I saw a bumper sticker that said, Taking Back the Country. At first I was a bit confused about what that was about until I noticed all the Republican candidate stickers sharing space on the oversized SUV. Paul Krugman in the New York Times recently wrote about "the Angry Rich." Just before I began this blog entry, I received an email from Bold Progressives, quoting Senator Mitch McConnell, who is unfortunately my senator, that millionaires and those making a yearly income of $250,000 or more are the ones "who've been hit hardest by this recession." Gosh, let me cry a river for them.

I worked for a long time as a non-profit fundraiser and had to hear "the rich man's plight" many a time. I knew one donor who constantly complained about the cost of upkeep for his 10,000 rose bushes. By the end of my tenure, I was at the point of telling him to pull them out if they're too expensive.

Everyday I see more and more people on the street begging for money and standing in line outside churches for food. I just can't understand how a person in this country -- their country -- can be so isolated to what's happening, and so callous. If you're already a billionaire, or even a millionaire, can you really not afford to pay an additional 1-2% in taxes? Can't you do what the rest of us are doing and put off buying a private island until next year?

9.20.10

9.19.10

9.18.10

9.17.10

9.16.10 – Getting back on track

9.15.10 – Purple Haze

9.14.10 – Lead or follow

If you have at least the smallest amount of consciousness and humanity, and watch the news or read the papers these days, you can't help but be depressed. It seems as if we've finally gotten ourselves in such a mess that no one will be able to get us out. Some of the documentaries I've been watching haven't helped change this mindset, until this evening.

I watched Fuel, which started out, as you'd expect, a bit depressing by focusing on all the contamination of Louisiana over the years from oil production and then continuing with the Iraq war. Yet even with all that horrible news, including all the brouhaha over ethanol and biofuels not being what they're cracked out to be (as if petroleum is?!!??), the filmed ended with a great feeling of positive belief that we can crack this problem. I'm suddenly wondering if I should trade in my Honda for a diesel car.

I think the most important line for me in the film, was Gandhi's quote: "If the people lead, the leaders will follow." It's pretty obvious the oil companies, the auto industry, and government are not going to do the right thing because it's the right thing; they're going to do it because the people make them do it.

9.13.10

9.12.10 – Raw food diet or pizza?

Decisions, decisions, decisions...

9.11.10 – Something's burning

I know that living in a so-called democracy means having to put up with a lot of stupid people saying and doing a lot of stupid things. When it causes other people in the world to hate us more or think we're all isolationist idiots, it makes me wonder what our founding fathers would think.

9.10.10 – Inflammation

9.9.10

9.8.10 – 365

This is the 365th blog/film I've made. I'm a bit amazed that I didn't miss one day since I began on September 9, 2009 with this project. It was tempting on more than one occasion, but knowing I needed to make a film each day also kept me from dwelling too much on things that aren't helpful.

I would have liked to have created a spectacle for this special number, but my energy is a bit low presently. It also seemed to make sense to revisit the beginning. I still wish that life was like an editing bay – being able to quickly and easily cut out parts that I don't like or are boring, and being able to enhance other areas with the click of a mouse. Ahh…if only.

9.7.10

9.6.10

9.5.10 – Fireworks

Tomorrow is Labor Day here in America (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_day) and in my part of the country fireworks are held the evening before. I live right in the path of the fireworks, in fact this video was shot looking out my bedroom window. This is both good and bad, as I have a front row seat to the show, but over the years I've discovered, due to traffic and street closures, I can't go anywhere on fireworks day (at least not if I want to come home before morning). Still, at least I didn't have to drive round and round and be yelled at by parking attendants that the lots were full.

9.4.10 – Waving the flag

It gets more and more irritating and just plain sad to watch what's done by people in this country claiming these things are being done to protect our freedom and way of life. Those same people always wear flag pins and proclaim themselves proud Americans, but what they do usually makes me ashamed. I remember being in Denmark not long after the Iraq war began and being so relieved when I was mistaken for being British, even though Tony Blair certainly played his role in the war. I had such great hopes that when Barack Obama took office things would be completely different (a state of the union address claiming that the combat in Iraq is ended doesn't change the fact that our soldiers are still there). It was a wishful dream. Maybe something good really will happen in the next two years. I'll keep on wishing.

9.3.10

9.2.10

9.1.10 – Self portrait