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Why I’m voting for Obama

September 10, 2008 – 1:54 pm

The ethical and strategic leader of the Obama campaign is Barack Obama. His message of hope and honesty is clear.

The ethical and strategic leaders of the McCain campaign are Karl Rove’s people. They write negative and fear-based speeches. They selected his vice president. They perpetuate same kind of lies that got us into the war in Iraq and that support corporate shenanigans in every part of our economy.

How cynical and desperate of John McCain to so profoundly compromise himself by hiring the very people he condemned a year ago and beat him in the last campaign.

We can not let these people prevail again.

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Why the presidential campaign is heartbreaking

September 9, 2008 – 7:13 pm

The country is polarized, neighbors are polarized, and entire families are polarized.

My friend spoke to her father in southern Indiana. He said that he’s undecided but he can’t talk with anyone about politics because it causes trouble. She wrote a letter to her father about why she is voting for Obama. Her sister wrote a long, furious letter back supporting McCain/Palin and attacking my friend.

Last week my mother told me that she’s voting for McCain because of Sarah Palin. She also added that Obama doesn’t know anything.

I lost it. How could my own mother be so ignorant? Even if you disagree with him on the issues, you have to acknowledge Obama’s intelligence and knowledge!

But then I settled down. My mom can’t relate to the Harvard Law Review or how community organizing plays out as a national movement or an African American man’s life in Hawaii, Chicago, and Washington. As a white, small town mother of five, my mother understands Sarah Palin.

I understand Barack Obama. I have been a community organizer. I live in Hawaii where people of mixed race feel at home, where white people like me are in the minority.

I feel a little sad. The most important topic of the time is off limits between my family members and me.  Although it’s heartbreaking to see such division, fear, and anger, it’s part of a process.

America’s growing pains.

Anger doesn’t help. Understanding does.

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Vote for My Manifesto!

May 26, 2008 – 10:14 pm

OMG, it’s been five months since my last post. I have finished a short story and an essay, and I’m working on my new book. I’ll post the story and essay soon. Meanwhile. . .

I need your vote! Check it out here at changethis.com.

I submitted a proposal for a manifesto for change called “How to be Married.” People vote for their favorites. If selected, the full manifesto goes up on the website.

Here’s my proposal:

Traditional roles and rules for marriage have evaporated. According to the $40 billion wedding industry, marriage is still the dream and the ideal, but half end in divorce. The advice out there isn’t working. Too many of us are winging it. This is a call for a new kind of marriage. Don’t commit to an institution. Commit to creating a great life together. Commit to marriage as a design space and as a learning space. Don’t work at it. Play with possibility. Forget compromise. Identify what’s important to you both and get creative. Expect chaos. The creative process always involves chaos. This kind of marriage is not for sissies. It will challenge you and grow you. Gandhi said that he learned the principles of nonviolence in his marriage. Change your marriage. Change the world. This manifesto lays out the ground rules.

So far, it has 27 votes and it’s #6. I haven’t even told any of my friends. The deadline’s June 2.

Please send this on!

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Happy New Year!

January 21, 2008 – 6:21 pm

It’s January 21 already! How did that happen? Here’s a wrap-up of last year and the latest news for this year.

2007 was very exciting. Men Are Easy was published and released in March and this is what happened:

  • National distribution with Borders and Barnes & Noble, stocked and discounted by Amazon.
  • Nine Borders book signings in Hawaii and California.
  • 25 television appearances throughout the U.S.
  • Featured in the five Honolulu International Airport bookstores in August
  • Interviewed on American Airlines’ Sky Radio for December.

A friend spotted it in the Navy Pearl Harbor PX in December and another spotted it featured in the front shelf of a Borders in Los Angeles. It sold well in Palo Alto and Cambridge, MA. You can find it in libraries across the U.S.

My geek side was also fulfilled. I attended and presented papers at two outstanding conferences: the Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences in Tokyo and the International Conference on Complex Systems in Boston.

For the third year, I took part in Len Troncale’s systems science course. A group of seven to ten engineers, social scientists, computer scientists, and biologists from China to London met weekly by powwownow.com’s phone conferencing to discuss the features and functions of natural processes and how they apply in our various fields.

This year is looking even brighter.

Just last week I was interviewed live by Maryanne Comaroto whose radio program receives over 1 million listeners throughout the world. You can listen to the January 8 interview here.

Also last week I was notified that a Turkish publisher wants to by the rights to publish Men Are Easy in Turkey! Who would’ve thought?! More rights deals are in the works. I’ll keep you posted.

My blog, The Easy Weekly, is no longer weekly or easy. My writing is now going into a new book rather than into weekly tips. Maybe I’ll save the tips for a little ebook. We’ll see. . .

But the best news? Almost every day I hear how Men Are Easy has changed someone’s life.

From now on, when I read a good book, I’m emailing the author!

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