Busy busy busy
You wouldn't think so, but January is very busy in the life of an Event coordinator. While most of the world is goofing off, hanging out, eating sandwiches and whatnot, I have been chained to my desk answering more emails, phone calls and general queries since I came back to work. I am still not feeling 100%, but I can't convince the people in the wider world to not call me. Not that I want them (or you if you are someone cool and interesting that I want to talk to) to not call me or to stop calling me but I would enjoy a small break.
This week is a short week for most people in the DC area, not for the hardworking folks here at Olsson's. Sure, we could have taken a day to sleep in, go to brunch, watch a couple bad movies on cable. We could have done any and all of that but we didn't. Instead, we were hard at work in the stores providing books and music to the good people out there that were fortunate enough to have the day off. Am I making some of us out to be martyrs? Maybe a little. Am I trying to make those of you who had the day off and didn't use it for something other than absorbing more drivel and popular culture to numb your minds feel guilty? You betcha! For those of you that took Monday off and did nothing more than sleep in, not shave and watch re-runs of Judge Judy. Shame on you. You should get out this Thursday to the Courthouse store and take in a little talk with the Authors of "Race Beat".
Having been born in the '70's in a 'massive' town in southern Idaho, we never had to deal with any black/white confrontations. We didn't have black people in our town. Maybe that is an exaggeration, we had a small scattering of black people. Not for any reason I could think about other than they were too smart to move there. Every time I mention I grew up there to someone they will say something to the effect of "Oh, how beautiful." These people have never visited Idaho and probably think the people there still battle Indians and live among the bison (Some call them buffalo). Well, they're right. We still live among the bison and we still fight Indians. In fact Idaho is so rural that I recall a time in the late 80's when one local town received phone service for the first time. So rural, I remember going pheasant hunting in a huge field with "Big Jim" one time. The field was 75 yards from my house and he was out blasting away with a shotgun at birds that took flight out of the grain. You had to be outside the city limits to blast away with guns, but the "city limits" were on the other side of his back yard fence.
So I can't blame anyone for not living there. Still, it was a non-issue as far as I was concerned. I still can't get my head around not liking someone based on the color of their skin. It does my head in just to read passages out of this book.
"The Race Beat" is the story of the struggle for racial equality as told through the stories of the brave newspaper reporters who covered the tragic events. The sentiment in it is just as real today as it was back then, if you squandered your MLK day on the sofa, you owe it to yourself to catch the talk in Courthouse. You owe it to The Dream.
Speaking of The Dream. I was reading in the Post on Monday about the MLK memorial they are trying to put in by the Tidal Basin. The article says,
If you have ever wondered why nothing can get done in DC it is because the road to completion is as circuitous as the street system. $100 million? What if I had two dolphin with MLK's face tattooed on their sides cavorting in the pond?
That has to be it for me. My brain is reeling from the numbers. One last note. Michael J. Fox has raised $57 Million for Parkinson's research just to put it in perspective. Not that one project is any more important than the other, I just wanted you to think about it.
Editors Note: I think Blogger Boy is a little bitter about having to work on Monday. Leave him alone and he will calm down. Eventually.
Judge Judy may not even be on television anymore.
The massive town had maybe 40 thousand people when he was a kid. Now over 50!
"Big Jim" was not that big, he was the senior in a Junior/Senior family thing and on that hunting walk through the grain field, no birds were harmed.
Tattooed dolphin in the Tidal Basin would totally rock!
And last. There may have been more than six to eight black people in Idaho and the people there do not still battle the Natives. Unless you include Reservation Casino laws.
This week is a short week for most people in the DC area, not for the hardworking folks here at Olsson's. Sure, we could have taken a day to sleep in, go to brunch, watch a couple bad movies on cable. We could have done any and all of that but we didn't. Instead, we were hard at work in the stores providing books and music to the good people out there that were fortunate enough to have the day off. Am I making some of us out to be martyrs? Maybe a little. Am I trying to make those of you who had the day off and didn't use it for something other than absorbing more drivel and popular culture to numb your minds feel guilty? You betcha! For those of you that took Monday off and did nothing more than sleep in, not shave and watch re-runs of Judge Judy. Shame on you. You should get out this Thursday to the Courthouse store and take in a little talk with the Authors of "Race Beat". Having been born in the '70's in a 'massive' town in southern Idaho, we never had to deal with any black/white confrontations. We didn't have black people in our town. Maybe that is an exaggeration, we had a small scattering of black people. Not for any reason I could think about other than they were too smart to move there. Every time I mention I grew up there to someone they will say something to the effect of "Oh, how beautiful." These people have never visited Idaho and probably think the people there still battle Indians and live among the bison (Some call them buffalo). Well, they're right. We still live among the bison and we still fight Indians. In fact Idaho is so rural that I recall a time in the late 80's when one local town received phone service for the first time. So rural, I remember going pheasant hunting in a huge field with "Big Jim" one time. The field was 75 yards from my house and he was out blasting away with a shotgun at birds that took flight out of the grain. You had to be outside the city limits to blast away with guns, but the "city limits" were on the other side of his back yard fence. So I can't blame anyone for not living there. Still, it was a non-issue as far as I was concerned. I still can't get my head around not liking someone based on the color of their skin. It does my head in just to read passages out of this book. "The Race Beat" is the story of the struggle for racial equality as told through the stories of the brave newspaper reporters who covered the tragic events. The sentiment in it is just as real today as it was back then, if you squandered your MLK day on the sofa, you owe it to yourself to catch the talk in Courthouse. You owe it to The Dream.
Speaking of The Dream. I was reading in the Post on Monday about the MLK memorial they are trying to put in by the Tidal Basin. The article says,
"The Interior Department, which oversees the Mall, must be satisfied that the project has $100 million in cash before bulldozers can break ground."WHAT!? Walt Disney didn't spend $100 million on BOTH theme parks. For $100 million, I could buy a killer whale to live in the tidal basin and cavort for passing tourists. Why in the world do they have to have that much in cash before they can dig a hole in the Mall? Are the Interior Department looking to cover the cost of removal if they don't like the way it looks?
If you have ever wondered why nothing can get done in DC it is because the road to completion is as circuitous as the street system. $100 million? What if I had two dolphin with MLK's face tattooed on their sides cavorting in the pond? That has to be it for me. My brain is reeling from the numbers. One last note. Michael J. Fox has raised $57 Million for Parkinson's research just to put it in perspective. Not that one project is any more important than the other, I just wanted you to think about it.
Editors Note: I think Blogger Boy is a little bitter about having to work on Monday. Leave him alone and he will calm down. Eventually.
Judge Judy may not even be on television anymore.
The massive town had maybe 40 thousand people when he was a kid. Now over 50!
"Big Jim" was not that big, he was the senior in a Junior/Senior family thing and on that hunting walk through the grain field, no birds were harmed.
Tattooed dolphin in the Tidal Basin would totally rock!
And last. There may have been more than six to eight black people in Idaho and the people there do not still battle the Natives. Unless you include Reservation Casino laws.
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