In 2009, I will...

read more books (actual, physical books)
• cook amazing food more often
• exercise on a regular basis
• return art to my life (specifically, my painting)
• keep working on my novel
• meditate
  
• be more intentional about the time I spend on-line
  
• take a couple of short, overnight vacations locally
• go forward, instead of backward, financially
• start having dinner parties again (if possible with a 3-year-old)
• go back to my Afro-Cuban conga lessons and playing
• be more loving and kind toward those I live with
• get some gold fish
• eat some oysters
• (or was that eat some gold fish and get some oysters?)

Good Morning Toronto XXVI

Subway Riding

We took a family outing on the subway today. Not going anywhere really, just riding. Amado had been on the subway before, but I believe this is the first time he really got into the experience. Now that he knows there's a station right across the street from our house, he may be hard to keep off the trains.

A Little Christmas Day Reading

Amado reading "Me and Grandma at the Flea" on Christmas morning. Thanks Grandmas Coop and Bean!

Merry Xmas!

In the Air Tonight

Dedicated, with love, to Cousin Geoffrey. From Wendy and Amadisto.

Yup, It's snow.

Amado applies the taste test.

"Now you're out $25 billion, plus the cost of your Subaru."

This is funny, sad, and true all at the same time. Click to make big and read the small print. (h/t The Daily Dish)

Snow Day

...and though it's -25 C, Amadisto's out practicing his snowboard posturing.

Dock Ellis

Dock Ellis, the only known Major Leaguer to have pitched a no-hitter on LSD, has died. He was one of my favourites in the '70s. Of course, he was known for much more than pitching while high, but I remain astounded that he could pitch a no-hitter on LSD when it's so rare to do it at all.

High Desert Snow Storm

My nephew and niece rolling in the frsh snow with their Czech puppy. Snow like this is so awesome in the desert. Click to make the picture big and check my Mom's blog for more of these photos!

Tom Jones - Winter Wonderland

This is cheese to the max, but you have got to give Tom Jones props for his dance moves in this video. Holy Cow! the guy can move!!! I think even I would throw my underwear at him if I could.

Blues for Salvador

One of Carlos Santana's best instrumentals. Turn it on and let it play.

'Slingin' Sammy Baugh

One of the best football players ever died yesterday. Texan Sammy Baugh revolutionized the quarterback position by making passing a key part of the game. He also excelled as a defensive back and punter -- all at the same time:

Baugh was the best all-around player in an era when such versatility was essential. In 1943, he led the league in passing, punting and defensive interceptions. In one game, he threw four touchdown passes and intercepted four as well. He threw six touchdowns passes in a game twice. His 51.4-yard punting average in 1940 is still the NFL record.

"There's nobody any better than Sam Baugh was in pro football," Don Maynard, a fellow West Texas Hall of Famer. "When I see somebody picking the greatest player around, to me, if they didn't go both ways, they don't really deserve to be nominated. I always ask, 'Well, how'd he do on defense? How was his punting?'"

Three Years of Blogging at Alma's Soulfood!

...there's been highs and lows and everything in between. (Ok, mostly stuff in between, but whatever.) And remember my readers, whatever happens I am here for you.

Columbia Heights Crews

This news report is about Columbia Heights in Washington, D.C., which was where I used to live. It's about another sad, sad round of gang-related killings. Real life is hard enough, it doesn't need to be made worse by implying that a seige mentality is the only thing that can possibly get Columbia Heights residents through this tough time. Unlike what one of those interviewed says, there actually is something that can be done and it starts with people coming out of their shells and claiming responsibility for their own community. I'm glad I know people in Columbia Heights who are doing just that. It's not hopeless.

Cutie on my Laptop

I've been trying to get a picture of Amado's mouth so people could see how he looks with his missing teeth, but I still haven't got the right shot. But here's one from this morning when the little critter snuck on to my laptop (a big no-no). He's still in his pajamas and, yes, he's inherited the crazy hair gene from his parents.

Salt Miners

Up here in snow country, we have to pick up a ton of salt each time we come in the door. Not a exactly the situation I grew up with.

By the way, salt miners have one of the hardest jobs ever done by human beings on this earth. Please think of them next time you have salt.

Gram Toni

My paternal grandmother would have been 99 today. She died 5 years ago, but I still feel her with us.

54631 Mulberry St., New York - Circa 1900

While I'm posting pictures of New York, I thought I would post this beautiful picture. Look at all the kids in the street!

Here's the Google street view for the same location today, though I can't figure out what's where. I found this on the Wikipedia page for New York City, via Katie's wonderful At the Half Note blog...New York's finest on-line diary.

Did I mention...I love New York!

03-01-93

Jamie Livingston took a Polaroid photo every day for 18 years (1979-1997) until the day he died. His pictures are an amazing collection of snippets of everyday life--his work, his friends, his city, his lovers--and finally his illness. You can read more about it here and here.

To see Livingston's Polaroids, go here.

De La Hoya vs. Pacquiao

Speaking of broken teeth, did I mention I'm a big Oscar de la Hoya fan? He's my East LA homeboy, fighting Pacquiao tonight. Oscar has his work cut out for him.

(And yes, I know about the pictures that come up when you do a Google Image search on Oscar de la Hoya. What, can't you be both a world champion boxer and a cross-dresser? He's complicated. I guess that's part of his charm :-)

P.S. Pacquiao unexpectedly dominated De La Hoya, winning by TKO after 8 rounds. This should be the end of Oscar's boxing days.

Sad Superman

As a dad, it's hard to accept the realization that you can do everything possible to protect your child and it still won't be possible to protect him completely.

Amado in ER

Amado had a bad accident while he was at daycare yesterday afternoon and had to be rushed to the ER. He fell and busted up his mouth and his teeth on low shelf where the kids put their shoes. He basically bit his lower lip in half. Two of his top front teeth were completely impacted (i.e. violently shoved back into his gums) and will have to come out at some point, one way or another.

It was terrible, but he was a very brave little boy. During the three hours we waited in ER, he even played with some toys and watched some TV without having received any painkillers. I don't think I could have done that. It was a busy night in ER and people were literally dying around him (one person, in fact, did die while we were there).

Thankfully, he's going to be ok. The doctors stitched his lip back together (above - he was totally out when they gave him the stitches). We will go to the dentist tomorrow to see what they will do with the teeth. Hopefully there will be no damage to the buds of his permanent teeth. He was able to drink some milk out of a syringe when we got home.

What a terrible experience for him, Wendy, and I. It really makes us value our health and feel for those parents who go through much worse than this with their little ones. We are so sad.

Pedro Infante y Jorge Negrete

Happy Birthday Jimi

Jimi Hendrix (Nov. 27, 1942 - Sept. 18, 1970). Dang.

California Baptism

I already posted this picture below, but I remain fascinated by it. It really captures the essence of the time and place I first became a Christian in 1981. It reminds me that my spiritual journey has such different roots from those I know who currently share the journey with me. That time was full of so much inner and outer beauty and wonder, which I found incarnated in my encounter with the living spirit of Jesus, not necessarily the church. And that has carried me to where I am today.

Amado @ Lake Bernard

...this past summer. (Of course, now we would likely have to chop through the ice to get a picture like this.)

Today's Groove: Abakua

Joaquin Pozo Calderon offers a tropical demonstration of the Abakua rhythm in Cuba. From the grooving YouTube site of Rudy Quesada.

Nicaragua

"Once more a revolution has been betrayed from within." --writer José Saramago

Something very twisted is happening in Nicaragua and it is starting to look like Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas have become tinged by the very evil they fought against for so long.

We have a good friend who lives in Managua and his reports from the streets have not been very comforting to say the least.

"The Parisians" by Alfred Eisenstaedt

This is one of my all-time, favourite photos, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who loves it.

Alfred Eisenstaedt snapped this in 1963, at the climax of Guignol's "Saint George and the Dragon" in the Tuileries Garden in Paris. Just as the dragon is slain, some children cry out in a combination of horror and delight, while others are taken aback in shock. Every child is consumed with emotion, masterfully captured by Eisenstaedt's camera.

From the LIFE photo collection.

My Brain on Blogging

Apparently, this is the image of my brain while blogging here at Alma's Soulfood. Yes that's right. Here are the notes from the findings about me and this blog:

The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications. They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.

Most of this I can relate to I guess, although I believe this is the first time anybody (anything) accused me of being "logical and analytical." I have always excelled at "imaginative models of reality" though.

You can get your own blog analyzed at:
http://www.typealyzer.com/index.php?lang=en

First Snow 2008

First Snow 2008. It always looks like there is less snow than there really is when viewed from this height... but, to my peeps in California, we're chillin' while you're sunning

LIFE Photo Archive

Google has posted the entire LIFE photo archive, which they claim to include all LIFE photos from 1750s (!?) to today (OK, I'm sure they didn't even have photos in 1750, did they?).

This picture from the 1960s was always in big hit in our family, and not just because it's of somebody smoking marijuana. But this was somebody WE KNEW smoking marijuana. At least that's what the story was. The man in the pot experiment was a friend of my parents from LA.

(Now is the time I need my Mom to "pipe in" and confirm this. Mom, do you have any idea what I'm talking about, or am I the only family member who can still remember the 60s?)

Cut Your Credit Card into a Christmas Star

Sojourners' Martha Stewartesque, "Cut Your Credit Card into a Christmas Star" video. Very funny. They should do a whole series like this!

It's a Guaguanco Kind of Day

Guaguanco demo by Roberto Vizcaino in Habana, Cuba.

It's My Birthday!

Here's a picture of me on my 8th birthday, so many years ago....

I see my brother Sol's hand sneaking in the picture. Also, I notice my left ring finger was still bandaged after I got it crushed in my classroom door. I still have a scar from that one. And there's my grandmother's typing table in the background where she tapped out the poetry collection, Mixed Emotions, which I have an original copy of.

But I digress....

Lonnie Frisbee

"It's like John the Baptist walked through Southern California and nobody wants to talk about him because he died of AIDS."

-- filmmaker David Di Sabatino.

Lonnie Frisbee, besides having a great name, was a prophetic, charismatic "Jesus Freak" who ministered in California in the late 60s and early 70s. He was a primary -- but mostly unrecognized -- influence in the founding of two of the most important evangelical churches today, Vineyard Christian Fellowship and Calvary Chapel.

Frisbee led innumerable young people to Jesus, his presence sent crowds around the world into convulsions through the Holy Spirit, and he is said to have healed a blind man.

Frisbee was the source for much of the post-denominational charismatic Christianity that came out of California in the 1970s, which is the stream in which I first became a Christian.

He was also a gay man.

What a fasinating life, and truly a sign that God works in mysterious ways....

Here's more:

Lonnie Frisbee Wikipedia entry: Frisbee was an American Pentecostal evangelist and self-described "seeing prophet" and mystic in the late 1960s and 1970s. Despite his hippie appearance and being a closeted gay man, Frisbee had notable success as a minister and evangelist. Contemporary accounts attributed his accomplishments to his incredible anointing of the Holy Spirit.

"Frisbee" by Erik Davis: Frisbee had an authentic, infectious passion and spiritual intensity that Christians would call the Holy Spirit, but which in this context had as much to do with the mystic counterculture as it did with all but the most Pentecostal wings of American Christianity.

The First Jesus Freak, by Matt Coker, OCWeekly: Lonnie Frisbee put the freak in Jesus freak. With his long brown hair, long craggily beard, dusty clothing, scent of Mary Jane and glint of his last LSD trip in his eyes, he showed up out of nowhere, at the height of the '60s, literally on Chuck Smith's doorstep.

Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher. An Emmy-nominated documentary by David Di Sabatino.


Lonnie Frisbee in the early 70s, baptizing people in the ocean as hundreds look on.

Green Tara

Somebody I follow on Twitter (12-Step Buddhist) is always mentioning "doing Green Tara." Though I knew it wasn't about tea, I couldn't get the image of him sipping green tea out of my head, so I looked it up...

Tara means "star," "planet," or "she who ferries across." She is a bodhisattva embodying compassion in the female form of a young goddess. She is often considered to be such an advanced bodhisattva that she is actually a Buddha.

Tara’s name is said to derive from the verb meaning "to cross" or "to traverse". In Pali the verb tarati means "to get to the other side." This word is cognate with the Latin "trans" (across). The word Tara also literally means "star."

Green Tara (Shyama Tara or Dark Tara) is seated on a white moon-disk. Her green complexion symbolizes the active function of the fully-enlightened being. The moon symbolizes her peacefulness. The moon is resting upon a lotus. The lotus symbolizes her freedom from any defilement, just as the lotus rises out of the mud of the swamp, but the blossom itself is pure and undefiled. In the same way, Green Tara arises in the world but is completely undefiled by the world.

[More here...]

Mitch Mitchell

Mitch Mitchell, Jimi Hendrix's incredible drummer, has died at 61. One of my favourite drummers, Mitchell incorporated jazz rhythms into Hendrix's psychedelic blues.

I Hate War

Battle of Somme, Northern France, 1916. More than 1.5 million casualties.

Clouds on Mars

See them move at Phoenix Mars Lander.

33 Months Old!

I've let a couple of months pass by, but just to let you know, we're still counting!

Now Reading: Pillar of Fire

"...truth requires a maximum effort to see through the eyes of strangers, foreigners, and enemies."

Now reading, Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65. An amazing book with powerful lessons for our times.

After Prop 8: A Way Forward?

There's a good -- and as outgoing President Bush might say, 'spirited' -- discussion going on in the LBGTQ community about what to do in response to Prop 8. Some (like Dan Savage) say it's time to confront the bigotry head on and press the matter in the courts. Others (like Andrew Sullivan and Cindy Rizzo) believe great gains were made (almost 50% of California voters supported the right to same-sex marriage) and more progress will only be made through more education and engagement with those who oppose gay marriage (esp. African Americans, Latinos, and Christians of all stripes).

I confess to leaning toward the former path (confrontation) more than the latter (engagement) because at this point I think there's been an awful lot of energy spent on education and engagement and it doesn't appear to helping much in some communities. As one of the commenters to Cindy Rizzo's article pointed out, there lots of people with gay family members who are still never going to be convinced to support same-sex marriage.

But after reading the blogs of those who believe continued engagement with opponents of gay marriage is the best path, I'm started to see their point. There is nothing to be gained by a confrontation between the LGBTQ community and African Americans or Latinos. Approaching the problem as a racial issue is in fact totally counter productive. Of course, it isn't people's race that causes them to oppose gay marriage, but in most cases it's the particular take on Christianity they follow.

While these beliefs may be hard or impossible to change (and that in itself is an important issue, but probably one for a later discussion), I believe there is an increasing opportunity to argue the case with opponents of gay marriage that this is a question of human rights, not a religious issue.

Some Christians may never believe homosexuality of 'ok', but I believe it is possible to convince them that because we live in pluralistic society, accepting the beliefs of others is not harmful to one's own beliefs. In fact, supporting tolerance for beliefs other than your own may even help create greater tolerance for those things you do believe.

Helping to argue this point is an area progressive Christians can really help. Socially conservative Christians may not be especially open to listening to the LGBTQ community, but could possibly hear the case when made by other Christians.

For a long time, I thought I didn't have the time for churches and other Christians who still had an issue with gays and lesbians. The debate in the church was going nowhere and only causing deeper division. But after 11-4-08 it's a new time. And now may be the just time for progressive Christians to re-engage in the debate in a new and non-confrontational way.

Seasons of Change

White House, Nov. 6, 2008

Did We Vote on Your Marriage?

When you start allowing the majority to vote on the rights of minorities you are asking for trouble. That's no way to run a democracy or a free country.

Gay-marriage proponents filed three court challenges Wednesday against the ban. The lawsuits raise a rare legal argument: that the ballot measure was actually a dramatic revision of the California Constitution rather than a simple amendment. A constitutional revision must first pass the Legislature before going to the voters....

The high court has not said when it will act. State officials said the ban on gay marriage took effect the morning after the election.

"We don't consider it a 'Hail Mary' at all," said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights. "You simply can't so something like this — take away a fundamental right at the ballot."

[From MSNBC, "Thousands in L.A. Protest Gay-Marriage Ban"]

Yes We Can

No on Prop 8

Okay, I hate to politicize my own Mom's wedding, but such are the times we are in.

We are SO PROUD of my Mom (right) and Irene (left) for finally tying the knot last week -- rushing to the altar after a whirlwind engagement of just 28 years. They are different from most newlywed couples in that they already own a home, have raised four kids of their own, are grandmothers, and have a dog named Annie Bones.

Still, until this summer they did not have the same rights or benefits as other Californian couples. Now, because they are legally married, these rights can't be taken from them. But there are still some people who want to take those rights away from other couples by voting yes on Proposition 8. Does this make sense?

Some say "8 ain't Hate", but when you limit the rights of my family, deny that we are equal, and say we shouldn't have access to the same benefits you have -- then, yes, it sure feels like hate. You can believe what you want, but it's never right to try to legislate inequality.

Of course, this marriage could not change our great love and support for my Mom and Irene. And a government stamp does not make their love and life-long commitment any more legitimate than it was in the first place. But as a son, I'm glad to know that at this point the law is on my parents' side, protecting their rights and benefits just as it does those of other people's parents, no matter what some may think about it.

So if you're a Californian, please vote NO on Prop 8 today and support families like ours.

Boo!

Jumping the Broom

I'm reprinting this in it's entirety from Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish because I like it and think it's important:

Many gay couples are rushing to get married in California, fearful that the Mormon church's Proposition 8 will soon strip gay couples of legal rights in their state. I remain confident that we can win - because we have the best argument. The new Field poll shows it very close - but winnable.

If Obama and Schwarzenegger speak out as they promised in the next two days, that would help. Their silence is deafening. But the experience of these rushed weddings is also profoundly affecting:

In a symbolically loaded part of their ceremony, an African-American friend invited them to “jump the broom.” During slavery, society refused to recognize the rights of many African-Americans to marry. Despite this, marriage — formalized by a couple jumping over a broom — continued to thrive.

Today, we recognize those earlier marriage bans as a gross historical injustice.

The thing that struck me about their ceremony was how viscerally it changed my own feelings about gay marriage. I had always supported gay marriage, but it was an abstract, intellectual support; now it’s personal. And so a friend’s wedding became, for me, the most compelling political event of the year.

And for all of us who are married, the initiative feels like a gut-punch to our weddings, a cruel and bitter attack on our families and the homes we have built and will defend.

Make no mistake: This is the civil rights movement of our time - and like past civil rights movements, its opponents deny its character. They are having a rally in San Diego this weekend to intimidate gay people and our families, and to abuse the Jesus of the Gospels to advance the the power of James Dobson and his political machine. If you think Jesus speaks in the tone of a football announcer, and the central mission of Christianity is to strip others of equality, accuse them of abusing children, and force them to the margins of society, this event is for you.

Pray for them. One day they will realize just how misguided they are.

Amado at Play in Autumn Light

Amado and I went to the High Park the other day and ran around. Fall is the best season in Toronto. I like cell phone pictures because they have an almost accidental quality about them. At least my cell phone pictures do. I never know when the shutter is actually going to snap.

Waaaasup!

Waaaasup! The Pro-Obama version.

And here's the original

Letter from 2012 in Obama's America

This is hysterical, and I don't mean I find it funny. A "Letter from 2012 in Obama's America" from our friends at Focus in the Family (which once was a fairly mainstream organization offering helpful tips on better parenting -- but with dispatches like this they are now becoming part of the extremist fringe, imo.)

Terrorist strikes on four American cities. Russia rolling into Eastern Europe. Israel hit by a nuclear bomb. Gay marriage in every state. The end of the Boy Scouts. All are plausible scenarios if Democrat Barack Obama is elected president. (From MSNBC, "Christian Right Steps Up Attacks on Obama.")

The end of the Boy Scouts? That's scrounging at the bottom of the barrel.