Personal
Personal reflections, comments about things I've been doing, etc.
Pretty hot for a 65 year old
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sun, 11/20/2005 - 13:05Today, Kim observed that I'm pretty hot for a 65 year old. What did she mean? Well, it turns out that the Danbury News-Times has an article about political bloggers thriving in Connecticut.
It is a pretty good article for a newspaper article. However, it does have one important factual error. I'm actually only 46.
It also refers to Greater Democracy as a liberal blog. While many of the bloggers that contribute to Greater Democracy are liberal, the goal of the blog is to 'consider how new communications technologies support democracy, and how we can ensure that the effectiveness of those technologies is not constrained by ill-considered policy or development'. This is a goal that many people both liberal and conservative should be supporting.
If you have stopped by today as a result of the article, please take a moment to say hi in a comment below.
Random Thoughts
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Fri, 11/18/2005 - 21:38Still fighting a cold and some work strife that I’m not pleased with, but it could be worse.
Kimberly first support group meeting didn’t sound very supportive. Perhaps she needs Project KimCare, based on Phil Klein’s experience.
Brinn (not her real name)’s mom died and Gina (her real name), Brinn’s teacher, is trying to help.
Abolish the Death Penalty tells Juan Melendez’s story.
Beth and Marnie talk about the value of mistakes.
Saturday is National Adoption Day and Sunday is the 7th annual Transgender day of remembrance.
Strega
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Wed, 11/16/2005 - 22:17It is a dark and stormy night and my spirits are matching the night. Fiona is in bed, still fighting off the remnants of a cold. I am run down, probably fighting the same bug. Kim is up visiting our friend Kimberly, outside of Boston.
Kimberly writes in My trip with breast cancer,” I am officially in Stage IIIA. Stage 5-year Relative Survival Rate - IIIA = 56% Source: American Cancer Society”. I am glad Kimberly is keeping a blog. I am glad that Kim has gone up to help. I know how hard it will be on everyone.
Tish
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Sat, 11/05/2005 - 10:37November 4th is a special day for me. Sixty-one years ago, my wife’s mother was born. She died six years ago, on my wife’s birthday. Five years ago, my wife and I got married on November 4th and four years ago, we baptized Fiona on November 4th.
So, last night, we went to hear Tish Hinojosa at Music for a Change. Kim and I had heard Tish in concert a couple other times and really like her. Be had bought one of her CDs which has become a favorite of Fiona’s.
It was a nice sized crowd, I would guess around 100 people. The auditorium was small and intimate. Fiona requested a song and there was nice back and forth with the crowd.
Twenty times I’ve tried to tell you...
Submitted by Aldon Hynes on Mon, 10/24/2005 - 10:35This blog has ALS. My techie friends may rush to Google to find out what the latest Web 2.0 TLA is. However, ALS isn’t a three-letter acronym for some new Web 2.0 protocol. It doesn’t fit in the same category as RSS, XML, RPC, API, IBM, ETC.
No, ALS is Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, aka Lou Gehrig’s disease. It is a progressive neuromuscular disease that weakens and eventually destroys motor neurons. For my more medically oriented friends, do not worry about me. I do not physically have ALS. Instead, it is this blog that has ALS.
Those who have been reading my political blog entries connectedness is an important issue for me. “We are all in this together.”
John Donne wrote, “If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
So, why am I writing about ALS this morning? Last night, Kim and I went to hear Lowen and Navarro at Acoustic Celebration in Ridgefield. We first heard them at Falcon Ridge.
At Falcon Ridge, Eric Lowen was walking with a cane. We didn’t think much about it. However, up in Ridgefield, he was using a walker. It turns out that he has ALS. He joked about the moment of the concert that would have the most drama in it was as he was helped up the two steps to get to his seat on the stage.
Acoustic Celebration takes place in St. Stephen’s Episcopal church. Kim and I were sitting in the front row. We were about twelve feet from Lowen and Navarro as they sang. As they started, it struck me that they are a good example about what blogs are really about.
We can spend our time talking about political blogs, marketing blogs, A-lists and long tails, but that isn’t really what blogs are about. Blogs are a place where we can have raw, real connections between people. Blogs are where we sit twelve feet from the performer and have a personal connection with them. Throughout the concert there were times you could hear people singing along in the audience. Between songs they talk with the audience and did a lot of requests.
At the end, everyone came up to the front and gathered around close as they sang, “We belong”. That is what good blogging is about. That is what good music is about. It is what good politics is about. “We belong to the thunder… We belong together…”
So, this blog has ALS, along with Eric. We belong together. Please check out the ALS organization. This blog has the longing of a military wife as her husband serves in Iraq. It has the long ordeal of a guy going through complications of heart surgery. It has the stories of people who help others, like a teacher in New Haven, or people that went to help with Katrina relief efforts.
We belong to the thunder, we belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under... We belong, we belong, we belong together
