January: Unapologetically Fierce

-Nothing like a 7-year-old’s birthday party at a sports bar!
-Missed New Year’s Eve skiing but I’ll get up there some evening.
-Liberty’s restaurant says anyone under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.
-FFFFUUUUUUUUUUU-
-Uh oh! Big snowfall at afternoon rush hour on untreated roads!
-Three hours to go ten miles.
-Come on, car! Don’t get stuck. Doing great…
-Okay, now it’s stuck… just outside my house. Okay, COULD be a lot worse!
-Dinner invite! How nice!

February: A Reclaimed Minuet

-Superbowl Sunday! To Brookside. To climbing gym. To get fried chicken. To bake cookies. And, well, watch the game!
-Hey, lots of free sheet music for classical music online. Public domain!
-Uh oh! Lots of changes and of course fighting over NYRA’s website redesign.
-Yay! #16tovote on the 16th is a year old!
-Helping out in NYRA office on weirdly warm day. And burrito with Dave from weird burrito truck guy.
-WES Auction! I won a big urn!

March: Armtrout Hastings

-Think I’ll play keyboard each day for Lent.
-Gaaahhh!!! Ants!
-Ack! These ants won’t go away!
-WTF?! Now Giant has an ageist policy? Fucking hell.
-Maybe I’ll go to Harris Teeter.
-Holy fucking shit, is that FIVE ALIVE?!
-Oh, good, Giant rescinded their policy.
-Yay! Strategic planning weekend for NYRA! It’s like a miniature annual meeting!
-I bring donuts on Saturday and bagels on Sunday.
-Got to FEED EVERYBODY!!!

April: Concrete Slip-n-Slide

-Hmm, nothing going on for National Youth Rights Day
-Oh, I know! A hashtag! #isupportyouthrights
-Hey, it’s going well.
-Oh no! I didn’t mean to insult Dave’s happy hour last year.
-I think I can walk across the little concrete stream leading into the fake lake
-Ahhh! I slipped and fell and can’t get out! I’m going to be swept all the way down into some logs!
-Okay, finally hoisted myself out. But my phone is all scratched and messed up!
-Phone is fine and working again the next day. Wow!
-Hmm. Wuthering Heights doesn’t thrill me.
-Damn Easter is late this year!
-Brookside on Easter Sunday! Yay!
-Okay, I’m watching the stupid royal wedding.
-Gahh! Two gross spiders in my room!

May: Yellow Swirly Thing

-Ha! Bin Laden is dead! The towers are avenged!
-Think I’ll have a birthday dinner. Invite some people.
-Hmm, only person available to come to my dinner is Kathleen O’Neal. Alright.
-Hey, a fun evening!
-Now to Adams Morgan.
-WTF? Alex broke up with his girlfriend, and Hal and Kathleen broke up, all within a week?!
-Think I’ll take a little day trip to Ocean City.
-Ah, the alma mater!
-Holy shit, new buildings!
-Ah, beach.
-Gah! Pulled over for speeding! Let off with warning.
-DC101 Chili Cookoff… Weezer! And, at long last… Keep Fishin’!!!
-To NYC with Kathleen!
-Gah, I have a cold!
-And just got pulled over for the second time within a week, in DC. Damn you, unmarked one-way streets!
-At long last, Ferrara cookies!!!
-Ooooh, the Met! Could enjoy it more without this damn cold!
-OMG FAO Schwarz!
-I played Ode to Joy on The Big Piano!!!!
-To NYRA office for Annual Meeting planning!

June: Test Reset

-Hmmm, weird NYRA stuff. Weird demands from Dave, so say Hal and Usi.
-That’s weird, my bathroom outlet stopped working.
-So it goes. So it goes. So it goes. Shut the fuck up, Vonnegut!
-Four and a half hour board meeting?! Hal, these minutes will be written with your BLOOD!
-Oh no! I lost all my old NYRA e-mails!
-Wait, no, I didn’t! I hacked back into the old server and retrieved them. Woo!
-I think I’ll try going into the office for #16tovote on the 16th.
-Alright, I couldn’t concentrate on event and help out in office at same time. Bad idea!
-Oh, outlet wasn’t working because test-reset button in garage was flipped somehow. Hm.
-We won Brown v EMA!!!!

July: The Immoral Cheeseburger

-Did Max really send that stupid e-mail to that woman? And now the board is all freaked out over it? Oh, Lord.
-Cab driver: “It’s not an Ethiopian restaurant. It’s Eritrean. They’re different countries, like Maryland and Virginia.”
-Patriotic ’splosions!
-Run! Run away from dark severe thunderstorm clouds!
-OMG WTF!!! Montgomery County is considering a curfew?! Kiss my ass, Leggett!
-I has a Nook!
-Let’s petition against curfew outside Harry Potter opening!
-Hey, WAMU guy talked to me!
-Oh. My quote never made it into his piece. :\
-Dude, I appreciate your enthusiasm for #16tovote on the 16th, but would you quit hijacking it and filling the feed with your bullshit?
-Oh, dear! When it’s suggested we change an old resolution so we’re not restricted to working with teens and twenty-somethings only, Alex doesn’t like the idea at all and says some things.
-No, Alex is not an ageist. Yes, yes, I saw what he said. But there’s no reason for harshness.
-Truffles: “Will you be my new daddy?”
-Curfew hearing!
-Chief Manger: “We need curfews as another tool against crime.”
-Councilman Andrews: “STFU.”
-I require boxes!
-Stuck in traffic… WTF? Silver Spring metro has parking meters? Who the hell carries change anymore?
-Finally! Got to the NYRA office… only for us to turn right around and go back to Silver Spring. Heh.
-Yay! Petitioning against curfew night before Annual Meeting!
-Eep! Some rabidly anti-youth woman yells at us for daring to think young people should have any dignity.
-Whoa! Annual meeting has breakout sessions. Breakout sessions! Moving up in the world.
-Ugh, someone shoot Hamrick.
-Red dot!
-Bowling!
-Sobriety checkpoint?!
-The legendary Dr. Epstein vs the incomparable Usi! Awesome!
-Hey, Usi and Kathleen seem to be getting along! That’s nice.

August: Mudkipz and Resignations

-Jason Spriggs accomplished what highly paid web designers can’t and finished off the website!
-Wow! Half the board seems to want Usi as president instead of Jeff. Really want it.
-Wolf Trap! Berlin and INXS! Good show.
-New site is almost up…
-Holy fucking dicks in hell, is THAT our new forum?! Ewwwww!!!!
-No, seriously, rest of the site looks wonderful, but I hope you don’t actually think you’re replacing our nice forum with this crap.
-Okay, you do actually think so. No! Bad idea! Bad idea!
-Oh, lovely, more “Usi said this, Usi said that” about the website.
-Though Usi is telling me something differently.
-Alex and Usi are telling me different stories!
-New site launched!
-And, as warned, the forums regulars are pitching a fit.
-Alex just wants a thanks and some praise, though.
-He doesn’t seem to be getting it.
-WTF? Is Barnes and Noble actually asking people what’s the most obnoxious thing they’ve heard a teenager say? Flood their wall!
-Dave’s having a little Nexus event. Foot behind head! My development director can do a neat trick!
-More criticism about website aimed at Alex.
-And Alex announces NYRA has a wonderful bright future!
-And that he’s stepping down as executive director.
-No. He can’t. He just… can’t.
-Great, now someone is wheeling something heavy down the hallway…
-Something REALLY heavy. Wait a minute…
-EARTHQUAKE!!!!
-Oh, and now we have to hire a new ED.
-And Kathleen seems, um, very interested in the process.
-Whoa! Did Hal just broadcast a private conversation with Samantha and call her a nutjob? Come on, Hal. You used to be cool. That’s not cool.
-Jeff: “I can’t do a board meeting next week. I have orientation activities every evening.”
-Samantha: “According to the UPenn website, there aren’t.”
-Jeff: “…”
-Oh, look, first an earthquake and now Hurricane Irene is coming!
-Wow, power was only out for three hours! Never thought I’d say this, but good job, Pepco!
-Next person who remarks that “frogs and locusts” are next is getting stabbed in the face.

September: Deadly Mechanical Zebras

-Kathleen has to live with me for four days until her new apartment opens up.
-Oh, fucking hell, why did I agree to keep Kathleen here?!
-I have to teach my house guest to sleep through the night. It’s 4am. I have work in the morning. She wants to go to 7-11!
-Now I can’t get her to wake up to go to class. At 8pm.
-Is it Friday yet?
-Thank God!
-Cousin’s wedding. Then to Middle Eastern Bazaar on same day. Both sides of the family!
-Uh oh. Dave and Kathleen are arguing a lot about the ED hiring process.
-And arguing and arguing. Frustrated. Miserable.
-Hey! Maybe they reached a compromise!
-Nope. Fell flat. Now there’s an anti-Dave resolution proposed. Fucking hell.
-Jeff for President! Usi for President! Jeff for President! Usi for President!
-I don’t know…
-Time for board meeting. I don’t know…
-Jeff: “Sorry to bring this up now, but it’s important…”
-Dave: “Funder was unhappy about Kathleen’s recent blog post. She needs to be removed from the board. So does Samantha for some reason.”
-Wait, WHAT?!
-Hell NO we aren’t removing a board member over a blog post!
-What do you mean Special Election?!
-WTF, Jeff? You were in on this little surprise beforehand and think it’s acceptable?!
-Usi it is!
-Oh, closed session went waaaay too long. My bad.
-Wow, Alex and Dave are totally trashing Usi for some reason. And it’s vague bullshit. WTF why?!
-Well, Jeff, I nominate you VP at least.
-Lovely. Dave, Alex, and Jeff are spreading it around that Kathleen is about to cost us $100,000 and now a lot of our org hates her without having met her.
-So I’ll tell them my own account of Kathleen to maybe save some face.
-Nope. Now I’m a traitor to the org because I’m daring to defend her. Fucking hell.
-Interesting. It seems the grant was on the line not because of the blog post, though was part of it, but because they learned there were internal issues over the ED search.
-Meanwhile, Alex has his last day and departs, barely even noticed anymore.
-Special meeting. Maybe a compromise? Maybe peace?
-Yay! Peace!
-Which was lost immediately after.
-Oh, dear, Usi and Dave yell at each other on the phone a lot.
-Keith will be our liaison! Yay Keith!

October: Tiny Bubbles

-Whoa! Why is the site down?!
-Taste of Bethesda! Cold and rainy. But tasty!
-Cafe Green with Usi, Samantha, Kathleen, and Alexander Cohen!
-And… Dave has resigned.
-Oh no! What the hell do we do now?
-Hey, Kathleen, it’d be a lot easier to defend you if you wouldn’t keep screaming at me over the phone every time I decline to take some sort of petty revenge on the people who were against you in this.
-And with Dave gone, so is the $100,000 grant. Sigh.
-Why is Kathleen happy about this?
-Much less her fault than first stated, but at least show some regret we lost it and some understanding of how hard this sort of thing has been for us.
-Alex: “Ugh. Looks like I’ll have to come back.”
-Usi and Kathleen: “No! Alex can’t come back after what he did!”
-I can’t deal with this right now. Phone off. Got a murder mystery dinner to go to!
-Kathleen: “Don’t let Alex come back! If you vote for him to come back, you’ll betray me and Usi.”
-Me: “NYRA isn’t about you and Usi.”
-Kathleen: “Well, fuck you, bitch! You’re dead to me!”
-Me: “Bye.”
-Hmmm. Unusually high turnout for a special board meeting. Where are these people when we’re having regular chats? Or ever?
-Sure are a lot of NYRA members who only come out of the woodwork when there’s drama and an excuse to hate people. That’s discouraging. Thought better of them than that.
-Another long meeting of nothing but people shouting at each other.
-Alex is voted back in 7-2 after lots of amending a compromise agreement.
-And now an unhappy returned executive director and no more word really from anyone. Just a wounded organization, fallen from grace.
-And weeks later another board meeting, going okay at first… until petty fights over procedure and special election specifics. Oy.
-Come on, guys, enough of this crap! Let’s just move past this internal stuff.
-No reply.
-I wanna be a devil!
-WTF? Is it snowing? In October?

November: Heartburn

-No, councilman, I don’t want a curfew in my county.
-That’s it, board. Sick of your shit. No more nice secretary.
-If I don’t start seeing you guys doing anything, I’m leaving that special election bylaw amendment out of the minutes.
-Oh. Seems everyone is just still hurt and discouraged over all that happened.
-Yay! Bill has come to help out and be our new campaign director!
-Another WES Auction: I won a scooter!
-Cafe Green with Alex, Bill, and Eric. I think that’s where I cheat on half the board.
-Ouch! My chest hurts.
-Samantha invited Jeff, Keith, Alex, and me into a small meeting to flesh out any remaining uncertainties. Actually went well!
-Chest still hurts. Is this serious?
-WTF is this?! Better get to doctor.
-Okay, doctor says everything is fine and it’s probably just heartburn. So she gives me Prevacid.
-It might be helping? Maybe?
-Mmmm, new spices!
-Holiday cards are here!
-Wait. Crap. Chest pain flaring up again. Been a week and a half! Heartburn, my ass!
-Back to doctor… given more antacids. *headdesk*

December: LOL U MAD?

-And the holiday cards are off!
-This refusal to allow non-prescription Plan B for underage girls is major youth rights violation!
-Don’t care if it’s an “allowed” issue for NYRA. I’m retweeting stuff about it from our account.
-Oh, wait. It’s okay. Alex and Bill posted about it to our Facebook. Cool.
-WES Winter Festival and Cookie Walk!
-Holiday cards are all sent! Now for some pizza.
-LOL corporal punishment arguments in comment thread on NYRA’s Facebook page.
-Ack! Office holiday lunch is on the 16th! Interrupts my voting age tweeting.
-Boss: “My son is 17 so he’s brain-dead.”
-Me: “You shouldn’t stereotype. It’s not nice.”
-Ugh. What Christmas presents can I get for family? They don’t need anything and this would just take up space!
-Alright, I’ll try this again. Alright, bought some stuff. Okay.
-Alright, bought them way too much stuff. Enough! LOL
-Wow. Winter Lights are amazing! Glad I finally made it this year.
-Wrapping, wrapping, wrapping.
-Do we want mezze, sushi, or shrimp for Christmas Eve?
-Can’t decide. Just get it all!
-And singing Silent Night at church at late night service, Santa hat on.
-And… Christmas Day!
-I’ll try to have a chat and tell the board about it.
-Kathleen replied with “Fuck you, you piece of trash!” LOL! Then replied to that shortly after with “Oh, that was sent in error!”
-Wii Sports!
-Just me and one coworker at work this week. Not much happening!
-BANG! Someone rear-ended me! WTF!
-Eh, just some tiny scratches and bumps, not worth worrying about.
-New Year’s Eve ski night?
-No, because the ski place doesn’t have enough snow yet.
-I’ll settle for dinner at Mamma Lucia.
-And now I’ve once again posted a Sure, Why Not? entry every day in December!

Certainly with more accomplishments and adventures and DRAMA than 2010! Tried some new things. Some successful, temporarily or no. With 2012 looming ever closer, sitting up there in Times Square, so much is to be seen. What will happen to NYRA? Will my family move away like they want to, leaving me here alone to spend the holidays alone?

I don’t know. All I know is with 2012 looming closer, with all this and other stuff, I’m on one of them theme park boat rides. Boat is going into a dark tunnel. Ahead I can hear rushing water and feel the current steadily speed up. I can’t see what’s ahead. All I know is it’s about to get rough. A big drop? Rapids? What is it? Don’t know yet. But some shit’s about to go down.

It’ll be here in just under an hour. Ready or not, here comes 2012…

Here’s to You!!!!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, Alex Koroknay-Palicz!”

This may seem awfully strange considering I absolutely blasted him in some recent entries. So, okay, maaaaybe this is also out of guilt.

Alex absolutely drives me insane. I don’t think that will change. I’m sure I return the favor. Sometimes intentionally.

But, no, seriously, he’s alright. I suppose I forget that sometimes. It’s easy to criticize. Fun, too! I don’t agree with a lot of what he says and does. I even stick by most of the criticisms I’ve had about him recently. I’m not going to lie. However, what’s all too common and easy to fall into when going overboard with negative criticism is to forget the positive. Sometimes we think the positives are a given, that it should be assumed that what isn’t negatively criticized should be assumed to be positive.

Saying so is necessary, though. And warranted.

It’s easy to say and know a decision he makes isn’t what’s best for NYRA, while also easy to forget there really wouldn’t be a NYRA without him. Easy to forget the entire organization, even with its amazing growth over the years, has been resting entirely on his shoulders, and against all odds he’s held it up, crushing himself in the process. Easy to forget he might have his reasons for why he does what he does, even if he should explain them better now and then.

Not to mention that for a little while a few months ago, he seemed to be free at last and able to separate himself safely, seeing such a bright future for NYRA, only for things to go bad and require his disappointed return. Back to working for nothing, unsure of the future, and having board members like me tell him everything he’s doing wrong.

I guess that’s what makes criticism so easy, though. He’s seen as uniquely capable of amazing things, so we have really high expectations of him. He’s our Fearless Leader, so we expect superior judgment and unparalleled zeal for the cause. And when he doesn’t live up to this, which is hard for anyone classified as human, we get annoyed at him.

But he’s alright. In the end, he’s still the person with whom I’ve done just about every NYRA activity, from tabling to setting up and attending annual meetings. So many failed attempts at NYRA-DC meetings have turned into just the two of us and maybe a third person having lunch. Not to mention years and years of tending to the forums!

Forums, I might mention, that when I first joined I was bothered by what some people there were saying (not about youth rights, though, other stuff), and it was knowing Alex, who was a regular on there and I’d already met him a few times, was alright.

But lately, as you can imagine, maybe Alex has been feeling a bit like nobody thinks he can ever do anything right. Most of what he does, what he puts many hours and much effort into, is either ignored or critically picked apart. Maybe it just might not seem worth it. Low morale is a bitch.

Which leads me to one important thing I want him and everyone to remember.

Even if NYRA succumbs to all the shit that went bad in recent months and sinks to the bottom of the ocean tomorrow…

Alex, you did NOT waste your life!

You’re 30 years old and you’ve done more you can be proud of than probably most 90-year-olds (and that’s considering they can be proud of, well, making it to 90). This is what you wanted to do with your life. And you did it. Your friends and family thought and probably still think you’re out of your mind or that you have wasted your life, but they’re full of shit. You did it anyway. And you did it well. Not perfectly by any stretch, but no matter what happens you were still successful. Sustaining NYRA meant also sustaining a movement largely ignored beforehand. Most people with such ambitious dreams either give it up because they don’t have what it takes. Most give it up because they are incapable of doing something so many people in their lives think is ridiculous. Most give it up because it isn’t paying anything. Most give it up for more realistic yet significantly less rewarding lives. But not you. You stuck with it. Even when things seemed dark, you kept it going, and over time more of us came along to help.

And, while I’m confident it won’t happen, even if we lose NYRA, devastating as the idea may be, not all is lost. We can rebuild it. NYRA is more than an office and funding. Those things are pretty goddamn important, YES! But what makes NYRA what it is has always been… US! All of us!

To paraphrase the Whos: “NYRA will always be, just as long as we have we!”

And nothing that happens now can change the impact NYRA has made on youth rights. We still had all that press coverage. All those supporters whose eyes were opened. So many members whose lives were changed for the better when they found and got involved with this organization. This organization that is only here because of you kept it going. Nothing will ever change that.

You’re hardly infallible. You’re not even above criticism, actually. But damn it, you’ve done some good shit. How can you call that wasted? If launching a movement to liberate billions of today’s and tomorrow’s young people is a wasted life, shit, WTF is a not-wasted one?!

12:00am, the 16th: Introductory “yay it’s #16tovote on the 16th!” tweet along with link to Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age

12:02am: tweets some basic voting age point to get things started

12:10am: trying to think of another voting age tweet, comes up with crap

12:15am: finally just tweets link to recent voting age news article, if one’s available

12:30am: facepalms at Max’s “#16tovote or I’ll chop off your dick and shove it down your throat” tweet

1:00am: manages to tweet some good stuff, perhaps a couple tweets and/or retweets from regulars

1:30am: can’t come up with anything else for night but stays up late with it for some reason

2:00am: finally tweets link to NYRA voting age page or something from the downloads section, to get people through night

2:30am: goes to bed, ready to get up and get to work nice and early to resume

9:00am: swears loudly for having overslept, throws on clothes and leaves house

9:30am: gets to work, posts “good morning!” tweet

10:00am: posts some brilliant points that go ignored since no one’s paying attention this time of day

10:30am: retweets stuff posted from the sciville account night before

11:00am: other than Silver Fang retweeting everything, nothing much else, tweeting whatever voting age crap I come up with

12:00pm: midpoint! tweets NYRA-SEFL’s old voting age ad

12:15pm: can’t come up with anything to tweet after the voting age ad

12:30pm: says screw it and tweets that dumb picture where I wrote a #16tovote tweet in Ocean City beach sand

1:00pm: some jerk trolls #16tovote feed or at-replies us with bullshit, is ignored

2:00pm: tweets Usi’s awesome Supreme Court speech video

2:30pm: tweets something about student rights, perhaps how lower voting age would eliminate school paddling

2:35pm: some asshole pipes up saying school paddling is sometimes needed, is ignored

3:00pm: “Thanks, everyone! Once again, Top 10 Reasons to Lower the Voting Age!” a la SNL announcing second performance of musical guest

3:15pm: Alexander Cohen tweets same six #16tovote tweets he does every month

4:00pm: some more regulars start coming in

5:00pm: think about heading home, yet still tweet some more

5:30pm: get stuck on points about consent of the governed

5:45pm: head home

6:00pm: get inside house and to computer, tweet again NYRA-SEFL’s voting age ad, a la SNL announcing second performance of musical guest

6:30pm: Alex remembers it’s the 16th, over 18 hours into it, and only then (if at all) posts about it on Facebook

7:00pm: posts Alex’s famous Huffington Post article refuting Ann Coulter’s asshattery

8:00pm: thanks people for participation, says it’s been great, maybe posts link to voting age page again

8:45pm: realizes hasn’t tweeted in 45 minutes, tries to come up with something, comes up with crap that somehow winds up widely retweeted

9:00pm: reposts Usi’s Supreme Court speech, a la SNL announcing second performance of musical guest

9:30pm: tweeting slows, tweets sarcastic bullshit from sciville account

9:45pm: someone tweets stupid question about a #16tovote tweet, not bothering to see answer to it was tweeted earlier, is ignored

10:00pm: bugs Galen to finally participate since I see him tweeting other things, he finally does, but inappropriate for retweet from NYRA

10:30pm: Alex finally remembers it’s the 16th despite this having been going on a while and finally shows up and tweets something

10:31pm: facepalms because Alex can never seem to remember that starting a tweet with someone’s username makes it so that tweet can only be seen by those following that person

11:15pm: realizes again I went a long time without tweeting anything, bleh

11:30pm: announces there’s half hour to go, to give it a big finish

11:40pm: bunch of people only just now realize the event’s going and retweet lots of stuff

11:55pm: gives my final remarks, whatever crap I come up with based on whatever got tweeted earlier, cranks out some eloquent sounding closing speech

12:00am, the 17th: it’s over, I breathe sigh of relief, start counting number of participants and recording rest of #16tovote tweets

12:20am: post several tweets thanking participants, then announces the next one will be – you’ll never guess! – the 16th of next month! yay!

Weekend:

12:00am, the 16th: Introductory tweet, calling this run a Saturday Edition or Sunday Edition!

3:00am: decides to finally go to bed despite sparse tweets, intends to get up early next morning to get back to it

11:00am: crap, I overslept! rushes back into it

12:00pm: tweets voting age ad

The rest is about the same.

For youth rights. For NYRA. *brandishes fist*

Got a reminder of it yesterday when an anti-corporal punishment article was posted to NYRA’s Facebook page. Seriously, click through that and check out all the comments.

Some people are all “WTF? I thought NYRA was only against corporal punishment in schools?!”

*facepalm*

Do they really think our opposition to corporal punishment is about WHO is hitting the kids rather than, you know, the idea of them being hit at all? Or, in general, did they not catch that we’re a “youth rights” organization?

Hell, in 2009, when our opposition to school paddling was added to our Education position paper, someone at the annual meeting out and asked me “this is just for schools, right? so if I had kids, I could still smack them?” I gave him a dirty look that made him recoil a bit and answered plainly “just for schools” and my look that seemed to add “but go fuck yourself”. I mentioned this to Alex later, since that guy was a friend of his, but Alex insisted the guy was joking. Eh, maybe.

Speaking of Alex, as seen further down that comment thread, he just had to chime in with his usual “oh dont worry, people who like beating children! NYRA doesn’t have a position against parents hitting kids!” Honestly, this is what annoys everyone about him, particularly these days. I know he’s against corporal punishment just like the rest of us. But our newer members don’t know that. Since in the past couple years, he’s been quieting his own youth rights views in favor of being more diplomatic and “moderate” because he’s afraid of NYRA seeming too fringe. As a result, he’s more interested in pleasing “potential” supporters than us sticking to our guns, or at least that is strongly implied. I don’t fault him for the diplomacy attempt, but he could at least stand with us more on the issue!

It’s sort of like MLK’s famous line that what we remember most is not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. It is in fact more disheartening for known supporters to prefer to keep quiet and thus not stand with us, than it is to hear anything our opponents have to say. We know we’re outnumbered. We know the world is against us. As such, all we have is each other. But when some of our own prefer to avoid offending opponents with disagreement than to join our precious few in standing up for what we’re about, it’s incredibly discouraging. Even more so when it’s a deliberate withdrawal rather than an accidental oversight.

Actually, maybe this answers my question. Maybe this is why many people don’t totally understand what NYRA is. There are some who don’t want NYRA to actually “be” anything, at least nothing too specific. But the trouble is, that leads to people completely not understanding why we do what we do. And, as such, we have people coming to our organization and being surprised that we… support youth rights. Our identity is unclear, and to some, deliberately so.

Though even identity issues don’t totally excuse these people. While the words “youth rights” can make people think all kinds of different things, many of which way off what we do, you’d think freedom from assault that’s called “discipline” would be obvious. I wonder if these same people join or follow an LGBT org and are surprised they are for same-sex marriage. I wonder if they join or follow an animal rights org and are surprised they are against fur.

It’s teal with snowflakes and some pink gifts on either side of the Annual Meeting picture.

Like 2009, Alex was nowhere to be found with helping with recipients. Though maybe that’s not totally true, as what helped me the most this year was not only some he provided last year but the last two years’ Annual Reports, which he put together.

Anyway, having been doing this for six years now, there are some things that have changed and some that stay the same. So enjoy some fun facts!

-There were 90 cards in the first holiday card run in 2006. They were all sent on the same day.

-Daily batches of holiday cards are always a multiple of 30 because that’s how many labels there are on the Avery label sheets I use.

-Cards are sealed using a moist napkin and clear tape. So, don’t worry, my tongue goes nowhere near them!

-Since 2009, I’ve been stamping the envelopes with an ink stamp of six ornaments. Since the cards aren’t the “usual” card size, I wanted to give some more indication on the outside of the envelope that there’s a holiday card inside. My original plan was to get some little Christmas stickers, but realized with the number of cards I send, the ink stamp would be cheaper and accomplish the same.

-This year, like last year, the return labels were green and the address labels were red. Font was 12pt Trebuchet. In the past colors have been toggled and it used to be Verdana.

-The cards are stamped with the year’s holiday stamps. They were ornaments this year. In 2007, they were what looked like cross-stitched images of a tree, snowman, something else I don’t remember, and a teddy bear. The teddy bear annoyed me for some reason.

-Every holiday card except this year and last year had an evergreen tree on it somewhere. The 2006 design was all trees, no photo. 2007 had a snowy field with trees in the background. 2008 was a Christmas tree with holly. And in 2009, though the design was a snowflake, I’m holding a Christmas tree plate in the picture!

-Hal and Dave nixed my original design last year because it had holly on it and felt this made it “too Christian”. However, two years earlier, in 2008, the card had not only holly but a Christmas tree too, but no one said anything.

-The picture I took of myself last year holding the newly arrived box of holiday cards from the printer was used as my board candidate picture for NYRA’s election this past summer. I answered the tenth candidate question, the one asking me why I should be elected, with “Re-elect me and I’ll tell you what’s in the box…”.

-I almost always do all the label sticking and sealing when at work. I’ve gotten good at shoving everything out of sight with a split second’s notice when someone walks by.

-In 2007, Alex not so subtly tried to steal the project from me. He kept urging me to “not worry” about labeling, sealing, and sending the cards myself, that he could have the two interns work on that. When I asked why he and the interns apparently have nothing better to do than the holiday cards I was already taking care of, he dropped the subject. He tried to do the same with the bumper stickers, even out and saying rather earnestly “but you can still pay for it, just let me make all the decisions”. Yeah.

-In 2006 and 2007, a couple board members urged me to enclose a letter with the cards explaining who we are. I refused and told them it was unnecessary anyway as I wasn’t sending to anyone who didn’t already know who we are, and because they wanted the letter to include a fundraising appeal, and I refuse to include holiday cards with a money ask as I feel it’d negate the “cheer” the cards are supposed to bring.

-The first few years, the recipient list had a lot of politicians on it, especially ones Alex Hull-Richter had worked with. Also those whose attention other board members wanted to get, though I’ve come to realize this means little. I spoke with a local politician recently, one who’d gotten our holiday card a few times before, but he had still no idea who we were. Nowadays I only include politicians with whom we’ve had some other direct interaction.

-A common reminder in my e-mails to the board about holiday cards is “Greetings, Not Ads!” As I mentioned above and previously, in the past, board members seemed to think cards were about advertising NYRA to those who don’t know us. I made clear that is not their purpose, that they are for people already with us to some degree.

-Galen notoriously has holiday card issues in some years. He didn’t get the 2006 one until mid-January because it got lost en route somehow. Last year and the year before we thought the same thing happened, as he had not gotten it, but both times he discovered his wife had misplaced it.

-Alex and I are the only ones who appear on every holiday card that has a photo (all except 2006). Eric Goldstein appears in all of the group pictures (2008 and on) but wasn’t in the 2007 collage.

-This year, I might have enclosed with Scott Davidson’s card a piece of paper that said HOT CARL on it. And by “might have” I mean I totally did.

Here’s to You!!!

So I raise my glass and say, “Here’s to you, Usiel Phoenix!”

She’s the President of NYRA. Jeffrey Nadel’s the Vice President now. I like having the two of them running NYRA as I strongly believe they are our two greatest youth rights activists, though their powers and specialties are in different areas. Jeff’s a pro with the media and public relations and prestige and legal action and that sort of thing. Usi was an emancipated minor who’s had to not only overcome the conditions that led to her seeking it to begin with but the legal hurdles to at long last obtain it. And now that she’s gotten her freedom, she’s dedicated to doing the same for the other youth. She’s experienced more youth rights violations than most and is about attacking the root of the problem and expanding understanding of it.

And that is just what she’s been doing at Occupy Wall Street! Voting age. Behavior mod. You name it. She even stopped a mother from forcing her 15-year-old daughter home from the protests.

And then she was there when NYPD raided Zuccotti Park.

And the cops attacked her. They tried to suffocate her, but succeeded only in cracking a rib. Later they dislocated her elbow when forcing her to the ground.

NYPD DID THIS

And she battles on.

She’s alright now. But, damn, she is one of the bravest people I’ve ever had the privilege to know.

Technically, since one of the main things she’s been doing there is promoting youth rights, she experienced police brutality in the line of duty, so to speak.

Yet due to some weird technicalities her actions were completely left out of NYRA Freedom.

(Good Lord, our own organization is censoring Occupy stuff from its news! LOL)

And this is only the most recent of her wonderful youth rights endeavors. Last year, when we were rallying at the Supreme Court during the oral arguments for Schwarzenegger v EMA (later changed to Brown v EMA, which you may recall we won 7-2), she gave that amazing speech about free speech and voting rights! Not to mention her work leading up to it to find people to share their thoughts on the value of video games for our Amicus Brief. She’s also helped UTEC Lowell with their campaign to lower the Lowell, MA voting age to 17. She testified in DC against the curfew. She gave a presentation at the 2010 Annual Meeting about her emancipation process. And on top of all that, she’s the only board member besides myself who’s a regular at chats, who is interested in what our members have to say. Plus lots of other stuff I’m surely forgetting.

She’s a fierce fighter for the cause. We’re very honored to have her.

“Sweet days of summer, the jasmine’s in bloom. July is dressed up and playing her tune.” -Seals and Crofts, Summer Breeze

Now for the eleventh time and ten years exactly after the end of the first, here we are on this lovely…

DAY
100

The final day of this eleventh round of the 100 Days of Summer! A tradition dating back to 2001, finishing a round of each day occurring exactly ten years after the corresponding days of the original run. Began May 24 and ends today. Another summer has come by, and goodness, who’d have thought a round of the 100 Days of Summer that begins with me dancing on a giant piano could be so crazy?

Oh, yeah, I danced on a giant piano! Let’s get into the recap.

Day 1, horribly sleep deprived and feverish with an ill-timed late spring cold, I picked up Kathleen O’Neal in Georgetown and headed to Greenbelt, only to get pulled over by a DC cop for going the wrong way down a one-way street. Gah! Despite delay, got to Greenbelt and caught Bolt Bus and by noon we were in New York City! At long last, I got to Ferrara in Little Italy, where I’d wanted to go the last several times I went to the city but wasn’t able to. Then to a piercing place Kathleen wanted to see, then to the Met, then met Gella! Then to FAO Schwarz where I found the Big Piano and played Ode to Joy with my legs. Hehe. And by 7pm we just barely made the bus back to DC.

Day 2, still feverish. Sitting in a hot car fixes that right up!

Day 3, skipped work and went to NYRA office for annual meeting planning.

Day 5, laaaaate night of hanging out with Kathleen!

Day 6, still hanging out with Kathleen since previous day, saw 3am brawl in Adams Morgan, helped buy groceries at like 6am before finally getting home and sleeping! Also, poorly attended board meeting where some troublesome staffing changes were mentioned. And the summer NYRA drama begins!

Day 9, some reading at library and then some Thai food, where the restaurant’s hostess said to someone “we don’t have sushi here, this restaurant is Thai, not Chinese”. Sigh. *facepalm* And that night, by amazing coincidence, the new South Park episode involved people not being able to tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese people!

Day 12, to Baltimore for Orioles game with stupid family. Dad got mad at brother and wanted to cancel game, but brother and I walked toward stadium without parents regardless, forcing them to comply. Ha!

Day 13, gah! Fred Phelps wannabe trolls on NYRA! Banhammer! Oh and now they’re trolling me on Twitter. I can troll back!

Day 16, interesting new South Park… wait. What’s with that ending? Is the show over?!

Day 19, at library reading Slaughterhouse Five. Vonnegut, if you say “so it goes” one more goddamn time I’m going to find your grave, dig you up, and beat the shit out of your corpse! Also, bathroom electrical outlet seems to have stopped working for some reason.

Day 20, OMG WTF?! Four and a half hour long board meeting? Goddamn it, Hal, enough with the bylaw proposals. They all are terrible ideas anyway and I’m so writing these minutes in your BLOOD for this!

Day 22, think I’ll check my NYRA e-mail… what? Where’s all my messages? Were they lost in the server switch? Have I lost… all my NYRA correspondence since 2006?!

Day 23, oh, it’s okay! I managed to hack my way back into the inbox on the old server and forward everything over! I’m a genius!

Day 24, first of three runs of #16tovote on the 16th during the 100 Days of Summer! Decided to spend it skipping work and helping in NYRA office. Turned out to be lousy idea because I not only got there real late but had waaay too many things to do at once. NYRA overload!

Day 25, Thai food with Kathleen! After some road rage on Massachusetts Avenue. Oh, DC driving!

Day 27, finally a new watch strap! Having to carry about my watch since the old strap finally wasted away was annoying!

Day 31, hanging out with Kathleen again, this time at Popeye’s.

Day 34, rough morning! Then in afternoon, landlords came to fix electrical outlet though couldn’t find problem. Then found out housemates’ bathroom outlets weren’t working either, yet breaker was not tripped. Then landlord pushed a test-reset button on a garage outlet and that got it working again. Electricity is weird! And that night, saw Prop 8 documentary. With Kathleen.

Day 35, yay! We won the Brown v EMA video game Supreme Court case! Chat to celebrate!

Day 39, ah, more NYRA drama. A board candidate sent a nasty email to someone in a setting that has nothing to do with NYRA, nor was much worse than what other NYRA higher-ups have done. And this is our problem for some reason.

Day 40, Ethiopian food with Kathleen and Patrick. Or, no, that’s Eritrean food. As the cab driver pointed out, they are different countries, “like Maryland and Virginia”.

Day 42, Independence Day and watching ’splosions from nearby soccer field! And NYRA chat.

Day 49, think I’ll go to library after work, do some reading, come on back out… holy shit, dark clouds, severe thunderstorm coming!

Day 50, deep forum thoughts on Twitter, then purchased a Nook, then some pizza for the Fifty Fifty! Then Kathleen calls saying she wants to hang out. Then… learn Montgomery County, where I’ve lived my whole life, is proposing a fucking curfew! You’ve got to be shitting me!

Day 52, petitioning in Silver Spring with Alex and some anti-curfew group to stop this thing.

Day 54, the second of three #16tovote on the 16th runs in the 100 Days of Summer. And it’s being sort of hijacked. Bleh.

Day 55, board meeting! Samantha Godwin wants to change Resolution 00-L which specifies NYRA deals only with teens and twenty-somethings, that it shouldn’t specify an age group. Whole board agrees except for Alex. Fight ensues and Alex leaves meeting. Vote is delayed to give him chance to state case. Oh, dear!

Day 57, conference call board meeting to vote on 00-L. Alex did not show so changed resolution without him. Shame. Feel like he could have gone out of his long time on the board better than that!

Day 59, four years after first reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, went to see the movie of it in the theater! Pretty good!

Day 61, supposed to meet up with Kathleen but can’t get a hold of her! Oh, well, I’ll just get something to eat by myself in Bethesda.

Day 62, ah, she slept all day by mistake. So hanging out now. I get to her place at 6pm and she’s in candy cane pajamas and hugging a stuffed sheep named Truffles. Ha. Oh, and I was named Truffles’s “lady daddy”, a proposal I initially wondered was a really weird way of Kathleen coming on to me. LOL

Day 64, Montgomery County curfew hearing! Police chief defends curfew for hilariously fallacious reasons and gets owned by councilmembers who see right through it. Alex, Abigail, and Alan give great anti-curfew testimonies. Kathleen shows up late. She and I get food and hang out for a bit again!

Day 66, ordered some stuff at work that wasn’t totally needed yet, though would be soon, so I’d get the big boxes so I could smuggle food into the Annual Meeting!

Day 67, boxes arrived, left work early, grocery shopping, shower, stuck in traffic going to Silver Spring, have to dig up change because that metro’s parking lot has meters for some reason, get to NYRA office really late! Help assemble packets, argue a bit, then back to Silver Spring for curfew petitioning! And hanging out. And fighting with some pro-curfew woman who was all offended that we were campaigning against it. And lots of NYRA people around for Annual Meeting!

Day 68, ANNUAL MEETING!!!! Had to pick up Kathleen and Neethi first, off to College Park, really late start, deciding which breakout sessions to see, Mary Beth Tinker speaking, talking social media over lunch, SSDP chapter stuff, NYRA victories, and off to bowling alley for annual report and laser pointer and election stuff and awards and, well, bowling! Then dropped Kathleen and Neethi back at her place. Then avoided that damn sobriety check point on the way home before getting gas and passing out in bed. Long day!

Day 69, ANNUAL MEETING!!!! Even later start for some reason. Picked up Kathleen and Neethi then off to College Park again. Election results! I’m in for my seventh term! Lost Jackie, though. Then Hal’s presentation on, uh, Rebecca Black. Yeah. Then Alex and I hosted a youth rights theory discussion! My seventh annual meeting and I only now finally get to do something other than bring food! Yay! Then lunch in which some odd things happened, then UTEC’s presentation, and keynote speaker Robert Epstein himself! Who said a lot of things people took issue with and he and Usi got into this whole battle. I later found out it bothered some people but I thought it was awesome. And then it was all over! I invited some people for us to hang out that night, but plans sort of fell apart. Kathleen, Usi, and I went back to Georgetown before we were to meet Hal and Eric at a diner in Silver Spring. Then things got, um, interesting. We met up with Hal very late. Yeah, things got… interesting. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Day 74, wow! New volunteer in NYRA office is finishing off new website for us! Doing better job than the idiotic developers we’d paid a crapload of money for. Not too certain about this new forum though.

Day 77, off to Wolf Trap to see Berlin and (what’s left of) INXS. Good show! Glad I have my Nook now, which alleviates the common boredom between sets!

Day 78, forums are shut down for transfer to new one. I have a baaaad feeling about this…

Day 79, chapter chat, though Kathleen wanted to see me. Hmmm. So I left AIM open and in the chatroom while I went out. It worked! Got home to find I’d caught the whole chat and was early enough to still take part at the very end!

Day 81, almost time to launch the new site! I’m fighting with Alex over all the forum sacrifices we’ve made for the nice-but-not-vital forum-blog integration. He’s fighting with Usi over proper launch time. The NYRA drama this summer is endless! And far from over…

Day 82, and we’re launched at 8pm EDT! New NYRA website is live! Yay! Oh, and Kathleen needs to stay with me beginning of September and is informing me of this because of some housing issues. So must get the okay from housemates.

Day 83, yup, as predicted, everyone hates the new forum. Buggy and in general major step down from what we had before. WTF?

Day 85, the 100 Days of Summer’s third and last #16tovote on the 16th! Went really well, delving more into youth rights theory behind the desire for a lower voting age. Probably because of all the youth rights philosophy I’d been recently reading and discussing.

Day 86, youth rights theory is very important for NYRA. Can’t have victories without theory, and theory without victories is just, well, theoretical.

Day 87, after trolling Barnes and Noble’s Facebook with complaints for their question of “what’s the most obnoxious thing a teen has said to you?” question, went to DC for some event Dave Moss was holding. Foot behind head and singing “Swinging on a Star”! Hmm. Alex wasn’t there. He had been expected. What’s going on?

Day 90, hmm, can’t get to my site or email for some reason.

Day 91, Alex… is… leaving us…

Day 92, no, why?! He can’t! He just can’t!… Also, EARTHQUAKE!

Day 93, he is, he’s so tired from doing this for so long, NYRA is doing well enough he feels it’s time, and hopefully all the nasty infighting of late won’t ruin that.

Day 94, car maintenance. Oh, and Hurricane Irene is heading this way and looking to fuck shit up, just days after an uncharacteristic east coast earthquake!

Day 96, Hurricane Irene! Up early to feed parents’ cat and put backyard stuff inside because they didn’t bother to do so before they left. And back home to watch the storm! Lost power at 11pm. Ick. Probably another long outage!

Day 97, oh, wait, it’s back on at 2am, even while the wind is still going at full force outside! For Pepco, pretty good! Hehe, look at all the leaves and sticks everywhere outside!

Day 98, have to figure out hiring new NYRA ED. Who could possibly replace Alex?!

Day 99, catered food at work to scavenge after company board meeting. Mmmm!

And finally…

Day 100, pretty ordinary day at work, followed by a yummy sushi dinner. I go there now and then for their dollar sushi happy hour and always take a box home yet this time, while still letting me do it, seemed to not like it. Hmm. Now watching South Park!

As these 100 Days of Summer draw to a close, I notice things have in general picked up pace, especially with NYRA, but where it all is headed is unknown, not a trace of a clue. What will become of NYRA, with the board at each others’ throats, with the young man on whose shoulders the whole operation has rested at long last taking his leave from it? Will the whole thing fall apart? Or will it soar to heights never before imagined? Maybe something is to be learned by the recent earthquake and hurricane. We don’t get earthquakes here, and suddenly we get one, and it was of course unexpected, but really everything was fine. Then came the hurricane, for which we all prepared and braced ourselves, and she came raging through, and while many places did get destroyed and there were deaths, for others, it was a long lasting windy rainstorm with a not very terrible power outage, though that again varies by location and just plain luck. So maybe what seems greatly altering and inconveniencing and perhaps scary and damaging is really just a storm to weather, a ground shaking through which to keep your balance until it stops. And, as I’ve repeatedly come to realize throughout life, the main question you must answer, regardless of fear or heartache or disappointment, is… what do we do now?

So while pondering this, we say farewell to this eleventh round of the 100 Days of Summer! Until May 24, 2012, beginning of Round 12, in whatever shape the world will be in then!

This has been Day 100 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 11.

And today came the verdict at last…

7-2, in favor of EMA. Two dissenters were Stephen Breyer and (surprising absolutely no one) Clarence Thomas.

WE WON!!!!

Check out the official document here!

I’ve been retweeting a lot of remarks and articles today in response to this ruling, so here’s a nice roundup.

Hypervocal says

This marks the first time the Supreme Court has ruled on video games, and now, because of this decision, it seems that video games have earned an equal place at the First Amendment cultural table along with books, music, movies and other entertainment products.

Slashdot notably notes that

Notable in the opinion is a historical review of the condemnation of ‘unworthy’ material that would tend to corrupt children, starting with penny-novels and up through comic books and music lyrics. The opinion is also notable for the odd lineup of Justices that defies normal ideological lines, with one conservative and one liberal jurist dissenting on entirely different grounds.

Good ol’ Reason, complete with a pic of Schwarzenegger signing something behind a Protect Our Children sign, quotes some of Scalia’s great majority opinion and concludes with:

Acknowledging the legitimacy of concerns that some violent entertainment is inappropriate for minors, Scalia nonetheless reminds us that ‘even where the protection of children is the object, the constitutional limits on governmental action apply.’

Ars Technica seems just plain sick of this shit and is glad to see the ban failed, saying

The law, as it was written, was bound to fail. Every previous state law that tried to enact some sort of ban has been struck down as unconstitutional. California’s law sought to control the sale of games with “deviant violence” to children, but lacked a clear definition of what deviant violence would entail. While the California law would have added an exception to the first amendment to exclude certain content from protection, in essence saying that video games were not speech, the Supreme Court has decided that video games are in fact expression, and are afforded the same rights and protections as every other art form sold to consumers. With a decision this clear, we’ve hopefully seen the last of state laws attempting to regulate the sale of video games to minors.

GamePolitics shows that butthurt California State Senator Leland Yee, the guy who proposed and has relentlessly pushed for this video game ban and wasted a lot of taxpayer money on it, is butthurt

California State Sen. Leland Yee said that today’s ruling by the Supreme Court “put the interests of corporate America” before the interests of children.

…

Yee went on to say that the eight years of legislative and legal battles were worth it because it raised the consciousness of this issue for many parents and grandparents, and has “forced the video game industry to do a better job at appropriately rating these games.”

Taxpayers in California probably disagree with Yee, who encouraged the state to spend money to defend a law that was inevitably struck down. The only ones truly enriched by the legal battle and victory was the videogame industry because this ruling has set a precedent that can’t be ignored by lawmakers daring to tackle the subject of violent videogame legislation.

Alyssa Rosenberg of Think Progress goes in-depth about the opposing arguments between Justices Scalia and Thomas.

Thomas draws a draconian line in the sand, saying that children have no right to read or access any material or speech without obtaining their parents’ approval first: “The historical evidence shows that the founding generation believed parents had absolute authority over their minor children and expected parents to use that authority to direct the proper development of their children. It would be absurd to suggest that such a society understood ‘the freedom of speech’ to include a right to speak to minors (or a corresponding right of minors to access speech) without going through the minors’ parents.”

Yeah, Clarence Thomas is a douche. But then Antonin Scalia rips him apart!

And it’s a delight to see Scalia utterly dismantle his total disregard for the rights of minors in a footnote, saying:

Justice Thomas ignores the holding of Erznoznik, and denies that persons under 18 have any constitutional right to speak or be spoken to without their parents’ consent. He cites no case, state or federal, supporting this view, and to our knowledge there is none. [...] It does not follow that the state has the power to prevent children from hearing or saying anything without their parents’ prior consent. The
latter would mean, for example, that it could be made criminal to admit persons under 18 to a political rally without their parents’ prior written consent — even a political rally in support of laws against corporal punishment of children, or laws in favor of greater rights for minors. [...] In the absence of any precedent for state control, uninvited by the parents, over a child’s speech and religion (Justice Thomas cites none), and in the absence of any justification for such control that would satisfy strict scrutiny, those laws must be unconstitutional.

In other words: “Jesus Christ, Thomas, STFU already!” But go read that whole piece for the two justices’ opposing recounts of history.

Our good friends National Coalition Against Censorship give NYRA and the ACLU a shoutout in mentioning our joint amicus brief for this case, and say

The impulse to ‘protect’ children by restricting what they can read, see, and hear is pervasive, and the decision issued today makes it clear that vague assertions about harm, or social disapproval of certain kinds of material, do not justify government restrictions. That also applies to books in public schools and libraries, which are of course challenged regularly.

The Court also rejected the claim that “the state has the power to prevent children from hearing or saying anything without their parents’ prior consent.” The decision thus leaves it up to individual families to set their own rules, without officials saying “what the State thinks parents ought to” do.

Whether it’s video games, movie, comic books, or music, parents and youth have a legitimate interest in making choices about what is appropirate without unwanted and unwarranted state interference.

And there’s Mother Jones in all its glory, promising that

To the nation’s young gamers—

I know you are no longer satisfied by the rantings of Cave Johnson, the eccentric dead billionaire in Portal 2. I’m aware you cannot countenance another 30 levels of Angry Birds. I sense that, just for once, you want to see something hemorrhage like the old days. Well know this: the judicial branch has not forgotten about you.

In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court on Monday put an end to a long-stalled California law that would have prohibited the rental or sale of violent games to minors.

That articles also points out…

There are of course more extreme cases of double standards and slippery slopes. With all the demands to have video games like the Grand Theft Auto series (content includes gang warfare, indiscriminate violence, colorful language, and some tongue-in-cheek depictions of sex) kept out of reach of children, an impressionable youngster can still stroll into any Barnes & Noble and pick up a copy of Justine by Marquis de Sade (content includes sado-masochistic Christian monks, orgiastic rape, mass murder by arson, and rampant torture).

It’s not a stretch to claim the latter would be more damaging to your average fifth grader.

Reminds me of a guy at our rally who brought with him a comic book or something, whose video game version was M-rated and would have been banned, while that comic book would be perfectly okay for anyone to buy.

Unfortunately, there was the annoying one from Scientific American, harping on that Leland Yee is a child psychologist and therefore knows best what’s good for children

Yee’s stance on whether to let children under the age of 18 play video games depicting violent scenarios—murder, car jackings and the like—is that such games cause “an increase in aggressive behavior, physiological desensitization to violence, and decrease [in] pro-social behavior,” according to an earlier statement on Yee’s site. His position lines up with those of the American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Among other supporters of Yee’s position is a group of psychologists and social researchers led by Craig Anderson, director of Iowa State University’s Center for the Study of Violence, who last year authored a paper that pointed to “clear and convincing” evidence that “media violence is one of the causal factors of real-life violence and aggression.” The study, entitled “The Influence of Media Violence on Youth” and published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, concluded that “research on violent television and films, video games, and music reveals unequivocal evidence that media violence increases the likelihood of aggressive and violent behavior in both immediate and long-term contexts.”

Somewhere I think Tipper Gore had an orgasm.

SciAm does throw a bone to the opposing side. Uhhh, sort of.

The other side of the violent video games disagreement claims that violent crimes among juveniles are declining even as video games have gotten more violent and that it is difficult to establish a causal relationship between any one medium and a group’s behavior, let alone the actions of an individual.

In a June 2010 Scientific American article social psychologist Dara Greenwood evaluated arguments on both side of the debate. Whereas research by Cheryl Olson, a public health specialist at Harvard, found that children’s reported motivations for video game playing and found that their top rated choices were to have fun, to compete well with others, and to be challenged. Olson also elaborated on the psychological benefits such play might afford, describing how video games facilitate self-expression, role play, creative problem-solving, cognitive mastery, positive social interactions and leadership.

Greenwood acknowledged that “no media psychologists worth their salt would conclude that violent video games will turn your children into gun-toting sociopaths.” Still, she concluded that violent media, including video games, may affect people in “countless subtle ways, increasing hostility and apathy to those around us.”

That’s… something? Maybe?

Well, then there’s this at the end…

California’s loss in the Supreme Court has a greater impact than simply scuttling that state’s attempt to limit children’s access to violent video games. The 11 other states—Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia—that submitted an amicus brief in support of California’s law now find their options likewise limited.

OMG like oh noes! You mean states who want to infringe on the free speech rights of young people and game sellers are finding their options limited? Oh, we must feel so sorry for them! How dare they be blocked from violating their young citizens’ basic liberties based on not-very-conclusive “science”?

Yeah, go to hell, Scientific American. I am disappoint.

Hate to end on that note. So here’s one more bit of awesomeness from Mother Jones on the Scalia versus Thomas battle!

So it’s a good day for free speech and youth rights! My beloved organization NYRA was closely involved in this case, signing onto the amicus brief and holding that kickass RALLY late last year, and today all of our work has come to fruition, and justice has been served! Even just the tiniest victories take enormous work and dedication, but we’re on our way to a world where rights of youth are actually respected. It may seem a video game issue is trivial, but it’s not, it’s sooo not. Because when something turns discriminatory and could mean criminal penalties, especially for no real compelling purpose, it gets real.

In closing, here’s Eric’s review of the case on the NYRA blog.

This has been Day 35 of the 100 Days of Summer, Round 11.

January: Check Engine

-I think I’ll make guacamole
-Wow, this guacamole is fucking gross. Ack! Is this earwax?!
-Oh, I got the wrong kind of avocados. Okay.
-Hey, think I’ll check out that “Purity Myth” book… good shit.
-I need to get NYRA’s blog restarted.
-Ugh, NYRA online community is pissing me off, seriously.
-I’ll try this guacamole again, with the right avocados this time…
-Yummy!
-WTF?! Why is my check engine light on?
-Oh, I left the gas cap loose. Lulz
-I think I’ve got an idea for a hashtag Twitter campaign for NYRA.
-Still awkward and uncomfortable, Alex? Well, fuck you too then!

Feburary: Whatever

-Wow, we have a lot of snow coming!
-Fuuuuuck, it knocked out our electricity!
-Now we’re freezing.
-I hope it comes back on soon so I don’t miss the Superbowl!
-Came back on Sunday morning after 30 hours. Yay!
-Good thing Giant is within walking distance so I could get some game food!
-Except the blizzard killed one of my fish. Because no heat in the house meant the tank got too cold. Fail.
-Ha! Saints win it!
-Another blizzard only three days later!
-Please, electricity, stay on!
-Oh, good, it did.
-Alright, NYRAnians, I has an idea. On the 16th, let’s tweet a lot about the voting age with the hashtag #16tovote. We’ll do it every month…
-Oh, wow, this #16tovote on the 16th thing has really taken off!
-You know what? Fuck the forums. I’m shutting them down.
-Forums users: Noooooo!
-Relax. Not gonna. Just want to see some changes.
-Yay, Winter Olympics!
-For Lent this year, I think I’ll… read!
-Oh, my Facebook postings offend you? Oh em gee. Oh, look, I don’t care.

March: Pelicans

-Ugh, an ageist ad. Alright, who’s the culprit?
-Hyundai?! FUUUUUUUU
-I feel like learning Spanish.
-Second #16tovote on the 16th… holy shit, lots of participation!
-Gah, NYRA board having a hell of a time getting meeting scheduled!
-Yay, invited to friend’s birthday party!

April: The Trouble with Trills

-Easter!
-Lovely Easter morning WES platform.
-Now another lovely Easter afternoon at Brookside. I think this is what heaven is like.
-And… bunny cake!
-Except now I’ve got a nasty cold. Ugh.
-Also, my stupid toe nail has been hurting and looking funny for a while…
-National Youth Rights Day!
-At a 21+ location for some reason.
-Been watching Destinos to get better at Spanish!
-This double R sound is annoying.
-Yay, Weezer concert!
-They again did not play Keep Fishin’. Gaaahhh!

May: Bury the Hatchet

-Birthday!
-Into DC late at night to pick up Lindsay to take her to Hal’s!
-Ten days later, to Hal’s to pick up Lindsay really early in morning to take her to BWI!
-Yay, DC101 chili cookoff.
-Despite Metro fail.
-Hey, I found a camera.
-Ah, here comes camera’s owner. He’s sure glad I found it for him. He gave me $20. Hehe.
-Yay, Stone Temple Pilots!
-Haha, I’m the idiot who brought an umbrella to a concert, yet I’m the only one not getting rained on.
-I need a new algae eater.
-Hey, that hatchet fish in that tank is dead.
-Time for letter writing campaigns against ageist advertising of Allstate and Hyundai!

June: Bacitracin

-Gahh, the AC is broken. And AC is in my room so have repair guys traipsing through. -_-
-Okay, my toe nail is still fucked up. I’d better get to the podiatrist.
-It’s a paronychia. A nasty one. Toe nail has to come off. FAIL!
-Well, at least I can still walk. It’s just bloody. And I need antibiotics. Ick.
-Spent weeks at work trying to order some stuff from a very unresponsive vendor.
-Wow, my anti-Father’s Day ranting sure pissed people off.
-I think I’d like my email account back. Been two years. So proposed at board meeting.
-Alex and Stefan refused.
-But rest of board said okay. Yay!
-Hey, this guy Larry has come to run NYRA-DC.
-Uh oh. Supervisor is having diabetic attack! Ambulance had to come.

July: Quality of Life

-Some idiot started a fire in the parking lot garden mulch with a cigarette! Had to put it out.
-Damn it, Toy Story 3! *cries*
-Awesome! Lots of fireworks displays visible from soccer field by my house!
-So I can’t order that stuff from work after all after weeks of delays. Grrr.
-AC is broken again! Repair guys traipsing through my room AGAIN!
-There was an earthquake?
-What do you mean Nigel still can’t move?!
-But… he has to…
-I don’t want to say goodbye.
-We’re off to the vet. It’s time to say goodbye.
-Fuck you, 2010, seriously!
-WTF?! Big severe storm knocked out electricity!
-Another 30 hour outage!
-I hate you, Pepco!
-This new NYRA-DC is rather chaotic. This Larry guy is a bit crazy.
-Annapolis!

August: Marvin

-Will the new bumper stickers I ordered arrive in time for the annual meeting?
-They did!
-Time to buy lots of food…
-NYRA Annual Meeting!!!!
-I’m live tweeting!
-Zac got the live Ustream set up! Win!
-Oh, no! Stefan wasn’t reelected.
-A-ha moment videos!
-The fucking AC is broken again!
-Well, at least he found the issue this time.
-STFU, smoke detector! I know you need a new battery but idiots who built the house put you way high up on the wall!
-Hal and I totally promoted NYRA at some Al Sharpton rally!
-Man, they’re taking forever to finish car maintenance.

September: Holding

-What the shit?! A Mosquito device in DC!
-Alright, Larry is batshit. GTFO my NYRA!
-Middle Eastern Bazaar! Yummy!
-Okay, Redskins, beat Dallas…
-Nooo, you let them get a touchdown at the last minute to get ahead!
-Wait, no, touchdown was nullified because they got called for holding. Redskins win!
-Think I’ll try to make #16tovote on the 16th bigger. Maybe a blog entry and a chat.
-Eh, those didn’t work out too well. Maybe just stick to tweeting.
-Hmmm, Teta isn’t doing so well. Having heart troubles.
-Now she’s really not doing so well…
-And now she’s gone.
-Fuuuuuuuuuuuck, that was my last grandparent!
-First my dog and now this?!

October: All Night Long

-Why the hell is my car alarm going off for no reason?
-Now I’m up all night with it!
-Okay, I’ve maybe fixed it?
-#16tovote on the 16th – Saturday Edition!
-Continuing with visiting state capitals, think I’ll go to Dover, DE.
-Why? Why the hell did I go to Dover, DE? *facepalm*
-Rally to Restore Sanity! Yay!
-Aww, Hal said my holiday card design was “too Christian”. But I like the holly!
-It’s okay. There’s a nice snowflake one I can use.
-Did the Redskins really just lose to the fucking Lions again?!
-Halloween! I had JUST enough candy!

November: Hummus and Tortilla Chips

-Time for NYRA’s Supreme Court RALLY!
-Holy crap, Usiel made an awesome speech!
-What… did my stupid web host screw up some maintenance and kill all site changes and info since August?!
-Well, seems they fixed it after a bit, but wow. Bad.
-Dave’s having a Face-Punch party! He got punched in the face, got compensation money, so he threw a party.
-Holiday cards arrived!
-Got stupid car alarm fixed. For free, too!
-Thanksgiving at aunt’s house, lots of food and people!
-Put Christmas lights on my window!

December: The One You Feed

-Time to send holiday cards!
-Oh, Jeff has gotten himself into a contest where he could win $5,000 with enough votes. Like Chase.
-Sent 570 holiday cards! Wow!
-Hey, neighbor company at work is having a little holiday gathering.
-Yay! WES Winter Festival! Cookies! Peace Spiral! Dona Nobis Pacem!
-I bought myself a keyboard!
-Now I’m getting a cold. Lovely.
-Holiday lunch with coworkers! Last workday before Christmas.
-Ack! Christmas shopping is hard with a runny nose!
-Christmas Eve… a magical night…
-And a lovely Christmas Day with morning flurries.
-Uneventful last week of work.
-Ugh, we’ve got to win this stupid contest somehow, got to bug lots of people for votes.
-Had to forego New Year’s Eve skiing for the stupid contest.
-Wow… the club house is still there. Look how big the trees are now!
-And once again, I’ve posted a Sure, Why Not? entry each day in December!

Yeah, make no mistake. This year was disappointing. I was expecting a WTF year, but in a cool way. Instead, I traveled nowhere, lost my dog and my grandmother, and a lot of other things did not happen. Feels like the year went along, I’m one year older than I was when I wrote the 2009 recap, yet don’t have much more to show for it. Well, here comes 2011. Need to do better. There are only so many of these years we get.

*looks up at Times Square 2011 sign, awaiting illumination*

Well, almost. There was one teeny tiny thing, back in October when I was first doing the design. I was all set with a lovely design, a green background with some holly on either side of the annual meeting picture! Beautiful. Was ready to show it to the board and await praise. Except… I couldn’t help the feeling it looked too “Christmas only”. What with the red and green, despite not saying Christmas anywhere on it, and being free of Jesus or angels or Santa. So when we met up in the NYRA office around that time, I showed it to Alex, and he thought the card was awesome. I mentioned my concern, though, and he agreed. But, well, Alex and I are lifelong Christians, so we’d be biased, as I said to him. So then Hal showed up at the office, and I asked him, as someone who is Jewish, what he thought of the card. Yeah, he got one look at it and said “no fucking way!” LOL! Alright, can’t use the awesome holly design, so back to the drawing board. My own dumbass fault, really. I’m supposed to be more mindful of it, I guess. It’s alright. I had other choices. My second choice, though, had ornaments on it, and I figured if holly was a no-no, ornaments probably were, too. So I went with my third choice, a blue one with little snowflakes on either side of the bottom of the picture. Averted! And the card is still awesome.

So anyway, since 2007, on the forums, I’ve been posting my own little musical reflection of that holiday card run. Stuff the Cards! Rather unimaginatively on my part, to the tune of Deck the Halls. And here is each one!

2007

Stuff the cards for NYRA members
Fa la la la la, la la la la
It’s what I do each December
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Christmas cheer is why I do this
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Though these names look awfully Jewish
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Told the board about my plan
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Card with collage and a snowman
Fa la la la la, la la la la
To wish our friends a happy new year
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Spread our message with some cheer
Fa la la la la, la la la la

So asked the board to help with this
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Just had to add names to the list
Fa la la la la, la la la la
This all sure did take forever
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
They complied in mid-December!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Last year’s hundred wasn’t too hefty
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Now I ordered two hundred fifty!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
For politicians pro-youth rights
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And our faithful members, you guys!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

One to Post article writer Linton
Fa la la la la, la la la la
And to Bill and Hillary Clinton
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Recipients sure run the gamut!
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
If you don’t like it, you can cram it
Fa la la la la, la la la la

I sent you a card, my friend
Fa la la la la, la la la la
That is, if I know where to send
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So if there’s not one in your mail
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
That’s because you’re made of fail.
Fa la la la la, la la la la

I sure have worked awfully hard
Fa la la la la, la la la la
To get you your holiday card
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So enjoy your card already
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Or I’ll give your info to Eddy
Fa la la la la, la la la la

If I missed you, don’t shed a tear
Fa la la la la, la la la la
I’ll try to include you next year
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So stay with us, you won’t regret it
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And the next holiday card, you’ll get it
Fa la la la la, la la la la

2008

Stuff the cards for NYRA members
Fa la la la la, la la la la
That’s what I do each December!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Christmas cheer is why I do this
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Though these names look awfully Jewish
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Told the board what it would be
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Cake picture next to a tree
Fa la la la la, la la la la
To wish our friends a happy new year
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
NYRAnian joy spread far and near
Fa la la la la, la la la la

So asked the board to help with this
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Just had to add names to the list
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Don’t know why I thought they’d do this
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
I forgot the board is useless!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Last year’s two fifty, it was plenty
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Now I got three hundred twenty!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
For politicians pro-youth rights
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And our faithful members… you guys!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

To the crew of Jeff Nadel
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Ralph Nader and Ron Paul as well
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Recipients sure run the gamut
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
If you don’t like it, you can cram it!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Do I have your correct address?
Fa la la la la, la la la la
How else will I know where to send?
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So if there’s not one in your mail
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Then, my friend, you’re made of fail
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Alex tried to alter the list
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Holy hell, I was so pissed!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Scratched his eyes out and all along
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Told him “YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG!”
Fa la la la la, la la la la

I sure have worked awfully hard
Fa la la la la, la la la la
To get you your holiday card
Fa la la la la, la la la la
You’d better enjoy your card already
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Or I’ll give your info to Eddy
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Did I miss you? Well don’t you fear!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
I’ll try to include you next year
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So stay with us, you won’t regret it!
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And next year’s holiday card, you’ll get it!
Fa la la la la, la la la la!

2009

Stuff the cards for NYRA members
Fa la la la la, la la la la
That’s what I do each December
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Christmas cheer is why I do this
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Though most recipients are Jewish.
Fa la la la la, la la la la

The design was fun to make!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Meeting picture and snowflake
Fa la la la la, la la la la
To wish our friends some joy and cheer
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
To end this amazing year!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Started to make up the list
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Asked the board to add to it
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Holy crap, some actually helped!
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
The awesomeness that’s Jeff Nadel
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Lots of cards to send this season
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Ordered 500 for some reason
Fa la la la la, la la la la
For politicians pro-youth rights
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And our kickass members… you guys!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

To friendly orgs, I sent a few
Fa la la la la, la la la la
And to all of ZSRU
Fa la la la la, la la la la
And Congressmen who proposed
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Lowering the age to vote.
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Saw a threat to my hopes
Fa la la la la, la la la la
When I ran out of envelopes
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Complained to printer, gave them what for
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
So they send one thousand more!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Need more names! Where are you, Alex?
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Hurry up, Koroknay-Palicz!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Though you’re busy, I won’t holler
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
WE WON TWENTY FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

By the 18th, I was done
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Yay! Holiday cards are fun!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
NOW Alex adds names to the slate!
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Sorry, Alex, you’re too late!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

I sent you a card, I guess
Fa la la la la, la la la la
That is if we have your address
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So if there’s not one in your mail
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Then that means you’re made of fail.
Fa la la la la, la la la la

I sure have worked awfully hard
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So enjoy your holiday card
Fa la la la la, la la la la
If not, your info, in a hurry
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Will be on /b/ saying you’re a furry.
Fa la la la la, la la la la

If I missed you, well that’s a shame
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Make sure we have your address and name
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Stay with NYRA, you won’t regret it
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And next year’s holiday card, you’ll get it!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

2010

Stuff the cards for NYRA members
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Like I do every December
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Christmas cheer is why I do this
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Though most of these people are Jewish
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Originally it was green with holly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
But Hal said no, it was not jolly
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Redesign I had to do
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Now has snowflakes and is blue
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Annual meeting pic of everyone
Fa la la la la, la la la la
We’re all having lots of fun!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Wishing you all much joyous cheer
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
For now and for all of next year!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Fall fundraising mailing list
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Got many addresses from this
Fa la la la la, la la la la
First they get a money plea
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Then they get the card from me!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Five hundred cards, is that safe?
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Got a hundred more just in case.
Fa la la la la, la la la la
For politicians pro-youth rights
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And our awesome members, you guys!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

To former board member Steve Ross
Fa la la la la, la la la la
And lots of friends of Dave Moss
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Interns, donors, leaders, of course!
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
Thank you all for your support!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

I sent you a card, I guess
Fa la la la la, la la la la
That is if we have your address
Fa la la la la, la la la la
So check, is there one in your mail?
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
If not you might be made of fail.
Fa la la la la, la la la la

I’ve been working awfully hard
Fa la la la la, la la la la
You’d better enjoy your holiday card
Fa la la la la, la la la la
If not, I’ll tell your info to /b/
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And claim you attacked Wikileaks.
Fa la la la la, la la la la

If I missed you, well that’s poor luck
Fa la la la la, la la la la
This is why you should sign up!
Fa la la la la, la la la la
Stay with NYRA, you won’t regret it
Fa la la, la la la, la la la
And next year’s holiday card, you’ll get it!
Fa la la la la, la la la la

Hehehe! Happy Holidays!