Still…

Edit (1-19-12): Ah, all better now!

Seriously, though, SOPA and PIPA must die.

I recently reread Alex’s piece from 2007 about that old show Kid Nation (which I wrote about a few months later), and how, before the show ever aired, adults got all up in arms about “oh noes, this show is abusive toward those kids and forcing them to take care of themselves, exploitation!” Something they seem to only ever say when the kids shown are competent and independent, and something they are quiet about when the kids are being abused and actually exploited.

Movie called “Dolphin Tale” came out this past year. I haven’t seen it, but I just gathered it’s based on a true story. My supervisor told me she was going to see it in theaters, and mentioned that, even though it’s based on a true story, she doubts the 12-year-old boy depicted in the film really played at any part in it.

Why would she say this? Well, her son is 12. Maybe she believes him to be incapable of anything great and certainly unable to make independent decisions. Maybe she likes it that way.

Similarly, I’ve actually seen complaints about, of all things, Dora the Explorer! Oh noes! How dare the show depict a 5-year-old girl wandering around… without adult supervision?!

And, of course, let’s not forget… Home Alone. Eight-year-old Kevin is accidentally left home when his family leaves the country, and during this time he must protect his house from burglars. Then later in the sequel he’s in New York City by himself and again managing himself just fine, and ends up rescuing a toy store and a children’s charity from the same burglars. Even though these two movies (I don’t consider any later “Home Alone” movies to exist, it’s not Home Alone without Macaulay Culkin!) are beloved classics now, sure enough, you’ll find no shortage of people who feel personally offended that these films depict a prepubescent child successfully taking care of himself and fending off two burglars without adults around to oversee and take care of him, save for the old man with the shovel and the bird lady who come to the rescue when the burglars do have him cornered. Even where movies with adult heroes are significantly less realistic, Home Alone will get picked apart, because how dare John Hughes suggest a heroic independent child?!

And there’s the people who are even offended that Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson are smarter than their parents.

The list goes on. And it’s not even just fictional characters, as even real youth who show courage and independence or great skill are often derided, and assumed to be neglected or abused.

But if these people are so disturbed by this? Good! Let’s keep disturbing them!

Oh, look, another holiday conversation!

New Year’s Day: Welcome 2012!

Christmas: Yay!

New Year’s Day: Another year is upon us!

Christmas: True. Except, well, why you?

New Year’s Day: What do you mean?

Christmas: Well, every date is a year after itself. Why start with you rather than like March 1 or something?

New Year’s Day: Come on, Christmas, you’re really not one to talk when it comes to why something is celebrated when it is!

Christmas: No, no, I have a point. I mean, if the idea is the year revolves around the birth of Christ, and that’s what I’m about, it would follow the year would begin and end with me. But it does that with you instead. A week later.

New Year’s Day: Yeah. Well, close enough.

Christmas: But it’s that week later, eight days later actually, that’s interesting. Think about it.

New Year’s Day: What?

Christmas: I’m about the birth of Jesus, right? And Jesus was Jewish. And you’re eight days after his birth, so…

New Year’s Day: …

Christmas: Yeah.

New Year’s Day: FFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

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…

YOU SUCK!!!!

Jell-O. And they’re little Temptations pudding advertising. See, the idea is that it’s not like their other desserts (somehow). I mean, it probably still contains the exact same ingredients. But somehow this one isn’t for kids. They’re not only saying so. They’re forbidding kids from getting free samples of it through fancy machines!

The current offer is for Temptations by Jell-O, the brand’s first product designed specifically for adults. The machine is equipped with technology to determine the age of the person requesting a sample. If the machine senses a child, a panel lights up with the words, “Sorry, kid. You’re too young to experience indulgence like this. Please step away so the adults can get their free treat.”

You’re too young to experience indulgence like this? Even if I weren’t outraged on youth rights grounds, I’d want to smack the person who came up with this. Are they actually implying eating this particular pudding constitutes sex?

We’ve been discussing this a bit on the NYRA board e-mail list, and Eric Goldstein suggested the restriction could be for liability purposes. And he’s probably right. Except if that were all it is, you’d think they could at least try to be respectful about it. Having a machine say the equivalent of “ha ha, you can’t have this!” pretty much shows there’s more to it than that.

Unless it’s 50% vodka, there’s nothing “adult” about Temptations, no matter how much Kraft tries to implicitly sexualize it. No, they are very obviously taking the alcohol and cigarette tactic of using age restrictions to boost youth desire for the product. To make them want to be “adult”. As well as making adults want to use the product because it’s not for kids, so they can quench their adult insecurity by indulging in what might be usually pegged a kids’ dessert but not feel young doing it because kids can’t have it.

We see this with so many products, that kids can’t have or can’t have fully usually under the guise of safety. But that’s an excuse. I’ll bet more adults support the drinking age not so much becase of desire to keep youth healthy, but because they see youth as “other”, as inferior, and that they have some right to be superior to them and to have things those inferior others can’t have. And this makes them feel good and triumphant, that they’ve won over those evil youth, who’ve committed the horrible sin of existing when they haven’t existed long enough. Hell, I’ve seen ads for parental controls on things that promote it not to keep kids safe but to be able to block them and say/think “haha, you’re blocked, you stupid kid!” It’s a dangerous combination to set something where one group can feel super privileged and superior over the other, all with the excuse of “safety”. Safety, my ass!

And youth aren’t the only ones victim to this method, though they fall victim to it perhaps most severely. Dr Pepper Ten ads are promoting themselves explicitly that “It’s Not For Women!” Why? Because the idea is men don’t want to drink Diet Dr Pepper because “oh noes, diet soda is for women!” So they have this product that’s pretty much identical, just with added sweetener and caffeine, that’s not only marketed to men but supposedly only men. Because nothing kills manliness like using the same product women use. Men can’t be women!

And so we have Temptations, despite containing nothing uniquely harmful to youth (any more than any other sweet dessert anyway), promoting itself as “just for adults” so adults don’t have to feel degraded by eating the same product kids eat. Men don’t want to be women. Adults don’t want to be children. That’s the idea that is being promoted here to sell products.

Maybe we all need to get over our insecurities, and loudly, and make clear this kind of advertising doesn’t appeal to us. Because you don’t need to tell me a product will make me feel more adult. I don’t need something to do that for me, and I’m not stupid enough to think your product will do that.

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?!

I was born on a Friday, so whenever my birthday lands on a Friday, that year’s calendar matches up (or mostly matches up if a leap year) to the 1983 calendar.

Hey! My birthday was a Friday this year! So 2011 and 1983 match up!

This year also has the same calendar as 2005.

So, today, December 28, 2011, is a Wednesday, just like December 28, 2005 was.

I feel like that date rings a bell…

I feel like the days leading up, once Christmas was out of the way anyway, I was putting something together and fixing it up.

And on this day, six years ago, it went live…

Of course! You’re looking at it!

HAPPY 6TH ANNIVERSARY, EIGHT MINE FORTRESS!!!!

How about this?

The whole site is in Verdana, but maybe I’ll switch the whole thing to this.

Or I’ll switch the whole thing to this.

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

Which one shall I pick?

Contrary to popular and inexplicable opinion…

Neither one is really all that bad!

This has its uses.

As does this.

Yet there are some who recoil at the mere sight of this!

They recoil at this, too!

What is wrong with these people?

Maybe they should get a life.

If they are so offended…

Down to their very souls…

Over
some
fucking
fonts!

SHUT THE HELL UP!!!!

People who are all like “we’ve got to get kids reading!”

There’s been ads for James Patterson books on TV, and some recent ones start off with “James Patterson gets kids reading!” Because he’s apparently written young adult lit now, so it shows a pre-teen reading from a book about middle school.

Because if there’s anyone who truly knows what middle school is like, it’s authors in their sixties!

But, what, they couldn’t just advertise the book? They have to include some crap about “getting kids reading”?

That takes away the “here’s something you’ll enjoy” factor and turns it into yet another “getting kids to do things adults want them to be doing”. Okay, the implication seems to be “it gets them reading BECAUSE it’s enjoyable”, but it still makes it being enjoyable to the young reader secondary to satisfying some cliched expectation. Because, after all, the world cares nothing for kids’ personal desires and cares entirely for what adults desire for them.

Also, maybe someone should tell these adults that when kids are reading, they’re generally -gasp!- inside and sitting! Oh noes, they’re getting fat! So send them outside to get exercise. Then bitch that they aren’t reading enough.

My world is changing. I’m rearranging. Does that mean Christmas changes, too?
- “Where Are You, Christmas?”

The days leading up have kind of sucked. Christmas is about joy and hope. I see much ahead that is uncertain.

Today and yesterday have been okay. Even through it all…

Still with watching the Christmas Eve Christmas specials…

Baked cookies! Mmmm!

The Redskins lost… -_-

Wrapped presents.

Why did I buy my stupid family so much shit?

Mmmm, cookies.

Wrap more presents.

Mmmm, cookies.

You know what? I can finish this later.

Off to see stupid family.

They weren’t sure whether to get a platter of mezze or a big platter of sushi or a big ass bowl of shrimp. So they got all of it!

Christmas!

Brother wants me to watch YouTube videos. Mom wants me to watch British sitcoms.

Gah!

Reading “Visit from St. Nicholas” to brother before he goes to bed.

Trying to leave but Mom keeps asking pointless questions.

Yay, got to church sort of on time!

Running down aisle while they’re singing “Angels We Have Heard on High”.

Breathlessly singing “Gloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooria, in excelsis deeeeeeeo!”

Wearing Santa hat all through service. LOL U MAD?

Time for the peace. Wearing Santa hat. “Merry Christmas! Peace be with you!”

Here it is… the highlight of my Christmas time… and perhaps of my year…

Raising my lit candle, singing Silent Night!

Back home… to it being 1am and all my neighbors’ outside lights still on and shining, long after they’ve normally turned them off.

Last wrapping, more staring off into the divine night… and off to bed…

But so many questions remain. So many things are uncertain. What will things look like this time next year? How will such changes change Christmas itself for me? And the biggest question of all, what can I do about it? If anything?

Do I just wait and see? Am I sitting on the answer and just don’t notice it yet? Do I know what the answer is but have chosen not to do it?

Am I even asking any of the right questions?

But, at Christmas Eve night, trying to go to sleep, what can be done now?

Now? For now, yes, maybe just wait and see…

And in the morning, the bright sun shining… at last Christmas Day!

Let there be peace, love, joy, hope, and giving!

I got a Slinky!