Landscape of the Heart

Upping My Action

2024-10-02T10:54:00.006-04:00

Yes, I might chime in here and there with an public opinion or two. And there's more at stake this election cycle. So here's how I am upping my action.

Here, on my personal Facebook page I'll share shareable information about the candidates that have my vote, subject to change.

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I am a life-long Democrat (wait for it...). In the past several years a few things have changed:

...I've been disappointed by the Democratic Party,

...My default response to issue-based "Left or Right" questions is "It depends."

...I evolved from US Citizen to patriot when I realized our shared democracy, my citizenship, and everything in between can in fact be voted away.

...Being affiliated with either party is now an obstacle to individual, community and global peace.

So a few of us started our own party: The Voters Party(c) (TVP). It's been around for a while and more or less waiting for this moment. If you are qualified to vote in a US election, or want to be, you are already a member of TVP. You are a TVP Party of One.

TVP's only position is pro-voting (or is that pro-vote?). Our slogan is Promote the Vote. No candidates. No platform. No donations.

Why did I get this party started? I wanted to speak to US politics as an individual; a Party of One(c). I want us know what we agree on and what's needed to a path to 100% voter turnout.

Now, when you want to, you can say you belong to The Voters Party, or "I am a Party of One." More to follow on all things TVP.

Lincoln spoke to our time when he warned “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." [Source Reuters] ]

I agree to NOT do that. Do you?

I agree to Vote. Do you?

Peace.

Attend DataU

2019-08-07T20:14:00.004-04:00

Are you ready to own your data? Put it to work for you? Care for it, give it safe shelter?

Is it possible?

Pay attention!

Published : )

I am a Communication Artist

2019-08-07T11:46:00.002-04:00

Publishing for copyright purposes on the phrase "Communication Artist"

Trademark registration pending

Again

2016-12-21T16:16:00.001-05:00

I read that a successful marriage requires falling in love many times, always with the same person.

The thought of falling in love with you again leaves me breathless,

But not without the foresight to know that I will fall in love with you

Again, when I see you walk down a wedding aisle toward our commitment,

Again, as we become our children,

Again, each time we stand united against tides,

Again, when you are kind to me,

Again, when I surprise you,

Again, when we do for each other all that we cannot do alone,

Again, as I look through time back to this moment

When you said

Yes, I will complete this journey with you only.

Trumped by a Narcissist...not!

2016-12-08T13:34:00.003-05:00

Congratulations, America, you're in a long-term relationship with a narcissist. Given that you’re smart and strong enough to attract a narcissist, you’ve got what it takes to recover. Keep reading.

First, congratulate yourself on being endowed with sufficient intelligence, self-sufficiency, success, ability, beauty and empathy to attract the attention and cross-hairs of a narcissist. Unlike the narcissist, you really are great and your narcissist needs your outlier capabilities to a) fill his empty psyche with the positive and negative attention he needs to feel alive, and to b) never consider for a moment that what you see is actually a carefully constructed network of lies that over the course of a lifetime has become an impenetrable facade and perfect mimic of the integrity you think you see.

You’re not wrong to love him. God knows, he needs real love to become a real boy. He’s been shielding himself from love ever since the trauma occurred--the one that sparked his need to cloak himself from everything in order to shield himself from harm.

Here's the kicker, America: He needs your tough love even more than your adoration. A trauma greater than the original is likely the only thing able to create a crack in the armor and inverse integrity he has built so long and so well. Even then it may and may not ever happen.

Know that until that happens, you can’t hear him and he can’t hear you. His forced bravado, laugh, and volume together form one of many outer barriers. Until and unless he finds his real voice, be careful on approach.

Next, congratulate yourself on having sufficient survival instinct to read this far. It’s a sign that you accept--just a sliver--that you have been duped.

Stop. Do not start to berate yourself, you’re going to need that energy for your recovery. And perhaps some other relationship experience caused you to unwittingly cloak yourself in the most powerful narcissist-attracting pheromone--vulnerability.

Remember, you’ve got what it takes to recover. First, together, we need to get to a point and place where recovery from a President with NPD is possible.

But how do we invoke "No contact" with a US President? If you cross a narcissist (which can be done by stating a fact) you are likely to invoke narcissistic rage. I've seen it, and I don't think all of the other domestic and world leaders are prepared to deal with it. Who is?

Keep calm and Keep reading.

Narcissists market themselves brilliantly: “They may present with a swagger, intense eye contact, false bravado/charm, knock-your-socks-off seduction.., swift pacing of rushing the relationship into commitment/cohabitation/marriage/business partnership, promising a future together (which is later discovered to be a lie), intense sexual chemistry, love-bombing (repetitive texting, emailing, phone calls), or romancing the target excessively (flowers, etc).”

Sam Vankin, Ph.D, also offers a few of the things the narcissist finds devastating, originally written for divorce lawyers dealing with a narcissistic personality type on the stand:

Any statement or fact, which seems to contradict his inflated perception of his grandiose self.
Any criticism, disagreement, exposure of fake achievements, belittling of “talents and skills” which the narcissist fantasizes that he possesses.
Any hint that he is subordinated, subjugated, controlled, owned or dependent upon a third party.
Any description of the narcissist as average and common, indistinguishable from many others.
Any hint that the narcissist is weak, needy, dependent, deficient, slow, not intelligent, naive, gullible, susceptible, not in the know, manipulated, a victim, an average person of mediocre accomplishments.

The narcissist is likely to react with rage to all these and, in an effort to re-establish his fantastic grandiosity, he is likely to expose facts and stratagems he had no conscious intention of exposing. The narcissist reacts indignantly, with wrath, hatred, aggression, or even overt violence to any infringement of what he perceives to be his natural entitlement.

This doesn't get us any closer to recovery, though.

Keep calm and keep writing.

Top Ten buckets of cold water

2012-02-19T12:31:00.001-05:00

It’s as right as it is wrong, and you’re headed straight for it. The Guardians of Integrity and Knights of Respect have been incinerated by the heat you two are throwing off. The cold voice of Logic tells you—for what you know will be the last time—Shut. It. Down. You need a lightning bolt that will hard halt your bodies, minds and souls for the split second you need to derail this train. Nothing is impossible. Here is your arsenal. It's not personal. It's just cold, and will likely evolve until it reaches a temperature of Absolute Zero.

10 I’m pregnant.

9 I’m fertile.

8 Jesus is coming.

7 The Bat Signal!

6 Superbowl kickoff in ten seconds!

5 You kiss better than your dad.

4 Did you bring a gun?

3 You kiss better than your wife.

2 It takes a credit card to ride this train.

And the number one, biggest bucket of cold water…

1 Your wife’s check hasn’t cleared.

Maybe in a moment

2011-10-02T22:30:00.003-04:00

You left so many months ago

That fear of love was not a show

Our monsters did their very best

We put our love through every test

We tried so hard to turn away

But our love’s as strong as that first day

Maybe in a moment

You’ll take a step toward me

Maybe in a moment

You’ll start to leave Kentucky

Until that moment

You know that I believe in you

Before you left you never lied

You need your brother by your side

He is your partner in this life

The one that scarred you was your wife

That life was full of love and trust

She ground your heart into the dust

She broke your will to live and love

But not the will of God above

Maybe in a moment

You’ll take a step toward me

Maybe in a moment

You’ll start to look for signs of me

Until that moment

Remember I believe in you

This life is hard and it is real

And it can’t change the way you feel

You are a man who’s born to love

With all the power of the sun

No matter what you say or do

I do believe I know what’s true

I saw the colors of your heart

The last time time pulled us apart

Maybe in a moment

You’ll take a step toward me

Maybe in a moment

That woman standing there is me

And in that moment

We’ll know that you and I are true

Attitude of Gratitude (12-Pack Guarantee)

2011-10-02T22:28:00.000-04:00

There’s a few sayings that inspired this song. “The pen is mightier than the sword.” “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.” “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” “God, don’t grant me luck, grant me timing.” Well, those and many more like them are all true, no doubt. Maybe there’s a slogan that sums it up best. That’s why I call this number,

Attitude of Gratitude (or 12-pack Guarantee)

I know and love his heart and his integrity

My time with him I took the bitter with the sweet

I love his heart, his soul his life

And I pity his new wife

She’s a walkin’ talkin’ 12-pack guarantee

He’s a good man like my daddy showed could be

When he wants to be the man he wants to be

He chose Bud Light over me

That’s when I refused to be

His walkin’ talkin’ 12 pack guarantee

Now I’m not being mean, that woman surely knows

From her tipsy frosted head down to her toes

It’s her job at Dairy Queen |She pays the trailer rent and light

That fills his Jeep with gasoline |Where the neighbors reb all night

Her job’s a walkin’ talkin’ 12-pack guarantee

His Gifts of Venus can make any woman gasp

But barley brews keep it lowered to half mast

On the night they’re newly wed |She’ll need more than a broom

She’ll need the bunny in her bed |To get the groom outta his own room

She’s just his walkin’ talkin’ 12-pack guarantee

[Slowly, with great feeling, like a hymn or gospel song…]

Now we’ve both said all there is to be said

To our waters we have both been surely led

He married beer and bread and board

Now it’s half his says the law and Lord

He’s got his walkin’ talkin’ 12-pack guarantee

I may have gone from debutante to double wide

That never hurt my love for me, just my pride

I miss the good man at my side

So strong and safe, he was my guide

But I’m no walkin’ talkin’ 12-pack guarantee

She’s his walkin’ talkin’ ice cream hawkin’ bet my talkin’s set her sister squakin’

Better her than me…She’s his walkin’ talkin’ 12 pack guarantee

Class Cold Warfare

2011-09-20T09:41:00.001-04:00

Response to Karl Frisch's column of 20 Sept 2011

Brilliant. Thank you for succinctly and pointedly calling the GOP on their hypocrisy, They are arrogant enough to believe this strategy will work ad nauseum...time for it to backfire.

A lot of decisions and policies were enacted in public and private sectors...long before current administration...that drifted Americans toward the wealth and poverty poles. The dearth of middle class, the discontinuation of good and equitable education, and simplification of health care for many to a choice between debt and death...these results evidence of successful class warfare campaign waged by the powerful against the plebs (myself included).

We need social leadership that will do for economically oppressed Americans what MLK did for civil rights--affirm the inequity and illegality of our current state, renew our commitment to peace and prosperity, ignite our potential and awaken our power.

I believe there are many out there who, like me, wallowed in the complacency of middle class while a slow, quiet drip eroded our economic security. I knew fear for the first time upon waking up in actual statistical poverty and finally noticing the target on my back. Having survived so far, and having worked through fear for survival, I now know anger. Not a white-hot and irrational anger, but a focused and directed anger that is intelligent, educated, experienced and ready for action. They want to call "Class Warfare?" Bring it on. You're right, Karl. We have engaged.

If Tea Party-ers listened to themselves...

2011-09-18T14:46:00.002-04:00

I just love this exchange, gotta share. I stumbled into a right-wing string of photo comments via a friend's post. The basic thought was that current Congress and Administration has spent us into current economic state. As a fan of reality, I just had to jump in, and was rewarded with a perfect example of the American who are so well trained to accept the latest 30 seconds of message as Truth that they are no longer conscious of what they themselves said or heard 30 seconds ago. The whole thing is @ http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150381229248854&set=a.10150140108168854.337792.116727628853&type=1&theater

I said...
Apparently calendars are as out of fashion as facts. The money that's causing today's problems was spent by the gov't and lost by Wall St & Co BEFORE Obama took office. The money spent since was an attempt to fix the debt and insolvency problems created by the prior Administration(s) and Congress(s). I'm not qualified to say bailouts were right or wrong, enough or not enough. I am grateful that the current Administration and Congress had the guts to shore up the banks so that the damage wasn't worse. I am sad that those who received and managed the money did not do so with more integrity and accountability. I am ashamed of Americans who decide to forget or neglect facts in favor of the emotional rush of belonging they get from FoxNews, the Tea Party and other distortion purveyors. The collaboration needed to reverse our political and economic state is difficult enough without rejecting reality. Please re-introduce critical thinking into your thinking process before you cast your next vote.

Respondent said...
Moira...it doesn't take a degree in "critical thinking" to determine that spending more than you're taking in, throwing good money after bad, pandering to voters and companies simply for voter turnout, using racially motivated politics, and flat out ignorance are reasons enough to declare this administration a farce. Please stop using talking points from liberal commentators, we've heard them all before and they are really, really old and pathetic. Instead of the skipping record of blaming the previous administration, how about TAKING RESPONSIBLITY FOR THE INEPTITUDE of the current leaders? Pointing fingers is a sign of weakness, and you have displayed yours. A popular trend amongst simple minded people such as yourself....

So I said...
Donny, note the difference between "pointing fingers" and stating facts. It's a good place for you to start. That "skipping record" is reality attempting to break through rhetoric. All the best to you.

I hold these truths to be self-evident

2011-09-17T12:11:00.001-04:00

As always, more to come...

Everything that occurs naturally is ultimately round. Anything that is planed or straight is man-made.

The problem with string theory is that it is not round.

The opposite of love is apathy.

All human intent can be plotted on a 4-square grid. Y (Motivation) axis is Love and Fear, X (Survival) axis is Sex and Money.

Masonry began when Solomon built the first temple to "house" God in a palace of straight lines, and thereby reverse that nature of worship from female to male. He later realized this as an error, realized its implications, and recanted. It was too late. The method of spiritual, political and economic control he loosed had taken hold, and holds us still.

Know Love

2010-12-18T09:12:00.004-05:00

You tell me how to end love.

Give me a potion that whitewashes time and love.

Give it to me, and I will drink

and I will live and I will love despite your best intentions and efforts.

It seems to me, that when one heart stops beating the one left with rhythm is held harmless for loving,

allowed to hold and keep sacred that love forever

without question, judgment or repercussion

But when one heart does something less, the other life gains no allowance

Only a scale on which denial and truth present for decision

Between truth’s painful strokes and the numbing deception of denial

It is not love that ends, it is life or life’s comfort with love that ends.

Love’s comfort that we love, need, miss and above all

Fear, seek find and hold until acceptance of love exposes fear for acceptance

and with acceptance, love’s comfort

In fear we most humanly fight love or fly from it, until courage to accept and acceptance quiets fear in its corner.

There is no true love, no false love, only love

Our only choice is accept or reject and love does not care whether we accept or reject

it simply is what it is…everything, nothing, and anything in between.

Love is no guarantee of comfort. It is awareness and acceptance of soul comfort and a guarantee of discomfort.

It is love’s discomfort that returns us, with every breath, to our lone choice

Love’s discomfort tips one to accept fear over new comfort, to shield with lemoned razors

While one is willing and wanting to endure the trials and accept love's life,

to hold the warm velvet ropes close and around

so white water can heal and black cannot burn

Love wants to live. Love knows it is eternal, yet fights against denial for survival in brief life

In life, love finds immortal breath and beat.

In life, love finds us.

While integrity remains you can tell me to end love

You cannot tell me how, because it cannot be done while or beyond my breath

I am a writer

2010-12-08T13:23:00.003-05:00

(Capability + Courage) Challenge = Fearlessness

The Power of Sharing … is the article I’m supposed to be writing right now. This is what happened instead.

~~The Power of Sharing~~

~~The Power of Challenge~~

A few months ago, I lived in fear. I knew it. I hated it. I almost hated myself for allowing fear to keep its grip around my feet, hands and neck. I felt powerless.

I fully believed that I had all of the information, knowledge and experience I needed to turn my life away from poverty, foreclosure and looming homelessness. But I didn’t make that turn. I couldn’t. Lack trumped hope and will every moment of every day. I felt defeated.

I lacked the smiles, safety and respect of others. I missed others’ belief in me. I felt alone.

My belief that I had what it took to return my life to solid ground was wrong. I lacked Challenge.

True, I had challenges every day. Even with my head buried in the sand, I knew they were there. They came in the mail, down the phone and into my email inbox whether I acknowledged them or not.

I also could not hide from the voice of a new challenge. The voice had a faraway pitch that I could neither hear nor ignore, and spoke to me through the women in my life. Within the small span of several days, I heard “Women’s Resource Center” and “Challenge” three times.

I got the message. I found courage sufficient to break through my medieval wall of shame, reach for the door and accept whatever Challenge might be.

It turned out that for me, the challenge within Challenge was reaching across the threshold of shame with acceptance of the Unknown.

Experience soon revealed, with its characteristically twisted sense of humor, that my Unknown was a Known. In Challenge, I said out loud and to other human beings for the first time, “I am a writer.”

Now, it’s one thing to have known this since I was a child, to have used words to underpin my education and career as Anything But a Writer, and to wear—for four decades—the hair shirt of a frustrated writer who doesn’t write. How many times had I inwardly and outwardly laughed and scowled at the knowledge, “Writers write.”

And that was my illusion of safety. As long as I didn’t write, I wasn’t really a writer. Being a writer was one thing. Believing I could Make A Living as a writer was a presumptuous, arrogant, self-indulgent, unattainable self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. And my responsibility to Make A Living was an atomic element of my upbringing and being.

Writing, apparently, is a sub-atomic element of my being that has a trumpet blast for a voice, once found. And the voice of my writer has triumphantly trumped the generations-deep Scots Irish Midwestern Presbyterian reverb of personal responsibility.

Ah, what the Hell. I wasn’t making a living anyway. I was, in fact, getting buried by my past and present efforts to make a living.

When I spoke the words “I am a writer” aloud, I heard those generations turning and shrieking. I might have picked up some faint shred of respect for my courage, but I wasn’t’ sure.

But that was it. The sky didn’t fall, no biophysical catastrophe sparked spontaneous combustion, and none of my Challenge fellows gasped all of the oxygen out of the room. They accepted me and what I said with smiles and interest.

In hindsight, it is tempting to see this as a simple moment. I know better. That small moment was the sum total of all of my experience and the prophet of my future. My dad taught me a favorite saying, “God, don’t grant me luck, grant me timing.” The name of that moment was, and remains, Timing.

My Challenge experience was a challenge to accept the challenge I’d been given before birth: Write. To accept this challenge, I had to first accept that I had the right stuff—capability and courage—all along. I was missing the catalyst of Challenge.

As catalyst, Challenge did not judge, threaten or scream “Just do it!” It gave me a rhythm of reliably safe space, free of judgment, bills and bill collectors.

Those women in my Challenge class wove their fingers together between clasped hands and laid their shared strength before me as a bridge over my sucking vortex of grief and shame. Every time their power saw me safely to the other side, they allowed me to stop, turn and lend my own strength for the next of us about to fall. No matter how many times I needed their strength, it was always there. It still is.

I still live under the threat of foreclosure, but I do so without fear. I am now two to three hundred monthly revenue dollars away from re-writing my mortgage.

I have replaced fear of success with a joyous vision of myself accepting some public accolade for something I’ve written—maybe an award, an interview or even a check. When that public moment occurs, I will share one truth: the moment belongs to my teachers, and exists only because women had the courage to walk into the Women’s Resource Center of Sarasota County, accept Challenge, and re-gift me with Timing.

You who keep the heart of this community treasure beating ensure that Timing awaits every woman with the courage to accept Challenge. Don’t stop doing. Don’t stop giving. Don’t stop believing in me.

PS: Thank you, W, poster boy of the Great Recession, for the Great Recession. It gifted me the poverty and shame I needed to bring me to the Women’s Resource Center and this moment. My gift to you and your colleagues is a warning: We will not go gentle into your good night. We don’t forget. We speak. We share. We write. We have Timing.

Note to self…new title…Power

Was Ray Bradbury Irish?

2010-08-30T17:42:00.002-04:00

"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you."

--Ray Bradbury

I just discovered this quote, and have to ask, "Was he Irish?" The (brilliant!) person that pointed me toward Ray Bradbury as an author who authored on writing is the same person who responded to my angst over the exact clinical nature of my so-called mental health, saying "Yeah, and maybe you're just Irish."

Well, I am. I am an Ulsterwoman. We are strong, independent carriers of the warrior gene, armed with modern-day weapons (such as words, in the case of this poor fool) and searching the hills of urban existence for battle. Oh, woe unto the warrior poet who finds himself in the arms of an Ulsterwoman, for he will be possessed forever by her possession of his soul. And woe to children of Ulserwomen, for they will have expectations heaped upon them that they can never exceed except in their own mother's eyes.

This Ulsterwoman has carried her word-weapons on her back since she found them next to her crib. They are now in her hands firmly and aimed true at the necks of those who pervert the truth.

This mad Irishwoman is a Warrior for Truth. My battlefield is reality. It will not destroy me.

Bootstrap Brilliance

2010-08-28T14:53:00.002-04:00

I don't know about you, but I need some new bootstraps. Mine are, surprisingly, not broken or worn out despite my many years of pulling my considerable self up by them. I can still pull but I don't get any lift. No upward torque. They just don't work anymore.

Wait...I feel a song coming on...(yes, apparently I woke up in a musical version of my life this morning...).
If Jerrod Neimann will excuse my bastardization of his "Lover, Lover" lyrics, my song goes "Oh leather, leather, leather, you don't lift me no good no more."

OK, that's enough of that. Here's the Knowledge Shared that offers one explanation for why my trusty old bootstraps ain't liftin' no good no more. I swear I didn't write it. In fact, it comes to us courtesy of The Economist\Intelligent Life\On Bootstraps.

“Lifting oneself by one’s bootstraps is an almost entirely American accomplishment,” wrote I.A.R. Wylie in a 1927 article in the Sunday Times London...The disadvantage, she continues, is that “there are more second rate people in first class positions than there ought to be…all right so long as there is plenty of room for the first rate man who has no capacity for bootstrapping and so long as there is no sudden crisis.” So perhaps bootstrapping is yet another reason for our financial woes; arrogant, second-rate bootstrapping traders crowded out all of those first-class market experts.

Damn you, Rampant Mediocrity!

I do not apologize

2010-08-28T11:54:00.002-04:00

for existing
for surviving
for my presence
for what you think of what I say
for being nasty, brutish and tall
for being kind, considerate and helpful
for my intelligence
for my capabilities -- the ability to apply intelligence for results
for my height
for my weight
for my blonde hair and blue eyes
for my perception
for my intuition
for reading minds. (observation+empathy)(ability to discern patterns) = not that hard
for my status
for you

What's another word for "Thesaurus"?

2010-08-22T13:51:00.003-04:00

Word freaks, rejoice! Check out this beta I found on dictionary.com for visualthesaurus.com

My suggestion: type in a basic word like "play" or "work" and then sit back and watch what happens. Looks like its going to be a subscription, not free like dictionary.com, but if you get addicted there's at least a 14 day free trial.

Way cool personality test

2010-08-18T14:17:00.009-04:00

I really get a kick outta things like this, when they're done well. Like this one.

I think my results are pretty on-target. What do you think?
My personalDNA Report

The provider, PersonalDNA, even offers a way to invite people you know to test you back. If you wanna do me, let me know. I'd love it.

The Harley-Davidson Pitch

2010-08-16T16:25:00.003-04:00

28 July 2010

ATTN: Karen Davidson and the Marvelous Marketing Clan at HD

"Your Path is Behind You" is one of my personally copyrighted slogans. For a long time, I've wanted to pitch it to Harley Davidson for brand marketing/advertising. Today is the day.

If I were nearer Milwaukee, I'd write it on a post-it note with my phone number, do whatever it takes to get it onto your desk, and let the words speak for themselves. I am in Florida, so I'll offer a few of my own words to illustrate:

I know you can see the still image of a woman on a Harley stopped at the top of a moraine, feet on the road. You see her from the back, and can see the road road behind her while in front of her it dips off the horizon. She is facing her unknowable path with a confidence that comes only from experiencing, surviving her unique life. She's still standing. Her path is behind her.
Also works for a man, a couple, a family, a dog in the sidecar? ...anyone, any time, any place.

I'm not going to give you the hard marketing/advertising pitch. Why not get the point across on a post-it? An email at the most.

Your statisticians can give you the numbers, and I alone can tell you how this slogan originated in a Chicago bar. I was stressing over my career path, how I'd do what and when, how I might know and exceed expectations to get ahead like I "should." Mac, the brilliant corporate superpower who was listening to me said, "Moira, your career path is what's behind you!" My entire world rocked 180 degrees.

I want Harley Davidson to adopt this slogan as its own and make marketing history with it. I want every human on this planet to have their own unique experience with those words, and share the limitless wisdom of Mac's words. I want "Your Path is Behind You" to be the slogan of HD culture. Think of the stories, images and videos people will post. Who has not survived any or every form of natural, economic and personal disaster? Who has not cried tears of absolute joy at a birth or wedding and wondered, "What can possibly top this?"

Conventional wisdom says the Holy Grail of marketing is a bond of belonging with consumers. Well, we got it. Every human on the planet who has ever been exposed to popular culture knows that Harley means freedom. Whether or not they ride, or even want to ride, they want Harley's brand of freedom. Let's shout "Your Path is Behind You," watch heads turn 180 as they realize they already have Harley freedom...they already belong. They will buy. Even if it is just a t-shirt, they will buy it and they will not have to explain a thing...they belong.

Karen, let's make the magic. How hard can it be? Sure, money is an output. Money always follows good ideas that achieve execution. How that happens is open. I want Mac to earn a share (won't HE be surprised). Regarding timing, today works for me. I am, after all, a 47-year old poster child for the recession. To build my own boat out of this recession, I am fueling every great idea I've ever had with focus and energy. That happens to mean today is a good day for you and HD.

I'll write the first submission to the "Your Path is Behind You" culture club Web site. In fact, that's a great idea...I'll write it and send it to you as a follow up.

In the meantime, Let's talk.

[PII redacted for blog publication]

_____________________________

Check out the original design now!

Spreadshirt Market Place Product
White Your path is behind you Long Sleeve Shirts

For your enjoyment, Noodle!

2010-08-16T00:48:00.003-04:00

Noodle is currently a prototype book for children and adults on religion, spirituality and world peace. It has brought some to tears, and provoked anger in others. What's your response?

As a written work, Noodle is a bit deceptive. It aims for adult hearts and minds via childrens' language. It is an answer to "Peace--How hard can it be?" and may be read as a simple tale, an introduction to cultures and religions, or as the basis for vigorous political, economic and spiritual debate. I consider The Giving Tree and Harold and the Purple Crayon to be highly relevant comparisons in that both engage toddlers, teens, parents, educators, world leaders and everyone in between. Harold was my favorite as a child, and when I re-discovered it several years ago, I was astounded to discern a thoroughly adult messages: Resourcefullness, self-sufficiency and peserverance.

If you'd like a read, it is available here for $5. By the way, I don't consider this self-publishing. Rather it is a way to both solicit feedback and generate a bit of support for The (emerging) Rosebush Tour.

My Purple Crayon

2010-08-15T15:10:00.002-04:00

Harold and the Purple Crayon may be the most important book I've ever read. Certainly I've read that book a thousand times more than any other, in part or whole. I read it before I could read, and I read it today.

It teaches me the same lessons every time I read it.

Life is one walk in the moonlight.
With your purple crayon, you have the power and ability to create everything you need for your walk in the moonlight.
Even when you forget that you have a purple crayon and the moon, they are there.

What changes is me, my time and my context. Every time I look, I'm on a different page.

Today, Harold and I are on page 18, which a vast improvement over page 17. We, again, have many pages to turn and turn again. It's a bit like a Super Spirograph design; There are any number of turns and cycles whirring again and again inside one simple, elegant and eloquent outline.

I can't count the number of times I've re-started and re-cycled my life and learning through the pages of Harold. I know that every start and cycle is held between the front and back cover. I know that Harold's journey starts one evening when he decides to go for a walk in the moonlight, and ends before dawn when is purple crayon drops to the floor and he drops off to sleep. Just like mine.

In America, sociopaths have a competitive advantage.

2010-08-04T12:30:00.003-04:00

If you believe you do not know at least one sociopath and/or are not impacted by sociopathic behavior, you're wrong. This layman's guide is reprinted without permission from Hypocrisy Today, the official journal of the American Society of Sociopaths. Have a read, and then re-examine the role sociopathy plays in your life. Sleep tight, we'll talk about it in the morning.

A sociopath is an individual whose behavior is socially acceptable, and in fact, who appears to be an ideal person. In reality, this individual sees no value in other people except as they may affect his/her own self-gratification.

We [A.S.S.] think sociopaths are grossly misunderstood by their fellowpersons, and are dedicated to correcting this abberation of human perspective. In keeping with current self-help, feel- good trends, we have gathered together, sociopathically, to

create awareness of the problem,
scold society for allowing it to continue unabated,
whine about the trauma it has caused in our lives,
seek justice (and perhaps a healthy class-action settlement),
and to generally behave in sociopathically- acceptable ways.

Opinion Published by Sarasota Herald-Tribune Mar 04

2010-08-01T15:08:00.004-04:00

Questions on Newtown market

Published: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 at 3:25 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, March 2, 2004 at 12:00 a.m.

This story appeared in print on page A12

Phenomenal. Any community or neighborhood that drives its future with both interest and action is to be congratulated. But it is not enough. The Feb. 23 article "Newtown may soon get open-air market" raises, but does not answer, some interesting questions. The answers would demonstrate whether Sarasota city and neighborhood leaders will go beyond congratulations and offer real support for positive action and a sound economy.

The property was rezoned after vendors (described as unlicensed) ceased operations due to zoning and licensing issues. Will those vendors (e.g., Bernice Heggs) be offered licensing assistance and first refusal on market space in Lonnie Ward Jr.'s phase- one flea market?

Beyond rezoning, how is the city supporting development?

Does the neighborhood need or want the market/bazaar to evolve into a large shopping center and grocery store?

Does anyone besides Mr. Ward own the 30,000 square feet of land and, therefore, stand to gain economically from immediate revenue and proof of economic viability for longer-term and/or larger development projects?

In the article, Mr. Ward invites "other races" to shop at the market. So let's talk about that.

A few years ago, Sarasota was awarded two titles by two national publications: It was ranked in the top 10 of American cities for living and working. It was also ranked as one of America's top 10 segregated cities.

I have long agreed with the first. And I agree, technically, with the second. We are segregated. I have argued that ours is not a negative, racist separation but a positive, desirable aspect of community and neighborhood.

How will developers and vendors use the market to positively promote Sarasota as both a fantastic place to live and a city of great neighborhoods and communities?

[name redacted]

Sarasota

This story appeared in print on page A12

I write like
H. P. Lovecraft

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Opinion Published by Sarasota Herald-Tribune Jan 08

2010-08-01T15:04:00.004-04:00

Buchanan's $5,000 'robocall'

Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 1:42 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 1:42 a.m.

This story appeared in print on page A18_OPED

What's done is done. U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan split legal hairs to spend $5,000 of taxpayer money to make an automated campaign phone call. What are we going to do to make sure this never happens again?

First, according to Jeremy Wallace's column, Buchanan is aware of the legal loophole that allows "robocalls" without disclosure. Buchanan is certainly aware that campaign action out of a congressional office violates the law.

So, while Buchanan may have followed the letter of the current law with his robo-call, he clearly violated the intent of the laws that he is in D.C. to create, uphold and protect.

Second, let's be clear that this sure looked like a $5,000 campaign call.

If Buchanan's true intent was an extra report on results that favor working-class families, wouldn't he just robocall working-class families? "New technology" certainly has the data on us to sort out the appropriate targets.

Finally, let's elect a representative in November who has personal integrity. Representatives who respect their constituents don't split hairs in order to violate the intent of the law while adhering to the letter of the law.

Buchanan can't undo this $5,000 episode, but we can hold him accountable for his use of our money.

He can sponsor legislation that closes the disclosure loophole that he leveraged with this robocall.

[Name redacted]

Sarasota

This story appeared in print on page A18_OPED

Opinion Published by Sarasota Herald-Tribune May 08

2010-08-01T15:01:00.002-04:00

Which projects will jump-start local business?

Published: Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:18 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 10:18 a.m.

This story appeared in print on page A12_OPED

Sarasota Countians voted YES to paying for projects with a local-option, add-on sales tax of 1 percent to benefit our economy, environment and lifestyle.

Vote YES again on Tuesday.

The facts say that by voting YES to the bond issue, we can jump-start some "PennyWise" projects and gain the benefits sooner rather than later.

However, after the bond issue is approved come the decisions we will not make:

Priorities.

The county will decide which projects will be funded by the bond issue and jump-started.

I am pleading with the county to add one measure to its decision-making. There is a lot of talk these days about economic stimulus, so I'll call my measure the Economic Stimulus Value. The existing measures offered on the PennyWise icon on the county's Web site count the inflation dollars saved by spending now and speak to jobs created by the projects themselves. That's great but those are short-term benefits.

It is critical that the county evaluate which projects will give area businesses what they need to leverage our investment into long-term, stable and sustainable economic growth, a.k.a., an Economic Stimulus Value.

I don't have the tools and data to measure the Economic Stimulus Value. Others can and must, because I want every tax dollar spent to generate growth beyond short-term projects.

We've given the county funded projects, and now we're going to give the county a bonded loan to jump-start the projects. Please give us back completed projects that best enable our business community to grow.

[Name redacted for blog publication]

Sarasota

This story appeared in print on page A12_OPED