GROUNDHOG DAY CELEBRATORY EVENTS PLANNED FOR WEEKEND

ANCHORAGE, January 31, 2003 – Local activist group GHAFA (GroundHog Awareness Federation of Alaska) has organized two major events for this weekend. A Groundhog’s Eve Celebration will be held at 7pm Saturday, followed by a protest rally in the Anchorage town square at 2pm Sunday.

“All of our past events have celebrated the humble nature of the Groundhog. But all too often, this completely legitimate holiday is met with amazing apathy. That’s why we’re protesting,” said Brett Rawalt, co-founder of the Anchorage-based GHAFA.

The Groundhog's Eve Celebration Ball will take place at 7pm Saturday night, February 1, at New Direction Coffeehouse (formerly Holy Grounds), 639 W. International #32. Original songs, poems and audio-visual creations will be featured in the festivities.

The Groundhog Pride Rally is scheduled for 2pm Sunday, February 2, in the Anchorage town square. The brief demonstration will include a march around the town square, and an appearance from the GHAFA mascot, Maury.

Both events are free, and all participants are encouraged to wear earthtones.
For more information on GHAFA, or the weekend events, visit their website at www.ghafa.org
cogent thought at 16:13 courtesy of Macker [ ]


thursday, january 30

command performance
yesterday's non-post was so well received, I think I shall do it more often.
cogent thought at 16:35 courtesy of Macker [ ]


wednesday, january 29


cogent thought at 00:02 courtesy of Macker [ ]


sunday, january 26

taking the point spread
just before Christmas two years ago, my uncle tommy passed away. it was not news to me, because I saw hi m the previous october and knew it would be the last time I saw him. still, I d idn't say goodbye. neither did he. our last words to each other in this world were related to a gallon of apple cider he wanted to take home from his last tri p to see the leaves of autumn in upstate new york. it was, ironically, in the sa me location 17 years prior that he told me his father wouldn't last the summer.< br>

both died of cancer.

two others recently did as well, both related t o work: first my friend and colleague ed, then the brother of my closest colleague. brian's brother was 37, barely two years olde r than me. meanwhile, my own manager and friend is quietly raging her own priva te war with cancer, her life prolonged indeterminately by small weekly doses of chemotherapy. the physicians have no surgical capacity to thwart the cancer wit hin her; all they can do is prevent its growth. still, they cannot measure its effectiveness over time, except to acknowledge she continues to draw breath.

in retrospect, I wonder if such accumulation of crushing reality isn't enough to subconciously stress a person beyond his capacity to reason it away. certainly there have been warning signs this week; most notably a blowup in a meeting with colleagues who have never seen me have a dark moment, and then another, more progressive sense of dread.

I find it timely, then, that an emotionally draining week culminates with the most prominent holiday dedicated to self-absorption: Superbowl Sunday. normally I would be one of the ravenous bunch, screaming for my team to run up the score. only the jets and rams are all sitting at home, like me. so my enthusiasm for the game has been muted by the fact that I have no clear favorite in this game. certainly the subtext of this game is compelling, but it remains a game to watch in between commercials.

and then I remembered, when tommy was sickest, the tampa bay buccaneers bucs were playing some of their best football. only, their best couldn't beat my rams. but that 2000 season, they were poised to make another run, the year the super bowl was in tampa, and tommy only 45 minutes away. he didn't see them not make it.

and as I listened to the sports pundits pick apart the game this week, I remembered how tommy's eyes blazed when he talked about the bucs. I remembered the picture in my grandmother's family room of him with his beloved bucs visor. and that's when I knew.

come game time, I'll be rooting for the bucs. my catharsis will be in memory of tommy.
cogent thought at 00:38 courtesy of Macker [ ]


tuesday, january 21

Christmas every day of the year
I'm feeling a little ... materialistic.

my dad was very generous for Christmas, and gave me a rather substantial amazon.com gift certificate. naturally, I spent it.

everything came in today. here's the take (all are dvd):

mine
that thing you do!
star trek II
the fugitive
in the line of fire
citizen kane

mrs. macker's
bells of st. mary's
sound of music
it's a wonderful life

so it's all good, as they say. and yet I can't help feeling a little selfish, sitting here listening to andrew davis and tommy lee jones doing commentary on harrison ford.

not so minimal or simplistic, but it's still a wonderful life.
cogent thought at 17:45 courtesy of Macker [ ]


monday, january 20

I too have a dream
I am happy to join with you tod ay in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whos e symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclaimation.

T his momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of slaves, who h ad been seared in the flames of whithering injustice.

It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years l ater, the colored America is still not free.

One hundred years later, the life of the colored American is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregati on and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the colored American lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of mat erial prosperity.

One hundred years later, the colored American is still l anguishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land

So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the arc hitects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution an d the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every Anerican was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes , black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that Ame rica has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned.

Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given i ts colored people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient f unds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We r efuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opport unity of this nation.

So we have come to cash this check, a check that wil l give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.

We ha ve also come to his hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now .

This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the t ranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make rea l the promise of democracy.

Now it the time to rise from the dark a nd desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

No w it the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality to al l of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urge ncy of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored citizen s.

This sweltering summer of the colored people's legitimate discontent wi ll not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.

Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning.

Those who hope that t he colored Americans needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the colored citizen is granted hi s citizenship rights.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cann ot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.
< p>We cannot be satisfied as long as the colored person's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs st ating "for white only."

We cannot be satisfied as long as a colored person in Mississippi cannot vote and a colored person in New York believes he has not hing for which to vote.

No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be sat isfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stre am.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations.

Some of you have come from areas where your quest for fr eedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering.

Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go bac k to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our mode rn cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Le t us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you, my friends, we hav e the difficulties of today and tomorrow.

I still have a dream.

It i s a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.

We h old these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day out in the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at the tabl e of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississipp i, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an o asis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children w ill one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream t hat one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interpostion and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join ha nds with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be engul fed, every hill shall be exalted and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope.

This is the faith that I will go back to the South with.

With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphomy of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my father's died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvacious slopes of California.

But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

Address to civil rights marchers by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington, D.C. on Aug. 28, 1963
cogent thought at 15:43 courtesy of Macker [ ]


saturday, january 18

ask, seek, knock

cogent thought at 11:01 courtesy of Macker [ ]


wednesday, january 15

overheard in my own car
son (all of 6 years old, and still of the virgin ears): mommy, what does crap mean?
mommy: that's a naughty word I don't ever want to hear you say.
son: but, mommy--
mommy: ever. do you understand?
son: yes...

[ brief silence ]

son: mommy?
mommy: yes?
son: then why do they call them the 'crap brothers'?

[ brief silence ]

mommy: no, no NO! that's the KRATT brothers.
cogent thought at 00:00 courtesy of Macker [ ]


monday, january 13

hello, I'm macker
... and I was at a 12-step program this weekend.

only, it was for all t he men in my church.

this is not to make light of either a.a. or the men w hom I am called to serve as voluntary participants in our church environment. i t is to say, we tapped such a deep vein, full of hurt and need and spiritual con fusion, that it became a unique opportunity for each of the men to share their l ife stories and reach out to other men in a time of real vulnerability.

th e beauty of our 24 hours together was no man went away untouched, unaffected. a collective sigh went up over the course of the weekend that none of us were alone in our struggles. the lonely road of individual spiritual journey su ddenly became very crowded -- and, dare I say, festive -- when 80 some men sudde nly recognized each other as fellow travellers.

the theme was sanctificati on. the retreat was broken out by topic: "coming to Christ", "the process of sa nctification", "the keys to victory". three different men discussed each topic , with time in between for other men to share their story. every story centered on one major theme: pride. every man recognized their helplessness to change their conditions, try as hard as they might. it didn't matter if they were blue collar or white, black or white, convicted felon, wife beater, alcoholic, or born again Jesus freak at the age of 10. every man recognized himself in every other story, and the unity that developed was palpable. best of all, the love, the tears, the newly forged bonds of friendship and brotherhood carried over into sunday services. there was a freedom in the release of past sin and hurt, giving way to a new hope that we could, as brothers in Christ, see each other overcome our personal demons. together.

I suspect some of what divides us as Christians (and humans at large) is our inability to be vulnerable with each other in the quest for staking out common spiritual ground and cultivating spiritual bonds. pride certainly showed itself as a major obstacle, as seen not only in the stories told, but in the excuses made by those who did not attend. and it seems logical: inordinate self-esteem separates me from you. it separates me from God. it is a, well, self-imposed barrier that keeps others at arm's length, for fear they will get too close and either hurt me or see my sinful condition -- or both.

only time will tell if this spiritual renaissance will take hold in the hearts of the men who experienced it. indeed, our pastor was not so naïve as to think we are permanently united, and cited a list of ways we must all continue to work and serve together to keep the unity vibrant and alive. but the hope is there, that as we are faithful to love and serve each other as brothers and fellow travellers, we might see others wooed by the same vulnerable spirit of love and acceptance.

hello, my name is macker, and I am your brother and fellow bond servant.
cogent thought at 15:39 courtesy of Macker [ ]

powder your nose
I'm just really digging up here. it's got a good beat and I don't have to be assaulted by the video if I choose not to.
cogent thought at 15:07 courtesy of Macker [ ]


wednesday, january 8

of groundhogs and kelp

my good pal kelphelper is the biggest fan of gr oundhogs you know. here's his proposal to the city of anch orage:

We, concerned constituents of the Municipal multitude, humbly ask the Assembly of Anchorage to join us in celebrating Groundhog's Day, and to raise the specter of awareness for this vastly misunderstood and under-appreciated holiday. We petition you to encourage recognition of February 2 as a more uniquely Alaskan holiday by recognizing the following observances: 1) decree that January 26 through February 2 be formally recognized by the city as "Brown Ribbon Week", as a symbol of solidarity among the proponents of groundhog awareness, in preparation for the traditional February 2nd celebration. City workers should be encouraged to show their respect by wearing earth-toned clothing and/or hanging brown ribbons or bows on office doors, copy machines, coworkers, parking meters and the like. 2) authorize all city buildings to play James Brown music for use as elevator music and telephone "hold music", during Brown Ribbon Week. 3) decree a moment of darkness to be observed at 8:21pm, on February 1st (Groundhog's Eve). This observance is a reminder of the burrowed earthen dwelling of the groundhog, within which he hibernates during winter months, before being summoned to display his meteorological powers. 4) honor the hoary marmot (Marmota caligata), the Alaska marmot (Marmota broweri), and the woodchuck (Marmota monax), as the three Alaskan cousins of the groundhog by naming them as the official rodents of the Municipality for the month of february. 5) designate one or more of the aforementioned Alaskan marmota as honorary parade marshals for Fur Rendezvous. Thank you for considering this important matter to patriotic Alaskan constituents and rodents statewide.

cogent thought at 18:11 courtesy of Macker [ ]


monday, january 6

words to live by
kuku-kuku kaki kakak kekekku kaku-kaku

translated from indonesian: my grandfather's older sibling has stiff toenails.

I have odd friends
cogent thought at 16:50 courtesy of Macker [ ]


friday, january 3

letter to a friend
farewell, ed. you were my friend, my co-worker, a confidant. they said you had l ess than a week to live, and less than a week became two months. they probably did not recognize your tenacity, your lust for life. I'm sure they did not see your humor, your quick wit, or your fierce loyalty to those closest to you. I for one did not see enough of it at the end, and wish I had had one last chance to speak to you.

I tried, you know. but so many people wanted so much of your time, there at the end. I did not feel badly, in the sense that others had opportunity to see you, to share one last moment, one last smile. I knew, from the moment we knew you weren't coming back, recovery or no, that I had already had my moments with you. and though we were not especially close, I know we had a bond. we were as close as you and I would both allow, short of being truly intimate friends.

and yet you were a friend. you inspired me as one who rose up from the ranks of technical to managerial, and proved one could blossom at both. you showed faith in me that few others have shared when you told me I could write my own ticket; you saw value and potential that others did not see, or at least did not share. you treated my children like your own niece and nephews when I brought them to visit. you shared cd's that were meaningful to you because you knew I would appreciate how they had spoken to you. and you always had a moment for me whenever I passed by, to come in, say hello, be part of your inner circle in your inner sanctum.

of course, you did this for almost everyone, because it was your nature to be friendly to others. but I know with some it was less of a chore than others. and you made it known -- whether by way of the twinkle in your eye, the random moment sitting at lunch, or the ever-present jokes -- that my presence was not a burden to you. no, it was time well spent, for both of us.

part of me wishes I could have told you these things myself. and part of me knows you know it, and would have laughed it off. it wasn't your style to be intimate, and yet you were with me.

thank you, big dog. thank you for being a friend.
cogent thought at 21:16 courtesy of Macker [ ]


thursday, january 2

someday, I must do this
panorama of times square at midnight, new year's day

thanks to josh for the link
cogent thought at 16:23 courtesy of Macker [ ]


wednesday, january 1

on resolve
new year's resolutions are, by design, flawed notions. which is why I don't make them. they assume that, because the calendar changed, one will now stop (or start) doing they previously were(n't) d oing. one cannot resolve to do something all year only one time in the y ear. it must be a constant resolution: daily, hourly, moment by moment. alcoholics are taught to live out their sobriety one day at a time; the rest of us are told to assume by doing it once, today, it will somehow magically work all year.

what I do, like most people, is set goals for myself. goals that have measurable results, so I can see how I am doing at a moment's notice. goals that are not necessarily bound to the date constraints of the new year, but rather inspired by them. what better time than the dead of winter to begin a diet? no one will notice until may or june or so if it was really effective, so you have both the incentive thing and the excuse thing going for you.

so this year, my goal's are much like they were last year. because I can measure them, it means I walk the razor-sharp blade between holding myself accountable for my goals and being able to resume at any time.

herewith, then, the obligatory annual goals for the new year. some have been buffed up for the, well, new year.

in 2003, I want to:

• publish three articles on leadership and creative problem solving (CPS)
• read the Bible cover-to-cover
• read at least one book a month
• write reviews of the appropriate books for my non-personal website
• teach a sunday school class on job
• teach a sunday school class on ecclesiastes
• teach a sunday school class on nehemiah
• become a manager in my monolith company

Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness. For modern man, absolute right and absolute wrong are a matter of what the majority is doing. Right and wrong are relative to likes and dislikes and the customs of a particular community. We have unconciously applied Einstein's theory of relativity, which properly described the physical universe, to the moral and ethical realm.

may 2003 be a year where the fundamentals are not only remembered, honored and cherished, but upheld.
cogent thought at 12:35 courtesy of Macker [ ]