.cross.wired.mind.

… and very poor.

I took a walk from my office near City Hall in Philadelphia to the mall called the Gallery some half dozen blocks away. It was lunchtime and the crowded streets were filled with a mix of city dwellers, suburbanites, and tourists. There was a lawyer discussing the details of a case with a cop. Further down the street two women shouted at each other about stealing perfume as a trio of Philly’s finest stood by, not quite knowing what to do. A group of people wearing badges proclaiming them to be on jury duty lined up by cart to order lunch. An elderly woman wrestled with her bags as she left Kmart and stepped out onto Market ST looking to hail a cab.

Sounds normal, right? Added to this usual mix of holiday pedestrian traffic was a woman I have seen many times on my walks around center city. She is in her early 50s. Her clothes alternate between two outfits, both clearly worn form frequent use. Her graying hair looks clean but never well organized in spite of the three or four hairpins she uses. She always has a mobile phone in her hand though I have never seen her use it. In her other hand is a ragged scrap of cloth that she uses to wipe away her tears.

She cries constant streams of tears and sobs almost inaudibly.

She marches down the street with purpose. The first time I saw her I thought she might be looking for a lost child, but she is never that frantic - just determined, or is it more fatalistic than that? She never begs, nor does she ask for help. She just walks, cries, sobs, dabs at here eyes, and clutches her phone with white knuckles.

Every time I see her I say a short prayer for her safety.

…

Go anywhere in center city and you will find people wandering in a daze, clearly suffering from mental illness, and clearly not getting the kind of treatment they need.

How is it possible that we could let anyone suffer like this? How is it that we can spend so much of our time, energy, and resources fighting over abortion, creationism vs evolution, gay marriage, and all of the other issues raised by the right and the left.

It is like two parents fighting in front of their children. Is our society so self absorbed that we cannot see the people crying, literally crying, in the street? Has our collective will been bent too long on fighting each other that we have allowed ourselves to slip so far to the edge of catastrophic societal failure?

The right blames everything from video games, to Harry Potter, to not going to Church on Sunday. The left blames cold corporate entities in collusion with a corrupt government. Frankly, I don’t give a damn who is to blame. We can fix it.

Why do we keep electing politicians that want to lower our taxes, cut services, and fatten the coffers of the richest amongst us? Why do we think that non-profits and religious organization can make up for the ever-shrinking tax base? Why is it that “promote the general welfare” has been reduced to hoping for wealth to trickle down? Rich people are very good at building wealth, not at redistributing that wealth to the people that need it.

O CHILDREN OF DUST! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues. - The Hidden Words of Bahá’u’lláh

…

Matthew 25:44-46 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

…

And let not those of you who possess grace and abundance swear against giving to the near of kin and the poor … - the Holy Quran

… the quotes could go on and on. If we are truly a Godly and spiritual society (not a Christin country - that is different) - If we adhere to the ideals enshrined in the very core documents this country is founded upon, then why have we ceased to promote the general welfare? Why do we allow fellow members of the human family to wander the streets in pain.

Have we grown so cold hearted that we cannot see the reality of our world? And upon seeing that reality can we not do something? Drop money in the pot next to the ringing bells of the Salvation Army; give to charities that can truly help. Become aware of what this world is truly like. Leave the comfort of your homes and visit the people who are helping. Go to a soup kitchen and serve. Go to a homeless shelter and serve. Leave the philosophical and ideological bubble that you have been trapped in and walk amongst the poor and see what their lives are like.

I am sorry if I sound like a preacher but I can’t help myself. Besides - how many preachers out there are leading the way to help the poor? How many are sheep and how many are goats?

We can be sheep without them. Just do something.

Now, where is that bell ringer? I have to make a deposit in honor of the crying woman cruising the sidewalks of center city.

… talking about CFS.

Way cool.

To learn more go to the CDC CFS campaign site.

Behind the scenes …

This past Friday October 27th was the sixth anniversary of my father’s passing.  As the years have gone by I find myself mourning less.  That does not mean the sadness has passed - hardly.  Rather than mourn I have tried to find ways to honor the memory of my father.

One of my father’s favorite activities was going over to Valley Forge National Park (a couple miles from my home) to shoot a roll or two of photos.  When my family was going through my father’s old photos I think we found about two dozen pictures of the Memorial Arch taken over the span of at least 30 years.

Today, after breakfast at the G-Lodge, Jennie and i drove through the park and I snapped a few shots in honor of my dad.

I just don’t get it. I go to the Reading Terminal Market for lunch about three times a week. I love Carmen’s hoagies and Dinic’s sandwiches. I shop at Metropolitan Bakery and *L*O*V*E* Termini Brothers fine confectionary delights.

Today, being a very clear-headed day, I decided to look at the patterns and flow of people. I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed this before but it jumped into view as I stood in line for some good cooking at Delilah’s Southern Cuisine. It became very clear that I was the only white person in line. Ten people - one white guy. I thought that a bit odd since the food is amazingly good. So I got my chopped chicken BBQ, black-eyed peas and rice, mac and cheese, and corn bread, and sat down to eat.

I sat in a position to watch the line. A half hour passed before one other white guy got in line. So a few dozen people passed through the line while I was watching and only 2 of them were white. How does that make sense? The food is awesome and the service was wonderful. I actually talked with people in line and had a great time.

So I got up from my table and walked around the market. Most places seemed to be racially diverse except for the southern places and the Italian places that seemed to be almost exclusively mono-racial.

I am not sure why, after all of these years of studying the issue of race, I am still amazed that racism is so strong and so ingrained in our way of life that segregation - even voluntary choice - still exists in such a stark and brazen incarnation. I felt like grabbing some of the white folk around me to evangelize the benefits of eating such amazing food. Heck, Oprah even called the mac and cheese the nation’s best.

Racism needs to die a swift death. Bias needs to be replaced with acceptance. Walls need to come down.

Now don’t get me wrong. I am not talking about color blindness. I think we must embrace our diverse cultures and appreciate the great diversity of the human race. My personal philosophy is that we should learn to love the culture of others, understand it, experience it, enjoy it, and above all respect it.

I am proud of who I am and the path my ancestors took to get me here. I am not a wannabe anything. Except I wannabe me. Here’s my thing - respecting diversity is not about tacit lines of segregation that allow others to have their culture on their side of the line while we have ours here. Diversity should be a unifier - we should all be unafraid of crossing and blurring the lines that divide us so we can all live as one human family.

Too many people are invested in defining what is white, black, Asian or Latino and then building a wall to keep people in and others out. White folk should have no fear of eating at Delilah’s. Black folk should tuck in to the occasional Italian hoagie.

Beyond food and the other physical artifacts of culture, we need to cross other lines as well. Patterns of friendship, the places we live, the organizations we belong to, the fabric of our lives needs to be open.

I will be happy when the lines are open to everyone and no one feels the need to segregate their lunchtime.

Over the summer I launched into a project which has helped me to realize one of my dreams - I have started a toy company.

It began as a crazy idea that led me to investigate all of the aspects of toy production. I an amazing series of events all of the pieces fell in to place one by one. I found a reliable factory that has manufactured some amazing toys that I actually own. The capital came together quickly. I found some fantastic artists and designers. (more on them in a bit) I made some great contacts in distribution … one of whom is an old friend. It turns out that we have a member of the family with business partners who can go to the factory and make inspections as needed.

The most amazing part are the designers I am working with. I can only write about two of them - Carl Jones and John Kovalic.

John Kovalic

John is the creator of Dork Tower and illustrator of some very cool games - Chez Geek, Munchkin, Kobolds Ate My Baby, etc.

He is an amazing cartoonist and an icon in gamer culture.

He is designing toys inspired by the works of H.P.Lovercraft. We’re not talking scary vile toys. His designs are a mash up that results in a satirical twist on both Lovecraft’s tales of horror and popular kid’s toys and cartoons.

Carl Jones

Carl is one of the producers of the hit cartoon The Boondocks. He also illustrates the daily comic strip of the same name. His work is absolutely amazing. He has designed five original characters for a line we are calling Hoodiez (TM and all that). Together we are bringing his hip-hop inspired vision back to the Urban Vinyl movement.

As soon as I have picture of actual toys I will definitely post them here.

I can’t wait until I can see my toys out in the real world - in stores, online, and on the shelves and in the cubes of people that love them as much as i do.

Just a quick post. Over the last four weeks the following events have occured:

I left Vanguard. The prototypes of my first wave of toys are coming together (you can see them at Dreamland Toyworks). We had to put our dog Fargo to sleep (see the post below). Jennie and I went off to DragonCon and I came back with the Klingon Crud (a bad head cold). Finally I started my new job (well … I am still an IA) at Comcast.

As soon as the dust settles I promise more details on all of these events.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love animals. If I see a news story about animal abuse or a loved pet in trouble it takes a great effort to hold back the tears.

Now tragedy has struck on a personal level. Fargo is gone. He had terminal cancer. Jennie and I made the tough choice to end his suffering. Now we are the ones in pain.

I know animals are not people. I know this and still I mourn his loss as if he were my own flesh and blood. He was my friend and constant companion. He brought me nine plus years of joy. We played fetch. We tugged on ropes and blankets. We napped on the floor of my family room. We drove through Valley Forge and he would bark at the deer. We walked the shoreline on Peaks Island. We ran all over our backyard in a constant game of tag and chase. Every morning he would greet me with a hearty wag and smile that I would pay back with scruffles. He would curl up in my lap and doze. He would jump up on me as I lay on the floor - all 75lbs worth of yellow lab. He loved to go for rides to nowhere in particular. He loved to run with my other dog Griff and chase Sasha, Griff’s littermate who lives with my in-laws.

Dogs are not owned. They live with us - in our homes and in our hearts.

I have lost three dogs in my life. Chief was prone to seizures and never recovered from a grand mal that took his life. Nikki was with me for 14 years until she died of cancer. And now Fargo joins them.

Another hole in my heart. I have cried every day since Friday … and I will miss him.

Boing boing rocks.  Today it brought me this little gem on Japanese Engrish.

I laughed .. then felt bad that I had laughed at the expense of others … then I laughed even harder.

Oh, and just so I can say I warned you - the site is for mature audiences only.  It’s not a nughty site just not for the kiddie-winkies.  Think R or NC-17.