"i'm into checking out, not checking in." - the C

Today I had a meeting that was actually productive. I was worried at first, but it actually turned out to be good, and I left feeling like it was a good use of my time.

Here's why:

1) At the beginning of the meeting we talked about how the last meeting sucked and what we needed to do to make it better. (We did not use the word sucked. We were very polite.)

2) We put up all possible topics for consideration, gave them time limits, and stuck to them. And we crossed them off as we went. There's something gorgeous about crossing things off, let me tell you.

3) We took a break and stretched.

4) We figured out some more about who's supposed to be doing what. (i.e.: Gretzky had a revelation about what her job entails and how she's supposed to do it.)

I don't really think this is replicable, but it was good enough for today.

"...hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope." - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I was listening to MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech yesterday and all these great words kept jumping out at me. It's way more powerful listening to it than just reading it. And you've got to listen to the whole thing. But the words around hope in particular - his words are full of hope and this kept jumping out at me - even though we have so much farther to go, there is hope to "make real the promises of democracy."

Reminded me of Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams, where Hallie tells Codi that the very least she can do is figure our what she hopes for and live inside that hope.

Also reminded me of Jim Wallis' visit here Friday, telling the story of being in a South Africa still under apartheid, when Desmond Tutu preached, and when the army broke into the church, how Tutu told them they had already lost and they should join the winning side. And how the men with guns let the congregation leave without arrests. This is hope unlike any I have known. It's not rational, logical, reasonable, or prudent. It could be considered madness. And yet there is something so profound about it, makes me want to grab it and not let go.

"i love you babe. we've got magic." - intoxicated Sonics fan

(Sadly this was not said to me, but to the woman standing next to him.) I don't know if she knew him or not. It was unclear from their interaction. She wasn't really standing in close proximity, she also looked a tad worse for wear....

It was a sad night for the Sonics. At one point they went two minutes without scoring and I thought I might die. The little girl in front of me was wearing a Payton jersey, which reminded me of when I was a kid and we'd go to games and actually win, since they actually played well. At the current rate, I think we're on track to win 20 games this season. Seriously.

I got these tickets during what I think was a marketing ploy to get folks in seats. I don't think it worked. They said on the radio after the game there were 10,000 people there, but I don't believe it. It was pretty empty, especially considering it was Nick Collison bobble-head night. The crowd was pretty low-energy and quiet, except for my dad, who thinks it's his personal responsibility to point out everything the refs are missing to everyone around. This is what makes him a good fan, but also hard to sit by sometimes.

I think the city of seattle was mistaken in their negotiations with the Sonics. It's turned into a reactive strategy instead of a proactive one...we aren't seeing them as an asset. My question is what's going to happen to Key Arena when they leave? The Thunderbirds are moving south. So what's gonna go on at the Key?

"The only way I could tell the teams was by their helmet colors." - Mom

Mom often surprises me, and last week's birthday party for Grandpa was no exception. Mom is not a football fan, but Dad informed me that Mom knew the outcome of the Seahawks' season BEFORE they ended it on the snowy field of loss...Apparently, the night before the game, she had a dream about the Packers' beating the Seahawks. No joke. She says sherecognize the Seahawks helmet anywhere, but she had a harder time recognizing the Packers'...

...she didn't have any dreams about the Giants or the Patriots today, although I wasn't terribly invested in this game since Brady rates even lower than Manning in my world. I was more excited about Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I must've played "I Won't Back Down" on repeat about 80 times a morning my first semester of teaching high schoolers. Someone once put "Wildflowers" on a mix cd I cherish...Classic stuff. And this oughta bring back some good memories...I've been singing this one an awful lot lately. Patience has never been my strong suit:

"Who would Jesus torture?" - Jim Wallis

Jim Wallis spoke at Seattle's First Baptist Church tonight on his latest book, The Great Awakening, and I wished more of my friends were there. He raises some profound questions about faith, government, and democracy that can be wrestled with regardless of where one falls on the religious or political spectrum.

Lots of thoughts are tumbling around, but one is lingering. Wallis responded to a question from the audience about national interest, and in his response declared we need a re-visioning of what national security means. He asked the question about who Jesus would torture here...Folks laughed at this, but I think he might be onto something. I mean, there was the time in the temple when Jesus got pretty mad and threw some tables, and that time when the disciples fell asleep and he was annoyed, although I think he was more sad than mad at that. But...the question is a good one.

And this idea of hope, that hope is what's behind real change, that hope is what leads to the action of getting things done, hope is what sustains when you see what is possible but not currently happening. I can get with the hope piece. Wallis posits the big choice as being between hope and cynicism. I'm not sure this is a choice everybody has, but much of privileged America does have it.