Integrity NOW!

I realize it's now been four days since my last post, but a lot has happened since then. Just when I thought I was going to try to be a Pennsylvania delegate for Dennis Kucinich, I received word on Thursday that he planned to announce his official withdrawal from the Presidential race on Friday. This news crushed me. I felt as though it crushed me more than anyone else. I really had no reason to take it so personally. I've never actually met Dennis. I did have the privilege of visiting his office in the Rayburn House Building this past December. He was not present, but I did get to meet some of the people who work for him. I've been supporting Dennis all the way. I have believed in him since I knew he was running again for President of the United States. That conviction had convinced me to tell everyone that I know about Dennis and why he would be the best choice for the next President. In his concession speech on Friday, Dennis explained that he was dropping out of the race, not because of funds or disinterest in running for President, but because his re-election to the U.S. House of Representatives is in jeopardy because he is being attacked by corporate interests in Cleveland.

I have been called the Conscience of the Democratic Party. Our
efforts will involve a call to conscience. A call to integrity.

To those who supported this campaign with their energies and with their hearts, I want you to know that we are transitioning the Presidential campaign into a national movement based on integrity and based on practical ways in which we can affect policies at local and national levels. I am no longer running for President, but I am intent on saving our nation from the destruction of our economic hopes and from the destruction of our Constitution.

And all of the energies of all of the people who have been involved in this campaign will be transitioned into a new, national effort to regain control of our government, which seems more and more inaccessible. We are calling that effort “Integrity Now”, and there is a website – http://www.integritynow.org/ -- where we can begin to channel all of that enthusiasm and that commitment from people just like you, and just like me, so we can take positive steps to do what we know is right and in the best interests of this nation.

So let us begin again, here, today, in Cleveland, Ohio, with a renewed effort to be of service to our community and to our nation. Let us re-focus on what we can do and what we must do, here at home, in Washington, and all across this country to end the war, rebuild this nation, restore truth and justice and integrity to our government. Let’s make the American dream more than a dream. Let’s make it a reality.

~ Dennis J. Kucinich 1/25/08

I was extremely moved by these excerpts from his speech. I especially love the way he talks about the American Dream which consists of ending the war, rebuilding the nation, and restoring truth and justice and integrity to our government. I honestly can't understand why more people don't want this. For some time now, I have thought a great deal about redefining the American Dream to one that does not include self-prosperity and wealth, but individual liberties and the true pursuit of happiness. I guess there are a lot of things that I don't understand about my fellow Americans. But I think that's a fact of life. We aren't always going to understand things. So I think the important thing is to make efforts to understand--by working together, listening to differing opinions, and striving to coexist.

The invaluableness in watching quality television communally

Well tonight is a bit bittersweet. My housemates and I just finished our whirlwind viewing of the entire series of NBC's most controversial prime-time television drama, Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip. I bought the series, consisting of only one season, with some Christmas money without ever having seen it in its entirety. My roommate and best friend, Jon, and I watched the first 5 or 6 episodes as they aired in the fall of 2006. We tried to spread the buzz about the show, but none of our friends really cared for it when we tried to watch the pilot episode with them. I guess, Studio 60 couldn't compete with the likes of House, M.D., The Office, or Grey's Anatomy, even though Jon and I regarded it as the best show on television last year (and we didn't even watch it all the way through). I'm not exactly sure as to why we lost interest in the show. I think we just started to get lazy. We were taping each episode and watching them later that same night. Then we stopped taping it all together. So I started watching the show again this past fall, from the beginning when my housemate Monica told me that she was borrowing it from the library. She was so eager to see what the show was about, she watched the first 8 or so episodes. But, she didn't mind going back to the beginning when I had requested to start them over again. We asked around and invited others with whom we live, if they wanted to watch--no takers at the time. Well, I was just as hooked as before, if not more. We watched the first 3, then called it a night. I asked if I could borrow the series to catch up to her. So, I didn't call it a night. I watched 3 more episodes that night. I never got a chance to watch any more before it had to be returned to the library... until, I bought the show on DVD just before Christmas. I decided to wait. I really showed some restraint. I have no clue why I didn't just throw the second disc in where I had left off and breezed through the series. Nevertheless, I waited until after Christmas break when I was back in Elgin. I watched 5 more episodes on my own, since Monica couldn't wait for me to return to watch the rest of the season. I got to episode 12, and felt like watching it out in our living room. Well, two of my housemates, Beth and Bekah expressed interest in watching it. We got a few minutes into that episode, and I decided I can't let them come into the season over halfway through. I popped in the first disc... thus began our one week viewing of Studio 60.

It ended tonight, as we watched the final four episodes. No, I'm not going to tell you what happened. Go buy the series! Or, if you are economically disadvantaged like me, try to borrow it from a public library, rent it at a video store, or borrow it from me sometime. The culmination of this week is bittersweet. The bitter aspect is because it's over. There are no more episodes. This is sad for me because I will no longer be able to experience something that I have loved. It is as if they discontinued your favorite ice cream flavor or flavor of soda. Yeah, sure there will always be more flavors from which you can choose, but none will ever quite be the same as your favorite which you will never taste again. The anticipated cancellation of Studio 60 is hitting me 8 months after it occurred.

But the sweet taste that lingers in my being has to do with the whole experience of watching the series. Some questions come to mind: WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE CANCELLED?, What was different this time when I asked people if they'd be interested in watching it? Would I have enjoyed it so much if I had just watched it by myself?

The first question is for NBC to answer. I can speculate, but only they truly have an answer to that question. I'm not sure why this time was different. Bekah, Beth, and I watched the first four episodes the first night we started watching. I was already hooked, but then I got the two of them in one swipe. Dana, another housemate of mine, also joined us on several occasions. She had already seen the series, as she watched them as they were aired the previous year. Even Sharon, another housemate, joined us for a few including the final episode. There's no way I would have enjoyed the series had I been content with watching the episodes by myself. I love doing certain things on my own: reading, playing the guitar/piano, sleeping, bike riding, blogging, etc. But so much of the allure in watching a few episodes nightly had to do with the company. It brought back memories of when Jon and I watched the early episodes together in our apartment on the campus of Juniata last year.

The whole experience, even though it lasted only a week, was quite invaluable. It will be difficult to emulate the connection and greater sense of community that was felt when we would all come together at the dinner table and have the same thing on our minds: "let's eat quickly, then watch Studio 60". This message of community speaks much louder to me than the content of any television program. It is yet another example, in my contemporary life, of why living in community with others is a great way to live. I understand that it is easier to live in community with others when I am actually sharing the same house as several other people, but I hope I don't lose sight of the significance of spending some quality time and sharing my life with other well-intentioned people.

Next item of business: find some other evening activity that will bring us together again, that we may continue to grow in this community of love.

Well, I couldn't hold out any longer. They've got me. I guess I could only read so many blogs of my friends and family before it was high time that I started one of my own--but for real this time. Technically this is my second attempt at a blog. The first was for my Nonviolence: Theory and Practice class in my last semester at Juniata College in the Spring of 2007. I know judging by this blog title, you may think you have entered the wrong blog, but I assure you, this is one is the real deal. I am keeping my other blog as a reference in case anyone who might read this would care to discuss the efficacy of nonviolence.

So, about the title. Surprisingly, it didn't take me all that long to come up with a fitting title for this new blog (surprising indeed, because all of you who know me, know just how bad of a decision-maker I am). All you movie buffs, especially of the 1990s 2-star Disney movie variety, immediately recognized the reference to Cool Runnings. I found this to be an appropriate title of my blog for two reasons: 1) I am a big fan of the movie and loved the Jamaican bobsled team under the tutelage of their sled-god, immortalized by John Candy and 2) These four words speak deeply to many aspects of my life...

So according to my high school basketball coach and I'm sure some other famous person, "life is a journey, not a destination". Lately, I've been entertaining this notion that life truly is a journey. So if life is a journey, and "Peace be the Journey", ergo peace be the life... or perhaps, peace be life... life of peace... peaceful living... am I close!? I guess it really all comes down to semantics at this point. It doesn't matter how you say it. The two cannot be separated. It is my hope that we will all start to live how we truly ought to live... peacefully.

A lot of things have influenced my feelings about this way of living. However, right now I would like to pay homage to one person who has very greatly had an impact on the way I, as well as countless others view the world--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I am dedicating this entry to the the great pioneer of Civil Rights through nonviolence in the United States, during the tumultuous years of the 1950s and 1960s. When I hear the words "peace be the journey", after my thoughts go immediately to Cool Runnings with Derice and Sanka, they arrive at Martin Luther King. For MLK, truly embodied the concept, "peace be the journey".