I stood at the bus stop after work yesterday and contemplated how hard it was not to be cynical and angry about many of the things happening in the world. I read a lot of information on a daily basis from a broad range of sources and the picture i piece together in my mind is a bleak one. I have this sense that we are on the brink of a collapse of civilization as I recognize it and there’s little impact I can have on the situation because of how power is distributed. If mainstream media is any indicator, our country is held fast by a populace that does not value wisdom for its own sake. Instead, we are lead to believe that unprecedented success (and unexpected downfall) is the stuff of lore. Making enough money to fill warehouses is touted as ideal and submitting to a lifetime of debt the “American Dream”. The political agenda is set by people from past generations who still uphold creationism as a rational explanation for life, believe that communism as the bogeyman, and label non-W.A.S.P.  Americans as a silent insurrection.

A thought that crosses my mind every time I read about a racially charged story is “When will these hold overs just fucking die off so modern reason can prevail“. Eventually, enough people will die off from previous generations that the resistance to racial equality that is fundamentally burned into their personality will cease to influence society. Perhaps this is delusion since society will always find a new scape goat but it is a dream of mine. I feel the same way about our politicians as well. In 2008 I wanted to believe that Obama was going to change things and so did a lot of other people amongst my peers. We saw an opportunity to rail against our elders and jostle the foundations of old superstitions and antiquated policy and we took it. I can’t say that I’m not disappointed that we have not chiseled away more than we have but I won’t place all the blame at Obama’s feet since he’s working in a solidly established framework of reciprocal back scratching. We cannot expect victory on the first shot. This is my reasoning for why my generation should not give up hope yet and I implore everyone to replicate our uprising of 2008 – only this time we should be much more demanding.

In another 30-40 years, those in power now will have been mostly replaced by those of my generation. While in one sense I find this notion discouraging because of the mirror that the media shows us, I feel that this mirror is horribly distorted and I sense that my generation desperately wants to change the status quo. I am divided in my predictions that we will follow one path, our generation will have to wrench our future from the stubborn, bony hands of greedy, ignorant hold-overs, possibly using horrible force, or another where there is enough hope and ambition in our generation to simply shove them aside and take their place with a better set of ideals. My plan is to teach my son to reject the media and to shape the world as it should be not how the media tells us it is. I cannot always be cynical, and neither can my generation or the next. Be the change…. imagine.

Anyone paying attention to politics knows there are two major philosophies regarding wealth distribution. We’ve all heard the same tired arguments about who should benefit from tax cuts. One side expressing that when we cut taxes for large corporations the cumulative effect is additional money to trickle down which in turn creates jobs and stimulates the economy, [...]

If this article is truly accurate then we are on the verge of having laser cannon equipped jet fighters. Being a technology enthusiast and avid science fiction fan my first reaction is one of intrigue and excitement, after all, its one more technological fantasy realized and another barrier knocked down for science. The reality of [...]

As I was reading Cindy Alvarez’s blog post regarding how insulted she was at being told what a good diamond looks like, I couldn’t help but get a little irritated. While I think that while she makes good points regarding the reality of who determines the quality standards of what sells, I think this highlights [...]

There’s something that’s been on my mind for a long time and grows more into focus as things get worse in the world. By worse I specifically mean the economy and the sustainability of the status quo. It’s become clear to me that things will not stay the way they are for very much longer [...]

The dust is settling after the election frenzy of 2008. Words and ideas were exchanged, opinions thrust upon the open forums and we’re left with this empty question that seems to echo through the halls aross America… what now? I’ve waited a long time to write this post, being the type of person who likes [...]

As I drifted to sleep last night my mind wandered over my life and I began to wonder what I felt set me apart from other people. I can be mistaken for a light hearted optimist sometimes as  I approach stressful situations with an c’est la vie and opportunistic attitude. I like to take the [...]

I woke up from a nightmare this morning. I generally don’t have them and the ones I do have are not what other people would  consider nightmares as they tend to be psychological rather than frightening. In my dream,  I was sitting on a couch and had a horrible realization as I was observing the [...]

I accidentally figured out how to make really awesome salsa. I’ve always been unsatisfied with store-bought salsa as it was either never spicy enough (those who know me will testify to my fireproof tongue), or it had an artificial or unnatural flavor. When we bought a vitamix, I was determined to leverage it to make [...]

The picture you see here is not my real Saturn SL2 but it is the same color. The real one has body damage on the hood from a collision from 5+ years ago. The engine is in terrible shape and fails to start if the engine is warm. The gas mileage isn’t quite what [...]