Happy New Year 2009

Well today is the first day of the new year, 2009. Let old acquaintance be forgot and all that jazz. 2008 will be remembered for the turmoil and change that brought the world a challenging financial recession and America it’s first African American President. As I look back on the year 2008, it was a year of big change for me. There are some changes that I don’t like, but I see now as necessary to get to where I am at today. It will probably be one of the more memorable years of my life, notwithstanding many regrets I may have. You always regret those argument and rifts that can sometimes permanently damage relationships and cause you to really take a hard look at yourself and your behavior.

It’s also a chance to look back and see where you and where I did some right things. Four short months ago, I travelled to Brazil to work as a volunteer in a day care center for children from the poorest of the poor neighborhoods in Salvador, Bahia. I went through an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions. It was a magical time and for me something I will never forget. Those children are very much on my mind everyday and when I think of my own personal financial and economic struggles, I have a point of reference that says “There but the grace of God go I”. I have been caught up in the economic recession, but I still have a roof over my head, heat on these cold winter nights and food to eat. I have no steady job right now but manage to make somewhat of a living as a freelance writer and over the last few months have learned a lot about the craft of being a writer for hire, a jack of all trades yet master of none. Being a ghostwriter is weird beyond all belief. I have written 300 word articles on clothes hangers, flooring and DUI lawyers. Sometimes as much as 50 a day. Try finding something interesting to say about flooring after you are on article number 12. It ain’t easy let me tell you. It’s not like posting random blogs on subjects of my choosing.

So i sit here in my apartment on a very cold New Years day and have made my list of New Year’s resolutions last night and am starting to stick to them. One of them was to write on this blog more with as much zest as I did when I started it. There was a lot of election coverage in addition to my travels to Brazil along with some personal musings like when I visited the house of my childhood a few months back. I wrote some book reviews, attended a book party, took some stands on some issues and definitely made my views known.

I guess I want to take this blog in a different direction. Reading the news these days can make one depressed and sometimes feel outright terror and despair. While the financial crisis appears to be very real, and I know of many people who are touched by it, the media is amplifying it to keep people in the mindset of scarcity. I just can’t buy into that. It’s also very hard to find a story that is positive, about people who are making a difference in the world, people who volunteer their time for others, people who are making astonishing breakthroughs in science and medicine, people who are standing up for what is right and good without being labelled kooks.  I briefly touched on this during my book review about people who stood up to the government like the librarian who refused to hand over library records of people who checked out books that Homeland Security wanted to know about. It’s these stories that you often have to go to the Internet for because they are just not that sensational for the traditional media to cover. I know, I am a writer for hire, and I have yet to get asked to write about someone who is making a difference in the world. I usually write about something that will sell a product or a service because that is what the market is right now. People are not paying the big bucks or any bucks for that matter for a story about a teacher who stays with a student long after the school day is over to help them as they struggle with a math problem. It’s these unsung heroes that need to get a little push here in Internet land. You can go to Fox News or ABC’s 20/20 for the exclusive interview with Ashlee Dupree, the escort who brought down Elliot Spitzer.

I guess what I am trying to say here in my rambling New Year message is that I am going to try to write about more positive stories, something that lifts up not tears down. I got sucked into the political process as much as anyone and was very willing to muckrake the people  I perceived as opponents. I made no bones about who I was supporting during this election, but did I really have to write a entry about Bristol Palin being pregnant. Did I have to join the chorus of media outlets and bloggers who had such glee that the daughter of a socially conservative vice presidential nominee was pregnant and that qualified as news as well as cannon fodder for those of us who, like myself, are very quick to point out to foibles of social conservatives. What was there to gain in that. Bristol had a baby boy and its healthy. She did not need to be dragged into the political game of bread and circuses that became Campaign 2008. I for one regret jumping on that bandwagon and experiencing a certain glee at the whole thing. Sarah Palin is not my cup of tea, but did I really have to go along with the crowd and report the pregnancy as the rumors in blogland started to escalate. I guess it’s just a case of being a follower and not a leader. When I write from my truth, I can write some pretty profound and wonderful things. When I jump on bandwagons or try to write exposes, it’s then when I get a little off balance.

So the campaign is over, it’s a new year and I am turning over a new leaf. No more negative stories, no more boycott stories, no more anti-anything. There’s plenty of that around. I am going to look for things that inspire me and may inspire other people. It’s probably not too hard to find. There are ordinary people who do extraordinary things everyday. I am going to find some of them and write about them and about organizations that are doing some good in the world. I am going to use my writing gift wisely and not use it to divide but unite.  May you all have a blessed and peaceful and inspiring 2009.