Please sign the petition below to remove the statue of Jefferson Davis currently in Kentucky’s Capitol Rotunda, and replace it with a tribute to Muhammad Ali, “the Louisville Lip” and “the Greatest of All Time.”
I just heard from the Ali family: It is the Champ’s belief that Islam prohibits three-dimensional representations of living Muslims. Accordingly, I have adjusted the petition to call for a two-dimensional representation of Ali (a portrait, picture or mural) in lieu of a statue.
UPDATE (Tuesday, December 2, 2014)
In this interview with WHAS-TV’s Joe Arnold, Governor Steve Beshear endorses the idea of honoring Muhammad Ali in the State Capitol (although he disagrees with removing Davis). Arnold explores the idea further on his weekly show, “The Powers that Be.”
Click here to check out WDRB-TV’s Lawrence Smith’s coverage of the story.
And here’s my op-ed in Ali’s hometown paper, the Louisville Courier-Journal.
UPDATE (Saturday, June 4, 2016)
In the wake of the 2015 Charlestown tragedy, in which a Confederate flag-waving murderer united the nation against racism, all of the most powerful Kentucky policymakers — U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, Governor Matt Bevin, Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo — called for the removal of the Davis statue from the Rotunda. Today, as we commemorate last night’s passing of Muhammad Ali, there is no better moment to replace the symbol of Kentucky’s worst era with a tribute to The Greatest of All Time.
UPDATE (Wednesday, June 8, 2016):
Great piece by Lawrence Smith of WDRB-TV in Louisville on the petition drive to replace Jefferson Davis’ statue in the Capitol Rotunda with a tribute to Muhammad Ali.
UPDATE (Thursday, June 9, 2016):
Excellent piece on the petition drive by Jack Brammer that was featured on the front page of the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Highlight of the article:
Miller said he has received a few “angry comments” on his call to honor Ali.
“One of them encouraged me to kill myself,” he said. “You can quote me that I have decided not to take their advice.”
UPDATE (Friday, June 10, 2016)
The petition drives continues to show the Big Mo(hammed): check out these stories from WKYU-FM public radio in Bowling Green and WKYT-TV, Channel 27 in Lexington:
UPDATE (Saturday, June 11, 2016):
Still not convinced? Check out this excerpt from today’s New York Times:
Have you ever heard someone say they want to be a polymath? Have you ever heard anyone ask, how do I become a polymath? I haven’t. The word comes from the Greek polymathes or having learned much. A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. When we think of polymaths we tend to think of dead scientists from another era like Aristotle and Leonardo da Vinci. Rarely do we apply the moniker in modern times. We need more polymaths. We need a generation of youth who want to be polymaths when they grow up.
It’s easy to wrap our minds around the idea of a polymath in the context of ancient eras long gone. The entire body of knowledge on earth was accessible to an elite few. Those with an exceptional mind, privileged access, and the freedom to focus on interdisciplinary study, could become polymaths. In 384 – 322 BC Aristotle studied under Plato in ancient Greece. His writings spanned many subjects including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theatre, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology and zoology. In the late 15th and early 16th century Leonardo da Vinci was a prototype of the universal genius or Renaissance man. He was a painter, sculptor, engineer, astronomer, anatomist, biologist, geologist, physicist, architect, philosopher and humanist. Where have all the polymaths gone?
Polymaths need not apply in an industrial era defined by specialization. As the entire body of knowledge exploded beyond human capacity to absorb it, silos creating manageable chunks were inevitable. Each silo represents an opportunity to develop expertise and deludes us into thinking the brightest and hardest working among us can absorb all the available knowledge within it. The industrial era constrained knowledge access, limiting it to the privileged few. Barriers to entry proliferated along silo and socio-economic lines with exclusive professional credentials established in the name of protecting the public interest from charlatans without prerequisite experience and knowledge. In the industrial era, knowledge in the wrong hands was thought to be dangerous. Our current education and workforce development systems were designed for an era defined by specialization. It worked fine until it didn’t.
Three important inflection points have emerged calling to question an over reliance on specialization.
Read the rest of… Saul Kaplan: Calling All Polymaths
By John Y. Brown III, on Sun May 12, 2013 at 9:46 AM ET
Setting aside one day a year to say “Thank You” to moms—seems like the least we can do. And on balance a pretty good deal.
Without moms, there wouldn’t be the other 364 days a year.
And that’s just for starters.
We would have a lot of bad habits that would hold us back in life and probably eventually lead to homelessness. And we’d have bad table manners and not bathe as frequently as we do. And we’d never gotten beyond 3rd grade in school. And with the foolish things we would try to do in the back yard playing as kids, we’d surely have put out one or both of our eyes. And refrigerators would stay open longer and waste energy. And we would have been cold more often because we forgot to wear warm enough clothes and shoes. And wet more often, too.
Umbrellas may never have been invented if not for moms. Or chicken soup. Or coupons. Or the voice inside our head that says to us, “What would your mother say?” that keeps us from acting on ideas we have that are viewed negatively by society—except in Quintin Tarrentino films.
But even Quintin Tarrentino is better off for having had a good mother. He would have merely been a spastic truant had he not had a good mom instead of one of the greatest film makers of our generation. So Quintin Tarrentino should be especially grateful for his mom.
And we wouldn’t know how to say things like, “Happy Mother’s Day” and mean it. Or “I love you” and mean that.
So, for all those reasons and many more, Happy Mother’s Day!
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri May 10, 2013 at 12:00 PM ET
Thank goodness for imaginary umbrellas and silver linings.
26 years ago this week, Rebecca Jackson (now Rebecca J. Brown) showed up to work at a Derby party my father and step-mother put on. It was a combination Derby and political event. My father was running for governor (term limits at the time prevented him from seeking a second term in 1983 so he had to wait until 1987). He was ahead in the polls but there was this fella named Wallace Wilkinson who was getting attention for proposing a lottery and he had a new hotshot campaign manager named James Carville, who had just come off his first major campaign victory and was looking to make a name for himself.
But 26 years ago yesterday isn’t about politics. But rather romance. I had invited a friend of mine to join me, Andy Blieden. Andy and I had been friends since high school and he was determined to fix me up on a date. The week before we had met for dinner and Andy asked when I had last been out on a date. I answered somewhat jokingly, “Let’s see, this is Thur. So….Wed, Tues, Mon…Um…About 8 ½ months since my last date, give or take a week.” That did it for Andy.
At the party, the outgoing and slightly intoxicated Andy, struck up a conversation with one of the Southern Belle’s greeting guests. He asked her what her name was. “Rebecca Jackson,” she said. “Are you dating anyone?” Andy asked point blank. “No, not right now.” Rebecca responded. “Would you like to date someone?” Andy humorously and pointedly asked. And then brought me over and introduced me.
But before introducing us, Andy pointed out Rebecca to me and said, “You have to meet this girl. She’s beautiful and not dating anyone now.” I said OK and then scoped her out from a distance. She had long blonde hair and seemed sweet and shy. I liked that. So Andy brought me to her and said, “Rebecca, meet John the third. John, meet Rebecca.”
I said, “Hi. How are you?”
“Fine. How are you?” Rebecca responded.
“Are you in a sorority?” I asked.
“Yes. Are you in a fraternity?” Rebecca asked.
“No.” I said.
After a pause, I said, “Well, nice to meet you.”
It was an inauspicious start but later in the day I struck up a much more meaningful conversation with Rebecca about such intimate topics as what she was majoring in and even disclosed my major, too. It was a start.
As the party was winding down I noticed that the group of Southern Belles were leaving the party. I went down and said goodbye and thanked them. And looked longingly at Rebecca because I wanted to ask her out on a date but she was surrounded by sorority sisters and it was too embarrassing for me to pull her aside. She seemed to look longingly back at me, but I couldn’t be sure. So I waved goodbye and as I walked away I was angry at myself for not having the courage to just ask this young lady out. I let her get away.
I missed my chance. She was gone.
Or so I thought.
A few minutes later while I was talking to a photographer working the party, I looked up and saw Rebecca walking toward the house. She had made up a story to her sorority sisters that she needed to go back inside the house to retrieve an umbrella she left behind. She never had an umbrella but wanted to give me another chance without all the other young ladies around to come up with the gumption to ask her out.
I saw her and without thinking went with my gut, “Rebecca. Hey there. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
I said, “You know. Um. ….Maybe sometime, um. We can, you know….If you want to….go out, or something.” Rebecca coolly said, “Yeah. That would be OK.” She added she was moving out of her sorority house and into an apartment that week and didn’t have a new phone number yet. I wrote down my phone number and said, “Why don’t you call me sometime, when you get settled in?” She grimaced slightly and I realized giving Rebecca my number and asking her to call me was not the proper way to ask a true Southern Belle on a date. I quickly recovered by promising to call her sorority in a couple days before she moved out.
I had her number but she didn’t have her umbrella. But achieved her goal of giving a shy guy a little extra time to do what she knew he wanted –and needed–to do.
And I’m awfully grateful for that. And will always have a soft spot in my heart for umbrellas, real and imaginary. Because that one umbrella changed my life forever—and without it I would have missed marrying my soul mate.
Three weeks later, my father lost the Democratic primary for governor to Wallace Wilkinson—but there was a silver lining. I came out a big winner and won the heart of a loving lady now named Rebecca J. Brown. And she won my heart. By a landslide.
I’m not sure what I’m whispering into Rebecca’s ear in the picture above on the afternoon or our wedding day 4 years later…..but it could have been something reaffirming my profound gratitude for sliver linings—- and imaginary umbrellas.
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri May 10, 2013 at 10:00 AM ET
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As always, The RP’s KY Political Brief, written and prepared by our wunderkind Managing Editor, Bradford Queen, has aggregated all of the latest news and opinion on Governor Steve Beshear’s decision to sign an Executive Order expanding Kentucky’s Medicaid program to 380,000 more uninsured Kentuckians. Here’s an excerpt:
NEW PRESCRIPTION — Medicaid health insurance to expand under Obamacare in Kentucky – C-J’s Jessie Halladay – “More than 300,000 uninsured Kentuckians will become eligible for Medicaid after Gov. Steve Beshear announced Thursday that the state will expand the health-insurance program — taking advantage of President Obama’s controversial Affordable Care Act. … He cited research a study conducted by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services that said expanding Medicaid would benefit hundreds of thousands of Kentucky families, improve the state’s failing health, create nearly 17,000 jobs, and have a $15.6 billion positive economic impact on the state between fiscal years 2014 and 2021. … In addition, the study said Kentucky would see a $802.4 million positive impact on the state budget for that period because some expenses would be moved to the federal government. Without expansion, they show that Kentucky would see $38.9 million in additional costs because of changes under the Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare.”” [C-J]–Fact sheet from Governor’s office: “Expansion Is the Right Decision for Kentuckians’ Health: … Kentucky Ranks at the Bottom in Health Outcomes … 640,000 Uninsured Kentuckians … Expansion Has Huge Positive Economic and Budgetary Impact: Expansion Will Have $15.6 Billion Statewide Economic Impact Between FY14 and FY21, Creating Almost 17,000 New Jobs.” [PDF]
—Democrats, Health Groups Praise Beshear’s Decision to Expand Medicaid [WFPL]
—John David Dyche: “Beshear Wrong to Expand Medicaid” [WDRB]
It was cold and windy here in Manhattan today, and so of course my first thought was boot-related: “what can a guy wear on his feet on a chilly pre-Spring day when the temperature barely makes it over 50 degrees?”
He can’t bring out the old rugged Red Wing-types (although they are just about my favorite thing in the world), as that would be pessimistic.
It’s almost May…we should be peeling off layers, not putting them on! There’s got to be some middle ground. And that’s when I thought of Heschung’s Ginko Boot ($575). I spotted them in Barney’s about a month ago, and they caught my eye for their unique look.
They’re elegant and a little less serious than some of the tougher boots I’ve featured in this space.
The contrast between the tan leather and natural canvas makes them stylish in their own quiet way. And I love the how the stitching pops against the canvas background.
Oh, P.S., I just added a separate blog category for BOOTS. So now my boot crush is official.
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu May 9, 2013 at 6:29 PM ET
Today was Steve Beshear’s finest moment.
In signing an executive order to expand the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, he saved taxpayers $40 million, created nearly 17,000 new jobs and brought the state a positive economic impact of more than $15 billion.
But more importantly…much more importantly…380,000 Kentuckians who do not currently have health insurance coverage will now qualify for affordable health care. That means that 380,000 Kentuckians will live longer, healthier lives because of the Governor’s signature. It is not even the slightest exaggeration to note that Steve Beshear literally saved thousands of lives today.
Of course, there will be plenty of rejectionists deriding the Governor’s actions as the embrace of the evil “Obamacare.” Bully for them. But any short term political benefits they may accrue will be long forgotten decades from now when Kentucky’s personal and economic health has been boosted immeasurably by Steve Beshear’s action today.
Hubert Humphrey once famous stated that the “moral test of government is how it treats those in the dawn of life, the children; those in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those in the shadows of life, the poor and handicapped.”
Steve Beshear today passed that moral test…with flying colors. This is the essence of moral leadershp.
The world is still waiting for an unpredictable take on George W. Bush, whose dedication of his presidential library has spawned mostly commentary that can be pegged from knowing the writer’s pedigree: liberals who downgrade Bush for a war he could have declined and a recession he arguably could have avoided, but cite his relative moderateness as proof that today’s Republican Party is caught in a fever; hard-core conservatives lamenting that Bush spent promiscuously and short-changed social issues, and appointed the Obamacare-saving John Roberts; and center-right conservatives observing that Bush at least understood the value of a conservatism that appealed beyond the Republican base. (a point that I have made in past columns on Karl Rove and Jeb Bush).
I’ll forego those arguments for now to make another observation that Bush’s admirers and detractors gloss over: Bush happens to be the rare president who made a practice of being indifferent to the legacy building implications of his office. He said as much on several occasions (and was ridiculed for it) and his comments reflected a mindset which governed largely in the moment with no pretense of a signature governing vision. Consider the many plays this ad hoc style played out.
Where Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan had specific and in their case diametrically opposed conceptions for the long term relationship between the world’s military superpowers, Bush’s foreign policy was really just a stop-gap. He bought into the intelligence that Iraq was a budding security threat, wiped its leadership out, and spent five years massaging the results with little trace of a broader strategic design (the neo-conservative rhetoric about democratizing the Middle East never got much more than lip service from Bush, who easily accommodated the region’s other autocratic regimes). While Ronald Reagan actively sought to dismantle the framework of liberalism, and Bill Clinton and Barack Obama openly attempted to redefine their party and their opposition, Bush seemed notably uninterested in weaving a long term or even distinct short-term ideological blueprint. His signature domestic victory, No Child Left Behind, was technocratic and did not lean hard to the left or the right; the prescription drug benefit was similarly ambidextrous: insubstantial and loophole filled on one hand, the first expansion of Medicare in forty years on the other. And once the drug benefit passed, he barely mentioned it, much less tried to expand it into a template for how a conservative reformer might tackle health care in its broader dimensions.
Even when Bush overreached, as I argued then and would still argue now, in the way he waged the war on terror, it should not be forgotten that the bulk of what he sanctioned happened in the shadows, without Bush ever outlining in any concrete way a new formulation of American interrogation or surveillance policies. When “caught”, the Bush team, more often than is remembered, either reined themselves in or minimized the scope of their departure from preexisting laws. And Obama’s wholesale adoption of those same techniques, only substituting drones for torture, makes them already look more like another chief executive pushing for more authority than some uniquely Bush based doctrine.
It’s worth remembering that Bush actually tried to preserve an assault weapons ban, but never spoke of it; tried to roll back farm subsidies while doling out new oil subsidies; pinched pennies in specific agencies without even faking a grand deficit reduction strategy. The absence of any memorable Bush speeches on domestic policy is not entirely a function of his famous inarticulateness, but reflects the fact that so few Bush initiatives kept his own administration’s attention.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: Yet Another Way of Looking at George Bush
By Jonathan Miller, on Thu May 9, 2013 at 12:15 PM ET
Just got back from an exhausting, and very productive trip from Washington DC with Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James Comer and State Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Paul Hornback (both pictured with me at left).
I will have more to write about it in the coming days (after I get my paying job done), but here are some clips from the the national coverage of our trip:
Huffington Post’s Ryan Grim: “Kentucky Hemp Lobby Makes Inroads In Washington”:
A chance encounter at last weekend’s Kentucky Derby may have given the hemp industry the break it’s been looking for since the crop was banned in 1970, when the federal government classified it as a controlled substance related to marijuana.
Kentucky’s Commissioner of Agriculture James Comer, a Republican, told The Huffington Post that he was at a private pre-derby party on Saturday when he found himself chatting with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his chief of staff Mike Sommers. Comer talked shop.
The topic at hand was the fate of the hemp industry in Kentucky, which could become the first state in the nation to successfully lobby for federal approval. Boehner and Sommers were interested enough to invite Comer and the chief supporters of the state’s legalization bill to a meeting in Washington.
On Tuesday night, Boehner sat down with Comer and the bill’s lead backers, Republican state Sen. Paul Hornback and Democrat Jonathan Miller, a former Kentucky state treasurer who currently serves on the Kentucky Industrial Hemp Commission (and who also moonlights as a HuffPost blogger). Sommers confirmed the meeting took place.
According to Comer, Boehner told the trio he would talk with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) about how a federal bill might be moved forward to remove hemp from the list of controlled substances. On Thursday, Comer and the Kentucky legislators plan to meet with McConnell, who surprised observers back home by endorsing Hornback’s hemp bill, a move that quickly brought the state GOP in line.
The most likely path to passage for hemp legislation runs through the farm bill, as an amendment. That bill goes up for debate in the Senate Agriculture Committee next week — fortuitous timing for hemp.
“I was impressed with his knowledge of this issue,” Comer said of Boehner. “At the end he said, ‘This is funny, because this issue’s been around a long time. My daughter was talking about this 15 years ago.’ So this is something he knows a lot about. And the difference today, as opposed to 10 years ago, is the only people who were pushing this issue 10 years ago were the extreme right or left, or people who wanted to legalize marijuana.” Comer spoke with HuffPost and a Roll Call reporter in the office of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), their home base while they’re in Washington, working with the group Vote Hemp, which advocates on behalf of the industry.
Roll Call’s Niels Lesniewski: “Kentuckians Say Legalize…Hemp, That Is”:
The upcoming farm bill might be a venue for legalizing industrial hemp production, at least if Kentucky lawmakers get their way.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his home-state GOP colleague Rand Paul are already among those backing the proposal along with numerous House members, and advocates are looking for more support in advance of next week’s Senate farm bill markup.
Kentucky Agriculture Commissioner James R. Comer is on Capitol Hill this week meeting with senior lawmakers and promoting proposals to remove federal barriers to cultivating hemp, including a measure being pushed by Paul with the backing of McConnell. Kentucky legalized production at the state level in April.
“You can make textiles. The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper,” Comer said. “It was a leading crop that Henry Clay grew and Abraham Lincoln’s in-laws grew in Kentucky.”
Comer and two Kentucky colleagues said in an interview in Paul’s office that meetings with lawmakers and administration officials were going well and that the trio had not encountered much opposition, except, as former Kentucky State Treasurer Jonathan Miller acknowledged, from law enforcement.
“Most of all, we believe it’s based on the fear that this is a slippery slope and they would lose money with marijuana eradication, and it’s a lack of education.” Miller said, noting that the group’s attempts to meet with the Drug Enforcement Administration had been fruitless.
Advocates say that law enforcement should no longer worry about telling the difference between pot and hemp, which are related but not the same plant.
“We have found tremendous policy support from liberal Democrats, conservative Republicans, everybody in between, but law enforcement continues to have some reservations based on what we think is misinformation, so we’re trying to clear up the record,” Miller said.
Politico’s KEVIN ROBILLARD: “Kentucky official lobbies Hill, White House on hemp”
A top Kentucky official on a mission to legalize industrial hemp said Wednesday he got a warm Washington welcome from both administration officials and House Speaker John Boehner.
Kentucky Agricultural Commissioner James Comer told POLITICO both Boehner and officials from the White House and Agricultural and Energy departments seemed open to legalizing the plant, which is a close cousin of marijuana and whose growth is outlawed in the United States.
“I just think if more and more people studied this issue they would realize this is a no-brainer,” said Comer, a Republican who used a similar economy-focused message to push hemp legalization through the state’s general assembly earlier this year. “This is a way to create jobs.”
The centrist nature of the commissioner’s pitch won him establishment support in Kentucky, including endorsements from the state’s Chamber of Commerce and the Louisville Courier-Journal. Comer and other backers, including both Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rand Paul, market hemp as a economic and environmental wonder plant that can be used to build everything from clothes to car doors.
The bill eventually passed with overwhelming margins in both Kentucky’s Democratic House and Republican Senate, but won’t allow Kentucky farmers to grow hemp until the federal government gives them the go-ahead. Hence the trip to D.C.
Comer is traveling with Jonathan Miller, a former Kentucky treasurer and Clinton administration official who was able to broker meetings with Obama administration officials. So far, the pair have met with Agricultural Department officials, who said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was “open to the idea and very receptive to it,” as well as Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency staffers, one of whom wore a hemp dress for the occasion. They also met with a White House staffer who was “somewhere above the janitor and somewhere below the chief of staff,” Comer said.
I made my RP debut with a story of overcoming adversity through social media and peanut butter. For those who did not indulge in the “tail” (if you search the archive, you will gain further understanding of this spelling), it was a collection of events that prompted a wake-up call in my life through very surprising channels and/or “ingredients”.
Tonight, as I was decompressing, a very enlightening thing happened along the same lines…
Why Inspiration and Insight Can Be Simple, Sweet, Social, and Seafood Related
I have since gained great responsibility at my new job. Being the bright-eyed, bushy-tailed gal that I am, I typically prioritize with this kind of self-communication:
Carpe Diem the heck out of life and your job, Christie.
Wait, what’s on our list today?
Gain respect by being respectful.
What can I cook that I can post a pic of on Facebook and further my obnoxious obsession with the “likes” it gets?
Okay, the list again.
RULE #1: Don’t watch viral videos. They are funny and they are TOXIC for productivity.
Prank call Mom for a quick laugh. No more Mountain Dew. They’re toxic too.
Stop it! The LIST!
Communicate effectively, lead by example, and work hard to showcase the hard work of others so that they may receive the credit they deserve.
Meet deadlines + make clients happy + get more clients + make everything happy for everyone = Satisfactory time spent in your twenties = CARPE DIEM NOW and CARVING OUT THE FUTURE DIEMS WITH LESS OF THE CARPE.
I may be a little scattered, but I mean well and I try to prioritize my focus as much as I can, what, with all these distractions these days and all.
That being said, I had the most monstrous day today. Truly, it was one for the record books. I’ve never felt so proud of my focus and distribution of energy; so eager for more, sad for the day to end, so excited for tomorrow….so…..
Exhausted.
Then, I look at my Facebook for the first time all day. Already so proud of my lack of engagement with my typically welcome distraction, I post the most random and unrelated statement to my current situation:
“Isn’t it cool how uncooked shrimp are all grey and sad looking, and when you throw them in the pan, they turn pink and look all happy? I’ve never seen anything like it! They’re like, ‘COOK ME! EAT ME! LOVE ME!’”
I got the comment:
“Don’t forget “DIP ME!” which prompted me to think about things on a very casual and uninhibited philosophical level. I then posted:
“Recipes for success in food and in life…I’ll let you determine what the “life” definition is…”
And then, when I was deep in a pensive stare into the distance, pondering the creation of the stars in the sky and contemplating my navel, the most beautiful thing brought me back to Earth.
My sorority sister – one whom I’ve always admired for her unbelievable spirit and ability to find the “sweet” in the sourest of hours posted the most endearing thing. She said:
“I’m pretty sure the shrimp would disagree with you…”
Attached was a YouTube clip of the song “Les Poisson” from The Little Mermaid.
I clicked on the video from my phone, as us Gen Y kids do, and was immediately transported back to my childhood. I grinned, then I giggled, then I gawked at my own terrible behavior towards prawns. Then I pressed PLAY again.
I continued to do this until I could remember ALL of the words in this animated clip of Disney nostalgia. Then, I remembered a few more things to put on my list of responsibilities:
It is okay to watch videos. Not stupid ones or negative ones, but one a day less than 2 minutes that will enable you to rock the “Carpe Diem” mantra.
It’s okay to spread this joy. New thought? VIRAL JOY.
Prank “text” Mom instead with some viral joy. Streamlining, and yet still as funny.
By adding this simple step, it could even help in communicating effectively, leading by example, and maybe, just maybe, it’s okay to showcase your youth sometimes when you are trying to empower those around you.
Meet the deadlines, get the clients, make everything happy….Carpe, Carpe, Carpe….STOP. Successful time spent in your twenties is also carving out time to laugh, too.
There you have it, folks. “Carping” and “Diem-ing” without killing any “carp” or “shrimp”. List also went from 10 to 5. It’s neat sometimes how much easier life can be when you take some of the stupid out and add a little joy.
So I live to seize another day of the twenties; restored by reminiscing on the wee-days, reserving the right to laugh and post and post and laugh, all while preserving some future R&R for the thirties and beyond.
Thank you, Shannon for your revitalizing and effervescent spirit, thank you Little Mermaid, and once again – thank you Facebook. Oh, and I’m sorry shrimp – but you still are really good when I eat you, and with a growing career, I need to maintain a healthy diet.
* * *
No cartoon shrimp were harmed in the writing of this piece. But I ate a few real ones…
Blog this!
