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:
This is the ninth of a series of conversations originally published on the Time site, authored by Nicha Ratana and myself, with transformational leaders who will be storytellers at the BIF10 Collaborative Innovation Summit in Providence, RI.
“Today, smaller and smaller teams are building bigger and bigger things, faster,” he explains. In today’s marketplace—which is streamlined by technology and defined by abundant choice— “corporate muscle mass” such as factories and storefronts have lost the clout they had 50 years prior.
“What customers really crave is a sense of humanity,” claims Taylor.
“Leaders of economically successful organizations are every bit as rigorous about the human side of their enterprises as they are about R&D and acquisitions,” he maintains. Taylor encourages us to recognize the influence of passion brands. “Apple, Google, HBO” he lists, all have dominated their industry sectors thanks to the might of a zealous group of consumers.
“Ultimately, your culture is what sustains your strategy.”
The aspect of technological revolution that currently fascinates Bill Taylor is the power of businesses that are facilitated by technology, but driven by a human touch.
As a primer, he shares three guidelines for companies looking to embrace this new culture of work:
Capitalize on what makes you unique.
Breakaway success requires a commitment to the unprecedented.
“If your customers can live without you, eventually they will,” warns Taylor. “You can’t just be the best at what you do—you have to be the only organization that does what you do.”
Taylor looks up to an early adopter of this principle: Southwest Airlines. “They were never a “low-cost” airline,” he argues, “they were a “big idea” airline.”
Taylor says, “Southwest’s purpose from day one was to ‘democratize the skies,’ to give rank-and-file families the freedom to fly. In the early 1970s when they began to operate, air travel was a luxury of business travelers and the well-to-do.”
Southwest was successful because “their strategy was completely at odds with the rest of the airline industry.”
Create meaning and camaraderie at every level of the organization.
Instead of giving their employees the chance to amass power to get rich, companies must instead help them unleash freedoms from within, allowing people in their ranks to give input about the goods and services they produce.
“People want their work to be consistent with what they care about as human beings,” Taylor says. “The best leaders unearth the passion, energy, and commitment of their people by enabling them to make a real difference to their customers and one another.”
He urges companies to examine themselves. He asks them, “What does it mean—in terms of the language, the daily rituals—to be a member of your organization?”
Taylor shares a revolutionary tip: “The real use of social media is not so that we can market our product to a broader audience, but to give our people the capacity to humanize our brand.”
Be kind—it’s more important than being clever.
We can’t thrive in a corporate world that sacrifices humanity for the sake of profit, Taylor maintains.
At a BIF Summit several years ago, Taylor shared a story of two automobile dealers his father encountered while shopping for a car.
The first dealer sold Cadillacs, a brand Taylor’s father had long been loyal to. Cadillac sent the man a $1,000 customer-loyalty discount in the mail, but because he wanted to buy a car 24 hours after the coupon expired, the dealer refused to honor it.
The second dealer sold Buicks. After a conversation with Taylor’s father, this dealer offered to honor the expired Cadillac discount. The same dealer let the man test-drive the car over a weekend, and, when an emergency surgery prohibited timely return of the vehicle, sent a lovely bouquet of flowers with a “hilarious note.”
“Which car do you think my father bought?” Taylor asks.
“Small gestures of kindness send big signals about who we are and why people should want to affiliate with us.” He adds, “It was the highest ROI on a bouquet of flowers in history.”
Bill Taylor says he “always looks forward” to the Collaborative Innovation Summit, hosted by the nonprofit Business Innovation Factory (BIF) in Providence, RI. Taylor has joined the lineup of radical business thinkers at BIF Summit more than once.
“I’m proud to say I crashed the first BIF Summit in 2004,” he says, “because I’ve been back every year since. It is one of the most exciting and authentic learning laboratories I’ve ever encountered.”
“Community is an overused word, but BIF truly is a community. We come together once a year, and learn from and support each other all the rest of the year.”
“I live for months off the energy that I get from the BIF Summit,” he professes. “It’s a poetry slam for innovators. What a refreshing break from standard operating procedure.”
The BIF Collaborative Innovation Summit combines 30 brilliant storytellers with more than 400 innovation junkies in a two-day storytelling jam, featuring tales of personal discovery and transformation that spark real connection and “random collisions of unusual suspects.”
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Dec 5, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
Going to a weekend spiritual retreat is about the scariest and most exciting plan you can have for a Friday night.
If you are going for the right reasons.
It’s not a business networking opportunity or about being liked. It’s not about looking good. It’s not about sounding good. It’s not even about being good.
It’s about thinking anew while also letting go of old thoughts and beliefs that no longer serve their purpose. It’s about being silent –or as quiet as you can be –on the inside. It’s about listening when you normally speak–and actually listening to understand. It is about NOT filling up awkward silences with others or when alone. It is about standing stiller and seeing more. It is not about meeting others but meeting yourself. It’s not about networking with others but about networking with God —which includes long awkward lulls. It is about being real and laying yourself as bare as you are able. And then peeling off one more layer after that.
But it is mostly about the difference between the man (or woman) you left with and the man (or woman) you return with.
And although you think only you will really know if you’ve changed, you are wrong. And if you do it right, you will be comfortable being wrong, again, about so many of the things you were so certain you had been right about just a few days earlier.
That is both the scary and the exciting parts of a real weekend spiritual retreat.
It used to be that sporting glasses was reserved for nerds like Lewis and Gilbert above. There was a stigma attached to it, so the people who did wear them only did so because they absolutely had to, and/or because they didn’t really care that much about their appearance.
But over the course of the past decade, all that has changed. There are tons of options for stylish frames, and glasses are now used as a tool for expressing one’s personal style. Check out heartthrob Jon Hamm in a classic black frame below. The look is clean, confident and smart.
If you’re thinking about updating your look, glasses are a fantastically handy way to do so. Read on for my tips on choosing a pair of frames. And by the way, if you don’t need glasses, don’t feel left out. Plenty of people sport specs sans prescriptions.
SHAPE
1) Angular-shaped glasses read as authoritative, while glasses with rounded shapes make you look approachable.
2) There’s a lot of information out there about what shape faces should wear what shape glasses. To me, it’s less about rules and more about choice. If you wear the same shape glasses as that of your face, you’ll reinforce that face shape; if you wear the opposite shape, it will balance your face shape. So there’s no “bad” or “good” here. Rather, it’s what you choose to play up. As a specific example, if you have a round face and want to look tougher and more commanding, I recommend wearing glasses that are squared off. Luxottica CEO Andrea (above) is doing just that.
3) The sides of your glasses should end between the corners of your eyes and the sides of your face. (However, if you have a long and narrow face and want to balance that, look for shapes that extend slightly beyond your temples so as to create width in your face. Also, people with long and narrow faces should avoid very small frames.)
COLOR AND MATERIAL
4) A very dark frame can make a strong, dramatic statement (it’s also trendy). If this is what you’re going for, be careful that the dark frame doesn’t overwhelm your own coloring. Check out the guy on the left above — his own coloring and features stand up to the heavy frames. In comparison, the dark frames on the right dominate Brad Pitt’s facial features. On him, you see the frames first before you see his face.
5) Choose a color or type of metal that works with your own coloring. If your skin tone is warm, go with warm-colored frames; if it’s cool, go with cool-colored frames. Hint: if you have grey hair, a silver frame can play off of that nicely.
6) Metal frames have a more modern and dressy feel, and plastic reads more casual. Tortoise frames have a preppy and collegiate vibe.
7) Avoid transition lenses, as they often end up in an unflattering middle-ground of lens color — not quite dark enough to be sunglasses and distractingly shaded for when out of UV-light. They also don’t darken inside vehicles, so they don’t work as driving glasses.
Read the rest of… Julie Rath: Glasses — Not Just for Nerds Anymore
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Dec 4, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
Airports seem to be a good place to be if you are an asshole and want to go undetected.
Airports have lots of food to eat that neither tastes good nor is good for you nor is affordable. You don’t get that combination anywhere else I can think of.
Airports are a great place to buy books you will never read. And would never have bought if you hadn’t been stuck in an airport.
Airports are places where you can shop for things you don’t need and would otherwise never consider buying –and pay twice as much for them as you would anywhere else if you did decide to buy them for some inexplicable reason. And yet buying these things in airports still makes you feel a little bit better on the inside.
Airports are in-between places. And no one likes to admit they are in an in-between place. Especially when they are at an in-between place that looks like an in-between place.
At the departing airport you see people who look just like you that you are leaving behind, and that makes you sad. But you also sense that the place you are going is going to be a better place –just by looking at the people in your airport. And that makes you happy.
But when you arrive at your destination you can tell that the new place isn’t going to live up to your expectations. And you can tell by looking at the people in the arriving airport —who also look just like you do. And that makes you sad again.
Airports are places where women don’t always wear make-up. And men don’t notice because men get to scratch and pick in otherwise off-limit areas when they are at airports. And secretly believe if they wear shorts, white socks and black dress shoes in an airport nobody can really see what they are wearing. Not even the women still wearing make-up.
Airports are a good place to pick up fashion tips if you want to know what looks good when you are exhausted, irritable, impatient, bored, sweaty and have just over-eaten —and are about to lose your cover as an asshole.
And airports are a terrible place if you want to plug in and recharge the things that normally help prevent you from being an asshole.
And airports, best of all, are a place you can feel almost invisible as you watch tens, hundreds, maybe even a thousand people pass by as you as you pass judgment on their most human follies and foibles and momentary inadequacies. While feeling certain that no one else in the airport would even consider doing that to you. As you quickly look down to make sure you aren’t one of those guys who is wearing shorts, white socks and dress shoes and thinks he’s invisible.
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Dec 4, 2014 at 10:00 AM ET
Miller, Hale and Brown in 1995
25 years ago this fall, I found myself shoveling books in and out of a law school locker next to a tall, clean-cut young man who was soft spoken and kind yet also very thoughtful and keenly intelligent.
We became easy friends and enjoyed each others company through our law school years. We went out weekends with our wives and served together as summer associates at Brown, Todd and Heyburn (now Frost, Brown, Todd). By the end of our legal education I counted David Hale as one of my closest friends in life.
A few years after that, David was my closest advisors in my effort to run for Secretary of State. When my campaign seemed in trouble, David intervened. He introduced me to his dear friend, a Harvard College and Harvard Law grad named Jonathan Miller. The two men single handedly managed my campaign, wrote my commercials, and David even used the backyard of his parent’s house (and his father’s office inside) to film my commercials. I was 31 and David and Jonathan were in their late 20s. We had a lot of pluck and energy and had no real idea what we were doing —but had the youthful exuberance that led us to believe we could do it successfully anyway. And we were right.
David continued to be a dear friend and advisor ever since. We became neighbors for many years and in times of personal self-doubt or spiritual upheaval, David Hale was always there…always offering to be helpful and give his time and thoughtful and caring insights. But perhaps most importantly, to always listen. David listens better than about anyone I’ve ever known. And has the rare gift of being a person who has never heard a stupid or silly question. I remember pulling David aside in my mid 30’s one day after we had lunch and asking embarrassingly, “What exactly is the Holy Spirit? I think it is something I’ve felt before but didn’t know there was an actual term for it.” David explained it to me calmly and matter-of-factly without ever wincing — just like I had asked him directions to the nearest convenient store.
David’s priorities have never wavered. When he wasn’t at work, he seemed to be involved at his church or doing something with is family. And if he wasn’t doing any of those things, he was reading some meaty book or talking to a close friend about history, law, politics or religion.
In the 25 years I have known David he has never spoken a curse word or shared an off-color joke. At least not in my presence. It’s kinda maddening, to tell you the truth. And forces me to reign in my own salty language and penchant for occasional coarse humor when in private. This side of David may be maddening to me. But it also makes me a better person. David has that affect on people. Most remarkably of all, you never feel like David is judging you or feeling holier than thou. You just get the sense that you are with a good friend, no better and no worse, but who is perhaps trying a little harder than you to be a little bit better person that day.
David is a devoted father and husband who pays attention to the big things in life. But he also tends to the smaller details. I remember several times walking or driving by David’s house and seeing him pulling up “crab grass.” He explained to me what it was and why it had to be yanked out— but I never paid close attention because I never wanted to feel compelled to comb through my yard pulling out irritating weeds. I never said it to David but thought to myself, “Hell, I can’t tell the difference between crabgrass and real grass…why don’t you just leave it and pretend it all blends together?” And I didn’t say it, of course, because David would never do that.
David sees the big picture about as well as anyone I know. He stays focused on the main point of the main thing and for the main reasons in every matter. But he also deals with the details just as deftly — and prunes away the extraneous crabgrass as he mentally mows through a complicated concept or situation he is analyzing — whether in his personal or professional life. And when he is finished explaining to you why he has decided whatever conclusion he has come to, you feel grateful David has so thoughtfully simplified and clarified such a complex and thorny situation for you. And pointed you in the right direction.
And the same traits that have helped make David Hale such a great friend to so many and a model person I look up to so admiringly, are many of the same traits that will help make him a great federal judge, just as he has served so honorably as our U.S Attorney in recent years.
It’s a cliche to say when something good happens to someone that it “Couldn’t have happened to a better guy.” Except in that rare instance when it is not a cliche. And such is the case with David J Hale’s appointment today, by a unanimous U.S Senate vote, to make him our new federal court judge for the Western District of Kentucky.
And we are all fortunate to have David in this role overseeing the proper dispensation of justice –where he is sure to be as good and decent and thoughtful a federal judge as he is a good and decent and thoughtful person.
I am a fitness writer. I write about fitness. But interestingly enough, I often times write about life more than fitness. I believe fitness is only a component of our make up as people. However, its impact on us is felt is all realms of our being. So with Thanksgiving over and December steadily approaching, I wanted to write a piece that could be applied to a variety of aspects of life. I set out for 2014 with only two things in mind that I wanted to accomplish; publish my first book (released in January and can be purchased here. and launch my personal training studio. In 4 days I will have accomplished both. And I will say it feels good. I worked hard to get here and I will have to work even harder to stay and grow here, but I can say I did it. “How do you want to be remembered?” Is a question from a great speech I routinely listen to that often puts me into a zen-like thinking spell. I hope to be remembered for inspiring others to have aspirations of greatness because greatness can be achieved by all, it is not limited to the chosen few its in all of us. Sometimes you just have to pull it out of yourself. Aspire Fitness is here, 130 W Tiverton Way Suite 125 Lexington, KY 40511 7 days and counting… Thank you to all that help me get to this point, you know who you are. Thank you. Here are a few thoughts…
I can be accused, justifiably so, for being a workaholic and someone who is passionate and borderline obsessed with his work and craft. But I will say for all that I sacrifice; personal time, vacations, time with friends and family, I do my work, not because I have to but because I want too. I lead this life the way I want. Everything is my choice. Some people will love me and some won’t. That is the nature of life.
So putting fitness aside, I thought I would write about life in general. And pose the question to everyone; “Are you living to die or dying to live?” Here are five steps to separate yourself from everyone else and be who you are suppose to be:
Radical Self-Responsibility
We have become people who always point the finger at others. As to say it is always someone else’s fault or problem why we are where we are. At the end of the day, the responsibility falls on our shoulders. If you didn’t workout today, that is your fault. Manage your time better. In order to get out of the usual and become someone of distinct characteristics, we must take full responsibility for everything.
Stop Caring What People Think
Right or wrong we all care what people think of us…to a degree. I care what my family thinks of me. However, I do not let them sway me one bit. Some people will love you, others will not, stop caring what those who only want the worst for you, think. “Wolves do not fret over the onions of sheep.” Are you a wolf or a sheep? You pick?
Stop Being So Superficial
At the end of the day, we will all die and the way we looked or the things we had will not matter. What will matter most is the impact we had on the people we leave behind. Treat your body right but don’t obsess. Have nice things but realize they are only just that, things.
State Your Opinion
This is a difficult one. In today’s landscape, having an opinion can be looked at as a hindrance more than a benefit. However, I was always taught to stand up for your beliefs and to give your opinion if asked. To this day I do not shy from stating my opinion no matter how unpopular it is.
Realize Life Will be Over Soon
To quote a phrase, “I’m not here for a long time, I’m here for a good time.” None of us are here for a long time. We are given a certain amount of time on this earth and we must make the most of it. If you want to try something, go try it. You want to start your own business, go start it. Fear absolutely nothing and careless what anyone has to say about it. Leave a legacy someone could be proud of. It will make a vast difference in the world, trust me.
We were all meant to be extra-ordinary in our lives. But you can’t do this from your desk or your couch at home. You must get off your ass and change your mindset on being you, the real you. Show people who you are. It will make a world of difference.
By John Y. Brown III, on Wed Dec 3, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
I used to think the professional life span of a rock and roll group was about the same as an NFL lineman. 4 or 5 years on average. In a few exceptional cases maybe a little longer. But never more than the culturally transofrmative Beatles who survived together for a stunning 10 consecutive years. Longevity was never a concept that seemed applicable to rock and roll.
At least that is what I believed as a boy who was born in 1963 and watched rock legends and one hit wonders whizz by me like cars passing through a busy intersection. Whatever flashy car caught my attention was soon gone and replaced with a new flashy car –and so it went.
But there was one exception even tben. The Rolling Stones were formed in 1962 and several years after the Beatles disbanded, I read an artcile in Rolling Stone about how remarkable it was that the Stones were still standing the test of time — rocking into their 12 consecutive year. Nearly unthinkable in 1974.
But that was 40 years ago. And now as the Stones rock into their 52nd year (longer than my entire life) — they are still the gold standard for all rock bands — and they have helped make the concept of longevity in the context of rock and roll wholly compatible. Thankfully.
I often struggle to reconcile my progressive values with my love of shopping. I don’t want to patronize companies whose policies are at odds with the environment, LGBTQ rights, fair treatment of workers, and so on, but I also love a good bargain. (My ultra-liberal husband gets weekly updates on which businesses we should avoid based on a wide variety of criteria, making it almost impossible to find an acceptable retailer or gas station!)
But fortunately, it turns out that there is a retailer which is ‘good and good for you,’ where we don’t need to sacrifice our own needs for those of the community – and it even manages to make great profits while espousing progressive values. In any head-to-head comparison with Walmart, and Costco comes up on top regarding employee benefits & wages, ratio of executive to average worker pay, overall customer satisfaction, AND profit. Meanwhile, there are all the stories lately about Walmart forcing employees to work on Thanksgiving, spending a fortune on lobbyists while paying employees poorly, and making taxpayers pay to compensate for those lousy wages and huge executive bonuses, not to mention the pitifully small fraction of a percent the Walmart heirs contribute to any kind of charity, and the Scrooge-like requests for employees to donate canned food to their equally underpaid colleagues.
Isn’t it great to be able to feel morally superior while getting a great deal on everything from toilet paper to tires?
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Dec 2, 2014 at 12:00 PM ET
I woke up on my own this morning several minutes before a quarter after (the time my alarm goes of), so I hop up and shower, shave, and get dressed. And am excited –even proud– to be running about 5 minutes ahead of schedule. I think to myself “I am going to start getting up 5 minutes earlier every day.”
I throw on a sports jacket and pack my laptop bag and pause to wait for Rebecca to tell me to have a good day. But Rebecca isn’t on cue.
I now worry I am about to lose my 5 minute advantage and make noise moving things around in my laptop bag hoping to wake up Rebecca. She stirs a little but still doesn’t wake up.
I sigh loudly (over my fake frustration from having to move things around in my laptop bag –which is realy just a pretext to awaken Rebecca so she can finally tell me to “Have a nice day” before I leave).
I have to admit some of the sigh was real because I had now lost my entire 5 minute advantage from waking up on my own.
Finally, Rebecca, raises up and looks at her clock and asks me in a perturbed voice, “Do you realize it is 2am?”
I looked at my clock. Ummm…
Apparently when I woke up on my own I noticed the minutes but forgot to look at the hour.
Actually it was only 1:58 am now (not 2am as Rebecca insisted), but I didn’t see the point in correcting her since I had mistakenly gotten up not 5 minutes early — but 5 minutes and 5 hours early.
I didn’t know what to say except “Well, I didn’t know it was 2am.” I quietly got back in bed and when my alarm went off at 615am, I turned it off and over-slept my usual 5 minutes. And told myself there were just too many variables involved in trying to be 5 minutes ahead of schedule all day long — and that it is sometimes better to just stick with what you know.
By Erica and Matt Chua, on Tue Dec 2, 2014 at 8:30 AM ET
When taking photos one thing always distracts me: monkeys. As soon as they arrive on the scene I watch them carefully to ensure that the crafty primates don’t steal my things. Beyond that my attention is attracted to them because of their facial expressions, behavior and physics-defying leaps. I can’t help but snap a few photos of them, but when time comes to put things together for LivingIF I can’t find a way to work monkey photos into it. Today though it’s time for monkey business, here are a few of my favorite monkey photos and where you can meet these crafty creatures on your own.
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INDONESIA
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In the archipelago of Indonesia you will find monkeys of all shapes, sizes and colors. City dwellers are wise to human’s ways, raiding fruit stalls and harassing house pets while the jungles are home to a wide variety that will be as interested in you as you are in them. Ubud, Bali’s Sacred Monkey Forest is home to beautiful, but pesky monkeys that know humans as an easy source of food.
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The wise elderly monkeys sit atop temples watching people pass.
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The young scurry around to get food from tourists. This happens one of two ways: the people give it willingly or the monkey scares them into dropping it.
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The very young nestle in the safety of their parents.
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INDIA
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Like the people of India, the monkeys are often forced to interact with hoards of people in sprawling cities. They have learned many tricks such as raiding rooftop gardens and kitchens.
Read the rest of… Erica and Matt Chua: Monkey Business
Blog this!
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