A DOG NAMED SAMMY

Today I read a blog about first loves, http://justdoingmythingcom.blogspot.com/. Ernaka reminisces about her first love. It got me thinking about my first love, a hound and beagle mixed I named Chucky -- I was about fourteen or fifteen. Chucky began as my two younger brother's dog but he navigated to me. Actually, I claimed him. Whenever my brothers tried to leave the yard with Chucky I would call him and he would run back to me.

Chucky was my second dog, my first when I was just seven, was a collie I named Lassie. Chucky slept with me, talked on the telephone with my friends -- or at least he licked the telephone and howled. On a bright Sunday morning while our family was getting ready for church I looked out my bedroom window and saw a neighbor walk by carrying my poor dog on a shovel. Chucky had been hit by a car and was dead. I was devastated. My mother tried to find another hound and beagle mix for me but came home with a terrier we named Randy -- but he couldn't replace Chucky.

That was many, many years ago. Three weeks ago my fiancé David dragged me through the county animal shelter. We visit the shelter often just to look at the animals. I had no intention of getting a dog -- and then I saw him. Here was a two and half week old hound and beagle mix. Call it fate, kismet or destiny -- the sign above him said his name was Sammy. My father's name was Samuel and there are numerous family members who are either named Samuel, Sammie, or Samantha -- my daughter's name. I was smitten, still I had no plans to adopt a dog -- the nest is empty and I am very comfortable with my independence.

But I couldn’t get this adorable little pup out of my mind. Looking into his eyes took me back to a simpler time in my life when my biggest problem was finishing a book report for my lit class. I left Sammy at the shelter and went home. I couldn't get his big brown eyes out of my mind. I called the shelter and asked if they still had Sammy -- they did and two days later Sammy was home with me! Now I am up every morning walking this new life before I've even had a shower or my first cup of coffee. I've also had to deal with a couple of accidents in the house and now I'll have to clean the carpet. I worry that the house may smell like a dog and am on guard constantly-- it's great.

I raised three children but I had forgotten what it was like to lose sleep, change diapers and everything else associated with taking care of a new life. I miss my babies but admit I had enjoyed the freedom that comes with an empty nest. Yet, Sammy has brought a joy to my life that I had not expected. I miss my parents, my childhood and my first love, a little hound and beagle mix named Chucky. Sammy helps me cope with the loss of my parents, my youth and the empty nest. Now if I could just get him to stop chewing the rug under my dining room table.
Copyright ©Sharon D. Powell, 2009 all rights reserved

I'M TIRED OF DAVE LETTERMAN

Am I the only one who is tired of the media's obsession with David Letterman's escapades? Okay, he had sex with women on his staff -- he is not the first man or woman to do that. Was it wrong? Yes. Does it have any impact on anyone's life other than his wife, child and staff? No.

It is time to admit that we are human and sometimes make poor choices. During one of my graduate classes, I don't remember which class as there are so many courses psych grad students have to take, I learned that we tend to hold others around us to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. That means we expect others to overlook our dumb mistakes, however we are often unwilling to give others the same break.

Currently, there are some who are shocked and scandalized because Dave Letterman did not live up to their standard. Our standards are personal and don't have anyhing to do with anyone else. I don't mean to sound like a psychologist -- I'm supposed to be in recovery from my former profession. I just believe there are so many real issues that need attention -- issues that impact or communities. David Letterman's behavior does not impact our communities.

It is probably good to take a look at our own behavior, ask ourselves what can we learn from Letterman's disclosure and perhaps commit to avoiding the same mistakes --and get back to debating real issues such as child abuse, domestic violence, crime and get out of our celebrities bedrooms.

Don't get me started talking about the feeding frenzy around Jon and kate:-)
Copyright ©Sharon D. Powell, 2009 all rights reserved

PRESIDENT NEEDS COLIN POWELL

Our new president is faced with a difficult decision – what strategy will work to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda – and find Osma bin Laden. “Asking for patience until he completes an assessment of the situation over the next few weeks, the president urged lawmakers to keep their minds open to a nuanced range of options,” writes Christi Parsons and James Oliphant, Obama mulls middle ground in Afghanistan war strategy, October 7, 2009: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg.

According to Parsons and Oliphant the president is considering a middle range of the spectrum, “somewhere between a major increase in forces and a large drawdown,” they write. They also note that the president is caught in the middle facing pressure from fellow Democrats who prefer a draw down and Republicans “eager to boost the war effort.”

Clearly our new president has advisors who are offering reasonable options however, I believe one advisor he needs to confer with is former Secretary of State and retired Army General Collin Powell. Why Powell? The retired general certainly understands the impact of sending men and women into harms way. Powell also understands what it means to serve in combat – he served two tours of duty in Vietnam. This would not be the first time President Obama has sought advice from Powell. According to an article by Sarah Baxter and posted at TIMESONLINE, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2042072.ece, the former secretary of state twice met Barack Obama when he was the Democratic candidate, to advise him on foreign policy. This was a good strategy then and would be a good strategy now.

If America destroys Al Qaeda and finds Osma bin Laden this will bring closure to the victims of the 9/11 attack on our country. America needs justice – bin Laden needs to face an American jury and answer for his crimes. Eight years ago when our forces launched the attack in Afghanistan this was the goal. It is unfortunately that our government allowed Iraq and Saddam Hussein to distract us. Hussein is gone and now our focus must be Al Qaeda and Osma bin Laden. More than likely more troops are needed. This is sad -- as a mother and grandmother I undersand how hard it is to make that supreme sacriface and lose our love ones, however as a military woman and an American I understand that service men and women may often be called upon to risk their lives for their country and ultimately die for their country. Iraq was an unfortunate distration but now we need to finish the business Osma bin Laden started eight years ago when he attacked our nation.
Copyright ©Sharon D. Powell, 2009 all rights reserved

US Supreme Court More Diverse

Today was Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s first day at her new job on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor’s appointment to the highest court by the first president of African and European descent represents a move toward making the highest court mirror the Americans impacted by their rulings. When President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor he took a major step toward making the court look like America – diverse – that melting pot.
America is a nation of diverse cultures and ethnic groups and a culturally diverse Supreme Court gives the court insight it otherwise would not have. Regardless of your political views the idea of a court that mirrors our nation’s population should be welcomed.
Sotomayor brings impeccable credentials to her new post – Sotomayor’s credentials are impressive. She served as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She is also a Lecturer at Columbia University Law School and was also an adjunct professor at New York University Law School.
Sotomayor’s story is also impressive: “Judge Sonia Sotomayor has lived the American dream. Born to a Puerto Rican family, she grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx. Her parents moved to New York during World War II – her mother served in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during the war. Her father, a factory worker with a third-grade education, died when Sotomayor was nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, then raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, Juan, now a physician in Syracuse. After her father’s death, Sotomayor turned to books for solace, and it was her new found love of Nancy Drew that inspired a love of reading and learning, a path that ultimately led her to the law,” http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ Background-on-Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor/.
Sotomayer brings experience that her colleagues do not have. In an Associated Press article that appeared in yesterday’s News & Observer, “Supreme Court returns with new face” Mark Sherman notes that “Unlike her colleagues, Sotomayer also has experience as a trial judge.”
There are some who may be concerned about how Sotomayor may rule on hot button cases, but we all must admit that appointing a Latina woman has helped to make the Supreme Court represent the demographics of the US. The Supreme Court is much more diverse and representative of the US population.
I applaud Judge Sotomayor on her new job and wish her well.
Copyright ©Sharon D. Powell, 2009 all rights reserved

THE SUPREME COURT BECOMES MORE DIVERSE

Today was Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s first day at her new job on the Supreme Court. Sotomayor’s appointment to the highest court by the first president of African and European descent represents a move toward making the highest court mirror the Americans impacted by their rulings. When President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor he took a major step toward making the court look like America – diverse – the melting pot.
America is a nation of diverse cultures and ethnic groups and a culturally diverse Supreme Court gives that court insight it otherwise would not have. Regardless of your political leanings the idea of a court that mirrors our nation’s population should be welcomed.
Sotomayor brings impeccable credentials to her new post. She served as a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She is also a Lecturer at Columbia University Law School and was also an adjunct professor at New York University Law School.
Her life story is also impressive, “Judge Sonia Sotomayor has lived the American dream. Born to a Puerto Rican family, she grew up in a public housing project in the South Bronx. Her parents moved to New York during World War II – her mother served in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps during the war. Her father, a factory worker with a third-grade education, died when Sotomayor was nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, then raised Sotomayor and her younger brother, Juan, now a physician in Syracuse. After her father’s death, Sotomayor turned to books for solace, and it was her new found love of Nancy Drew that inspired a love of reading and learning, a path that ultimately led her to the law,” http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/">http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ Background-on-Judge-Sonia-Sotomayor/.
Sotomayer brings experience that her colleagues do not have. In an Associated Press article that appeared in yesterday’s News & Observer, “Supreme Court returns with new face” Mark Sherman notes that “Unlike her colleagues, Sotomayer also has experience as a trial judge.”
There are some who may be concerned about how Sotomayor may rule on hot button cases, but we all must admit that appointing a Latina woman has helped to make the Supreme Court represent the demographics of the US. The Supreme Court is much more diverse and representative of the US population.
I applaud Judge Sotomayor on her new job and wish her well.

How Do American Cities become Worthy of the Olympic Games?

As the morning began many Chicagoans were hopeful they would host the 2016 Olympic Games. But this was not to be the case as they lost their bid on the first round of votes. There’s much debate about why Chicago did not make it past the first round of voting this morning. I imagine there are some who do not care that Chicago lost their bid while others feel Chicago didn’t deserve the opportunity to host the games. Activist and author Kevin Powell (no relationship to this writer) voiced this view in his Op-Ed titled “Chicago, Obama, the Olympics, and the Murder of Derrion Albert” posted on Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kevin-powell/chicago-obama-the-olympic_b_307564.html.
Powell argues that Chicago and most major urban US cities need a “domestic Marshall Plan,” which he says would deal with the social issues plaguing these cities. Powell writes that these issues include failing schools, terrible housing conditions, limited job, career, and business opportunities, a culture of violence and “the hopelessness and mayhem that led to the very recent beating death of a teen named Derrion Albert.”
I disagree with Powell when he says Chicago did not deserve to host the games. This opportunity would have invigorated many industries and businesses thus generating needed revenue and jobs. However Powell did correctly identify a major concern and his call for an urban Marshall plan is right on the money. Inner city residents aren’t the only individuals impacted by the decline in urban areas. The entire city and nation suffers – rampant crime, particularly violent crime threatens the entire nation and may have influenced voters in Copenhagen this morning.
Is it possible that voters were swayed by images of that unfortunate young man being beaten to death by other young men— young men who should have had his back. When I worked in human services I found that there was a disconnect between mainstream America and the kind of youths who are capable of beating another human being to death. Many of the men I worked with had experienced so much abuse early in their lives that they were unable to feel empathy or compassion – they lacked a sense of humanity which made them extremely dangerous. We need to make sure all children grow up in safe and loving environments free from crime and violence.
Any plan should focus on ensuring children do not have to experience the kind of violence that teaches them to be dangerous. This plan should include programs to teach overwhelmed parents how to discipline their children without resorting to violence. Anytime a parent or caregiver strikes a child this parent unwittingly teaches that child that violence is the only recourse for all problems. An urban Marshall plan should also focus on motivating youths to view themselves as a part of the greater community and invested in the well being of their communities. It does not matter whether Kevin Powell believes Chicago deserved the Summer Olympics if urban youths do not feel invested in the success of their communities.
There is work to be done in order ensure our cities are ready for the next bid. We have to make sure the Darrion Alberts of the world are safe in order to attract the kind of events that will help our society.
Copyright ©Sharon D. Powell, 2009 all rights reserved

An Invisible Warrior Passed this Week

They are known as the greatest generation – the military men and women who served during World War II. According to Veterans Administration statistics they are dying at the rate of a thousand a day. Sadly, one of the veterans who died this week was a pleasant former Air Force B-29 gunner I met briefly on a humid summer afternoon last year. I learned of this former warrior's death today when I saw his four line death notice in the Raleigh News & Observer. I have the daily newspaper delivered to my door each morning and read the entire paper. This is a good thing otherwise I would not have known that Durell Russer, Sr, 89 had passed. Russer was a Georgia native, who served in the Pacific during World War II.

I interviewed him last summer for a book I am writing. Russer walked with a cane, was stooped with age, and appeared frail. Yet he was a gracious host who gladly welcomed me, a stranger into his home. He told me he was hard of hearing and his memory was failing, nevertheless he seemed eager to talk to me about the war. I had a list of questions I wanted to ask him but after several minutes of yelling back and and forth I realized this was not working. Instead, I just turned on my tape recorder and let him talk. Just inside the front door hanging on his wall was an 8 X 10 portrait of former First Lady, the late Eleanor Roosevelt.

“I met Mrs. Roosevelt,” he said. ‘Oh really’, I replied and waited for him to explain. “She came to Tinian when I was there," he said. Tinian is the Pacific island where the B-29 bomber named Enola Gay took off from to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I wanted to know how he felt about that but could not ask questions as he couldn't hear me. Instead, I waited for him to tell me more about meeting Eleanor Roosevelt.

During her visit Russer said the first lady ate lunch at his table – which Russer considered an honor as the men at his table were all African American. These men did not expect the first lady to single them out to share a meal with them because they were black, according to Russer. "She told us President Roosevelt wanted us to know he liked the job we were doing," Russer said.

I got the impression Russer and his comrades needed to hear these encouraging words. They had been conditioned to believe they were invisible, much like the narrator of Ralph Ellison’s 1952 novel, The Invisible Man. Ellison's narrator, who is black explains that he is not invisible because of science but because others refuse to see him because he is "a negro" – that day Russer and his comrades became visible.

I believe Eleanor Roosevelt was willing to recognize men such as Russer along with the other 1.2 million African American men and women of the greatest black generation who served during World War II. Here's to you Durell Russer -- invisible no more.
Copyright ©Sharon D. Powell, 2009 all rights reserved