Okay… here’s a little teaser of things to come. My graphic novel has begun and the first panel is of a commercial… that will pan out to… I really should keep quiet.

Anyway- loose sketches as I churn out the ideas and hopefully with my income tax return I can get graphics tablet, otherwise this is going to be PAINFUL.

Oh- and pictures of the cats: Mila being Mila and Stan wondering what the heck I’m doing and then ignoring me.

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Admittedly I am not the most confrontational person if the situation doesn’t fully merit it. Examples:
My upstairs neighbor who I SWEAR is a dead ringer for the uncle on Napoleon Dynamite (did anyone see the secret pic I took of him wearing the Karate Kid head band, muscle shirt and 70′s esque running shorts???) Anyway- the guy listens to his Rush nightly and at times the bass feels like it’s drilling into my head. I scream for him to turn it down, I’ll hit the wall, pound the ceiling with a broom stick or what ever happens to be in reach (sorry kitty…) ANYTHING to avoid just getting up and out of my comfort zone to walk up the stairs and ask “Can you please turn it down?”

Recently we had a new person move into the building. A younger guy who had NO clue how to park. I wish I captured how diagonal he’d park in relation to my car leaving me almost no room to get out of my own vehicle because his passenger side headlight was practically touching my driver’s side door.

Well I did what I normally do- something passive aggressive: I took my sketch pad and placed a series of notes in the window that faced his parking spot. The first one was simple “Did you flunk parking?” with a little diagram on it on the right way to park and the wrong way to park. Still no luck.

The second sign read: Please Read Parking for Dummies or Idiots or Morons or Really Slow People!

Viola! It worked!!! I looked out the window and for the first time in a month he parked correctly (see photo of his correct parking that has kept me from spilling the ink over the past month).

Of course after I saw this wonderful transformation in parking… I put a polite “Thank You =)” in the window.

I forgot about it until Nick sent me a link to passive aggressive notes.com to show me this funny posting and I gasped… OMG people JUST LIKE ME! (scary eh)? So I pulled out the pad and took pictures of my notes wishing I captured the moment. Oh well… now I know.

Current Mood: Crazy!

The shivering cold of today had rendered me unable to leave my post and take my long morning and afternoon walks. I did not wish to confront the horizontal rains and now I’m suffering from fidgeting legs! Yes, I could easily hop up on my treadmill type machine and pound out the hyper that has plagued me… but I’ve had a little bit of wine and I am not moving ANY WHERE.

It was so cold today

In other news- the gunman died. I am so irked. No, I do not believe in an ‘after life’, but I do believe he got away with murder and his suicide was at long last successful.

Bastard.

Gunman in shooting spree dies

09:02 PM PST on Tuesday, January 27, 2009

By kgw.com and AP Staff

PORTLAND, Ore. — The gunman in the deadly weekend shooting in downtown Portland has died, according to Portland Police. Erik Ayala was 24 years old.

The lone gunman opened fire outside an under-21 nightclub in Portland on Saturday night, killing two girls and wounding seven other people before shooting himself, police said.

The shooting, the worst in Portland’s history, was also an international tragedy. Six foreign exchange students were among the nine victims. More: Worst Portland shootings
Police also revealed Tuesday that the weapon used in the shooting was traced to a pawn shop called the 99 Pawn and Guns shop in Milwaukie, near Ayala’s residence.

Portland Police
They say Ayala purchased the weapon on January 9th, 2009. According to records, Ayala tried to purchase the gun on January 6th but was turned away because he did not have the correct identification. He returned on the 9th with proper ID, police say.

Suspect left note
Portland police released a note that they said Ayala left behind. The note meticulously lists off his bank account information and how his roommate can get top dollar for the game station. “I’m sorry to put all this on you buddy, good luck,” Ayala wrote. He also bequeathed his car and PlayStation 3 to the roommate but explained no motive in what police were describing as a random act of violence. More: Read note to roommate

Police Chief Rosie Sizer said the rampage has rattled Portlanders’ sense of safety and security and “echoes most Europeans’ fear about gun violence.”

“My hope is that people can compartmentalize this,” Sizer added.

Detective Mary Wheat, a police spokeswoman, said the shooting did not appear connected to gangs, and there was no indication the man had a relationship with any of the people he shot in front of The Zone nightclub late Saturday. A stray bullet also hit a man standing outside Kell’s Irish Pub. More: DJ describes scene

Teen victims were celebrating a birthday
The two young women who died were celebrating a friend’s birthday that night. Ashley L. Wilks, 16, from Portland and Marta “Tika” Paz de Noboa, a 17-year-old exchange student from Arequipa, Peru were both killed in the shooting. Wilks was a sophomore at Clackamas High School who planned to study abroad next year in France or Spain. Noboa had been living with a host family in White Salmon, Wash. and attended Columbia High School. More: Profiles of victims

In a letter sent to parents Monday, Principal Malcolm Dennis described Naboa as “a very warm, caring young lady who was always willing to assist and provide guidance to other students going through difficult times.” More: Principal’s letter to parents

Seven people survived the shooting. Of them, Susy De Sousa, an 18-year-old foreign exchange student from Italy, was in the worst condition — critical — at Legacy Emanuel Hospital. Her family arrived from Italy and stayed by her side in the hospital. Tuesday, her father told KGW she had 11 exit wounds in her body and it was a miracle she survived. De Sousa also attended Clackamas High School, along with Wilks. “This random act of violence has cut short a young life and threatened another,” Principal Matt Utterback said. “Such a horrific act is impossible to accept or understand.” More: Principal’s letter

One other victim was listed in fair condition. Trista Change, an 18-year-old exchange student from Taiwan, was upgraded to fair condition at Legacy on Tuesday.

Brad Yoast, 44, was listed in stable condition following surgery. He is the general manager of Kell’s Irish Pub and was talking to a security guard outside when he was shot in the stomach by a stray bullet.

Ana Zambrano, an exchange student from Ecuador and Gonzalo Mauricio Vasques Orozco, an exchange student from Guatemala, were both released from Oregon Health and Science University hospital on Tuesday.

Two other victims were taken to area hospitals after the shooting, but no condition reports have been released. They are Anne Sophie Rialland, a 16-year-old exchange student from France attending West Linn High School, and Jalontae Howard, 16, of Gresham. A junior at Centennial High School, Howard said he was shot in the ankle while standing in line outside The Zone nightclub.

“Our hearts and our sympathies, thoughts and prayers go out to the victims’ parents for their loss,” said Scott Bieber, the Youth Protection Officer for the exchange program. “But it just kind of makes it harder to fathom when the whole purpose of this program is to foster peace and goodwill and understanding around the world.”

Investigators retracing gunman’s steps

Wheat said investigators are trying to determine the shooter’s path to the club, but it does not appear he had been inside it or the nearby bar beforehand. Detectives said they believe he parked his car, got out, then started shooting within seconds.

Detective Mark Slater said police found Ayala’s car in downtown Portland, and they used it to identify him. They’ve since searched his home, which is where they found the note as well as a case for the 9 mm semiautomatic gun that police said was used in the shooting.

“To my friends and family: I am sorry. And to my friend: I am especially sorry,” Ayala wrote in the note. “I know it’s not much consolation but as my friend and roommate you are entitled to everything that I own. Maybe these things can bring in a few bucks. Good luck in this sh–ty world. Erik.” More: Profile of suspected gunman

Ayala’s roommate, Mike Delisle, told The Oregonian that Ayala didn’t typically go to dance clubs, did not own a gun and never showed an interest in firearms. “I didn’t see it coming,” he said. Ayala’s family was also blindsided, detective Slater said. “They’re upset. They’re trying to deal with it. Trying to make sense.”

“At first blush, this incident appears to be a random act of violence, of the kind that makes you despair for America,” said Sizer said, describing the shooting as “unprecedented” for the city of Portland.

-So yes, this story has gotten to me.  GRRR!!!

That’s about all I have for now. I’m still hyper. My attention span is extremely short and…

Do you want to know how short my attention span is? I wrote that previous sentence half an hour ago. I started to watch clips on Youtube and now ‘What Would You Do’ on ABC.

:-\ I am presently tired, but I leave you with this:

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Yesterday was a tease. The weather was kissing my face as I took my daily walks, relaxed in the early evening and planned my ensemble for today. All traces of the December storms were a thawed memory that melted away and once more I was enjoying the warmth that the past few days made promising.

I was fooled!! Today cold ripped through the area once more. The kind of cold that clings to the wind in order to punch you in the guts. It gnaws at your ears and exposes your raw nerves as it slaps around you face and drop kicks you into screaming “NO MORE!” With the exception of being indoors, there’s no escape from the cold, wet, windy torture that makes you long for the beach life you’ve only experienced via vacations… if at all.

This type of weather makes me grumpy and hate anyone who crosses my path. “That driver is too slow! They didn’t turn at the correct angle! WHY IS THEIR FACE SO SCRUNCHED??? I hate the color of their shirt- HATE IT!”

My ears are stinging and my hands… my man hands still feel brittle and bruised from standing out there a minute longer than I could handle.

All comfort levels have been raped, molested and beaten down in pulps that will take a full day to recover before it can be accessed again.

I can see it from this window. Rain being carried sideways. Rain that isn’t quite freezing but not nearly warm enough where touching any part of your being isn’t ancient punishment.

It’s the perfect weather for the mood I’m currently in, or perhaps it created it. Whatever the reason, it doesn’t matter. My brain is still replaying the news of the young man who shot a bunch of people outside of a night club (that I used to go to when I was a teeny bopper) and killed two girls… most of the victims were foreign exchange students- which irks me even more. It was random, there was no motive- perhaps it was because the guy was unemployed. Who knows.

I grew more irate when I saw several similiar stories that were draped across our country on the same news site. We’ve always had sick people in America. Cannibals, serial killers, mititant terrorists etc. We see mothers often killing their in various ways- all brutal, families being murdered by the ‘trusted’ parent, classmates being slaughtered by classmates… why is this a shock to me?

Do I see it as the beginning of things to come? All around me I hear peoples hours being cut back more and more causing desperation and depression. Jobs being axed and nothing new on the horizon. Good way to cattle people up in the military if they’re physically able? Who knows.

This weather sucks and I’m in a foul mood.

Friday I was stoked to get off work early- YAY… less than half a day!!! Well, while attempting to leave- my theft system went off twice in a row, keeping me stranded in the parking lot until it decided I wasn’t trying to steal it. Then yesterday while I was fueling up the car… it went off AGAIN, prompting the mindless gas-station attendant to try to fill up my car twice. THEN… today it yet again locks me out during another ‘time is crucial’ moment.

Weather, shootings, layoff’s, depressions… I HATE GEORGE W. BUSH, and if I hear one more person utter “I just hope no one tries to shoot at Obama” I’m going to punch them in the mouth! Shoot at him? Why? Just because of the color of his skin??? “Yes” OMG I hate white people. “You’re white” Screw off.

Current Mood: Aggravated

Do our genes make us popular? : Scientific American Blog

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Always the last one picked for kickball? Never get invites to the hottest parties? Blame Mom and Dad.

That’s right, a new study says genes may influence whether or not you’re popular. But DNA, or genetic material, shapes more than popularity, according to the research published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It may also play a role in the number of friends we have – and whether we’re integral or insignificant members of a social group.

Researchers from Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego found that genes may be responsible for 46 percent of the variation (or difference) in how popular we are versus other people. Genetics exerts a similar effect on people’s varying degrees of connectivity (for example, one person might know many of their friends’ pals, but another person may not know any of their friends’ other buddies.) And DNA has a significant, but lesser influence, on the difference between where one or another of us is located in a social network.

The scientists based their findings on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a study by the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill of the influence of health on the social behavior of some 90,000 teens who researchers have been following since 1994. Using information on 552 pairs of twins in the study, the Harvard and UCSD researchers compared the lists of friends of identical twins and the social circles of same-sex fraternal twins. The networks described by the identical twins resembled one another more than those of the same-sex fraternal twins, suggesting a genetic influence on how people network socially. Twin study designs presume that if identical twins resemble each other more on some trait than fraternal twins do, then genes help explain that trait.

“Your social position in a network is not purely of your own making,” study co-author Nicholas Christakis, a professor of sociology at Harvard University, tells ScientificAmerican.com. “In a very deep sense, our social life is predestined. It’s predestined genetically.

“It’s not the only explanation,” he adds. “But there is a discernible and substantial role of genes in your social network position.”

The study didn’t sort out which genes are enhancing or ruining our social lives. Michigan State University research published last year showed that a mutation in the serotonin receptor gene 5-HT2A was linked to variation in popularity. (Serotonin is a brain chemical that regulates mood, anxiety, depression, sleep and sexuality.) The new study examines the genetics of popularity with a wider lens, examining how much DNA may shape the way we socialize.

There may be evolutionary reasons for the variations in our social connectedness, Christakis says. While it may be advantageous to be in the center of a group when rumors are circulating, he says, you’re better off being on its fringes if a disease – not gossip – is spreading. But the study didn’t explore who might benefit from being popular — and who may be lucky to be on the outs.

“We’re a social species. We shouldn’t be surprised that some aspects of how we’re social depends on genetics,” Christakis says. “Just like other aspects of your personality of how assertive you are, how risk-averse you are, so does your predilection for having particular kinds of social network architectures” depend on genetics.

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Before I do my loud inner scream, I have to post this Monty Python clip that reminds me of a silly ‘argument’ I had from the other day about me canceling out finding things agreed upon.

Now to my screaming in the head, falling on the floor face down in exasperation and doing the primal yell!
1. WHY does no one find me attractive enough to ever ask me out?
2. I really want to move out of the area really really bad and I’m really wanting to move off the West Coast stat- but it SUCKS that there have been so many layoffs not a lot of job openings, let alone a good enough one to relocate.
3. I am finding it difficult to work out enough to rid of my quit smoking and stress weight. Because of this I’m finding my self esteem plummeting and falling face first on the floor a lot exasperated from all three situations.
4. Am I just really bored? I still have the issue I’m confronted with of finding people of like minds to go out with- WITH my son. I know who those people are locally… we just need to set something up. But I also have my MA friends that I miss too.
I wonder if I can get them to move to MA.
5. Billy Bob has me growling lately. At least he’s consistently being a flake?
6. As I approach my 6th month of being a non-smoker… I have to admit that I’m really craving one this weekend. I will not give in… I do not want to light up… but my lungs/breathing feels really odd. I have to take a deep breath as if I AM inhaling in order for the sensation to pass.
7. I watched Saw V this past weekend, and I didn’t hate it. Granted I drank a lot of wine…
8. My Best Friends Girl wasn’t as horrible as I thought it would be.
9. I got a new web camera… I guess I could post my FB pics on here too… the exposure is horrible just like my cell phone. My other webcam there was an issue with it being too dark, and it had been dropped one too many times… I can’t adjust the focus. My digi cam is broken and I can’t take a decent picture… although the way I’ve been feeling lately, I don’t have a decent face to take a picture of.
10. I’m sick of my whining.
11. This too shall pass.
12. I’ve got nothing.
13-18. Still nada.
19. I’ll figure out something of interest to write later.
20. ACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is good from this weekend as well:
1. I got off work early on Friday because Jonathon had no school.
2. I bought my first pair of shoes in four years because it’s the first full paycheck (non-rent) since the holidays.
3. I got Indian Jones dolls!
4. I love my boy… that should be number one, but he popped in my head this very second.
You’ll see Jonathon and I rocking out in the car… and as I scream out “We’re on the highway to hell!!!” he stops and says- “No Mom, we’re in the parking lot” I told him he’d suck on stage in concert… but then I noticed in the pic my hand looks man like and I was webslinging, which prompted another photo that caused a stir… of my man hand.

Jonathon’s Poltergeist moment Saturday morning “ooooh”

Jonathon using his Jedi mind trick at the store to get me to buy him a Star Wars toy after using his Jedi mind trick to get me to stop taking pics of him.

I also had my anklet picture that I call Amish porn which was initially taken to see if I could turn my robe into a Snuggie- my robe is red and silk… and the material pulled up. Not Snuggie-esque I guess… but very Amish porn-ish.

The other pics were on my old web cam (dark ones- where I was watching Saw V and VERY bored and capturing my boredom)

The over exposed pics are my new webcam.

I give up!!! Anyone know a decent webcam application? I used the one it came with HP Pro- and I hate it.

Current Mood: Crazy!

FB has now been caught in the web of internet filtering and can no longer be accessed I must now resort to my mobile to inform the world of what I’m doing at any given time.

Granted, it really doesn’t matter if people know my status in a small slice of community… but was fun to view the happenings of people periodically through out the day in order to keep my sanity.

It doesn’t matter, most of my friends on there can SEE my status by looking up. The rest… if it’s important, I’d let them know. Other than that… most people on there are collectors of people and don’t care what I’m doing. The other person on FB who I find interesting… I can’t add or talk to *sigh* so he has no clue what I’m up to anyway.

On to the next thing… I spilled coffee all over myself and my desk an hour ago. The stench is driving me crazy, my leg is burnt and my headphones are so bad that if I listen to music today it’ll be as if I were being given constant wet willy’s. I smell like rancid coffee and I can’t get home until this afternoon. RIGHT IN MY LAP!!!!! UGH! And then of course the rest of it spilled on my desk where shockingly it didn’t destroy my phone that was charging or my keyboard or computer although it touched all of that. I’m still finding pools of coffee

I’m grumpy and snarling and snappy- and not snappy in the upbeat way.

Yes. I’m very grumpy so I won’t write any more until after I’ve had a nice long shower and fresh clothing that isn’t drenched in rancid horrible office coffee. Thank goodness I drink mine black, right?

Current Mood: UPSET!!!

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 Tomorrow is mind boggling. The terror that was Bush is going to be over with… Obama officially takes over AND my friends daughter is having surgery. All this is taking place while I’m going to be sitting on my butt at work… working. Happy- anxious, excited, hopeful, worried… will I be able to concentrate, focus and or sit still??! 

ACK! This morning I did read the following though on MSNBC and it gave me a feeling of calm and hope for the upcoming four years. It makes it easier to do our job as citizens within and outside of  our communities when those running the country have our backs and best interest at heart.

Obama visits troops, volunteers on King Day
President-elect urges public participation in service projects

WASHINGTON – On the eve of his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama visited wounded troops at a military hospital, helped paint a wall at a shelter for homeless teens and paid tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the civil rights leader’s national day. He said there can’t be “idle hands” at a time of national hardship and pledged to make the government do its part.

Invoking King’s legacy as “not just a dreamer, but a doer,” Obama urged all Americans to pitch in and take part in community service.

Ever-growing crowds thronged to the capital city on the eve of Obama’s elevation to the presidency. “Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same Mall where Dr. King’s dream echoes still,” Obama said.

At lunchtime, Michelle Obama joined her husband at Calvin Coolidge High School, where the couple greeted 300 people who were writing letters to U.S. troops and doing other volunteer activities. Obama thanked them for following King’s path of service.

‘This is not just a one-day affair’
“If we’re waiting for somebody else to do something, it never gets done,” said Obama, once a community organizer in Chicago. “We’re going to have to take responsibility, all of us. This is not just a one-day affair.”

As for himself, Obama said, “I am making a commitment to you as your next president that we are going to make government work.”

On the National Mall, a party atmosphere was already evident by midday as snow fell lightly. Several of the large-screen televisions were reshowing Sunday’s concert, while in a corner near the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Boy’s Choir of Kenya performed an impromptu selection for the crowd.

At the Capitol, hundreds of people pressed up against the blocked-off seating area in hopes of getting as close to the inaugural stage as possible.

“Everybody’s excited,” said Donald Butler, 20, a student at the University of Washington. “There are smiling faces everywhere, and it’s a nice, diverse crowd. It’s history. I didn’t think I would see a black president in my generation. I just had to be here.” Butler is black.

A day away from becoming the nation’s 44th president, Obama made a morning visit to 14 injured vets from Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Then he visited Sasha Bruce House, a shelter for homeless teens, chatting with volunteers who were helping to repaint rooms and then joining in himself.

“We can’t allow any idle hands. Everybody’s got to be involved. I think the American people are ready to do that,” Obama said, grabbing a paint roller to help give the walls a fresh coat of blue. “I think I’ve got this wall covered,” he said.

Use Internet for rebuilding America
Obama, whose presidential campaign made extensive use of the Internet to rally support and gather contributions, said, “We don’t want to just use it for winning elections, we want to use it for rebuilding America.” He said thousands of people were volunteering on Monday, partly organized by online appeals.

Obama also said he spoke with the pilot who safely landed a disabled airliner in the Hudson River, US Airways Capt. Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger.

“He said, ‘Me and my crew, we were just doing our job.’ And it made me think, if everybody did their job — whatever that job was — as well as that pilot did his job, we’d be in pretty good shape,” Obama said. Sullenberger, his crew and family were invited by Obama to attend Tuesday’s inauguration.

Michelle Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, visited RFK Stadium where people were at work wrapping care packages and writing letters to troops overseas.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, one of those helping out with the care packages, said, “There’s a tremendous spirit in Washington.”

Bush makes phone calls
President George W. Bush, with just a day left in his term, made phone calls from the White House to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and a dozen other world leaders to thank them for their work with him over the past eight years.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates, meanwhile, was designated by the Bush administration to stay away from Tuesday’s inaugural festivities “in order to ensure continuity of government,” said Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino. One official traditionally stays away when others in the line of presidential succession are gathered together, in case of a calamitous attack.

Obama and Biden, fresh off a rollicking concert at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday, were spending their final day before the inauguration with activities keyed to the celebration of King’s life, cut short by an assassin’s bullet in 1968.

“Today, we celebrate the life of a preacher who, more than 45 years ago, stood on our National Mall in the shadow of Lincoln and shared his dream for our nation. His was a vision that all Americans might share the freedom to make of our lives what we will; that our children might climb higher than we would,” Obama said in a statement.

Obama said King’s “was a life lived in loving service to others.”

Wreaths laid at future memorial
Meanwhile, two wreaths were erected at the future site of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the Tidal Basin between the Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. Groups of school children gathered around retired teacher Kirk Moses as he talked about King’s legacy of nonviolence and the civil rights leader’s connection to Obama.

“The cadence and syntax of Obama, it comes directly from Dr. King,” said Moses, 60, as his group took pictures of the bronze plaque that sits where the memorial will be built.

The run-up to Obama’s inauguration, like his election itself, has been defined by enormous public enthusiasm, carefully choreographed events and a lofty spirit of unity. What awaits, as Obama often reminds the nation, is many months, if not years, of tough work.

The celebrations began Saturday with Obama’s whistle-stop tour, from Philadelphia to Washington, along the path Abraham Lincoln took in 1861. Then came the roaring celebrity-filled concert where several hundred thousand people flanked the Reflecting Pool, hearing actors, singers and then Obama himself rally for national renewal.

The Presidential Inaugural Committee has launched a Web site, USAService.org, to help people find volunteer opportunities close to their homes.

“I am asking you to make a lasting commitment to make better the lives of your fellow Americans — a commitment that must endure beyond one day, or even one presidency,” Obama said in a YouTube appeal last week. “At this moment of great challenge and great change, I am asking you to play your part; to roll up your sleeves and join in the work of remaking this nation.”

Busy schedule ahead
The president-elect has a busy Monday evening, too.

He is to attend three private dinners to honor the public service of former Secretary of State Colin Powell; Biden, a longtime senator from Delaware; and Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee. Those dinners will be held at the Hilton Washington, National Building Museum and Union Station.

Michelle Obama, the future first lady, is hosting a children’s evening concert.

At the Capitol on Monday morning, groups of tourists wandered around the barricades to take pictures of the viewing stands and the monuments and buildings. A few even stood and watched NFL highlights that were being shown on the big-screen TV at the Capitol.

Three teachers from Baltimore said they decided to come out to the Capitol to scope out their routes in and out for the inauguration ceremony.

“Seems like they’ve planned it out pretty well,” said Gary Campbell, 29, of Baltimore as his group looked at the viewing stand from across the Capitol reflecting pool. Their school, Baltimore Freedom Academy, and the Homeland Security Academy planned to send four busloads of children to the National Mall to watch the inauguration ceremony.

Witnessing history
Being from Baltimore the three were decked out in cold-weather gear and said they planned on wearing thermal coats, hats and scarves for the long wait on the Mall Tuesday.

“We knew to come prepared,” said Maddy Ahearn, 24.

“That’s why I’m looking at it today, because I won’t be able to see it tomorrow,” said Person, 43, who plans to be near the Washington Monument on Tuesday.

“So many people would die just to get to see this. … It happens once, and once only,†said Isaiah Bryant, 17, of Orlando, Fla.

Isaiah was one of 40 students from Jones High School who won an essay contest to get the opportunity to see history firsthand. Florida state Rep. Geraldine Thompson and Bob Mandell, a fundraiser for Obama, raised $10,000 for the trip after a teacher at the school suggested that the inauguration would be a special teaching moment.

Most of the winners, none of whom is old enough to vote, said Obama’s candidacy was the first time they had been inspired by a candidate.

“I wrote about when I was growing up in Haiti. It was like you didn’t have nothing,†said Stevenson Cherry, one of the winners.

“I couldn’t do nothing, but seeing Obama opening all those doors, he instilled in me that I can do anything that I want no matter what people say. I can believe in myself and accomplish what I want to do,†Stevenson said.

About 50 members of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., packed a bus Monday morning for the trip to Washington, carrying coats, hats and Obama gear — but not tickets to the main event on the National Mall.

“I am so excited,†said Pearline Howard, 70. “I am so excited that I’m having a hard time containing myself even at my age.â€

Howard said she had shared her stories of life in the 1960s and ’70s with her granddaughter to help the younger generation understand just how far America will have come Tuesday afternoon.

“She doesn’t know about some of my first experiences,†Howard said. “When I first started working at R.J. Reynolds, there was a black water fountain and a white water fountain. The only thing she has been exposed to is a water fountain.â€

That Obama’s inauguration was taking place a day after King’s birthday celebration held special meaning for many.

“I think [King] would be overjoyed,†said Richard Schur, a professor at Drury University in Springfield, Mo. “And to reach a point where there’s an African-American president says that we are getting beyond all of these wounds that have been long-standing in American history.â€

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The Rev. Frank Moses, pastor of Olive Branch African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chareston, S.C., said: “Dr. King was such an avid civil rights advocate for all people, and here we are at this point in time inaugurating a black American to the highest office in the land and the leader of the free world.

“These are very, very exciting times,†said Moses, who chartered a bus to take 42 members of his church to Washington, where they were expected to arrive Monday. “It should be not only for people of color, but people everywhere.”

Msnbc.com’s Alex Johnson, NBC stations KYTV of Springfield, Mo.; WCBD of Charleston, S.C.; WESH of Orlando, Fla.; and WXII of Winston-Salem, N.C., contributed to this report.

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I’ll try to write something later in tribute of this great man. I feel like a lot of conversations today took the passion away from what I wanted to write our strides we’ve made and the work that still needs to be done. These are things that we can’t point a finger at society about if we’re not doing anything about the changes. I am hoping our new President will help inspire the ‘Me’ generation to look past their self serving agendas and help re-build a country that has a lot to make up for as a whole. Si vis amari ama.

By the late Coretta Scott King
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his example — the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. On this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit.

We commemorate Dr. King’s inspiring words, because his voice and his vision filled a great void in our nation, and answered our collective longing to become a country that truly lived by its noblest principles. Yet, Dr. King knew that it wasn’t enough just to talk the talk, that he had to walk the walk for his words to be credible. And so we commemorate on this holiday the man of action, who put his life on the line for freedom and justice every day, the man who braved threats and jail and beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to make democracy a reality for all Americans.

The King Holiday honors the life and contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind society, but who also lead a movement that achieved historic reforms to help make it a reality.

On this day we commemorate Dr. King’s great dream of a vibrant, multiracial nation united in justice, peace and reconciliation; a nation that has a place at the table for children of every race and room at the inn for every needy child. We are called on this holiday, not merely to honor, but to celebrate the values of equality, tolerance and interracial sister and brotherhood he so compellingly expressed in his great dream for America.

It is a day of interracial and intercultural cooperation and sharing. No other day of the year brings so many peoples from different cultural backgrounds together in such a vibrant spirit of brother and sisterhood. Whether you are African-American, Hispanic or Native American, whether you are Caucasian or Asian-American, you are part of the great dream Martin Luther King, Jr. had for America. This is not a black holiday; it is a peoples’ holiday. And it is the young people of all races and religions who hold the keys to the fulfillment of his dream.

We commemorate on this holiday the ecumenical leader and visionary who embraced the unity of all faiths in love and truth. And though we take patriotic pride that Dr. King was an American, on this holiday we must also commemorate the global leader who inspired nonviolent liberation movements around the world. Indeed, on this day, programs commemorating my husband’s birthday are being observed in more than 100 nations.

The King Holiday celebrates Dr. King’s global vision of the world house, a world whose people and nations had triumphed over poverty, racism, war and violence. The holiday celebrates his vision of ecumenical solidarity, his insistence that all faiths had something meaningful to contribute to building the beloved community.

The Holiday commemorates America’s pre-eminent advocate of nonviolence — the man who taught by his example that nonviolent action is the most powerful, revolutionary force for social change available to oppressed people in their struggles for liberation.

This holiday honors the courage of a man who endured harassment, threats and beatings, and even bombings. We commemorate the man who went to jail 29 times to achieve freedom for others, and who knew he would pay the ultimate price for his leadership, but kept on marching and protesting and organizing anyway.

Every King holiday has been a national “teach-in” on the values of nonviolence, including unconditional love, tolerance, forgiveness and reconciliation, which are so desperately-needed to unify America. It is a day of intensive education and training in Martin’s philosophy and methods of nonviolent social change and conflict-reconciliation. The Holiday provides a unique opportunity to teach young people to fight evil, not people, to get in the habit of asking themselves, “what is the most loving way I can resolve this conflict?”

On the King holiday, young people learn about the power of unconditional love even for one’s adversaries as a way to fight injustice and defuse violent disputes. It is a time to show them the power of forgiveness in the healing process at the interpersonal as well as international levels.

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is not only for celebration and remembrance, education and tribute, but above all a day of service. All across America on the Holiday, his followers perform service in hospitals and shelters and prisons and wherever people need some help. It is a day of volunteering to feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, tutoring those who can’t read, mentoring at-risk youngsters, consoling the broken-hearted and a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream.

Dr. King once said that we all have to decide whether we “will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. Life’s most persistent and nagging question, he said, is `what are you doing for others?’” he would quote Mark 9:35, the scripture in which Jesus of Nazareth tells James and John “…whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant; and whosoever among you will be the first shall be the servant of all.” And when Martin talked about the end of his mortal life in one of his last sermons, on February 4, 1968 in the pulpit of Ebenezer Baptist Church, even then he lifted up the value of service as the hallmark of a full life. “I’d like somebody to mention on that day Martin Luther King, Jr. tried to give his life serving others,” he said. “I want you to say on that day, that I did try in my life…to love and serve humanity.

We call you to commemorate this Holiday by making your personal commitment to serve humanity with the vibrant spirit of unconditional love that was his greatest strength, and which empowered all of the great victories of his leadership. And with our hearts open to this spirit of unconditional love, we can indeed achieve the Beloved Community of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream.
May we who follow Martin now pledge to serve humanity, promote his teachings and carry forward his legacy into the 21st Century.