anewbys's Xanga

The Urn

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 01:40:28 GMT

Muffy's final resting place. I thought it a fitting tribute. The beagle figurine isn't exactly like her but she would want to be remembered as a healthy young dog. She had much more brown and black with a carmel blaze on her face instead of white, which made her a very unique beagle. At least the ear to face proportions are right. I miss that little chubby dog.

Muffy

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 02:29:07 GMT

I will never again see that happy little gray face. She can no longer follow me around hoping that I will drop some food for her on the floor even though she never went hungry. You were my gray faced little buddy, my last link to Mom, to our "nuclear" family. We got you from the Humane Society in St. Louis waaay back in May 1998, right before 8th grade completion. Aunt Stretchie was the first extended family member to see you, the first Minnesota Hamm to pet you. Grandma was reluctant to fall for you still soon after Gopher. You were so nervous when we brought you home, so confused by your new surroundings. You clung to me for safety even though you did not know me, I just felt safe to you. I remember how you used to take Mom's wallet out of her purse to chew on, used to steal shoes to chew. We had to buy you blank leather disks, coaster kits, from the boy scout store. I remember you running around our back yard chasing the rabbits you were bred to hunt. I even remember our sadness but your confused jubliation at finally catching some, even though they were cute babies. I remember how you thought everyone wanted to see you, that any stranger was your new best friend and that everyone should pet you regardless. I remember chasing you in the snow at Christmas and watching you frolic in this mysterious cold white stuff which only came once ( if that) per year. I knew deep down you wanted to be a sled dog but your little legs just wouldn't cut it. I remember that you didn't like moving but always took comfort in me and Mom that even if we had a new house with new smells your family had not left you. I will never forget all those trips to the vet and how upset you look that this awesome spontaneous car ride didn't go somewhere fun. I remember chasing you around the neighborhood and marvelled at the day you escaped and how your Avid chip really did bring you home again. I watched you grow old and become less energetic, less inclined to chase rabbits but you still loved to play in the snow pushing it around with your face. The years passed, I went to College and brought home my girlfriends who absolutley loved your sweet face and pudgy body and your little Muffy waddle. Food was the name of the game for you. You could never get enough! When I discovered toys that were also food well...let's just say that made your day! All you ever asked was to love and be loved in return and boy, girl, were you loved! Your move to Florida with me was the best thing in a while that happened to you. You got a new family with a big house to sleep in. You even got a few new buddies in Tara and the cats who also counted on your napping to keep life sane. You loved your new family and all your worries melted away! You became happy pudgy Muffy again! This last year had it's problems for you. Your health declined a bit but we worked at it. I gave you your medicines and you felt better, free to roam the yard following Tara, to pee on the floor and then look at us like nothing had happened. You loved dinner time and we loved that you were so into food, even if you were an obstacle in the kitchen. I'm sorry your last couple days were spent not moving much, trying hard to breathe. I wished to make it better for you but I think we both knew what was happening. I hope you know, in your own doggy way, that I loved you to the end. I hope you were comforted by my presence right thru to the end. I wanted you to be comfortable and to have your family around you and that happened. I am so happy you were my dog Muffy, I hope you were happy I was your human. I will miss you little girl, gray face, Muff, Muffigy, Muffler, Muffster, Muffy Mo, face, furball, sweet, sweet girl. Goodbye my friend.

Muffy Hamm '95/'97- September 23, 2009

Art

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 21:42:06 GMT

Ever since I went to Cincinnati I've been a little depressed. Every day I get a little morose over my life, where I want to go, what I'm doing or not doing, you know that general "what amd I doing and am I making a difference" questioning we all do from time to time. Because of this I feel that my perceptibility to art, especially modern expressions, has been heightened. I guess it stems from my desires, if I can't get into an Anthropology grad program or it doesn't work out well then I want to do something creative and/or something that helps people. Anyway...I read Kurt Vonnegut's A Man Without a Country and in it he states that we should all create something everyday, to be creative people even if our creations suck, lol. It's got me thinking about my own creative impulses and what I get out of my experiences with art. Needless to say it's wonderful. Art truly is a human thing, an expression of our inner being, our secret desires, our true selves. What does this mean to the rest of you? How do you create, if at all? What does this statement make you think about your own abilities and the need to be creative, even if you're no good?

Why I am a Democrat

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 09:25:07 GMT

I am a Democrat and proud of it! I do not belong to the party for its politicians but for its principles. Mostly though I am a Democrat for the people, for Americans everywhere. I believe in the ideals our Founders put forth in 1776, that we are all created equal, that we have certain unalienable rights, to life, to liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How can we say we live up to these principles when so many of us are poor, lack health insurance and/or access to quality health care? How can we laud America's greatness when our schools are failing and our future, our children, cannot get the education they need to be productive, capable citizens of the 21^st century? How can we be complacent when not all our fellow citizens are treated equally, when wealth can buy your way out from justice, and love (and commitment) is not recognized because of the gender and orientation of the person with whom you share your bed? And what of our home, our land and its resources?

These are questions that most Democrats, myself included, seek to answer. Why? Because I believe every person has worth, has talents, goals, ambitions, and it is our responsibility to help our neighbors achieve them. It is in our motto: E Pluribus Unum—From many, one. We are a nation, a people with great love and talent, an historical beacon of promise, of freedom, of justice—of hope. We have all strayed to be sure and the concerns of daily life sap much of our time and energy. Ultimately we must all remember that “the buck stops here,” that it is our duty as citizens, as neighbors, as Americans, to take care of each other, to lift someone out of the muck and to ensure that true equality, of opportunity and person hood, is the rule of the land—not greed, corruption, and decay.

We must ask ourselves what kind of America we wish to leave our children: one of great wealth for the few? Or one where each person determines his/her own future from the fruits of their abilities? Do we seek that “more perfect union” or do we leave “as is” and watch our land of great promise wither and die? These are big questions, daunting questions, but ones we must all ask ourselves. Why am I a Democrat? Because I believe in the promise of America, of her democratic traditions, and in her people—all her people. Because I refuse to accept that some people must be sacrificed, that principled freedom must be abandoned for the sake of special interest and fear, of narrow vision, of “every man for himself.” E Pluribus Unum—what powerful words. I am a Democrat so that these words will, at the very least, be alive in one person and will not be sacrificed to time at the altar of complacency. In closing I will leave you with the following quote from JFK's Inaugural Address.

Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation”--a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.

Genetic Revelation

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 09:15:17 GMT

As some of you may recall, in 2007 I participated in the Genographic Project and received rather surprising results from my Y chromosome test. It told me that my male line is from West Africa and that I share the line with most African-Americans too. This was not the answer I expected but it was confirmed by my Dad, who also had the chromosome test run. At the time we weren't completely sure what was going on, seeing how there is a tiny, tiny minority in of men in England who share the same chromosome grouping but the most probable explanation has, I'm fairly certain, turned out to be the correct one. I was reading a bit in a book Dad has about the Melungeons and their origins. It's hard to define who is a Melungeon but, in short, they/we are a tri-racial isolate group from (mostly) eastern TN, western VA and NW NC. Kind of a big circle these days but our ancestors are generally supposed to have lived in the Appalachians around Newman's Ridge for the better part of 200 years, which, according to Dad's geneology, is fairly accurate for us, well at least until the early 20th century when our branch of the Goins family migrated out of the mtns into Buffalo, SC. Anywho, getting back to my original point, this book brought up the fact that the first (or one of the first) Goins men in America was also one of the first African slaves brought to America. Now at the time slavery was just getting started and indentured servitude was much more common here, and that is what happened to this man (wish I could remember his first name). This man, progenitor of the Goins family, most likely was held as an indentured servant and therefore was freed after a set period of time, after which he started a family whose descendants include my family today. Now we all have many ancestors, especially as we go back in time, but our chromosomal DNA (for sex chromosomes at least) don't lie! So friends that is how you know the wonderful me...descendant of one of the first captive Africans brought to America, as well as of many, many different people from different lands. Neat huh?

Independence Day

Sun, 05 Jul 2009 00:59:28 GMT

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. --- That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, ---That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. ~ from the Declaration of Independence

Happy 4th of July everyone! Don't forget...this is where it all began...

Fareed Zakaria has a point...

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:54:12 GMT

There's a need for greater self-regulation not simply on Wall Street but also on Pennsylvania Avenue. We get exercised about the immorality of politicians when they're caught in sex scandals. Meanwhile they triple the national debt, enrich their lobbyist friends and write tax loopholes for specific corporations—all perfectly legal—and we regard this as normal. The revolving door between Washington government offices and lobbying firms is so lucrative and so established that anyone pointing out that it is—at base—institutionalized corruption is seen as baying at the moon. Not everything is written down, and not everything that is legally permissible is ethical. Who was the last ex-president to refuse to take a vast donation for his library from a foreign government that he had helped when in office?

We are in the midst of a vast crisis, and there is enough blame to go around and many fixes to make, from the international system to national governments to private firms. But at heart, there needs to be a deeper fix within all of us, a simple gut check. If it doesn't feel right, we shouldn't be doing it. That's not going to restore growth or mend globalization or save capitalism, but it might be a small start to sanity.

Man's got a point, what do you all think? I recommend you read the full article, a very good point. http://www.newsweek.com/id/201935/page/1

SETI@home

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 04:39:20 GMT

In a fit of absolute nerdiness I became a participant in the seti@home project. Basically my computer will be used to analyze signal data from the SETI project, from their radio telescopes. Needless to say my first assignment did not yield confirmation of ET. Oh well, it's still fun to think about and help with. I can also participate in other programs through BOINC, the software program used to do this little bit of science. Cool beans I must say.

A Change...

Tue, 05 May 2009 04:01:32 GMT

Well....what do you think?

Something New

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 01:19:32 GMT

I just did something I have never done before. I called my state representative and senator to voice my opinion on Senate bill S 956, which would not be good for Florida. I have never actually called any of my representatives before. I don't expect them to call me back, even though it would be nice and the polite thing to do. It's just nice knowing I can call them and leave messages or possibly even talk to them about my opinions and what not. S 956 would effectively disenfranchise some voters in Florida and possibly cause many more ballots to not be counted and effects mostly people who would vote democratic in an election. Not surprising since more democrats than ever (I think) voted in November and helped turn the state blue on election night. It seems that our republican majority wishes to prevent that from happening again...what a shame, certainly doesn't help restore peoples' faith in the election process and in their representatives. It seems that in some places the GOP is trying to hang on to past glories instead of adapting to current realities and prepare itself for the future. The day is coming when America will not be primarily white, middle class, conservative. What are our lawmakers going to do when that day arrives?

Here's an editorial on Florida senate bill S 956 from the St. Petersburg Times to give you a good summary of the issue.

GOP power grab is an affront to voters

Republican legislative leaders have lost all sense of shame with their 11th-hour bill to roll back voting rights in Florida. The legislation is so disgraceful it is no wonder a Republican-led House committee debated the bill for all of 6 minutes Friday before silencing public comment and approving the bill along party lines. This fast-moving train needs to be stopped cold.

The legislation moving through the Senate and House is breathtaking for its naked grab for power. The Senate bill, SB 956, and its companion legislation moving through the House would make it harder for voters to have their voices heard and easier for the major political parties to manipulate the outcome of the electoral process. It would ban retirement center and neighborhood association cards from the forms of identification now acceptable to vote. So much for seniors who do not drive and whose military days are far behind them. Voters who moved 29 days before an election would be forced to cast a provisional ballot rather than a regular one. Third-party groups that register voters would have to submit new voter registration applications as soon as 48 hours after the form was completed.

The bill would make it harder for a citizens' referendum to reach the ballot and easier for elected officials to keep one off. It would limit who could act as a poll watcher to political parties and candidates and create a gag zone outside polling places that bars voters from speaking to the press or elections observers. The effect would be to make it harder for voters to report voting irregularities at the polls — at the same time the legislation would encourage the major parties and candidates to use political slush funds to further their agendas. The bill would make it easier for the state to declare a winner in an election where the votes were not fully counted. And the authority to recount any federal, state or multicounty election — which rests now with the governor and two members of the Cabinet, all of whom are elected statewide — would fall to the secretary of state, who is appointed by the governor.

No wonder Republican leaders quietly waited until week seven of the nine-week session to spring this stew of every bad election idea they could imagine. Coming after the large turnout in the November presidential elections, where Democrats voted in surprising numbers, the move looks like nothing more than a scheme by the Republicans who have power in Tallahassee to cling onto it.