Sen. Booker: “I loved a book I read called In Search of My Mother’s Garden, by Alice Walker, where she talks about — it’s a chapter where she’s giving advice to revolutionaries, in this case, black revolutionaries, and she says, “The real revolutionary is always concerned with the least glamorous stuff: the raising a child’s reading level from third-grade to fourth; the filling out food stamp forms for folks, because they have to eat, revolution or not. The real revolutionary is always close enough to the people to be there for them when they’re needed.”

Sen. Booker: Well, I question people a lot about what we say about other people says more about who we are than who they are. And it was that moment when I first started on Martin Luther King Boulevard, with Miss Jones, where she checked me, hard, and she said, “Describe the neighborhood.” And I described it like I did to you — the drug dealing, the projects, the abandoned building. And she just said to me, in a very curt way, “Boy, you need to understand that the world you see outside of you is a reflection of what you have inside of you, and if you’re one of those people who only sees darkness, despair, that’s all there’s ever gonna be. But if you see hope, opportunity, if you’re stubborn enough to, every time you open your eyes, see love and the face of God, then you can be a change agent here. Then you can make a difference.”

From On Being 7/18

The basic fact is that America is again at a pivot point.  We did not arrive here accidently, this was not something that we stumbled upon.  There has been a long string of concerted efforts to force changes on our country, to take choices and options away from others, for the benefit of a few, or simply to force others moral beliefs on everyone else.  This is nothing new, it is how the communist revolution started, and how most revolutions start.

The question then becomes what are you going to do about it. Do you want to see a return to Jim Crow? Do you want to see Women’s rights reversed?  Do you want a return to a racist, sexists society?  It is going to happen.  We may be past the tipping point.  So what will you do about it?  What are you against? What are you for?

© words by Daniel DeMarle 2018

Kindness, empathy, caring are all skills.   Yes they are also traits and we all come into the world probably with natural inclinations in each of these areas.  But they are fundamentally skills.  Skills that one can learn, and refine.  The simple belief that they are traits or intuitive, simply denies all of us the chance to try to learn and acquire greater skills in each of these and many other areas.   One can refine one’s ability to be empathetic, just as one can conversely improve one’s skill at being cruel and get better at hurting others whether that is physically or emotionally.  So at the end of the day, practice these skills. Make them part of your daily routine!   Make the world the place you want it to be!  Don’t wait for it to change on your behalf, because it will not.

© words and photo by Daniel DeMarle 2018 – photo Armory Burlington Vermont

Protestors outside the now closed Cadillac Hotel, Rochester NY. It had been used for years for ‘temporary housing’ for individuals who had no housing. Some had been living here for years.  The building was sold, and the residents were evicted. – Summer 2018 © photo by Dan DeMarle 2018

“Another moment for A. J. Muste was, he was demonstrating on a picket line, and the reporter came up to him and said, “Mr. Muste, do you believe that your demonstrating will change the country?” And he responded by saying, “Young man, I’m demonstrating so that my country doesn’t change me.”

Quote from “On Being” – Rami Nashashibi and Lucas Johnson “Getting Proximate to Pain, and Holding to the Power of Love” – 6/28/18

The number of voters who turn out to vote is extremely important.  Politician’s want to get elected.  To get elected they need votes.   Politician’s who determine where money, grants, and government support are spent pay close attention to Districts that will get them elected.  That is why it is vital that the voters in the SW Rochester vote. So we just had a primary election how did we do.  While not bad, but not great. There is a lot of room for improvement.

To see the larger map of the 25th District click this link.

To see the larger map of the 27th District click this link.

SW Rochester is legislatively made up of the 25th and 27th Districts.   During the primary election for former Congressperson, Louise Slaughter’s seat, only registered Democrats could vote.   A review of vote totals shows that in the City that the 25th and 27th Districts were the third and fourth Districts in the City, behind the 23rd and 21st districts, for number of voters. Combined SW Rochester had the highest turnout in the City.  In regards to voters in the County, the 27th District had the 7th highest voter turnout, and the 25th the 10th highest.  We had higher turnouts then many of our suburban neighbors.

Click this link to see the data.

The two above images show the total number of Democratic voters who showed up to vote in each District and then the wards in each District.   Overall turnout was very low with only two sections of the City having more than 20% of registered voters voting.  That was District 9 in District 27, and District 12 in District 25.

It is far easier to convince people that we are different from another, than it is to show them that we are the same.

By Dan DeMarle 2018

Reading “Altruism” by Matthieu Ricard. In Chapter 11, he discusses how individuals and some communities helped Jews and others fleeing the Nazi’s. In France in the Village of Chambon, the village saved and hide more Jews than the number of people who were actually villagers. He author notes that the people learned that “from the refugee’s point of view, closing your door to someone is not just a refusal to help, it’s a way of harming the person. Whatever your reason for not helping a refugee, your closed door puts him in danger.” On July 4th, lets stop and consider what this country stands for.

© Dan DeMarle 2/17

Everyone runs about today stating that their goal is to be happy, happy all the time.  So I pictured my life with myself simply being happy. Then I pictured my life with me working to achieve a meaningful purpose.  A purpose to change a small part of the world to make positive change.  Then I put down my dream of happiness and got busy working.

© words and photo by Dan DeMarle 2018

For those of us who care about such issues, we often talk about inadequate representation and about the lack of representation.  This has all been brought home to me, personally, due to the death of my Congress person, some weeks ago.  When I say, I need to call my Senators and Congressperson about the latest injustice. I step back and say, oh right, I don’t currently have a congressperson.  I have no current voice in the House of Representatives, at  a time that it seems I need that person the most.  Let me tell you, it sucks!

© words by Daniel DeMarle 2018