T. Boone Pickens saves the day

Last night on the PBS News Hour, Ray Suarez interviewed T. Boone Pickens. A Texan big oil billionaire, T. Boone Pickens (you just can't help but say his full name) is now one of the nation's leading investors in alternative energy. Namely, 10 billion dollars to a wind power start-up project. The transcript of the interview is found by clicking here. It's definitely worth your time to read the full interview. If you're of the visual persuasion, click here for the full video clip from last night's show.

I'll admit - after I got over the way-too-perfect, caricaturesquely-charming quality of a Texas oil man being named T. Boone Pickens - I watched the interview through a skeptic's lens. My first thought: "That's excellent, T. Boone Pickens, you'll simply move your production empire into alternative fuels and you continue to profit in the range of billions upon billions of dollars. Noble."

Then I watched the interview unfold. Then T. Boone Pickens slowly won me over. Then Ray Suarez, in a wise nod to me and millions of other liberal skeptics who tune only to PBS news for this very reason, asked him this question: "Well, as someone who's heavily invested in both wind and natural gas, don't you stand to also see a pretty good payday if this plan is accepted?" T. Boone Pickens replied: "Well, I've had enough paydays, and that's fine to say that. But the wind, I feel like I'm a pioneer by committing to $10 billion wind project. And so, you know, I've given in the last five years over $700 million, and my estate will go to charity. So don't worry about what I make out of the deal. When I'm -- you know, I'll create jobs. And if I make profits, I'll pay taxes. But that doesn't have anything to do with this. This is a security for America. And that's what this is all about."

I revisited my first thought and realized, "I actually do believe him, this T. Boone Pickens guy." I then thought... "even if he is motivated entirely by money...so what? At least this time around he's investing ethically in a common good for us and our planet."

I can't wait to watch this unfold. T. Boone Pickens may just save the day. I wager he'll at least be a significant piece of our collective solution.

Tabesha...two months in

It's been seven, nearly eight, weeks since I first met Tabesha. I can't believe how fast the time has flown, and at the same time I feel like I've been at this whole tutoring thing for years. I enjoy it and Tabesha and I have become friends outside our lessons; however, I don't think I fully realized how difficult it would be. I had some vague notion in the back of my mind about the time commitment becoming an issue...as summer wound down and my calendar pages filled like a flash flood rushing toward June 2009 with the rising waters leaving me roughly sixteen days of free time.

Beyond the dramatic absence of negotiable time, I was incredibly naive in my initial thoughts about ESL tutoring. I tutored a woman named Lidya for two years, but the situation was very different from my commitment with Tabesha. In the case of this new volunteer gig, I think I somehow pictured pre-fab lesson books lining shelf after shelf at the public library. While I have checked out no less than 59 resources from said library, I realized about week two of this adventure that none are going to give me pre-fab lessons perfectly applicable to Tabesha. Working in instructional design means that I'm more than capable of creating lessons from scratch, but again, ibid on the dramatic absence of free time.

I know, I know. You have every right to offer me a sharply aged cheese to go with this awful whine, but I did create this posting space for me to work through both the joys and the challenges that I knew would come. I'm at the point now where I look ahead to the end of my six-month mandatory commitment and think, "Should I take it as far as I've promised to and then move on? No shame in that." Then I wonder if I'll hit my stride, my runner's high, so to speak. If I bail after only six months, will I regret it? The other piece of this equation is that I care a lot about Tabesha, have come to love her family, her children, the time we spend together.

Together we wrote a story about her favorite photo, a beautiful action shot of her daughter's first steps. When I see that ridiculously yummy face and remember the pride Tabesha felt when she wrote a seven-sentence story about it in perfect English...I think...how can you not stick with this?

Monday Madeleine

Sunday Skies. 7:13am.

Happy Anniversary, baby.

Awww...my little blog...the experiment I began one year ago with much confusion, trepidation, and unnecessary justification. Nearly 250 posts later I've settled into a comfortable groove of travelogues, photography, political rants and raves, book reviews, and occasional opinions about films.

As I peer ahead into another year of life in Blogland, I thought a fresh new look was in order. After designing a new header and retooling the layout, I think she's ready to rock.

On a more substantive note, I know the constant travel will continue. Trips on the calendar as of now include: North Carolina, Washington DC, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Colorado, Ohio, Atlanta, Seattle, Arizona, and more. Hauling my camera with me on all trips, business and pleasure, has become a staple of this blog and of my own creative fulfillment. Politics are as natural to me as breathing and you can expect rants and raves to carry on. I will reflect on books as I read them and the former "First Friday Films" posts will fade into "Whenever I see something worth talking about...or worth warning you about" posts.

A new addition to the blog in her second year will be "Monday Madeleines..." A year ago I had some vague notion of wanting to create a space to reflect on my memories (explanation of madeleines and memory found here). I've done that, in a direct way, a few times on this blog; but what I've realized is that I now have an entire year of digital madeleines. Each blog post, each photo, each video, all total an incredible wealth of memories. I would still like to compile essays on memory, but for now I'll reflect on the past year and post a photo each Monday (...that I'm in town, at a computer, and not buried in an insane workload). No words. No explanation. No context. Just a photo of a madeleine from the first year of the blog. Some may already be posted elsewhere on the blog, but some may not have made it to the blog in that first year.

Sadly, we will not be spending our one-year anniversary on a tropical island somewhere. However, I can say that our romance is still alive and well. I'm more in love with blogging now than I was on the day I first began this adventure. Awwww. Let's make out.