Water Flow [View all]

[H2O Man]

Back in 2007, I posted some photos from a presentation by Elizabeth de la Vega and John Nichols, about impeaching President George W. Bush and/or VP Dick Cheney. I remember when, during the Q&A period, my then 12-year old daughter gave a short, off-the-cuff talk; when she finished, Elizabeth said, "Ladies and gentlemen, here is your future U.S. Sebator." I took photos of my daughter with both de la Vega and Nichols.

My daughter held up a "Democratic Underground" bumper-sticker in those photos. That was at a time when people, including the two presenters, were familiar with DU's "general discussion" forum, which featured posts linking to important news reports, and fantastic analysis of that news. It's not as if "grass roots" reporters have the resources that the large corporate media enjoys -- but in terms of interpreting the news, internet journalists can compete quite well.

A lot has changed in the seven years since. My daughter has graduated from high school, where she was her class's valedictorian. She's in her second year at a nice university, and remains politically-culturally active. She worked on Indian territory, where the environment has been devastated. She has traveled to meet Amy Goodman, Jane Goodall,Cornel West, and Robert Kennedy, Jr.

When she got home for the semester break last week, she requested that I pick some books out for her to read. She started with Chris Matthews' book on President Kennedy; other selections include: God Is Red, by Vine DeLoria, Jr.(1973); Revolution for the Hell of It, by Abbie Hoffman (1968); The Last Campaign, by Thurston Clarke (2008); ans Crimes Against Nature, by Robert Kennedy, Jr. (2004).

One afternoon, she asked me, "What is it about President Kennedy, that everyone finds so fascinating?" DirecTV had on a documentary, "JFK: A President Betrayed." At the end, she said, "Okay, I got it."

One of the things that she needs to do for school -- and wants to do for herself -- is to contribute to a blog. We've decided that we will work on that together. I will post some links (and cross-post essays) as it comes along. It's kind of a neat project for me.

Peace,
H2O Man