Thoughts

I think last night was my sixth time going to Midtown Stomp. This place in Sacramento, called the Eastern Star Ballroom, is a building on the fourth floor of which is an old theater house with a large stage, dance floor, and stadium seating in the back for audiences. The fact that the place was built in an era during which swing dancing was popular makes the experience more authentic, and especially when there are live bands; but even more fun is how many people pack this large dance floor on Fridays. It is full enough that one can feel the floor bouncing as couples dance. The sad news is that Midtown Stomp is moving to a new building in Sacramento in mid January, the Eastern Star Ballroom having been sold. In any case, the company organizes the evening so that people get to know one another before they are sent out on the dance floor for freestyle dancing. The two lead dancers form everyone in a circle and have the "follows" (the girls) rotate as the lead dancers teach bas...

I remember taking a women's history class once in which the teacher asked how many planned to get married some day and how many planned to remain unmarried (it was a question apparently implied only for the female students). On the latter question, only a few raised their hands. I remember turning and thinking to myself, "Why would you want to be alone?" Nevermind that the professor's question implied not that these students would remain alone, but only that they would remain unmarried. For all I knew, each hand represented a well-connected, vibrant life whose interest lay in friendships alone (or cohabitation). Still, it wasn't something I understood at the time. I didn't want to be lonely, and I couldn't understand how others could choose it, either. My context-- and, I believe, my maturity level-- changed with time, however, as did my outlook on what it means to be alone. I've found that there is a distinct difference between loneliness and alon...

Half-conscious, I woke in the middle of the night to do what many people do when they wake in the middle of the night. As I washed my hands, I noticed for an instant a dark-colored object that seemed to fall from the ceiling. I turned, as quickly as a languid person can, and saw it. It scurried quickly from behind my trash bin, compressed its body, and squeezed itself under the door. I leaped. I hadn't been that frightened in a long time. Then I realized what I had seen. It was a mouse, and I had been invaded. I looked around a bit, then thought little more about it as I went back to sleep. To be fair, I was fairly tired, and I knew the small beast was probably well-hidden by now and not likely to show its face. The next morning, I looked further, and found no further evidence, but resolved to set traps after work. After learning that the sticky traps I purchased were inhumane, I procured lever traps. In these, a mouse enters the door to eat the bait, only to find the door-- a ...

At school, my leadership students and I just hosted a successful "mock rock" at the end of the school day. A mock rock is an annual event in which students choose a song, then perform a planned dance in front of their peers. Yesterday's mock rock included performances to "Call Me Maybe," "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "One Thing," Gangnam Style," "Ice Cream and Cake," and a finale that featured my leadership class singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." I recorded a video of one the emcees using iMovie and introduced the event by playing the video. In it, the emcee interrupted the co-host, who had taken the stage and then introduced the event. The co-host acted annoyed, then introduced the first performers. Later, the co-host took the stage to conclude the event, when a new video interrupted her again. This time, it seemed like she was talking to the co-host. She asked, "Wait, [student name]. Why don't ...

In both English and U.S. history, it has been consistently argued that using capital punishment (execution) against someone who has been found insane is both “savage and inhuman;” and in 1986 the Supreme Court affirmed that belief by outlawing it. The belief is that someone can’t be responsible for his or her actions if that person doesn’t have control of himself or herself. This issue became important in what would become one of the most forgotten assassinations in U.S. history. A man by the name of Charles Guiteau had campaigned for upcoming President James Garfield and, after the president’s election, tried to get a job under him. The problem was that he was completely unqualified for the job he wanted (a job with the U.S. Consulate in Paris). Having harassed the president’s secretaries for this position, Guiteau became such an annoyance to them that he was eventually banned from the White House. Guiteau seems to have taken this personally, and he blamed the president. So, on ...

"Here is a question that arises," Machiavelli once famously penned: "whether it is to be loved than feared, or the reverse." He continues, The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved....Love endures by a bond which men, being scoundrels, may break whenever it serves their advantage to do so; but fear is supported by the dread of pain, which is ever present. One of the lessons learned from positive leaders is that they evoke loyalty from those they lead, in part, by virtue of their vision and clear concern for their followers. This kind of leader need be neither feared nor loved by his or her followers because it "serves their advantage" to follow by giving them clear purpose. It is reasonable to think that Machiavelli is right when he says that men will forsake or betray a leader ...

I wrote this a long time ago . I feel I've grown since writing i t. I f you can determine the five-syllable word that belongs at the end of the poem , you'll know what I was facing at the time. I know it 's uncool to let others see your weaknesses, but we all have them. For me, one of them is expressed in this poem. On governed introspection’s gaze By winding through that zigzag maze I saw my past, both guilt and glee And I know why you ran from me. My heart, though closed to outside threat, Still yearns to pay some endless debt It hurts to feel and hurts to see But I know why you ran from me. This inner fight takes all my steel ‘tween minds that think and hearts that feel These circled paths can’t make men free So I know why you ran from me Hushed turmoil builds, still buried deep Both makes men seem and feel asleep It leaves no room for reverie Still I know why you ran from me The unfurled flags grow redder still While planted...