Thoughts from the Mountain Top

For many people in their early twenties now, there's no memories of a time before social media.  I don't know if that's good or bad. Back in those days, your social circle was made up of those you encountered in your daily life.  It was your co-workers, your neighbors, people at church, and your family.  If you had someone you thought was an idiot in your workplace, you had to learn to tolerate their idiocy.  That's still true to a certain extent, except with social media we no longer have to rely on these people to be the close friends we can vent to or have deep discussions with. One example I can think of that might have been more intrinsic to the area of New York I grew up in is racism.  Let's be honest, a lot of white people will say things in front of white people they think is okay because we're all white therefore we must all think the same way (not true, by the way).  When your neighbors came out with things like this and you lived in an all-whit...

Yesterday I read through a Facebook post of a Disney friend I have "known" for quite some time.  I have been in the Disney fan community on the internet for more than 20 years.  There are people from there that are among my closest friends.  There are others I haven't met in real life, but from seeing their posts in the community that long, you can be a pretty good judge of character. In this case, the person's co-host of a Disney podcast came out with a story of an incident of sexual assault which happened to her.  That person is also someone I have "known" for a long time in Disney circles.  In addition, a picture was taken of the incident by friends of hers who were there.  A complaint sent to Disney with the picture apparently was found to be legit enough that they sent her a check for $500 in compensation which she promptly tore up.  It's not about money.  It's about making sure other women don't go through the same thing. The person is ques...

A few years ago, while working nights at a hotel in New Hampshire, I spend a few hours in conversation with a Kucinich supporter who was working for his campaign.  It was interesting as I am generally liberal.  I am also pragmatic.  The ideas sound great, I said to the man, how are you going to make it happen with at least half of Congress seeing things differently, even if he was elected? Why, you MAKE them see it, he said. Liberals are at fault at times when their arrogance when they are so sure they are right, causes them to not see the fault in their argument, or the effect of their words. From writing on the internet I made a number of acquaintances over the years.  Some have turned into true friends, others just stay acquaintances, others I have put out of my life for various reasons.  I came across someone a couple months back who I knew but I wasn't friends with.  We're generally on the same page with things politically.  I had a nagging feelin...