John Quincy Adams - the first Tweeter

The Massachusetts Historical Society has since 2009 been tweeting a line a day from the journals of the 6th President of the United States, John Quincy Adams.


President Adams fils (son) has kept a journal since boyhood, having been encouraged to do so by his father, President John Adams, who also kept a journal and authored many essays and letters. In fact, this Adams family has been a goldmine for scholars of the early history of the United States of America since members in this family (including the women) documented many aspects of their lives - domestic and political, which at times were one and the same.

It turns out even further that President Adams fils also mantained a journal where he recorded what happened in his life, but only using about one line a day - clearly the ancestor of tweeting. It is from this journal that a project was set up to actually tweet these lines on the date that they were written (some 200 years to the date later) daily.



The Twitter handle is: http://twitter.com/#!/JQAdams_MHS.



The link to the Massachusetts Historical Society project: http://www.masshist.org/adams/jqa.php.

Why I participate in the Walk For Hunger – anyway I can

The Walk For Hunger is an annual event organized by Project Bread, one of Massachusetts’ premiere organizations working on the frontlines to combat hunger in the state.

It began as a way to raise funds to support Project Bread’s work way back in 1969, by a small but intrepid group.  Almost 43 years later, the Walk For Hunger raises raises hundreds of thousands of  dollars through its walkers, which is no longer a small and intrepid group but a huge and intrepid group.
I count myself as one of the them.

Ever since the day a representative from Project Bread came to my high school and told us about hunger in Massachusetts and how we mere high school students could take action to help in the fight against it, I’ve walked all 20 miles, collected money, volunteered with registration and spread the word about the work that Project Bread and other organizations that fight hunger.

It never gets old for me, though at times it can be hard.

I hate that while we have made strides in how we deliver food to people in need and that we are being more nutritionally responsible to those who receive that food, the demand increases every year.
I hate that the more people try to get ahead, the more people have to decide between food and shelter, let alone food and dreams.

Nevertheless, the fight goes on and I am committed to it.  We are all just one job, one wage cut, one medical expense, one catastrophic event away from hunger.

Please give to Project Bread to support it’s work to make sure that residents in Massachusetts of all walks of life are little less hungry today than they were yesterday:
http://www.projectbread.org/site/PageServer?pagename=donate_main

Hiding

People are surprisingly good at hiding.  We hide because we have an image to maintain.  We hided because we don't want to spend years trying to take back our identity from identity thieves.  We hide because we fear things like the truth or being confronted with the truth. 

Sometimes hiding is necessary.  Sometimes you need to hole up and come out renewed again. 

Many times hiding is just delaying the inevitable: the inevitable reveal, the day or event that you fear.

The one of the tricks as always is knowing when to hide and when not to.  A larger trick is knowing that all the hiding in the world will not make the world go away so you have to deal with whatever stuff is left behind.

Motivation

Motivation is a funny thing.  It's amazing that a person can be motivated to travel great distances to do the thing that's fun, but not the thing that they ought to do.

This is because the things that we ought to do routinely and diligently are usually NOT FUN.

Picking up your clothes, paying bills, cleaning the kitchen, putting together a shopping list - NOT FUN.

Watching movies you haven't seen in a while, doing tons of shots the night before you have to show up for another mindnumbing day of work, recreational sex - FUN

Unfortunately, when we are motivated to do the FUN things instead of the NOT FUN things and not do the NOT FUN things at all, bad things usually happen.

Being a responsible adult means you dig down and find the motivation to do the NOT FUN things because they need to be DONE. 

Sunday morning coming down

Sunday-the day after.  This when you sleep in-but not too much.  You re-adjust and re-evaluate.  You are picking up after the previous evening's bachannale, which often serves as a reminder to never overindulge in your own liquor.

The first Sunday after New Year's is especially sobering because the haze of the holiday season wears off.  All that Ebenezer Scrooge TMOC (True Meaning Of Christmas)/The Whos' Roast Goose/Tiny Tim's Razzleberry dressing stuff goes to the wayside.  I personally feel that if you haven't been practicing the TMOC all year round, it's a bit inefficient to wait until one season out of the year to practice it when you can build upon it throughout the year.

So if you are into sports-this is an important time.  College Football is winding up with the BCS Championship Bowl, the culmination of a season.  Pro Football is finishing the regular season and everyone is thinking about the Superbowl.

Everyone else is working on keeping resolutions and beginning again. 

As for me, the last three months of 2010 were not filled with warm and happy thoughts.  New Year's was even a reserved affair.  I knew that when I woke up Sunday morning, that all the things that were left in the old year was facing me in the new year.  I wouldn't be beginning again, but taking up what was already there.

On New Year's Day

We celebrate New Year's Day by watching the Rose Parade, the Rose Bowl (and assorted other bowls, though rather than being known by animals, plants and party terms, many carry corporate names),going to the mall, going to the movies, taking down the Xmas tree (if you have one), playing U2's "New Year's Day" and watching the Twilight Zone Marathon on Syfy.

We take a moment to ponder it all, before we go back to what passes as normal life.  Resolutions are made and they will be broken.  For those who enjoy momentary warm weather, we wonder if there is another storm on the horizon. 

If we are into sports, we wonder who will win the BCS Championship Bowl, if our favorite pro football team will get the nod to the Superbowl and if you are a baseball fan, you will be counting the days until opening day.  If you are into skating, your eyes are on the US, European and other country championships and hope that your country's team will stand aloft the podium at Worlds.

If we are not, we think of other things.


I'll be thinking of many things.  My uppermost thought is to do as much as I can with the time that I have.

Winter is here

The Snowpocalypse part two is upon the city - meaning that people will behave even more badly than usual.  The year is ending and the TMOC sentiment and Grinchly feelings war again and a weird pas de deux that make the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and her cavelier look tame.