“The Instigator’s” Staycation

December 21, 2008

My day job is closed for the holidays, but the current economy demands that I spend my vacation at home instead of traveling to an exotic locale. It’s a glorious staycation for me, except for a few days of my vacation where I will have to settle for Salinas as an exotic locale to visit my birthdad. Good news is that I will have more time with YOU my dearest readers. Here’s hoping that your nog is extra nutmeggy.

I changed my twitter icon for the occasion.

Earlier last week I got to bring in the Holiday with local democrats at the Marinwood Community center, where I spied my supervisor Susan Adams, Frank Egger, Greg Brockbank, and all the usual suspects you see when Marin Democrats gather. The entrance fee was to benefit our favorite charity, the Marin Food Bank. The gathering sought to recognize all the hard work the Marin Democrats did this past year. Since Marin was overwhelmingly for Obama, local democrats instead concentrated their efforts calling out of state and helping down-ticket candidates in the red districts of California. Volunteers with the Obama campaign were so seasoned and committed they were the go-to office when the National Campaign needed last minute calls.

My only complaint is that they put a full-size cardboard cutout of Barak Obama in the corner. No one puts Hopey in the corner!

It was this night that I heard it through the grapevine that I, Marinmaven, am an instigator. According to Merriam-Webster that is a good thing as it means, “to goad or to move forward” or “A person who intentionally starts something” and I do try to move things forward or goad people into being more interested in politics and other interesting things happening around them. From what I gathered by what was said, the person or persons thought I was an instigator in a different sense, “someone who deliberately foments trouble; ie. “she was the instigator of their quarrel”. If that is true then I think that person or persons know little of me. Goodness gracious. If I ever caused trouble it is done quite unintentionally and obliviously, but I sincerely doubt that I have ever caused any problems at all. People may not like my opinions (ie. SMART or Marinwood Plaza, etc), but I challenge anyone to point out where I am unfair. I have always allowed people to voice opposing views.

I am proud instigator in the best sense– I bring up topics, ask questions, and put my thoughts out there for people to react to. So chill out, man. Way to try to harsh my mellow, but guess what — my mellow is not harshed.

Last year, out-of-the-blue, I received a book in the mail to review on Amazon.com. That book was Greg Mortenson’s book, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time, where Mortenson states that we can win the hearts and minds of Pakastanis not through military involvement, but by building schools, social services, and personal interactions. Mortenson says this not out of hippie-dippie, ivory-tower idealism, but out of personal experience and results. After reading the book I was angered and frustrated how Americans have missed the boat in promoting good will and peace though one-on-one relationships and though investment of time and money.

I got to talk with Dyanne Hunn, who is spearheading the AWSC or American World Service Corps which seeks to involve 21 million Americans in projects like Americorps or the Peace Corps domestically and internationally for the next 27 years. In talking with Hunn, I was reminded of Mortenson’s book immediately and was happy to find that this initiative is informed in part from Mortenson’s book. Hunn was able to cite the page where Mortenson observes that while he carried a modest sum to build his schools, Saudis were coming in with huge suitcases of money to build Madrassas teaching children to hate us. Yet, the program looks even beyond relations in Central Asia and the Middle East, and seeks to get Americans actively learning about the world around them and coming to the aid in world disasters. Hunn’s program has gotten interest from various politicians including Woolsey and Obama’s people. I would like to see this happen. Check it out.

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