This domain name was inspired by one of my heroes, Howard Zinn, who said
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now, as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.
Howard Zinn
I don't quite know what I'm going to do with this site, but I'm presently (June 2010) trying desperately to learn to create websites. So I'm doing what I've often done with computer topics: buy a ton of books. But I'm also doing something I seldom do with computer books: I'm actually reading them. With interest I haven't seen in myself since the last Harry Potter book came out.
Update February 2016: The mad race to learn about creating websites kind of stalled. Now it's 6 years later and I'm still a newbie. And have taken up trying to learn guitar. Or more like taken up buying guitars. I have 13, and can't play one of them. But I'm learning a little, and learning a little about other things.
Quite a while ago I figured out that I only know two things about life: Love exists, and it matters. It matters to me. And life seems to be about learning. That's it. I'm not too sure about anything else. I don't believe in a hell or judgment or that things happen for a reason, although I have to admit that in my own experience that seems to be true.
And more recently I've been coming to the realization that while we're pretty good at conceiving of a better, more loving, more noble way of being, we suck at living up to it. And we spend way too much time refusing to acknowledge that inability with any compassion or understanding, instead sticking to the ridiculous notion that "I've got to do better. No, this can't be. I've got to do better. No, this can't be ... . When will I ever get it. I'm never going to get it. I have to do better. When will I get it?"
And finally, it dawned on me that I've been right all along -- I won't ever get it. I'm never going to live up to being that idealized, all-the-time compassionate and loving person. Never. And that has to be ok too. That isn't a pass for not trying, but it also means I need to quit bashing myself over it. It is very strange to me that as a human I'm able to know very deeply that the only thing that matters is love, and yet I'm doomed to suck at living up to that vision. So I wrote this:
There are two primary aspects of what it means to be human.
The first is that, if we are able to look deep into our being, we find a powerful desire for compassion and appreciation of all that is life.
The second is the realization that we suck at living up to the first.
Neither of these traits will be fully appreciated until the first is unrestrainedly applied to the second.
I'm going to throw up a couple of pages I already have and just link to them, and maybe as I write more I'll create some actual menus and such.
The first one is a page I wrote a couple years ago when I was in a seminar for political campaigns, and they were talking about the voter data available from the government. Since I had just learned how to deal with that as part of the Dennis Kucinich for President campaign, I had some information I thought worth sharing, and put it up in this site.
So here it is again, all about California Voter Data.
The other is a page I started on quite a while ago and don't quite consider finished, but I'm going to throw that one up too.
It's Tips for the New Motorcycle Rider.
I got my first bike 3 years ago, and on June 21, 2007 went out camping around northern California and Oregon for a month. Had to learn a lot by experience, and was lucky enough not to drop the bike in the process. Maybe it will help you avoid some of the stupid mistakes I made.
© 2016 Steven R. Powell