It's Been Awhile

hasn't it? I've had nothing to say, actually. Which reminds me of a famous quote by someone I can't remember - "When you have nothing to say, it is better to keep one's mouth shut and look like an idiot than to open it and remove all doubt."

Sarah and I are sitting at the Cherry Street Coffee shop after hearing "George Wallace" speak at Chautauqua.
I love Chautauqua. I've gone every year since the year after it was established in Tulsa when we moved here in 1992. The most fascinating speaker this year was Malcolm X. It was so interesting to discover the people beneath the caricatures as they had been portrayed in the media. David always told me I should find out more about Malcolm X. Now that I have I want to find out more. I was especially interested in how God worked in the 1960's through both men who were believers with opposing world views. Did the U.S. culture need both to be able to effectively change? Did we need the compassion that surfaced as a result of seeing non-violent demonstrations with black men wearing sandwich boards reading: "I AM A MAN" as well as the fear that surfaced when we saw black separatists raising their fists and demanding "No More"?

In all, with a Chautauqua focused on the 60's, I'm amazed at the amount of social change that came about in such a short period of time without some sort of collapse - especially related to the civil rights movement. And now to see Barak Obama raising his hands in victory in the same state where Wallace's forces used hoses to keep back the demonstrators - pretty cool. I can't support him for numerous reasons, but pretty cool.