Writing to President Obama

Yesterday afternoon I spent some time visiting 5h graders at Driftwood School right here in Port Orford. The teacher and I had discussed in advance the various writing skills I could incorporate in my weekly visits as a volunteer.

I decided to show them the cover of the latest New Yorker, the one with the blended pictures of George Washington and Barack Obama titled, The First. The kids got it right away. They discussed how both of these men were the first.

The activity that followed was a letter to President Obama. The chatter was about how best to address him, Mr. or Mr. President, or President Obama, or President Barack Obama. Then, again, more chatter on wether to say black, or non-white, or African-American, or... Some more chatter about how much to say. How many sentences? Can we really send this letter? What is the address? Will he really read these letters?

After an hour, most of them had written a couple of sentences that were proud to show me, had looked up many words in the dictionary, and had stated their opinions on some political issues. Next week, we will polish the letters and send them off.

I will have to explain that they may not get answers.

Playing Along.

Thanks M. from Sixtyup.blogspot.com for going along with the tag game. That's today's rambling thought: how we end up playing in the big playground called life.

I think most of our early decisions in life were to please somebody, our parents, our friends, our special someone. We were loved and appreciated when we were pleasant, cooperative. Our teachers' comments on the report card, plays well with others, were appreciated. As parents, we were happy when our little ones had friends, were invited to play and party, were popular, didn't give any trouble.
We are socialized to get along with others.

Most people I have fired were not incompetent, they were hard to get along; they broke rules they didn't like, and were difficult in groups. The organizational goals could not be met by these people. They will continue to have trouble because they look at getting along as a sissy game.


Well, it isn't a sissy game. It is a very important civil game, one that allows us all to cleverly reap many benefits. By cooperating, we build relationships and alliances that will ultimately give us all what we need. In this case, a bigger audience. Six times six, with one post, one stroke.

Let's play.