I Love Paris

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I've spent time in Paris. It's my favorite city in the entire world. If I could live there I would. It's a city of love, and food, and adventure, and culture, and walking, and romance, and light, and joie de vivre. The recent events in this beautiful city are tragic, horrific and unthinkable. The innocent victims were just ordinary people, going about their lives, enjoying the city and one another. We must never forget them.
We must also never forget that it is our duty, as free citizens of the world, to continue to live as freely as we can. We must exercise not only our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but also the responsibility to defeat evil with good. With a life well lived. With grace, love and humility. With a sense of obligation to give back, pay it forward, help when we can.
Recently I've been spending a lot of time on the website GoFundMe.com . I've been donating what I can, when I can. I give $5 here, $10 there. There are many heartbreaking stories, and I wish politicians would spend a couple of hours a week reading some of them. Maybe they wouldn't be so quick to judge, to slash assistance, to denigrate the needy. Recently I gave a few dollars to a family that needed to bury a child and couldn't afford funeral expenses. If that sounds like a downer, well, let me tell you. I felt uplifted all day. I was not only able to assist a family in crisis, but also to be a part of a larger effort, because crowdfunding at its best is a magnificent coming together of humans helping humans. Most people, I think, who donate to GoFundMe and sites like it are not wealthy. I myself am poor enough that I don't always make my bills at the end of the month (I sell tshirts for a living, for chrissake!). But when I have a few dollars left over, I get the urge to give. Well, once when I had $20 left at the end of the month, I bought flowers, but that's a luxury in my life.
All this is a long way of saying the only way to defeat evil is with good. Light is the only antidote for darkness. Laughter is the antidote for fear. And love is the antidote for hate.

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The New Kindle

First, there was the Kindle (the price on the original Kindle is reduced now to $259, by the way, according to the Amazon.com website, and despite what this image shows).

Now there's the next generation Kindle, whose advantage is that it can be used almost anywhere in the world.


With this new Kindle, you can receive your books, newspapers, and magazines wirelessly while at home or abroad in over 100 countries. Whether you’re in New York, Paris, São Paulo, Mumbai, Beijing, Tokyo, or Sydney, you can think of a book and be reading it in less than 60 seconds.

Kindle utilizes the same 3G wireless technology as advanced cell phones, so you never need to hunt for a Wi-Fi hotspot. Unlike cell phones, there are no monthly wireless bills and no yearly contracts. There is no software to install, and no syncing required.

Kindle is as thin as most magazines and weighs less than a paperback—but can hold 1,500 books. Its electronic-ink screen looks and reads like real paper with no glare—even in bright sunlight. A long battery life means you can read for up to two weeks on a single charge.

The U.S. Kindle Store has more than 350,000 books, including 107 of 112 New York Times bestsellers, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs.

Homeless for the Holidays

Lately I've been reading way too many stories of people, noble, honorable, working people, who are becoming homeless through no fault of their own. The brutal policies of the Bush-Cheney regime have brought terrible hardship on the middle class. Not just the wasteful war in Iraq, but the economic and social policies, come at a horrific cost to families just trying to stay in homes, put bread on the table, and keep warm during the winter. Food banks are closing in my town because there are no donations. There are more homeless people than ever on the streets these days, and less help for them. We could be headed for another Great Depression.

This holiday season, I urge anyone reading this to please help in any way you can. Here is a list of organizations that are doing great work. You can help by donating cash, warm clothing, food, anything you can spare.

Goodwill accepts money, warm clothing, even vehicles.

The Salvation Army does amazing work all over the country. They will accept money, cars, household goods, and airline miles.

Feeding America accepts cash donations in any amount, and their website states that every dollar you donate to Feeding America helps provide 20 pounds of food and grocery products to men, women and children facing hunger in our country. That means you can donate as little as a dollar and still be helping.

Share Our Strength accepts cash donations, and states that a $35 contribution can feed a child three meals a day for more than a month.

There are hundreds of organizations out there that need your help NOW. Please give a little if you can. Thank you.