100 Questions to the Suitor

1. What do you like to do?

2. Where do you like to go?

3. What do you like to read?

4. What work have you done and what would you like to work in?

5. What is the best job you have ever participated in?

6. What is the dirtiest job that you have been involved in?

7. Where would you like to travel?

8. What languages interest you?

9. What is your favorite book? Why?

10. Who has been your favorite teacher?

11. What countries are successful or to your liking?

12. What do you think of alcohol or other chemical substances?

13. What do you think of God or a Higher Power?

14. What do you know about the 10 commandments? Are they applicable today or antiquated?

15. What is something that you honor or cherish regarding your parents?

16. What do think about the US Constitution?

17. What music do you like?

18. What genre of literature do you most enjoy?

19. What do think of marriage?
20. How many children would you like to have?
21. What has been your favorite vacation? Why?
22. What kind of questions are too personal to ask suitors?
23. What questions are most important to know for you about a potential mate?
24. What would you like your children to have and do? And how would you like them to be like?
25. What sports and physical activity do you enjoy?
26. What is your least favorite subject?
27. Who has been your least favorite teacher?
28. What book would you recommend for an older person to read?
29. What book would you recommend for a younger person to read?
30. Do you consider yourself friendly?
31. Do you consider yourself kind?
32. What is the bravest things you have ever done?
33. What is the meanest thing you have ever done?
34. What scares you?
35. What sciences do you enjoy?
36. What math would like to stop at?
37. Do you think you could become wealthy someday? Why or why not?
38. What do you think about guns?
39. What instruments do you like to play?
40. What is your philosophy on education?
41. What is an appropriate arrival time for a minor on a school night?
42. What is an appropriate arrival time for a minor on a weekend night?
43.  What is an argument that you had that you regret?
44. How easy is it to admit you are wrong?
45. If you could write a book what would it be about?
46. If you could write a play what would it be about?
47. If you could write an article what would it be about?
48. If you could talk to one past ancestor who would it be?
49. If you could talk to one historical figure who would it be?
50. If you could talk to one religious figure who would it be?
51. If you could talk to one US president who would it be?

52. What do you think about prayer?
53. What organized faiths do you like? Why?
54. Which organized faiths do you not like? Why?
55. Do you have a favorite TV show? What and why?
56. Is there a nursery rhyme or fantasy story that speaks to you? That explains you?
57. What school test has made you the proudest or most impressed with yourself?
58. What is a good time to go to bed?
59. What is a good time to wake up?
60. Where is a good vacation destination?
61. What is a good vacation?
62. What do you think of monogamy?
63. What is a good age to be married?
64. How involved do you want to be with your children?
65. What are things that your family does that you want to do in the future?
66. What do you like to think about when you are bored?
67. Do you like to talk about politics? Why or why not?
68. If you could run for office, which one would you run for?
69. Are you generally optimistic or pessimistic?
70. What causes war?
71. What causes pain?
72. How can one obtain peace?
73. Are there secrets worth keeping? Give an example.
74. What US war was the most justified?
75. What US war was the least justified?
76. What is a fair type of health care for you? For society?
77. What would be a reason to sacrifice your life, if any?
78. Is pornography a problem, and has it affected the Millenials more than previous generations?
79. What are some good things about social media?
80. What are some bad things about social media?
81. What is your dream date?
82. How do you deal with people that you do not like?
83. How do you drive? Defensively, aggressively, or some other kind?
84. What would you like to accomplish by age 50?
85. Do you have a 5 year plan for the future? If so, what is it?
86. What questions would you like to ask of the famous or desired people that you have thought of?
87. What are trends in the US that you would like to change?
88. What things in the world would you change?
89. Is humanity progressing well or are things generally the same as always?
90. If you could go back in time for one year before you were born, what year would you pick?
91. Are there significant differences between the genders?
92. If there are significant differences in the genders, what are they?
93. What is the worst type of discrimination?
94. What are your favorite foods?
95. Do you try new foods when you get a chance?
96. What has been your favorite vacation that you have taken part of?
97. Are there charities worth donating time and money to? Which ones?
98. How do you think most people describe you?
99. Are you generally open to probing questions or closed to them?
100. What questions do you have for me?

The Dad, and some from the mother and others.

Punktown, USA

Punktown, USA

Bloomington in the 1980s

I'm not sure where all the ideas of being "punk" came from, but I am pretty sure Rolling Stone magazine has done an excellent job chronicling its sordid history over the years. I use the word "sordid" to give some credit to the movement and its ideas, because I think maybe punks want to me known as such. If not, forgive me. I am not of the punks, per se, but I have my viewpoints. I do think many of them would accept being called sordid, although it is more likely even more of them would not appreciate being labeled at all.

In that case, ignore me.

But, for the record on this modest forum, I present just a few ideas about punk life, from a guy who has paid fair attention to the local, national, and international scenes for a few decades ...

Some Context of History

The 1950s rehashed the ideas of the 1920s, a time after a US interventionist war where people partied or tuned out or tuned in, imbibing or smoking or eventually snorting and/or injecting all the chemicals that would enhance the experience. Movies and then television also helped with distractions. Perhaps the modern day electronic gadgets of video gaming and phones and smart appliances have alleviated the greater addictions of chemicals? Nevertheless, in the 20th century millions of G.I.s came home and wanted some normalcy, the Dough Boys from Europe in the traumatic trenches in the 1920s; World War II and Korea brought more foreign tragedy and loss to our men and women abroad. An then there was Vietnam.

Enter the 1970s, and maybe the dadaists, the avant guardists of the post World War I era were brought full circle. Nothing mattered, except the moment. Did life really matter? Shakespeare wrote about the idiot "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." Hemingway wrote "nada a nada." Nothing to nothing. Could life have a greater, deeper, significance? We were schoolmates of the children of Holocaust survivors, who taught Jewish studies in the post-war era.

But worse yet, we were the post-hippie, post-industrial, post modern age. Who or what were we?

We were all punks of a sort. All heaped together, no matter the race or creed.

Nothing had meaning, love and peace were the byword, not killing and burning and maiming. Film and television brought it home in Technicolor. Dead babies, dead villages, burnt out country sides and burnt out soldiers and Marines. Joseph's Conrad's Heart of Darkness meets the machine gun, napalm, Agent Orange, and helicopter hell fire.

The 1970s: finally the decade that offered the post-modern post rebellion. Enter the PUNKS.

Jack Kerouac found the beat scene, well the punks found something even darker.

Vietnam was the war to end all wars for the punks.

What else was there?

Colombia cranked up the crank, marijuana became a part of college campuses everywhere, a safer escapade than LSD and mushrooms. Weed was tame, it accompanied the lifestyle of the hippies and ghettos, and just plain old GIs or misfits. Punks could be part that scene, only more nihilist.

Everybody came together.

Drugs, and rock, and some physical presence, which was dark.

Fast drums, hard beats, flashy retro jewelry like ear gages or other skin piercings.

Spiked and mutlti-colored hair, the end of the old, the traditional.

Songs that approached shout fests, rants and tirades against the Man, the Government.

Not just to question authority as the bumper stickers touted, but give it a middle finger. And some other choice words and epithets.

Curse the universe! Yeah, that feels good. Hard music. Hard drugs.

A new way of Bohemia, a combative approach to tackle the world.

Punks tuned in by tuning out. The scared looks that they provoked were calculated and shared.

We are not you, older, tireder, conservative, even passe hippies and tree huggers, or worse: those of old fashioned values.

We don't give a flip. Yeah, that's an "F" word.

My town in the 1980s; Mellencamp was not the only rocker

Bloomington had a large university among a smaller populace in a mid-west city.  A small city of two high schools, with only so many downtown alleys to scrawl the Anarchy symbol or at least, the Peace Sign or other symbolic urban missives. The kids in town that became a punk full blown or flirted with the notion, that mostly belonged to the elementary schools within the city limits, had access to a few keys that welcomed them to the punk scene.

Parents with worldly knowledge and money.

Youthful disdain for the countrified youth of the county, Monroe, and surrounding suburbs of kids who might be considered preppy and rich, spoiled or soft. They were the third option ...

Not jocks, not nerds, not hicks, but still strong and cool and in your face.

Punk.

Rebels, cool, counter-culture.

Smart enough to know better, and part of a larger global scene. You could see it on MTV and other media venues, and you could certainly see it in the local record shops and publications.

Some university students followed it, creating their own mini-markets where the information flowed.

In middle school some of my cohorts were taking to the Punk Scene, many of them attracted by older siblings in high school, or even some beyond 12th grade, who tapped into the lifestyle.

Or at least the look and attitude. The hair. The language. The music. The drugs.

If you dressed punk, you most likely were a punk, but not always.

Some kids dabbled. They mixed and matched.

Some liked skateboards. Others more the music. Or the posture.

The counter-culture. The weed. The hair. The message.

Don't mess with me. I know better, life is dark. Things are wrong. I gotta be loud and proud.

We protest all of this. BLEEP! [Insert the overarchingly defiant profane and filthy curse word of your choice.] BLEEP OFF! BLEEP IT ALL!!!

As far as numbers of Bloomington Punks?

Not sure. Maybe 100 at South. My high school. The late 1980s. Maybe 50 at North? A smaller school. Maybe a few floating in the wings in the middle schools.

How many were totally dedicated? Not sure. How much one did each one dedicate to the life?

How many IU students espoused the culture and lifestyle? Maybe not a lot, out of 35 some thousand.

How long did their identities as punks last? How long could it be sustained? Maybe Punk was simply the outsider label for them.

Again, not sure.

The more I reflect on the Town Punks of the Eighties, the less I can be sure about.

I was outside to them. I knew some. I heard of others. I observed some behavior and attitudes, some music and some partying.

I smelled the pot a few times (not always them, of course), I heard the vitriolic speeches. I saw the graffiti, I read some stories and watched some shows.

But I can tell you this, Punks were a part of my town. The message was alive and present.

At the end of the day, was it simply a show full of sound and fury, signifying nothing?

No: like many ideas, arts, or movements, it had its place.

They were few, they were a minority. But they expressed themselves for real reasons, and moved on to other stages and climes.

The Punks had their day. And they'll be around again, as sure as the US fights wars and youths are disgruntled.

They may dress different, talk of different issues. But they will be around.

You will see your own Punktowns.

You will see Punks out on the street.

Good, Even Great, Authors

Good, Even Great, Authors

Chaim Potok is a great writer.

Why? I will explain.

Many critics of writing and prose may judge artistic style and utilization of literary devices as their measure of writing "greatness". Some themes and stories are considered so well crafted and structured that they are deemed great.

I guess that works out fine for James Joyce. And it suffices for a few artistically inclined literary followers around the world, especially the English intelligentsia that deem works of literature as great or not.

Chaim is not that well known as a world outstanding author, but he has been acclaimed in enough circles and some of his stories have been turned into movies over the decades. Not bad.

Of course popular media is not the best measure of great authorship.

Chaim Potok is great in my eyes because he writes about characters that play real parts of the world, people fictionalized that bespeak reality, perceptions of how things are and have been.

And extrapolating, he has shown how things could be in the future.

Great fiction does that. Fiction tells us more about truth and reality than mere fantasies and invention.

After reading Chaim Potok's fiction, I know more about Judaism. I know more about people, history, psychology.

Faith. Human struggles and triumphs, tragedies, and life.

Reality.

Chaim Potok shows me more of who we are as humans.

His characters are real enough and important enough to explain our issues: we are a people that search for meaning and morals, for a modicum of goodness despite trials and travails.

The hatred and violence directed at Jews. The atomic bomb. The South Korean conflict. Mental illness.

Belief and adherence to faith in God. Artistic expressions. What does it mean to have faith in an unseen divine concept or organization? What does it mean to be human?

How do we deal with conflicts, large and small? Individual and collective.

We seek after and read, ponder, and search. Discover and reveal.

Find truth.

Manhattan. Europe. Brooklyn. Cape Cod. South Korea. Japan. Israel.

The baseball diamond.

The Chabad Lubavitch movement.

Destruction. Genocide. Conflict. Madness. Pain. Sorrow. Struggle.

Reconciliation. Redemption. Oneness. Beauty. Love.

Potok has it all, and he has felt and written it all.

May his words and worlds be cherished. 

Thanks, Chaim. To you and your parents, your families, your people.

Theirs have become ours.

You have made us your family. 

That, ultimately, is great.

On and Off the Bus

On and Off the Bus

Visions of Modern Day Prophets; Some Followers Are Still Aboard

Back in the 1830s a religious movement began, like others before it, religious and visionary in some ways like other movements that had started for thousands of years, and also unlike others like it before or since. 

All movements have their unique qualities and idiosyncratic features.

Today (in 2018) this religious organization is known to most people, at least casually. There are many millions around the globe who have never heard of Latter-day Saints or Mormons, but there are new venues all the time where people learn. More lands and media than ever touch on its missions.

There is an active effort for it to expand and grow, to evangelize and proselytize. The Latter-day Saints are interested in proclaiming their message and inviting others to become members.

Some join. Most do not. It's hard to calculate how many people every year have the opportunity to open up their ears or homes to full time missionaries and do not. One million? 10 million? Maybe more.

Meanwhile, among those born and raised in the faith, there are those who "stay on the bus", and others who opt to get off and never return. Some return after lapses.

Some ex-members become belligerent; others are simply not interested or involved any longer, or have peripheral connections. Some of those who leave are somewhat lukewarm; there are those less actives that are somewhat favorable but not active, in all different shades.

There are three main reasons why Latter-day Saints stop practicing their active religion.

1. They do not believe in the faith or its doctrine or policies.

2. They find the practices and standards too difficult to practice.

3. They find the socialized peer pressure against its beliefs too heavy to bear.

Inevitably there is a mix of all three.

For example, a young (or old) person may feel large amounts of social peer pressure against their religion and their personal attempts at trying to live it, and therefore that person may cling to the doubts that counter the unique stances and beliefs of, in this case, the Mormon faith. When these two heavy negative weights are working against the member in powerful tandem, then the third weight of falling away from the practices and standards is a natural progression, or digression.

Sometimes some less active members point to an incident or moment where they were insulted, or perhaps overwhelmingly lost their faith from some smaller or at times traumatic event, and some indicate that the time of their less faithful activity came gradually.

Whatever the case, there are usually more "less-active Latter-Day Saints" (inactives) than there are active ones. Especially in some countries, like Chile, where thousands have joined the ranks on paper but have not attended meetings for years or decades.

So arguments are made and pitched around, how active and robust are the Mormons in the United States and around the world?

LDS temple activity is one indicator that the Church is in good shape. More temples (which require thousands of man hours to maintain) are functional and busy throughout the globe than ever before. There are more full time missionaries than ever.

There are robust numbers in the LDS Church's favor.

But there are plenty of disaffected and less active members, some of whom are hostile towards the faith. There are popular musicals and television or movies that mock the beliefs and notions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Some current LDS leaders have referred to membership in the Church as "being on the Good Ship Zion." In other words, on board a bus of sorts.

A vehicle, a movement united in one cause, a place or thing aimed in one direction, stationary yet in motion, progressing or developing towards and end or means to those ends.

Some would contend it is worth the ride, to stay on board.

Others get on and off.

Others would have you avoid it, to turn away from it or even convince others to avoid or even stop it, to destroy it.

You can choose: to get on or off the bus.

I have ridden it a while. I am used to it. I enjoy it.

I invite others to come along and take the ride, enjoy the journey.

Get on, and stay on.

But that is just me. And a few million others.

Me, and most of them, believe that God Himself and His Son Jesus want the same.

At least, consider the passage necessary, and its destination.

Consider it well.

Hi. I'm a Comic

Hi, I'm a Comic

[Dedicated to Robert Lopez and his talented and funny wife. Compassionate? Hmmm... I would hope so. Special mention to the inspiration of Matt Parker and Tre Stone. Men of vision and grandeur, humanitarians of great possibility for the world.]

The following is not exactly prose, but more poetical, and even musically pitched. Please sing along to one of the many tunes in your head.

Hi. I'm a comic.

Hello! I'm American! I'm wealthy! And somewhat spoiled.

I like music, and theatre, and making fun of things-- er, people.

With music, it's so funny and cute. 

To show how things should be lampooned to arrive at our greater epiphanies, modern theophanies.

Like how the West realized that the Thai people, the Siamese of yore, who were offended by the  

King and I;

these third world grovelers found that seminal work disrespectful and taboo: even blasphemous!

Nevertheless, Rodgers and Hammerstein knew better: 

Slavery and polygamy were not laughing issues, and the king (a king!) learned his lessons till it 

broke his heart.  

Bravo!

It was drama-- in the end, not funny.

Great theatre, great pathos, not to laugh at --Western people not so funny.

Ha! Ha!

BUT, come 21st century, decades beyond the backward, stilted,

 

repressive 1950s (so conservative and traditional)

Humanity is more progressive and aware : ha ha ha, organized faiths!

This is humorous! This is the subject of satire in the post modern age.

Particularly Latter-day Saints, derisively known as Mormons, in sum: your ideas and practices are 

foolish. Balderdash. Hogwash. Hooey. Laugh we must at its simplistic unfounded tomfoolery.

Sad misguided ones, for sure. Mormons. With a Book, a third testament of divinity.

Not to mention the poor, the dirty, the lost Africans. Are they really Ugandan? Is their language 

really Luganda? Or Cholo?  What culturally sensitive and profoundly educational lessons contained 

therein, within the bounds of the gilded stage...

Both sides-- white and black if you will---are mock worthy, there's no question of that.

Hi! I'm a comic! I make fun of what I see.

I see believers. I see poverty! I see the muddled masses

who live these accursed courses. 

There must be something there to explore. 

And make jest. 

It's how we can approach understanding, after all. Present it on the stage, like Annie or

I have never lived with them or lived like them, but I make light of them.

The whimsically sickening Three Stooges and masterful Charlie Chaplin lampooned the terribly evil 

Fuhrer, why not us now?  

Let us roast the tyrants of our age! The autocrats of the current century.

To these stoogish Mormons. They call their youth "elders". What buffoonery!

Stable Americans, who go to lands of woe, for two years at a time.

Or more.

Like the Peace Corps suffragettes. Only wishy washier! Sallow minded saps!

Oh, no, the American, tres western artiste has more high minded tastes and fancies than these low 

living mongrels of mindlessness. 

These Mormons and the Ugandans are the shallow ones, certainly.

Does not the comic genius belie that message in every song and note?

Simplicity of thought, such simpletons, these caricatures of existence.

So funny, ha ha ha!

I have never lived with people who go to bed hungry.

I have never spent hours with families with children that have a cleft pallet or split lip and it is not 

fixable at birth.

I don't know the communities who only drink dirty water, who regularly suffer from diarrhea and 

other common "poor" health issues.

But hey! I'm a comic! I joke to make things seem okay

Or not. 

Really we are solving the issues by mocking these folks! Right?

The sophisticated mind and audience knows the difference, this is not prejudice or bigotry.

Right? Ethnic biases were so last century.

We are better than that. 

We as artists go lower to achieve the higher aims! Yes!

So lest we forget:

Down with piety! Up with vulgarity!

Down with accuracy! Up with exagerativity! Hyperbole!

Fanciful theatricity!

Bravo, o thou stage!

No, these themes and causes that we mock are not okay.

So I write, I compose

I order my musical lines in order to battle the ignorance and naivete.

Oh, those silly missionaries, with their fantastic dreams and sermons!

"They know not what they do", to quote a source.

(A dubious one who lived long before now.)

And now, the present, is what counts. Right? We know all now. 

We know so much more than even 5 years ago... Let alone 100.

Alas, those silly missionaries with their tired and boring message!

The people suffer long, they look for hope in such odd places, such impractical avenues of alleged 

redemption  and glory... 

a fool's errand, so we make fun of this phenomenon, this spectacle...

Fantastic tales of people and heavenly beings in ancient days!

From other lands!

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA !

Hello, I'm a comic. 

And a playwright.

And composer. 

Do not forget, I am an award winner, the best of the best.

More clever than most all the rest.

I am funny! And creative! Innovative! Oh, so witty!

And so jestful, mocking people.

Tee hee hee.

Not like the Sound of Music, escaping Germans.

Not as the venerable Les Miserables, evading oppression or sin.

Not like Shakespeare, questioning everything.

Not as great as Fiddler on the Roof, revering (yet spoofing) tradition and change.

Not to mention the treatment of the Jewish. Jews! 

Worthy of scorn, this queer religious minority...

This hiss and byword, these peculiar people with their books and commandments and non-secular 

ways... 

But, at least misinterpreting beliefs, printed and spoken, are par for the play.

There is a consistent inconsistence in the work of the lampoon.

The opening lines of the opening song has misrepresentations and twisted facts.

(Yes, that's you Robert Lopez!)

But that makes it funnier! Ha ha! Hilarious!

The inaccuracies portrayed only augment the utter preposterousness--

Bravo! Hurrah! Celebrate the art!

The love! The aplomb! The fame!

Why, hello, yes!!!

I'm a comic.

I spread the truth and lies, and wistful humanity to the world!

Pay your fees! 

Celebrate the light! 

Go home content and jovial, with a stomach full of pabulum. 

A heart is content with such wisdom and pure filth.

Vulgarity ! Hilarity! 

Crudity! Erudity!

Because this comical truth has set us all free.

And yes, I'm still a comic.

The joke might be on me.

This joke might be on me.

Let the people choose and be free.

Based on jocularity.

No more laughter I hear through the strain of tear and fear.

Sorrow and horror no more, 

because I am a comic. 

I pronounce my verdicts with smiles

I settle scores.

Writers Proliferate

Britain has produced many great writers, arguably.

Lately I have read W. Somerset Maugham and it has been enjoyable.

George Orwell is maybe my favorite, but perhaps has not influenced me more than C.S. Lewis, or even J.R.R. Tolkien.

There are many others in other countries.

Our United States. Canada. Mexico.

France. Russia. Brazil. Mexico.

Nigeria. Egypt. China. Japan. India,

Germany. Norway. Italy. Spain.

Chile. Argentina. Peru. Colombia.

And that's just to start...

Proud of my Hoosiers in Black History Month

Proud of my Hoosiers in Black History Month

The United States has had a history of race and racial problems. February 2018

To many people the above assertion might be a "no duh" obvious declaration, or simply an understatement, or even a gross offense to slight such huge abuses over time.

However, in the history of the United States, the rays of sunshine of improvement include that we as Americans often recognize our problems and ills; we seek to shine light on past offenses, abuses, injustice; we Americans try to properly address them and rectify them.

In that cause and spirit there has been the government and social initiative to celebrate and recognize Black History Month throughout the United States.

I am not sure why February is the ordained month; it is the shortest month in the year. Some could take offense to that, I can see the irony. Sure, give a facetious nod to the historically disenfranchised, providing them the shortest, possibly coldest shrift of a month possible. Knock it out early in the year, and then forget about the peoples that have been trodden upon and forgotten about since the inception of the nation in the 1700s.

That is a cynical way of looking at it.

I do not think it is a bad month, nor do I view it cynically. I happen to see February as somewhat appropriate for Black History Month for a couple reasons, one of them being about sports. The other one is about Presidents. Both the head executives of the land and sporting history have a place with the American people writ large, and particularly with the African-Americans who make up such a vital part of our shared history.

Sports-wise, February usually has the Super Bowl the first weekend, which tends to feature a large proportion of African-American athletes. This helps much of those individuals on the teams, those that are predominantly black, and therefore celebrated for their achievements and merits in the physical arena. They get more attention and glory. And money. Hopefully their respective communities benefit from the consequent success, they can help develop the limelight and resources for further growth in the groups and the communities where they hail from. Ideally, this is progress.

And yet, like a shortened month, or starting the American experience largely as slaves on a continent not of their choice, perhaps the trickle down effect by professional football is not really big enough.

Enter college basketball, and also it's bigger more lucrative brother, professional basketball. 

Both realms are dominated by African-American athletes. And unlike American football, the threat of disabling injuries is considerably less, which is a substantial positive for all people, but most certainly the people of the black community who succeed so much in this sport.

Professional or no, thousands of African-American basketball players, team supporters, coaches, and managers are benefited by the game.

I am from the state of Indiana where the sport basketball and its history are somewhat revered. It becomes more beautiful in the light of men and women of all races sharing the same stage, being celebrated for their merits rather than their skin color, or their educational background, or their parents or families' work or money that put them in a position to achieve and move up in their socio-economic status.

But Indiana is not unique in its celebration of the sport of basketball. You see it from Hawai'i to Alaska to Texas and Florida and Vermont. Even into much of Canada. All over North America, the kids use this sport as a vehicle for recreation, but then scholarships and advancement.

Communities large and small, in every state and perhaps most provinces, get behind and cheer on their teams and players, a disproportionate number of whom are black. The student athletes receive education and a chance to get ahead, no matter if their future is on or by the basketball court itself.

Academic opportunities are afforded to many first generation students. Thousands of these students are able to leave their former neighborhoods of downturn and possibly move on to a more successful environment, or even go back with the educational and professional tools that they were empowered with and make a difference.

It can start small, but it starts.

For example, a young African-African from a poor area of Chesapeake, Virginia does not go to worldwide fame and fortune like Allen Iverson, but he or she receives a scholarship in South Dakota or Idaho, a place where traditionally there are not many black people. But he or she is valued, regardless of background or race, and that student then has the choice to move forward based on those advantages provided.

It's not the lottery, nor is it the NBA millions or even the international big money that comes with playing on the court that brought the original scholarship opportunity. But perhaps it is something more: the formerly underprivileged individual (this applies to black, white, brown, Native-American, irrespective of race or ethnicity), now can see himself or herself in larger context, and future bosses and companies see them as the same.

Part of a winning, hardworking team.

Part of the American dream. Where hard work and team work translate to success.

That is the dream. Freedom and opportunity lead to success and prosperity.

And it can start in athletics. Moving. Learning. Cooperating. 

Celebrating.

IU beat Iowa yesterday in hard fought battle in snowy Iowa City ( I watched it I pay extra money per month to see such games). Thousands, if not millions, of Iowans and Hoosiers.

The Indiana women's basketball team beat Nebraska in Bloomington, too.

We love these student athletes, regardless of their ethnic backgrounds. They are part of a bigger, more idealistic community. 

They interweave themselves as part of who we are as people: not black, not white, not brown.

People who come together and work on high arching goals. Together.

One team. Win or lose, all out effort.

Thanks Indiana University for giving us that.

Thanks to sports, for uniting us.

Thanks to the United States, for setting up places, and months, and ways, for all of us to succeed.

Eventually we will make it there.

The Xs and Os and balls and teams fade to the background, and it becomes who are:

A nation motivated by effort, work, and prosperity.

A land for freedom, opportunity, and joy. For all.