Hope>Fear: A love song to my kids

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Monday January 21, 2013 · 1:50 PM PST

2013/01/21 · 13:50

When I was in junior high, my mother bought me a t-shirt proclaiming "A Woman's Place is in the House ... and in the Senate!" I just barely understood the pun, but I was very clear on the principle. Equality was important, and some people didn't want women to be equal. I wore that shirt with pride, and I clearly remember some of my male teachers snickering about it. I knew it made my dad prickly. And I kept wearing it, precisely because it made them uncomfortable.

At the time, I knew no people of color and I knew no gay people. I grew up in a very small town in rural northern California. Our world was limited in many ways. Some people I grew up with became staunch conservatives, afraid that big government was going to fly its black helicopters in and take away their guns. I argue with these folks on Facebook from time to time. Their fear makes me sad.

cranberrylib

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Saturday September 11, 2010 · 8:41 AM PDT

2010/09/11 · 08:41

I was there that day.

I was lucky. I didn't lose a family member. I didn't work in the towers, I didn't have to run for my life, I wasn't physically harmed. But my office was a mere half-block from the WTC. I heard the screams, saw the bleeding people, felt the heat of the flames, smelled the burning jet fuel, wondered if that person jumping was someone I knew, or maybe this one ... or that one. I calculated how far I'd need to run if one of the towers toppled. The first one fell as I stumbled numbly into downtown Brooklyn. WHOOM. I'll never forget that sound. I thought they were bombing the city, whoever "they" were. I hugged a crying stranger on the street. I wrapped myself in blankets when I got home, spent hours shivering in shock. And I was one of the lucky ones.

In the end, I lost a co-worker and a classmate. One of my work friends lost her best friend and suffered a miscarriage from the stress. A major client lost most of their employees. My surviving co-workers each had their own traumatic story, some of them unspeakably horrific. Blood, glass, death, dust, destruction. The company brought in counselors. I wept every day for 6 months.

cranberrylib

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Wednesday May 19, 2010 · 11:27 AM PDT

2010/05/19 · 11:27

Today, Mr. Cranberrylib received a fundraising letter from the Republican Party. Which, given the overwhelmingly one-sided political slant of our cozy household, is hilarious in the extreme.

I thought y'all would enjoy the email he shot off a few minutes later:

cranberrylib

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Tuesday August 25, 2009 · 10:45 AM PDT

2009/08/25 · 10:45

Last year, I wrote a lot about CA-02 and my brother Jeff Morris's efforts to unseat Wally Herger, the bumbling and ineffectualRepresentative of this large, sparsely-populated Congressional district. Alas, despite the national hunger for change, the people of CA-02 opted for (gasp!) more of the same, sending Wally back to his 23rd year of so-called "service" to the people of CA-02.

Since then, Jeff Morris has been staying involved, working hard on projects that will make a difference for the people of CA-02. Think: sustainable local economies, local energy production, cooperation among local communities to address large regional challenges. All good stuff.

Meanwhile, Wally Herger has managed to make his way to the national stage ... in a manner of speaking. Yesterday, he was selected as Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World.

YAY, TEAM!

cranberrylib

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Monday January 19, 2009 · 8:00 PM PST

2009/01/19 · 20:00

My husband and I met our son on January 4, 2009. He was 3 days old. He is African-American. We are mixed-breed European-Americans, mostly Irish, but also English, Basque, and German. When we told my father-in-law that his new grandson is black, his response was perfect: "Who the hell cares?! We're Irish!"

(Side note: My FIL voted for Bush twice. When we were trying to convince him to vote for Obama, we kept reminding him that Obama is Irish too! We're not sure how he voted -- he read Dreams from My Father and liked it a lot.)

Back to my story. Two weeks ago, our family's life changed in the best of all possible ways. And Inauguration Day 2009 -- which we have been looking forward to for what seems like a lifetime -- took on a whole new meaning. Our multi-racial family will watch the first mixed-race person be sworn in as President of the United States. How cool is that?

cranberrylib

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Thursday November 06, 2008 · 5:18 PM PST

2008/11/06 · 17:18

This could be a diary about how heartbroken I am that my brother, Jeff Morris, will not be replacing Wally Herger in CA-02 this year. It could be a diary ranting about the appalling lack of support Jeff's campaign received from entities like the DCCC, which instead gave several hundred thousand dollars to a candidate in a neighboring district who was running against a much stronger opponent than our feckless Mr. Herger. I could rant for days about what half that support could have done for Jeff Morris's campaign.

Or, this could be a diary about how frustrating it is to see the constituents in District 2 vote (yet again) against their own interests by re-electing Wally for an undeserved 12th term, and how (perhaps) they deserve the lack of leadership they're going to get.

But I'm not going to go there. That kind of talk won't move us forward.

cranberrylib

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Sunday November 02, 2008 · 1:41 PM PST

2008/11/02 · 13:41

As we all know, you can't win an election without a good candidate. But behind every good candidate are good people working their tails off. And in a grassroots campaign, every blade of grass makes a difference.

Jeff Morris has run what can only be called an insurgency campaign in California's 2nd Congressional District, challenging 22-year incumbent and Republican party-liner Wally Herger. Jeff's campaign has been run entirely by volunteers. ~~Not one paid~~Only one very low-paid staff member. Not one big corporate donation. A little bit of PAC support, but from PACs that a progressive can be proud of. The fact that it's a people-powered grassroots campaign was recently described with great clarity by a local newspaper:

When Wally Herger campaigns, his catering bills run in the thousands of dollars.

When Jeff Morris campaigns, he eats at McDonald's.

cranberrylib

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Friday October 31, 2008 · 12:06 PM PDT

2008/10/31 · 12:06

I've been posting quite a bit about Jeff Morris, who is running a tough campaign against Wally Herger in California's Second Congressional District. This post is going to be a bit different, because I want to talk about Jeff on a personal level.

Jeff is my brother. But that doesn't mean that we have always agreed. In fact, there have been times in our lives when we were at each other's throats like cats and dogs, Sunni and Shia, Yankees and Red Sox. That's all water long under the bridge, but my point is this: I would not be writing these posts if I didn't honestly believe that he's the best man for the job.

I thought it would be fun to share some family history so that you can better understand the forces that shaped Jeff Morris into the public servant he is today.

cranberrylib

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Sunday October 26, 2008 · 11:00 AM PDT

2008/10/26 · 11:00

Democrat Jeff Morris and incumbent Republican Wally Herger met again this week to debate the future of California's 2nd Congressional District.

The video is available here. Wally looks slick as can be, comfortable with the camera, clearly well-practiced, as well he should after 22 interminable years in office. If you like professional politicians with fancy suits and enormous war chests, Wally's your guy. Me, I like my candidates with some substance and ideas. If they don't shop at Neiman Marcus, so much the better.

I originally listened to the radio broadcast streaming online, so if either candidate was sweating profusely or wandering aimlessly around the stage, I wouldn't have known about it. What I did notice was the way in which Wally Herger appeared to have no original thoughts of his own. Was I listening to Herger? Bush? McCain? The ghost of James Watt? Often, it was impossible to tell.

cranberrylib

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Thursday October 23, 2008 · 2:01 PM PDT

2008/10/23 · 14:01

I'm so excited about this that I can barely sit still.

One Voice PAC, the progressive organization founded by Representative Barbara Lee, has endorsed Jeff Morris in his campaign to defeat long-time incumbent Wally Herger in California's 2nd Congressional District.

cranberrylib

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Sunday October 19, 2008 · 10:53 AM PDT

2008/10/19 · 10:53

The editors of Redding's Record Searchlight appear to have done Democrat Jeff Morris an incredible favor by endorsing Republican incumbent Wally Herger in the race for California's 2nd Congressional District.

Normally, this kind of endorsement would not be something that the challenger's supporters could cheer about. This time, it appears that the Searchlight's action backfired -- big time.

Judging by the comments to the editorial and other community feedback, the paper has unleashed a wave of fury and outrage that will likely show itself at the polls, a wave that will carry ol' Wally into retirement where he belongs.

cranberrylib

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Monday October 13, 2008 · 5:30 PM PDT

2008/10/13 · 17:30

Last week, Democrat Jeff Morris and Republican incumbent Wally Herger met to debate the future of California's Second Congressional District. The event was sponsored by Chico's Enterprise-Record and the League of Women Voters of Butte County. Questions were directed to the candidates from members of the press, audience members, and event sponsors. The wide-ranging discussion covered everything from the economy to water management, forest fire prevention to salmon fisheries disaster relief, health care to rural schools funding, and of course the war in Iraq and global warming.

Local papers called the forum "cordial" and the video supports that, but behind the polite behavior were some tough questions for the incumbent and bruising verbal swings from Jeff Morris.

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Hope>Fear: A love song to my kids

Victims, Vendors & Voyeurism (My 9/11)

Please remove me from your mailing list

CA-02: Herger is Olbermann's "Worst"

Celebrating our new son and our new President

Thinking about next steps for Jeff Morris and CA-02 (w/photos)

CA-02: Real People fuel Jeff Morris's campaign

CA-02: Deep district roots fuel Jeff Morris's campaign

CA-02: Herger channels Bush, Giuliani, et al. in local debate

CA-02: Jeff Morris wins endorsement of One Voice PAC

CA-02: Paper's endorsement of Herger unleashes community rage

CA-02: Jeff Morris slaps down Herger in local debate