Paul Wilczynski's Observations

Barack Obama on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Broadcast April 21, 2008

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 7:11 PM 0 comments

Rockridge Institute comes to an end

The Rockridge Institute, a small California organization with which George Lakoff (author of a number of books on framing language from a progressive perspective) is associated, is closing up as of April 30, 2008.

It's really too bad. They took on a massive task and did what they could given their limited resources.

The Rockridge Institute was formed to address a set of challenges: The right-wing think tanks, after spending 35 years and 4 billion dollars, had come to dominate public debate. They had done this by framing Big Ideas their way: the nature of government, the market, taxation, security, morality, responsibility, accountability, character, nature, even life. This allowed them to then frame lower-level issues, special cases like terrorism, Iraq, education, health care, retirement, stem-cell research, the death penalty, affirmative action, and on and on. Our challenge was to figure out exactly how they had achieved such dominance over the minds of Americans and what progressives could do--not just how to respond case by special case, but how to do the Big Job: to reframe the Big Ideas governing our politics.

I look forward to seeing what Lakoff and the others do in the future.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 9:08 AM 0 comments

Different ways of looking at marriages/relationships

Some people believe that a marriage/relationship between two heterosexual people is good, and that a relationship between two gay individuals is bad.

Other people (many Unitarian Universalists among them) believe that a marriage/relationship which is kind, loving, and caring is good, and that a relationship where one partner physically or psychologically injures the other is bad.

Perhaps that's one example of the idea that Unitarian Universalists value deeds more than creeds or rules.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 2:27 PM 3 comments

Unitarian Universalism - Open Source Faith

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 4:12 PM 0 comments

Video formerly known as You're a Uni-What?

A video about Unitarian Universalism ...

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 4:02 PM 0 comments

6 year old singer

If you think the people on American Idol have talent, see what Simon thinks of this 6 year old:
Amazing SIX-Year-Old Singer - The best bloopers are a click away

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 4:18 PM 0 comments

Moving to Charleston, SC

About 3 years ago, my wife and I visited South Carolina and spent a couple of days in Charleston. We found it to be an incredibly charming city, with housing prices (in some of the 'burbs) significantly lower that in the Boston area. Because of things going on with my employer's IT organization, I wasn't feeling very confidant of my long term future, and we mused that it would be a good place to move if my job got eliminated. (During one trip down there, I was speaking with someone in a store. I told her that we had 8 feet of snow that season. She told me they had 6 minutes of snow. Gotta love an area that measures snow in minutes per year.)

Well, it's happened ... everyone in the IT department at my site has a termination date. Mine is the end of May. So we've decided to make the move. We're really going to miss the close friends that we've made in the Boston area, and my wife is going to miss the front and back gardens that she's spent so much time cultivating over the years we've lived in our house. We'll be attending the Unitarian Church of Charleston which has nearly 300 member families. Our house will hopefully be on the market shortly before the end of May, and we'll see how long it takes to sell.

posted by Paul Wilczynski @ 8:41 AM 3 comments