From Mali to the Sidelines

You are probably thinking sports right now and what would I be doing writing about sports, I am not a sports fan and do not intend about writing on the subject unless it has to do with economics, politics, social issues or art all of the things I contemplate on the sidelines. Shifting this blog to just everyday American concerns and whatever strikes my fancy. My assessment of my place in the world is small because even though I live in a democracy I have one vote and that one vote does not give me a whole lot of voice. I watch the politicians, the courts, the congress do their job not always feeling that they take me or my family, or my neighborhood, or my community, or my State, or my civil rights into account. I escape into photography, the 9 to 5, my friends and family and now this blog. So how do you get a voice in these times? Letter writing campaigns, demonstrations, becoming active in a political party where only two parties really have a voice, joining the League of Women Voters, giving to the Human Rights Campaign Fund. What? Some of us just step out of the political arena and take beautiful photos, which I have done, or have families that take up so much of our time that we don’t think of becoming active, which I have done, or dong development work in remote areas of the world, which I have done, or organizing in our communities, which I have done. After much thought blogging seems one way to impact the world, the local community, my friends and family for change or at least start a conversation. We talk a lot about race it’s the one ism that is OK to fight against but what happened to sexism, classism. There is no democracy as long as the capitalist corporations on a strong hold on the elections and are treated as individuals.