First Things First

Spring arrives March 20th, along with a new issue of American Bliss Magazine.  Watch for that in the coming days.  Now for the current updates.  Both of the Vista Drive photo galleries get new pictures this month.
As you might have noticed I put up new splash pages for two new projects, The Face Project and Snapshots.  Both are still in the works, and will hopefully be online soon.  Enjoy this month's issue of Elsewhere.

Afterthoughts : Kim Barbach

I once knew a girl named Kim Barbach (pictured left), the first girl I ever LIKED.  This small image comes from a whole school portrait taken in elementary school.  Shortly afterward the school was closed, and she was out of my life.  She moved away to Long Beach, and I never heard from her again.  For an 11 year old kid the distance from the Valley to Long Beach might as well be the distance to the moon.  The miles turned into years, but I still remembered her to this day.   I remember the fun times on the phone.  Phones that I literally wore out with conversations, and games of Go Fish.  I remember her telling me not to cheat, and how I didn't even though it would have been so easy to do so.

Kim was taller, more outspoken, and smarter than me.  It's no wonder that I loved her.  But at 11 I didn't know what love was, let alone know how to express it.  It was a failing then, and it's a failing now.  If I had a little of the insight that I now have I would have been able to speak volumes of how she made me feel.

Today I think back at that more innocent time, and wish that for a moment I could return with my current mind, but past body.  Just so I could tell her what she meant to me.  Because, like I said before, an 11 year old hardly has the capability to pour his little heart out.  Because my time with Kim was some of the happiest moments I've ever experienced.  And because, I'm a nostalgic sort of person who would love to know where life has taken my friend.

Editorial : Better Off?

It looks more and more that the current administration lied to the world about Iraq's capabilities to create weapons of mass destruction.  It looks more and more that the current involvement in Iraq is matter of old unfinished business, rather than a real threat to our safety.  The link between Iraq and al-Qaida appears to be one only in the imaginations of the current administration.

The economy is down in the dumps, despite the loud calls that it is not by the administration.  Sure, companies are making more money these days.  But who is paying for that cost with lower wages, and unemployment?  The citizens of this nation, that's who.  But, as long as corporations make millions what does it matter, right?  As long as the administration's cronies are making money, the hell with the rest of us.  Right?

Wrong!  That is why I am starting to urge people too look at your life and ask yourself the question presidents have been asking for a long time when they wanted to get re-elected.  The question being, "Are you better off today than you were four years ago?"  I think the majority of you are going to answer that question, "No!"  But, I'm assuming.  I can only state an answer from my point of view.

I hardly think we're better off today than we were four years ago.  The biggest thing that strikes me, aside from the Iraq situation, is the economy/deficit situation.  The current administration continues to spend money like it's going out of style.  Placing each and everyone of us in a situation where we are going to be paying for today's spending decades into the future.  This after the past administration passed a balanced budget for the first time in decades.  Our debt was being paid, but not anymore.  Today we're running record deficits, and the administration keeps telling us it's OK.  Well it's not OK, and I'm not going to vote for Bush.

I didn't last time.  I urge you all to look at the issues in this campaign.  Don't be fooled by a liar, who is selling you snake oil.  We are not in good shape as a country.  We are losing jobs, and our integrity.  It's time to stop the madness and elect someone who might be able to turn this thing around.  Is that Kerry?  I don't know.  What I do know is that he's a whole lot better than Bush.  Look for yourself, I know I will.

I suppose I will end up voting for Kerry because he is the far, far, lesser of two evils.  Which is sad, because in every election I have voted in it has come down to that decision.  The lesser of two evils is not the way I want to choose a president.  Sadly, that's what I think it will come down to each and every four years.

Etcetera : Democracy Now

If your as tired of getting filtered, so-called "Fair and Balance," news coverage as I am, then you need to check out an independent news program called Democracy Now.  Democracy Now airs on National Public Radio stations.  If you don't have a nearby National Public Radio station no worries, you can simply go to Democracy Now dot-org, and listen to the show online.

What I like about this show is the fact that it isn't interested in spinning the news.  Rather, it is interested in telling the news in a more insightful manor.  Something CNN, and Fox News, don't try to do.  Probably because those networks are more interested in telling you how Ben and J.Lo broke up.

In this era of carefully crafted sound bites, it's refreshing to get more than a 20 second news summary about something that affects all our lives.  It is also refreshing not to have conservative loudmouths skewing the news to fit their opinions.  Because it is necessary to view issues from all sides, and not have the conservative right shout down views that don't conform to their agenda.

Take some time to find the show on a local radio station.  The site has a list of stations that carry the show.  If you don't have a station near you airing the show, simply click on the show links to hear it online.  It is important, now more than ever, to know all the sides of the news.  Because one side, the network side, is taking a stand on certain issues.  A stand that is not always beneficial to all of us.  Most of the time, it only benefits those who are rich, white, and conservative.