2014

2014
Carpenter’s Point, MD

My age: 58- 59

School- I took classes at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (AKA geriatric University).  Mostly I took classes in writing, economics and photography.

Home: my damn pipes burst in the midst of a cold front.  It took three weeks and $10,000 to resolve this damn issue.

Work: I ran for public office- State Senate for District 35. While I didn’t win, I put in a lot of effort and had a better showing than people, myself include, anticipated. I also ran for US Congress for one month.

Volunteer work:  

•     I was the President of the Cecil County Democrats Club, MD
•     I was on the Cecil County Public Library Foundation Board.
•     I was a Court Appointed Advocate for Children (CASA) for Harford County, MD
•     I was on the Semester At Sea Alumni Board.

Music
I don't know any music anymore.  I used to listen to music for hours at a time.  But once I moved away from albums and CDs, I stopped playing music.  I listen to it in the car.  Mostly I listen to WXNP, an independent Philly station that plays singer/songwriters who are well known and unknown.

Travels-

• I went to Haiti for a week to start a sewing school in Jacmel.
• I traveled to an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica and discovered that this is not my style.  I drank more sweet cocktails and eat more junk food than any one person should ever consume.  I sat on my fat ass the whole time and spent too much energy trying the flag down the water so he could bring me yet another tasteless Red Stripe beer. Never again.
• I went to Las Vegas for a few days in January.

Family/friends-  

• I ran for state senate in District #35 (MD).  I lost but I still enjoyed the experience..
• I also ran for US congress for one month. I got so tired of hearing too many Republican legislators minimize the consequences of rape that I drove to DC one day and registered to run fro office.  Within the month, I was asked by the MD Democratic Committee to withdraw and run for a state senate position.
• I went with Darcy Chamberlain to see Jon Stewart in NYC. It was one of his last shows. This was a fun, fun day.
• Rick Chamberlain was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  At first we were hopeful but all hope was lost pretty quickly and he became a skeleton right before our eyes.
• I performed a wedding in the Poconos- Doug and Cher tied the knot.

News Events:

• The rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq has us all worried.  And we can no longer keep up with all of the emerging terrorist groups.
• The Ebola virus spread from West Africa to America and we all become irrational.
• Scotland voted against independence from the U.K. And then two years later, they got screwed by England with the Brexit vote.
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 mysteriously vanished . In spite of rigorous searches involving over 25 countries in the Indian Ocean, a majority of the wreckage was never recovered. We were glued to our TVs for five days as we watched desperate family members hang on to false hopes.
• In July, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down, allegedly by Russian separatists in Ukraine.
• After the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, protests of police treatment of minorities swept throughout the nation. 
• A major climate change report was released. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report assessed the impact of climate change. Obama jumped in immediately to address the situation and we are now backing down on efforts to address this devastating event.
• Obama normalized America’s relations with Cuba after a 53 year embargo. Now I was free to travel to Cuba.
• The CIA’s “torture report” was released in part. After years in the making, the Senate released a 500+ page summary of its 6,000 page report on the enhanced interrogation methods used by the CIA in the wake of 9/11 during the Bush administration.The report concluded that these methods were not effective, though the CIA challenges this assertion.
• NATO’s withdraw from Afghanistan. But we continue to send troops there on a regular basis.