don't forget!

Don't forget about the upcoming blog change...if you haven't added your name or messaged me your address, please do so (but only if you want). Click below for more detail.
http://lunchtimemusings.blogspot.com/2009/06/changes.html

To do list (in no particular order):

Compile wedding day schedule
Complete photograph schedule (so we don't end taking pictures for 30 minutes!)
Make and print programs
Sew tableclothes
Get candles for votives
Call Sam's club about flowers
Visit the rental warehouse to confirm table/chairs and give deposit
Find green ties
Get ahold of the sound system guy
Find wedding babysitters
Decide on shoes
Pack household
Find a place to live
Answer/give into mother about cake knives (I suppose we'll use them)
Get marriage license
print maps and phone number list to pass out at rehearsal dinner
Decide on rehearsal dinner place (and call them)
Send rehearsal invites
Try to scrounge up a bunch of Christmas lights and a labor party to put them in the trees
Get reception music list to dj
Get music to pianist
Confirm food with caterer
Check with hotel to see if ANYONE reserved a room (humm...I guess people like getting their own hotel? weird, it wasn't that way with most other weddings I've been to...)
Gather postcards for guestbook
Confirm ice-cream cart
Kiss my fiance

I'm sorry friends. Blogging didn't make the list. :)

struggle

In working to get my new blog ready for its debut, I've encountered mixed feelings. I want to share the events of my life with friends and family in a fast and easy way while still protecting my identity and personal information from the masses at large. A less conspicuous and less publicized blog with no attachment to my full name accomplishes this purpose.

But I want more. I want to share my ideas, to challenge others in their thinking, and to affect the motion of my culture and my country. Less visibility is not conducive to this purpose. Is the sacrifice of privacy necessary for the growth of influence?

The struggle has revealed a scary thing to me: free speech isn't actually free anymore. Privacy is a tempting way to protect myself from the ramifications of what I write. The ramifications are no longer the displeasure of others or even the challenge of having your thoughts stretched by another perspective. People get fired for what they write on their blogs. People don't get hired because human resource offices disagree with their personal opinions. Students receive low grades because they disagree with their professor. Our culture seems to have lost the ability to work and live beside those with whom they disagree. Miss California is a recent and prominent example. A large number of people who disagreed with her beliefs on marriage were unable to engage with her in business practices not related in any sense to marriage. Nor were they able to engage her in civil discourse.

Civil, adj., not deficient in common courtesy (synonyms: respectful, gracious, affable, urbane, courtly)

Discourse, n., communication of thought by words; talk; conversation.

By replacing civility with tolerance, we have lost a fundamental component of free speech. Civility enables disagreement while tolerance limits it. Civility enables cooperation while tolerance fosters coercion.

Is it cowardly not to accept the consequences of my belief? Or is it wise to realize the consequences thrust upon me are inappropriately done so by a world obsessed with self and sameness? The privacy dance is a hard one to master.

changes

With the many changes taking place in my life, I've decided to add another: I will be shutting down this blog and replacing it. The new blog will not be associated with my full name and since that name will be obsolete anyway, this seems the appropriate time to make a change. To make the transition fun, I'm holding a contest of sorts. If you'd like the name of my new blog, ask and I will disseminate that information to you by real old fashion mail. In other words, to enter, just ask, and you'll win real mail! :) I've recorded many moments here and while that thought might make Matthew shutter a little (he's much more private than I am) it makes me a little nostalgic to think of all that I have shared with you, my reader friends. And it stills me in wonder to think of all the unimaginable moments left to be lived and shared.