The Blue State Challenge

 November 22, 2020

   Okay, let's get this straight right up front. Me and my friends love this magnificent, desolate place called The West. But it's not a blind love. We, who study history, know the dark side of the story, and we also know there is plenty of blame to go around. Flesh and blood people lived here before us, and, so far, I haven't found one angel, or saint (Sorry, Father Keno). Full disclosure, I realize and admit, that for too long, we have put halos on killers and given them skills and attributes they never possessed. You know, like Geronimo and Billy the Kid. But, that doesn't mean we need to banish them. We need to learn from them. For all of the descendants of these fierce and proud peoples, let's honor and celebrate the ones who still deserve to be honored (and there's more than a few), and for the rest, let's learn from their mistakes and let's find the capacity to find and appreciate the goodness in each other.

   To find common ground, to be honest and truthful about our history, warts and all. That is what I want for the West I live in. 

Daily Whip Out:

"Blue And Red State Cowboy"

The Blue State Challenge

   If you are proud to live in a blue state, name me one positive thing about a red state person. Come on, you can do it. Dust off your compassion and give it a go.

Red State Sympathy

"In order to understand what separates us as people, we have to understand what they're going through, their beliefs, their guiding principles. We have to understand. We have to have empathy."

—Susan Zirinsky, CBS News president, speaking on finding balance in the news! Wow! Breathtaking!

A Semi-Valid Disdain for Tea

"We need coffee. You ever hear anybody say, 'I need some tea'? No. Nobody needs it. Need coffee. Coffee's made from dirt. Grounds. You can feel the anger when it's inside the coffee machine. Bubbling and hissing in there, like a little volcano. You look inside, things are spitting out everywhere. You take one sip, and the coffee's just, 'That's it. I'm running this outfit now. I want constant talking. Endless peeing. Large intestine, I want all of that out of here right now. I said, 'Move it.' Move your bowels. Shut your mouth. Drop your pants. Things are going to be different from now on. You think I fought my way out of an African jungle, stowed away on the bottom of a rusted-out trawler in a burlap bag to sit in a recycled paper cup with a spoon up my ass? You know what the tattoo on my arm says? It says, 'Not tea.'"

—Jerry Seinfeld, from his new book "Is This Something?"

"To travel is to discover that everyone is wrong about other countries."
—Aldous Huxley