Shawnna Bolick

My dear Shawnna is the OTHER Shawna in the leadership program I'm in. But when we're together I introduce myself as the OTHER Shawna. That's because she's the superstar of the two S-girls. She has two "n's" in her name. I have one.

She is running for the Legislature in her district in Phoenix, and it's been a fun ride to watch her work.

The one on the right with the brown hair is Shawnna.



The gal on the left is Christine, an attorney who is the legal counsel for our Governor, Jan Brewer. So she knows quite a bit about AZ's Illegal Aliens law that was just signed. In my photo, she and Shawnna just happen to be discussing the SB 1070. Too funny. That's pretty much all we can discuss when we get together.

Shawnna's been campaigning just as hard as Wendy Rogers, going door to door and putting up those pesky signs. When I saw one of Shawnna's signs in Phoenix I didn't have my camera. Dang it!

But her website, http://www.bolickforarizona.com/ says it all. She's ready to serve!!

It's so neat to see that the Shawna's are taking over the state. It makes sense...

Wendy Rogers

Part of the training I've been in promotes networking, and getting to know other women who are vying for either political roles or leadership roles in their community. My classmates (18 of them) are stupendous (yes I learned that word from the program. Just kiddin.) They are very accomplished, they make me feel like a total slacker.
One of my classmates is Wendy Rogers. I can't describe what an amazing feeling it is to be able to say she's a friend. She is an ass kicker. She was one of the Air Force's first female pilots. When she got married her husband took HER last name. Alright, kidding again. When she does push ups, she doesn't move-- the Earth moves AWAY from her. Kiddin again.
But really, it is just great to have her acquaintence. Or acquaintenance. It's good to know her.
She is running for our State Senate--for her district, which is in Tempe. A part of Phoenix, really. I finally got a chance to see one of her campaign signs as I was in her neighborhood last week. I was so excited!!!





She rides her bike on the campaign trail, and she has visited literally thousands of homes. I've visited hundreds myself, since March....but she's been to thousands. She wants the job of Senator, like you wouldn't believe.

Her website, www.wendyrogers.org is very comprehensive, and it does a good job of showing what kind of person she is. She's a leader!

So, today, I am hitting the streets to meet voters. It's Wendy Rogers style!!!!

Golden Valley, Who Are You??

I see you have logged on a couple times, just curious.

Nice Break from All the Garbage

So, today I was bitten in the face by a dog....I was campaigning at the owner's house and her dog bit me in all the excitement.
I also managed to accidentally burn myself with the iron--the WHOLE iron got my arm. Now my arm looks like a red iron.

Well, and then there was all the reverberating personal drama, stacked on top of the Republican Women's drama and other stuff. Nice.

I can't stand to be this miserable, and I know my son doesn't like to see me this way. I gotta do that "happy brave face" when I'm with him. So tonight we took a break from everything and joined the Lake Havasu Astronomy Club for one of their outings.

They put the BIIIIIG telescopes out at the junior high field, focus them on different objects in the sky, and invite the public to come down and take a look.

Here's a page from their website, to show you just how big these telescopes are....

http://www.lakehavasuastronomy.org/membersinfo.htm

Glen Mishkin was our most talkative host, and I think he boasted the largest telescope. We had a little fun with the camera phones, getting photos of the moon Glen had in his scope.



Of course we talked politics. That was a subject that was just too easy to get started on.

It was a nice departure from the misery.

Pile It On.

I hate talking with friends. Lately, anyway. I never have fantastic things to share with them because life has been so complicated and stressful lately. The trip to DC was a departure, because I experienced things and saw things that I never would have imagined in my lifetime.
But then I came home to drama, hatred, and more stress.

It made me want to jump back on the plane and return to DC.

How much can one person endure? I guess I'm finding out. I'm also finding out who I can lean on in times like this, and it isn't who I thought it would be. In fact, those who I depend on the most are really letting me down.

Sorry for the negativity. It's just running over today. Saaaad face...

Top Secret Photos

Sometimes I went to areas where photos weren't permitted. Not because the flash would hurt something, but because they just wanted to be A-holes to me. That's what I'm assuming.

So here are some of my top secret photos. Took them with my phone.

Oh, before I forget--the White House tour is very restricted. You can't take a purse, back pack, camera, water bottle, or even a tube of lip balm in there. But you can take your phone which is nice because I walked by myself for 2.5 miles to get there and the security of having my phone was necessary. But also nice because I can take photos without being caught....



This is a painting of Washington that Dolly Madison managed to have saved (I'm sure she ordered people to carry it because it's easily 6 ft tall) when the White House was under attack and being burned:



This is the front porch:



And this is what we encountered as we left the White House:



Ooooh, dang!!

Well Hello Mr. Lincoln

I noticed that the museums and establishments in Washington D.C. do a lot to pay homage to President Lincoln. Maybe it's because he was the Great Emancipator, or maybe because he was assassinated right there. Or maybe because he was just a darned good President. One of the most interesting comments I heard from a docent (that's a person who helps out in the museum) was that Lincoln had the ability to get opposing sides to work together. His replacement, Andrew Johnson, didn't have that savvy so it made reconstruction very difficult.

What was really fascinating is that so many of Abe Lincoln's personal belongings were carefully retained after his death.

His top hat:



His watch:



His suit, and his wife Mary's dress:



Very macabre, but interesting as well; the hoods from the hang-man's platform. These were for all the men and one woman who were convicted in Lincoln's assassination.



Most people don't know that the assassination was something planned for several years (beginning as a kidnapping plan but escalating to murder once Lincoln made it clear that blacks would be treated as equals and have the right to vote)
Booth was as famous as Brad Pitt back then, but he had a secret society of bigots who wanted to take down the entire government. They failed at several attempts to kidnap Lincoln. They had planned to kill not only Lincoln in the Ford Theatre, but also several government officials simultaneously.

The night that Lincoln attended the play at Ford's Theatre, it was a last minute decision and Booth found out through the grapevine.
He contacted his group of conspirators, sent them out on their individual missions, then went to the bar near the theatre to get a few drinks.
The bartender knew Booth and knew Booth's father, as well. Apparently Booth's father was a famous actor, and the Bartender made the comment, "You'll never be as fine an actor as your father was." Booth replied, "I'll be the most famous man in the world after tonight."

Lincoln's security guard was absent from the door to his balcony seat, but Booth encountered someone who promptly let him in to see the President. He was, after all, as popular as Brad Pitt at the time.

He waited until the stage performer doing his lines said something humorous, which drew a huge laughter from the audience. With all the noisy laughter, no one heard the gun go off.

Everywhere you go in D.C., there's some kind of reminder that Lincoln was once there. Posters, advertisements, displays. They're everywhere!

Makes you wonder what happened to that kind of respect for a President. Maybe it's in the quality.

Triceratops Tingling...

Did you know that it used to be a dream of mine to work with dinosaurs, like an archaeologist? No, you didn't because I'd completely forgotten about it myself. Forgotten, that is, until I walked in and I was face to face with HIM. Mr. Triceratops.



I tried to play it off, like you know people do when they've got a crush and they're trying to minimize it. I flirted with the rat bastard T Rex who was across the way.



I compared my large talons to his.



Compared my roar to his.

I won. He's dead. And fossilized.

But then I had to eventually get back over to Triceratops and acknowledge something that I'd forgotten about back in 1984. I had wanted to be an archaeologist for sooo long. I mean, at least 6 months. It started at the Omaha Public Library. I was in a summer reading program. Since they didn't have much in my reading level (I was a reading frikkin' genius for my age) I went for the older kids' books. I checked out everything they had on dinosaurs. T Rex scared the bijeezus out of me, but Triceratops was tops. He was cool.
And somehow, I forgot that I'd wanted to get into the field of work that would have put me closer to him. And his cool head.



We spoke briefly, but the thrill was gone. It was more like a pleasant hello, not the teary-eyed reunion that you would think.

Adventures in D.C.

How am I supposed to choose the photos from D.C. when there are over 450 of them? Hmmm...

And the adventures...oooh the adventures. It is a big town, but when you get down to it there are only a certain number of buildings that contain the very powerful people. And my class went to those buildings! In fact, sometimes the powerful people came to us.

Our schedule began on Monday and continued through late Thursday night. Each day was filled with presentations from former White House Press Secretaries, former Senate and Presidential advisers, and current Congressional Members and Senators. We also heard from Congressional staffers, media consultants, lobbyists, and campaign managers. All of this, thanks to a philanthropic lady who put our program together. Her name is Christine Torretti, and she is very active in getting women into not only politics but positions of leadership.

Our hotel was a couple of blocks from the U.S. Capitol. I spelled it Capital all the time but apparently the "ol" version is used there. This is what we saw when we walked out to the sidewalk:



Since I arrived a day after some of my classmates, they already had their feet on the ground exploring D.C. I took a cab with Becky over to the Lincoln Memorial, and immediately was taken with this view:



All I could think of was Forrest Gump. If you don't get it, well then you need to go watch Forrest Gump.
Behind me was Lincoln's enormous memorial, up a very large flight of stairs. I was humbled at how large he was.



We then trotted over to the Vietnam Memorial. It was nice and quiet.



We had an appointment to meet a Parks Guide who was going to talk about the World War II Monument. What a beautiful thing to see:



It got very cold, very fast so we headed back to the hotel.

The next day I had museums on my schedule, and Becky was happy to go with me. We first went to the Ford Theatre, where Lincoln was shot. That had to be the most bizarre feeling, being right there where it happened. The theatre is newly remodeled and they have plays there.



Across the street is the Peterson House, where Lincoln was carried after he was shot. It is a very tiny home, maybe 20 feet wide. The bedroom is in the very back, and the bed where Lincoln died is still there, encased in glass:



That was a very solemn moment, being there in that room. But Becky and I had no idea how solemn our day would be....

We walked down the street to the National Archives, and for the most part we just kind of gave an "Oh wow, that's neat," whenever we'd look at something. But then we wandered into the "Rotunda." We didn't know what to expect in there. It was dark, no photos were allowed. As soon as we entered there was a large climate control glass cabinet with the original Magna Carta in it.

Then over to our left was a set of stairs with a security guard. He only allowed a small group of people in at a time, so we waited for a moment. We were advised not to form a line at any of the displays, and we were also told not to be too shocked when we approached the Declaration because it's very badly faded.
The Declaration?

Yep, the original Declaration of Independance, the original Constitution, and the original Bill of Rights were on display. Oh, here come the tears. Becky and I were sniffling, as we both gazed at such an amazing piece of history. That of course inspired us to spend lots of money at the gift shop. Dang it!! We fell for it.

We visited the Air and Space museum that afternoon as well as the Museum of Natural History, then limped home to the hotel. Oh, a side note, the Natural History had the Hope Diamond on display. It's not the size of a bowling ball, like I imagined. It's like this:



What a rip off. I said that as I looked over people's shoulders to see it, and they brushed me off like I was a lunatic.

The next day I had plans to jump on a bus to Virginia where the other Air and Space museum was located. It was an hour bus ride, past the Pentagon, past Arlington National Cemetary. I was immediately taken with the huge size of this facility. After walking around I realized why it was so big:



The Enola Gay, which is humungous.



The Space Shuttle Enterprise, which is gigantic.

I am standing next to a glass case with Gus Grissom's NASA uniform in it.



Oh and the SR-71 Black Bird spy plane....



There were hundreds of aircraft and NASA artifacts to check out. Hundreds. I can't believe I got to see that all in person.

After that tour, I caught the bus back to D.C. where I walked over to the Museum of American History. I went because near the bus stop I saw a poster that said the "ruby slippers" from the Wizard of Oz were there on display.

Indeed, they were. And so was Fonzie's jacket, Julia Childs' kitchen, and a huge piece of the Berlin Wall. (which I touched)

But this is what I saw that made me fall to pieces. The original American Flag, sewn by Alice Pickersgill (NOT Betsy Ross!!!) during the Revolutionary War.

No pictures allowed, but I did notice between tears (I really did cry this time) I saw the security guard wander away. So I got a photo. Probably the best photo I own.



One of the stars was cut out and presented to the family of a soldier who died in the war, it was buried with him. There were several pieces of the flag cut from the bottom right corner, by people seeking a souvenir. All in all, the flag is in very good shape considering its age. What a beautiful sight.

I will find more photos to share as I get more settled in at home.

All The Fools Sail Away

Ronnie James Dio passed away today of cancer, he was 67. Of course a good majority of people reading this have no idea who that is.
He was one of the most intelligent, articulate rockers there was. He was responsible for the use of the "devil horns" that his fans would make with their fingers. Many people thought from the outside that this meant Dio was always singing about Satan and all that kind of lurid stuff, but really his songs were about the fight between good and evil. He had ballads that told stories of the constant struggle, and it read almost like poetry.
But the devil horns, that was something Dio attributed to his Sicilian grandmother. He said once in an interview that he would walk down the road with Grandma, and she'd see someone who'd done her "wrong." So she'd make the devil horns with her pinky and forefinger, and kind of stab them in the person's direction in the air.

He always remembered it, and somehow he got to doing it in concert.

He is most widely known as the singer who replaced Ozzy Osbourne when he was fired from Black Sabbath. But Dio had his own band for many years later on, and as a junior high schooler I discovered them. Really, I think, that's when most of his fans discovered the band.

So long, Ronnie James. Hope you're rockin' the heavens.