Battier Than Batman

If my week had a theme, it would be "battier than Batman."

Not in a negative way - several of my freelance assignments/projects were brought to completion, and final invoices were sent. Of course, once that final one was e-mailed....I received calls for three different interviews.

Go figure.

Ironically, this was also the week when I wrote my final guest post for Job Stalker. Part of my decision was informed by the fact that I'm now running another Chicago Now blog (and which was featured as part of Blog Action Day); more importantly, I was so focused on writing that I was starting to forget that it's best done in balance with other activities. (A recent health scare with Mom confirmed this belief). I'm grateful for the opportunity to write about the search, and although it continues, I'm in a much better position....and more importantly, have better search results.

And as part of my Comic Related work - I have a new column up and running (don't know if I linked to it before), and here's the latest episode of Zone 4. Sometimes, it pays to have a great set of friends....it helps even out some of the unintended drama of normal life.

Finally, a very special thank you to Scott at Mist's Detectives for the opportunity to review his fine books. Go and read them; you'll thank me later.

Blog Action Day: The Climate Is A-Changin'

(This is a post on behalf of Blog Action Day)


Unlike many of you, I don't watch The Daily Show or The Colbert Report on a regular basis - mostly, I watch the clips online. I do, however, watch Real Time with Bill Maher weekly. I do not agree with him on everything (I wish he had as critical a view on modern medicine as he does on religion), I agree with him on one thing - what he stated at the beginning of his video.

To paraphrase, the climate is changing, and we're experiencing it.

In our highly charged political landscape, it's easy to take a view that climate change "isn't that bad" - or that, to somehow suggest that the US work with others to combat the problem is somehow less than patriotic. That being a player at the table isn't as important as being the player at the table. In addition, I'm noticing that a lot of my (formerly) liberal friends are suddenly now hard-core conservatives, criticizing Obama with the same venom best reserved for the likes of Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh. But I won't play partisan politics, not with an issue like this.

Because any rational person who has lived through the past ten years has seen it - powerful storms that devastate entire areas, including Katrina. Unusually mild winters, unbearably hot summers, unusual weather patterns....it doesn't take a scientist to realize that something is going on. Our weather is changing.

And what can we do about it? Well, not purchase carbon credits, that's for sure, or even shopping at Whole Foods. It seems like a lifetime ago when I was working to reduce air toxins in St. Louis - all it takes is a slight retweeking of our lifestyles. Most of it (according to Green Wiki) involves simple steps. It involves behavioral change, which is always scary. It also means spreading the word.

So what can you, the reader of this fine comics/tv/pop culture/anything goes blog do? Spread the word - post on your own blog. Record a podcast. Or even leave a comment telling me how wrong I am to post this.

Anyway, let's start the conversation, because quite frankly, there's something happening to our climate, and we all know what it is....don't we, Mr. Jones?

(Don't ask why I'm channeling Bob Dylan. I have no idea)

One of "Those" People

It's easy, when you're interested in comics, television, everything else - when you have the money to pay for such a relatively expensive hobby - to forget about "those" people.

After all, we're in an economic crisis - who cares about "those" people? Hey, it's survival of the fittest - after all, you snooze you lose. We all have our own bills to worry about, why should we care about poverty? After all, "those" people don't do anything - we work our tails off. Why, if we don't elect the right president, we'll have to worry about "those" people. Besides, Superman punching robots, or the Doctor flying in his TARDIS and fighting the Daleks, helps us by taking us away from the real world, and the overall uncomfortable feeling we get when thinking of..."those" people.

Some more optimistic than I am would say, "But wait a minute - (name your favorite comic book character/television icon) inspires us to be better than we are, to take a positive stand, to do something to make the world a better place. Can't we just have some escapist fare, and not have to worry about those people?"

But in reality, with our current panic about our own financial crises (or lack thereof), we forget that there are others much worse off than ourselves. We forget that in many of our communities, things just don't work the same way, nor are all opportunities equal. We forget because we will throw away a three dollar comic because we don't enjoy it, or will openly criticize a DVD from our $20-some dollar a month Netflix plan because we didn't like it...but we won't openly do anything for "those" people.

Quite frankly, I'm writing this post because not only have I worked with "those people", but since I signed up for Blog Action Day (thanks, fellow Junk Fewd contributor Miguel!), I want to make it easy for you to take action. Something that doesn't require money, or finances, or even much physical effort - just a few mouse clicks and maybe some typing.

Part of the effort in Blog Action Day is encouraging people to stand up and hold their leaders accountable for ending poverty. Luckily, their site makes it ridiculously simple - just feel free to add the site to your existing social networking site. Click the above link to find more information; if you want to link directly to Twitter and Facebook, then just click here.

But more importantly - please feel free to share this post amongst your social bookmarking sites. At the bottom is a green icon, courtesy of Share This. Click on it, and you can pretty much send this site to various bookmarking services like Digg, Delicious, or ma.gnolia. In addition, you can even e-mail it to your friends...or link to it in your own blog.

Recently, when discussing participating in the Superstruct game, one of my co-workers - a young guy who doesn't really get out much - teased me for being a "lefty, social work-type". Quite frankly, I don't see technology as the grand savior of us all...because it has to start with a change of consciousness. It has to start with us remembering that we are all united in a common humanity, and that technology is only useful if everyone has it...and very few of "those" people do.

Because quite frankly, I have met "those people"....and they are us.