I haven’t been blogging lately. I’ve certainly missed it! But, alas, my computer died the big death. It could not be revived. And, you know how we’ve been advised to back up our data? I didn’t.  So much of my writing, artwork and other materials has been lost in the digital black hole. After complaining and whining for a little while (okay, for a couple of weeks!) I decided that this was just an opportunity to start fresh. There are new stories to write. New art to create.  More things to share. Right now I’m using someone else’s computer. Somewhere out there is a Macbook Pro with my name on it.

The following popped in  my email this morning from ExchangeEveryday at Childcare Exchange.  I love it. Hope you will too.

On January 27, historian, professor, lecturer, playwright, and filmmaker, Howard Zinn, passed away.  In his autobiography, You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train, Zinn made these remarks about being hopeful:

“To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.  What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives.  If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.  If we remember those times and places — and there are so many — where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.

“And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future.  The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”