Crazymakers

Have you ever heard of the crazymakers?  Even if you have not, you undoubtedly have experienced them in your life.

The term “crazymaker” was coined by Julia Cameron in her book “The Artist’s Way”.  Cameron’s initial usage of this phrase was applied to the creative process, but since the book’s 2002 publication, “crazymakers” has gained a wider relevancy to our lives in general.  By first explaining the crazymaker on an individual basis, I hope to shed light on our “institutional” crazymakers.  I am using the personal description of a crazymaker only as a means to illuminate our societal crazymakers.

A crazymaker is a person determined to create mayhem, havoc, negativism, rifts, constant drama and ongoing stress in everyone else’s life.  Know that this bent originates within the crazymaker himself; it arises from a deficit within that person.  Thus, their goal is to spread dissent, discord, blame and to fill an emptiness in his own universe.

The psychological term for a crazymaker is an inadequate personality.   Here is one definition.  Please note that this concept does not apply to institutional entities, but I include it to shed light on the basic personality of an individual crazymaker:

An individual showing no obvious mental or physical defect, but characterized by inappropriate or inadequate response to intellectual, emotional, and physical demand, and whose behavior pattern shows inadaptability, ineptitude, poor judgment, lack of stamina, and social incompatibility.

Even if good happens in such a person’s life, it is not significant, meaningful or appreciated unless something bad happens to someone else.  There is a large degree of narcissism involved in being a crazymaker.  If the offender cannot or will not create order, creativity or purpose in his own life, why not then just upset everyone else’s life?  Chaos is the plan to fight off his own personal inertia and paralysis.  The rule of the day is negativity and the name of the game is to create such havoc in the world at large so that the crazymaker does not feel so alone.

Crazymakers can be found all around us: co-workers, friends and families.  The receiver of their punishment ultimately must remove himself from the fray.  Detachment is vital, lest the crazymaker continue to suck the air out of the room.  Yes, the tables will be turned and the recipient will be accused of not caring about the crazymaker’s situations, being selfish and even disloyal.  Do not fall for that.  The crazymaker will twist his actions by saying that the recipient has failed all the little and big “love and loyalty tests”.  So be it.  Consider yourself lucky to be off the hook.  Do not engage, but detach.  Your self-preservation is on the line.  It is a choice: make the correct one.

This behavior is similar to the traders at the four largest investment banking houses, who this week all reported perfect quarters, i.e. they made profits on every single day of the quarter.  They thrive on volatility, not any orderly or ethical business practices.  Thus, they feed on dissent, exaggeration and drama to produce the wildly fluctuating markets that will financially reward them.  Steadiness, keeping an even keel,  is just not as rewarding as chaos.

Likewise in politics, journalists and pundits are paid to increase drama so as to increase readership.  Remember: more readers translate into higher advertisement revenues.  On a personal, non-professional political front, a crazymaker will find fault across the board, i.e. with the opposing party as well as their own.  It is the only way to continue the dissent and drama.  The chaos goes on and is an end unto itself, in order to fulfill the incessant need for the crazymaker to surround himself with dissonance, a reflection of the deficit and incompletion within his own life.  Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh are classic examples of crazymakers, sewing discord to quell their own deficiencies, with blame enough for everyone else to cover their own shortcomings.  It is so much easier to thrust the blame on others for the fault that really lies within oneself.

Political purism is wonderful in theory.  What a great country this would be if our leaders always did the right thing, in unison, quickly and effectively.  In the real world though, governing is a far cry from pure philosophy.  President Obama has been criticized just as harshly by his own liberal partymates as he has by the GOP.  Sorry, folks: this is not a fairy tale where good always and totally wins in the end.  President Obama is a measured, careful man, and responds just as measured and carefully in his policy formations.  Not good enough for the Lefties, and we certainly know nothing he does will be accepted positively by the Righties.  Our President is juggling many diverse issues, such as health care, immigration, financial reform and environmental concerns.  On top of all that, throw in the unexpected events, such as terrorism, oil spills and natural disasters.   The crazymakers on both sides blame him for the misfortunes that befall us, for not being quick enough to institute change.  If he does makes changes, he is then brought down by complaints that change was not really needed.  This is a direct reflection of the chaos and disorder in the crazymakers’ lives, not in Obama’s.

Compromises must be made, consensus has to be achieved.  The crazymakers condemn this process of bringing together instead of pulling apart as the culprit.  Have they ever got that wrong.  Here are some antidotes to interacting with a crazymaker, as delineated by Kate Loving Shenk (a writer, healer, musician and the creator of the e-book called “Transform Your Nursing Career and Discover Your Calling and Destiny.”).  After you have read this, you will surely recognize exactly a crazymaker when you meet one.

I suppose an argument can be made that politics is an area of opposing opinions and thus, the across-the board dissenters are just flexing their Constitutional rights, rather than being crazymakers.  There might be some validity in that.  Perhaps my analogy of the personal crazymaker and the institutional one holds no water.  However, what is more meaningful to me is that our leaders and elected officials act for the betterment of the people by using reason, compassion and an effort to close the ideological gaps to get the job done.  I do not see that happening in either party.  Therefore, I am inclined to call their selfish need to disrupt, blame and prevent progress the work of crazymakers.

Just as we should not tolerate personal crazymakers in our lives, so we should not accept institutional crazymakers in governing our country.  Life is toxic enough.  Why add to the dysfunction?

Yo Mama’s Garden: 2010

It’s that time of year again: to select, haul and plant fantastic plants and flowers and transform my backyard into my own little Eden, far from the madding crowd.  Please share it with me.  Enjoy!

First: here are my Mama's Day flowers.

Succulent.

These are called bat's face. Can you see why?

I have friends in high places.

Magnificent marigolds.

Almost iridescent daisies.

Monument: resting ground of dogs past, Kona and Sierra.

To add spice to my life.

Celosia: I call it "brain plant". There's more sense in this plant than in Sarah Palin's head.

A different color, but still smarter than Our Sarah.

Perky portulaca. It eats the sun for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Impatient inpatiens.

Can't get enough of the glow on these daisies.

These beauties are all in their infancy.  With the proper care and feeding, and hopefully some 80 degree weather rather than the 40 degree conditions we have had recently, they will grow up to be big and strong —- and even more beautiful.  No different from people.

With hope for a blooming, peaceful summer:

From Yo Mama with love.

Punctuation

Life’s endeavors, trials and tribulations are all a matter of punctuation.  Yes, the overall picture is important, but so too are the details and fine tuning.

I congratulate Elena Kagan on her nomination to the land’s highest court and wish her excellent punctuation in carrying out her duties.  Moreover, I wish her “seykhl”, a Yiddish term meaning “common sense”.  May her tenure, once initially approved, be an ode to sense and sensibility, a nod to the betterment and justice for all, and an example of judicial wisdom and temperament, all accompanied with a great attention to the minutiae of legal ramifications of her decisions.  The meat and potatoes of any judicial decision must be delineated by careful analysis of the particulars, the “punctuation”, in carrying out one’s judicial commission.  The proper punctuation will translate into a clearer perspective, and bring relevance, both social and legal, to the chapter and verse of the laws of the land.

Solicitor General Kagan has never been a judge.  The criticism of that fact is at the forefront of the GOP’s customary and usual punishment of anything Obama.  Has that party forgotten that the last time we had a Supreme Court nominee-turned-Justice who had no prior experience as a judge was in 1972, when Nixon appointed two men to fill the bill: William Rhenquist and Louis Powell.  Have our darling conservatives had a memory loss about the long tenure of Rhenquist plus the fact that he became Chief Justice?  As Senator Patrick Leahy said, “The Republicans will criticize any appointment of Obama.  Kagan will be approved.”

Furthermore, Kagan’s lack of experience on the bench can be a double-edged sword.  Since she never occupied a judge’s seat, there is no paper trail on such hot-button issues as guns and abortion for the opposition to attack.  However, there is no guarantee that she will take the liberal side of those issues either, which is a sticking point for many Progressives.  Despite the deep diligence conducted by any President preceding a Supreme Court appointment, no one can ever be sure of the outcome of that Justice’s thinking and decisions.  David Souter was the classic example of that hubris, having been appointed by Bush The First and ultimately being one of the most liberal voices on the Court.

President Obama has spoken of Kagan’s knowledge of the law, her suitable temperament and her role as a consensus builder.  Thus, without the typical bench record to condemn or confirm her, it will be interesting to watch how this turns out.  She is young, generally liberal in philosophy and not beholden to any previous judicial decisions.

I hope she uses her “punctuation” and seykhl wisely.  It is going to make all the difference:

An English professor wrote the words:

“A woman without her man is nothing” on the chalkboard and asked his students to punctuate it correctly.

All of the males in the class wrote:

“A woman, without her man, is nothing.”

All the females in the class wrote:

“A woman: without her, man is nothing.”

PUNCTUATION IS POWERFUL.

Mother’s Day Liberties

Mother’s Day is today.  I extend my best wishes to my cohorts in the caring and feeding of our next generation.  A more important job there is not.

On a normal day, I admit I do take liberties in expressing my opinions on this site.  Today, I am rewarding myself for a mothering job so well done that I will be taking even greater liberties.

I am sick and tired of people who criticize President Obama and hold him responsible for all the ills in our country.  He is no Messiah, but damn, he is a leader for the ages, with smarts, perspective and patience.  Our President, for those of you (Republicans as well as his own Democrats) who unfailingly dump on him, let me tell you this: Barack Obama is nowhere near coming into his prime yet.  He is still cleaning up the mess of Bush/Cheney.

For example, let’s talk terrorism.  The chastising for the Christmas underwear bomber and the recent terrorist attempt in Times Square has got friend and foe dissing our President.  Yes: the underwear bomber was able to get on the plane undetected and yes, the Times Square bomber was able to get his car, loaded with explosives, into New York City.  And yes, both would-be terrorists were caught rather late in their games: the underwear bomber was nabbed during the flight and the Times Square idiot was caught just before his plane took off.

The bottom line is that we live in a huge country and the fact that these bad guys were apprehended at all is a miracle.  The world and our nation has grown geometrically in the last 50 years.  We are not living in our parents’ world.  I have no tolerance for Republicans and Democrats alike who think that these close calls should have never been so close.  Those Americans who put down President Obama believe that he is responsible for everything and then when faced with higher government spending to alleviate those shortcomings, they balk and scream and holler.  Additional hysterics ensue when the only effective antidote is the harsh curtailing of everyone’s personal rights.  There is no winning for losing.  I daresay there is another element at work here.

Bush/Cheney started a war with Iraq under the false pretense of connecting Al Qaeda and 9/11 with that country.  Why didn’t the then administration look more closely at their partners in oil and big bucks, the Saudis, since 17 of the 19 9/11 terrorists came from that country?  Oh no.  Instead, Bush planted big, fat kisses on the Saudi leaders whenever they met.

On a grander scale, our forays into Afghanistan, along with our condemnation of Pakistan and Iran, are misplaced.  By committing our forces, entailing huge military spending and irreplaceable loss of lives, to those terrorist outposts abroad in the name of preventing attacks here in our homeland, is not a logical, viable strategy.  Nor is it working.  In fact, our constant escalation of our presence in various mideast countries just may be fueling the fires of radicalism and increasing the terrorist events at home.   If President Obama did pull out of Iraq, Afghanistan, etc., he would be described as going soft on terrorism.  So he maintains our troops there and is still deemed a wimp.  Once again, I think there is another element at work here.

Similarly, with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico specifically, and energy issues generally, there is no winning.  It is urgent that our nation become more energy independent, a process that would include the development of alternative energy sources.   Oil exploration and production as well as nuclear power carries huge environmental risks.  If you think the oil spill near Louisiana is bad, imagine a similar nuclear leak at an atomic generating plant: nuclear fuel basically never decays.  Currently, there is no storage facility in the U.S. for nuclear waste, although this is a moot point considering the half-life of radioactive materials.  The Louisiana spill was caused by human error, and there is a good chance that human error might cause a similar disaster at a nuclear plant.  We cannot take that chance.  Human error will definitely occur; count on it.   It is just a matter of time.  We need to assume that fact and act accordingly either by having the proper technology in place BEFORE the oil rig or nuclear plant is operable.  This rush to get these generating stations on-line is also a left-over from Bush/Cheney, and their consistent, hell-or-come-high-water approach to maximizing oil dollars.

Just because President Obama came out in favor of additional oil drilling a few weeks before this spill happened, he is not responsible for it.  The rig was built years ago and the proper safety precautions and shut-off valves were never installed and environmental concerns were never even considered.  I think it a fair assumption the our President would never support the running of an oil rig without all the available technology and quality controls in play.  Bush/Cheney would …. and did.

So on this Mother’s Day, I am taking the opportunity (call it liberty, if you will), of supporting my President for what he has done in his short tenure and even more so, for what he will do.

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1984460,00.html?xid=huffpo-direct

Furthermore, we all need to acknowledge that the public Obama is not necessarily the real Obama.  Whatever mien he takes on publicly, know that in the end, he will do the right thing.  His promises mean a lot to the people, but they mean much more to himself.  Can you ever picture President Obama being unfaithful or disloyal to himself?  It would never happen; his ego is too big and ultimately, his Mama did not raise him to be like that.  Nor would his wife put up with that type of dysfunction and duplicity.  Period.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/25/AR2010042502988.html

I trust him, and for those of you who wouldn’t know reasonable loyalty, ongoing trust and a facsimile of reason if they slapped you squarely in the face, tough toenails.  This is my Mother’s Day and I choose to honor President Obama, warts and all, because he is the best we have got.  And that is pretty damn good.  I know how hard it is to be a good mother: you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t.  Just magnify that dichotomy about a hundred times for the President of the United States.

By the way, when I alluded to the “other element” that is in play here in the constant criticism of President Obama, can any of you guess what that factor is?  Here’s a hint: the GOP and even some Dems chastise all that President Obama does.  When such criticism is so across-the-boards, so all-encompassing, perhaps their real motivation is just that they cannot tolerate having a man of color occupying the White House.  Once again, tough toenails ……. and have a wonderful Mother’s Day!

Stay tuned for the first photos of Yo Mama’s 2010 garden.  I planted all weekend and will share with you the gorgeous outcome.

My Bliss

I got nothing.

I was away at the Maryland Eastern Shore for five days and was very …. relaxed.  I am not ready to give that up yet.  Not ready to face a mega oil spill that Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu considers not reason enough to prohibit offshore exploration and production.  Not prepared to confront the 40th anniversary of Kent State and all the unrest that defined that time, the likes of which we have not seen until today, with all the anger bubbling up.  Not willing to further address the black hole of fiscal irresponsibility of our banks.  Not prepared to discuss the over-the-top desperate immigration legislation of Arizona, mainly because our federal government never addressed the problem or properly monitored our borders.  Won’t even contemplate the fact that while we designate some suspicious people to be of such concern re: our national security that we place them on a “no fly” list, we also guarantee their freedom to buy guns.  No worries though: probably within three more days I will be fired up again.

No Siree: I want my bliss to continue.  So here are a few pictures from my trip with Sister Souljah.

Need I say more?

"Quaint" doesn't even begin to describe St. Michaels.

Ditto.

Six sides of Heaven.

My new friend.

Holding on to my bliss.  Today, Cinco de Mayo, is my baby boy’s 3oth birthday.  I will tell you exactly what I told him: I am so glad I had him.