RIP Mary Travers (of Peter, Paul and Mary)

I turned on the news tonight to see Charles Gibson doing a special segment on Peter, Paul and Mary. At the end of the broadcast he stated that Mary had passed away. I thought to myself, and I realized that the first time I heard Peter, Paul and Mary was at my first camp in New Jersey called Camp Oakhurst, a camp for people with special needs. I remember being 7 years old and not having a care in the world, listening to a counselor singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane." I was hearing these songs again years later at Skylake Ranch Camp when I was 9 and 10, and again when I was a teenager. These lyrics began to have an impact on me, and the struggles of going through life with a disability, and the reality of people dying too young, hard decisions having to be made by young people, and the ever so glowing aspect of love, portrayed in so many of their songs. As an adult, and having just listened to a few of their songs, I see an even deeper meaning now. A more somber meaning of how the world exists, and goes through it's many cycles. I remember the feeling of my first crush, and dancing to Peter, Paul and Mary at Skylake Ranch Camp. Back then I had no idea what was to come in my life and in the world. Listening to these songs now at age 34 makes me feel like there's so much that people must contend with, in this country and around the world. I think about the struggle of labor, health care, business, love, and the ability to accept the reality that some childhood memories never will fade away. I think that's what a lot of these songs are about. Mary was one of those people who I would see on TV from time to time, and I would reflect on what Peter, Paul and Mary had seen in their lives, such as the Vietnam war, and it always flashed through my mind that these three singers really gave a damn. I wondered what they thought of the world today, such as 9/11, the struggle of today's people in this country and around the world. The songs will always be with me, and not just in my iPod. It's the spirit and the tunes of the songs that allow me to keep up with advocating for the rights of the underprivileged and to speak truth to power. RIP Mary Travers.

Keep on fighting the IHSS budget cuts!

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/ci_13253075

LA Wildfires Timelapse

Great video of the smoke from the Los Angeles wildfires...