2007 Christmas Blog Post

This year I released my ebook, Souls in Peril, available free on this blog. As I write in the Preface, "I had intended to get back to writing before the 2008 campaign season, but a cleaning project led to genealogy, transcription, and reading projects, and now here we are, approaching another even-numbered year, and I feel that it’s more important to spend time working for the Green Party."

That genealogy project was a compilation of other projects from different sides of my family, which ended up in seven binders, for Spencer, my five nieces, and myself. It should be easier to copy next time because there is no onionskin paper! Who knows, by then it might all be on a biochip or something?

I now hold two offices in the Green Party. At the local level, I am on the 5th Congressional District Steering Committee, and at the national level, I serve on the Presidential Campaign Support Committee. In the past few weeks I have met Al Franken and Thom Hartmann, but the highest honor was meeting GP Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney. I also saw Ralph Nader earlier this year, and I have corresponded with many of our presidential candidates as part of my work on the committee, including Elaine Brown, former chair of the Black Panther Party.

At work I am still union steward and sat in on some meetings this year.

I did better in the chess tournament this year, earning 3.5 out of a possible 6.0 points. I may not play this year so I can devote more time to campaign efforts.

Spencer got his driver’s license, and can drive anything from a Jeep Wrangler to a Honda Insight. He lifts weights, snowboards in the winter, and plays lacrosse in the spring and summer.

This year his high school team, the Stillwater Ponies, won the state lacrosse tournament for freshmen and sophomores. In the final game the opposing team was disqualified for using varsity players. I missed that game -- I was at the June state summer meeting, briefing members on the anti-racism training I organized in May – but I saw the semi-final game and they played excellently.

Spencer washes dishes and sets up banquets for Grand Catering, which serves the Andiamo and other St. Croix paddleboats. On top of all that, he is doing well in school, studying German and playing trombone in band and orchestra. I bragged about him at a childhood neighborhood reunion we had this summer.

This year I celebrated the solstice with a pilgrimage to a "cold water" spring fed from underground, providing an open water pond for ducks. I spent the sunset in the center of a snowy labyrinth, reflecting on the past and the future, then joined others for a potluck dinner.

Tonight I attend a peace vigil with my dear Wendy.

2006 Christmas Blog Post
http://tomstream.blogspot.com/2006_12_01_archive.html