Pride

Fifty-one years ago today, at 1:20 am, six police officers arrived at the double doors of Stonewall Inn and announced, "Police!  We're taking the place!"  There had been a rumor that a raid would take place, but it was much later than any raid in the past.  There were 205 people in the bar that night, including two undercover police officers already there.  The lights were turned on, the music stopped, and the police called for backup.

The raid did not go as planned.  Both police and patrons would recall a sense of discomfort setting in very quickly.  Within minutes 100 to 150 people had gathered outside, either from being kicked out of the bar by the police or from seeing the commotion and deciding to observe.  When the first patrol wagon arrived, the crowd had grown to ten times the size of those being arrested.  Before the second would arrive, the situation would explode.

Pennies and beer bottles were thrown at the patrol wagons.  One woman being escorted in handcuffs would get in a scuffle with four police officers, fighting them off for ten minutes and inciting the crowd to act up.  "Why don't you guys do something?"  Marsha P. Johnson, a Black drag queen, sex worker, and activist, is credited with having thrown a shot glass at a mirror at the onset of the fighting.  "The shot glass heard round the world."

The police tried to restrain the crowd, leading the crowd to react further.  The commotion attracted more people, coming to fight for the cause.  The police ended up being outnumbered by some 500 to 600 people, leading ten of the officers to barricade themselves along with several detainees in the Stonewall Inn.   The Tactical Patrol Force was sent in to aid the trapped officers, leading to a standoff with the crowd.  Night sticks on one side, and I kid you not, a kick line on the other.  

The TPF cleared the street by 4:00 am; thirteen people were arrested, several were hospitalized, four police officers were injured.  The battle had just started.  The next night there would be over a thousand people gathered and protesting, with a similar battle to take place.

And that was just the start.  The ensuing riot inspired more riots the following nights as well as civil disobedience and marches across the country.  The first Pride parade would take place in New York, exactly one year from the Stonewall Inn rebellion.  The parade would cover 51 blocks from Christopher Street, to Central park.  Similar events would be organized in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.  And in the subsequent years, it would continue to spread.  "The Stonewall Rebellion was crucial because it sounded the rally for that movement. It became an emblem of gay and lesbian power. By calling on the dramatic tactic of violent protest that was being used by other oppressed groups, the events at the Stonewall implied that homosexuals had as much reason to be disaffected as they."

The bar was raided that night simply because people in the bar loved people of the same sex.  Or they dressed like the other sex.  Or they refused to be identified by a gender, or recognized that the sex they were born into did not match the sex of their soul.

Homosexuality was a crime.   At the time, it would also still be listed as a mental disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association.  It would remain there until 1974.  Being dressed in drag was a likewise a crime.  Patrons of the bar were arrested if they were not found in the "appropriate" attire for their sex.

It's easy to look at all of this as a relic of the past, something we've outgrown.  And we have made progress in this respect, but it's important to remember how long it has taken.  Anti-sodomy laws were not declared unconstitutional until 2003, in Lawrence v. Texas.  This was the case that finally recognized sexual privacy, the ability for two consenting adults to make their own decisions about what happens in the bedroom, without the state's intrusion.   LGBTQ+ were not included in hate crimes protection until 2009.  "Don't ask, don't tell" was only removed in 2011, allowing LGBTQ+ officers to serve openly.  Committed homosexual couples were allowed to have their unions recognized just four years ago, with Obergefell v. Hodges.   It took to this year, for discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community to be prohibited.  

We have come along way.  And in this season of America's history, it's important to remember that this only happened through sweat, through tears, through protest, through violence.  Pride has its roots in a violent opposition to the police.  In violent opposition to a system that was set up to marginalize a segment of the population.  

Sometimes, this is what forces us to acknowledge the issue.

Because there is still a long way to go.  To end housing discrimination against the LGBTQ+ population.  To restore health care to the transgender community that has been taken away by the current administration.

In the meantime, to any LGBTQ+ readers, stay proud.  Keep up the good fight!

First Day of Summer 2023

Today marks midsummer, the first day of summer, the summer or estival solstice.  This is our longest day of the year, where in the states, depending on your location, you can have 13 to 16 hours of daylight today.

It's that day marking summer magic, the time of enjoying the outdoors, when it's not scorching hot.  Of relaxing on a back porch.  Kids playing in the yard.  Pick up games, camps, and camping.  Of travel.  Of barbecues and cookouts.  Of pools and lakes, rivers and streams.

While I will be indoors most of today, I thought I would celebrate with an appropriate poem.

Hope you get to enjoy the day!

Shine on, O moon of summer. 

Shine to the leaves of grass, catalpa and oak, 

All silver under your rain to-night. 

An Italian boy is sending songs to you to-night from an accordion. 

A Polish boy is out with his best girl; they marry next month; 

    to-night they are throwing you kisses. 

An old man next door is dreaming over a sheen that sits in a 

    cherry tree in his back yard. 

The clocks say I must go—I stay here sitting on the back porch 

drinking 

    white thoughts you rain down. 

    Shine on, O moon, 

Shake out more and more silver changes. 

Back Yard, Carl Sandburg, The Chicago Poems, 1916

Juneteenth 2023

 "The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, 'all slaves are free.'"

June 19, 1865

On September 22, 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued Proclamation 95, an executive order intended to go into effect on January 1, 1863.  The Proclamation would become known as the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing some 3.5 million enslaved African Americans in Confederate states.  

Though the proclamation would be mailed and telegraphed across the country, there would be parts of the Confederacy that would refuse manumission, that is, they would refuse to free their enslaved people despite the order.  Texas was one such state.  The enslaved would not be freed until over two years later, when the Union army reached Galveston.  Union Army General Gordon Granger would announce the proclamation above, informing Texas that all enslaved were free.  

Though all enslaved African Americans would not be freed until the passing of the 13th Amendment on December 6, 1865, June 19 became a day of celebration in Texas.  Juneteenth.  Emancipation Day.  Jubilee Day.  Celebrations started as early as 1866 and spread across the South.  Though the celebrations became quiet during Jim Crow and the Civil Rights era, they experienced a resurgence in the 1970s and in many states the day has become a state holiday.  There is a push now for the day to be a federal holiday.

Though Texans of all stripes probably know about Juneteenth, they may not know why it is celebrated or what it celebrates.  Americans, in general are learning as well.  Congress has made Juneteenth a federal holiday just this year, with President Biden signing the law into effect on June 17, 2021.

If anything, for a large portion of particularly white America, today highlights how badly history has been taught to us.  And we are seeing across several states attempts to keep our ignorance in this area high.

About Emmitt Till.

Or the Tulsa massacre of Black Wall Street, where white rioters tore through the Greenwood district of Tulsa following a misunderstood altercation between a black male shoeshiner and a white female elevator operator.  The riots led to the National Guard being called in.  Estimates of include up to 300 dead, 800 people admitted to hospitals, 6,000 black residents interned at large facilities for several days.  10,000 black people were left homeless and property damage amounted to more than $1.5 million in real estate.  

The Tuskegee Experiments in which African American sharecroppers were used as experiments in order to observe syphilis in African American men.  The program started 1932 and involved 600 participants.  Of the participants, 399 had latent syphilis.  The other 201 were used as a control group.  Those with syphilis were not told they had the disease, only that they were being treated for bad blood.  They were only given placebos, so that the scientists could explore the full range of effects on syphilis on the patients.  The experiments continued until 1972.

About COINTELPRO, the covert and illegal projects conducted by the FBI to discredit political organizations like the Black Power movement, leading to the assassination of Fred Hampton.

About Redlining.

About the Lost Year in Arkansas education, where the governor of Arkansas closed all the white schools following the integration of Little Rock Central High School.   With the view that it would be better for white children to get no education that to share the classroom with a Black child.

The police bombing the MOVE house in a residential neighborhood in Philadelphia in 1985.

And so, so much more.  

Or even learning about more positive points in history.  

Like Madam CJ Walker, the first self-made millionaire in America, an African American woman who ran a successful cosmetic and healthcare company for black women from 1888 to 1919.  

Katherine Johnson, whose orbital mechanics calculations were critical to the success of the United States' crewed spaceflights.  

Robert Smalls, the first Black American in the United States to hold the title of Captain, in 1863.  

Gloria Richardson, who negotiated the Treaty of Cambridge with Attorney General Robert Kennedy.  

Claudette Colvin, who at the age of 15 preceded Rosa Parks in giving up her seat on the bus by a few months.  

Ralph Bunche, the first African American and the first individual of non-European ethnicity or race to be awarded as a Nobel laureate.

This just scratches the surface.  We've segregated history such that we've forgotten that Black history is American history.  And to that end, we've done us all a great disservice.  Much of what we are seeing today is because a large percentage of the population has no idea about the truth of our past.

Further, we are actively engaging in steps to keep the hard parts of our history from being taught.  From teaching about the history of racism in our country.  To ignore the reality of racism in our country today.

Hopefully, today can be the starting point.  Use today to educate yourself on the true, complicated history we have in our past.  And to educate yourself on the problematic systems that we still have in place today.

A good place to start is the Emancipation Proclamation and the history of emancipation.  I've included the full text of the proclamation below and have also linked to an excellent audible version produced by NPR, where their African American correspondents read the proclamation, as mirror to NPR's tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence on July 4.

One part in particular that has always stood out to me in the celebration of Juneteenth, is its recognition as Jubilee Day.  The Jubilee here refers to the Biblical principle of Jubilee, or the Year of Release.  From Leviticus 25:8-12 -

“You shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall give you forty-nine years.  Then you shall sound the loud trumpet on the tenth day of the seventh month.  On the Day of Atonement you shall sound the trumpet throughout all your land.  And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you, when each of you shall return to his property and each of you shall return to his clan.  That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed vines.  For it is a jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You may eat the produce of the field."

The Jubilee is literally a trumpet blast of freedom, a practice in which every 49th year (or 50th year, depending on how you count) slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven, and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest.  It was a year of forgiveness and emancipation.  It was also very practical, as it prevented the over accumulation of wealth and arable land in the hands of a few.

African Americans after the Civil War and with the Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment recognized their jubilee.  

Perhaps its time for another?

"January 1, 1863

A Transcription

By the President of the United States of America:

A Proclamation.

Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.

"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."

Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.

By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

Father's Day 2023

 A father acts on behalf of his children by working, providing, intervening, struggling, and suffering for them.  In so doing, he really stands in their place.  He is not an isolated individual, but incorporates the selves of several people in his own self."

Dietrich Bonhoffer

I love this picture from Sadie’s wedding. PapaRock wanted a picture with his grandkids, but this little girl wanted in too. So, in she came. Welcomed as if that’s exactly where she belonged. The more the merrier. 

It makes me think of a favorite recent quote. On a prominent wall in our living room, opposite the television, we have a series of framed sayings, quotes, and inspirational messages. A description of a Hobbit’s home. A reminder to create not consume. And a reminder that goes something like this,

“As you get more than you need, build a bigger table, not a higher fence.”

It’s at its simplest a reminder to share. But to me it goes so much further. It’s a direction to create a space where more are welcome. Where they can feel like they belong. 

On this Father’s Day, I thank my dad for fostering that sense of welcome. At the store, in our home, and wherever we went. Where my introvert self would want to turn inward, I’m still impressed by Dad’s ability to never meet a stranger, and to find people he knew wherever we went. It continually reminds me that we are all more connected than we could ever imagine and that, if we look for it, this world can be a pretty small place after all. 

So, PapaRock, I pray you’ve had a great Father’s Day today. Though me and my siblings are scattered across three states, I’m thankful for technology that allows us to remain in better touch and look forward to our get together in a coupes of weeks. I pray today has been a full one, with a lot of great laughs and joy from friends and family alike. 

Happy Father’s Day, Dad!  We love you!

Jazzy John Romita Sr.

 

If you recognize a drawing of Spider-man, it's likely one of two people.  Ross Andru, whose work was often used in licensing.  Or John Romita, Sr.

Romita wasn't the first person to draw Spider-man.  Instead, he would follow Steve Ditko following his abrupt departure after issue #38 of The Amazing Spider-Man.  Romita would take over as the penciler of Amazing with #39, starting a run that would encompass over 50 covers and an unbroken run of story art for 56 issues.  A run which would cover some of the ground-breaking Spider-Man stories, like the death of Gwen Stacy.

Though Romita never felt comfortable on Spider-Man, his art would become incredibly linked with the character.  He served as the primary penciler for the newspaper strip for the first four years of its publication.  He worked on the first intercompany crossover with Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, doing art corrections over Ross Andru's pencils.  He would provide the cover for Spider-Man's wedding issue, and several spot issues to come.

"For me, John's Spidey is a design of such perfection and beauty so as to be simply the greatest-looking character in comics, by his hand."

Alex Ross, painter, illustrator, Marvels, Kingdom Come

Romita's career in comics lasted from 1949 into 2010, long enough for the Sr. designation on his name to become important.  His son John Romita, Sr. would follow in his footsteps, becoming a celebrated comics artist in his own right.  And on Amazing Spider-man, even.

Romita passed away in his sleep on June 12, 2023, at the age of 93.  While his presence will be missed, his art and his heart will live on, inspiring us to be heroic, to be human.

14 Years

 

14. 

Twice 7. 

Twice perfect. 

And though they aren’t equal, at seven years each, it does seem we’ve had two perfect periods. There was our time in Texas. And our time starting here in Indiana.  Both perfect in their own ways. 

Two periods of laughter, of tears, of joy and surprises. Of  struggle and challenge. Of adventure. 

Of love. 

Gorgeous, you are the greatest partner in this life that I could ever find. You support and challenge me and complete my life in a way that I could never have imagined. We are better together. I am eternally grateful for these past fourteen years and look forward to being triply, quadruply, quintuply perfect and more in the years to come. 

Bigger than Godzilla,

All the way to the moon

To infinity and beyond,

To the ends of the earth.

I love you!

And no, you don’t love me more. 

Loving Day 2023

Today is Loving Day, a holiday commemorating the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision in Loving v. Virginia, which struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in the United States at the time.  At a time such as this, Loving Day is one of many important commemorations that occur in June which need to be reflected on, discussed, and remembered.  

Anti-miscegenation laws banned interracial marriage, particularly banning marriage between non-whites and whites.  These laws had existed in many places since the foundation of the United States of America and had not really started to be repealed until after World War II.  At the time of the Supreme Court's decision, the laws remained on the books in sixteen states.

Loving v. Virginia was brought by Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter Loving, a white man and a black woman, a couple who had met and courted for seven years before their marriage.  They first met when Mildred was 11 and Richard was 17.  He was a family friend and over the years they became close.  They married in Washington, D.C. in 1958, when Mildred was 18.  Reportedly, she did not know that interracial marriage was a crime.  They were arrested a few weeks after they returned to their hometown north of Richmond, Virginia.  They pled guilty to charges of "cohabitating as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the commonwealth," and avoided jail by agreeing to leave Virginia and not return for twenty-five years.  The Lovings then moved to Washington, D.C. and began to pursue their appeal.  They wrote the U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy, who referred them to the American Civil Liberties Union.  The ACLU was able to appeal the case all the way to the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Chief Justice Warren wrote the majority opinion, finding that "the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides within the individual, and cannot be infringed by the State."

The persistence of the Lovings achieved a landmark decision for civil rights in the United States.  Their steadfast devotion to each other, their steadfast declaration of love achieved what politicians and law-makers could not.  

In recognition of the day, we are called to remember. To remember that anti-miscegenation laws are a part of our past.  To not shy away from discussing them.  How many of us come from families or communities where we recognize interracial marriage is not illegal, but we know we would be punished for dating or marrying outside of our race?  Or live in communities that make interracial couples feel like outsiders?  How many of us would warn our children against dating someone who is black, Hispanic, Asian, etc.?

Though we preach in churches that there is "no longer Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female" or black or white, how many of us live as if we are still to be separate?  Though we are all party of the one body of Christ.  These are still questions we need to expose and explore.

Today is also a day for love.  To honor the Loving's marriage by showing love to our fellow human beings.  To gather and celebrate.  Today should be a day of racial unity.  To demonstrate love and harmony between us.

To learn more about Loving Day, visit the website here.  It contains great resources for continued learning on Loving v. Virginia, anti-miscegenation laws, and other similar stories.  We could all stand to be better educated on the subject.

For while we need to see color, so that we can recognize patterns and correct them, so we can celebrate our diversity, so we can strengthen us all, we must remember that love is colorblind.

Happy 9th, Avalyn!

i will tell you, my daughter
of your worth
not your beauty
everyday.  (your beauty is a given, every being is born
beautiful)
knowing your worth
can save your life.
raising you on beauty alone
you will be starved.
you will be raw.
you will be weak.
an easy stomach.
always in need of someone telling you how beautiful you 
are.

nayyirah waheed

To my toothy-grinned, athletic, brave, compassionate, loving, hyper, now Harry Potter obsessed girl, the happiest of birthdays. It seems like just yesterday we brought you home, and now you’re in your last single-digit year. 

We love you more than you can know. May you continue to grow in grace and love. And may you have many more happy returns. 
 

D-Day

“It was unknowable then, but so much of the progress that would define the 20th century, on both sides of the Atlantic, came down to the battle for a slice of beach only 6 miles long and 2 miles wide.”

President Barack Obama, on the 65th Anniversary of D-Day

Today marks seventy-nine years since the Allied Invasion of Normandy, France.  The largest seaborne invasion in history, with a force of over 350,000 troops and naval personnel. It began the liberation of France and laid the foundation for Allied victory in the Western Front. 

It remains a defining battle in U.S. military history and has been a part of the public consciousness for these past seventy-nine years. Rightly so, as the fight those troops engaged in is still raging. 

Though World War II is long over, we’re still fighting fascism. We’re fighting actual Nazis and Neo- Nazis.  We’re fighting against the truth that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Fighting those that would use might to define what is right and to exclude those they disagree with, disapprove of, and simply dislike from equality, justice, and fraternity. 

We honor the sacrifice of those who paid the ultimate price those seventy-nine years ago. We will not forget them. And we will continue their fight. 

June's Coming

Now have come the shining days
When field and wood are robed anew,
And o’er the world a silver haze
Mingles the emerald with the blue.
Summer now doth clothe the land
In garments free from spot or stain—
The lustrous leaves, the hills untanned,
The vivid meads, the glaucous grain.
The day looks new, a coin unworn,
Freshly stamped in heavenly mint;
The sky keeps on its look of morn;
Of age and death there is no hint.
How soft the landscape near and far!
A shining veil the trees infold;
The day remembers moon and star;
A silver lining hath its gold.
Again I see the clover bloom,
And wade in grasses lush and sweet;
Again has vanished all my gloom

With daisies smiling at my feet.
Again from out the garden hives
The exodus of frenzied bees;
The humming cyclone onward drives,
Or finds repose amid the trees.
At dawn the river seems a shade—
A liquid shadow deep as space;
But when the sun the mist has laid,
A diamond shower smites its face.
The season’s tide now nears its height,

And gives to earth an aspect new;
Now every shoal is hid from sight,
With current fresh as morning dew.

June's Coming, John Burroughs, Short Poetry Collection 054

Memorial Day 2023

Today is a day for remembrance. To remember the sacrifice of those who have served and gave the last full measure of devotion. To honor their legacy.

"As for us, our days of combat are over. Our swords are rust. Our guns will thunder no more. The vultures that once wheeled over our heads must be buried with their prey. Whatever of glory must be won in the council or the closet, never again in the field. I do not repine. We have shared the incommunicable experience of war; we have felt, we still feel, the passion of life to its top.

Three years ago died the old colonel of my regiment, the Twentieth Massachusetts. He gave the regiment its soul. No man could falter who heard his "Forward, Twentieth!"

I went to his funeral. From a side door of the church a body of little choir- boys came in alike a flight of careless doves. At the same time the doors opened at the front, and up the main aisle advanced his coffin, followed by the few gray heads who stood for the men of the Twentieth, the rank and file whom he had loved, and whom he led for the last time.

The church was empty. No one remembered the old man whom we were burying, no one save those next to him, and us. And I said to myself, The Twentieth has shrunk to a skeleton, a ghost, a memory, a forgotten name which we other old men alone keep in our hearts.

And then I thought: It is right. It is as the colonel would have it. This also is part of the soldier's faith: Having known great things, to be content with silence. Just then there fell into my hands a little song sung by a warlike people on the Danube, which seemed to me fit for a soldier's last word, another song of the sword, but a song of the sword in its scabbard, a song of oblivion and peace.

A soldier has been buried on the battlefield.

And when the wind in the tree-tops roared,

The soldier asked from the deep dark grave:

"Did the banner flutter then?"

"Not so, my hero," the wind replied.

"The fight is done, but the banner won,

Thy comrades of old have borne it hence,

Have borne it in triumph hence."

Then the soldier spake from the deep dark grave:

"I am content."

Then he heareth the lovers laughing pass,

and the soldier asks once more:

"Are these not the voices of them that love,

That love--and remember me?"

"Not so, my hero," the lovers say,

"We are those that remember not;

For the spring has come and the earth has smiled,

And the dead must be forgot."

Then the soldier spake from the deep dark grave:

"I am content." "

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Closing Remarks, The Soldier's Faith, Memorial Day, May 30, 1895

May we never forget their sacrifice.

Indy 500 2023

Today is the Indianapolis 500.  Not something I normally would have kept up with, but living here, it's hard to ignore.  There are yards that have been decorated all month for the celebration.  And references everywhere.  And you will be able to hear it for miles.

It remains one of our goals to attend to feel like we've really experienced Indianapolis.  Hopefully next year.

For now, hopefully, it's a great race.

To The Graduating Class of 2023...

Generally, yesterday represented the end of the school year.  The last day of class and many graduations across the state and country.  And my thoughts go to the wisdom that many will try to impart last night and today through those ceremonies in commencement speeches, while the newly free minds will be focused on one thing and one thing only: walking across that stage so that everything is finally finished.

I know of no reason why I would ever be asked to give a commencement speech, but were such an occasion ever to present itself, this is what I was say.  (I should note, that the speech itself probably gives good reason why I'll never be asked to do so.)

--------------------

Ladies and gentlemen, family and friends, administration and faculty, graduating class of 2023, thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you tonight.  I hope you know how much of an honor I consider this to be, to be given the opportunity to impart one more lesson on this special night.

Though I realize it was [cough - mumbled inaudible number of] years ago when I was in your position, that time seems to have galloped by.  And remembering how I felt that night, I will try to keep these comments brief, and hopefully a little entertaining, so that we can get to the part of the ceremony that everyone is truly here for.

Tonight is a moment of transition.  The point where a chapter closes and an entirely new chapter begins.  For some, that is continued academic pursuit through college or trade school.  For some, that means the enlistment in the service of our country.  For some, that means the beginning of their profession.  Many, many different chapters, different stories starting here.  Tonight. 

In that vein, I want to impart a few wishes for you as you new story begins.

First, I hope you fail.  

Good and hard.  At something you really wanted to achieve and worked for.  

I know this sounds harsh, but it serves a purpose.

It means you stretched yourself outside the known and comfortable.  You tried something new.  And you cared enough to give it your all.  

It means you are growing.  That you are continuing to be and develop.

And it you do, you would be in good company.

Walt Disney was fired from a newspaper because "he lacked imagination and had no good ideas."  After that, he started a number of businesses that did not last too long, ending in bankruptcy and failure.  He lost his only creative success at the time to a rival, when Oswald the Lucky Rabbit went to Universal.  But he kept plugging away and found a recipe for success that worked, all thanks to a little mouse.  Walt would later state "It is good to have a failure while you're young because it teaches you so much...and once you've lived through the worst, you're never quite as vulnerable afterward."

In fact, you can see this occur repeatedly in the lives of people that we find successful now.  Oprah Winfrey was demoted from her job as a news anchor because she "wasn't fit for TV."  The Beatles were rejected by Decca Recording because the company "didn't like their sound" and stated that they "have no future in show business."  Albert Einstein's teachers said he would "never amount to much."  J.K. Rowling was rejected by publisher after publisher until she found one that would finally publish her little book series.

What we see from each of these people is that failure is only a problem if you do not learn anything from it.  If you never try again.  If you give up.

So when you fail, approach it like a scientist.  That particular experiment did not work, so change the variables.  

Or approach it like an artist.  Revise and go back to the drawing board.  

Or like an athlete.  Get back up off the mat and keep swinging.

Whatever metaphor works for you, use it.  Let it be your drive.  Try, fail, try again with changes from whatever you have learned.  And then repeat the cycle.  Just keep at it.

Similarly, I hope you get fired.  

From a job you like. And for unfair reasons. 

Because it removes the fear of the act. 

And it allows you to stand up when it matters. 

To speak up when those around you are being mistreated.  When you are being greatly undervalued. When you are being taken advantage of.

When you need to do what is right. 

Being fired frees you from the fear that it is the worst thing that can happen to you. That it is a final end. 

It’s not. It’s a change. It can be a new beginning. And speaking from personal experience, it can be the exact needed change at the exact right time. 

Further, being fired provides you a more intimate knowledge of your worth.  You now know exactly what you will and will not put up with in your employment.  It frees you to more directly seek that promotion, that raise, that benefit. After all, what’s the worst they can do, fire you?

Next, I hope you get your heart broken.

Because it means you have one.

And this is not just about romantic love.  Far from it.  It's about all kinds of love.  Love and kindness towards friends, family, strangers.  

It's about being willing to be charitable and gracious to your fellow man.  To look for the good in those around you.  Being open and a part of the community around you, rather than an isolated individual.

People today are able to be more connected to one another than ever before in human history.  We have so many communication tools that enable us to remain in contact on a global scale like never before.  But we are also more lonely and distant from one another in our unplugged lives.  

This dichotomy cannot remain.  

Human beings were not meant to function as islands.  We are social creatures - science shows we suffer greatly when our social bonds are threatened or severed.  C.S. Lewis described humanity as "one great need."  We are all apart of this need and we need each other more than we would care to admit.

I know there are many of you here tonight who have reason to be cautious, reason to be distrusting because of what has occurred in your lives.  I recognize and understand.  Do be cautious, do be measured, but please do not let your past and the bad actions of others completely isolate you from the world.  There are resources available that can help.  And there are avenues and causes to which you can contribute.

So care.  Be passionate and embrace your causes and those around you.  We've seen where division gets us.  Let's try a new approach.

Additionally, I hope you question everything you believe in.

Because only then will you know what you truly believe.  What you are willing to stand for.  What will remain when everything else falls away.

Part of growing up is learning who you are.  Discovering you identity.  And what you really believe.  All to often we try to hold on to "inherited beliefs,"  those that were passed on to us by our parents, our teachers, or the community we grew up in.  The problem with "inherited beliefs" is that they rarely take root because they are not earned or experienced, just observed.

James Baldwin wrote "people are trapped in history and history is trapped in them."  Far too many people are trapped in the beliefs of others around them.  They live the lives they believe they are supposed to live.  And are doing so half-heartedly, at best, or begrudgingly at worst.

My hope is that from this day forward you start exploring the world around you in such a way that leads you to formulate your own firmly held beliefs derived from experience and knowledge.  And for you to keep refining them.  For you to read, read, read, read and explore any areas you have questions about.  For you to ask others and listen far more than you speak.  For you to continue to re-evalute, refine, and refresh your beliefs based on new information and experiences.

I hope you to travel.  Mark Twain put it best when he said "travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.  Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."  Go see the world and explore places you never thought you would visit.  Get to know the people there and let them inform your understanding of the world.  Let them change you.

I hope you make a variety of new friends.  You do not need more friends that think and act exactly like you.  Make friends with people who challenge you.  Who disagree with you.  And who aren't afraid to discuss these differences with you.  Iron sharpens iron only when it meets at an angle; from a different perspective.  

Discover who you are and from here on, live life only as that person.

Finally, I hope that high school represents the worst years of your life.

Because, I hope, your best days are ahead of you.

I hope none of you have had any truly horrific experiences from these past four years.  To any that have, my deepest and heartfelt condolences.  I pray for healing and comfort for you and those affected.

I wanted to address this topic to specifically address a mindset that can become all too prevalent.  To view high school as "the glory days."  "The greatest years of my life."  

Your best years should be ahead of you.  Tonight should represent merely the closing of an early chapter in your book, in which I pray you have many, many more chapters ahead.  And that is where the plot should get really good.

I know some of you here tonight are waiting, almost impatiently, for something different than high school.  You never quite fit in, never felt you belonged, you were just ready to get out.  And I can say, that while somethings never change, generally, yes, it does get better.

For those of you that are not ready to leave this behind, let me challenge you to run toward the new opportunities in your path.  Remember, there are so many ways now to keep in contact with your roots here.  Cherish those connections, but make new ones as well.

And to those of you that feel trapped by your current circumstances, please know that it can get better.  It may take a fight and it may be long and hard fought, but there is a way.

Because truly, I'm counting on you all to make this a better world.  Your generation has shown a remarkable resilience and desire to change things for the better.  I need you to go out and do incredible things.  To make new inventions, to write new music, to make us laugh, to enact new policies and laws, to raise incredible children.  To protect us.  To defend us. To entertain us.  To correct us.  To lead us.

So go live your story.  And then tell us about it.  

I cannot wait to hear how it turns out.

Thank you.

Last Day of School 2023

It's finally here...

Today is the last day of school.  It's hard to believe it is already that time, and yet, it feels like so much has happened in this past year.   It's easy to imagine why the kids and teachers are so ready to be finished.  

Just as with every year, I think it is important to show our teachers that we recognize how they continue to be challenged and that we appreciate how much they have done.  Instead of constantly second-guessing their professionalism and ability.  Instead of continuing to heap on requirements that make their jobs more challenging, and less rewarding.

Hopefully everyone has a teacher that they can thank in their life for inspiring or motivating them.  Recognizing the impact teachers have on the lives around them.

I feel blessed to have had so many wonderful teachers throughout my lifetime, at all levels.  There really are too many to mention here in any meaningful way.  I'm proud to have so many teachers that I would consider family and I'm proud to have teachers that I call friends.  I'm especially proud to have married one.

The hours go way beyond whatever you imagine a regular school day is.  The pay is far too low for what we ask of them.  They cobble things together from duct-tape and baling wire to make sure they have what they need for the class.  And they succeed in spite of the ridiculous tests that we ask them to prepare students for.

They do it because it is a calling.  Because they know that they have the potential to reach someone.  To make someone else's life better.

So go hug a teacher. Go shake their hand.  If one of them truly made a difference in your life, please let them know.  You cannot imagine how much it means to them.

The Most Happy Birthday!

 

While her party was a few days ago, today marks the birthday of a very special lady in our family.  Our matriarch. Our cinnamon toast maker. Our harmonizer (I know she’s why I can hear a tenor and alto line so well).  Our boss. Our rock. 

My Grandy. 

Today, Grandy Sheppard celebrates another birthday and another year of memories, life, and love.  These are the times that the distance gets tough for us, because this is where we’d love to be a part of the party.  But we are thankful for the technology that allows us to video in and celebrate. To share our well wishes and love.  And to spread that to all we know.

We hope today was truly a Grand one and hope to physically celebrate together soon.

We love you Grandy Sheppard!  Many blessed and happy returns of the day!

Mother's Day 2023

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!  Thank you!  We love you! 💕

One bright and guiding light
That taught me wrong from right
I found in my mother's eyes

Those faithful tales she told
Of streets all paved in gold
I found in my mother's eyes

Just like a wandering sparrow
One lonely soul
I'll walk the straight and narrow
To reach my goal

God's gift sent from above
A real unselfish love
I found in my mother's eyes.

To the best Mom and Granna anyone could ask for.

I wish we could be together today and cannot wait until we can all be there.

We love you, we miss you, we are thinking of you, always!

If I Were Disney CEO - AstroDisney

It's been a while since I've done one of these posts.  I honestly thought I exorcised all of these ideas already.  I admit, I've wanted to touch up the old articles so I could submit myself for the role now that Iger has a two year limit (tongue firmly in cheek), but there hasn't been a lot I've felt I've needed to express in this area. 

Then, over the past couple of weeks, I've watched an AstroWorld documentary, highlighting the rise and fall of that park in Houston.  That lead me to the Wikipedia rabbit hole of articles on AstroWorld and the Astrodome.  That lead me to investigating the current use of the land in the former AstroDomain and learning how much is sitting unused or ill-used.  

Combine that with a healthy dose of nostalgia, and the news that Universal is getting into the regional parks business with a park in Frisco and a year-round haunt in Las Vegas, and the gears started rolling in my head.  I kept thinking through how best to use the current NRG Park-former AstroDomain area to its fullest.  And in that process, my brain kept coming back to one owner who could truly maximize the potential of that area.

Disney.

I've written before on my thoughts for a Disney park in Texas, but that focused on starting from scratch.  Building an entire resort in a new location somewhere around Central Texas.  The thought was to give Texas a resort somewhere between Disneyland and Disney World.  What makes more sense to me now, is for Disney to look for an area in which they could quickly ramp up and entire the theme park business in Texas. 

Especially when Disney is reconsidering where to spend its $17 billion in park expenditures given its current fight in Florida.

What's better for that, than an area that has an empty theme park parcel of land, plenty of parking, the infrastructure needed to move people across a highway to the theme park, a light rail stop, and current venues that would generate revenue from day one?

With that in mind, I think it's time for Disney to buy the AstroDomain from Houston.

Welcome to AstroDisney.

What's great about this proposal is that Disney gets plenty of space to maximize to its fullest for the construction of a one park resort, with the infrastructure work already in place.  Because Disney is essentially re-establishing the AstroDomain as it had previously existed, the work can go a lot quicker.  Building a true resort area - theme park, hotels, shopping and dining area, and a parking garage, all while leaving the existing buildings.  And possibly adding a water park.

This is how I think it would work.

First, Disney leaves NRG Stadium, the AstroArena/NRG Arena, and the NRG Center as is.  There's no need to mess with what is working, and this can guarantee Disney income from the start to being recouping their investment.  I'd buy NRG out of their naming rights, so that Disney could start relabeling things with the Astro- label (AstroArena, AstroCenter, etc.), but otherwise this all works.

The first thing Disney builds is a parking garage.  In looking at Disney's work in California, Disney built the Mickey and Friends Parking Garage, which was at the time the biggest parking garage in America.  It can hold 10,500 cars.  And thankfully, there's plenty of space for Disney to build something similar here in the lot adjacent to the Astrodome and above the AstroArena, as indicated in the image below.  That will free up a lot of surface parking for expansion.

From there, I would suggest Disney remodeling the Astrodome into a luxury hotel/mixed use space.  It would be a great way to preserve the structure, but make it work in context with the other buildings around the AstroDomain and there have been proposals for similar conversions that have already been suggested to Houston.  Disney could create the rooms around the outer ring, converting the old field into the pool and slide area.  With the roof, they could do a pretty amazing projection fireworks show at night and make this a really special hotel to stay at.

I would then build a version of the Downtown Disney area from California from the AstroDome to the pedestrian bridge across to the theme park plot.  The area from California perfectly fits, including the Grand Californian.  If Disney so desired, it could build a second hotel - the Grand Texan resort, in which they could add their time share component, the Disney Vacation Club.  This adds hotel, dining, and retail space to the area, enhancing the athletic and convention space and leaving some surface parking in addition to a new garage.  Win, win, win.

Then across the street, in the empty space, Disney has a blank canvas.  They could build any park they desired, but for nostalgia, I would go with AstroDisney.  A Disney theme park themed to their space related properties.  The image below is crude, but it conveys the point of the massive space Disney has to work with.  Disney could add their entire Tomorrowland from Disneyland in California, Pandora from Animal Kingdom, Star Wars Galaxies Edge from Disneyland, a version of the Avengers Campus from California Adventure (including the expansion space), and Mission Space/Space 220 from Epcot.  All with room to spare.  The land is there and its open, though I did bring in a car lot that has entered that space.

Additionally, there's land available around the space for admin and offsite back of house.  They could likely even acquire land close to the park for a version of the Star Wars Starcruiser boutique hotel if they desired.

Again, land available, ready for prime investment. 

Now if I could just convince Disney to do it.  

It makes sense to my brain if nothing else.

Limerick 2023

A bit of silliness today, to ignore the news of the day for discussion tomorrow.  Today is Limerick Day, celebrating Edward Lear, who made the short poems widespread.  Born on May 12, 1812, he wrote 212 limericks, not all of which follow the strict construction we think of today, but nonetheless helped popularize the short poetry.

To celebrate, I thought I would share a couple.

First a favorite of Lear's.

"There was an Old Man of Peru,
who watched his wife making a stew; 
But once by mistake, 
In a stove she did bake, 
That unfortunate Man of Peru."

And then, the clean version of perhaps the oldest, and most famous American limerick.

"There once was a man from Nantucket

Who kept all his cash in a bucket

But his daughter, named Nan

Ran away with a man

And as for the bucket, Nantucket.

But he followed the pair to Pawtucket,

The man and the girl with the bucket;

And he said to the man,

He was welcome to Nan,

But as for the bucket, Pawtucket.

Then the pair followed Pa to Manhasset,

Where he still held the cash as an asset,

But Nan and the man

Stole the money and ran,

And as for the bucket, Manhasset.

Of this story we hear from Nantucket,

About the mysterious loss of a bucket,

We are sorry for nan,

As well as the man - 

The cash and the bucket, Pawtucket."

Vivat Rex Carolus

"Long live King Charles"

Saturday, May 6, 2023 marked the coronation of Charles Phillip Arthur George as King Charles III, reigning monarch of the United Kingdom and fourteen other commonwealth realms.  The ceremony, which also crowned Camilla Parker Bowles as Queen, was held at Westminster Abbey, full of the pomp and circumstance expected from such an event.  

King Charles ascends with several notable features.  He is the oldest person to ascend to the throne, and had served as the heir apparent for the longest tenure, thanks to the long reign of his mother.  He was also the longest serving Prince of Wales.

This marks an interesting transition in the United Kingdom and the world.  Queen Elizabeth had such a long tenure that she almost became a stabilizing force across so much.  It's like the changing of the Pope; a monumental shift.  I think back to John Paul II, the pope during much of my early life and the third longest serving pope.  We've had two popes since, each representing change.  With Charles ascending to the throne at 73, it's likely we'll see another coronation within a generation or sooner.  Unless the entire British monarchy is disassembled, which would be an even bigger shift.

Interesting times indeed.

Charles will serve, in many ways, as an interim monarch.  Following the grand long reign of his mother, and potentially preceding a long tenure by his son.  He certainly has interest that will likely guide him in this tenure, particularly in urban development and environmental sustainability.  Those would guide him well in our times.

However long his tenure, I pray it is a prosperous one for him and the people of the United Kingdom.

God save the King.

It's The Guns

Once louder for those in the back, and for those who are intentionally refusing to listen...

IT'S THE GUNS!

When, when can we admit that the guns have at least some part to play in the continued rise in deaths from gun violence.  Are we that far gone?

This is tough to write, as the topic continues to make me want to swear or be uncharitable.  My anger over our inability to act continues to rise with each and every event.  Particularly following the ridiculously predictable response we get every single time.  Even down to being able to write the tweets our leadership will share.

Saturday afternoon, May 6, 2023, a gunman opened fire at an outlet mall in Allen, Texas, murdering eight people and injuring seven.  The victims range in age from 5 years old to 61 years old.  The attacker was killed by the police.

There have been 199 mass shootings in the country since the beginning of the year.  This is the second most deadly shooting this year.

And just like always, we see the same response.  Thoughts and prayers.  It's not the guns, it's mental health.  We can't do anything about the guns.  

Blah, blah, blah.

All such drivel.

First, I don't want to diminish thoughts and prayers.  They are powerful.  Prayer can move mountains, truly.  I can point to the times of my life where I have been prayed through.  Where I only survived because of the prayers of others.

But we belittle the very purpose and power of prayer when we make it the very least we can do and leave it there.  When we leave it as a simple bon mot response.  If we do nothing else, the faith behind those prayers is dead.  Our faith should be compelling us to some kind of change to make this stop.

And second, I'd believe the line about mental health being a genuine attempt to affect change if the people making that statement weren't also the people voting down every attempt to improve our mental health system in this country.  It's almost as if they know mental health alone is not the solution and they are just looking to deflect.

At some point, and who knows when, we have to be honest and admit that the guns are part of the problem.  

To admit that we, as a country, have a problem with guns.

Specifically, that we have an addiction.

We're addicted to guns.

It's the definition of an addiction, right.  I'm mean, when you propose that the solution involves more of the problem, that's an addiction.  We'll solve gun violence with more guns?  Just like I can solve my overeating with more cake?

We're addicted to guns and we're butchering the Second Amendment to foster that addiction.

Let’s start by clarifying what the Second Amendment actually says. It does not just state “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The full Second Amendment reads “A well regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.” This is important because the “well regulated Militia” and “necessary to the security of a free State” are so often ignored, when they are so closely tied to the right in the text itself.

That's because, prior to 2008, the Second Amendment was not recognized as a personal right to bear arms protected by the Constitution.  The Constitutional Second Amendment, prior to 2008, tied the right to keep and bear arms into the well-regulated militia, making the right a collective right of the people to organize into militias and protect themselves in that fashion.  The individual right existed for the benefit of the collective, not the other way around.  Further, there was not a right to organize private militias (i.e. groups of people creating a militia for their own purposes), militias were intended to be individual state militias (i.e. the Texas militia, the Louisiana militia, etc.) which could provide for a state’s defense and protect an individual state from a tyrannical federal government.  The Second Amendment was not recognized as a codification of a common-law right to self-defense.  We did not start treating it as such until the 2008 District of Columbia v Heller Supreme Court case, in which the court determined that the Second Amendment did recognize a personal right.  This means that up to 2008, when looking at whether the Second Amendment had been infringed, courts did not look at whether any one person’s right to protect themselves had been impaired.  They looked at the restriction on the weapon under the context of a state militia.  Conceivably, the Court in the future could overrule Heller and determine that the right to bear arms is inextricably tied to the well-regulated militia.  That's the way it worked for Roe v Wade.

Even if the right continues to be a personal right, like most other rights, the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.  To have a functioning society, we have agreed that there are certain limitations that can be placed on nearly all of the rights we have enumerated in the Bill of Rights.  Your right to free speech cannot be used to yell “fire” in a public theater.  Your right to free press cannot be used to commit libel.  Your right to the free exercise of religion does not include human sacrifice.  Likewise, the government can put certain limitations on the right to keep and bear arms; it has always been in the government’s power to do so.  Most often these restrictions occur when one person’s right to keep and bear arms runs up against another person’s rights.  We see examples of this with gun-free school zones, prohibitions on fully automatic weapons, background check requirements.  Semi-automatic weapons seem to be the cause of a lot of current discussion and it’s important to note that they were themselves part of heavy restriction from 1994 to 2004, so there is definitely precedence for government action in this area.  It would not be that great of a stretch for the government to reinstate a more effective version of this ban (with fewer loopholes) in the future.  And there is large scale support for such a measure in this country currently.

We just have the willpower to actually make a change.

If we did, we might discover the impact guns have on us goes way beyond the mass shootings that really bring the issue to our attention. We need to explore the impact of mass homicide, on domestic homicide, and on suicide.  On accidental gun violence.  

Additionally, it's important to note this isn't a zero sum game.  We do not have to do only one thing.  It's far past time we put everything on the table.  We should be looking at mental health care.  We should be looking at bullying.  We should be looking at the family structure.  We should be looking at socio-economic status and mobility.  AND we should be looking at sensible gun control.  We're a big country and pretty good at multi-tasking.  We're more than capable of looking at it all.  

But we should be at the bare minimum doing something. 

'

It’s way past time to do so.

I'm just not hopeful we will.   I think I gave up hope after Sandy Hook.  Once that shooting and then Uvalde happened and we did nothing, once we saw it at an elementary school and did nothing, we've just accepted it as a cost of life in the United States.  We've accepted that the number one cause of death of American children and teens is just going to be firearms.

The really sad thing is, we know what would actually work.  We know what steps we should take with gun control.  We know what steps for gun control have popular support.

The first step, is admitting we have a problem.

Free Comic Book Day 2023

Today is one of the great days in nerd culture - Free Comic Book Day.  First started in May 2002, the day is an annual promotional event for North American Comic Book publishers to attract new readers to independent comic book stores.  The event is typically held the first weekend in May and generally coincides with the release of a new comic book movie.  This year sees the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

To truly make it a free comic book opportunity, each year, the major (and many minor) publishers create special comics designed to be given away by the comic book stores.  Sometimes, this new offering just contains reprint material of popular comics made by the publisher that tie into their promotional activities for the year.  Often though, they create an entirely new offering that sets the stage for their events for the year.  Either way, it's possible to find a store and rack up several completely new comics that you can obtain for free.

Stores usually join in with sales, promotions, and the like to help make it truly an accessible event for all.  This event is really for the local comic book shop after all, helping to drive traffic their way.

So, if you have one, support your local comic book shop today.  If you need to find one, you can use the link below to find one near you.

https://www.freecomicbookday./StoreLocator

Happy reading everyone!