A New Archetype

the-MATRIX--Wallpaper, originally uploaded by brandonj74.

Is it just me or do other people see the emergence of a new archetype - black men as the wise mentor. You know, the guy in the know, the one who has not only intelligence but actual life experience, not to mention a very cool look.

Just look at recent movies: The Matrix, for one. Morpheus is the guy in the know, the one who finds Neo and saves them all by helping "The One" realize himself. In Star Wars Samuel L. Jackson played a similar role. Not your genre? How about Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty? Morgan Freeman can be my God any day of the week; I adore him in the character!

Yesterday, we swore in President Barack Obama! (Yay!!) Maybe I'm stretching the point but looking for possible connections and themes is a huge part of story-telling. Movies and politics inform the larger story of who we are and who we see ourselves as being as Americans. As a viewer, I trusted myself in Morpheus' hands and took guidance and comfort from Morgan Freeman's God. In real life, I feel that way about Obama.

I think archetypes are cool. I'm just sayin'...

What have you done today to take part in your democracy?

Hint: my daughter's business is in trouble and you could help out by signing this petition to fine tune a bill that threatens many small businesses and toymakers!

Christmas Tree Tales

Today the tree comes down and the ornaments get stowed away, not to be seen again until next Christmas, like old friends you only see once a year. From the chaos of that one box of ornaments comes a lifetime of stories, each one a reminder of a certain year, a certain time, a certain person.

I put away the one armed soldier into the box next to the little sheppardess and I am suddenly in the 4th grade again, reliving the story that grew around these two ornaments being in love. They will always be in love because of the intensity of that 4th grade girl and her story.

The lighthouse was supposed to be a gift to my father, the last one I bought him before he went into the home. He loved lighthouses. Now "his lighthouse" hangs on my tree, reminding me of how much he loved Christmas in spite of his grumpy complaints about longing for peace and quiet.

Every handmade ornament from my mother (one from every year of growing up and then some,) every yearly ornament to my little ones is another story. From Lima Bean's telephone from his early years of cell phone obsession or Morgan's first (and most expensive ornament) made from her very first sneaker - after she kicked the other one off somewhere in Sears, never to be seen again, only three days after getting them. Each ornament comes out and each story is told, sometimes out loud and sometimes only in my heart.

What objects hold your stories safe?