'60 Minutes' was riveting last night

Most Sunday nights I may hear a bit of CBS's "60 Minutes" while I'm cleaning up the kitchen or folding laundry or tending to any of a number of household chores. It's my husband's favorite news program and, after making Sunday night dinner, he watches faithfully every week. Last night, I saw the story teasers and decided to sit down to watch with him.

I'm glad I did because the stories were riveting and incredibly diverse, not something that usually can be said about network news. What's amazing is that these stories were rebroadcast from earlier this spring, but we must have missed that week.

The story out of Darfur was chilling, compelling and challenging. We're in bed with the Sudanese government for intel info so we've looked the other way at the genocide occuring there. Is that intelligence worth the extermination of an entire region of people?

The Kanzius Machine was an amazing look at how some people see solutions when most others see problems. A retired businessman and radio technician suffering from leukemia, John Kanzius sought to find a better treatment for cancer involving no side effects. He may be on to something that uses radio waves and metallic nanoparticles to destroy cancer cells. I hope the funding builds and he lives to see his invention work on humans.

Finally, what an uplifting and inspirational story out of Venezuela about the National Youth Orchestra and El Sistema (The System), which teaches and saves impoverished Venezuelan children through classical music from very young ages. This kind of unusual approach to poverty is life-changing and I'm sure could be replicated here in the United States.

A father shares his grief this Memorial Day

I first heard of Andrew J. Bacevich on NPR last week. It is heart-wrenching to listen to the pain in this father's voice as he tries to make sense of his role in his son's death earlier this month in Iraq. He was an outspoken critic of the war, but did not try to talk his own son out of serving. His son died on Mother's Day in a suicide bomb attack outside of Baghdad.

Today there's his op-ed in the Washington Post. He asks many questions of our nation and yet believes that as citizens in a democracy, our voices are no longer heard.

On this Memorial Day weekend, I pray for nothing short of peace, the conviction to speak truth to power, no matter how many times it takes, and the hope that parents, such as Andrew Bacevich, and the families and friends of those serving no longer have to suffer.

Christmas wrapping

Woo! I'm halfway into a bottle of Cabernet and just finished my Christmas wrapping. Thought I'd take a minute to check in with e-mail and see if I missed anything today in my last-minute Christmas crush. Fortunately, all is quiet on the western front.

Danny took the boys to the St. Ed's/Lakewood basketball game to see Devlin
Roe play and give me a chance to get the wrapping done. I'm finished and I've got my jazzy mix blasting on my stereo. Sway your hips to a little Ray Charles — The Night Time is the Right Time. Hmm, that's right.

"Sing your song, Marcy!"

Ba-bay! (Night and Day)
Ba-bay! (Night Day)
Ba-bay (Night and Day)
Oh Bay-bay (Night and Day)
You know I love you! (Night and Day)
There's no one above you! (Night and Day)
To hold me tight (Night and Day)
Make everything alright (Night and Day)
Because the night time (Night and Day)
Oh, is the right time (Night and Day)
To be with the one you love now (Night and Day)
Oh, yeah now (Night and Day)

With that Creative Ink is officially on holiday. May this Christmas fill you with all the joy and blessings of family and friends. And may 2007 bring us peace.

I'm dreaming…

…of a white Christmas.

Are we done with toys?

Yesterday I took the boys to Crocker Park to jostle their brains a bit about Christmas gifts. They have never been big "I want" kids and that can make gift-giving challenging. The answer this year has been, "I don't know" or in Ryan's case, "Minutes" for his phone that my sister got him for his birthday.

Suffice to say our trip was a success in that I now have a good idea of what I will get them this year. But as we were driving home it hit me — we're really past the days of toys.

Michael was my last hope, but this year it's all about sports and video games. His original list contained a bunch of football jerseys. I had to explain that you can't "play" with jerseys. He has since revised (several times) and included a few toy-ish items.

But another sign that we're getting older is looming even larger. Michael still believes in Santa…for now. However, he's asking all the questions that are tell-tale signs not believing.

How does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?

How does Santa get ready for Christmas is he's at the mall?

How can Santa be in more than one place?

How will he know which tree to put our presents under (we have two)?

Ryan and Patrick have been great about keeping the magic alive for him, but I fear that won't be enough after this Christmas. How short-lived is that time...