Barack Obama and Ronan Harris are two guys I'd have a beer with and moving to An Age of Tolerance

My Republican friends were very gracious and optimistic about Barack Obama after his historic victory. They did share their concerns, and we discussed them at length. I love these guys, and we've been there for one another through difficult times and transitions. We agree that we share an unabated enthusiasm for football, music, and hot chicks.

Barack is a symbolic representation of tolerance. In a time when interracial marriage was frowned upon, Barack gained an appreciation and understanding of his parents' backgrounds. He has fought many battles as a community organizer and civil rights attorney to ensure Americans are given equal opportunities. His victory, along with an increasing majority of Democrats in Congress, still hasn't completely sunk in yet. I'm optimistic he represents the best qualities of all of us.

Ronan Harris

It's strange how I discovered Ronan Harris' band, VNV Nation. It's eerily similar to how I discovered Live. I hadn't heard a single song by the band. The album cover of Mental Jewelry attracted me. First, mental jewelry to me meant how the mind is very precious and can contribute so much to others. Second, Ed Kowalczyk is shown bare-chested with his arms folded as a cross burns in the background. Finally, my symbolic interpretation was moving forward from all the divisiveness narrow-minded people use. The burning cross was purposely placed in the background to demonstrate the past and Ed's picture in the foreground served as a promise for moving ahead with a humanitarian mindset. Sure enough, the music and lyrics were like nothing I heard before and did touch on my initial interpretations.

One day, Robin wanted to look around inside Hot Topic, a trendy clothing store in the mall. There was a small rack for CDs. A few were on display for shoppers to listen to with headphones provided. By coincidence or fate, I was attracted to the band name, VNV Nation and its album entitled Truth+Matter+Form. I listened to a few tracks and was immediately hooked. There was a great mixture of melodic sounds meshed with hard dance rhythms.

My creativity has been greatly inspired by my subconsciousness. Dreams are a perfect example. Some early poems I wrote focused on postmodern architecture I saw in these dreams. These buildings often were made out of glass and slanted from its base to apex. Ronan touches on this similar observation and other creative outlets that has inspired him to write beatiful music and lyrics. Here's a link to an article written several years ago. Yes, there's poor grammatical usage in it, but it's easy to overlook:

http://www.mk-magazine.com/interviews/archives/000117.php

Olbermann's Special Comment

Like Keith Olbermann, I don't have any gay friends. However, one of the core principles of liberalism is tolerance. Keith delivered a powerful special comment last night on religion's divisiveness and how it dilutes simple kindness to EVERYONE. This includes the gay community. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y04wYfgWxeA