Being a Beacon of Hope

Sometimes we in America forget how blessed we are to live in an incredibly wonderful country, failings and all, that values freedom unpracticed in some other places in the world. Sometimes we forget that the people of the world look to us for leadership on an array of issues.

Sometimes we forget that we have a responsibility to our global neighbors even when we do not see things eye to eye. We have a responsibility to live up to our values, especially when we ourselves are facing daunting times. The world is watching. We must not disappoint.

Being a beacon of hope is an awesome responsibility, one that we must forever be conscious of and with humility and grace take pleasure in.

May God bless America. May God bless the people of the world.

Being One Universally

Because America has spoken and the world agrees, we can better lead in universal change, one that has a greater possibility of making the world a far better place for all of us.


Grant Park, Chicago Illinois, Election Evening


Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, Election Day


Grant Park, Chicago Illinois, Election Evening


Basra, Iraq


Paris, France


Athens, Greece


Nyangoma Kogelo, Kenya, Obama Family


Obama, Japan


Manila, Philippines


Jerusalem, Israel


Jakarta, Indonesia


New Delhi, India


Sydney, Australia


Copenhagen, Denmark

Being in a Beautiful Day

May God bless President Elect Barack Obama and family. May God bless the people of America. May God bless the people of the world from the shanties of Africa to the castles of Europe, from the Chinese factor worker to the Dubai executive.

It's a beautiful day!



Working together day by day we can make everyday more beautiful than the last. Let's love more. Let's give more. Let's be personally more responsible. Let's honor our neighbors more both near and far. Let's rebuild America. Let's set a new bold beginning of diplomacy.

We can do it! Yes, We Can!

Being President-Elect of the United States

Hope is what led a band of colonists to rise up against an empire; what led the greatest of generations to free a continent and heal a nation; what led young women and young men to sit at lunch counters and brave fire hoses and march through Selma and Montgomery for freedom's cause. Hope is what led me here today--with a father from Kenya, a mother from Kansas; and a story that could only happen in the United States of America. Hope is the bedrock of this nation; the belief that our destiny will not be written for us, but by us; by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is; who have courage to remake the world as it should be.

Barack Obama

Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.

Abraham Lincoln

Man's greatness consists in his ability to do and the proper application of his powers to things needed to be done.

Frederick Douglass

It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly. The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task.

Robert Kennedy

Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.

Harriet Tubman

Being Affirmed

Whatever happens tonight this election has affirmed the belief for so many that all things are possible. Canvassing the streets with clipboard in hand to get out the vote, there was a group of young men hanging out donned in do-rags and saggy pants. As I walked over to them, they smiled brightly, rushing to tell me that they each had voted, most for the first time. While there is work to do to infuse personal responsibility and to legislate collective policy, the affirmation for these young men and so many others was well worth my miles and miles of walking to get out the vote. Whatever happens we have come a long way together.

Being is Believing: Yes, We Can! (Redux)

Yes, We Can!

Being in The Oedipus Cycle

My aunt just sent me great reviews of my cousin, John Rolle's dramatic performance in The Oedipus Cycle at the Pearl Theater. John is a graduate of Boston College and the Juilliard School and I am so very proud of him. He began as an operatic tenor and later studied the classics. He has also appeared in TV dramas.


Bravo, John! You're doing great! And congrats to both you and Lili on the birth of Ehren-Bennet. She's too cute, a beautiful blend of many. The bat mitzvah will be here sooner than imagined. It hasn't been too long ago that you followed me around New York and now you're out in the world making it happen.

Much love to you...