A few years back we had the “million man march”. This weekend, we had the “two million people march”. As President Barack Obama flew to Minnesota on Saturday to rally support for his health care plan, a sea of protesters filled the west lawn of the Capitol and spilled onto the National Mall on Saturday in the largest rally against Obama since he took office!
A culmination of a summer-long season of protests that began with opposition to the health care overhaul and grew into a broader dissatisfaction with government!
Up to two million people marched to the U.S. Capitol today, carrying signs with slogans such as “Obamacare makes me sick” as they protested the president’s health care plan and what they say is out-of-control spending. The line of protesters spread across Pennsylvania Avenue for blocks, all the way to the capitol, according to the Washington Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.
People were chanting “enough, enough” and “We the People.” Others yelled “You lie, you lie!” and “Pelosi has to go,” referring to California congresswoman Nancy Pelosi.
The mood in America is not good right now and it’s not been good for sometime. The question is can we come together as a people, as Americans or are we just too divided and split into the liberal-conservative paradigm to survive with any degree of civility? Demonstrators waved U.S. flags and held signs reading “Go Green Recycle Congress” and “I’m Not Your ATM.” Men wore colonial costumes as they listened to speakers who warned of “judgment day” – Election Day 2010.
Richard Brigle, 57, a Vietnam War veteran and former Teamster, came from Michigan. He said health care needs to be reformed – but not according to President Barack Obama’s plan. “My grandkids are going to be paying for this. It’s going to cost too much money that we don’t have,” he said while marching, bracing himself with a wooden cane as he walked.
Many protesters said they paid their own way to the event – an ethic they believe should be applied to the government. They say unchecked spending on things like a government-run health insurance option could increase inflation and lead to economic ruin. Terri Hall, 45, of Florida, said she felt compelled to become political for the first time this year because she was upset by government spending. “Our government has lost sight of the powers they were granted,” she said. She added that the deficit spending was out of control, and said she thought it was putting the country at risk.
Anna Hayes, 58, a nurse from Fairfax County, stood on the Mall in 1981 for Reagan’s inauguration. “The same people were celebrating freedom,” she said. “The president was fighting for the people then. I remember those years very well and fondly.” Saying she was worried about “Obamacare,” Hayes explained: “This is the first rally I’ve been to that demonstrates against something, the first in my life. I just couldn’t stay home anymore.”
We’re in un-chartered waters! But some do remember the Boston Tea Party!
Archive for February, 2010
Washington, D. C. Tea Party
Trade secrets in writing Treasure Hunt & Scavenger Hunt clues for fun party
Do you know anyone who is given a riddle to solve and there is a prize for solving and still the person doesn’t try? I don’t. Anyways I’m writing this for folks who love to create clues. Writing clues can be quite intricate and demanding for inexperienced. Here I present the structure to write treasure hunt or scavenger hunt clues for any physical object like refrigerator, closet.
Objective
We are to organize one scavenger hunt game in our nearby park for kids aged 9 to 13. We have selected ‘Grass’ as one of the objects to be collected in this clue based hunt. Now we need to write a clue on ‘Grass’.
Start from the End
The obvious start for writing a clue is to identify the answer (We selected ‘Grass’). Physical objects are easier than abstract ideas for making riddle hunts. Very specific answers like ‘grass of Mike’s backyard’ can be very challenging to solve even for Mike himself. Less specific answers like ‘backyard grass’ or ‘grass’ are generally not as difficult however hard clues can still be made for general answers.
Think, Think & Think! Some More!!
Related Words
First create list of words, ideas, thoughts which are related to and have some association with ‘Grass’. Important part is to just note down whatever comes to your mind.
Green, Lawn, Garden, Grassland, Lawnmower, plants, Crops, Weeds, Herb, Hay, Sod, Under your feet, Cricket pitch, Hockey artificial turf, Football field, lush, Collect dew, Grazing land, Pasture, Herd, Wimbledon, Golf putting, farm, food chain, chomp, grasshoppers
Opposite Words
Also create list of words, ideas, thoughts which are opposite or have reverse correlation with ‘Grass’.
At the top, Hungry cattle, muddy football in rain, Soiled, On your head
Use Thesaurus & Internet Resources
Leverage Internet’s vast resources to capture more information on ‘Grass’. Types, associated history, referenced in movies. One very useful aspect is to find idioms related to ‘Grass’.
Grass is always greener on the other side, Don’t let the grass grow under one’s feet, Put out to grass, Snake in the grass, Grass root level
Put yourself in Object’s shoes
Imagine you are the object and describe the world from its point of view. What do you see, hear, feel and smell? What do you like & what you don’t.
Everyone is taller than me, Don’t stomp, I need lots of water, Cut the shank and I’m smooth. I make your lawn lush green, My king in Africa is the tallest
Use Figure of Speech
Use figure of speech to write sentences describing the answer (‘Grass’), using whatever we’ve come up with so far.
Mental Picturization: Collects dew to make your shoes wet
Personalization: I can move the ball, just don’t stomp on me, Cut the shank and I’m smooth
Metaphor: Start of the food chain, Wimbledon court
Substitute Word for main word(s): lush green
Sounds associated with word: chomp, chomp, chomp for grazing
Simile: So is Grass to lawn as hairs to head (You guessed it! I’m indeed baldy) or colours to painting
Did all the hard work…Now write a draft ‘Hunt Clue’
Both too easy or too hard clues will make players loose interest very quickly. Categorize all work done till now. (1) Reject too straight forward phrases (2) Choose some cryptic phrases (3) Choose some solvable part of the clue.
I like the ideas related to ‘cutting the shank’, idiom ‘let the grass grow under one’s feet’, ‘ moving the ball’ and ‘king in Africa is the tallest’ to build the cryptic parts. Let’s see if we could use ‘Golf putting’, ‘greener on the other side’ & ‘Hungry cattle’ to guide the players for actually solving the clue.
Lush green and anything related to grazing seem a bit obvious. May be I’ll pick these while writing clues for younger kids but not here. Start of the food chain can be confused with other plants, so ignore it..
Cut the shank, I make the ball move, putt you believe I’m green other side.
In Africa I have the tallest king, Lazy you I grow under your feet.
Aaah! It seems very disjointed and not spicy at all. Let’s give another try and use some Parallelism and Opposites, Cut & Grow, Short & Tall.
Cut the shank I move the ball, No action I grow in your feet,
Greedy bully makes me short, Only tall is my African king.
Used ‘greedy bully’ for ‘hungry cow’ to make it a bit obscure. I’m still not quite satisfied. It doesn’t sound good when I read it aloud. Let’s give it the finishing touch.
Make it Elegant & Poetic
Now we need to use thesaurus a lot. Modify the phrases to have almost equal number of characters and finish each phrase with rhyming words. We could use formal writing technicalities like rhetorical effect, alliteration to enhance literary quality of clues. Visual changes like punctuation placement, capitalization and bolding to further emphasise the clues. I used ‘switch’ to represent ‘other side’.
No action I grow in your feet, greener if you are switching.
Greedy bully makes me short, biggest is one African king.
It looks and sounds better now. I’m sure kids are going to have lot of fun playing scavenger hunt game.
Party Theme Ideas
Party theme ideas are the most interesting aspects of any party. Themes provide a certain direction to the fibre of the party. Themes are chosen according to preferences of the people who are having parties. Therefore if you are having a birthday party, the theme must please the birthday girl or boy and it is based on the things they love. There are very many themes you can think of in fact, you can have a theme from virtually any sport, hobby, profession and many other disciplines. It is very easy to come up with themes and you do not have to go round in circles searching them. A party without a theme is usually dull and plain. This is not the kind of to party you want to throw.
Party theme ideas for children always manage to brighten their parties. They love dressing up and acting as different characters and this is what themes are all about. Examples of party themes for children include the princes party where the party recognizes the birthday girl as the princess and everyone in attendance will also carry this theme. Decorations and invitations will also carry the theme and it is almost like being a princess for a day. The awesome feeling created is as a result of the theme. Children who have such uplifting themes will grow up with confidence and this is a good head start for them. The top ten themes for children include pirate party, sweet 16 party, tropical luau party, scarvenger hunt party, tea party theme, sleepover party and the list goes on.
Party theme ideas are also for adults because so much adventure is added to parties. Some of the themes that adults do are costume parties. Everyone comes to the party with an interesting costume and they assume a certain speak which makes the whole experience awesome. Another adult theme is casino party. There are many activities involved in this kind of theme and the main one is gambling. Others are wine tasting parties where the party goes to a winery near them and get to experience and explore different tastes in wines. If there is no winery near them, a variety of drinks are brought and they can get to do the same as they enjoy every taste and flavor.
Party theme ideas include staying and enjoying parties indoors where you an have a dinner party, house warming party, poker night, a book club and many more. All these themes can be adapted very easily for your party and you can get to see the difference. You can also come up with your very own party theme ideas. Above that, you can mix two themes and get to have double entertainment. This is common in adult parties and it will be sure to add a twist to your party. All in all, there are no rules when it comes to themes. Remember to adapt or go with a theme that is going to please your party. There is no point of going for a theme that is boring.