Ba Humbug…

I don’t know what it is but I’m just not feeling the Christmas spirit this year and I’m not sure why. Is it just me? I know it isn’t anything that is going on in my life. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been happier at this time of the year. I have my health, have been eating well, working out, and at 41, can still see my abs! My kids are smart, funny and are living fun, exciting, and adventurous lives. I am truly madly, crazy, insanely, and desperately in love with someone and she feels the same way. I have an amazing job, working with some of the smartest people on the planet and when I’m not traveling to beautiful campuses throughout the country, I’m sitting in my PJs at home working on a 30-inch Apple Display. I have nothing to complain about, and in fact haven’t felt this good about my life in a really long time.

It’s just that last year all my Christmas shopping was done by now. This year I haven’t even put my shopping list together yet. Last year I went to five or six Christmas parties, or what we now refer to as the “year end gathering.” This year I avoided all of them. Last year I ordered a whole bunch of cool personalized Starbucks gift cards and by now had mailed them out with the cool Christmas cards it took me two hours to pick out in Target. This year, I still haven’t bought the cards and everyone is going to get my card late, if I send them out at all. Last year I knew exactly what to get everyone in my life. I put things in frames, I made things, I ordered things weeks before. This year, I’m just not feeling it.

I don’t know why I feel this way so I thought I’d explore the possibilities…

Is it because Christmas came early this year? Doesn’t it feel like Thanksgiving was a week ago? How long do you think we can move at the speed we do today? The months feel like they are jetting by at warp speed. We are getting better at doing twice what we did ten years ago but at what price? It’s completely ok today to read and answer 200 emails. It’s completely ok today to work from 7:00 till 9:00, eat a cup of yogurt, go to bed and wake up at 5:00 AM to hit the spin class. Are we moving so fast that we are forgetting what it’s like to breath or just be board? When was the last time you went to a mall to just brose? If feels like everything we do has to have a purpose. When was the last time you “went for a drive” or just walked out of your house with no destination in mind? How are we ever going to be creative if our minds are never at rest to just wander and self discover?

Is it because of the economic environment we are currently in? Millions of Americans are losing their jobs, their homes, their savings, and their retirement funds. Maybe it just doesn’t feel right going out and buying the “ Commemorate legendary Yankee Stadium with this limited edition print signed by Yogi Berra” for $799.00 or “the Sanctuary from Bluelounge that conceals 11 built-in connectors and one USB port” for $129.00 (I randomly selected these items from the Skymall magazine from the seat pocket in front of me.) Maybe it’s just harder now to shop for people. I mean what is the perfect gift for someone who just lost his or her entire savings, or their home, or their job? A bag of groceries? A really cool piggy bank? Something just doesn’t feel right about going out and buying crap when the world is in the state that it’s in right now.

Speaking of crap, is it because there is just way too much crap in the world? With the current state of our environment, you really have to ask yourself, was all the damage we did to the planet really worth making hundreds of thousands of the 8-inch ceramic “Mexican taking a siesta next to a cacti” statue? I walk through a store and think about that when I see rows and rows of just pure crap. Dollar stores were born because we have way too much crap. Dollar stores are the bottom of the barrel of the crap we have but you don’t have to go into a dollar store to see what I’m talking about. Eighty-five percent of the retail stores in this country sell “absolutely pure non-essential unnecessary” crap. The Holy Grail example of this is Sharper Image. There is absolutely nothing in that store that you need. World Market is an example of a place that sells things you might need, like a small sofa couch for your tiny apartment, but also sells crap you absolutely do not need, like the African art piece that was mass produced somewhere in Tennessee or China. By the way, if you buy that “piece of art” in World Market, is it really a piece of art if there are 560,000 just like it? Then you have stores like Target, the ultimate blend of things you need (groceries, pillow cases, and laundry detergent) and things you don’t need (candle holders, plastic flowers, and mass produced pictures of Elvis Presley holding a Coke can).

Is it because I’m done with the whole Christmas set up and scam? Even though Christmas feels like it came quick this year, marketers started selling us Christmas the day after Halloween! In some cases, I saw the decorations going up a few days before Halloween. Christmas has become the make it or break it for the economy and that is sad, not to mention dangerous. Are we saying the entire state of our economy now rests on how much crap we buy and sell each other? Is that what it has come down to? Remember when we used to make things and sell them to other countries?

Not to mention the falseness of the entire season. I love getting shit from dumb asses because I live in Arizona. “I don’t know how you celebrate Christmas without the winter, or the cold, or the snow,” they say. “I could never do that. Christmas is supposed to be celebrated with cold weather and if you’re lucky, you get snow!” they tell me. I have to remind them that 90% of the Christian world celebrates the birth of Christ in warm weather. I remind them that all of the southern United States, Central America, all of South America celebrates Christmas when it’s at least 65 degrees (and I believe there quite a few Latinos who are Christen. I remind them that it’s warm in most of the Middle East and hot in the entire continent of Africa. I remind them that Australia and New Zealand are in the middle of their summers. So the entire, “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas” line would actually be more of a miracle than the birth of Christ in most of the Christen world!

Is it because you know that you have at best a 50-50 shot that the person you are giving something to will actually like or use the thing you get them. I find it fascinating to listen to people’s thought process when they are shopping for someone. You hear things like, “last year the gift she got me was worth $50 so I have to get her something that’s worth at least that.” Or, “I have to get my brother something, what can I get him for $20 bucks.” Or, ‘I’m just going to get my friends gift certificates because I know they are getting me gift certificates.” So basically you are just exchanging money. You spend $150 in gift certificates and get $150 in gift certificates? Does that really make sense?

So what’s the point of getting someone a hat, or a new shirt, or a pair of mittens, or scarf, or a gift certificate? What are you saying to that person with those gifts?

Of course this all applies to adults only, because with children, it’s different. It’s completely ok to go out and buy that niece the coolest Hot Wheels crash set you can get your hands on. If you remember being a kid, there is magic in opening up a present and seeing the glorious colors of the toy box! If you buy kids clothes for Christmas, you are an idiot. You are not bright enough to understand the world around you, and we all know you’re really just trying to impress the parent anyway. You want to buy your niece, nephew, grand kid, son, daughter clothes, sure, go ahead, but at least wait until they are 14. Until then, the $100 sweater you bought little Jimmy from J Crew to impress his mother, might get tossed with the wrapping paper from the $9.99 action figure he’s going to go to bed with for the next six months.

Maybe we need new rules for this whole Christmas thing. After all, we are all broke, unemployed, and homeless. If we’re not that, we are destroying the world by making crap no one needs so we should stop buying it all. What’s that you say? The crap we produce keeps the economy going? Without the crap, we wouldn’t have jobs you say? Well actually most of the crap we buy is made in another country so we’re really not helping the economy. Jobs that fix our decaying infrastructure, improve our crumpling schools, or jobs that build smart, fuel-efficient and greener cars the world needs, those are the jobs we need!

I think gifts should mean something to the individual and that should be the rule. So if you can’t give someone a gift that means something, maybe you shouldn’t be giving that person a gift at all. Also, just because someone gives you a gift doesn’t mean you need to get him or her a gift. If you give someone a gift that means something to him or her, the reward of the gift will be in his or her gratitude.

So instead of giving your kid’s 4th grade teacher a fake Coach purse you bought on the black market, give her a $100 gift certificate to Office Max to buy the class the supplies she usually buys from her own paycheck.

Instead of giving your mother a robe for the third time in eight years, find an old picture of her when she was young (around the time she gave birth to you would be cool) and get it blown up and framed with a list of all the great memories you have from being a kid.

Instead of giving your wife a pair of expensive diamond earrings she’s only going to wear twice, buy her a ticket to go see her best friend from college for a long weekend. Better yet, coordinate with her best friend’s husband, and you can both send them somewhere nice for a long weekend.

Instead of buying your best friend a gift certificate to best buy, get tickets to go see a band you both like, or find that first edition of that book you know she loves.

Instead of buying anything for anyone, maybe we can give the ones we love the best gift of all, or time and attention…but hey, what do I know, I just bought the Sanctuary from Bluelounge...












Merry Christmas!

Convocation Speech to the School of Public Programs December 2008

//note: I delivered the following address to the ASU School of Public Programs graduating class on 12/18/2008.//

Thank you. I’d like to thank Debra Friedman, the faculty and staff of the School of Public Programs, the parents and friends who have gathered here proudly to celebrate with you, and of course, you, the School of Public Programs graduation class.

I’m not even going to try to describe how honored and humbled I am to be standing in front of you this afternoon. I can only express that as a first generation American raised by a single mother in New York City, this is by far, the greatest honor and trust anyone has ever bestowed on me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this memorable opportunity. Now, let’s all join Dr. Friedman and cross our fingers that I actually say something worthwhile!

We are living in interesting times, to say the least. On the dawn of a historic transition of presidential power, and as we prepare to swear in this great nation’s first person of color, we face some of the most challenging issues our nation has ever faced. Make no mistake about it; even as we turn the page on this new chapter of American history with promise and hope, the road ahead is littered with uncertainty and doubt.

In the last few months, many American families have had the locks changed on what they though was the final chapter of their American dream. They were forced from their homes taking only with them meaningless material possessions, forced to leave behind their memories, their haven, their home.

In the last few months, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, adding to the record number of Americans who have been left out in the employee parking lot, not because of their performance, but simply because their organizations couldn’t keep them any longer.

In just the last few months, our once great American corporations had to go to the federal government and ask for a bailout, admitting to the world that maybe American business doesn’t always have the answer or the right way of doing things or were even mature enough to regulate themselves.


At the same time, nearly 47 Million Americans wake up everyday without health insurance.

The United States continues to fall in education standards, leaving our children at a considerable disadvantage in this global economy.

Our nation’s debt continues to climb at an astonishing rate of more than 3 Billion dollars a day, raising concerns for how we will pay for all the programs we so desperately need.

Yes, our nation faces critical issues and obstacles. In trying to find a summary that best describes the essence of what we face as a nation, I found the following take on our current situation. I quote:

“In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties. They concern, thank God, only material things. Values have shrunken to fantastic levels; taxes have risen; our ability to pay has fallen; government of all kinds is faced by serious curtailment of income; the means of exchange are frozen in the currents of trade; the withered leaves of industrial enterprise lie on every side; farmers find no markets for their produce; the savings of many years in thousands of families are gone.

More important, a host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment.”

Sums it up pretty good doesn’t it? Well it is from the speech made by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his Inaugural Address on March 4, 1933, more than 70 years ago.

The point is that we have been here before. We have faced fierce challenges as a nation before and we have prevailed before. So as we face the darkness of the current state of the nation, I know we will meet the challenges head on and I have no doubt that we will prevail.

Why so confident? Well, that’s easy. It is because I get to stand here, in front of you the graduating class of the School of Public Programs at Arizona State University. I know that the answers to many of the questions we face are in your heads. You are the difference in the world and the ones who will help us solve many of the problems we face. You are entering these troubling times with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to design, create, and implement the solutions we need today! You will do things differently. You will be innovative. You will be creative. You will use your passion and intelligence to change the world!

I was sitting in the same seat you are now when I graduated with my Master’s in Public Administration from ASU, oh so many years ago. I can tell you that as a 25 year old, I was ready to take on the world and I have yet to lose that passion. Since then, I went to New York and made an impact on welfare reform, I’ve consulted with government organizations, and although I now work in the “private sector,” I continue to be involved in the social sector, as part of advisory boards to a number of colleges, non profits, and social sector initiatives. I continue to teach in the School of Public Programs, as some of you had to suffer through, and I will continue to find ways to try to change the world! I have great plans for non-profits I want to start, international efforts I want to support, and political figures I want to advise. I know that many of you have that same passion and I’m excited to see where it takes you.

The first lesson I have learned and want to leave you with is simply this. Live your life with purpose.

I was born in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. I am the child of an immigrant. A single mom raised me. Statistically speaking, I shouldn’t be here talking to you today. According to these statistics, I was supposed to be a drug dealer, a prison inmate, a high school drop out, or dead at a young age, the fate of many people I knew.

The reason I am here today is because I have always believed I had a purpose. I believe I am here for a reason. I made decisions based on the belief that I had a purpose to fulfill, and I have never let anything, especially statistics; get in the way of that purpose.

Remember, there is no one like you. So I encourage you to forget statistics and believe in yourself! Nothing will ever stop you if you believe in yourself and your purpose in life.

So I ask you: What do you really want to do? What do you really want to be? Where do you really want to go?

And as you think about those questions remember, you have the same number of hours in a day that John Adams had, Mother Teresa had, Martin Luther King Jr. had, and anyone else you look up to had. What are you going to do with your 24?

In the same spirit of living your life with purpose, I encourage you to think big and never be satisfied.

So I survived the statistics, I never became a drug dealer or ended up in prison, but that wasn’t good enough for me. I wanted to create my own statistics. I wanted to be part of the number of people from Hell’s Kitchen who went to college, so I did that. I wanted to be part of the number of people who earned a Master’s degree, so I did that. I wanted to be part number of people who grew up the way I did and worked for Accenture, and Charles Schwab, and now Google and I did that. By no means am I done!

Use this mentality in your day-to-day work. Are you thinking big enough?

In my innovation class I ask the question, what do you think is the most important characteristic of being innovative? I always get back the same responses: brilliant, resilient, smart, energetic, etc.

Although all those are possible characteristics, the answer I am looking for is, someone who doesn’t care what you think. They are big thinkers and will not let negativity pull them down. Their passion and commitment to thinking big is stronger than that.

You will always face naysayers. They told the Wright brothers that a vehicle that was heavier than air couldn't fly. They said that no human could ever run a mile in under 4 minutes. They told Elvis Presley that he would never make it as a rock star, and they even told Michael Jordon he couldn’t play basketball.

What do they say about you? What will they say about your ideas? Are you thinking big enough?

In addition to living life with purpose, and thinking big, you have to change the world!

Change the world with your crazy ideas, by trusting your gut feeling.

From the time we are in grade school, we are taught to think that the best answers and ideas are in books or come from someone else. We all know that’s not true. We know the best answers are found on Google! Ok, that’s not true either, what the world needs from you is original thoughts and ideas. Those ideas are in each and every one of you!

I started this afternoon by describing all the terrible circumstances our country faces. I am not afraid, in fact, I am excited and full of hope to see how we can change and recreate our broken world. We are at a critical time, and we will prevail, we will prevail because of you.

The HOPE America has been talking about, the anticipation of CHANGE that is firing up the country and the world, is coming from you, from your crazy ideas, from your passion, from your actions. It is up to you to determine how the world will change; in your mind are solutions, the answers, and the new ideas that will shape the new era of America, ideas that will shape the world.

You know, the greatest day of your life isn’t your birthday, or the day you get married, or even when your children are born. The greatest day of your life is the day you realize that this is YOUR life that you own it and control it. The greatest day of your life is when you truly feel that life is an amazing journey and that YOU are responsible for setting it in motion, that you determine what your life’s journey will be like.

So I challenge you to look forward to that day. I challenge you to go places and have adventures. I challenge you to truly make a difference. I challenge you to do what you love and follow your dreams. I challenge you to realize that the only thing that will ever stop you is you.

Congratulations on this tremendous milestone. You should be as proud of yourself as we all are of you. I know you will change the world.

Thank you.