Real Joe

Every day is a good day to be alive, whether the sun’s shining or not. - Marty Robbins

I grabbed a long SOS this morning in the Carleton Upper Arb. Very foggy, thick dew on everything. The plants and grass glistened as the sun rose… spider webs in particular. Signs of fall: acorns on the ground, ground ivy turning red, a few yellowing leaves fluttering to the ground. I was in heaven, and though mental distractions kept intruding, I pushed them away in favor of my surroundings. Some good ideas occurred to me so I jotted them into my Palm and moved on. I have to do this more often.

Friends should be chosen carefully, because loving them will change our hearts and souls. - Jane Nakken

Is this true for me? Being a good friend doesn’t come naturally to me. I have to work at it. I’ll go do something about it now.

This should be a man’s attitude: ‘Few things will disturb him at all; nothing will disturb him much.’ - Thomas Jefferson

Robbie and I are squabbling over how mail and phone calls get handled at home. It’s unusual for us to go several days without resolving an issue. I don’t like this. If I’m disturbed, if I’m “suffering,” then it must mean I have a mistaken idea operating. I wonder what it is?

If you wait until you are really sure, you’ll never take off the training wheels. - Cynthia Copeland Lewis

I think that’s what I’m doing by not sending in the Real Joe Radio Demo V2.0 to Transom.org. I’ll do it this week.

When you reach for the stars, you may not quite get one, but you won’t come up with a handful of mud either. - Leo Burnett

I’m discovering this. With Real Joe, I’m reaching for the stars, but I’m already coming up with good stuff, no matter what happens.

Become a possibilitarian. No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities — always see them, for they’re
always there. - Norman Vincent Peale

Cool word, ‘possibilitarian.’ It’s one way of summing up my spiritual philosophy. I’m a communitarian and a possibilitarian. Funny.

Well, at least they’re awake. No email or phone calls, so I probably didn’t make the cut. Or maybe they’re just far behind on the selection and this announcement is just to keep us from getting too restless.

After a long and exciting seven months, the first Keep Walking grant process will culminate on September 11, in New York City. Out of more than a thousand applicants from fifty states, a group of outstanding Finalists have been selected as candidates for Grants from the Keep Walking Fund….

Stay tuned to Keepwalking.com in the coming weeks for a list of the Grant Finalists as well as coverage of the final Idea Plan presentations and Grant awards ceremony in New York.

We do not sing because we are happy, we are happy because we sing. - William James

I think it’s both. Lately, I’ve had the song is my head “Oh, What a Lucky Man, He Was” (Lucky Man) by Emerson, Lake, & Palmer. It’s not a favorite song, but that line resonates with me when I’m feeling grateful for the good things in my life. And this week, that’s been pretty frequent.

I’ve phoned and emailed them but still no word from Keepwalking.com. Maybe the whole thing is a sham. But then, why would they be advertising a new round of money for the fall? Maybe they’re just disorganized.

Pain comes like the weather, but joy is a choice. - Rodney Crowell

I’d add that suffering is a choice, too.

Midnight came and went. No word yet from Keepwalking.com.

I must love the questions themselves…like locked rooms, full of treasures to which my blind and groping key does not yet fit. – Alice Walker

In about six hours, I find out if Real Joe is a finalist for Johnny Walker Scotch Whiskey’s Keep Walking Fund. I submitted a proposal on June 30 and hadn’t really thought much about it till this weekend.

I noticed their ad in the current issue of Men’s Journal so evidently they’re going to do another round this fall. If I don’t get funded, I’ll take another whack at it.

One of my sons asked me, after I made a joke about meeting him in NYC (where I’ll go for the finals), whether I’ll be really disappointed if I don’t get funded. Nah.

Well, maybe a little. I have been telling people I’ve got a good feeling about it, which is true. So I’ll have to say “Oops, I guess I was wrong.” I’m not one to fake a “Oh, I’m sure my chances are extremely slim, there are likely to be so many more deserving BLAH BLAH BLAH…” And being wrong about this is no big deal anyway. I’m not counting on it, nothing critical depends on it, and I’ve got plenty of options in the works.

I wonder, though. Is Real Joe a big question, a locked room, and might this money be a key?

Or maybe Real Joe is my key to the locked room labelled “What does the world need?” That’s really the bigger issue that I can’t lose sight of.