Generally speaking, Mr. Crankypants hates General Assembly:– too many Unitarian Universalists in too small a space; too much denominational politics; too much lousy food.
But this General Assembly is made worse by the fact that the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center is just sad. Forget the fact that the Broward County sheriffs check your I.D. when you walk in, which is demeaning and stupid and outraging, but it is not sad. No, Mr. Crankypants will tell you what is sad about this convention center. It is sad that most of the meeting rooms smell of mold. It is sad that they charge three dollars for a smallish cup of bad iced tea. It is sad that the projection screens in the meeting rooms are those old-fashioned pull-down screens on those little fold-up tripods, and they all look like they were purchased second-hand about thirty years ago.
Mr. Crankypants wants to slip gently out of the convention center and skip the rest of General Assembly and go lie on Fort Lauderdale’s beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, Mr. Crankypants is so white that even with SPF 153 sunscreen, he would burn to a crisp under the South Florida sun in about ten seconds.
Sigh.
And if he had, Mr Crankybermudashorts would have missed the Ware Sermon … er… Lecture… tonight.
That was amazing.
Simply amazing.
If you were at GA in Long Beach and thought that Holly Near rocked the house… you were at a tepid event–and for the record, I was there, and I thought that was wonderful. Van Jones preached tonight. And blew the house away. I was up in the front row… so I couldn’t see all the responses (except when people leapt to their feet to cheer and applaud)–but there were people around me who howled with laughter, cringed… wept, applauded.
At the end, Bill Sinkford walked slowly to the podium, and stood there–effectively being ignored…–for several minutes. Van had gone down on the floor and was being embraced by… well… pretty much everyone who was there.
Amazing.
Just awesome.
Ah, my poor ami, M. Crankypants. No beach for you? You are the lucky pale tall person. Because I have the idea for you: Le Duct Tape! Oui! On all parts of the body. It is the SPF 6010! And waterproof! Tres chic and tres bon.
Did the bad $3 ice tea also taste like coffee because they (mis)used insufficiently cleaned coffee urns?
I had turn off my link after the debate so I didn’t (yet) hear Van Jones. I’d never heard of him before until Thursday when I received a DVD “This Brave Nation with a series of documentaries, featuring progressives who effected change. Jones is in the first segment with Carl Pope of the Sierra Club.
Dan, tell me if you already have one, if not, I bought 5 and am giving them away. It’s very inspiring and well done. Great for house parties (I’m hosting one), to start discussions, to give hope and example. The series is also online: http:/bravenation.com
I am delighted to hear that Mr. Crankypants has made an appearance, albeit virtual, at GA! This is a much needed perspective. Perhaps get a cheap umbrella and go visit the beach?
The equally pale (AKA fair) mother-to-redheads Happy Web Diva