Please Join Us!!
October 15, 2009
September 23, 2009
Second Annual Yellow Ribbon fundraising event – Poetic Art!
Hello,
After Mick O’Sheas’ great success last year now Marti and I are very pleased to announce the next fundraiser for the Yellow Ribbon Fund in remembrance of our son, Sgt. Scott Kirkpatrick.
As many of you know, Scott did Slam poetry for several years and won the DC Slam Poet Championship in 2000. He performed his spoken word poetry in venues not only here in Washington and Baltimore, but New York, Boston and Chicago. During this time the three of us were just starting to work on a collaborative exhibit of Scott’s poetry, Marti’s paintings and my photography for the Jo Ann Rose Gallery in Reston Virginia. Of course when Scott joined the Army we put our plans on hold.
Most of you are aware that Marti now works for the Lorton Arts Foundation as the Studio Manager & Exhibition Coordinator at the Workhouse Arts Center in Lorton Virginia. When Scott was killed our planned collaboration became the catalyst for an exhibition which Marti proposed and was accepted wholeheartedly by her boss and the staff at the Workhouse.
This fall the Workhouse will present Poetic Art, A Benefit for the Yellow Ribbon Fund. Curated by Marti and juried by the two of us, the exhibit will feature both professional and amateur poets and artists, invited or juried, to work in collaboration. The work of art will inspire the poet’s words, or the poem will inspire the artist’s creation. The exhibition will open to the public October 21 – November 21, with an opening reception and reading of poetry October 25, 2009 2-5pm. All of the original artwork with its accompanying poem will of course be for sale. Also for sale will be a full color show catalog of the paired art & poem and wine by the glass and hopefully Guinness Draught.
Marti and I have also selected a couple of Scott’s poems and will have artwork in the exhibit too.
As an extra bit of fun (If the Virginia ABC rules can be worked out) there will be an auction of one bottle each of 10, 12, 17, 21 and 25 year old Glenfarclas Single Malt Scotch. Even more special, there will be a single bottle each of their 105 Cask Strength, 1981 Special Cask and 1974 Vintage whiskey!
If you can’t make it but would like to purchase a catalog please shoot me an email as it will help with our printing count. We do not have a price yet but believe it will be in the $13 to $18 range.
We would love to see you and hope you can join us in support of this very worthy cause.
Ed and Marti, Kevin too!
October 6, 2008
Yet, Another Sign of the Apocalypse
The great British chocolate maker has offshored to China the production of its great chocolate….. I quote:
Hong Kong’s food safety agency said samples of two chocolate products made by British candy maker Cadbury at its Beijing factory contained considerably more melamine than the city’s legal limit of 2.5 parts per million.
The two items were among 11 Chinese-made products that have already been recalled by Cadbury in parts of Asia and the Pacific.
Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety said Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Hazelnut Chocolate Bulk Pack contained 56 parts per million of melamine, while Dairy Milk Cookies Chocolate contained 6.9 parts per million.
Calls to Cadbury offices in London and Asia Pacific went unanswered Sunday
via Tainted Cadbury chocolate found in Hong Kong – Yahoo News.
February 16, 2008
Dear Senators Mikulski and Cardin….
Senators Mikulski and Cardin,
I write to urge you to vote against the bill before the Senate that will grant immunity to the Telecommunications companies for violating our civil rights at the request of the Bush Administration.
As a Gold Star Parent, I am incensed that the President and Vice-President regularly violate the very protections accorded to us in our Constitution that they are sworn to preserve, protect and defend and those rights that my son died to protect. Then they insist that there be no repercussions for the Telecommunications companies who aided and abetted this atrocity. In no way should they be released from the legal penalty for their actions. If it was you or me, we would both be held accountable and they should be as well.
Sincerely,
Edward W. Kirkpatrick
=============================================
I worked for nearly 20 years in the telecommunications industry for C&P Telephone, Bell Atlantic and then AT&T. In those days, the sanctity of the customer record was inviolate without a proper warrant. Today, in a climate of fear and slipping closer to fascism, American Corporations are willing to forego the niceties of our Constitutional protections because it takes too long (24hrs) for a FISA court to issue the warrant. As the extension of this law expires today, the Cheney/Bush administration still has all the powers they need to do this type of surveillance in a timely fashion. If they did not, Bush would have agreed to another extension. The only reason they want this bill is to exonerate their friends from their crimes.
We do have a lot to fear these days, but I think we have met the enemy and it is us.
February 15, 2008
YRF Fundraising Event in honor of Scott Kirkpatrick
Be sure to read the comments for updated information!
Dear Friends and Family,
Forgive me if you’ve received this bulletin more than once, but we’re doing what we can to reach as many people as possible. That being said, please feel free to pass the word.
As most of you know our son, Sgt Scott Kirkpatrick was killed by an HBIED in Iraq on August 11, 2007. He was 26 years old. Recently, our niece, Suzy Quintavalle was having a conversation with Scott’s friend Sean. They got to discussing charity events, and to make a long story short they decided it was time to hold one in Scott’s honor.
Before he left on his last deployment, he let us know that if something happened to him, it was his wish that we find a fund to help benefit our Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Christy, Kevin, Marti and I chose the Yellow Ribbon Fund.
Our friend Linda got in touch with the owners of Mick O’Shea’s Irish Pub in Baltimore, MD, and they’ve agreed to let us hold an event in memory of Scott, to honor our Wounded Warriors who will benefit from YRF’s aid. Sean spoke with YRF today, and they are on board — their PR person told him that they’ve never been involved in something like this before, and they’re excited to participate.
Here’s the deal:
When: Friday, March 7, 2008, 8:30pm… until Mick’s
closes or you go home, (we are getting a room)….Where: Mick O’Shea’s Irish Pub
328 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD 21201
410-539-7504What’s Going On:
There will be a cover charge (to be announced), a portion of which will go to the Yellow Ribbon Fund. Yellow Ribbon staffers will be on hand to provide information about their organization and to accept voluntary cash or check donations.
Traditional & Contemporary Irish music will be provided by Rossnareen – March 7 was scheduled to be their night at the pub, but Mick’s owner, Dave, wanted to squeeze us in before St. Patrick’s Day, and upon discussing our plot with the band, they informed him that “they would be honored” to share the pub with all of us in tribute to Scott and our soldiers.
Mick O’Shea’s is a well-known Irish pub in Baltimore. There will be Guinness, of course, or whatever your drink of choice happens to be. We’re working with the owner to get a portion of drink sales donated to YRF, and possibly some drink specials as well.
We’re gearing up to promote this via any means available, and the good people at Yellow Ribbon Fund are assisting in same, even working on contacting Governor O’Malley — whose band, O’Malley’s March, used to play Mick’s often when he was Baltimore’s Mayor. If you can make it, we’ll be very happy to see you. If you know of anyone else who should be there, please forward this email.
If you can’t make it, we’ll raise a glass for you anyway, and you’ll attend in spirit. Words of encouragement are, well, encouraged –Suzy, Sean and Linda had this idea approximately three days ago and now have only three weeks to bring it to fruition. They willl not rest until it is done right, and that means they will be damn tired by the time the 7th rolls around. However, we’re all super-excited, and can’t wait to see how it all pans out.
UPDATE:
We just heard back from the folks at Mick O’Shea’s, and they told Linda that not only are they donating $1 from the $4 cover charge to the fund, but they’ll also donate $1 from every Guinness sold.
WOOHOO! Get Ready to drink some Guinness!So come out, have a pint or a few, share a story, and support the lads.
We hope to see you on March 7,
Ed, Marti, Kevin, Christy, Suzy, Linda and Sean
February 12, 2008
February 6, 2008
What should they read? Bill Moyers asks….
If you haven’t yet had a chance to watch Bill Moyers’ Journal on PBS, I suggest that you find some way. It’s not your usual talking heads show, he never screams at people or calls them bad names and it’s certainly not FAUX News. There is a wide variety of topics and guests, always current, and perhaps some of the most thought provoking commentary on the air.
Last week in his commentary, Bill Moyers said,
“On the CBS EVENING NEWS, Katie Couric asked candidates from both parties which book, other than the Bible, they would bring with them to the White House. ” See what they said here
Some of the answers were interesting and some “seemed” spontaneous. After that segment, Bill asked his viewers to suggest to the future president what ONE book he or she should take with them and to post our suggestions on his blog. He said he would discuss our suggestions on this Friday’s show. I suggest that you check out the blog postings and perhaps submit your own idea. As of today, there are over 2200 comments. All are interesting, some spontaneous and some are going on my reading list.
Naturally, I got to wondering for myself what I would suggest. Even though I think I read a lot and constantly, this list of books on the blog shows me my universe for selection is by comparison so limited. Making this choice is also hard to for me do as it requires remembering all the books I have read over the years, something I am not good at. In the end, I decided to choose several books that as their base embody a simple truth or value that, as Americans, we need to recognize and remember.
I know Bill wants only one book, but tough… so in no particular order :
- “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand, the rights and strengths of the individual vs. the mob,
- “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, a book about personal failure, discovery and salvation,
- “1776″ by David McCullough, remembering what we were when we as a nation were just discovering for ourselves,
- “Theodore Rex” by Edmund Morris, a book about Theodore Roosevelt’s Presidency and how TR as a person defines what personal strength and moral courage really are,
- “Citizen Soldiers” by Stephen Ambrose, to me this book defines our single greatest trait as a nation, our individual citizen’s willingness to help set wrong to right. We did it for the right reasons then and are so lost now, and lastly,
- “Team of Rivals” by Doris Kearns Goodwin, perhaps the best of the bunch as it describes the times of hatred, strife and war that at its core is so similar to our times now.
Ps, this list is subject to change as my memory fades in and out again….
January 20, 2008
An end in sight, a beginning again.
In just 365 days, one year from now, on January 20, 2009, at 12:00 Noon, we will be listening to the Inaugural Address of our newest President.
Our Nation’s very worst presidency will have come to an end. No matter who is elected this November, he or she cannot be worse in any way than what we as a nation, a civilization and as a planet have suffered over the last 7 years. I ask you to name one major accomplishment of this administration that will ring in the halls of history as brilliant, inspired, good or even noteworthy. No matter what your political stripe it is hard to justify on any level what our nation has been led through. Only the smallest and most stubborn of minorities still support the men who have misguided our nation, misappropriated our freedoms and led us so far away from the principles that made this nation the once great and respected leader of the Free world.
Ask yourself if you are better off today than you were seven years ago:
• World Peace
• The Environment
• Education and Science
• The Economy
• Our Armed Forces
• Personal Freedoms
• Employment opportunity
• Social Security
• Religious Tolerance
• Just being neighbors
• Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of HappinessI care less about who you vote for in November than I do about your helping whoever is elected to set right the wrongs, undo the harm and reinstate our good nation’s time honored and enviable position in the world of Leader and Doer of great deeds for mankind. We have much work to do and now is the time to get started.
Best Buy?….. Bye-bye
Why is it that that something as simple and basic to good business, customer satisfaction, no longer matters? How is it that awareness of its importance to business success is lost on those who run these large companies? With the Wal-Mart’ing of America and the death of Main street mom and pop shops and the demise of Sears and Penneys as viable appliance stores, the box stores are our last resort. The electronics box store, Best Buy, was my source for electronic doodads ever since Circuit City fired all its senior and experienced sales staff in favor of high-school kids who work cheap. Some of us can remember from way back when Circuit City was a new outfit but populated by a surly staff of non-native english speakers. It was painful and tedious to be harangued about purchasing those “service contracts” for your appliance. We all knew it was a rip-off and detested the hi-pressure tactics that were applied. But then, somebody in the Circuit City corporate management got the message and transitioned to knowledgeable and helpful staff. For a few years Circuit City was a pleasant place to shop. Then the bean counters got control again, they fired all the good sales staff and now we have children, mostly, it seems, still with pimples…. and then Comp-USA abandoned the DC market . So it was to Best Buy, the only competition left that I turned to for toys.Best Buy was “friendly” enough even if they suffer from being constantly out of stock and I will admit I had a very nice experience there two weeks ago buying a Blu-ray disc player. But that is done now, over, forgotten and erased by some corporate stupidity silliness that really fries me. Apparently, Best Buy only likes customers who buy things and not those who need to return or exchange some items.Case in point: I was given a movie in HD-DVD format for Christmas and I have a Blu-ray player. Without any technical jargon the bottom line is that the Blu-ray player will not play the HD-DVD format. The movie was purchased at Best Buy online and shipped to me because my daughter-in-law lives too far away down deep in the South. So I went into Best Buy in Germantown Maryland yesterday to exchange the HD-DVD for a Blu-ray version. Same movie, same price, same company, easy thing to do right?. Nope, no deal. Best Buy will not exchange a like for like item if it is purchased through the on-line store. They prefer to refund the sale to the buyer of record and lose the revenue, piss off two sets of customers and embarrass one. The reason for this stupidity? Corporate Policy. It even says so on the website. Where is the sense in this? Are they trying to mitigate credit card fraud? no, they run the same risk in the store of that as on-line. Does it cost them money to make the exchange? no, the items are the same price and nothing changes in inventory. They even make a little bit more with the on-line sale because they get some piece of the shipping fees and the on-line operation is likely more profitable than the brick and mortar store. Is it because they think I bought or stole it somewhere else? no, they have a record of the sale to my daughter and shipping to me.So where’s the harm? Here’s the harm: they have lost three good customers, they lost $80 in revenue, because I WILL return it and I WILL walk next door to Borders and buy it there and I am telling you this so you might think about this next time you climb in your truck to go buy something electronic.
Choice, it is the only right we seem to have left as consumers and I plan to exercise it and I hope you will too.
POSTSCRIPT – 1-21-2008
After the kind offer from Hollywood Video (see comments) Marti decided to first try her hand at flimflamming the management at Best Buy. Being a former retail manager at Sears (decades ago) she knows a thing or two and so yesterday we ventured up to the Best Buy in Frederick. While she made me wait in the parking lot ( she knew my temper might be a problem) she walked in and gave them a story. To use a football analogy, she found a seam in their defense, (for a cash sale they don’t keep a name record) and she lied. A little white lie but it worked. 15 minutes later she walked out of the store with the right copy and off we went home very much feeling the wrong kind of customer satisfaction. By the way, the movie, Planet Earth is in a word, simply extraordinary. I know, that’s two words…..
January 10, 2008
Annoying Keyboarding
I have not written much lately for a novel reason. I have a new keyboard that I hate and can’t get used to it. It is a Logitech MX3200 in addition to being a pain in the patootie. I spend most of my time backspacing mistypes. I can’t figure out why this is, but I think the keys are just a bit downsized. Maybe I should have bought that $19 one after all….. It also has this little “zoom” button that instantly makes whatever I am looking at microscopic. That’s annoying as hell because it lays right under where I rest my left hand…..!
