Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Calm down, people

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 9, 2008
Post category:Uncategorized
Post comments:0 Comments

“In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope!”
— Barack Obama

Anyone falling for the media spin that Hillary Clinton’s victory last night in New Hampshire was an upset (or even a comeback) is suffering from a seriously short attention span. She was leading pretty comfortably there before Iowa and managed to salvage a 3% victory over the upstart Barack Obama who, I think, got a little caught up in the hype around the historical import of his candidacy and coasted a little bit. She did it through a mix of old school political strategy, going negative against Obama in the final couple of days, and an accidental slip of her robotic demeanor that revealed the human being underneath. Anyone who thinks the latter will come to define her campaign moving forward is crazy.

That said, I think her narrowly winning NH is a good thing for Obama as he will benefit more than her from an extended campaign that runs, at least, through Super Duper Tuesday — I refuse to call it Tsunami Tuesday — because it will give him the opportunity to clarify a couple of things about himself, including the simple fact that on the political experience front, he trumps both Clinton and Edwards, as Phil West pointed out on his Obama blog:

But the top three Dem candidates actually have very similar resumes, despite Clinton’s familiarity with the White House from having lived in it. All three are lawyers who have folded activism in some form into their legal careers. If you’re looking at their careers as elected officials, Obama actually has the edge, having spent a decade in either the U.S. Senate or the Illinois legislature, whereas Clinton is on her seventh year as a U.S. Senator (with no prior eleced office) and Edwards served one six-year term.

Speaking of Edwards, I’m glad he’s not dropping out yet because his voice is an important one to have in the mix and my guess is he will continue to target Clinton as the “status quo” candidate, allowing Obama to focus on representing his campaign’s powerful message of hope. His speech last night was arguably as good, if not better, than his speech Iowa as it had a slightly harder edge to it, challenging Americans to stand up and be heard, to not let anyone tell us what can’t be done, echoing JFK’s “Ask not…” with his own catchphrase, “Yes We Can!”

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe751kMBwms]

Check out the full text of Obama’s “Yes we can!” speech.

(more…)

Spindle State of Mind

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 7, 2008
Post category:Media Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

It’s kind of hard to believe it’s 2008 already and that Spindle‘s official launch is less than 36 hours away!

I spent a lot of time this weekend preparing the content for Tuesday’s update, sending off the last of a handful of acceptances and rejections, the latter of which have gotten no easier since the first one — though my basic rejection letter has gotten a lot nicer, if more impersonal — especially when it involves people I know personally. One of the biggest differences between running a reading series vs. a publication is that the latter is less welcoming by definition as there is no open mic. Whatever I accept for publication is not just a reflection on Spindle and myself, it’s also a reflection upon everyone else whose work I accept and I want to ensure that Spindle is viewed as a quality outlet for a variety of work and not someplace that publishes just anybody. It’s something I take very seriously and can make for some awkward moments when rejecting people I know and respect.

Some acceptances and rejections happen immediately upon first reading, and some I come back to several times over a few weeks, or more. Most are purely my call while some poems get passed on to my editors for their opinions — and some, eventually, will come directly from their own solicitation efforts — especially when it comes to certain forms as I am not a big fan of formal poetry. Or rhyming. That said, I bring the spirit of the open mic to my reviewing of submissions, being as open to everything as I reasonably can be, and have already published a few poems that at first glance I wouldn’t have thought I’d liked.

All in all, the “soft launch” has worked out better than I hoped it would as the past six months of tweaking the site — first behind-the-scenes and then, as of September 12, 2007, live with regularly updated content — have paid off not only in it being ready for primetime on January 8th, but in there being more strong content already posted than I imagined I’d have at this point.

(more…)

I Believe, and I’m All In

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 4, 2008
Post category:Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

Barack Obama pulled off something special last night with his impressive victory in the Iowa caucuses, and while I’m always reluctant to declare “history in the making” while still in the moment, it’s hard not to get caught up in the glorious potential of that moment.

This moment.

“Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed.”
Abraham Lincoln

“I do not look upon these United States as a finished product. We are still in the making.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.”
Robert Kennedy

“This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear, and doubt, and cynicism; the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment. Years from now, you’ll look back and you’ll say that this was the moment – this was the place – where America remembered what it means to hope.”
Barack Obama

I supported Dennis Kucinich in 2004 even though I knew he had no shot, because he was the candidate closest to my beliefs, the one who represented a real change from the status quo. I made my first political donations ever to his well-intentioned but ill-fated campaign — approx. $200 over three donations, IIRC — and made tentative steps towards getting involved in his campaign by attending both a MeetUp and a fundraising event before he was completely pushed to the margins once it became about Kerry vs. Edwards.

2004’s results broke my heart a little bit, though, and my spirit, and I was planning to sit on the sidelines during the primaries this time around, fully expecting to have to cross my fingers and hold my nose again while pulling the lever for whichever compromised candidate the Democrats put forward, the faintest hope that Mayor Bloomberg would decide to join the fray keeping total despair at bay. I ignored the phone calls and emails from Kucinich’s campaign requesting my support again; ignored most of the coverage of the other campaigns until last month; ignored my gut instinct that this election was too important to ignore…

Barack Obama, though, has given me the unique opportunity to support a candidate I can wholeheartedly get behind and who actually has a chance to win. Of course, I don’t agree with him on every single issue, same as I didn’t agree with Kucinich on every single issue, but I admire the passion, the sincerity, and most importantly, the urgency he has brought to his campaign, to this election, to this crucial moment in American history where we have a legitimate opportunity to choose between jumping off the cliff once again or carving out a new path.

(more…)

Accepted: Gnome

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 3, 2008
Post category:Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

This just in: Guy: I will accept "Change of Direction" for the next issue of Gnome (http://gnome.asteriusonline.com ) best for the new year, JCE Since I submitted this back in November, I'll count this as partial credit towards my 2008 goal of having three poems published (or accepted) by the end of December! Yay me!

Obama, I Choose You!

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 3, 2008
Post category:Personal Reviews
Post comments:0 Comments

Back in 2004 I discovered an election sim called President Forever via a random Google ad on my old blog, bought it and spent many a late night frustrated over my unsuccessful attempts to lead Dennis Kucinich to simulated victory over Dubya. No surprise, really, but it was still a fun game that nicely married a few of my favorite things: politics, simulation and strategy games, and fantasy sports. (That same heady mix of total control and total lack of control that often gets me in trouble in real life!) It was when I couldn’t get Kerry or Edwards over the hump after several tries, though, that I began to get legitimately worried about reality; and the rest is sad, sad history.

So of course, after saying just a couple of weeks ago that I wasn’t going to become emotionally invested in this year’s election — to the point where I was purposefully limiting my exposure to any of the candidates, avoiding some of my favorite shows like Hardball and Meet the Press, only skimming relevant posts on my politically vocal friends’ blogs, effectively being the dreaded Average American — I caved and started researching the so-called Big Three Democrats: Clinton, Obama and Edwards.

Then I discovered Talking Points Memo and their Election Central coverage, and it was pretty much over.

Register to Vote: Rock the Vote, powered by Credo Mobile

I was still on the fence between Obama and Edwards at that point, but the combination of this Vanity Fair interview with Obama’s wife, Michelle, and Kucinich’s latest “second choice” ploy in Iowa — the same move he pulled in 2004 that put Edwards on my radar to begin with — knocked me off and I am now officially and fully in Barack Obama’s corner. So much so, I’m going to attempt to change my party affiliation back to Democrat in order to vote in the primary next month, something I didn’t even do for Kucinich back in 2004. It might be too late for me, but it’s not too late for YOU if you’re not already registered.

*ahem*

(more…)

The New loudpoet.com

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 2, 2008
Post category:Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

It's a new year so it must be time for me to relaunch one of my websites, right? While Spindle's official launch isn't until January 9th, I snuck in some work on my own website, loudpoet.com, over the past two days and have officially relaunched it today. It will once again be Command Central for all things Guy: Writer while Vox will be for the more personal stuff, like family updates, silly memes, and non-essential rants. (LiveJournal will be for x-posting from Vox for as long as the Russians allow loudpoet.com, and commenting on other LJs only.) Happy New Year! Read and post comments…

Hello, 2008!

Post author:Guy LeCharles Gonzalez
Post published:January 1, 2008
Post category:Personal
Post comments:0 Comments

Whether it’s the new job after 4+ years at my previous one; or my creative writing getting a much-needed kickstart thanks largely to a focused return to the slam scene; or my ending a $100+/month, love/hate relationship with comic books and along with it abandoning the one outlet that had kept me writing since 2005; or finally tackling my dream of publishing with the soft launch of Spindle — to say 2007 was a year of personal transition would be a bit of an understatement. Plus, I quit smoking, lost 15 lbs. and started going back to the gym on a regular basis, getting back into shape and pushing the inevitable mid-life crisis back a few more years!

All in all, hindsight being 20/20, while it wasn’t a perfect year by any means, the pros outweigh the cons and I feel like I’m in a pretty good position to continue to move forward in 2008.

I’m not a big fan of New Year’s resolutions, generally speaking, but I think having a To Do list is always a good idea and January 1st is as good a time as any to revise and/or update it.

(more…)