Coretta Scott King died today. She was the widow of Martin Luther King, Jr. It seems with her death an era died alongside her. CNN reported about her life as a freedom fighter:

‘She stood for peace’

Born in Marion, Alabama, on April 27, 1927, Coretta Scott graduated as valedictorian of her high school class and attended Antioch College. She received a B.A. in music and education and then studied concert singing at the New England Conservatory of Music where she got a degree in voice and violin.

While studying at the New England Conservatory, she met a theology student from Atlanta, Martin Luther King Jr., who was pursuing a doctorate at Boston University. They married on June 18, 1953, in her hometown of Marion.

As the young pastor began his civil rights work in Montgomery, Alabama, Coretta Scott King worked closely with him, organizing marches and sit-ins at segregated restaurants while raising their four children.

Mrs. King performed in "Freedom Concerts," singing and reading poetry to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization which Dr. King led as its first president.

The family endured the beating, stabbing and jailing of the civil rights leader, and their house was bombed.

When James Earl Ray killed her husband in Memphis in 1968, just prior to a planned march, Mrs. King organized his funeral, then "went to Memphis and finished the march," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Tuesday. "She was a staunch freedom fighter," he added.

Mrs. King turned her grief into the nurturing of her husband’s legacy. The year her husband was killed, she established The King Center for Nonviolent Social Change. A year later, she published her memoir, "My Life with Martin Luther King, Jr."

She spoke out "on behalf of racial and economic justice, women’s and children’s rights, gay and lesbian dignity, religious freedom, the needs of the poor and homeless, full employment, health care, educational opportunities, nuclear disarmament and ecological sanity," according to her biography.

Mrs. King and three of her children were even arrested in 1985 while protesting apartheid at the South African embassy in Washington, according to her official biography.

"She wore her grief with dignity," said the Rev. Joseph Lowery, former president of the SCLC, who worked on civil rights with Dr. King in the 1950’s. "She moved quietly but forcefully into the fray. She stood for peace in the midst of turmoil."

It is women, such as Coretta Scott King, that provide hope that the present and future will not be not doomed to repeat the mistakes of history. So forget for just a moment about what we find to fault about our country and remember that there are still people working tirelessly to make this country a better place for us to live.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you simply turn off the television. The television has an alluring quality, one in which you can whittle away mindless hours. I sometimes wonder if TV producers found a secret recipe, much like the original Coca-Cola recipe, that calls for a visual version of crack cocaine. It would explain a lot. Such as why, rather than turn off the TV, I will watch Wheel of Fortune. I’m not 90 years old; why can’t I turn off the TV?! I have thus started not turning ON the TV when I get home from work; rather, I’ve been reading my growing cache of books. I’m working on two books concurrently, Flowers for Algernon and The Devil in the White City. I might just keep one of my New Years Resolutions after all! Now if I could only supplement reading for food I might lose those last 10 lbs and fit into those black leather pants before the end of winter.

I was very proud of myself this evening. Despite the early morning meeting for work that roused me out of bed at 5:30 a.m. I managed to go to my first Village Book Club meeting. I know what you’re thinking, "isn’t that along the same lines as watching Wheel of Fortune?" and its true that more than 70% of the attendees were over the age of 60. But to be fair, only 7 people were in attendance. I quite liked the group; I found it easier to pipe up with opinions that I might otherwise keep to myself. I did know all but one member of the group from my former days as Membership Coordinator at Old City Park (now the new and improved Dallas Heritage Village). I suppose a sense of familiarity and a lack of need for professionalism led me to some comments (i.e. I think the primary character is a pompous twit) but it made the evening all the more fun. It also got me out of the house. Albeit its not quite the barhopping and swinging 20-something scene, but it’s a start. And by now, you all must realize that I’m a nerdy bookworm at heart.

Not too much going on in life lately so I thought I would share some anecdotes about Hamlet, otherwise referred to as Hammie, Hambone, Hammie-Bobammie, Vomit-Monger, or a variety of other endearing nicknames. Oh, and he’s my cat. "Oh no," you may groan, "the cat lady’s going to tell a story about her cat! How do you turn off the sound!" as you cover your ears and grimace. But to all of you I say, "La, La, La, I can’t hear you!"

Based on a general consensus on the combined intelligence of all of my family’s cats, Hammie is by far the most intelligent and is going to take over the world (along with Barney the White House’s dog and Stewie). Let me recount a couple of my favorite Hammie moments:

Story 1: Hammie is forced to eat cat food specially formulated for older cats with sensitive stomachs and a hairball control formula (MMM…MMM…Good). I think he is one of ten cats in the world that actually eats the food (most specifically because if he doesn’t he will starve). When I was in Africa Hammie took a 2-week "vacation" to my parents’ house. While confined within the bathroom (for reasons similar to Hannibal Lector’s confinement) a tiny morslet of food was surreptitiously dropped along the food route. My mom found it days after he returned home, a lone kernel of food, not touched by other kitties. This may not seem strange until you realize that Hammie was not the only kitty residing at my parents’ home; in addition to my parents 2 cats, my brother’s cat and my sister’s 2 cats were unwelcome squatters. So for a morsel of food to go untouched for 2 weeks is unimaginable, thus you must realize the apparent disgust of this food.

All this being said, this leads me to my current observation, Hammie is a food snob. He can’t rebel against the type of food he eats lest he starve, but he can decide which pieces of food he will eat. All food that makes it to the food bowl is free and clear to be eaten; but, if a morsel, say dropped en route to the food bowl, sits just 5 feet away, it will remain on the floor, stigmatized and uneaten for days. I even tried to trick him. I stuck a piece of food into his bowl that lay forgotten on the cold bathroom tile hoping that it would give the appearance of a fresh kitty treat. When I walked back in the room a couple of hours later, the food had been moved back to the floor. One could say forces unknown did this, but I believe that Hammie deliberately picked up the food and spit it back on the floor. I believe you can draw your own conclusions from this little incident…

Story 2: Hammie does have an endearing side to his personality, unless you think that his intentions run deeper (which may well be the case). Hammie is a musical cat, he enjoys songs and will even sing along given that a) the majority of the lyrics have his name inserted in the song and b) that I’m forced to loudly sing (typically off-key) and preferably dance about with a total disregard of rhythm. However, these actions will allow me approximately 30 seconds of all the good kitty love as he jumps on the bed to croon along. Sadly the song repertoire is limited to songs in which upbeat lyrics can easily be interchanged with "Hammie". A typical song may go:

"All the little birds on Hammie’s Street love the little kitty & go tweet, tweet, tweet"

"Rockin’ Hammie, tweet, tweet."

"Rockin’ Hammie, tweet, tweet."

"We’re gonna rock around the Hammie clock tonight"

"1 o’clock, 2 o’clock, 3 o’clock, Hammie!, 4 o’clock, 5 o’clock, 6 o’clock, Hammie!"

"Hammie’s gonna rock around the clock tonight…tweet, tweet, tweet"

This musical lyricism may then be followed by the tried and true, "Hammie, Row the Boat Ashore, Hammieleauah!"

Sometimes it makes me happy to think that Hammie loves me enough to come to my hideous attempts to sing. Other times I think there may be a darker motive, one in which he enjoys watching me dance about and sing off-key like a fool. I think it feeds his god-complex (intelligent beings are often saddled with a superiority complex). And then again you could just chalk it up to my overactive imagination and penchant for exaggeration.

Ok. It was all a trick. The cool kids aren’t doin’ it. Unless you think I’m cool and then by default, the cool kids are doin’ it. What is it, you ask… No, it’s not Ebay- the evil brainsuckiness that is oh so addictive and so good… must resist the urges!

It. Is. Reading. MediaPostPublications reports that according to projections compiled by Lulu (web-based print on-demand service), the number of Americans who write and publish books is on track to exceed the number who actually read them. According to estimates the number of books published in America in 2004 hit a record 195,000 - a 14 percent increase on the previous high of nearly 175,000, recorded in 2003.

Those figures follow a survey published in 2004 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), which showed that the percentage of Americans who read books has steadily declined over the last 20 years. Only 57 percent - 164 million Americans - of the U.S. population now read even one book a year. That’s a decline of 4 percent in a decade.

Based on those trajectories, Lulu calculates that by the 2052, 148.4 million books will be published in the U.S., but only 129.4 million Americans will actually read one. In other words, 19 million new books in 2052 will not find a single reader, including, presumably, their own authors.

I don’t understand. Why are people not reading? Is it the books? Every time I walk into a bookstore there are alluring books with pretty cover art… I bet even those people who don’t want to exert their reading muscle can find a book or two with pictures. So why? I can’t be the only one still reading!

Since the ringing in of the New Year, I’ve already started reading book #4. I will admit they my reading selection is not always the most taxing of reads but are mostly for pure entertainment value. I did get Jane Austen’s Guide to Dating as a fun holiday gift as well as Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation. And $45 in Barnes and Noble gift cards even had me paying full price for books this weekend. So come on people! Wake up! Read a book! Even two! Buck the odds, read a little! Join me at the cool kids’ lunch table!

P.S. Speaking of Sarah Vowell, and all things related to This American Life, she will be in Austin on Friday, November 10th at the Paramount Theater. And in other This American Life news, Ira Glass will grace the Majestic Theater stage in Dallas on April 2nd and David Sedaris, as part of the DMA’s Arts & Letters Live, will perform at the Majestic on April 25th. Mark your calendars!

The Alito confirmation hearings have garnered alot of press this past week and I’ve been listening to them on my way to and from work on NPR. 18 hours and 70 questions and for some reason every time I turn on the radio I manage to hear Edward (Teddy) Kennedy fiery vindictiveness towards Alito on issues ranging all the way back to 1972.

(snagged from Salon.com- go have a looksie, a great read)

Kennedy berated Alito for his membership in CAP (Concerned Alumni of Princeton) because of the supposed discriminatory nature of some of the articles written in CAP’s magazine. So, let’s suppose for a minute that Alito joined for reasons other than he suggested (the organization’s priority in keeping ROTC on campus), why is something from a 1985 job application, something that dates as far back as 1972 when Alito attended Princeton, important to a Supreme Court Confirmation decision??!! It’s apparent that even if Alito joined for reasons unstated in the hearings he has not acted in a discriminatory manner throughout his career as a judge.

And can I just bring up the very obvious point here… pot calling the kettle black! I think we just might need to ask the question how does being a member of CAP compare to murder Senator Kennedy? [In reference to the 1969 death of Robert Kennedy’s former secretary during a drunken escapade in Chappaquiddick]

Kennedy [Flustered since he didn’t have his aides type up a snappy response to read]: Well, as you know, that incident was a tragic accident.

US: So was it an accident that you got out of the car alive when you drunkedly drove into a pond and Mary Jo Kopechne drowned inside while you walked back to the party and discussed how to best cover up this indiscretion with your lawyer friends?

Kennedy: It was shock. I tried to get her out. I returned to the party for help.

US: Interesting how it took you 2 hours to return to the party and 9 hours to call the police. Seems like you might have been trying to sleep off your intoxication.

Kennedy: Falsehoods I tell you, falsehoods!

US: So Senator Kennedy, what is the moral to this story? Maybe people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones?

Might I just add, despite the fact that President Bush nominated Alito I think this has been one of the few decent decisions Bush has made during his presidency (see I’m not always a Bush basher!). He seems to be fairly moderate and hopefully we won’t have to worry about any of the major cases of precedence being overturned (i.e. Roe v. Wade). I was impressed with his grace under fire, had Kennedy questioned me I might have had the inclination to shoot off a few tacky retorts.

Of course I’m not sure what they might bring up about my history (I’m still young, I’ve got plenty of time to make mistakes). There was a paper, written for a high school English class at the age of 14, advocating for the death penalty. Yet since that time I’ve moved to the other side of the fence in opposition of the death penalty. Oh the sordid truth has now come out, I abandoned my conservative roots for a liberal stance! Flog me about the wrists!

Though I think we could come up with some interesting indiscretions from within the family tree, nothing paramount to the Kennedy family tree, but M and J might have a couple of stories worth telling… Don’t worry, I won’t divulge the family secrets, I fear that just retribution from family members might ensue….

So I was flipping through the late night shows last night and caught David Letterman’s Top Ten List titled "Top Ten Signs Your Kitty Is A Genius". And, as anyone who knows me well already knows, my kitty is a genius! So of course I looked for additional signs to validate his status as ingenue…

10. Meows in six languages

9. He’s the only one in your family who could assemble your Ikea coffee table

8. His whiskers are Bluetooth enabled

7. He only purrs when "Meet the Press" is on

6. Won 28 grand on "Jeopardy’s Kitty Week"

5. He rigged it so he’s got 10 lives

4. Earned the 2005 Nobel Prize in yarn-related sciences

3. Keeps putting the dog on Ebay

2. Not only calls 911 for you, also calls Z-100 whenever you need your Aerosmith fix

1. Winces everytime he hears George W. Bush say, "Nuke-yoo-lar"