Why I Don’t Want To Recap 2009

It’s the end of the year, 2009. It’s also the end of the first decade of the 2000s. Wow.

Seems like it was just yesterday that you couldn’t find bread, milk, water or batteries to save you life because everyone (or at least the majority of America) was concerned that the world would end because we “forgot” that at some point, computers might not understand that “01” means “2001” and not “1901.”

But alas, ten years have passed. And now is the time when all the writers, bloggers, and basically everyone and their mothers, will be writing about what we can learn from 2009 (or the previous ten years) and all the great things that happened and all the bad things that happened and yada, yada, yada… read more

A Son. A Brother. A Father. A Friend.

Michael's daughter speaks at her father's memorial. (AP / Mario Anzuoni)

Watching Michael Jackson’s memorial today really hit me hard. I wrote a post about him & his legacy last week, but what hit me today was his humanity. He was a son. A brother. A father. A friend.

I’m normally a fairly composed person, even when sadness and mourning is all around. I’ve normally “walked through” what could go on in my mind. I’ve thought about how I would respond before things happen.

I was prepared for the speakers. I thought I was prepared for the musicians. What I wasn’t prepared for was the 11 year old girl. For the first time in her life, Paris Katherine Jackson took the microphone. She spoke 30 of the shortest and most basic words in the English language. They were words that made the world stop. And weep with her and perhaps for her.

“I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just wanted to say I love him so much.”

I wept. Tears streaming down my face, trying to catch my breath. read more

Remember the Time: My Memories of Michael Jackson

Do you remember the time?

I do.

It was one of those moments. The moments where you remember everything. From where you were, what you were wearing, how you felt… everything.

The first tweet came from @BreakingNews & TMZ.com. Hours pasted before CNN confirmed what we had all feared to be true:

The greatest entertainer of our time, Michael Jackson, had died. Passed away of cardiac arrest at the age of 50. read more