“We do big things.”

This was the subject line of the email I awoke to, from none other than President Obama himself. How great he had time to send me a message so soon after delivering the State of the Union…Before opening it, I thought, “yeah, we do.”

We’re a fine group of citizens here, and one look at the projects AltDaily and its (her?) extended family have going on, it’s clear some of us citizens are listening to calls of duty and doing big, local things.  We’ve talked about, then put our ideas into action, on a number of ideas since beginning (including homelessness, transportation, public art, and the environment.) Those are all important issues and I’m proud of us all for our work, but more than that, I’m proud that a deeper sense of involvement and community has sprung up–and turned people who were formerly stay-at-home talkers into real doers, activists, and creators.

I’ll be honest. I only watched it in spurts, partially because I did so online and it kept pausing to let the internet keep up. Thus, I found it especially ironic when Obama mentioned how important high speed internet was.

I’m not going to get into specifics or a synopsis of the speech. You can read a concise run down here.  Or watch it here if you like:

Instead, I’m going to talk about Obama’s impact on me. Three years ago, I was seriously considering moving to another country. Every time I visited one, I felt like the girl who sits alone in the cafeteria, looked at with a mix of amusement and disdain, as people stereotypically wondered why I wasn’t overweight and if they poked me would I shoot them?

There was the time a group of Americans were in front of me in the airport, arguing with the cab driver because he wouldn’t take their dollars. They start shouting, accusing his country of idiocy because it can’t see that “American dollars are accepted everywhere. I just went to Puerto Rico last year!”

It wasn’t fun to be the next American in line after people like that. It still isn’t. They make me understand why these pre-conceived notions exist. The difference now is, at least our President isn’t making it worse on everyone by also behaving that way. We had freedom fries a few years ago. I shudder to think what we’ll be eating if the Tea Party comes into power.

We could argue details about budgets for a billion different initiatives, causes, wars, trains, spaceships, and cures for what ails you. I’d be pro on some and con on others. I’m not a blanket liberal. I do honestly believe Obama is trying to live up to what he promised us. We’re not there yet (just like Norfolk’s not: choo-choo!), but America’s better off now than it was two years ago (and so is Norfolk.) DADT’s on its way out, health care’s on its way in (fingers crossed it stays that way.) We’re trying to get out of Iraq and into green energy. I, too, get frustrated with how much time these things take, especially when backdoor deals make things take much longer than necessary.

I’m writing this after a few very positive experiences with our city’s leaders and heading into a night of local art held at another local gem, Selden Gallery. Things are getting better all the time. For me, in part, they keep getting better because at some point, I learned moving away isn’t the answer, but staying and having the “audacity” to hope–then talk about, then do, is part of my personal “big thing.” Thanks Mr. President.

Obama says: teachers are real American heroes.

The General Assembly voted 37-2 in favor of requiring public schools to have physical education classes in grades K-8. The hope is that as childhood obesity rates goes down, future medical bills also go down. Well, duh. Gym class got tossed to the wayside as schools had to focus first on standardized testing and second on everything else…oh yeah, and with way less money.

Obama says: War is over?

Police Chief Bruce Marquis announced a panel’s formation to review training procedures for police recruits after candidate John Kohn passed away following training induced punches to the head last month.

I hate that we live in a world where good people die for trying to be good people.

Obama says: Science is key.

Two local scientists will be awarded the title of Virginia Outstanding Scientist 2011 at a ceremony at the Science Museum of Virginia tomorrow. Robert J. Diaz is at William and Mary and studies “dead zones” in bodies of water. Cynthia Edwards Keppel is from Hampton University and works in nuclear physics.

Obama says: Health Care Needs to Move Forward

But fails completely to mention marijuana legalization. I can’t imagine why.

Obama says: The Economy is Moving in the Right Direction

The DOW just rose over 12,000 for the first time since 2008. Good good.

Your Weekly Park Place Update

BC covered this yesterday, so I won’t go on and on. It starts with the story of a woman who lives three miles from her office and it takes her 45 minutes or more to get there. Park Place and Villa Heights (a Park Place neighbor) are specifically mentioned as bad neighborhoods when it comes to public transportation. It takes me less than that to ride my bike downtown from Colonial Place, an option I encourage certain residents to utilize instead of the bus. However, for those who are required to wear pantyhose, or have electronic equipment to carry, etc., I understand a daily bike commute won’t do. Perhaps car pooling? Finding two or more residents who all work in the same neighborhood and riding together. The money the non-drivers normally spend on bus fare goes to the car owner?

These are ideas, suggestions from the top of my head. But they’re given in the hope that Park Place’s citizens will do something about this situation instead of just deal with it. The woman interviewed who spends over two hours a day commuting? What could those two hours accomplish in terms of neighborhood development, either in terms of more family time, or more time to fix up a residence, or more time to walk around and see what needs fixing? Fight for your rights people. You, too, get to hope, then talk, then do.