Browsing Tag

Inspiration

Inspiration

A Date That Will Live In Infamy

December 7, 2011
Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941.

70 years ago today, the US was attacked at Pearl Harbor in what would be described by US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as ‘a date that will live in infamy.‘  This attack is the event that precipitated the US entry into World War II.

A remarkable thing happened that day and in the years following it – people from the United States and around the world achieved what must have seemed impossible at the time; defeating the Axis powers on 3 continents across two massive oceans.  Nothing on this scale had ever been done before, nor has it since. Continue Reading…

Gratitude

Calling All Angels

October 16, 2011
Solo Bird

It’s been a rough week. My friend’s passing was much more difficult than anything I was expecting. Not that this kind of thing is ever expected.

I eluded to the last conversation I had with him in my previous entry, but didn’t say what we talked about. The bottom line of the conversation was that his faith in humanity had been diminished over the years. At the same time, mine had been on the rise.

It was one of those conversations where I felt we were talking in circles, and I decided I wasn’t going to convince him right then and there. I wanted to show him, but either I didn’t have the time before he died, or maybe I did and just didn’t realize it. Continue Reading…

Inspiration

Bittersweet Reflections of K.D. Lang and Steve Jobs

October 6, 2011
Steve Jobs

A couple of days ago, a good friend sent me a text asking me if I would be interested in going to see K.D. Lang at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. It was one of those moments where I couldn’t say yes fast enough – thank you Steven!

In 1992, K.D.’s album Ingénue was released and I remember playing it over and over again in the record store I worked in, listening in awe to her unbelievable vocal range.  Her vocal talents are unmatched in any performer I have ever had the pleasure of watching live.

I’ll say it again – tonight’s performance was hands down the best vocal performance I have ever heard in my entire life.  It was magical. Continue Reading…

Social Causes

Kids of the Gulf – Be The Change

September 22, 2011

Last Spring when the BP Deepwater Horizon rig exploded, like many others I felt an immense sense of loss. Loss of life. Loss of habitat. And to some degree, a loss of faith in humanity.

I recall a friend of mine showing me photos on his iPhone just a few days after the explosion.  He was in town for his birthday and although I knew he worked on an oil rig, I didn’t know just how close to home this hit him.  He was on the rig right next to the Deepwater Horizon, and he was showing me photos of the unfolding disaster he had taken with his phone as the inferno raged a short distance across the water.

My heart ached.  And ached.  And ached some more. Continue Reading…

Inspiration

Lighting Myself on Fire

September 16, 2011
Brandon Sutton on fire

Last night, I had one of the most productive and inspiring conversations I’ve had in a long time with my good friend and colleague, Michelle Morgan from Hub Atlanta. We were discussing the work we are both doing in the community and how we are looking to facilitate major social and environmental movements.

She used an expression that really resonated with me. She described people like me that get so into the initiatives we are working on that it’s like we are lighting ourselves on fire. Let that one sink in for a minute.

It’s literally like that right now.  Continue Reading…