Delivering the Future

"Finding the future isn’t enough, you also have to deliver it"

Of all places to find that odd tidbit of inspiration, I found it while sitting on the floor of the B. Dalton book store in the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, reading a book entitled The Apple Way: 12 Management Lessons from the World’s Most Innovative Company.
It’s raining and I’m cold, but the above quote will keep a smile on my face, passion in my heart, and purpose in my words because it embodies exactly what Dave and I are doing in California, what the Mobilize staff in DC is working on, and what Mobilizers across the country demonstrate to their peers--we’re delivering the future.

It has been a week since we’ve been gone...and it’s been an unbelievably exciting one. I spent last Saturday in Memphis, TN doing a youth organizing training for people who could be teaching me (It was a challenging, rewarding, and inspiring experience, as always). Then it was off to Los Angeles and the all too comfortable bed of the Ditto family (our OC mobilizin’ headquarters). Our time in Los Angeles was brief, but packed. We met with Christian from Arsalyn, who is always looking to do new and empowering things for our nation’s youth, and the Liberty Hill Foundation, whose commitment to Los Angeles County is to be celebrated. We also had breakfast with Michael Davidson, a young man with a sense of humor that matches his sense of duty.

Our afternoon was spent in Long Beach, driving around with Bob Cabeza of the Long Beach YMCA. Expect big things from him and every young person that has the opportunity to work with him and the rest of the amazing staff of the Youth Institute. We traveled downtown to meet with Bill Mundell and his political team to hear about the strong coalition that he is building around ensuring fair and competitive elections in California and beyond.
We left Los Angeles the same way we found it: rainy, and drove up to darn near paradise, Paso Robles, to see Dave’s mom and to again sleep in a guest bed that I’ve become very comfortable with.

We were on the road at 5 am the next morning, looking forward to spending the next 2 days with Mr. Marston, a friend and mentor. Our time with Mr. Marston , as always, was positively challenging and further ignited our excitement and enthusiasm as he encouraged us to the strive to become the "better angels of nature." We saw a clever and witty play called The Rivals at the Geary Theater and I highly recommend both the play, and the company.

ME