It's been a magical San Francisco skipping kind of day...It started when I was contacting the local media about one of the books I am publicizing right now called A Writer's San Francisco by Eric Maisel. The book offers creative inspiration for writers amidst the backdrop of the city by the bay.

What I love most about the book is how it represents the creative soul of San Francisco I fell in love with when I moved here from the Midwest over a decade ago. Unfortunatley, it feels like a big part of the city's spirit has eroded in recent years...I think due in large part to the dot com days when artists were driven out in droves because they couldn't afford to live here anymore...So it makes me really happy to be spreading the word about a book that celebrates and honors the creative spark that makes San Francisco the magical place that it it is.

After work tonight, I spent some time with a couple of friends along SF's Embarcadero water front. There was an anti-Bush protest going on nearby and my friends told me there was a huge paper mache effigy of President Bush there. It sounded like it might be an interesting protest so we headed over to check it out.

My friends were on bikes and I was skipping between them. There was a woman on the stage screaming about how oppressed we are by the Bush administration and how it is time for us to fight back. She was really angry and the energy she was putting off was anything but peaceful. There were quite a few people standing around and listening...Without even thinking about it, I started skipping throughout the crowd...Weaving throughout clusters of people as I listened to the woman on the microphone tell me how outraged and angry I should be..I consciously made a decision not to let her negativity stop me from being the peaceful, positive energy I want to see in the world.

There was a sharp contrast to my free skipping energy and the mood and intensity of the crowd...The vibe of the event was laden with anger, oppresion, and rebellion...All of which are certainly an important part of the process of waking up from the deep slumber we have collectively been in as a culture... But it also is not where I personally choose to invest my time and energy in my quest to use my life to help create positive change on this planet.

The San Franciscans of the 1960s knew that love was the answer...and I hope and pray and pledge to do my part to help recreate that predominant cultural philosophy here and now! There are so many ways we can use our creative energy to create change on this planet without letting our grievances with the Bush administration become so intense that they drain the creative, positive part of us that is so desperately needed in this city, country, and world right now!

Positive energy people of the world unite. Onward and upward! Together we can and are changing the world.