Today, a friend of mine sent me this commencement address. It was delivered May 3rd, 2009 at the University of Portland by Paul Hawken. Upon reading it, I was compelled to share it with others. Enjoy.

University of Portland, May 3rd, 2009

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was "direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful." Boy, no pressure there.

But let's begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation - but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement.

Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

The Mark Taper Forum in Downtown LA is known for it's ground-breaking theatrical productions. It's the primary reason my family has been season ticket holders for many years. So it was with delight that we experienced the Taper's production of Lydia this past Saturday night. Set in El Paso, Texas in the 1970's, Lydia is the complex story of an immigrant family wrestling with shifting societal realities around them and secrets long buried within. Written by Octavio Solis and first produced in Denver in 2008, I believe this is the play's first production in Los Angeles, with much of the original cast intact. It is, in all respects, a gripping piece of work.

Today I was vividly reminded why I love living and playing in Southern California. After last week's rain storms and subsequent winds, today dawned cool, calm and crystal clear. My friends Mark and Bruce had planned to meet in Carlsbad for a morning ride along the coast and through the hills of North San Diego County. Since the McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ) is a stone's throw from their departure point, I decided to fly down and join them. Any day I can combine flying with any of my other passions is a great day, indeed!

I wrapped up my third triathlon season today with another great event at Bonelli Park. The day dawned very clear and comfortably warm - perfect conditions for the 700+ like-minded athletes who came to work off some of those holiday calories. This was a sprint event (1/2-mile swim, 14-mile ride, 4-mile run) managed by Renegade Racing from the south shore of the reservoir. This location is very familiar to me now, since the Bonelli series earlier in the year runs from the same locale. Renegade has a good thing going here. This is only the third Turkey Tri and each year attendance has more than doubled.

A pall of forest fire smoke hanging over SoCal was insufficient to deter a reunion of the aging instrumentalists of the Virtual Campfire this past weekend. Here's a particularly unworthy sampling of the afternoon's festivities:

Society has a habit of picking on meteorologists. How many times have you heard someone complain about inaccurate weather forecasts? Personally, I believe our weather-folk generally get a bum-wrap in this regard, so I was happy that they got it right this past weekend when forecasting light rain for Saturday morning at Lopez Lake in California's Central Coast region. It may not have been the forecast I wanted, but at least I knew what was coming. The forecast mattered, because I was going to be competing in an international-distance triathlon that very same morning.

Since my recent post celebrating the formal legalization of Tom & George's marriage, they have crafted an Open Letter to all Californians. In light of the looming state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage (Proposition 8), close on the heels of California's landmark decision legalizing it, they wish to explain why this proposition should be defeated. The letter is personal, well-reasoned, factual and compelling. I urge everyone to read it, regardless of your position on the issue, because through it you will gain a very personal understanding of what marriage means to these two loving and committed men; you will see that it is the very same things the rest of us enjoy (or strive for) in our marriages.

Last month, my good friend Tom and his husband, George, took advantage of the recent California Supreme Court ruling overturning the state's ban on same-sex marriage and finally obtained an official marriage license. The civil ceremony, conducted on a fine Saturday morning by a judge-acquaintance at a Downtown LA courthouse, was brief and private. I was not there, but my family and I joined the "newly-weds" for a celebratory lunch following the ceremony at a fun Mexican restaurant named Casita Del Campo in the Silver Lake area. We had a most enjoyable time with Tom's parents and a small group of the couple's close friends. The whole affair was very low-key and informal, so perhaps I can be excused for missing, at the time, the "big picture" significance of the event.

What better endeavor on a fine Southern California Labor Day weekend than an acoustic jam with old bandmates? What indeed! It was an acoustic cast of characters, including a few members of the now-defunct Sauce. Here are a couple of clips memorializing the event. The first is a rendition of Sauce's "Moo":

And what happens when you cross the Kinks' "Hot Potatoes" and "Ordinary People"? Let's find out: