Jerry Chasen's Blog

Katrina was followed by the Tsunami in the far east. A friend told me about how he and members of his church got in a truck and went to New Orleans to help folks rebuild. I read of other stories like this–and they blew me away.

I was much cheered by Obama’s election, by the promise of “change you can believe in”. More important, though, was the seeming populist awakening that his candidacy represented–an awakening of individual and collective responsibility and I consider essential.

This was my first Holiday poem. My former partner had died a few weeks earlier of HIV. Though we were no longer together, it really hit me hard.