Digital textbooks are the next big thing

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Don Miller

The digital textbook is an idea whose time has come.

Most students have long labored under the twin tyrants of having to carry massive and heavy loads of books around campus and, for college students, having to come up with the massive and heavy sums needed to pay for the tomes.

Some college texts can cost north of $125 and the overall book bill for a semester can top $600.California already has a law on the books requiring publishers to have e versions available of all textbooks by 2020, but that seems a long way off.

Wednesday the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, and Education Secretary Arne Duncan asked publishers to shorten that time to no more than five years.

The new push to make digital textbooks the standard comes only two weeks after Apple Inc. announced it is selling electronic versions of some high-school textbooks in its online bookstore for reading on the iPad tablet. Apple says it already has 1.5 million iPads in schools for educational use.

Making the change is necessary for another reason as well: Other countries are already there, or preparing to get there quickly.

Clearly, the advantages of digital textbooks are enormous: They’re cheaper, to produce and buy; they offer interactivity; and they’re universally available. And while some tablets can be relatively expensive, the cost pales in the face of what it costs to provide students textbooks. About $8 billion a year is spent on providing textbooks for K-12 students in the U.S., say textbook publishers.

The potential benefits are significant. Providing digital textbooks does not mean just taking print products and scanning them for electronic access. The digital environment is incredibly rich in terms of learning and teaching potential.

Children or adolescents studying digitally have access to video and interactive maps, along with links to research and explanatory resources. They can conduct online science experiments, and get audio for learning a different language.

But before the transition can happen, at least two issues need to be resolved: Many schools lack the broadband capacity that is necessary for tablets and laptops. And in cash-strapped California, just finding the upfront money to fund the purchase of the devices will be a challenge.Neither problem is insurmountable. Many innovative public and private school systems, including some in Santa Cruz County, already have moved to tablet-based textbooks.Sadly, many schools are today forced to consider yet more cutbacks rather than  increasing their broadband capacity and helping fund the purchase of tablets or laptops.

If a teacher has to dig in her own pocketbook to pay for basic supplies, and dog-eared textbooks are passed along until they finally fall apart, the digital world can seem a long way off.

If the federal government wants to push this necessary transition, then we urge leaders to seek congressional funding to make it happen. The FCC’s Genachowski said he’ll convene a meeting next month and invite key leaders from tech companies such as Apple, Intel and Microsoft to get the digital textbook project moving faster. The government Wednesday released a 67-page “playbook” to schools that promotes the use of digital textbooks and tries to provide answers for the inevitable questions that will come up.

In California voters will be asked in November to approve higher taxes to fund schools. If the revenues are targeted to specific programs, we think voters will be inclined to go along.

So here’s an idea that should be coupled with the tax proposal: Bring schools into the 21st century and provide students with access to digital textbooks.

This post will be the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s Editorial for Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012

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Wireless windmills wreak havoc on elected officials

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Don Miller

Maybe they just don’t want to listen to the complaints anymore.

Searching for a reason why the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors continues to give in to a smallish, but vocal, group protesting the installation of wireless utility meters is like trying to figure out why highway drivers keep switching lanes even in gridlock conditions. They just want to do something. But continuing an unenforced moratorium against PG&E’s installation of SmartMeters also seems like tilting at wireless windmills.

SmartMeter opponents have been fighting the devices for several years and have made it tough on the crews hired to install them. They’ve also said they want to recall the county sheriff because he is not enforcing the moratorium — a threat that so far has not changed the sheriff’s stance.

Meanwhile, the installations have continued, with about 80 percent of utility customers in the county already set up with SmartMeters.

The same arguments were heard when cellphone towers began to be proposed. Opponents’ main concerns are health related, but there’s also an element of free choice. Consumers have a choice, for instance, whether to install a wireless router in their homes or offices, but PG&E was putting in wireless meters regardless of homeowners’ preferences — and regardless of SmartMeter installation moratoriums enacted by the county and the cities of Watsonville and Capitola. The utility is regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission, which has given permission for the SmartMeter installations.

In response to the criticism, PG&E has proposed an opt-out option for customers who don’t want SmartMeters. The catch, however, is this would cost an additional $10 a month plus a $90 upfront fee.

To add to the confusion probably felt by some PG&E customers, the county’s top health official, Dr. Poki Namkung, weighed in Tuesday with a report that questions the safety of SmartMeters. It’s confusing because several reputable organizations have found no health or safety concerns with the devices.

Namkung’s report, cited by county staff in recommending the temporary moratorium continue through spring, 2013, discusses the potential concerns around electromagnetic field radiation, and notes, “Much of this exposure is beyond our control and is a matter of personal choice; however, public exposure to RF (radio frequency) fields is growing exponentially due to the proliferation of cell phones, and wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) technology.”

Namkung goes on to say there is “no scientific data to determine if there is a safe RF exposure level” and that further studies are needed because the potential impacts “could be huge.”

A well-publicized study done in 2010 by the California Council on Science and Technology found SmartMeters to be safe — but there has also been conflicting information about potential health hazards associated with extensive cellphone use, adding to the suspicions about wireless technology, even if radio transmissions from SmartMeters aren’t on the same scale.

Choice aside, the supervisors are wading into a magnetic field tough to escape. People can yearn for a time without cellphones, iPads or laptop computers, microwave ovens, medical MRIs or even flat-screen home theater setups. But that’s not the world we live in.

SmartMeters, which are also being installed by a MidCounty water district, allow real-time monitoring of energy use by customers, which the utility company says could lead to significant energy savings.

PGE’s opt-out proposal, while costly, allows those customers who want to live wirelessly an opportunity to do just that. The county has enough other public health problems without taking up a dubious cause.

This post will be the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s Editorial for Jan. 26, 2012.

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49er postmortem, couchside

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Don Miller

Is there anything left to say about yesterday’s painful 49ers loss?

Watching away from the roaring mob, out of the elements, in a dark room with the only thundering herd around clomping through the mud of my memories, here’s what I came away with:

1. Why the ultra conservative playcalling by Jim Harbaugh and Greg Roman in the 4th quarter? Anthony Dixon up the middle twice, with a chance to win the game? Then in their final three possessions, the team looked lost and out of sorts, when they simply needed to get in position for a David Akers field goal that would never come. Yes, this is how San Francisco played all season along, but this was for the Super Bowl, and playing it safe, and on no margin for error, leads to …

2. An inexperienced, obviously fluttery punt returner, who wasn’t even a punt returner and the two fumbles that cost the 49ers the game. Kyle Williams had even fumbled the week before in a botched reverse against the Saints. Yes, mistakes happen, but by the final, doomed punt, this one was just waiting to happen.

3. The 49ers had won on the strength of their defense and special teams all season long, and this time the defense was beyond heroic. Just absolutely awesome. But special teams? Not only was Kyle Williams put into position to lose the game, but All Pro punter Andy Lee was outpunted consistently by the New York Giants’ kicker, Steve Weatherford. Lee just seemed off the entire game and it kept the 49ers from winning a key battle: field position.

4. For all that, however, the 49ers still should have, could have won if only they had wide receivers getting open and if only Alex Smith wasn’t so rigid about getting rid of the ball quickly everytime he had to roll out or play for time. One reception by WRs for three yards. Michael Crabtree, ostensibly their best, had three drops (and a TD catch) against New Orleans, but disappeared this week. Of course, Crabtree has been on the outs pretty much since he was drafted three years ago. Probably won’t be back.

Personally, I wasn’t all that upset. Eli Manning is a class act and even Tom Coughlin has mellowed at an advanced age (65!) into a sensible coach, by NFL terms. The comparison after the game to Jim Harbaugh, who willed the 49ers into their great season, but whose super competitiveness can make him seem churlish at times, was pronounced. That’s what winning does for you, though. Anyway, after the San Francisco Giants (!!) won the Series in 2010, I really never will need anything else in my sports fan existence, such as it. Nothing.

Still, fans can look forward to next year, and Harbaugh, for the above reason, will not come back in six months without working with 49er GM Trent Baalke on fixing the WR fiasco.

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Gingrich tees it up

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Don Miller

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Republican candidate Newt Gingrich is once again the talk of the campaign, a day before voting in South Carolina begins. At last night’s incendiery debate, with a slimmed down field of four candidates, Gingrich took an opening question from moderator and CNN newsman John King about the allegations made by the candidate’s ex wife … and turned it into several standing ovations.

Gingrich said he was “appalled” by the despicable attacks, which he said were part of a media cabal to ensure Barack Obama gets reelected.

As King tried to point out that CNN wasn’t responsible for the interview with the ex wife, which was scheduled to air on ABC-TV,  Gingrich jumped in and said that “it was repeated by your network. You chose to start the debate with it,” he said. “Don’t try to blame it on somebody else.”

For the record, character matters and John King, hardly a partisan journalist, had to ask the question, and certainly realized that Gingrich would come back roaring.

Reputed front runner Mitt Romney, meanwhile, had to just stand there while Gingrich continued to seize the spotlight. And it wasn’t a particularly good night for Romney, who lost his win in Iowa earlier this month as Rick Santorum went ahead in late votes, and was on the defensive much of the night, and then gave one of his now stock-in-trade weird responses. Asked if he would release his income taxes, Romney gave a tight smile and said … “maybe.”

(For a richly insightful look at the generations that shaped Romney, David Brooks’ column in the New York Times today explains a lot about his perseverance and, yes, character.)

And maybe the volatile Gingrich, buried and dead several times now in this race and almost universally seen as unelectable in comparison with the relatively safe Romney, will rise again. If nothing else the Republican contest is entertaining, with an ending no one seems able to predict.

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Even SOPA can’t clean up piracy

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Don Miller

Ever wonder if the fractious online world can come together on a particular issue?

Based on Wednesday’s brown-and-blackout on many web sites, it appears operators can do just that.

After a day in which some sites like Wikipedia went dark and others blacked out their identifying banner to proclaim the dangers of the Stop Online Piracy Act winding its way through Congress, the power of the web seems to have impressed politicians. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, one of the co sponsors of the bill — dubbed SOPA — has backed away from the bills, while others in Congress are  saying, essentially, “What’s the hurry?”And, since SOPA in many ways is pitting old media and the entertainment industry against the digital universe, you can see where the power resides, which might well indicate what happens next to the movie and cable TV businesses in the face of online alternatives.

There are actually two bills currently under consideration — SOPA in the House of Representatives, and the Protect IP (Intellectual Property) Act in the Senate. Both have the same objective, however: To combat foreign websites that sell pirated movies, music and other content.

The reason the bills target foreign sites is because the U.S. government already has the authority to shut down providers offering pirated content. The bills attempt to stop U.S. companies from providing funding, advertising, web traffic and links to the foreign sites — and would give law enforcement the power to block access to the foreign websites. The bills also would allow Hollywood movie studios and other content creators to take private legal action against sites alleged to be hosting pirated material.

Opponents — including Google, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, eBay and other powerful online companies — say the language in the legislation would allow the content creators to target U.S. websites even if they are unknowingly hosting or providing links to pirated material. For companies such as Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia, this could be a huge problem, since they host a tremendous volume of content uploaded to their sites by users. The bills, they say, could lead to their sites being shut down, depriving users of their rights to free speech. They also say the bills would provide more fodder for authoritarian governments already attempting to block Internet content they don’t like. The Obama administration last weekend joined in, blogging that it wouldn’t support legislation that might damage the Internet flow of information or freedom of expression.

But there’s a reason Hollywood movie studios and other “old media” have pushed for this legislation: the illegal sale of copyrighted and trademarked content and other products has become a multi-billion-dollar global industry. Bootleg movies, TV shows, music and video games are all sold illegally through websites set up in foreign countries, along with cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, jewelry and fashion. The old-fashioned word for this burgeoning pirate market is theft — a word not used in the Internet industry’s protests about SOPA. Moreover, before Wednesday’s online protest the SOPA bills had already been clarified and amended to remove vague and overly broad language tech companies had objected to.

We hope new and old media can find a common ground on this. No one wants the Internet to be encumbered by government intrusion or too many laws and regulations. At the same time, without some limits on theft, online providers may find themselves wondering where they’ll find new content — and even the pirates won’t have much to steal any more.

This post is the Santa Cruz Sentinel’s Editorial for Friday, Jan. 20, 2012

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The mayor and Santa Cruz’s homeless

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Don Miller

Over the past week or so, probably the most referenced topic in our popular Letters to the Editor column has been newly installed Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane’s public statements about homelessness in the city.

Lane’s December inaugural speech on that topic, and others, was reprinted twice in its entirety in a paid advertisement sponsored by a local supporter and benefactor of the Homeless Services Center on River Street, located a few blocks from downtown.In the speech, and in subsequent comments, Lane has made a case, citing other innovative programs in the country, for building permanent housing for homeless persons, rather than simply continuing the revolving door through temporary shelters.

The reaction, at least to Sentinel stories on the topic and in Letters to the Editor, has been overwhelmingly negative, although a few residents and activists are now sending emails to us in support of Lane’s proposals.

The criticism can be mostly aggregated into two themes: Santa Cruz can’t afford it and the mayor’s words and possible actions will only encourage even more homeless people to come to Santa Cruz.Critics have said Lane’s proposals would mean more transients, more mentally ill persons, more public inebriates and more drug abusers on city streets and in city parks and open spaces. Stepping outside the controversy, however, we have to ask: Why would anyone be surprised or offended? Lane has long been an advocate for homeless services, putting his own time and service behind his words. Lane comes out of the city’s long tradition of liberal/social justice politics. It’s not as if he ran for office hiding his progressive credentials.

For his part, Lane says he also recognizes that voters in 2010 demonstrated they want something done about the local economy and want local government to become more responsive and business friendly. Lane acknowledges that the 2010 election marked a break with progressive politics of old.

So why bring up homelessness again? Lane insists his motives are that working on homelessness will also eventually help save the city money in addition to helping local people find basic shelter. He believes getting the chronically homeless into some kind of low-cost permanent housing — subsidized by federal, state and private funding — will reduce the toll on public safety agencies, the court system — and help improve the business climate by getting people off the streets.

Don Lane is a sincere man who, while holding public office now and in the late 1980s and early ’90s, has occasionally found himself on the thin-skinned defensive after staking out often well-meaning positions.

It’s hard to argue that if a way can be found to house people living on the margins, people who often are out of sight and out of mind of those of us who have permanent homes and incomes and community life, then it isn’t the right thing to do.

But without corresponding drug, alcohol and mental health programs, there’s a real question whether providing permanent housing would make much of a shift in chronic homelessness.

And in 2012 California, there won’t be much money forthcoming for many programs like that.

Lane’s proposals have clearly hit a nerve and if nothing else have revived a debate raging for decades in Santa Cruz. Are the city’s well-known tolerance, compassion and services only exacerbating the situation of homelessness here?

Lane probably would have been wiser to wait a few months before relaunching this debate. But he didn’t and now it’s playing out in the public arena, as it should.

This post will be the Sentinel Editorial for Friday, Jan. 13, 2012

In a Letter to the Editor submitted today, the mayor wrote:

“Despite some of the harsh comments in recent letters about homelessness and my efforts to address it, I’m glad to see them.  They remind everyone of the challenges we face when it comes to homelessness.  There is clearly much fear and unhappiness about homelessness. And there is clearly an information deficit, as reflected by some of the claims that ring true with many people even though they are demonstrably incorrect.

“I would be happy to provide data to anyone about the fact that the vast majority of homeless people in the community are “local” and how providing basic supportive housing to long-term chronically homeless individuals with physical or mental disabilities will save local taxpayers money.

“I also encourage those who disagree with me to provide data and research and practical alternative proposals for how to address homelessness. We are all looking for workable strategies and solutions and I look forward to considering those proposals.

“Most of all, I encourage more people to get involved with the issue. I can help anyone, including those that disagree with me, find ways to get involved or learn more.

“I can be reached at City Hall by phone or email almost any time.”

– Don Lane



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As Iowa goes, so goes Mitt Romney

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Don Miller

If ever there were a presidential election year crying out for a vision of where the country should go, this is it.

But, apparently, the word “change” was used up in 2008 with the election of President Barack Obama.

More than three years after Obama was swept into office on a tide of hope and generational change, it all seems so long ago. Obama’s popularity has plunged as the economy sputters. His detached governing belies the passions evoked in the last presidential campaign and he has often seemed like a one-term president — if the Republican party can come up with an alternative with a winning plan to revive the economy and inspire voters.

But the president — who started reelection fundraising and campaigning months, if not years, ago — looks to be in a favorable political position, as Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses show.

Republican front runner Mitt Romney’s 8-vote victory over former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum did nothing to dispel the feeling that voters are unmoved and uninspired by the former Massachusetts governor.

Indeed, every few weeks, a new challenger springs up, and the media spotlight shifts, before the inevitable negative ads, missteps and scrutiny bring them down. It happened to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is barely still in the race, vowing to continue on later this month in South Carolina, despite his dismal fifth place finish in Iowa. Then it was businessman Herman Cain, whose plain talk won him a following as the anti-Mitt. He quickly toppled amid a flurry of accusations about his personal life and a series of ill-considered statements on foreign affairs.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich then moved to the head of the pack, but negative ads paid for by a Romney PAC and a fusillade of criticism from the Republican establishment sent his standing downward.

Michelle Bachmann, meanwhile, had long since been written off, and officially dropped out Wednesday.

Iowa third-place finisher Texas Congressman Ron Paul still has traction with independents and even younger voters with his Libertarian roots, but his dovish stance on foreign affairs and global terrorism almost certainly makes him unelectable. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is banking on a strong showing in New Hampshire.

That leaves Santorum, who suffered an 18-point loss in a 2006 Senate race, and whose Catholic social conscience and working class roots separate him from the rest of the field. But Santorum is not expected to do well in New Hampshire Tuesday — Romney has a double digit lead in the polls — and will have to attract major donors to compete successfully in South Carolina and Florida later this month. Romney, meanwhile, continues to raise money and run a national campaign. But his Iowa showing again demonstrated the deep ambivalence conservatives feel toward him — and it isn’t simply his Mormon faith. His biggest problem is he is the most conventional and cautious candidate running — in a year crying out for innovative thinking and vision. Can anyone remember Romney’s economic plan unveiled months ago? Or say why they believe he should lead this country?

Perhaps it will end up being enough that he is a disciplined and relentless campaigner with a business and government executive background.

But with an unexcited party behind him, will that be enough to defeat a sitting president? Perhaps the next three primaries will provide a test to bring out the kind of fire in Romney needed to light up his candidacy, now and in November.

This post will be the Sentinel Editorial for Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012

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Light in the darkness

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Don Miller

On most levels, Christmas is, well, whatever we want it to be.

A time for family.

A time for gathering.

A time for gifts.

A time for being charitable. For being a little kinder than usual, a little more forgiving.

A time for memories, of Christmases past, of remembering the departed and of a familiar sense of belonging somehow absent the rest of the year.

It can be a time of sadness, for those very same reasons. But even then, an invitation, a small gift, a stranger’s unexpected smile makes a difference.

Christmas is a time for children, of magical sugarplum dreams, the whispery and windy clatter of Santa’s reindeer on the housetop in Christmas Eve’s mysterious midnight moments, of the weeks of anticipation finally ending in the morningtide.

More and more, it’s a season with new rituals and time compressed, ticking off from Black Friday. Christmas experienced with a keyboard and a debit card.

Tap, tap. The Twelve Tweets of Christmas.

Happy holidays? Yes, of course. A respite from struggle and strife — and even from religion, especially when the good news can’t be delivered amid recriminations over the words non believers adopt just to join in the festivities. More senseless religious wars.

Nor should it particularly bother Christians that the holiday has long mixed in a variety of non-Christian and pagan influences — even though the word “Christmas” originated, not surprisingly, from the compound meaning “Christ’s mass.” And the name “Christ” is from the Greek word Christos that in turn translates the Hebrew word for “Messiah.”

Does it matter that the much reviled “Xmas” has Christian roots? Didn’t think so.

Even the origin of the Dec. 25 date is disputed, though scholars agree this day does not represent the historical place on the calendar when Yeshua the son of Mary was born.

And what are we to make of the “Christmas spirit?” Is this truly a time of peace and good will toward all, that begins the day after Thanksgiving, extends through the first week of January and then is tossed into the garage with the ornaments and LED lights to gather dust for 11 months?

The Christmas gifts await, at the tree.

Each year, my wife and I ask ourselves this momentous question: Fake tree or real tree?

Fake or real — I can’t tell the difference anymore. The other night, I found myself watching a TV yule log burn away, in HD, of course, with Christmas music playing in the background.

No ashes and no dust in that fire.

Real, we agreed. We want to be real.

Legends also abound about the origin of setting up a tree to decorate for Christmas.

And what might the Christmas tree, have to do with the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish son born on an unknown date to a teen-age mother and her conflicted husband in a nondescript town in a dusty Roman province so long ago?

Hundreds of years before, in this same obscure corner of the Mediterranean world, a man who said he had foreknowledge of things to come proclaimed to a scattered and fearful nation that “the people who walk in darkness will see a great light.”

A Christmas light.

It’s another cold night and the shadows gather, as they always do. In the tenderness of twilight, when the blue horizon fades, I look inside, and see the lights on the tree.

As our children got older, they lost interest in putting up ornaments and stringing lights on the tree.

So, again this season, my wife and I decorated the tree. Porcelain angels and glass ballerinas. A Nutcracker display that was once my mother’s — but she’s gone now. Still, generations dance across this tree.

There’s a piece of green construction paper with a pasted photo of one daughter when she was 5. Clay ornaments made by the children. A tiny red sled marked “1957.” Generic baubles and family treasures.

Everything goes on the tree.

Tonight, I’ll hear the Christmas bells. And I won’t be surprised whenI hear them toll for … me.

Christmas night falls. The tree lights twinkle on.

The light shines in the darkness.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

Come, stand before … the tree.

Herod trembles.

A star rises in the East.

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49ers move past Third World breakdown

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Don Miller

Great win last night for San Francisco over the Pittsburgh Steelers — but amid the great defensive performance and the one-sided assault on the Will Ferrell doppelgangstering Ben Roethlisberger, the big story was the two power outages. One was right before the game; the other an hour or so into it.

The ESPN overhead shot showed a transformer exploding, which would explain the first outage, which lasted 20 minutes, delaying the start of the Monday Night Football game. The second, which lasted 17 minutes,  remains a matter of conjecture.

At first, a few reporters and fans wondered if what was happening was a repeat of the 1989 earthquake, which happened right as the World Series was starting at Candlestick. Nope. Just another case, it appears, of PG&E’s overloaded and seemingly crumbling power grid, along with the NFL’s oldest, arguably worst, stadium, which, as several bloggers have noted, lived up to its name Monday night.

In any case, Candlestick was the only venue affected by the outage, and PG&E, which at first blamed the city of San Francisco, now is “actively investigating” to find the cause.

PG&E spokesperson John King told the San Francisco Chronicle that “It could be a number of things, from customer-owned equipment to PG&E equipment.”

The 49ers, and the NFL, were not amused by the spectacle. The team said they’ve asked PG&E to make some kind of assurance there won’t be any further blackouts  – and with the Niners likely to host a lucrative home playoff game, any more embarrassments coming from the rapidly declining infrastructure and stadium shortcomings are to be avoided like a media question directed at Coach Jim Harbaugh.

Of course, some year soon the 49ers won’t have to contend with humiliations like Monday night, which made the high-profile event seem like it was happening in a Third World backwater. The team plans on moving to Santa Clara, which just happens to have its own, independent, power company.

Or, as the San Jose Mercury News reported today, ”I wouldn’t wish a situation like that on anyone,” said (Santa Clara Mayor Jamie) Matthews, who nevertheless proceeded to contrast the Niners’ “situation” in San Francisco with what they might expect from his toddling South Bay town of 116,000. “Our sidewalks are all maintained well, our trees are trimmed, our gutters are swept,” he said. “We take pride in doing the things that aren’t very exciting except to those who want to do business here. And that means maintaining our infrastructure, including our electric utility.”

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Life and death at Christmas time

Posted on December 16, 2011 by Don Miller

If you haven’t ever gone to the annual Christmas concert at Twin Lakes Church in Aptos, here’s the Good News.

1. There arenine performances remaining, through Sunday (this link will take you to the schedule), and,

2. It’s free. (You can leave an offering if so inclined.)

Although my family are not TLC members, we don’t miss the annual concert, which this year is better than ever. Professional. Slick, in the sense of well rehearsed (and even a little alt edgy at times), but not cheesy, while still being decidedly family fare. And while the invitation is certainly there to walk into a deeper Christmas experience and relationship, non believers who still love the Christmas season won’t feel out of place. Just show up early (Twin Lakes is located adjacent to  Cabrillo College), because it’s usually a packed house.

***

It was with great sadness I read today about the death of writer Christopher Hitchens, a man who could write about just anything, with fire and wit and crackling intelligence and erudition, but who became most famous for his atheist screed published in 2007, “God is Not Great.”

Hitchens was  an inveterate drinker and smoker, but a prolific essayist who friends said worked almost to the end, despite his illness. He  revealed the long odds he was facing as he battled for his life (pneumonia, a complication of the esophageal cancer that invaded his body, killed him Thursday at age 62), he also was adamament he would not surrender to a deathbed conversion, despite what may have been the pleas (and prayers) of believers like his brother, Peter.

Hitchens insisted that the odds were slim that he would admit the existence of God, even at the doorway of death. “The entity making such a remark might be a raving, terrified person whose cancer has spread to the brain,” he told The Atlantic in August 2010. “I can’t guarantee that such an entity wouldn’t make such a ridiculous remark, but no one recognizable as myself would ever make such a remark.”

I never met Christopher Hitchens, but I … knew of him. And although I disagreed with him on the most important decision any man can make regarding life and death, I’ll miss his presence and his iconoclasm and most of all his unique voice.

He always seemed to be searching for the truth. I hope he found what he was looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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