Today I was notified that a manifesto proposal I sent to ChangeThis.com has been accepted for peer review. What happens now is that people vote for the proposals that they’d like to see transformed into full-fledged manifestos (an argument, a reasoned, rational call to action, supported by logic and facts), which are available for downloading on the ChangeThis web site. ChangeThis is a not-for-profit engine aimed at changing minds and spreading ideas. It was developed in the summer of ‘04 by a group of people inspired by marketing guru Seth Godin. It features a variety of manifestos written by many different authors on many different topics.
My proposal is about, you guessed it, Escaping Adulthood. If my proposal is selected and I am asked to pen the full manifesto, it could be HUGE for the awareness of Kim & Jason and my upcoming book. If you’d like to help me, here’s an easy thing you can do: Click on the link below and then click on "Yes, Write This Manifesto." That’s it.
Vote here:http://www.changethis.com/proposals/454
Thanks for the support.
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Don’t miss the latest installment from Kim & Jason Chalkboard columnist Allan Dash. Baseball fans will enjoy his reflections on the days before trading cards were slathered with glossiness and a pack cost an arm and a leg and an organ to be named later. Here’s a taste:
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Now that the season is well underway, and the Phabulous Phillies are slogging along on their annual March to Mediocrity, a not-so-young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of… well, baseball cards. By chance, this year marks the 55th anniversary of my first foray into card collecting, which actually began pretty much by accident.
In the late ‘40s I used to peddle down to a small, local food store that, happily, sold lots of gooey candy. I might buy myself a Hershey bar, or a package of Jujubes, or – on one occasion when I was unaccountably rich – a whole jar of Marshmallow Whip and a little wooden spoon. I became deathly ill well before I finished stuffing my mouth with the sweet and sticky contents of that jar. But what a way to go!
About that time I also discovered the rubbery, pink pleasures of bubble gum, and often bought some of that, too, if my allowance could take the hit. One day the proprietor showed me some small, flat packages wrapped in waxed paper and explained that they contained not only bubble gum, but trading cards with pictures of baseball players on them as well. Intrigued, I…(read more)
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Today is my 5th wedding anniversary. It’s hard to believe I have known Kim for over ten years (that’s over a third of my life!). I’m happy to report that things are going well. She still likes going on walks with me, she still laughs at my comic strips, and she still puts up with my Star Wars obsession.
I suppose a little extra pressure is exerted on a marriage when your first names have been united by an ampersand and trademarked, but I don’t feel it. Five years have gone by so fast, and it’s been a blast. On one hand, I feel like we’ve really accomplished something (especially in this day and age). But on the other hand, our five years is peanuts compared to Kim’s grandparents, who are in their 65th year of marriage.
That comparison is especially poignant right now because Kim’s grandma has constrictive heart failure and she was admitted to a nursing home just this week. No one really knows how long she has left, or if they do, they’re not saying.
Boompa (yes the REAL Boompa) is crushed and heartbroken. He and Rosie have been together for sixty-five years, through thick and thin, ‘til death do they part. It’s a sad moment for all of us, preparing to say goodbye (for now) to a treasured part of the family. But what an amazing blessing, to be able to spend sixty-five years with your best friend. I take Kim for granted far too often, but I pray that I could be so lucky.
If I were a songwriter, I know I would like to have written a song called The Luckiest, by Ben Folds:
And where was I before the day
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it everyday
And I knowThat I am
I am
I am
The luckiestI love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you
Next door there’s an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed awayI’m sorry, I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I knowThat I am
I am
I am
The luckiest
So, to everyone reading, thank God today for the special people in your life, and hug them just a little tighter. And to Kim, on this 1,826th day of marriage, I love you. I truly am the luckiest.
Other Posts that Praise Kim:
The Wife’s Birthday
Ode To Kim
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Stress is the main culprit responsible for a loss of 45 million workdays a year in Britain alone. According to a British mental health charity, this all adds up to £100 billion in lost output. In my recent Escape Adulthood presentations, I’ve been showing a slide that highlights the symptoms of Adultitis, including a tongue-in-cheek comment about patients not being able to smile (in extreme cases). Maybe not so tongue-in-cheek after all:
Psychological warning signs included an inability to concentrate, sense of humour failure, high levels of anxiety, constant irritability or withdrawal from social contact.
If left untreated, excessive stress could eventually lead to a suppression of the immune system. If severe, it could lead to a range of medical, psychological or behavioural disorders.
Escaping Adulthood is not all about fun and games and mucking around with Play-Doh all day. Although maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to keep a container on your desk…
Related Posts:You can keep your advanced degrees and philosophical ramblings; no one can match the otherworldly perspective and delightfully lucid insight of children. I got an e-mail today filled with answers given by children to the question, “What does love mean?” Here are some highlights:
“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” >> Chrissy - age 6
“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” >> Mary Ann - age 4
“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” >> Tommy - age 6
“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” >> Elaine - age 5
“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” >> Lauren - age 4
“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” >> Billy - age 4
“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn’t think it’s gross.” >> Mark - age 6
“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn’t bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That’s love.” >> Rebecca - age 8
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I am not an avid golfer (I went once and scored a 98 – on 9 holes), but I’m always up for a nice walk on a nice day. Jennifer Mario wrote an article about why women leave golf and why they should come back. Stressed-out golf moms should read this. You deserve an escape from adulthood, and Jennifer has five solid reasons why you should get back out on the course.
The target market for my book was intended to be people over the age of 25 or so. It looks like my marketing plan will need to be adjusted a bit, in order to accommodate the growing need for 7-year-olds to Escape Adulthood.
That’s right, second graders.
A recent article by Dave Murphy of the San Francisco Chronicle highlights the growing problem of parents pushing their children to excel. Apparently, adults have so direly messed up their own lives with hectic schedules, unrealistic expectations and catering to peer pressure, that they are passing Adultitis on to their children.
According to the article, an increasing number of parents (especially those who are working longer hours) are putting their kids in more scheduled activities, while placing great pressure on excelling in those activities and achieving high grades in school. Apparently, there are more and more kids as young as seven who are saying, “This is going to look good on my resume.”
Dr. Alvin Rosenfeld, co-author with Nicole Wise of “The Over-Scheduled Child” and the former head of the child psychiatry training program at Stanford’s medical school, said, “Harried schedules also take away the free time that is essential for children to be able to fantasize and create. If Einstein’s parents were alive today, poor little Albert would get a comprehensive evaluation and end up on Ritalin. Deprived of his daydreams, he might not discover the theory of relativity, but he certainly would focus more fully on the complex demands of fourth-grade math.”
A University of Michigan Institute for Social Research study of 3- to 11-year-olds compared the children of 1997 with those of 1981. The ones from 1997 had 12 fewer hours of free time a week, less frequent family dinners and vacations, and virtually no conversations that involved the entire household.
The problem of Adultitis is worse than I thought. The solution? How about we start with lighter schedules, more family dinners, and an old-fashioned conversation or two?
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“A simple enough pleasure, surely, to have breakfast alone with one’s husband, but how seldom married people in the midst of life achieve it.” – Anne Morrow Lindbergh
Oh, yeah. I’m gonna need this. It doesn’t come out ’till October, so at least I have some time to rob a bank or something.
One of the main topics in my book is honesty. That thing that children possess which makes them perfectly comfortable pointing out the shortfalls in the physical appearance of total strangers. That thing politicians and people who send spam seem to be sorely lacking.
I have only marginally followed the “runaway bride” story that dominated the headlines the last few weeks. You know, the girl who took a bus to Vegas and pretended to be kidnapped. I can almost understand her trepidation, given that 14 bridesmaids were on the roster and somebody was responsible for arranging all 600 guests on the seating chart.
I’m no psychologist, and I’m nothing more than an outside observer, but it sure seems like the whole situation would have benefitted from a little honesty. Perhaps she was freaked out by the monstrosity that her wedding had become. Maybe she was scared to let anyone know how freaked out she really was. But it’s hard for me to imagine that a little chat with Mom or Dad or Mr. Fiancé would have ended up any worse. Not to mention the trouble she’s in with the police, also because of a lie.
We often avoid telling the truth because we fear the consequences. But we often forget that the consequences of not telling the truth are usually far worse.
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This is my 100th post. As good a time as any to reflect on the latest developments regarding my book.
It’s almost done. Almost.
The official publication date is August 8, 2005, which happens to be the 5-year anniversary of the comic strip known as Kim & Jason. Last week, I got the first 30 advance reading copies from the printer. I cannot tell you what a cool feeling it was to rip open that box and hold one of the books in my hands. Over a year’s worth of work, all shiny and UV coated. It was a pretty cool thing, albeit short-lived, as I immediately started a mental tally of all the things that would need to be changed.
Tomorrow I will be sending some of the review copies out to prepublication reviewers like Publisher’s Weekly and The New York Times Book Review. In the meantime, we’re working on final editing, cover changes, and planning a long list of promotional tasks, including a semi-big publicity push.
So far, the handful of people who have read the book have given it high marks, which is encouraging. After writing the book in pieces, and then editing it from here to Timbuktu, you start to lose any sense of perspective on whether it’s any good at all. It’s like a big stew of words, and you wonder if it will connect with readers. I hope so. I’m planning to have some excerpts available for free download pretty soon, so folks can get a taste for the book, and hopefully scurry to pre-order it.
(A convenient category section has recently been added to the sidebar at left. The chapters from my book make up most of the categories, along with general Kim & Jason news and my random musings. I hope that this blog will continue to be a living, breathing, complementary resource to the book, encouraging grown-ups to Escape Adulthood.)
While the box of review copies sitting in my office marks the end of one chapter of this journey, a long winding road stretches ahead. I’m excited to see where it leads.
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We got a couple nice mentions in the press recently. This one is a re-cap of our beneift for Make-A-Wish. And this one ran in the town where Kim teaches and proposes the idea that perhaps I have what pop-psychologists call “Peter Pan Syndrome.”
Strangely enough, it’s not the first time a reporter has made that reference. (I believe he called me a “professional Peter Pan.”) And recently, a Kim & Jason retailer described the type of people who like our stuff as “Peter Pan people.”
I guess that’s a good thing. I’m just happy to know what’s causing this rash.
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