"Yes We Can" Bracelets

I have been so inspired by Barack Obama that I've decided to create these "Yes We Can" bracelets. Each are one of a kind, hand made of glass or wood beads. I'm selling them as a fundraiser. Here is just a small sampling of the bracelets:

I am selling them for $7 each. If you are interested in buying one, please email me at megacious@comcast.net.

A Unified Democratic Party

As the Democratic Primaries wind down, I am more and more certain that our party will become unified. Senator Clinton has backed off from the negative attacks that have been so divisive for the party. More attention is now being paid to McCain, and his flaws are showing. Our economy is a mess, and gas prices are ridiculous, which portends well for Democrats, since no one wants an extension of Bush's failed economic policy.

Barack Obama has had a consistent message throughout his entire campaign, and was shown to be more honest and trustworthy than Hillary Clinton. This was really illustrated in the holiday gas tax proposal, which both Clinton and McCain pushed. Obama called them out on it, saying it was a gimmick, which it was. And people listened. This showed that people viewed Clinton as a flawed messenger, and were willing to listen to Obama and get beyond the politics of yesterday, where candidates would say anything just to get votes.

I believe that people will come around. The economy is what is affecting most voters in our country today, and John McCain admitted that he didn't know as much about the economy as he should. It was shocking that he would admit something like that, given the fact he's been in the Senate for decades. It's certainly a huge advantage that Obama has over McCain. I believe our economic issues hugely overshadow our national security issues, and even in that arena, most Americans want to get out of Iraq, so McCain isn't exactly on the popular side of that issue either.

Go Obama '08!!!!!!!

Elect Meg Tapucol-Provo National Obama Delegate Congressional District 9!

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be running for National Delegate. But I'd like to share with you my story, something I didn't have room to share in the limited space I have on my campaign brochure, which is perhaps how you came to this blog.

Just as Hillary Clinton has claimed Barack Obama to be short on experience in the national political arena, some may say I have not been part of the political process for very long. I have not been. I was only recently inspired to become active politically because of Barack Obama. He inspired me to volunteer for his campaign, and I am now a Precinct Committee Officer. I volunteered at the Legislative District Caucus and plan to volunteer at the 9th Congressional District Caucus. I plan to campaign hard for Senator Obama, attend the State Convention in Spokane, and hopefully go to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. However, like Obama, I am certainly not short on experience. I've been a lifelong Democrat, and strongly believe in the core principles of the Democratic Party, particularly regarding civil rights and social justice. So I've devoted the last 17 years of my life to addressing these issues head on. Indeed, it has been my life's work.

This year marked the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Sadly, our country has a long way to go when it comes to the area of race relations. It's a wonderful thing that we have our first viable African-American candidate. But we all see the ugliness surrounding this election as well, and all of the subtle and not so subtle race-baiting that has taken place to play on people's racial prejudices. It pains me to know that there are still people in this country that will not even listen to Senator Obama's message of hope or his stance on the issues because they only see the color of his skin and have decided they will not vote for him. It's bigotry, plain and simple.

I first started working in the early 90's in the diversity arena as an actor touring with a diversity theatre company called the Growth and Prevention (GAP) Theatre Company. Our group traveled throughout Washington and Oregon and as far as Idaho and Reno, performing musicals about racism and facilitating discussions about race with the audiences afterwards. We performed primarily at schools, but sometimes we performed for non-profit organizations. This was back in the early '90s. It was a great experience. What struck me was that many of the kids we talked to felt as if they themselves were open-minded, but they felt that their parents were not. This was a real source of frustration for them, because they felt as if their parents were unwilling to change their views.

I was inspired by that experience and decided to take it to the next level. In 1993, I began working as a corporate diversity trainer, facilitating workshops throughout the country on diversity-related issues. The difference in corporate diversity training, however, was that the focus was on how diversity and inclusion were good for the bottom line, productivity and morale. Also, the definition of differences tended to be focused on the differences that made a difference at a particular organization (for example, people's accents, their educational levels, the types of jobs they have, etc.) What people discover is regardless of what the difference is, people who feel disenfranchised, marginalized and devalued do not perform at their optimum level. This is difficult work. There were many times that I was the only person of color in the room, sometimes the only woman in the room, and I've experienced the passive aggressive behavior of people sitting in workshops, reading the newspaper or working on their laptops because they don't want to be there, they think talking about diversity is a waste of time. But I keep on doing it, because if someone isn't out there fighting for change, then how do things change? Is everything okay the way it is? Are we happy with the status quo? I'm certainly not.

I also started focusing on diversity within the educational arena. I worked for the Anti-Defamation League A World of Difference Institute where I facilitated prejudice reduction workshops in schools throughout Washington state. In 2003, I joined Green River Community College as an adjunct instructor, where I designed and continue to teach Multiculturalism and Anti-Bias in Education. This is a course for preservice Early Childhood and K-12 teachers that helps them explore diversity in the framework of a classroom. We explore issues of race, class, disability and sexual orientation and how to implement an anti-bias curriculum. This class not only is required for the AA in Early Childhood Education, but is also a prerequisite for the Master's in Teaching Program at the University of Washington. Many of my students have indicated that they felt ALL college students should be required to take this class. Click here for one student's response to my class.

On another note, there was a small detour in the midst of my diversity training career. I really shouldn't call it a small detour, because it was truly life-changing. On December 28, 1998, 45 minutes after the birth of my daughter, I went into cardiac arrest. I had suffered an Amniotic Fluid Embolism, an extremely rare and usually fatal complication of childbirth. Although I was resuscitated after 45 minutes of CPR, I suffered several life-threatening complications, and was in critical condition in a coma and on a ventilator for nine weeks in the Intensive Care Unit at Swedish Medical Center. Thanks to the wonderful care at Swedish, and prayers and support from hundreds of people around the world, I survived, and was released from the hospital after five months and one week. I went through a year-and-a-half of physical, occupational, and speech therapy to relearn how to walk, talk and function, and after five years, returned to work.

During my recovery, I started the Northwest ARDS (Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome) Support Network for survivors of this horrible disease. I co-chaired the 2nd Annual Conference for ARDS Survivors, Families and Care Providers, in conjunction with the American Lung Association of Washington and Harborview Medical Center for ARDS Survivors and Caregivers. During the outbreak of SARS in 2003, I worked with Mimi Gan of Evening Magazine to help increase awareness of ARDS (which was actually what many SARS patients were ultimately dying of). Click here to view the online Evening Magazine story. I continue to support people who are ARDS survivors, or whose loved ones are in ARDS crisis. I have also volunteered and raised money for the American Lung Association of Washington.

I am the Vice-President of the Woodmont K-8 PTA. I was also the only parent on the Federal Way School District Elementary Design Team, where I fought to ensure that an anti-bias curriculum was implemented in the elementary grades.

I, for one, am angry about the past seven years. When the election was stolen from Al Gore, I really felt hopeless--I was so shocked that something like that could have happened. And then John Kerry lost, to someone who clearly was a lesser candidate, and I thought to myself, what is our country coming to? The last seven years have been a horrible nightmare, but I feel that now we have hope, and that hope is Barack Obama!

My support for Senator Obama is unwavering. I have had conversations with countless people, some of them strangers, trying to convince them he is the right candidate. I've joined mybarackobama.com and Asian-Americans for Obama and made many friends. I've volunteered for the Obama campaign, at the 33rd Legislative District Caucus, and plan to volunteer at the Congressional District Caucus. I've become a Precinct Committee Officer and once Obama is nominated (which appears to be just around the corner), I will be very actively campaigning for him, as well as other local candidates who also support him. Once at the convention, I WILL NOT switch my vote. I am for Obama ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!

I am on mybarackobama.com, so if you are too, please send me a friend request!

The following people have endorsed me:

Tina Orwall - Chairwoman, 33rd District Democrats, Candidate for 33rd House Seat

Joan Hudyma Tucker - former director of Northwest Center for Equity and Diversity

Kelly Ogilvie - President and CEO of Blue Marble Energy, former Deputy Director of Outreach for Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels

Diana Holz - Director of Early Childhood Education at Green River Community College, Advisory Committee Member on Governor Christine Gregoire's "Washington Learns" Steering Committee

Akemi Matsumoto - Diversity Consultant, Faculty at Bellevue Community College, Seattle-area Social Justice Activist

Melissa Ponder - Seattle-area Civil Rights Activist

Patricia Hunter - Director, Programs and Policy, Alzheimer's Association

My life has been about walking the talk. Having the hard conversations. Talking about issues that people aren't comfortable talking about, because if we never talk about them, nothing changes. If you are a delegate in the 9th Congressional District, please consider casting your vote for me as your representative in Denver!

"We are the ones we've been waiting for." - Hopi prayer

"We must become the change we wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi

A great Mother's Day!

Today I had a great Mother's Day! Tom, Giancarlo and Karina took me out to brunch on the Argosy Cruise ship--it was fabulous! We had a wonderful brunch while we cruised around Elliott Bay. Also, I received two beautiful handmade cards from Karina and Giancarlo, a tissue-paper flower from Giancarlo, a recipe book that Karina made that contained recipes from her third grade class, a cute white stuffed teddy bear that we've named Puffy, and a Canon A590 Digital Camera from Tom! I had actually mentioned I wanted that for my birthday (which isn't until August), but he surprised me and got it for me today! So we had lots of fun playing with it.


I came home and took a nap, got up and watched the "Meet the Press" netcast (I just can't bring myself to get up at 6:00 AM on Sunday mornings!) and then we went out to dinner at Duke's Chowder House at Kent Station. I had the seafood chop chop salad which was really yummy.


A great day!

Senator Obama is one step closer to the nomination!

After probably the worst couple weeks of Senator Obama's campaign, with the Wright scandal front and center in the headlines, Obama being accused of "elitism" and his loss in Pennsylvania, Senator Obama rebounded with a decisive victory in North Carolina and a performance in Indiana which has virtually ensured his nomination in August.

Senator Clinton needed to win big in Indiana, but only won by two percentage points. It is widely believed that her holiday gas tax proposal, which was opposed by most economists as well as Obama and viewed by him as "pandering" did not help her in either the Indiana or N.C. primary and in fact, may have hurt her.

As usual, the political analysts looked at the exit polls to see how different demographics voted. It is interesting that during this year, race and class have become very important factors in the voting. I cannot recall the analysts talking about "downscale white voters" or the "white working class voters" as much as they do during this election.

I was driving home from the dentist, and I decided to listen to Michael Medved, a conversative radio talk show host, just to see what he had to say about last night's primary results. (It's important to know what your opponents are saying!) Frankly, he disgusted me. He called Obama "dead man walking" and he said that working class whites would NEVER vote for him, that they were Reagan Democrats and they'd all end up voting for McCain in the general election. It sounded like he just KNEW this, and he took it for granted. These are people that were supporters of Hillary Clinton.

If he really feels this is the case, I would really like to know WHY. I know that there is a certain contingent of people who openly admit that they just will not vote for an African-American person, and clearly this is based on racism, pure and simple. I would like to hope that this is a small minority of people. But would there be other reasons why Medved would say working class whites would NEVER vote for Obama? Would they really go against their own best interests and vote for what amounts to a third Bush term? Or is this just right-wing rhetoric? Obama's and Clinton's positions on the issues are much closer to each other's than they are to McCain's when it comes to ecomonic policies, the war, health care, abortion, gay rights, you name it. Clinton herself has said that she would support Obama if he were to be the Democratic nominee. So why would a voter be willing to support Clinton and not Obama, if their own candidate is willing to support Obama? I'd be interested in people's opinions on this.

I think it's important to have these conversations because only then can we come to a greater understanding about people who are different from us. To think that race and class won't be a factor in the general election is to be shortsighted. We've already seen from this primary season that both of these issues have become part and parcel of this campaign season and I have a very strong feeling that in the general election it will get even worse.