Tomorrow is a long time away

Hey, Its been waaay tooo long since I was here. Over the past month I been to West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky,New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Today is a day off and I'm at the VW dealership getting an oil change. 7500 miles in one month! I have met so many people that have affected me. I think of Pat Willis in Lake County Ohio who took me around to a million schools to perform the show. What a great guy and a great family. Its not every day that you meet a police officer that not only gets respect from the students....But trust. When someone knows that somebody really cares and respects them...It gets returned to them. If you talk down to someone and treat them like a "kid" they can smell it....However if you build a relationship with someone by repeatedly being visible in the community and LISTENING when a student says something...You get respect. Any officers that want to know how to do this and are interested in something above and beyond the DARE program should contact Pat Willis and ask him about his PLUS program. Or meet up with him at this years PRIDE conference in DC. I think of Gallipolis Ohio and driving through farms and backroads to get to country schools. I think of Morganfield Kentucky. When I got off the plane and asked the guy how to get to Morganfield he said.."Daaay aint nothin theyah." I laughed and now I beg to differ. There are some awesome people named Suzanne and Diane there and some students that really picked up on what I was doing. I think of an all boys schools in Glen Mills Pennsylvania where about 700 kids marched in to this giant gym/airplane hanger building. Not one of them smiling as they were seated and waited for me to go on. Then after about 2 minutes of my show there was laughter and fun and I felt like this was EXACTLY where I'm supposed to be. Obviously they got the message of what I was doing...But I firmly believe that laughter is so important. The crazier times get and the harder life can be it reminds me of how important it is to laugh. If I can go on stage and make a bunch of kids laugh at 9:00 AM in an environment which is so sterile and "educational" I feel as though I have accomplished so much. I think of Russell O Brackman Middle school in New Jersey and the 20 minutes of question and answers after the show and the excellent relationship that Sue Burgess has built with the students. Its been all so overwhelming and all the traveling leaves me little time to think and process what's going on with the students after I perform a show. I have received so many confidential emails from people saying "Thank you for bringing up the topics in your show....No one ever talks about those things here." Those emails mean a lot. I can get overwhelmed but I also have learned how to decompress. Books by Kurt Vonnegut. CD's by The White Stripes, Lyle Lovett, Neil Young and Warren Zevon. And of course lots of DVD's of The Family Guy:-) In the days ahead I'm off to Cincinnati and Maryland along with some shows at Philips Andover here in Massachusetts. Speaking of Massachusetts this week we have so many miracles in our state. Its 60 degrees with the leaves turning and the air crisp at night and some incredible starry nights. I hope everyone reading this takes a few minutes to breathe this week and see that despite all the troubles around us and within us...There is beauty and truth and reality and perhaps a few people around you that really care. Take time to find them if necessary. If they are not around, take sometime to walk alone and see how amazing YOU are and try to be that caring person to someone else. Kind of a Hallmark Oprah moment...Sorry. By the way I went to a bunch of movies the past few weeks so here are my brief reviews. 1. "Wallace & Gromit." 5 stars. Awesome. Funny. Genius. 2. "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride." 5 Stars. Amazing. Very cool. 3. "A history of violence." Sucked. Real bad! Two hours I will never get back. 4. "North Country." Moving. Powerful. Lifetimey but good. Lots if Dylan Music in it! 5. "Elizabethtown"- At Times brilliant at times stupid. Decent but disappointing for Cameron Crowe. Well that's all for now. My car is ready and there's a starbucks about a mile away.