Just wanted to give you all a head's up that there's a radio play being aired tonight on FM radio in LA and also via the web.  It features actor/activist Ed Asner and I found some information on it at Mike Malloy's website just now.

Anyone interested in the Middle East and/or peace might want to give it a listen.  You can also get a CD of the broadcast and/or make a donation if you click on the link provided at Malloy's site, or just go here.

Looks interesting.

She put her new suit on, gathered up the house keys and her portfolio containing ten copies of her latest, greatest resume, and took a deep breath.

Then she exhaled, smiled at the cats, and wished herself luck.  Er, scratch that.  Success.  Not luck.

By the time she make it down the three flights of stairs, she was almost ready for the cold bracing weather.

She walked with head held high all the way to the train station, bought her round trip fare, and then sat on the bench with legs crossed and hands clasped for fifteen minutes straight.  Without praying, or glancing down the tracks.

Got on the train and watched the Bronx go by.

Not until the deep dark of the tunnel did she let herself feel nervous, but one quick glance at her reflection told her she'd be fine.

She made it to the office suite and had to take turns with another woman just as hopeful, just as needy, just in the nick of time.

She found out during the interview that this was just a quickie, an overview before the next big interview.  So she did her best to ace this audition.

Once it was over, she ventured outside into the cold city air, and felt the heat of the people passing by.  She'd forgotten how warm Manhattan could be.  How the heartbeat of footsteps and traffic keeps one alive.  And here it is Fall, after all.  Central Park's falling leaves leave their scent throughout midtown while only barely giving a hint of the burning chestnuts yet to come.  But come they will, she knows.

The late afternoon sun was not warm enough to push her on to other opportunities this day, so she made her way back to the shadowy entrance of Grand Central.  Found her train easily enough, and sat for twenty minutes waiting for its jaws to close before the beast containing her would move.

She was reluctant to go home, but her day here was done.  Other beasts needed taming.  Including her soul, which needed reclaiming, before she'd let the city swallow her whole yet again.

She had missed it, she had kissed it goodbye once, and now the hello was all too familiar.  Twenty years after leaving it, she needed it again.

What beast had been tamed, she had to wonder aloud, before giving her cats their afternoon snack and then stripping herself of her suit.

This is how I'd start the day:

I'd ensure that every person on this planet was able to get up and get out of bed just as the sun starts rising, and I'd make each person go to their window and I'd have them watch the sun rise and I'd instill in them the hope that this day, of all days, will be the best day ever.

I'd ensure that they not get distracted by the neighbor's baby crying or by the condition of their surroundings or by their fear of defeat or their need for retaliation. Instead, I'd make them all feel grateful to be alive and awake and moving, and I'd make them all smile despite themselves.

I'd ensure that enough food and money was in their wallet for this day - but no more than enough - so that each and every person was on the same footing, and yet all their cups would be full.

This is how I'd spend the day:

I'd ensure that people would think outside of their own boxes, think long-term, and long distance. They would wish for global peace and the end of starvation and ignorance. Not because someone urged them to, but because they really felt it was time to think about others, as well as our planet.

I'd ensure that no news would need to be written except for good news about people doing good things. There would be hour-long documentaries and pages upon pages written about "Life": A woman who works full time as an accountant yet spends her weekends tutoring children. A man who works as a butcher yet takes in stray dogs and cats. A city dweller who's found a way to grow vegetables on his 4x5 balcony. These people would be highlighted in the news not for being extraordinary, but for being ordinary, and they would be the only new news of the day.

This is how I'd end the day:

I'd ensure that everyone would go home after a productive day to a peaceful place, a safe haven, either alone or with their loved ones and family, feeling fulfilled and yet not tired. Feeling ready for another day just like this one.

I'd ensure that every person on earth had a safe and comfortable place to lay themselves down, where they could just close their eyes and smile about the day they'd just had, and dream about and plan for the day yet to come.

I'd ensure that not one of them would care to be, nor want to be, nor need to be Ruler For A Day.

I'm talking about homeless schoolchildren. I opened yahoo.com today and there was the headline about 1 in 5 schoolchildren in PS 636 and I thought to myself, "This is horrendous - just unbelievable!" So I went digging around the internet only to discover that the number of homeless school kids across the country has gone up tremendously over the past year.

I posted quite a long time ago that I, myself, had once been homeless...but I was an adult and working at the time, and very few people in my office were even aware of the fact that I was living out of a pickup truck. I cannot even imagine what it must be like to be a child in school who has no home to go to at night.

It just breaks my heart.

Time for me to start volunteering at the food shelter up here.  And as soon as I start working again, I'll be donating money as well as time.