Intolerance & Diversity on a Downtown Train

by Dave Conrey

I’ve been riding public transportation to and from work for a couple weeks now and these are the quickly noticeable benefits:

  • Using way less gas
  • Being more productive by working while riding
  • Less stressed from not having to deal with traffic
  • Exercise because I ride my bike to the train station

I guessed this would be the result long before I even started riding, but some other not-so obvious benefits emerged from commuting, such as my diminishing intolerance of people. As I get older I notice I’m liking people less and less, probably because of all the crazy, stupid things I see them do to others on a regular basis. I have less faith in humans with each passing day, but as I sit, at this very moment, squeezed between two colorful and full-figured women, my tolerance level is forced to grow with each passing mile. It’s not terribly comfortable, but I’m making do because apparently that’s what you do on the train in a busy metropolis.

The other happy side effect of riding is the diversity. Its a microcosm of the Los Angeles lifestyle. Growing up in Orange County, I led a pretty sheltered life, not being exposed to anything below the middle class income level. As sad as that is, I fought my way out pretty fast, and as I move from one metroplex to another, I’m picking up on the diversity of each new city. Being in Long Beach, the urban element is more prevalent as well as the prominence of a large gay community. Whatever reservations I had before about a city like Long Beach are long gone, replaced with more acceptance.

I actually thought I was pretty well adjusted to urban life before, but my resolve was tested the first time I rode the train through some of the most notorious and depressed neighborhoods of South Central Los Angeles. At certain stops, I was totally on guard, alert to each gangsta-looking dude that hopped in the car with me. No big surprise, I haven’t even seen the slightest inkling of danger. Everyone on this train is just trying to get from one place or another, whether that’s to a job, school, or to go hang with their homies. Truth be told, I am likely as threatening to them as they seemed to me, a middle-class white boy invading their sanctuary is bound to create some xenophobia.

I knew I had to adjust my mindset pretty quick when I saw one young kid get on the train dressed in stereotypical hoodlum garb; ball cap cocked to one side, baggy pants holding on for dear-life just under his ass, showing off his boxers. He had on a lot of blue which, on the wrong block, could get him killed. I immediately assumed his was a punk and my senses heightened as he got on the train, right up until I saw the USC college schedule tucked under his arm along with some text books. I didn’t apologize for my ignorance, but I vigorously admonished myself for being a complete ass.

This is not to say that I completely let down my guard. I still keep my backpack tucked tightly behind my legs in case someone felt like grabbing it, but I would do that just about anywhere… except maybe in Orange County. I’m not fixed, but I’m learning. I’m still going to lock my doors at night, and still watch my back while walking the streets at night, but now I’m a little less suspect of every “punk” that crosses my path on the downtown train.

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Personal Circumstance Brings About More Change

by Dave Conrey

It’s been awhile since my last update, but this post has been at the forefront if my mind for a few weeks now. I have just been a little gun shy about writing it, let alone posting, because it spells out an uncertain future for this blog as a whole.

Anyone who follows my Twitter feed knows that the company I work for is suffering pretty badly from the economic turn-down. We’ve recently had massive layoffs with rumors of more to come this month. Of course I’m not the first to write about the fear of a pink slip, and sadly, not the last. Fortunately, I have been given some reassurance that my job is safe for the immediate future, but I don’t want to be one of those folks that needs to figure out their backup plan after they’ve already been let go.

What the Hell are You Talking About Dave?

Good question, and one I plan to figure out the answer to very soon. The truth is, I haven’t completely fleshed out the idea to the fullest extent, but basically it means a future in freelance consulting (another term for unemployed). My strongest skill sets have always been marketing and graphic design and I’ve always served the automotive and/or small business segments.

The reason I’m still unsure about things is the last time I tried to start a consultancy to earn a little extra cash while still employed I almost got canned because of a single blog post. I’m a bit trepidatious, as you can probably imagine, but the idea of getting caught with my pants down is even scarier.

Two questions still remain though. First, how to I take the things I excel at the most and implement my new green ideology into them? Second, and more importantly to my readers, if I have to spend my free time focusing on ramping up my freelance career, what happens to this blog? One of the things I tried to resolve this past year is not putting so many irons in the fire. I can’t possibly imagine trying to maintain this blog consistently while I’m trying to point my life toward the future of a new career. I’m also painfully aware that even though I have a voice on the subject of green living, it’s not what I’m best at, and there are so many people who are way more knowledgeable. I firmly believe it is time to cater to my strengths.

I probably wouldn’t kill off The Greeniest because through this site I’ve met some really awesome folks and I can’t imagine turning my back on any of them. Perhaps the solutions is to back-burner this site until I can figure out how to work it into my regiment, posting only when I have divine epiphanies on greeniness.

To the first question, I have plenty of ideas about how to incorporate the green lifestyle into my marketing and design, but I’d like to here some of your thoughts in the comments. The future of my business and the businesses I work with depend on you now.

Flickr photo by Meredith Farmer

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It’s a New Day Indeed

by Dave Conrey


It’s been 2 weeks since Obama WE made history and the buzz is definitely slowing down, but I still get choked up thinking about the possibility of the future. As much as I love all the positive vibes we’re feeling, I’m worried some people expect Obama to carry us in his arms while he leads us to safety, but the insane amount of expectations we’re loading on to the back of one man may only lead to disappointment. When you lift someone up that high, the chance they might fall is even greater. We need to remember that he cannot change the world by himself. He needs America to help themselves. His appointment to the highest seat in the country does not give us carte blanche to sit on our asses now.

President Obama will show us the path, but we must walk it. So get up, stay positive, stay focused and let’s move to the future together.

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A Very Sensitive Subject - Paper Free Challenge Continues

by Dave Conrey

Watch as I go on about the struggles to shift my paper usage paradigm. It hasn’t been easy. The video is a bit choppy this time, but there’s some recycled redemption and a little comedy in there for you. At leat I thought it was funny.

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Victory is Bittersweet

by Dave Conrey

I know this video is old, but its powerful, even more so than ever. Congratulations, Mr. President.

I never intended this blog to be political. I was never really one of much political conviction and I just didn’t feel it was necessary for getting my message across. About 6 months ago, things started to slowly change for me. I knew I wanted to vote for Barrack Obama shortly before the California primary election, but I didn’t know how much his words, his thoughts, his own conviction would seep into my heart and soul. By the time the general election came around, I was a devout follower of Barrack Obama because I felt it down to my bones that this man would lead us out of the quagmire that we’ve been in for several years.

One of these days, I hope to sit down with my grand kids and tell them about how I witnessed history. Not only did I help elect the first black president, but I watched him become the most significant president in my lifetime. My mom had John F. Kennedy and now I have Barrack Obama. For the first time in my life I feel like this is my President, the one I was meant to fight for and the one who will do the same for me.

Of course I understand I’m putting him on a pedestal which only leaves him room to fall hard, but I feel he will rise to the occasion. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect him to cure all the country’s ills, but I know that if he felt he had a chance to do that, he would. I don’t expect anything more than for him to be an honorable man and restore faith and assurance to the title of President.

Of course there will be the naysayers. In fact, I was watching Fox News just yesterday out of morbid curiosity, wondering if they would be lambasting Barrack Obama already. I watched as Sean Hannity and Karl Rove did a little dance to try and sound conciliatory, but it didn’t take long for them to throw the slings and arrows, trying to knock him out of the sky only 1 day after the election. If you’re a supporter of Obama, please don’t suffer the doubting Thomas’, they bring nothing but grief and would rather cast a shadow over this light than try to find the middle ground.

That being said, despite the awesome high I’m riding after the election, I’m still more than a little bummed about Proposition 8. As proud of America I am right now, I’m equally disappointed in my home state for allowing this thinly veiled hate crime disguised as legislation. This isn’t about gays and lesbians and not wanting to acknowledge their existence. This is about the fear and ignorance that squashes civil rights.

No matter what your thoughts on homosexuality might be, it is not in the nature of this country to write laws preventing them from the same right we have as heterosexuals. Would you also allow a proposition banning marriage between mixed races? How about banning marriage between older women with younger men? As ludicrous as those examples might sound, they are inherently the same as banning marriage between gays or lesbians. Allow me to introduce you a piece of text that might clear this up.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Basically what that means, don’t fucking tread where you don’t belong or you will get tossed. This country was based on the ideas that we ALL have rights regardless of our age, the color of our skin or our sexual orientation, and when you step on those rights, you will get thrown off. This fight is long from over.

In the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about Hope - Barrack Obama

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