 "Chronique américaine"
de Linda Mullally,
Californie
President Obama: the best thing to happen
to the United States
in a very long time
and the best hope for the planet.
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Feb, 24th, 2010:
http://journalquebecpresse.org/module ... /article.php?storyid=2631
october's new article:
http://journalquebecpresse.org/module ... /article.php?storyid=2266-----------------President Obama: the best thing to happen to the United States in a very long time and the best hope for the planet.
After an absence of more than two months I have returned home California from an educational odyssey that took me hiking in the frigid mountain kingdoms of Patagonia, cruising along the steamy banks of the Amazon and driving across the United States from Florida to California.
I had hoped to travel as long as it took for the recession to end, but the recession seems to be lasting longer than we all had hoped!
In Chilean Patagonia, I met 5 young men and women, also hoping to weather the recession on the trail. Investment banker from London, merger specialists from Australia, stock broker from Hong Kong and one lobbyist from New York, all under 30, and all unemployed. More stunning than their youth and their global trotting was the weight of their responsibilities in the financial markets.
I had to wonder if there was a connection with the chaos in the global financial markets and the fact that children had been minding the store, so to speak?
Making our way up to Manaus, Brazil, to cruise and explore the amazing Amazon River was the most educational experience from the rubber baron history that put Manaus on the map to the jungle's lessons on bio-diversity and sustainable life on the planet.
Back on the North American continent, the drive across Florida with a stopover in Georgia on the way through Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada was like a cultural time machine. These days Florida combines gators, foreclosures and clusters of exclusive real estate in communities like Naples.
Atlanta continues to be the soul-less urban glob masquerading as the cosmopolitan center of the south. Whereas Memphis, Tennessee has the Beale Street blues beat, and the Clinton Presidential museum has really classed up Little Rock, Arkansas.
Unfortunately, there's still something about Texas, that feels like lingering indigestion hours after a bad meal. Texas just has too much guns,god and desolate landscapes for my taste.
I felt my spirits lift as we crossed into New Mexico in anticipation of the enchanting mountainous landscape along the Rio Grande outside of Taos and Santa Fe, where the blend of Indian, Spanish and American cultures come alive through the architecture, art and cuisine.
By the time we reached Arizona along nostalgic route 66, the colossal Colorado River, Hoover Dam and Las Vegas were on the horizon and just a short sprint from the California border.
I spotted the wall of snow capped peaks as we crested the pass towards the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada, the last Palisade between us and the Pacific Ocean. I could almost smell home.
By the end of the journey, it was understandable that remote mountain outposts of southern Chile and isolated villages on the Amazon could seem like stepping into another world.
But ironically, I experienced more culture shock from state to state in my country of residence than I did thousands of miles away, a guest in foreign countries in the midst of people who spoke a different language.
It made me realize how vast and diverse the United States is geographically as well as culturally and socially.
That this country manages to hobble under one government with a president who has to represent and address the aspirations and desires of all people is a veritable "tour de force".
Another sad irony, is the fact that while Republicans at home persist in their petty obstructiveness to President Obama's efforts to better American lives, our South American cousins and most of the world view President Obama as the best thing to happen to the United States in a very long time and the best hope for the planet.
On the bright side, it was my first trip abroad since becoming an American citizen, when I didn't feel I had to apologize for my American passport. The Obama presidency was my passport to unprecedented hospitality abroad!
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CALIFORNIA'S ECONOMY SQUEALS WITH DEALS
Traduction à venir — French translation soon
While President Obama is working on Federal Bailouts, Recovery Plans, and Stimulus Packages, Governor Schwarzenegger California is trying to save California from bankruptcy.
But out of our gloom, comes a hint of light for visitors - or should I say a shower of travel deals. The internationally famous AT&T golf tournament at Pebble Beach brought the last big wave of tourists and their dollars to the area for the season on February 10 and took them home on February 16.
Under normal economic circumstances, this would announce the beginning of some pretty appealing off season deals for travelers until mid April. But under these exceptionally more challenging economic circumstances, the perks just got bigger.
People are often surprised to hear that winter in Central California is actually a pretty ideal time to visit both for weather and for budgets. They are shocked to find out that summer on the coast can be very foggy and cold.
It's no accident that every other shop in Carmel and Monterey has racks of snuggly sweatshirts and fleece lined windbreakers at the front of the store yearround. Those are the big sellers in July in August when most visitors expect to walk on the beach in t-shirts and sun hats.
Winter months bring a lively combination of crisp blue skies, impressive tempestuous surf ahead of the pacific storms, and sun rays that frequently heat up into the high 60's and low 70's. Even on the days, when the mid day sun doesn't jolt the temperatures above 55 degrees, or the rain showers linger, it beats fighting snow, windchill factors and ice storms.
Very Particular...
The Monterey Peninsula in particular, cradled by natural beauty in all directions with sandy beaches, rugged precipitous coastlines, sweeping wine valleys, green carpeted hillsides, and outdoor venues for hiking, hiking,birding biking, horsebackriding, kayaking and golfing, is a vacation Shangri-la.
The coastal estuaries are drawing an increasing number of bird lovers and watchers, with the spring migration season in full swing by march. Rick Fournier at Monterey Birding Adventures is an exuberant guide who enjoys sharing his knowledge with novices as well as committed avian fans.
For those who prefer less outdoor entertainment and more man made recreation, there's no shortage of shopping opportunities, restaurants, wine tasting rooms, museums and art galleries.
I came here to "play" for a week-end twenty-five years ago and never left.
The five main communities that make up the peninsula consist of Monterey, Pacific Grove, Pebble Beach, Carmel and Carmel Valley, each of them charmingly distinct linked by a colorful history that stretches from Spanish colonization in the 1700's to the Bohemian era of the 1930's to contemporary times when artists, jet setters, old timers and tourists contribute to the thriving of this unique Californian enclave.
Except for the real estate, which is still commanding top dollars (location, location, location), currently visitors can savor the best of everything the Monterey Peninsula has to offer at the fraction of past economic boom year's prices.
The expression "le malheur des uns, fait le bonheur des autres", may simply mean that for now, many more people can afford a little of the "California Dreaming".
For more information on some of the travel deals, go to the official Monterey County Visitor Bureau website:
Monterey Birding Adventures
Carmel Monterey Travel Agency at 601 Abrego Street, Monterey,CA 93940 is also a great resource for the best available airfares, car rentals and certain lodgings. (831) 649-4292
"NOW, IN THE ANNALS OF HISTORY"
...a chance to flourish again
January, 23, 2009 —
23 janvier 2009
At last, the much anticipated inauguration of the 44th president of the United States of America is now in the annals of history.
I have lived in California for twenty-five years and I cannot remember a single inauguration moment or what I was doing on that day. Except for the cloud of dread I felt on the day after the election of 2000 and the tears of fear on the day after the election of 2004, I don't recall being engaged emotionally in the American political process.
But on January 20th, 2009 I postponed all my appointments and sat in front of the television set from 7AM to 10:30PM, almost without intermission as I watched every frame of history unfold and hope materialize.
On the morning of January 21, 2009, I didn't wake up to find all the economic ailments cured or the global problems solved just because Barack Obama was president and the new leader of the free world.
Twelve years after I began traveling with an American passport, I woke up still thinking of Canada as my motherland and identifying with my French Canadian roots, and painfully aware of the mess this country is in.
The difference that morning, was that I also felt a new unfamiliar yet extremely warm current of pride in my American citizenship and a confidence that everything I grew up to love and admire about the United States from across the border, now had a chance to flourish again.
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HONOLULU, HAWAII —
In 2009 President Elect Barack Obama,
could be, if not the "biggest", the "newest" attraction yet?
December 19, 2008 — 19 décembre 2008 
I thought I left Obama
"mania" back
on the mainland when
I flew from
San Francisco to Honolulu,
Hawaii.
Little did I know how
proud the
Hawaiians were of their
native son.
Street vendors are working
the beach walks and the
downtown with a variety of campaign buttons featuring "Obama", and Waikiki t-shirt shops have customized Obama shirts with the spirit of Aloha.
The island of Oahu is known for the lovely capital city of Honolulu and its historic attractions, Waikiki beach as a world class vacation getaway and let's not forget the North Shore's surfing mecca.
This island is no stranger to fame with a stream of popular television shows like Hawaiian Eye (Intrigues a Hawaii), actor Jack Lord's Hawaii 5-0, Tom Sellek as Magnum P.I., and more recently the set for the motion picture Jurassic Park, and the rivetting tv show "Lost".
Oahu is gifted with polynesian history and culture as well as paradisial beauty. But in 2009 President Elect Barack Obama, could be, if not the "biggest", the "newest" attraction yet? The slow economy has shaved this state's visitor numbers by 20% so far. Could Hawaii's favorite son boost those numbers?
I've been here two weeks and I confess buying three campaign buttons. I especially like the "Obama Ohana" (Obama is family), and yes I have my eye on at least a couple of t-shirts. "Obama Surfs" is especially cool.
As for a walking tour of the President Elect's Hawaiian childhood hangouts, my husband and I read an article in the local paper the first week we were here, and came out of the "groupie" closet for a day with a map and our walking shoes, stopping for a photo at every school and house where he and his family ever lived.
As part of our Obama pilgrimage we spoke to several locals about Barack Obama and askes whether growing up on this laid back island helped form his calm, cool, collected unflappable demeanor?
One elderly woman born of a Hawaiian mother and a "haole" (caucasian) father said, "We live on a multi racial and multi cultural island. We may not all like each other, but on an island you have to get along, and so if there's one lesson Barack Obama learned from growing up here, was how to "get along" with people." Yesterday, the front page of the local paper announced that the Obamas are returning to Oahu for the Christmas holiday. They are renting on Kailua Beach, which has become one our our favorite swimming beaches.
I was excited to think that Barack Obama might arrive before I leave! I said to David, "I bet we could find where he's staying"! David reminded me that the secret service detail might not make the distinction between an enthusiastic supporter and a stalker!
So for now, I'll be content to head back to California with my Obama Hawaiian memorabilia which has inspired me to host an Aloha "theme" Presidential Inauguration party for our friends and fellow Obama fans, January! With tourism sluggish, a sputtering economy, and bountiful travel deals, this may be the time for that Hawaiian holiday and those surfing lessons you've been dreaming of! While you're at it, why not check in at the Royal Hawaiian hotel "pink palace of the pacific" and historic landmark.
The "grande dame" of Hawaiian resorts is currently undergoing an extensive facelift just in time to reopen with an inaugural ball on January 20th! http//www.royal-hawaiianhotel.com/ Aloha! |
 
Are We Dreaming? — Rêvons-nous ?(16 décembre 2007) — La traduction suivra
Waking up to president elect Barack Obama on November 5th was surreal!
The man is smart, articulate, believes in the science of evolution, the constitution, separation of church and state, energy independence and global climate change, women's right to choose, and doesn't think there's something evil about socialism.
Photo: American press. 
In the meantime the current Bush administration seems to be struggling to solve the financial mess to which its own policies have greatly contributed or aggravated, or are they? Some Americans are skeptical of the competency and or integrity of the people handling the bailout money. Is it intended to help the average American worker weather the economic storm? Or are the bailouts to banks and financial institutions more like a last fleecing of America's coffers on the way out the door?
With two months to go before the inauguration, Obama supporters are nervous about how much more damage George Bush and his crew can inflict on the economy, the environment and the world. A dream come true would be an announcement of "early retirement" by this presidency. But it is just that, a "dream".
Others fear that a "crazy" will slip through the cracks and get to Barack Obama before he even becomes president.
The fears and anxieties are as high as the expectations, and the right wing conservative talk show hosts are still in the propaganda business. But on the bright side, Obama supporters (democrats, independents and many republicans - citizens and politicians), are high on inspiration to help make the Obama changes a reality in any way they can. It has been decades since Americans have felt this engaged and ready to do their part. 
To keep the momentum going, the Obama team has even put out an application form on their website for any citizen who wishes to list their skills and apply for a position in the movement to change America for the better.
Photo: Michel Cloutier, Editor, Journal Québec Presse.
Like many, my husband and I have completed the application and are eagerly awaiting for our new president and leader to tell us how we can best serve our community and our country over the next four years. Yes We Can!
Linda Mullally from Monterey, California
USA ELECTION WATCH
(Texte revu et augmenté. La traduction suivra.)
MONTERRY, CALIFORNIA —
Presidential campaign update
The countdown is on, and although the McCain/Palin campaign is winning on the score of "distractions", and the Obama/Biden campaign continues to forge ahead focusing on issues, the suspense is mounting.
The McCain/Palin campaign is throwing everything and anything against the wall to see if it sticks, from associations with 60's radicals for actions that took place when Barack Obama was 8 years old, to dividing the country in a contest on which regions are more patriotic and "real" Americans.
It's schizophrenic to hear John McCain claim he is the one to reach across the aisle in his presidency, and yet to continue to demonize his opponent and his opponent's party.
The most recent handful of fear smear to be thrown against the wall is the claim that Barack Obama is a socialist. Calling him a Muslim didn't do the trick, so maybe Americans will be more frightened by a socialist? As if either one is "anti-american".
But afterall, why would Americans want to be anything like Canada or Scandinavia? Isn't that the same as being like China or Russia?
While the Obama campaign strives to appeal to Americans' higher consciousness, the McCain campaign is determined to "drill" into the deeper fears in the American well of ignorance.
On November 5th, the world will wake up to find out if Barack Obama underestimated the power of propaganda or if John McCain underestimated the American people's common sense. For the sake of this country and the world, let higher consciousness and common sense prevail.
-----------------------------------------
I have lived here for 25 years and been an American citizen for 12 years. I became a citizen to put my vote where my mouth is, and I have been shocked to discover the true American face.
In Quebec, Canada as a child and teenager, I grew up thinking  that everything American was good and better. I was about six years old sitting in the living room watching TV during the day because I was home from school with chicken pox, when the news of John F. Kennedy’s assassination came across the screen. Even at six years old, I felt overwhelmed with sadness, instinctively knowing that something terrible had happened, with ripple effects around the world.
Photo: Trois-Rivières, Québec, native city of Linda Mullally. On the photo: rue Notre-Dame, downtown. Trois-Rivières is a French city (99%) of 150,000 persons in the Québec French-speaking State Nation in America, with 8 millions peoples.
As a former citizen of a more socialist country where division of church and state I hope remains the order of the day, where abortion is legal and homosexuals have the right to love and live and let live in marriage, the United States’ obsession with religious righteousness over socio economic equality and boasts a foreign policy based on ideology, I have been disappointed and disillusioned these last 8 years. 
It would be at least consolation if Canada’s southern neighbor’s errors and trend of regression, served for Canadians to recommit proudly in their upcoming election to what elevates Canada as a superior model for democracy and equality.
A Barack Obama/Joe Biden administration is the best ray of hope for the United States at this point in history. The question is will Americans tap into common sense this election or will they continue to be manipulated by fear of terrorism, fear of gays, fear of sex, fear of losing their guns, and fear of God. 
John McCain is a good man and a good soldier. But with his pick of Sarah Palin, the governor of Alaska, he has proven that he is now owned by the right wing Christian extremists that hijacked the Republican party 8 years ago to appoint George Bush. The USA has had a president who believes he gets his foreign policy guidelines from God. We know when you wage war claiming God on your side, it’s a tricky deal. John McCain now has a partner on the ticket who shares those same views. 
The right wing extremist Christian coalition doesn’t believe in science. They don’t believe in evolution, they don’t believe in climate change and they believe that Christians are the chosen ones and that Armageddon is inevitable and a good reason to use up the earth, since we as a species won’t be around long enough to protect anything.
Such ideologues have been appointed to run the EPA (environmental protective agency), as well as this country’s foreign policy. 
These religious beliefs unfortunately rule domestic and foreign policy. Sarah Palin has been misrepresenting her record as a “reformer”. The Republicans have cloaked themselves in a robe of “change” to get on the bandwagon that has gotten Obama his momentum. They are impersonating as agents of “change”. Tax cuts for the wealthiest versus tax cuts for the middle and more impoverished class. The latter would be a refreshing CHANGE, but it won’t come from the Palin/McCain ticket.
For women, it’s frightening to think that the vice president who could become president if John McCain became incapacitated, is against abortion under all circumstances including rape and incest. She made the choice to have a “Downe syndrome” baby. But other women, should retain the choice not to if they choose so. She thinks that its preferable for a 17 year old child to get pregnant. Abstinence is a nice slogan but it’s like gambling with your teenagers’ future.
On the qualification front, “seeing Russia from your house”, sounds like a stand-up comic’s version of foreign policy. But it is in fact, this VP candidate’s official position.
If it’s about experience, good judgment and looking out for the middle class of Americans and getting along in a more peaceful world, then Obama/Biden is a clear choice. Racism is the wild card in this election. It will be interesting to see how evolved or regressed the American society really is, and if it chooses to continue “declining and denying” or “rebounding and leading”.
Biography of Linda Mullally
Although Linda Mullally has been living in Central California on the magical Monterey Peninsula alongside American cinema celebrities like Clint Eastwood and Doris Day, her cultural and character roots remain steadfastly French Canadian. She was born in Trois-Rivieres in December 1956, and raised by her uncle and aunt, Louis and Noella Blackburn. Although Louis and Noella had no children of their own, they had more than enough love to embrace and raise Noella’s younger sister’s children. From the age of 8 months on Louis and Noella were her true “maman and papa” and proved that bonding through nurturing trumps biology.
A proud “bleuet” from the Lac St. Jean region, devout catholic and hard working mill worker at the Wayagamack in Cap-de-la-Madeleine, Louis was Linda’s hero and role model for integrity, loyalty and courage.
On the other hand, Noella’s irreverent wit and humor combined with her protective maternal instincts and liberal values prepared Linda for life out in the world beyond the sheltered familiarity of her hometown.
Linda took her first steps in the Blackburn’s modest apartment on St. Francois Xavier street where she developed her compassion for animals feeding the stray cats of the back alleys of her neighborhood, and at age 6, holding Noella’s hand walked to her first day of school at Ecole St. Cecile. After one year at the neighborhood French school, Linda transferred to Ecole St. Patrick for 12 years of English education, while continuing to live her French culture at home.
A short stint at John Abbott College in Ste. Anne de Bellevue was followed by a marriage to high school sweetheart, Scott Murray. The marriage dissolved within a couple of years as the two youths matured in different directions. Linda was torn between her heart’s ambition to care for the animal kingdom as a veterinarian and her soul’s wanderlust. The latter lured her to Air Canada where she spread her wings across Canada, United States and Europe.
Around 1980 Louis Blackburn’s death from bone cancer when Linda had barely entered her twenties, was emotionally devastating. Then in 1983 on a sunny June afternoon, sitting on the Toronto Airport Express bus heading to the last terminal before heading to the subway station, a passenger boarded the mostly empty bus and sat next to Linda. A bewildered and annoyed Linda turned to acknowledge the intruder’s greeting, unexpectedly falling in love at first sight with David Mullally. After a whirlwind romance of seven cross border dates, following the motto of all well bred French Canadian girls, “qui prend mari prend pays”, Linda said yes to David’s proposal.
The soulmates eloped to Lake Tahoe for an intimate ceremony and the twenty-seven year old embarked on a new adventure taking her bicycle and her cat to begin her new life with the handsome blue-eyed divorced American attorney, almost ten years her senior and father of a three year old boy.
An innately independent and self sufficient Linda resigned from Air Canada a year later, spending the next several months of her new life forging an identity in this new country and relationship. Shocked and disappointed when “ Mr. Mullally”, returned to the office on a Monday beaming with pride at introducing his new bride, his secretary quit, her hopes for a long term romance with her boss now dashed. Linda, a quick study, stepped into the secretary’s shoes, soon emerging as David’s bookkeeper and paralegal. The two found they were a dynamo team both romantically and professionally.
Since David was a fair weather native Californian, there was never any question that he would move north to Canada. On the other hand, Linda never having been a “conformist” could not imagine life in the Californian suburbs where David lived and practiced law. Their compromise had them migrating south to Carmel on the Monterey Peninsula, where jaguars and Mercedes were as common place as bicycles and pick-up trucks. Movie stars, Mexican laborers, starving artists and students lived side by side without resentment and envy. It was a unique community that celebrated individuality and fit Linda like a glove.
In high school and college, Linda had excelled at the arts of expression through drama, writing and public speaking. In California, her passion for animals, nature and the environment found a voice as a freelance writer for a variety of newspapers and magazines. Linda and her husband indulged their lust for travel and outdoor adventures hiking around the world including the Rocky Mountains, Sierra Mountains, Alps, Dolomites, Kilimanjaro, Himalaya and Peruvian Andes.
Raising two coyote/husky hybrid dogs inspired her to become the first travel columnist for Dog Fancy Magazine. Her experience sharing life with two wild dogs for 16 years and writing educational articles became the springboard to her first book “Hiking with Dogs”,  published by Falcon Press in 1999, and now in its second edition. The book was about choosing a dog, bonding and training it for the hiking trail along with respect for wildlife and wilderness.
Her second book “Best Hikes with Dogs Central California” published by The Mountaineers was a two year project with co-author and husband David Mullally. After their two coyote/hybrids died, they borrowed friends’ dogs to hike 55 trails between the Pacific Coast and Eastern Sierra mountains of Central California.
Linda and her husband David traveled to promote the book, giving radio, newspaper and television interviews about the joys, benefits and responsibilities of hiking with dogs, and the best trails in Central California.
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