This year, MLK Day is extra special for two reasons

1. Today we commemorate what would have been Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s 80th birthday, but for the assassin's bullet that took him from us far too soon. (The actual date of his birth was the 15th, last Thursday, but that's government holidays for you.)
2. Tomorrow, our nation takes one gigantic step further toward finally achieving the dream of which King spoke so eloquently just three months and two days after I was born. Within sight of the place he gave that speech, our first African-American President will be inaugurated around 12 noon Eastern time.

For these reasons and many, many more, I once again share this graphic created by me from his image and words.

May each of us continue to work, each and every single day and in whatever ways we can, however small, to bring his dream closer to being the reality we all share. And as for anti-equality Pastor Rick Warren, who was inexplicably invited to speak both here today in Atlanta at the official ceremony for King's birthday and also to the far bigger shindig in D.C. tomorrow, we all need to work on clueing him and those who share his views to the real meaning of the Reverend Doctor's last sentence above.

Yesterday's birthday girl gets a belated wish today

I was still in a funk yesterday, so I didn't post or read anything at all on LJ. But I should have at least acknowledged the birthday of one of the more beautiful and talented people on my friends list, cacie. Gods above and below, I can still remember her as a wee tyke blowing whole filk rooms away with her sweet child's voice...and now she's all grown up (boy howdy, is she!) and a bona-fide recording artist with a MySpace page and her very own CD, a copy of which you can buy here.

Thanks for making me feel hopelessly inadequate, inappropriately proud and exceedingly dirty-old-mannish all at the same time, kiddo, and I hope your birthday was a great one.