May 13th will find WV having it's primary election. While of course it would be great if you could support Senator Obama, vote this election year!

As a community organizer, Senator Obama not unlike our own Ken Hechler, has always put the cause first. This spirit of activism is one of the only things that will help southern West Virginia begin the painful process of rebuilding.

Redefining our space and place is really no different than in a urban setting where lethargy and apathy have become community forces of their own. His message to you will be: that even downward spirals are forces of change that can be bridled for renewal.

Moreover he would tell you to vote for whomever--but vote!. A potent mixture of change that will mingle and advocate in national contexts now, Senator Obama's life work really has been to 'actively help people help themselves'. This is his agenda for change for all us average people. Importantly though, in a somewhat libertarian sense real average people will be fully engaged in the process--not just machines or economies.

A song from the 70's might well have had the lyric: " 'the world has changed around us' ", if indeed a song didn't have that lyric. The world has changed, and that door is now fully open; and no longer an echo from another room. From the 60's until even recently, the people of southern West Virginia have coined and penned vision statements about directions for change--in a way, we knew about change all along.

There are truly exciting, advanced and achievable things happening for rural and smaller communities. We've gotta step through that door and start making some of those things happen. The changing face of the coal industry as one example, can also seen as freeing human and creative resources up to start capitalizing on our beautiful mountains and rural settings. And yes it's even the time to ask the industry if they intend on being good corporate neighbors in a global economy... Change.

We even during the period mentioned at first hinted then said more boldly that we have to diversify our economy. Yes. Tough change. Obama represents change on that level. Farmer's markets? Local food production and security? Revisiting the epochal skill sets displaced by industry? These mountains are a persisting bastian of energy, strength, ingenuity, creativity, and do it against all odds. We may be down, but we ain't out. Hope.

Yes, change and hope are abstractions. America is in a global context now where scoundrels are able to do business not from here--but way way over there. Adjusting to change on this level from the top down must begin with abstractions. Economic justice as one of many issues at a minimum, that must be put on the table. How can one get there if nobody is building the table?

Embrace change. Vote May 13!