No this is not an old Kreskin Skit from the Tonight Show it was my day yesterday, November 28, 2007.
First, the Congressman. Through the American Jewish Committee (http://www.ajc.org/) I have had the opportunity to get involved in Intergroup Relations. The major part of that has been spent on the Atlanta Black-Jewish Coalition. The Coalition began in 1982 when Blacks and Jews came together to fight the Voting Rights Act in Georgia. The Coalition then was led by John Lewis and Cecil Alexander. Both men were very active in the Civil Rights Movement and Mr. Lewis was one of Martin Luther King's closest allies. Forward to yesterday, when, as the Co-Chair for the Coalition I had the honor of spending time with the Congressman and explaining our idea to honor him and Mr. Alexander a 25th Anniversary celebration. I have met the Congressman on 5 other occasions but never in a small group setting where we just got to chat for an hour. To hear his stories and watch his eyes as he retells them was just incredible! If spending time with the Congressman wasn't enough, as we made our way out of his office his next appointment was with our Mayor, Shirley Franklin. Again, I have gotten to meet our Mayor and we have even done some messaging and video work for her but to bump into her in an informal and 'off the cuff' session was very cool. We all noticed how she was very personable and introduced herself as Shirley without any pretense as to the fact that she runs one of the country's biggest cities!
On any normal day seeing and spending these two folks would have been enough to leave me on Cloud 9 for about a week. I can't say the day got better but it definitely got more LIVELY.
One of the great parts about my job is we get to do a lot of great work for a lot of terrific non-profits. One of those is the Alzheimer's Association and specifically the Georgia Chapter (http://www.alz.org/georgia/). One of their signature events this year was last night called "Better Start Living" with Monty Powell and Keith Urban. All Country fans know Keith Urban and many more know him because he is married to Nicole Kidman. You might not know Monty Powell (http://www.montypowell.com/) but you should. First, he is a singer-songwriter and has penned numerous #1 Country Hits for folks like Urban, Brooks & Dunn and Tim McGraw. Second, he has dedicated a good portion of his time now to helping raise money to fund research to find a cause for Alzheimer's. That's what last night was about in a big way. The cool part for us is that we were able to do some 'in kind' video and messaging work that gave us 7th row seats and invites to a VIP after party. The night was tremendously inspiring and I have to tell you that Keith Urban just KILLED it. I sat their just astonished by his showmanship and what he can get out of a guitar.
I left the house yesterday at 6:00 AM to run and didn't walk back in until well past midnight but thanks to the folks I spent time with yesterday I am more energized and inspired than I have been in months!
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