The Democratic National Convention is a month away and I've never felt such compulsion in my life. I can feel the winds of revolution rising to the chorus of millions of Americans suddenly realizing impossible is nothing, defeat is never permanent and to struggle for justice is to earn this precious gift of life we've all been given.

With my calendar laid out in front of me and a stack of unpaid bills to my left I'm trying to imagine a way. I'm trying to imagine how I might get there, how it might work out, and then I'm also trying to imagine setting aside the dream to honor my responsibilities. Imagining the latter tears me apart inside. I won't pretend i'm right all the time but I do try to stay as close to the edge as I can. By that I mean that out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center. Most people stick to the center, society couldn't function if it didn't teach people to need the safety and predictability of that place where you obey authority, pay your bills, have kids and raise them to become another self-multiplying cog in the machine.

But the edge, that's where you get dirty and accept pain and rejection in return for something quite different. True courage is only found after learning what there is to be afraid of by experiencing it. You can never understand the shape of the world until you've spent some time near the edge, out where you might fall over. I walk beside the edge as much as I can trying to catch a glimpse, straining to hear a whisper of what is, what's to come, and what might be. If I had been alive during the mid 18th century I'd like to imagine I'd have written an almanac entitled 'depending on the whether'. But almanacs have become relics from our time spent toiling in agrarian society and like the the fruits of the American revolution, are outdated beyond usefulness. The orbit of the earth and the position of the stars in our sky can offer no guidance in a world that frequently changes overnight. In order to see the shape of things, I stay as close to the edge as I can without going over.

Here I am now, at the precipice with the wind howling at my back. Everything i've learned, all the doubt, the fear, the pain and the hope- it all tells me now is the time to take a step without feet. The winds have never spoken more of revolution, perhaps won't again for another 20 years. I'd hate to miss it. Depending on the weather.