Dance, Cincinnati Reds Fans, Dance!

Dance fans, dance!

I believe in the power of positive dancing. It's kind of like the power of positive thinking but mostly with your body instead of your brain. 

I believe that if die-hard Cincinnati Reds fans dance, if they feel the win from the tops of their heads to the bottoms of their red-shoed toes, they'll dance the spirit of winning deep down into their hearts, and the Reds will take it all the way in 2014. 

I know this sounds like some sort of a new age baseball fairy tale, but what else have you got? 

The power of #Redsfandancing

I'm sharing the two dancing guys in red to invoke the spirit of winning. They did their thing for the crowd when Cincinnati celebrated the 2010 Division Championship. If you were there, you no doubt remember these two. I know that celebration was a few years ago, but wasn't it magical? 

I honestly believe if we all generate that same kind of winning energy from day one of the season, the Cincinnati Reds will make it to the top in September. 

I'll be Dancing Too!

You wouldn't want to see me dance, so I'll keep my moves at home where nobody can see; but believe me, I'll be dancing on Opening Day. 

I usually make it downtown to the Reds Opening Day Celebration. It's a not-to-be-missed local holiday. I tote a camera or two, snap hundreds of photos and shoot hours of video. Sometimes I post them or share them with friends and family, but mostly they just sit in my camera until I upload them to the cloud and forget I ever took them. 

The Cincinnati Hat Man
  2010 Reds Rally
Fountain Square

I'm not doing that this year. Instead of being crushed by the home crowd, I think I'll just stay at home and get in the right mood by watching the two Reds fans dance. 

I'll dance along, of course, and I'll call up that Reds power of positive thinking I get whenever I watch their winning energy. 

Wherever you are on Opening Day, take a moment to dance for the Reds. I bet if we all dance for the win, the Reds will start the season off big and keep moving on up from there. After all, baseball is a fairy tale, and winning is magical. 

Go Reds!!   
#Redsfandancing

You Know There's a Big Problem in Cincinnati When Greenpeace Comes to Town

You don't need to see any more photos of those Greenpeace banners dangling from the Dolly Parton Towers, but do check out the video above. It's an informative, easy to understand animation about the connection between palm oil, deforestation, and endangered animals. It's the big deal story behind those banners.  

Then lets talk about Greenpeace, the 40 year old organization that's been bugging the world to green up. They do that by relying on bold and peaceful demonstrations. Their recent actions in Cincinnati would make their Quaker/Hippie/Pacifist/Ecologist/Journalist founders proud.

Bold Acts 
For Greenpeace, a bold and peaceful act could be just about anything: climbing aboard a Russian rig to draw attention to oil pollution in the Artic, sailing a boat to the Aleutions to stop nuclear testing, or evacuating and resettling residents from the radioactively contaminated Rongelap Atoll.

They have confronted Pacific whaling ships by standing between harpooners and their intended targets. In Newfoundland, they protected baby seals from slaughter by blocking sealing ships with their own bodies. In Cincinnati, bold action involved a well organized campaign using zip lines, helicopters, banners, and daredevil stunts. It's mild by comparison. 

Greenpeace takes on the big boys

You know you've been bad when Greenpeace comes to town. They take on big issues that have an impact on the world. They take on whole countries and industries. They do whatever they think is necessary, and they keep pushing their campaign of bold protests until something gives. Here are a few of their success stories.

• They convinced  Adidas, Nike, and Puma to at least agree to stop discharging hazardous chemicals. 
• It took 10 years of effort, but they got Europe to ban trade in illegal timber.
• They worked for seven years but finally worked out an agreement with Canada to end logging industry destruction of the country's Boreal Forest. 
• It took 2&1/2 years to expose corruption in Japan's whaling industry.
• It took 10 years, but they convinced Edison International to shut down the Fisk and Crawford coal plants that were polluting the air in Illinois.

Be good for goodness sake
You know the old Santa Clause song that parents use to bribe their kids into being good at Christmas time, "You better watch out...you better be good, I'm telling you why..." Just consider the Greenpeace guys as the Santa Clauses of saving the planet. 

So P&G, be good for goodness sake. Greenpeace keeps up on all the bad stuff industries do to make their billions. Once you're in their sites they just don't stop. Which means they'll probably be back in Cincinnati sometime soon.

Greenpeace Links
Check out the slideshow of photos taken while Greenpeace got busy at the P & G World Headquarters in Cincinnati.

Read the report, "A Little Story About Monsters in Your Closet," the Greenpeace study about toxins found in children's clothing.

See "Greenpeace Chronicles," a colorful history of the organization.