I walked into the NJ Peace Action annual dinner, a notebook in my hand, my head full of activism. I wanted to talk about the things I’ve noticed in America. “I’m a trained cultural theorist,” I boasted to my own mind. “I have important analyses to offer.”

It’s true; I do, as do some of the people I met there. The discussion at my table was lively. We talked about the US culture of war. We shared video clips on our camcorders and our iPhones. We ate our salmon, or chicken, or ratatouille. We listened to folk music. I felt righteous. I felt like I knew what was up. I’m no fool, I thought. I’m one of the good people.

Then Phil Donahue spoke.

for Leo Costa

I get stuck, discouraged, depressed, defeated. My head gets weighed down by the information I’ve gathered. The world, my world, is crippled by greed, obtuse philosophies about selfishness, powerful rich morons, and so far the mass of people, in my country at least, are not rising up and demanding real change—systematic, radical change.

Lisel Mueller reads her poem, “Monet Refuses The Operation”

This is the story of a middle-aged hypochondriac who was ordered by a doctor—calm but stern—to keep a blood pressure journal for a month, checking his pressure four times a week and then returning for the early 40s conversation. “See you in a month,” the doctor said, and sent our quaking protagonist to purchase an expensive blood pressure monitor, maybe a special notebook to keep the records in, maybe just the right pen.

During President Obama’s first major counterterrorism address of his second term, he said the United States cannot continue waging what he described as a boundless global war on terror. He also discussed his administration’s efforts to close down the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay. He was repeatedly confronted by CodePink’s Medea Benjamin in the audience, ultimately stopping his speech to address her directly.

Author and journalist Christopher Hedges speaks of the despair, destruction, love and truth that he found during his long career of covering wars and social justice throughout the world. Hedges is interviewed by Dean Nelson as part of the 17th annual Writer’s Symposium by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University.

A poetry reading from Brave New Voices, 2012.

A piece of Oklahoma tornado footage made me cry a few mornings ago, a mother reunited with a son that she clearly assumed she’d never see alive again. She collapsed into hugging, picked him up, rocked him in her arms, then doubled over sobbing and put him back down. She kept touching the boy’s face, caressing him as if to reassure herself with her palms: it’s ok, he’s ok, it’s ok, he’s ok.

Donald Rumsfeld went on the NPR show Marketplace in an attempt to promote his new book, but he was met with perhaps the hardest questioning he’s ever faced.

This clip from the Majority Report, live M-F at 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at Majority.FM

Someday, after I’m long dead, some super fan will dig into my external hard drive and edit a collection of my letters to student loan debt collectors. Thanks to my country’s moronic commodification of education, this is how I spend a good deal of my writing time. So, while you wait for that future collection—The #njpoet Debt Letters—to finally be published, I leave you with this sample.

One of my regular Twitter followers has launched a campaign to free me from my student debt. If 14,000 people donate $7 each to njpoet.com, she reasons, we can buy my life back from Sallie Mae and NJCLASS.