Another World Is…how does that end? Oh well, that’s something to think about some other time, not when we’ve got tough decisions to make... there are other things to worry about...I mean, can we really be bothered with that visioning stuff right now?...

While we work for change, it’s important to keep in mind what we want in the end – what world we want to create. While it’s imperative to work for small change, it means nothing if we can’t keep in mind the larger picture and make careful decisions with an eye toward the future.

As our city struggles to survive the service cuts, regressive tax assault on workers, structural adjustments and neoliberal proposals of the Oversight Board, we must keep in mind that the struggle is not just about keeping a neighborhood pool open. And it’s far more than just making sure our occupation tax doesn’t rise. It’s about preserving our right to have a voice in our own city about the decisions that are made that affect us. How do we go about ensuring that? Pittsburgh’s home rule charter is being pulled right out from under us and we’re scrambling around to hold onto the last recreation centers we can grab.

The fight for the right of gay couples to marry continues on. But some of us wonder if that change, the day the State recognizes a same-sex union, will really be liberation? There are those legal benefits that marriage could ensure. But instead of remembering/working towards community and mutual aid, we’re trying to get health insurance one relationship at a time.

Speaking of healthcare, some groups and politicians have been working hard for "Healthcare for Some." But is this truly keeping in sight a vision for healthcare for all? Or will that push drop off after some of us get ours?

And it’s mid-summer – time for the US to hand Iraq back to the Iraqi people. But on whose terms? This cosmetic change is an easy way for the Administration to "prove" to the American people that the massacre was worth it. What will this transitioning power have in store for the Iraqi people? Where will the big changes be seen? Heads of US corporations gleefully wait in the wings – they’ll soon see a big change…a brand new market to prey upon.

And lastly, we’re at that time again. Every four years, many citizens of our country groggily stir from a comfortable, apolitical dream life and get back into politics. Who will it be? The country sits on edge pushing vigorously for one candidate or the other. But I believe that now is the perfect time to try to think beyond the ballot box. Keeping in mind what world we want to create might be good to ponder lest we fall into the dangerous "Anybody But Bush" trap. Just what are our choices and will electing one particular candidate alone really induce the change we wish to make?