It Is Who I Am..

Music, for me, is a religious experience.  Regardless of genre, I truly like all kinds, the outcome is the same - my hands are in the air, just like in church, and I feel what I can only describe as a true religious awakening and my soul comes to new, reborn, refreshed life.  Music speaks to me like no other media vehicle.  The lyrics only enhance the composition and I feel myself slipping into a pure, safe, true, loving and honest state where the music truly washes over me and cleanses my soul. I love to write lyrics and create musical composition. I "hear" musically, always have and probably always will, it is who I am and what I do.

I started writing when I was three years old.  My mom heard me making up my own lyrics and says that I would walk around singing to myself - so she bought me my first tape recorder.  It was a 1973 model of the PlaySkool ® plastic tape recorder, white, yellow, red and blue with the attached microphone on the side.  Remember those? I have always been a writer.  It is who I am and it is what I do.  

I write about everything and anything and nothing.  I am a woman, my mother’s daughter and daddy’s little girl.  I am a mother of the five most wonderful blessings I could have ever have been given.  I am a grandmother (albeit still trying to wrap my head around this one - only 43) to the sweetest, most beautiful 9 month old baby boy.  I am a wife to my husband of 19 years and I am beyond blessed to also say that he is my best friend.  I am a sister who loves her siblings.  I am a cousin and niece who loves all the extended members of my family as if they were siblings.  I am a friend with anyone who will share friendship with me.  It is who I am and what I do.

Mostly though, I am a human being.  A simple, yet complicated creature who tends to make many mistakes, falls down and has to get back up often, and anything but perfect.  I am me - nothing more and nothing less - but I do like think that I try, each and every day to find ways to improve.  It is who I am it is what I do.

I have been on sabbatical from ZonePolitical for nearly 3 years now.  The last three years of my life have been challenging.  I have learned much about myself along the way.  It was a great thing to do but now it is time to get back to who I am.  During this sabbatical some squatter came along and bought my web aka zonepolitical - so until we get that straightened out, I am going to continue to run the Zone on the Blogger site and I will drop links on F-book and Twitter.  A few years ago I took the Zone into an alternative Entertainment and Travel direction in addition to political reporting and commentary - simply because politics will make you sick if you don’t find a way to lighten up.  I have decided to continue this practice.  

In the last few years I have written books (some of which will be published later this year), published poetry and spiritual writings, and reconnected in a big way with my family.  Thank you, all of you, who have stood by me and continue to support me in all of my endeavors.  

I look forward to writing a weekly installment on the Zone every Sunday, and I hope you will look forward to reading it.  

Thank you for hanging in there with me while I walked this journey of self discovery - of finding out who I am and what I do. I wish blessings and peace for you all.

With Love,

Sandra Dee Bonadonna

Jon Stewart All Over The News

Rick Sanchez has said his goodbyes with CNN because he claims 

Jon Stewart is a "bigot" and those who run CNN are just like Stewart.

President Obama is supporting Stewart's 10.30.10 Rally To Restore 

Sanity at The Washington Mall.

Arianna Huffington has promised bus transportation to all who need it 

and can meet the buses in front of her NY office to travel to Stewart's

10.30.10 Rally To Restore Sanity.

Bill O'Reilly appears on Stewart's The Daily Show, and Stewart

appears on O'Reilly's The Factor.

Stewart talks about both appearances while stopping to visit David

Letterman on his show.

Glenn Beck discusses the Letterman show and Stewart on his radio

program after Stewart again discusses his desires to appear on the

Beck program.

The list goes on..

I personally am a fan of Jon Stewart's The Daily Show and I watch it

often. I admit I turn to Stewart when I need a lighter, more comedic

take on the miserable news of the day. I never watch the show, 

however, thinking that  I am watching something other than comedy.

 Isn't that the point of his show? Comedic relief using news topics

 as source material?

I was reading the Drudge Report on my droid..(I recently installed the 

Drudge Report app for droids), and I learned of the departure of Rick 

Sanchez from CNN and was shocked at his statements! Seriously this 

man can't take a comedy show and make it something personal, so 

personal that he lashes out and accuses Stewart of being a bigot? 

I then headed off to obtain a copy of the transcript of the Interview between 

Rick Sanchez and Pete Dominick on Sirius XM. The man's words really 

baffle me.

"It’s not just the right that does this. cause I’ve known a lot of elite 

Northeast establishment liberals that may not use this as a business 

model but deep down when they look at a guy like me they look 

at a-- they see a guy automatically who belongs in the second

 tier and not the top tier."

"I think Jon Stewart’s a bigot. I think he looks at the world through 

his mom who was a schoolteacher, and his dad who was a physicist

 or something like that. Great, I’m so happy that he grew up in a 

suburban middle class New Jersey home with everything that 

you could ever imagine."

When Pete Dominick asked him what group Stewart is bigoted 

toward, Sanchez responded: "Everybody else who's not like him. 

Look at his show! What does he surround himself with?"

The interview continues on and then there is this exchange between 

Pete Dominick and Rick Sanchez, where Dominick is apparently

attempting to reach the rational side of Sanchez.

Sanchez: "I think Jon's show is essentially prejudicial. I think that

Jon’s show is…"

Dominick: "Against who?"

Sanchez: "Against anybody who doesn't agree to his point of view,

which is very much a white liberal establishment point of view. He

 cant relate to a guy like me. He can’t relate to a guy who's dad 

worked all his life. He can’t relate to somebody who grew up poor."

Dominick: "He cant relate to … whoah whoah whoah he's a standup

comedian!"

Sanchez: "No, he's not. According to Time magazine, he's the guy

 that most Americans trust for news."

Dominick: "Whatever, he's a standup comedian."

**

Yes it is true that Stewart may be the most trusted name in news,

but it is also true that those who watch him are intelligent people

 who are fully aware that they are viewing a comedic program on

 a channel titled Comedy Central. We are further aware that Jon

 Stewart is a Comedian! We are aware that he pokes fun at the

 news and those who report it. I personally choose to watch this

 comedy because it takes the edge of the sadness, in-fighting,

 and miserableness of the news in general and makes me laugh

 at least once per day. I remember watching SNL News skits

 years ago for the same reasons. I am grateful for comedy outlets

 like this because frankly I think we all are prone to take life just a

 bit too seriously from time to time and need a break.

Did Sanchez deserve to lose his job? At first I wasn't so sure

 and then I read the entire transcript. I am not so keen on anyone

 losing their job, especially in this economy, but I am not his boss.

 Maybe he could have used some counseling or anger management

 therapy, who knows? He seems to be a rather upset and angry

gentleman. You can read the entire transcript of the Pete Dominick

interview here:

http://www.thewrap.com/media/article/transcript-cnns-rick-sanchez-meltdown-sirius-radio-21386

Jon Stewart sure is a popular fellow these days. This comedian seems

to be at the height of his popularity for numerous reasons, but being a

bigot is obviously not one of them.

Mayor Emanuel?

Rahm Emanuel steps down as the White House Chief of Staff in order to return to Chicago and begin a bid for the City's Mayoral Office long held by Richard M Daley.  A native of Chicago myself I spent the morning looking back at the people who have held this office over the last 30+ years wondering if Rahm, or any of the other Mayoral hopefuls, are Chicago Mayoral material.  The list since the death of the father of Mayor Richard M Daley, Mayor Richard J Daley who died in office in December of 1976 after serving as the City's Mayor since 1955 has included:

• 77-79 Michael A Bilandic
• 79-83 Jane M Byrne
• 83-87 Harold Washington (died in office)
• 87 (interim mayor) David Orr
• 87-89 Eugene Sawyer
• 89-Current Mayor Richard M Daley

Mayor Daley has held the office for the last 21 years.  During his press conference to officially announce his retirement from the position he said, "I am deeply grateful to the people of this city, more grateful than I can fully express.  I have given it my all. I have done the best."

"Now, I am ready with my family to begin the new phase of our lives. In the coming days,  I know there will be some reflecting on my time as mayor. Many of you will search to find what's behind my decision. It's simple. I've always believed that every person, especially public officials, must understand when it's time to move on. For me, that time is now," 

 "The truth is that I've been thinking about this for the last several months. And in the last several weeks, I've been increasingly comfortable with my decision. It just feels right."

**

Rahm Emanuel has made no secret about his desire to hold this office, but did make it clear he would not run against Daley.  With Daley stepping down the playing field is now wide open for the entire slew of those would be mayoral hopefuls to throw their hats into the ring, including a slew of City Alderman.  

Will Emanuel make a good mayor for Chicago?  He has a proven track record of being able to push through and get the job at hand done, but for the City of Chicago, if they elect him, only time will tell.

  

ZonePolitical On Allvoices!

The Zone has been syndicated on AllVoices.com over the last year, however the name was not easy to find.  That has been corrected as ZonePolitical links & syncs all of the networking communities we are a part of into one easy to find and named location.

ZonePolitical is the name you will find on Allvoices.com, Twitter.com, Digg, Reddit, Buzz, and in the next few weeks as the clean up of sites continues on Facebook and MySpace as well.

Thanks for hanging in there with us as we clean up and expand the site!

The articles will start up again soon!

ZonePolitical/Sandra Bonadonna

Travelling!

I left Las Vegas about 2-3 weeks ago and headed out to visit my parents in Charleston, S.C.  Then I boarded the Carnival Fantasy for 5 nights and sailed off to the Bahamas.  I returned to sunny Charleston and tomorrow I am visiting Savannah, GA.

Next week I am flying out to Chicago to visit with my brother for a few days before I head back to Vegas and prepare to write my next series of articles.  I will be writing a full review of the Cruise, which overall was pretty fantastic, and catching up on some political news about Senator Reid, Congresswoman Titus and some other local politicians running for office.  I also took plenty of notes on tours so that I could write some opinion pieces on history topics..my favorite subject!

This has been a fabulous vacation.  I look forward to getting back home and helping to finalize the Wounded & Homeless Veterans Charity Event coming up in September as well.  There are all kinds of things coming up to write about and get involved in this fall.

I also am launching a new site just about Las Vegas, called The Vegas Hotline.  That new venture should be off the ground and running early this fall.  Lots to do and lots to see and in the mean time...I am back off to enjoy the rest of my vacation and some quality time with my family.

Sandra