Waiting for John Mayer to Change

I used to like John Mayer. I used to like him a lot. I used to brag about how my college roommate paid him $1000 to play at a campus event in 1999, and within five years I convinced the Art Ed Department at Ohio State to include him on the list of up and coming artists in an undergraduate pop culture class I taught while in grad school (Ashley Martin, if you are out there, this is dedicated to you. I should have listened).

Regretfully, after a promising first album and validating second, Mr. Mayer has resorted to an anthem of the whiny, helpless generation raised in play dates and minivans that (probably) has Marvin Gaye rolling in his grave. My suggestion? Johnny needs to get his ass to Washington.

If there is anyplace in the world where people AREN'T waiting on the world to change, it's here. This week I have been rubbing elbows (while pinching myself) with a lot of people who are inspired to make a difference in peoples lives. It started Tuesday night when I was in an intimate audience that heard from the Chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority and the editor of the Pulitzer Prize-wining New Orleans Times-Picayune. These are two people who, despite losing all of their own possessions, have stayed the course and are effecting change in the gulf coast.

Today, I sat amongst academics, policy leaders and businesses from around the nation who convened to discuss the systemic housing affordability crisis in this nation and its racially infused origins. The founder and CEO of Self Help (an advocacy organization that fights predatory lendors preying on minority homebuyers) started his now-national organization with a $77 bake sale. He didn't wait for the world to change. He sold brownies.

I ended the 48-hour inspiration fest tonight at a local real estate developer's office where I sat around with a bunch of young, urban visionaries drinking wine and discussing local economic development in DC. How can we celebrate the positive effects of gentrification while pushing back against the negatives?

All in all, not a bad 48 hours in Washington.

So in conclusion, I'm calling for John Mayer to write a new song that borrows from a bumper sticker my friend bought a couple weeks ago at Adams Morgan Day. It read: Stop bitching and start a revolution. Unless of course he's too busy trying to score Jessica Simpson...