Dotti Berry, iDigital Media Pro Empowering Entrepreneurs

What’s so Amazing about The Amazing Race?

What’s so amazing is the diversity of both the individuals and the teams. In a face paced episode 6 tonight, we watched as our friend, Mel White, and his son, Mike, moved back into 2nd place. Our plans are to enter the next one. Hey, we love those “once in a lifetime experiences.” Check out the gallery pics from tonight.

Amazing Race..Mel White…Mike White…YOU are some of my Favorite Things!

Check out Mel’s blog!

Tags: "www.MelWhite.org", Amazing Race, Mel White, Mike White

Friend, Mel White, & his son, Mike, in 1st place on Amazing Race!

I have laughed myself silly watching my friend, Mel White, and his son on the Amazing Race.  I literally cried I was laughing so hard when I saw Mel in one show, scooting down a hill with a 25 pound of cheese in his lap.  The others were manuevering the treacherous terrain with their cheese (and often two round 25-pound blocks) in this wooden carrier on their backs.  I jokingly said to  Mel that I was thinking, “You old fart (since he is 69!)…what are you doing sliding down the hill on your ass?”  Amazing Race is the perfect show for Mel White, an AMAZING man.  As usual, Mel, was simply “ahead of his time” in discovering another way to achieve a goal and winning while doing it.  He was also leading and inspiring, another of his remarkable gifts.  How do I know that?  Minutes later, after people’s wooden carrier began to break apart from the weight of the cheers, I saw others imitating Mel.  Being older and wiser does often help!  Mel has inspired me since I first met him in Lynchburg, VA.  Mel was the ghost writer of Rev. Jerry Falwell’s books (and for others as well).  Once Mel came out as a gay man, however, many of his “religious buddies” no longer found his life-long friendship necessary.  One who didn’t turn his back on him is Philip Yancey…Philip even walked in a Gay Pride Parade with Mel.  At any rate, I was there to stand for the first time with Soulforce to say “The spiritual violence from religious institutions is harmful.”  Many of us have personal experience, but have stood up to live our lives as the gift that we are.  Mel and Mike are currently in 1st place!  It is because of becoming involved with Soulforce that I have had the opportunity to sit, side by side, in a jail cell after an arrest for an act of civil disobedience to stand up justice and equality for all…people like Arun Gandhi (grandson of Gandhi).  I asked Arun while we were being transported to the jail cell in Cleveland, Ohio after our arrest, “Arun, what is it like to be arrested?” assuming that he had done this before.  He looked at me and said, “Dotti, this is my first arrest.”  I said, “Your Gandhi’s grandson and this is your first arrest?”  He replied, “Yes, I thought this was a worthy cause.”  Yolanda King was with us that time.  Peggy Campolo, wife of Tony Campolo, was also with us.  Rodney Powell, a young man when he took a seat at the lunch counter during the civil rights era, was also there.  Jim and Phil Lawson, retired United Methodist ministers were also in jail with us.  Jim taught non-violent process for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Sometimes, it simply feels good to be in good company.  That was how I felt that day as I sat in jail.  I also felt humbled beyond words. Enough said about that.  Bottom line…catch Mel and Mike this Sunday, March 8, 2009, on The Amazing Race.

So when Gandhi said, “We must be the change we wish to see,” we believe it and took it to heart. It is our intention set forth in our three weddings to one another, “I come to you with an open heart and vow to change the world through the expression of our love.”  Mel White and our work with Soulforce inspired our year-long journey in 2005/06, Gay Into Straight America, with us being affectionately dubbbed “Two Women & a Poodle” because of Rylee Joy, our wonderful “connector.  This  evolved into our non-profit, Stand UP Speak OUT, and our continued commitment to speaking throughout the U.S. and Canada, while engaging hearts and minds, creating authentic connections and transcending differences that separate us, transforming ourselves and our world, one person at a time.

Tags: "Two Women & a Poodle", Amazing Race, Amazing Race #14, Arun Gandhi, Gay Into Straight America, M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence, Mel White, Mike White, Ryleejoy, Soulforce, Stand UP Speak OUT