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John Edwards on Now...talking about poverty and interconnectedness
July 27, 2008
I had to show this video to all of my friends, and now I am sharing it with you. I can't remember the last time I have seen a politician addressing not only poverty with such absolute understanding of the issue, but also the interconnectedness of people and all of the issues we face as a nation and a world.
This quote made me cry:
"One of the greatest responsibilities of the next president is to convince americans that we are completely linked to one another, both as americans, AND we're completely linked to the people in the rest of the world. In fact, we are all ENTIRELY connected." -John Edwards
Here's the link. Watch it all. It's amazing.
Brancaccio: What is it about now...that gives you any hope?
Edwards: That we're faced with great challenges that can not be dealt with, except together.
read this.
April 20, 2008
I don't really have anything to add to this LiP Magazine article, Uh-Obama:
Note, never has a white politician been confronted with questions about his or her ability to transcend race, or specifically, their whiteness. And this is true, even as many white politicians continue to pull almost all of their support from whites, and have almost no luck at convincing people of color to vote for them. In the Democratic primaries this year, Obama has regularly received about half the white vote, while Hillary Clinton has managed to pull down only about one-quarter of the black vote, yet the question has always been whether he could transcend race. The only rational conclusion to which this points is, again, that it is not race per se that needs to be overcome, but blackness. Whiteness is not seen as negative, as something to be conquered or transcended. Indeed, whereas blacks are being asked to rise above their racial identity, for whites, the burden is exactly the opposite: the worst thing for a white person is to fail to live up to the ostensibly high standards set by whiteness; it is to be considered white trash, which is to say, to be viewed as someone who has let down whiteness and fallen short of its pinnacle. For blacks, the worst thing it seems (at least in the minds of whites) is to be seen as black, which is no doubt why so many whites think it's a compliment to say things to black folks like, "I don't even think of you as black," not realizing that the subtext of such a comment is that it's a damned good thing they don't, for if they did, the person so thought of would be up the proverbial creek for sure.
Fight for your right to dry
August 30, 2007
First is was the slow food movement. Next it was slow fashion and slow furniture. Could the glamorous world of laundry be the next slow revolution? As people look for ways to decrease their energy consumption, clotheslines are steadily returning to the American landscape. However, this return to one of the original forms of solar power is being hampered (gotta love laundry puns) in some places. Some local municipalities and many homeowners associations prohibit the use of outdoor clotheslines citing aesthetic and property value concerns.
Treehugger is sponsoring a clothesline photo contest.
and Project Laundry List is expanding to encourage local chapters. I hope someone starts one in Austin, because I'd love to hang out (ar ar) with the clothespin set, but I just don't have the time to head a chapter myself.
Monk and the Constitution
July 18, 2007
Monk declared chores unconstitutional today. He was so excited after reading this little pocket version of the constitution and declaration of independence that he CALLED ME to tell me that he wouldn't be doing his chores anymore because it is "involuntary servitude."
When I replied that I would no longer be buying his groceries under that same amendment, he insisted that parenthood is voluntary. HA! So I told him if he didn't want to do his chores, he could, instead, write a 5 page essay on the constitution...and that's NOT involuntary servitude, it's COMPULSORY EDUCATION.
:P
Vaginas and Bong Hits (for Jesus)
March 23, 2007
Just happened to stumble upon two school-related free-speech issues & thought I should link them up here:
On Monday, March 19th, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the case informally known as "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."High school student Joseph Frederick was subjected to school suspension for his display of a homemade banner while standing across the street from school property, albeit during normal school hours.
While initial court rulings held in favor of the Juneau, Alaska school district, the Ninth Circuit Court reversed in favor of Frederick.
The Ninth Circuit determined that the school district did not have the right to unduly restrict the public demonstration by Frederick when he elected to unfurl and display his 14-foot banner with the words, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."
The school district appealed to the Supreme Court.
BONG HITS 4 JESUS IS ABOUT FREE SPEECH, NOT DRUGS via Brenda Stardom, see also News From the Sandbox.
he initial suspensions resulted after the students knowingly went against administrators' wishes and said the word "vagina" on Friday night at an open mic session sponsored by the high school literary magazine Reflections.School administrators had asked the students to either not read the monologue or to omit the stanza in which the word "vagina" appeared, saying the word would be inappropriate for younger members of the audience who were expected to be in attendance.
But the students went ahead and together finished the line: "I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."
Suspension postponed for students who said 'vagina' via Fetch Me My Axe see also Susie Bright. (Funny, I totally also responded to that article with a desire to run into the nearest school and yell "Vagina!!!!")
This gives me some hope...
March 17, 2007
"You spent eight days in the Sarasota County jail," De Furia said. "That's your sentence. No probation."Relatives applauded, and Coffin walked out of the courthouse with only a $358 bill for court costs. The sentence surprised even defense attorneys, who had suggested De Furia sentence Coffin to probation.
Homeowner had 'a right to resist'
Why We Banned Legos
March 1, 2007
"Why We Banned Legos" is an article in a magazine I subscribe to called Rethinking Schools. I wish the article was accessible online without fee, but unfortunately it is not, so I will attempt to summarize it here.
Basically, a group of teachers in an after school program at a school in Washington State were struck by the social dynamics surrounding the construction of a Lego town. They found that kids were excluding other kids and hording "cool pieces" in an insidious way that wasn't always vocally objected to (in fact, many of the excluded kids seemed resigned to exclusion, in spite of the fact that they later proved that they wished to participate and did not know how to break through the invisible wall). So, the teachers banned the Legos and created a unit study to examine the issues of wealth, power, privilege, and inclusion with their students (ages 5-9).
The original article goes on to describe a fascinating and well-organized exploration of this concept designed by the teachers. Students were asked to voice their opinions about property rights, ownership, and power...and they examined those opinions by taking field trips and playing games that were geared towards helping the children question the notion that power can somehow be benign and that really brought the idea of meritocracy into sharp focus for these children.
However, the reinterpretation of this article is somewhat staggering and reveals much about how strongly we want to protect the idea that the capitalist system of meritocracy. An article was sent to a homeschooling list I subscribe to that basically completely misinterprets the lesson in such a way that it could only have been intentional. I responded to the article thusly:
I suggest you read the actual article on which this editorial is based before leaping to the conclusion that the crafters of this lesson were in any way advocating that landowners be stripped of their property rights so big businesses can have them. I have this issue, and I have only skimmed the article, but I find the article below to be grossly slanted and inaccurate.[...]
In fact, now that I think about it...it would be a really good homeschooling lesson on media to read this editorial and then go back and read the actual article about the lesson to note the evident slant of the editorialist.
Of course, the response to this was to skip right to communism. One of my fellow listmates said, basically, that while he believed the article wasn't supporting the usurpation of property by big business, he did feel that the lesson was promoting communism, to which I replied:
I imagine the responses on this list will also be useful in a study of media, as well as individual responses to the media. It is interesting to me that Brad has immediately decided that the only possible system of shared wealth is communism, and therefore declared any questioning of how property rights are handled in our society to be answered before they are even asked.I think critical thinking would encouage children to experiment with several alternative methods of creating equity, and from what I have read in the original article, it looks like that is exactly what the children were encouraged to do.
Of course, all of that was before I actually read the article. hahaha. I had skimmed it, but had not had time to sit down and read it. Later that night, I did so, and found the lesson to be quite well-planned and executed, and nothing at all like it had been described by the author of the editorial linked above. So, this morning when I found another response that insisted the lesson was an insidious method of brainwashing our children to accept the tenets of communism (evil, evil communism!) I responded:
If you read the article, you would find that property rights were a very minute portion of the lesson. The main objective of the lesson was to encourage egalitarian and inclusive behavior among the children, while at the same time exploring the larger issues of power and privilege. Also, there was a lot of discussion and insight in the article about how we tend to assume that power is benign if it is not misused in such a way that would spark verbal protest. There was a really interesting portion of the lesson where arbitrary point values were applied to legos (to mirror how privilege based on skin color, family of origin, and other factors give some of us an unearned advantage over others), and those who "won" were allowed to make rules for the next round of the game.Additionally, there is a huge leap from discussing equitable sharing of resources by a community and stripping individuals of rights to give them to corporations. The point of the experiment, and I think the objective of a communal social order (of which communisim is ONE example), is to distribute wealth and power in such a way that all members of society have an opportunity to participate. Perhaps we haven't seen such a social order yet in our lifetimes, but I am not sure why anyone would object to exploring how power and privilege operate in our society to give unearned advantage to some and undeserved disadvantage to others.
Later, someone equated the lesson with that urban legend that has a child skipping to school with all of her wonderful school supplies, only to get there and find that she is FORCED to dump her supplies in a communal bucket and comes away with *gasp* INFERIOR CRAYONS! Evidently, those individuals who send their children to public school to mix with the masses are very indignant about this concept of forced sharing. I gotta say, if you hate it so much, keep yr kids home. You won't hear me complaining about the taxes I am forced to share with the school district in spite of the fact that I have chosen to not participate. We LIVE in a society. We all benefit from its resources, and those resources include the other people in our communities. If you can't bear the thought of your child going to school and sharing his or her crayons, honey, I dunno what to tell you! At any rate, my response to the idea that "social engineering" was overtaking our schools was this:
That would be an interesting thing to discuss, but it does not have anything to do with the redistribution of legos that were already assumed to be a shared resource. I am curious how you think this experiment, and the exploration into how power and resources are shared, is equivalent to social engineering, and yet the very world we live in and are shaped by is not.In fact, I think that's an interesting thing to think about. Do we all just assume that the way we live and the society we are shaped by is natural? And therefore any attempt to question and/or reorganize the order of things is somehow unnatural, or "engineered?"
And then I decided to explore further, and read a discussion about a reaction to the article (there is very little actual reading of the article in any of this. Mostly, people were just responding to the slanted reactions to the article, which led many to believe that the teachers noted that students were not behaving appropriately and therefore they simply yanked the legos away in a reactive manner, rather than the actual reality that the teachers got together and planned a very sophisticated lesson surrounding the removal and subsequent reestablishment of lego privileges, which encouraged the children to examine the issues of ownership, power, inclusion, and equity.
Boy, do I ever NOT have my finger on the pulse of America. What I read on this board shocked me. People are actually decrying the lesson these teachers were attempting to teach, and basically saying "children will be children" and therefore should not be encouraged to examine the power dynamics that come into play when groups of children exclude other children. In fact, I imagine that many of the people on that board believe that it's probably preferable that children learn to grab what is theres without considering how their unearned privilege influences their "rights" of ownership.
While I realize there are many within the public school system who are trying desperately to counteract this idea that the distribution of wealth and resources in this country is somehow equitable and meritocratic, I am frankly somewhat appalled by the response to this article by people who are allegedly parents of children. Are there really that many people who are so opposed to their children learning that perhaps our system is less equitable than those in positions of privilege would lead you to believe that they need to demonize an earnest attempt to point out the inherent inequities of our system and work with children to combat those inequities in the classroom?
Obviously I am in total support of any curriculum which moves our children towards examining "rights" that are essentially extensions of unearned privilege. I am concerned, however, that this is such a controversial thing to stand for. If we can't even address these issues with something so benign as Legos without a firestorm of opposition, how on earth do we address global poverty, hunger, and health care crises?
Last night's NOW on immigration
May 13, 2006
Monk and I watched the debate over immigration policy last night on PBS' NOW. At one point, one of the white dudes said something to the effect of "We have never witnessed a wage increase due to illegal immigration." The implication of which is that those damn immigrants ARE ruining our economy and ARE taking our jobs, or at least reducing our wages.
It is a good thing I didn't have anything to throw at the television set.
While it might be true that worker wages have never increased as a result of illegal immigration, it is also true (and, amazingly, largely unpointed out at these types of debates) that executive wages continue to rise uncontrolled due to the high profit margin of not having to pay workers what they are worth. Part of the reason for that is due to immigrant labor. Part of the reason it's so easy for big businesses to get away with it is because people are too distracted by blaming brown folks for stealing their jobs and/or their wages to realize it and fight against it. Dude, that's capitalism! The large corporations bank on illegal immigration. Why is this almost never mentioned in these kinds of debates?
I was pleased with Monk's assessment of the whole thing. He basically said "Those guys sound like racists, mom."
I asked him "But, what do you think of the point the one guy made about the fact that illegal immigrants are breaking the law? Shouldn't we expect people to obey the law?"
"Yeah, but the immigration laws are TOTALLY dumb, mom."
Yay! I try not to put too much stock in Monk's ever-changing opinion. If I do, I will only set myself up to be terribly disappointed if he grows up to be a republican. But still, it is refreshing to discuss politics with a budding little being, and discover how his moral/ethical consciousness is developing.
However, it is difficult to explain to Monk how much our economy relies upon immigration - yes, illegal immigration, too - to survive. And, while I am a definite proponent of open borders and whatever we can do to welcome people to this country, I also realize that it is all a very well-controlled game. Really, that is all it seems to be to me. Certainly these large corporations realize that if we tighten up immigration laws, they will lose their slave labor force. I can't package it up all nicely for Monk and say "This is the way it is, and this is the way it should be" without first explaining how our entire economy is based upon making people suffer so some can live in luxury.
I know! Let's punish the mama!
April 15, 2006
I had the absolutely most stupid interaction with a health insurance provider yesterday. I swear, my brain almost completely exploded. I was intending to write about it all day, but every time I thought about it, I had to go lay down for a minute to compose myself.
At any rate, here's the deal. Like most divorced parents, at least those who are fortunate enough to have some sort of health insurance, my children are insured under their father's plan. It's pretty standard procedure for the non-possessory parent to provide that, and I sort of pay for it through a subsequent reduction in my monthly child support (the cost of the insurance is subtracted from the ex's income before the percentage of his salary on which child support is figured is figured.)
I, as the possessory parent...you know, the one who actually has possession of the kids during the times that they would normally go to see a doctor...am equipped with some (evidently very useless) insurance cards.
So, yesterday I finally had the time to go about setting up a well check up for the boys. (Gah - thank maude it wasn't an emergency!) and I called the insurance company to find out who their primary care physician is (we aren't huge "go to the doctor for every ailment" people here...mostly I just want to get Monk a referral to his eye specialist, and why not make an appointment for Coley while I'm at it?) First of all, I'm directed to a website, which allows me to input all of the information before it politely informs me that children under the age of 18 are not allowed to use the online services.
Great.
So, then I call. And I get this lady who informs me that due to the new HIPAA laws, she's not allowed to discuss my children's plan with me, since I am not the policy holder.
I was pretty furious. I mean, I know it's not the phone ladies fault, but she was so freaking glib about the whole thing. "Can't you just call the father and ask HIM who the PCP is?" She said.
Well, yeah. I probably can. The ex and I aren't exactly best buddies, but he's never been a jerk about anything like this. However, I'm too busy being furious about all of the women out there who are so fucking thankful that at least the system provided them with the right to demand health insurance from their abusive ex-husbands, only to be told that they then need to turn around and try to get information from them. You know?
I'm pretty sure that's NOT what HIPAA was intended to do. But the lady on the phone seemed so gleeful about her ability to make my life more complicated. Like HA HA! How DARE you demand privacy rights! You want PRIVACY rights? We'll give YOU privacy! We'll privacy you right into a total clusterfuck!
So, yeah. For me, it really only took an email to get it set right. The ex is going to look into the matter on Monday and it's no big deal. But I know there are people out there for whom making a request of the ex is a tricky, if not downright fucking scary endeavor.
Gotta love our government. Gotta love the fucking healthcare industry. Woo! Go Patriarchy!
Thank you.
April 4, 2006
Despite the obviousness of the lesson, it is seemingly not taught or encouraged out in the real world where we all live. As young white men, you sit at the pinnacle of opportunity and privilege. All the power in the world can be yours, but as the old saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility. You may be faced with situations where causing harm is an option. You may be faced with situations where refusing to cause harm may cause you to lose face. You may be faced with a situation where you know you can easily get away with causing harm to another living being. And when the road ends here, my sweet boys, I beg you to remember my words, and the example of Hugh Thompson: It is your duty to protect those who can not protect themselves.
[link via bark/bite]
But seriously, though. Wow.
March 19, 2006
Check out this post on crooks and liars, complete with video link. What is going on here, people? Our retired judges and our newscasters are talking about government conspiracy and the loss of freedom - comparing our society to pre-dictatorships and prequels to 1984. Hello? America? Are you fucking awake yet?!
[link via Tennessee Geurilla Women]
And I totally love Amanda, too.
March 10, 2006
It does suck that there’s a 9 month anticipation period between when a man loses control over what was inside his body and when it becomes a child, since a woman who lets go of what was inside her body gets to call it “Junior†immediately. But men can take comfort in the fact that releasing their bodily property is considerably more pleasant them than it is for a woman to release hers.**
Oh, how I love me some twisty!
March 10, 2006
“Roe v. Wade For Men†My Ass at I Blame The Patriarchy
So all this is is a laughably whiny attempt at financial retribution against women who dare to flaunt their humanity by claiming personal autonomy. “What! Women claiming ownership of their own uteruses? We’d better sock it to those lying, entrapping cuntalinas where it really hurts: their fashionably tiny handbags!â€
You know, I read this article yesterday, and I was really too busy spluttering to say anything about it. Thank the lordessa of the internet for Ms. Twisty Faster. How we love her so! She makes Patriarchy Blaming so fun and entertaining, you almost start to forget that you are walking around in a blind rage!
I'm tempted to move to Ohio, Just so I can vote for this guy
March 9, 2006
In an e-mail dispatched to fellow legislators last week, the senator announced his plan to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents."Explaining that "policymakers in (Ohio) have ignored this growing threat to our communities for far too long," Hagan wrote: "Credible research exists that strongly suggests that adopted children raised in Republican households, though significantly wealthier than their Democrat-raised counterparts, are more at risk for developing emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, an alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves, and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities.
"In addition," the Democrat noted, "I have spoken to many adopted children raised in Republican households who have admitted that 'well, it's just plain boring most of the time.'"
Hagan acknowledges that the "credible research" to which he refers cannot be quantified. But that should not be a problem, he explains, as a bill proposed by Republican state Rep. Ron Hood, R-Ashville, which would prohibit adoptions of children by gay and lesbian couples, suffers from a similar deficiency.
Since Hood's homophobic legislation is not backed by evidence that gay and lesbian parents are in any way detrimental to children, Hagan argues, why should his Republican-phobic legislation have to be grounded in anything more than emotions or ideology?
Absolute genius!
[link via Living on Less]
Laundromat Revolution!
February 20, 2006
If I were to attempt to instigate a revolution, I would begin at the laundromat. In fact, I wish I had more time today to hang out and talk to the men who were there, talking about hard times and how "Those people in the government need to be told, once and for all, that there's no incentive to work! Making money only forces you to owe more money, and they get it all in the end!" Wow! If that's not the seed of revolution, I don't know what is. And it's all happening at the laundromat.
In fact, when I think about it, what better place? Generally speaking, laundromats are utilized by people who are not property holders and who have limited means. You have to sit there and wait for your clothes, so there is plenty of time to gab and shoot the shit and you are also sort of trapped there to listen to the opposing viewpoints of your neighbors. In such close quarters, civility is a necessity. I think, when my kids are a bit older and more able to do without me here for an hour or so at a time, I might just start hanging out at the laundromat - at least on wet, cloudy days like today where the clothesline is not an option. Maybe I'll just start hanging out there without even doing any laundry. Reading a book and waiting for an opportunity to engage in interesting conversation with my neighbors.
what really happened
February 2, 2006
Cindy Sheehan: What Really Happened
My ticket was in the 5th gallery, front row, fourth seat in. The person who in a few minutes was to arrest me, helped me to my seat.I had just sat down and I was warm from climbing 3 flights of stairs back up from the bathroom so I unzipped my jacket. I turned to the right to take my left arm out, when the same officer saw my shirt and yelled; "Protester." He then ran over to me, hauled me out of my seat and roughly (with my hands behind my back) shoved me up the stairs. I said something like "I'm going, do you have to be so rough?" By the way, his name is Mike Weight.
The officer ran with me to the elevators yelling at everyone to move out of the way. When we got to the elevators, he cuffed me and took me outside to await a squad car. On the way out, someone behind me said, "That's Cindy Sheehan." At which point the officer who arrested me said: "Take these steps slowly." I said, "You didn't care about being careful when you were dragging me up the other steps." He said, "That's because you were protesting." Wow, I get hauled out of the People's House because I was, "Protesting."
I was never told that I couldn't wear that shirt into the Congress. I was never asked to take it off or zip my jacket back up. If I had been asked to do any of those things...I would have, and written about the suppression of my freedom of speech later. I was immediately, and roughly (I have the bruises and muscle spasms to prove it) hauled off and arrested for "unlawful conduct."
Bite me, conservative christian uptight assholes.
January 2, 2006
Christian political action groups that spearheaded the move to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage are pressuring the university to stop allowing student fees to go to the center, the Dallas Morning news reports.The fees are collected by the student government which then allocates the funds. The UT Board of Regents has the power to overrule the use of the money.
The conservative groups say that students opposed to homosexuality should not be forced to fund the center.
Some state representatives also are planning to oppose funding for the facility. Legislation is expected to be introduced in the next session that would forbid the university from permitting fees from being used, but would allow private donations to fund the center.
Seriously. That's all I can muster when I see shit like this. You know what, jerkweeds? I don't wany my income taxes to go towards funding the education of uptight homophobic assholes like you. How's that?
[link via zeebah]
"Nice Try. End of your try."
December 19, 2005
This is our president, folks. Responding to a question about timelines for withdrawal that our president refused to answer.
"Let me say something about the patriot act, folks. It is inexcusable for our senate to let the patriot act expire."
Mr. President, you do not make me feel like my civil liberties are being considered when you come out on stage, pound your podium, make snide remarks to the press, and act like a spoiled fucking brat who doesn't want to give up his toys and actually says stuff like "I forgot what I was talking about...but I'm doing the right thing."
You know...when I heard the breaking news about The-President-Doesn't-Give-A-Fuck-About-Our-Civil-Liberties-Gate I felt like "What? You didn't just assume this was happening already?"
Oh. My. Fucking. Shit....can he fumble any more on a question about race.
The Prez: "Thank you for violating the Multi-part question rule."
Reporter: "I didn't know there was a law against that"
The Prez: "It's not a law, it's an executive order."
(further outrageous garble about how it's not monitored by the congress, followed by motherfucking LAUGHTER from the audience.)
I love how people are LAUGHING while our president raves on like a fucking dictatorial lunatic.
Mr President, my civil liberties - and those of my fellow citizens - are not a FUCKING JOKE.
The undertone of "personal responsibility."
December 6, 2005
I keep reading and hearing things that consolidate, in totally simple terms, some things that I have been struggling to find words for. I just read this quote in an article written by Jeff Nygaard about abstinence, or morality-based sex and drug education in an old issue of Z Magazine. The article doesn't appear to be available online anymore, but I'll quote the pertinent section here:
The dominant culture in the United States emphasizes an ideal of "freedom" or "liberty" that is so extreme that it leaves out any notion of responsibility, a concept that is essential if we don't want "freedome" to degenerate into unbounded license. In the world of George W. Bush and other promoters of abstinence-based "morality" policies, each individual is alone responsible for his or her decisions. Whatever problems an individual has, in this view, are the result of some sort of moral failing on the part of the individual, whether it be "bad decisions" or "lack of self-discipline" or "weakness" or something else.And if an individual "fails" repeatedly, then it can be said that the individual is "bad" - that is, essentially bad, or evil - and there is no help for them. In this view, the only responsibility that the larger community - family, school, government - shoulders is teh responsibility to tell people what is right and wrong and then to reward them if they do "right" and punish them if they do "wrong." The fault and the responsibility for the transgression lies with that individual and that individual alone.
As Dana McGrath of George Washington Univeristy put it in a presentation at the International Women's Policy Research Conference in June of 2003, "By constructing the problems that teen mothers, for example, face as the result of 'bad choices' rather than preexisting economic or cultural disparities, the government and larger public can escape any responsibility for creating and perpetuating social inequalities."
So the average citizen, and the average policy-maker, has an interest in framing social problems as personal maral failings. Then they can say, "It's not my problem." That's an important part of why some of these failed "morality policies" continue to be popular. It's easy for elected officials to create and maintain policies that absolve their constituents of any responsibility for social problems.
Take THAT, all of you who crow on and on about "personal responsibility."
Parenting Communities, judgments & pseudo-benevolent "us vs. them"
December 5, 2005
I spent the morning at the church yesterday attending a parents meeting. I'm giving these parent's meetings a few more chances to move me before I give up on them, but so far they are...I dunno. I talked about this with friends yesterday, and my focus was on the fact that it's alienating to me, to some extent, to be in a room full of married people. That's something I never understood when I was married, but I totally get it now. Like the woman who was talking about how she just HAD to take her children out to eat on those evenings when her husband goes to a meeting, because otherwise she just can't deal. This is someone who works full-time while her children are in childcare, and she still can't hack the chaos of children alone when she comes home. Granted, I enjoy a great deal of privilege, what with all of the fabulous fabulosity of Pansy and Clay...and pretty much right now I'm enjoying double or triple the privilege of married folk as I have all of the help and half of the responsibility (when you subtract out all of the work that comes with a romantic attachment as opposed to a platonic one) but I really just have a difficult time relating to these people.
In addition to this alienation/disconnection, I also just don't think I need these meetings nearly as much as they do. The parents in the group seem to want to form a community that meets once a month so they can discuss parenting issues and find new ways of approaching the challenges of parenting. I just realized this morning, when I was mulling this over in my brain, that I already have this community, and these are things I talk about just about every day. So it seems odd and redundant for me to commune with a group of relative strangers to have these sorts of conversations. They seem very one-up-manship focused, and I'm as braggardly as the next guy, but it seems silly.
At last month's meeting we discussed our "parenting philosophies" - and a couple of parents dominated the conversation with their justifications for spanking their children. Today it was "how do you celebrate the holidays" and we got to listen to one mama congratulate herself for her ability to buy expensive wooden toys. The thing that is most cringeworthy of all is that I have been/am like these people in different contexts...but generally I'm having these kinds of conversations with people who know me well enough to roll their eyes at me if I get overly self-aggrandizing about it. Hahaha. In this kind of faux-community there is all of the opportunity to grandstand and none of the responsibility to keep oneself in check.
Perhaps it is just sour grapes, though, because I'm unable, really, to invest much more time in this community than I already invest. Maybe it's one of those cases where I just need to give myself time to integrate into the group. It's altogether possible that I am being overly judgmental. Maude fucking knows I have a tendency to do that! And, too, perhaps these meetings are a good opportunity for me to sit still, listen, and reflect on how to apply the lesson that I'm learning from the irritation I'm feeling towards these folks. The lesson being "Shut the fuck up about how politically correct you are and just connect as a human being without these fabricated divisions."
You know, because when you can afford to not shop at Wal-Mart - everyone who shops at Wal-Mart becomes another form of "them" - as in "us vs." Even if you do talk about "them" in a pseudo-concerned manner...like "Those poor people who still have to shop at/work at Wal-Mart even though Wal-Mart is oppressing them."
So, I sit and listen, and/but every once in awhile I can't refrain. Like when one woman was going on and on about how she buys her children the True Majority pens so they can go to school and teach the other school children about all the ways America is fucked up, and I busted out with "I'll bet those pens are made in China" & instantly tried to catch the words in midair and shove them back down my throat. Hahaha. I'm so not immune from the "more PC than thou" bullshit.
The book I just started reading yesterday talks about the practice of bowing to people, things, circumstances, and the Rumi poem the author chose as a sort of conclusion to his introduction seems appropriate, somehow:
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently weep your house
empty of its furniture.
Still treat each guest honorably,
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.
This is freaking GENIUS.
December 1, 2005
Who says a pharmacy isn’t a kid-friendly place? Some of these pharmacists like children so much, they want you to have the ones you didn’t even mean to have! And when you think about it, pharmacies are awesome places for young children to run and play, especially behind that door marked PRIVATE (Go on in! These folks don’t care about privacy!) which leads to a wonderful land of bottles and jars to shake shake shake. Plus plenty of childproof caps to challenge them, hundreds of colorful little beadies to count, lots of new words to learn (Say it: “Meth-o-trex-ate.”) and no shortage of arthritic elderly friends to trip up. Really, it’s like a Montessori school with Muzak.
Best. Protest Idea. Ever.
[link via Redneck Mother]
Family Matters
November 10, 2005
Lately, I've been carpooling. We have a new instructor at work who lives close to me, so we carpool. It's pretty cool, because I tend to not talk politics (external or internal) with anyone at work, but when you are in a car stuck in traffic for 30-45 minutes a day, talking has to happen. I'm thankful that D and I are fairly compatible politically, so the conversations are nice, informative, mind-expanding rather than irksome and confrontational. Ha! I guess I'm hoping he feels the same way. I'm thankful, at least, that he's a good conversationalist. You really have to be to pull me out of my shell in those situations.
At any rate, yesterday we were driving along and we saw one of the "Family Matters" yardsigns, encouraging folks to vote AGAINST proposition 2 (which would be voting AGAINST amending the constitution...in other words, voting AGAINST writing bigotry and hatred into our state creed. The amendment, by the way, passed. Fuck you, Texas. I hate you and I want you to die.) D is new in town, and I found myself explaining the amendment and the sign to him. He wasn't sure what "Family Matters" meant in relation to the amendment.
I wish I could have read him this post:
I've been thinking tonight about what I'd like to say to you, and as much as my Quaker philosophy tells me to speak to "that of God" in you, I'm having a really hard time. Because this is what I keep coming up with:You Selfish Fucks.
How fucking dare you, especially in the name of God, go so far out of your way to destroy families with parents just as loving as you, with children just as beautiful as yours? How dare you go home tonight, secure in the hundreds--or is it thousands?--of rights, privileges, and obligation that legal marriage gives you, knowing that you've helped deny those rights, privileges and obligations to people who love their partners and love their children and need those rights, privileges and obligations just as much as you do.
What I did tell him (primarily because, for some reason, the topic of ex-spouses fucking with custodial parents (as in, how the legal system is designed, at least at face value, to tolerate this behavior) is primary in my thinking processes these days) was that this amendment is going to enable so much fuckwithitability in the lives of gay families that it makes me want to vomit. Well, I didn't say that EXACTLY...but sort of.
I think Robert said it better.
Fuck you, Texas.
November 10, 2005
I hate you, and I want you to die.
(I believe I'm going to leave this up at the top of the page for awhile.)
Secede.
November 9, 2005
Travis County Returns:
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 2
FOR 40%
AGAINST 60%
Statewide Returns:
CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT NO. 2
FOR 74%
AGAINST 26%
WNBA Player Is Gay
November 7, 2005
Thanks to Afro Netizen for pointing out This article about Sheryl Swoopes' coming out:
But Swoopes's announcement has been met in the sports press with what the Associated Press correctly described as "a shrug of indifference." San Jose Mercury News columnist John Ryan wrote, "Let's face it: On the list of shocking headlines, 'WNBA player is gay' falls somewhere between 'Romo took steroids' and 'Steinbrenner is angry.' "
I'm not a fan of basketball, so this is news to me. What interests me about this article is the indirectly stated assumption that women in sports TEND TO be gay, so it's no big deal. That's an incredibly sexist assumption right there, on top of all of the rest.
Klan, 14; People With Brains, 3000
November 7, 2005
You heard it right, the paltry Klan of 14 was met by 3000 protestors. The clan was out in support of Proposition 2, or, rather, they were evidently channeling God in support of Prop 2. Redneck Mother had this to say about that:
If re-banning gay marriage is that important to the almighty, why doesn't he just amend the state constitution directly, maybe with some smoke and lightning, rather than leave it to a citizenry that apparently didn't get the memo? Oh, wait. I think I know.
I guess I wasn't aware that God speaks through the KKK.
Walkin' to New Orleans
November 5, 2005
Well, actually, I'm driving. Anyone want to join me? I have room for 5-7 adults (depending on how comfortable you want to be) and I should be leaving sometime around Thanksgiving Day (either the day of or the day after). Here's the scoop:
Come lend a hand over the week of Thanksgiving until November 27th. That's less than three weeks away!The folks at Common Ground invite you to join an estimated 300 volunteers from around the continent to converge in New Orleans the week of Thanksgiving.We want to encourage those in attendance to arrive with building & clearning supplies, donated equipment and, if possible, funds that can apply directly to help rebuild and the 9th Ward.
For more information, visit the Common Ground Road Trip for Relief page.
Gah! I just realized the relief party ends ON Thanksgiving. I'm going to see if I might be able to leave the day before. It just depends on work. If I can't, then I am definitely leaving early early Thanksgiving morning or after 9 the night before.
UnGah! I was looking at a stupid October calendar. The relief party continues through the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Which means I will leave either Thanksgiving Day (which I'm hoping would be a good travel day) or the day after. And coming back either Saturday night or Sunday morning...although I'm pretty open to whatever days are best for whoever wants to come with.
Did I mention I love redneck mother?
November 3, 2005
Go read this post. Now.
Pregnancy 2: The test is positive, but the pink line gets lighter with each test until the big bleed begins. I would've never known if I hadn't been testing early. I would've just thought Flo was being extra curse-y. If a machine failed at the outset of a process, someone would try to fix it. But according to my obstetrical crew, this happens 50% of the time or more and that's just the way it is. In our society, any machine with a failure rate that high would be junked. Unless it was a voting booth.
Mama, thanks. Thanks for your wit, your honesty, and your bravery.
Prometheus 6 Looks on the bright side of the Alito nomination.
November 3, 2005
Alito: Look on the bright side | Prometheus 6
Best Letter to Target Ever.
November 3, 2005
Dear Target:Thank you for clarifying your respect for your pharmacists' sincerely held religious beliefs. Your commitment to honoring the beliefs of your team members is inspiring.
Personally, I have been inspired to become a pharmacist and a Christian Scientist. Please consider me for your next opening.
Hit the link...it gets even better.
[link via Robert Arjet]
Rest in Peace, Rosa
October 24, 2005
WTOL-TV Toledo, OH: Rosa Parks Dead at 92
DETROIT -- One of the most famous icons of the civil rights movement has passed away. Rosa Parks died Monday evening at the age of 92.
Damned from All Sides.
September 9, 2005
Peters: I've been a supporter of President Bush, but I just got to come back to the fact that this is a failure of leadership and I'll tell you I'm personally angry....and I don't want a president who is taking six week vacations anywhere when Americans are dying..whether they are dying in Iraq or LA.
It's stating the obvious, but still...it needs to be stated, and stated again.
September 6, 2005
Paul Krugman - Killed by Contempt:
You might have expected the administration to reconsider its hostility to emergency preparedness after 9/11 - after all, emergency management is as important in the aftermath of a terrorist attack as it is following a natural disaster. As many people have noticed, the failed response to Katrina shows that we are less ready to cope with a terrorist attack today than we were four years ago.
I don't get why the right doesn't seem to be seeing that we are horribly unprepared for ANY sort of disaster or tragedy.
Watch it.
September 3, 2005
"I hate the way they portray us in the media. "If you see a black family it says they are looting if you see a white family it says they are looking for food."We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war now fighting another way and they’ve given them permission to go down and shoot us."
"George Bush doesn't care about black people."
The transcript doesn't do it justice. Again...it's the emotion in his voice, and the expression on the face of Mike Myers.
Seriously, I wonder. Is Bush TRYING to start a race/class war?
Oh, by the way...it was censored.
I suppose it is profane to call bullshit on Bush's own obscene inaction.
[link via Tennessee Guerilla Women]
More Resources from Zagg
September 3, 2005
(from a forwarded email)
Here's a great list of potential places to donate time/money to.
By popular demand, here's a compiled list of places to send help -- targeting organizations that serve, and are accountable to, low-income people and people of color. PLEASE encourage people who are getting ready to fork out to the red cross to donate here instead/too. (would be helpful if someone could post a little blurb explaining why not to give to the red cross in these situations...can anyone write that up?)
and maybe mark your calendars for 3 months from now to ask again -- is help still forthcoming, and who's getting it?
-----------
Direct donations to CHARITY HOSPITAL:
"They are an enormous provider of services for people with HIV and AIDS, and have been providing services to the public who can't afford private health care for decades. they are amazing and need help. not exactly a small local org - for that you might give to NO AIDS task force... "
************
ACORN: Baton Rouge office: (225) 930-6385. If you can't reach them, you can try the NY office: 718-246-7900.
************
LOW-INCOME COMMUNITIES ORGANIZING THEMSELVES:
As you know, New Orleans has been devastated by Hurricane Katrina. At last report over 80% of the city was flooded and water was still rising. As we listen to the news reports we wonder what we can do to help. Families in New Orleans are in desperate need of help. DAWG is raising money to help the *Louisiana Welfare Rights Organization(WRO)* help low-income families in New Orleans recover from Katrina. WRO is located in New Orleans, Louisiana and is one of the oldest still operating welfare rights/advocacy organizations. Among the services provided by WRO are job training and low income
housing apartments that are both located in New Orleans.
Please help us help low-income families in New Orleans by sending a
contribution to DAWG's WRO Fund. /Donations are tax deductible/. *Send a check payable to _DAWG_ to*
*WRO Fund*
*c/o DAWG*
*PO Box 20079*
*Charleston, WV 25362*
(304) 347-9222
www.geocities.com/itsdadawg
The Direct Action Welfare Group (D.A.W.G.) is a group comprised of current and former TANF recipients and concerned individuals who come together to share information and ideas and to advocate for each other, their neighbors, and themselves. Through a unified voice people living in poverty will be heard. Our purpose is to promote social justice and to empower former and current public assistance recipients and persons living in poverty by providing them with the knowledge, and the tools to change their lives.
***************
DIRECT ACTION TO BRING RELIEF SUPPLIES:
The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement is sponsoring a FOOD & CLOTHING DRIVE!
Our people in the South need our help. We cannot wait for or assume
Red Cross will take care of our people. There are thousands of refugees from New orleans in HOUSTON, TX. Several Black large Black
Churches have opened their doors to displaced people.
Here is a list of things NEEDED TODAY:
- TOWELS
- SHEETS AND LINENS
- DIAPERS
- WATER
- TOOTH BRUSHES
- TOOTH PASTE
- SOAP
- AIR MATTRESSES
-WE ALSO NEED MONETARY DONATIONS TO SHIP OUT THESE GOODS
BRING ALL DONATED GOODS TO:
THE MALCOLM X GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT
388 ATLANTIC AVENUE, 4TH FL. BETWEEN HOYT AND BOND ST. (718) 254-8800
FOR FOLKS IN THE BRONX AND UPTOWN PLS CONTACT NYOKA AT 917-609-4323.
I WILL BE COLLECTING DONATIONS UP HERE.
FORWARD THIS WIDE AND FAR!!!!!!!!!!
FREE 'EM ALL.
Twenty six years of freedom! Hands Off Assata!
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LOCALLY-ORGANIZED GRASSROOTS RELIEF WORK:
BlackAmericaWeb.com Relief Fund
PO Box 803209
Dallas, TX 75240
OR you can make an online donation by going to
www.blackamericaweb.com/relief This fund has been set up by nationally syndicated radio personality TOM JOYNER
NAACP Disaster Relief Efforts
The NAACP is setting up command centers in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama as part of its disaster relief efforts. NAACP units across the nation have begun collecting resources that will be placed on trucks and sent directly into the disaster areas. Also, the NAACP has established a disaster relief fund to accept monetary donations to aid in the relief effort.
Checks can be sent to the NAACP payable to
NAACP Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund
4805 Mt. Hope Drive
Baltimore, MD 21215
Donations can also be made online at
www.naacp.org/disaster/contribute.php
FYI, the NAACP, founded in 1909, is America's oldest civil rights organization
www.teamrescueone.com
Set up by native New Orleans rapper Master P and his wife Sonya Miller
You can mail or ship non perishable items to these following locations, which we have confirmed are REALLY delivering services to folks in need.
Center for LIFE Outreach Center
121 Saint Landry Street
Lafayette, LA 70506
atten.: Minister Pamela Robinson
337-504-5374
Mohammad Mosque 65
2600 Plank Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70805
atten.: Minister Andrew Muhammad
225-923-1400
225-357-3079
Lewis Temple CME Church
272 Medgar Evers Street
Grambling, LA 71245
atten.: Rev. Dr. Ricky Helton
318-247-3793
St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
c/o Hurricane Katrina Victims
5710 East R.L. Thornton Freeway
Dallas, TX 75223
atten.: Pastor Tom Waitschies
214-821-2970
S.H.A.P.E. Community Center
3815 Live Oak
Houston, Texas 77004
atten.: Deloyd Parker
713-521-0641
**************
MORE DIRECT ACTION/SUPPLY TRIP:
Infoshop.org collective member, Jamie "Bork" Loughner, has decided to go to the Gulf Coast from Washington, DC with supplies for the people affected by Hurricane Katrina. Her trip will be sponsored by Infoshop News and Mayday DC. She is making travel arrangements at
this point. Bork is talking about buying water filters at part of
the supplies she is taking down. She will also be doing reporting on the situation for Indymedia and Infoshop News.
Is anybody from Asheville, NC reading this? Bork says that she heard about an activist caravan being organized there.
We are also looking for people who can help along the way, providing an overnight place to crash, for example. We've already had one offer from somebody living in Alabama.
People can read more and help out by going to Infoshop News
Finally, I'm creating a page on Infoshop.org on what anarchist and anti-authoritarians are doing for relief projects. The URL for that page will be: http://www.infoshop.org/hurricanekatrina.html
Chuck Munson
Infoshop.org
Notes from inside New Orleans
September 3, 2005
The email said "please forward" so I'm hoping it's ok that I post:
Thanks to all the loved ones and long-lost friends for your sweet notes of concern, offers of housing and support, etc. Yes, I stayed through the storm and aftermath. I'm fine - much better off than most of my brother and sister hurricane survivors. Below is my attempt to relay some of what I've seen these last few days.Please Forward
Notes From Inside New Orleans
by Jordan Flaherty
Friday, September 2, 2005
I just left New Orleans a couple hours ago. I traveled from the apartment I was staying in by boat to a helicopter to a refugee camp. If anyone wants to examine the attitude of federal and state officials towards the victims of hurricane Katrina, I advise you to visit one of the refugee camps.In the refugee camp I just left, on the I-10 freeway near Causeway, thousands of people (at least 90% black and poor) stood and squatted in mud and trash behind metal barricades, under an unforgiving sun, with heavily armed soldiers standing guard over them. When a bus would come through, it would stop at a random spot, state police would open a gap in one of the barricades, and people would rush for the bus, with no information given about where the bus was going. Once inside (we were told) evacuees would be told where the bus was taking them - Baton Rouge, Houston, Arkansas, Dallas, or other locations. I was told that if you boarded a bus bound for Arkansas (for example), even people with family and a place to stay in Baton Rouge would not be allowed to get out of the bus as it passed through Baton Rouge. You had no choice but to go to the shelter in Arkansas.
If you had people willing to come to New Orleans to pick you up, they could not come within 17 miles of the camp.I traveled throughout the camp and spoke to Red Cross workers, Salvation Army workers, National Guard, and state police, and although they were friendly, no one could give me any details on when buses would arrive, how many, where they would go to, or any other information. I spoke to the several teams of journalists nearby, and asked if any of them had been able to get any information from any federal or state officials on any of these questions, and all of them, from Australian tv to local Fox affiliates complained of an unorganized, non-communicative, mess. One cameraman told me "as someone who's been here in this camp for two days, the only information I can give you is this: get out by nightfall. You don't want to be here at night."
There was also no visible attempt by any of those running the camp to set up any sort of transparent and consistent system, for instance a line to get on buses, a way to register contact information or find family members, special needs services for children and infirm, phone services, treatment for possible disease exposure, nor even a single trash can.
To understand this tragedy, its important to look at New Orleans itself.
For those who have not lived in New Orleans, you have missed a incredible, glorious, vital, city. A place with a culture and energy unlike anywhere else in the world. A 70% African-American city where resistance to white supremecy has supported a generous, subversive and unique culture of vivid beauty. From jazz, blues and hiphop, to secondlines, Mardi Gras Indians, Parades, Beads, Jazz Funerals, and red beans and rice on Monday nights, New Orleans is a place of art and music and dance and sexuality and liberation unlike anywhere else in the world.
It is a city of kindness and hospitality, where walking down the block can take two hours because you stop and talk to someone on every porch, and where a community pulls together when someone is in need. It is a city of extended families and social networks filling the gaps left by city, state and federal goverments that have abdicated their responsibilty for the public welfare. It is a city where someone you walk past on the street not only asks how you are, they wait for an answer.
It is also a city of exploitation and segregation and fear. The city of New Orleans has a population of just over 500,000 and was expecting 300 murders this year, most of them centered on just a few, overwhelmingly black, neighborhoods. Police have been quoted as saying that they don't need to search out the perpetrators, because usually a few days after a shooting, the attacker is shot in revenge.
There is an atmosphere of intense hostility and distrust between much of Black New Orleans and the N.O. Police Department. In recent months, officers have been accused of everything from drug running to corruption to theft. In seperate incidents, two New Orleans police officers were recently charged with rape (while in uniform), and there have been several high profile police killings of unarmed youth, including the murder of Jenard Thomas, which has inspired ongoing weekly protests for several months.
The city has a 40% illiteracy rate, and over 50% of black ninth graders will not graduate in four years. Louisiana spends on average $4,724 per child's education and ranks 48th in the country for lowest teacher salaries. The equivalent of more than two classrooms of young people drop out of Louisiana schools every day and about 50,000 students are absent from school on any given day. Far too many young black men from New Orleans end up enslaved in Angola Prison, a former slave plantation where inmates still do manual farm labor, and over 90% of inmates eventually die in the prison. It is a city where industry has left, and most remaining jobs are are low-paying, transient, insecure jobs in the service economy.
Race has always been the undercurrent of Louisiana politics. This disaster is one that was constructed out of racism, neglect and incompetence. Hurricane Katrina was the inevitable spark igniting the gasoline of cruelty and corruption. From the neighborhoods left most at risk, to the treatment of the refugees to the the media portayal of the victims, this disaster is shaped by race.
Louisiana politics is famously corrupt, but with the tragedies of this week our political leaders have defined a new level of incompetence. As hurricane Katrina approached, our Governor urged us to "Pray the hurricane down" to a level two. Trapped in a building two days after the hurricane, we tuned our battery-operated radio into local radio and tv stations, hoping for vital news, and were told that our governor had called for a day of prayer. As rumors and panic began to rule, they was no source of solid dependable information. Tuesday night, politicians and reporters said the water level would rise another 12 feet - instead it stabilized. Rumors spread like wildfire, and the politicians and media only made it worse.
While the rich escaped New Orleans, those with nowhere to go and no way to get there were left behind. Adding salt to the wound, the local and national media have spent the last week demonizing those left behind. As someone that loves New Orleans and the people in it, this is the part of this tragedy that hurts me the most, and it hurts me deeply.
No sane person should classify someone who takes food from indefinitely closed stores in a desperate, starving city as a "looter," but thats just what the media did over and over again. Sherrifs and politicians talked of having troops protect stores instead of perform rescue operations.
Images of New Orleans' hurricane-ravaged population were transformed into black, out-of-control, criminals. As if taking a stereo from a store that will clearly be insured against loss is a greater crime than the governmental neglect and incompetence that did billions of dollars of damage and destroyed a city. This media focus is a tactic, just as the eighties focus on "welfare queens" and "super-predators" obscured the simultaneous and much larger crimes of the Savings and Loan scams and mass layoffs, the hyper-exploited people of New Orleans are being used as a scapegoat to cover up much larger crimes.
City, state and national politicians are the real criminals here.
Since at least the mid-1800s, its been widely known the danger faced by flooding to New Orleans. The flood of 1927, which, like this week's events, was more about politics and racism than any kind of natural disaster, illustrated exactly the danger faced. Yet government officials have consistently refused to spend the money to protect this poor, overwhelmingly black, city. While FEMA and others warned of the urgent impending