If Anyone Needs to Blow Their Nose?

So here's another friend getting published and getting a rather fat grant story. You can check out Andy Douglas's "Slouch"essay at http://www.maryjournal.org . He also managed to finagle 7 grand from some place I'd never heard of but did promptly understand that my work did not meet their criteria. Hey, what else does one need to know? Joke, okay?

Check out this essay. I've not read it but I've heard him read it as it was a contribution to "the meg white experience"at Public Space One in September of 2003. That boy had all the girls swooning. He presents a little like Merwin did in his younger days - all grace and poise. Given the subject matter of this piece it was a very comprehensive experience for audience and author alike. Way to go, Andy. I have to poke fun at him a little, in that his agent's name is actually Giles. It's just too too-too. A New York agent named Giles. You gotta love it.

Re: the mwe - I'm still not entirely certain if anyone noticed I had a piece of work up at that show. Okay, that's an exaggeration. The sweet volunteer working the desk made a point to say how much she admired my piece and even that rascal, Joe P, gave it high marks. It was a subtle work and I did hang it under the name meg y , so I can't complain.

I was thinking of changing my last name to "y"at the time. Sort of a post Malcolm X, Gen X, let's make fun how much I'm not such a girly-girl (think chromosones, here) but am a rock-on, don't-mess-with-me-or-anyone-I-care-about-and-I-don't-give-a-damn- if-you-call-me-á-girl-just-don't call-me-a-bitch-if-you're-a man-or-unless-you-read-the-magazine-with-respect feminist. Anyway, this idea fell by the wayside when groovy, vegan, change the world man Matthew Steele wrote me from South America and informed me that the inventor of the Boogey Board had already stolen my idea and changed his last name to "y". Somehow that really took the winds out of my sails.

Ramble, ramble, ramble.

Things with Dr. Math are going quite well. Sometimes I have no bloody idea what he sees in me but I suspect he thinks the same thing in the other direction. He just won a big award which will be hitting the local papers the first week in June so I'll keep my big trap shut. As a result of this little coup on his part, I did get some exceptionally good chocolates from Georgetown and a stack of official "Öffice of the President of United States White House" cocktaik napkins. Dang, Judith if I'd had these on Saturday we could have used these for your party. I just received them today. Shucks.

In the meantime, if anyone needs to blow their nose?

The Interpretation Interpretation Interpretation Theory

This little item in the Arts section of the Times on Tuesday caught my attention. Evidence of what I have long dubbed the Circular Interpretation Theory of Cultural Interpretation According to Meg's Interpretation of It. I spoke with Master John once about this at Louis Bookstore Cafe and he concurred wholeheartedly with the premise (of course!). Some results of the creative f l o w wind up being so unspeakably horrific they become nothing short of spectacular. If our scale for measuring aesthetics is circular rather than linear (should this even be debated, for God's sake?) then when something is so dreadfully awfully (i.e. at about, say, 358 degrees), it only takes a small small nudge (an extra adverb, over-impressed with itself narration, too many care bear stickers, glitter bunnies or barbie iconography) to send that puppy over the 360 degree mark. Now we're coming in somewhere between 1 and 4 degrees - exceptional!!!

Anyway, enjoy the article. Poor Ethan. I guess you could say, at least he put himself out there. I've never read either book so I cannot comment.

Cheerful Ode to Lemons of Literature

by Lola Ogunnaike
Celebrating clunky sentences and mixed metaphors, self-indulgent prose and just plain old bad writing, Lit Lite, a weekly literary series, invites performers to select and read from their favorite bad books. And so one evening last week at the Chelsea restaurant Elmo, Greg Walloch, a stand-up comic, chose to deliver passages from two novels by the actor Ethan Hawke, "The Hottest State" and "Ash Wednesday."

"Man, when I first met Christy - and this is no joke, a cliché but no joke - it was like my heart was literally stuck on my esophagus," Mr. Walloch read from "Ash Wednesday" as an audience of more than 40 groaned and giggled. It was soon revealed that Christy is a woman with a posterior so "dynamite," that, "if you looked at her from the back you'd swear she was a black chick." Mr. Walloch, who is white, deadpanned, "That happens to me all the time."

Since the series began in February, more than 40 books have been skewered. A $5 cover charge is imposed and, because of the subject matter, heavy drinking is encouraged. Each session tackles a different subject, from sex to self help. At one event the ballet dancer Robert La Fosse poked fun at his autobiography, "Nothing to Hide." Earlier this month, in keeping with the theme "Women's Problems," performers read excerpts from Rosie O'Donnell's free-verse poetry blog (onceadored.blogspot.com), "Yvonne: An Autobiography," by the actress Yvonne De Carlo, who played Lily Munster in the television series "The Munsters," and Eve Ensler's "Good Body." Tonight, under the banner "Difficult People," Jodi Lennon, a comedy writer, will present "Hold My Gold," a hip-hop how-to guide for white girls.

Lit Lite is the brainchild of Kevin Malony and Grady Hendrix, both of whom stage productions for the Off Off Broadway theater company Tweed. Mr. Hendrix began the evening with a recitation from "Mission Compromised," Oliver North's military thriller.

"I am unfortunately one of those lonely sad people that reads a lot," said Mr. Hendrix in an interview, "and I've always been drawn to bad books." Asked why he prefers cringe-inducing texts to works from the literary canon Mr. Hendrix said, "Good literature is a little bit boring and precious." He pointed to Jonathan Franzen's "Corrections" and the works of David Foster Wallace to illustrate his point, saying he would rather curl up with "I Was a White Slave in Harlem," the autobiography of the drag queen Margo Howard-Howard. Speaking of slavery and drag queens. Originally, Flotilla DeBarge, a statuesque drag queen who bears more than a passing resemblance to the talk show host Star Jones, was to read that evening from "Swan," a novel by the model Naomi Campbell. Ms. DeBarge and Mr. Hendrix decided that while Ms. Campbell's book was awful, it was not gripping; instead they opted for Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Resplendent in a mud-cloth tunic, miniskirt and heavy makeup, Ms. DeBarge struggled through her opening. "Sorry you all," she said, "my eyelashes are giving me some trouble." She rallied and read passages about Topsy, the incorrigible slave child. But it was the maudlin chapter in which little Eva, in all her golden blond glory, dies of consumption that really had the crowd in stitches. "I want to give you something that, when you look at, you shall always remember me," Ms. DeBarge said, delivering lines in a syrupy voice reminiscent of Scarlet O'Hara: "I'm going to give all of you a curl of my hair; and when you look at it, think that I am in heaven and that I want to see you all there."

Not to be outdone by Ms. DeBarge, Sweetie, another man partial to women's clothing, sauntered to the stage sporting a red-sequined dress and a blond bouffant that would easily put Marge Simpson's to shame. Sweetie had chosen to share bits from "Sarah," J. T. LeRoy's disturbing novel about a 12-year-old transvestite hooker who plies his trade at truck stops. Reveling in the tale that features a toothless pimp, a pedophile and a call girl named Pooh ("not like the bear," Mr. LeRoy writes), Sweetie continued to gleefully flip through "Sarah" long past her allotted 20 minutes.

Florent Morellet, owner of the popular meatpacking district diner Florent laughed through much of the show. "You know we could be doing this for centuries," he said, "There are so many bad books - it's an endless gold mine."

Mr. Walloch said that his next reading will be from the Abercrombie & Fitch catalog. "Everyone just looks at the clothes and the models, but have you read that thing?"

Mr. Hendrix, who helps choose many of the featured texts, said organizing the event has been harder than he expected. "To pick something that's bad and bad enough to be entertaining is really a lot of work."

Iowa Girls Keep Making Good

Whew that last post had a bunch of typos. Oh well. More great news for creative girls w/ Iowa connections. Creative Non-fiction Program Graduate, Faith Adiele, just received a Pen award for her memoir Meeting Faith about her experience as the first female black nun in Thailand. Rock on.

Abbe McWilliam has landed a sweet job at the Press Citizen which she loves and has already done a cover story on the important issue of teen pregnancy. Local readers should keep their eyes on this young writer. She's on the move.

The Newton Poem Again

Word has finally travelled through the chick-writers grapevine that former Iowa Citian, Jo Ann Beard, was the recent recipient of a Guggenheim. There just seems to be something good happening for creative girls w/ associations to Iowa. Maybe not for all of us but enough to make the choice of giving voice to whatever we feel needs giving voice to seem like a moderately honorable endeavour and not a decision born of complete insanity.

Since, in theory, these blogs are diaries and updates of sorts. Here is a quick run down on what's been happening in my world. Finally, my mother has been given a clean bill of health and will leaving Los Angeles to go live with my brother and his family in North Carolina. This is great news, not only for the obvious reasons, but beacuse she will be with two of her grandchildren and this is the best anti-grief remedy there is.

I've landed a part time job at a local florist and I really love it. The pay is certainly not ideal but I really don't care. I'm just so happy to be working and the people there are so nice.

I'm getting more and more positive feedback on my freelance work and my column which is heartening.. My friend, Daniel, has apparenly been keeping tabs on the number of his band's website (Marah-Mar.org) receives vs. this blog. So far, I'm winning. Sweet. Hey, Daniel, maybe you need to sex things up a bit??? Perhaps some pictures of the beautiful, Pi?

I've working on the Issac Newton poem again. I started it in 1987. The only thing that has stayed the same is the first line. Give another few months and I'll probably axe that as well, then put it back in again.

I've met a very nice man. On this I will say no more as things are new and I don't want to jinx anything. More to come as things develop. Art & Science. It's a sexy combo.

Hey, Ang. How was Guster? I still have no idea who the heck they are. Laura's coming this weekend, yeah?

I Won't Keep You in Suspense...

at least in any more than a poem might provoke. I fell in love with this one when it was first published in Science 84. I moved many times after that but managed to hang on to it, worn and frayed, always taping it above my bed. Eventually I lost it but thanks to google it has come back to me and I can now send it out into the electronic ether. Enjoy. BTW, Ardice, I have no idea about the soul mate deal but I'm not that Meg White, sorry, though I'm sure in her own special way she loves you. Do check out Hotel Yorba on the White Blood Cells release, okay? Always have hope.

Letter From Caroline Herschel (1750-1848)

"William is away, and I am minding the heavens. I have discovered eight new comets and three nebulae never before seen by man, and I am preparing an index to Flamsteed's observations, together with a catalogue of 560 stars omitted from the British Catalogue, plus a list of erra in that publication. William says I have a way with numbers, so I handle all the necessary calculations. I also plan every night's observation schedule, for he says my intuition helps me turn the telescope to discover star cluster after star cluster.

I have helped him polish the mirrors and lenses of our new telescope. It is the largest in existence. Can you imagine the thrill of turning it to some new corner of the heavens to see something never before seen from earth? I actually like that he is busy with the Royal society and his club, for when I finish my other work I can spend all night sweeping the heavens.
Sometimes when I am alone in the dark, and the universe reveals yet another secret, I say the names of my long, lost sisters, forgotten in the books that record our science - Aganice of Thessaly, Hyptia, Hildegard, Catherina Hevelius, Maria Agnesi - as if the stars themselves could remember.

Did you know that Hildegard proposed a heliocentric universe 300 years before Copernicus? That she wrote of universal gravitation 500 years before Newton? But who would listen to her? She was just a nun, a woman. What is our age, if that age was dark? As for my name, it will also be forgotten, but I am not accused of being a sorceress, like Aganice, and the Christians do not threaten to drag me to church to murder me, like they did Hyptia of Alexandria, the eloquent, young woman who devised the instruments used to accurately measure the position of motion of heavenly bodies.

However long we live, life is short, so I work. And however important man becomes, he is nothing compared to the stars. There are secrets, dear sister, and it is for us to reveal them. Your name like mine is a song. Write soon."

A poem by Sid Cedering celebrating the unsung accomplishments of this dedicated woman of science.10

Does Anyone Remember Caroline Herschell

physics stuff is jamming the inbox today

Manhattan Confidential

Two inside looks at the testosterone-fueled world of mid-20th-century physics

by David Ng from the Village Voice

Chemistry had Marie Curie. Computer science had Ada Byron. But what about physics? Of the hard sciences, physics is typically regarded as the most male, and the most chauvinistic too. For every dorm room poster of cuddly Albert Einstein, there seem to be several accompanying anecdotes about the man's legendary misogyny.

It should come as little surprise that women have historically occupied supporting roles in physics: secretaries, assistants, and daughters. (There are exceptions, though Nobel winner Maria Goeppert Mayer is hardly a household name.) Subordinate though they often were, women naturally possessed an excellent vantage point from which to observe (and at times influence) the men they served. The female's view of this hyper-male society is the subject of two recent books that deconstruct the world of the Cold War–era physicist from the outside looking in. Though completely different in approach, both show a probing empathy for these cerebral men, as well as boundless compassion for the women who had to work, live, and put up with them.

The more personal of the books, M.G. Lord's Astro Turf could be called a memoir, but it's both more and less than that. Lord, the daughter of a mid-level astrophysicist at the prestigious Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, recounts her relationship with her father, a man who cocooned himself in his work rather than face the agony of his wife's death from cancer, or his daughter's own adolescence. Hardly a conventional memoirist, Lord uses her childhood recollections as a Proustian springboard for such far-reaching (and sometimes bizarrely tangential) explorations of maleness at a time (the late '50s) when being a man meant that you were stoic, strict, and work-obsessed.

Examining the gender-drag archetypes of the era (as she did in Forever Barbie), Lord seeks closure on her issues of fatherly abandonment. ("He had come by his misogyny honestly" is her somewhat obvious conclusion.) Plunging headlong into science as a way of reconciling herself with Daddy, Lord positions herself as soul sister to Ellie Arroway, the scientist heroine of Carl Sagan's novel Contact. Indeed, the role of women in the lab becomes a major thread in Lord's book as past turns into present and the male stranglehold thaws into a tolerance (though not full acceptance) of females in leadership positions. What relevance the sexual politics of JPL had on Lord's family is left for the reader to deduce. (Such is also the case for Lord's digressions into atomic research and the Mars Mariner missions.) Lord provides the parts; we must assemble the rocket.

Astro Turf is slender but sprawling. Nearly twice as long, Jennet Conant's 109 East Palace focuses on the brief 27 months during which the nation's top physicists gathered in a remote New Mexico outpost to create the first nuclear weapon. As its title suggests, 109 East Palace takes place almost entirely within the compound that today is referred to as Los Alamos. And while J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called father of the atomic bomb, dominates much of the book, the real protagonist is his assistant Dorothy McKibbin, a widowed mother who loyally kept house for a horde of physicists in some of the harshest working conditions known to modern science.

Written in third-person reportage, combining firsthand testimony with second-hand documentation, 109 East Palace homogenizes its diverse journalistic sources into a straightforward yarn. Whatever personal interest the author has in the story (her grandfather James Conant was an administrator of the Manhattan Project and makes several appearances in the book) is completely sublimated in the person of Dorothy, whose role was to keep the non-physics-related parts of the Los Alamos community running on schedule. Part Ma Joad, part Florence Nightingale, Dorothy gamely fielded a nonstop stream of crises, including shortages of food and water, clashing egos, and Oppenheimer's high-priest tantrums. "There was never a dull moment," Dorothy says with somewhat scary zeal. "We worked six days a week but even so I couldn't wait to get back to work in the morning."

Conant, like Lord, goes easy on the scientific detail, preferring to evoke the cultural dynamics of this egghead society. (For a nuts-and-bolts account of Oppenheimer's work, read Kai Bird and Martin Sherman's just-published American Prometheus.) As Conant tells it, wives on the Los Alamos range were kept in the dark about their husbands' classified work. And for the most part, so was Dorothy, despite her proximity to the man in charge. (When the bomb finally fell on Hiroshima, she learned about it the way everyone else did—over the radio.)

In retrospect, Dorothy's selfless dedication to Oppenheimer qualifies as a kind of insanity—or perhaps just willful ignorance. One wonders exactly how much she actually knew, and how much she chose not to know. Like Astro Turf, 109 East Palace leaves the reader to complete the puzzle, though this time, the pieces are slippery. It's a strange irony that in the end, Dorothy should remain as fundamentally unknowable to us as she did to those she so slavishly served.

p.s. Re: Caroline - think unrecognized women in science and astronomy

20 at Once

Just saw an announcement that Richard Feyman got his own postage stamp. We arty writer freaks with a special affinity for what my friend Megan calls being a "sucker for anything to do with quantum mechanics" can now post our snailmail with the portrait of a favorite geek. I suppose this means I may have to finally pony up for one of those packs of stamps that force you purchase 20 at once. What a committment. I don't really mind that too much. I think I just like having to pop in the Post Office on Washington Street on a regular basis because I like the staff in there so much but my favorite guy is retiring in six months. Oh well. Things change.

That's all for now. I really have to do my laundry and, lucky for me (alas - re: the laundry) my appointment to get my hair cut got canceled.

Does anyone know what's going into the space that Ruby's Pearl just vacated?

Hey, send up some prayers for Bruno - he's having a heart valve replaced.

Happy Birthday, Howard!!

Heavy Trash is at it Again

Guerrilla Art Group Mocks Exclusive L.A. Enclaves
By Howard Breuer Tue Apr 26, 8:49 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In a city where fame is an industry and privacy is a mark of privilege, guerrilla artists have erected mock guard towers to protest what they see as a disturbing proliferation of gated communities.

Heavy Trash, a coalition of anonymous architects, designers and urban planners, erected the bright orange, 12-foot viewing platforms outside the gates of three upscale Los Angeles neighborhoods. "Walling off one section of the city from another section is not the right solution," said a Heavy Trash member who identified himself as Jake, an inner-city developer.

"We feel that gated communities are becoming popular at a very alarming rate, and that 10 to 20 years from now, people will realize that the gates are an anathema to a democratic, open society, and that they instead make for a more fearful society."

Early on Sunday morning, members of the group dressed in orange vests and driving construction trucks delivered the platforms to the gates of Brentwood Circle, Park La Brea and Laughlin Park, said group member Susan, an architect. The artists' Web site, http://www.heavytrash.blogspot.com , says that people "do not want walled fortresses dividing their neighborhoods or blocking off what would otherwise be public streets and sidewalks."

It also cites poet Robert Frost: "Something there is that does not love a wall/That wants it down ..."

PUZZLED PASSERSBY

Passersby said on Tuesday they did not understand the wooden towers' purpose until it was explained, and there was little evidence of anyone trying out the platforms.

"It was very puzzling to me," said Ed Vane, 77, a resident of the Laughlin Park subdivision near Griffith Park. "The first time I saw it, I thought it was some kind of street expression. Then I thought it was for cutting tree limbs, but that didn't hold up either."

He added that although there are gates and walls outside the community's private streets, one doesn't need a tower to see the houses on the other side. He said his homeowners association planned to have the tower removed. Passerby Gail Smith, who lives near the gated community, said she thought the large orange tower was part of a construction project, "but then it wouldn't go away. "I'm not sure I agree with putting stuff down on somebody else's property," Smith said, adding she doesn't care if some communities build gates.

This isn't the first time the artists have mocked what they see as urban elitism.

In 2000, Heavy Trash erected eight billboards touting a fictional "Metro Aqua" subway line that would reach the beach, various museums and Beverly Hills.

And in 1997, Heavy Trash installed a 2,000-pound staircase providing temporary access to a park that city officials walled off to keep out the homeless.

May Manners - Preview

been so busy i forgot to put this up earlier. don't forget to pick up the Iowa Source which is now online!!!! Eastern Iowa's Most Enlightening Magazine and it's Free


Dear Meg

Perhaps you could help me with some polite ways to say, "I don't want to answer that question." One doesn't want to just rebuke the person with "none of your beeswax" or something. The question, "why do you want to know?" has been suggested to me as an "answer". Then if they say, "just curious" you say nothing further. What do you think? Thank you very much.

B.E.

Dear B.E.,

You are correct in assuming you should not say "none of your beeswax", although under certain circumstances I've been tempted to use the phrase myself. The time a mutual party attendee asked if my black and white Norma Kamali jumpsuit meant that I was trying to impersonate Boy George springs to mind but I did take the high road. Ahhh, fashion in the early 80's.

Different people have different ideas of what is approporiate in any given situation. The most decent thing to do in an event like the one you've described is to affirm the questioner and then deflect the attention from yourself. For instance, if the individual does say "just curious", rather than remain silent you could say "thanks for your interest but I'd much rather find out more about you. " This way you don't appear cold nor do you run the risk of hurting the feelings of someone who is probably just attempting to strike up an innocent albeit awkward conversation. Being kind is always good manners, not to mention a beneficial social skill.

Thanks for writing, B.E. and have fun.

Love,

Meg


Dear Meg,

I started smoking cigarettes again. It's crazy. I know it's bad for me. All my friends, not to mention my family, are mad at me. I just can't stop. I quit 3 years ago so I know I can do it again but I'm under a lot of pressure at work and I just don't want to. How can I get all these
do-gooders off my back?

Nell

Dear Nell,

Run for the high holy hills with a couple of cartoons, a Zippo and some lighter fluid? No wait,
we don't have an abundance of high hills in Iowa and the hip thing to do these days is roll your own. If you decide you're into this for an extended period of time, you might look into growing your own. This way you could avoid patronizing the “7 dwarfs” of the corporate tobacco industry and, perhaps, while studying up on seeds, soil and climate control you could become so diverted by this new hobby, the desire for nicotine might disappear entirely.

Smoking is a hard habit to break, Nell, and it’s a behavior that affects others. It’s little wonder the people who care about you are miffed. My advice is to stop this insanity right now! Smoking damages nearly every organ in the human body, is linked to at least 10 different cancers, and accounts for an estimated 30% of all cancer deaths. In the meantime, be considerate of those around you, okay? Never light up around others before asking if it will bother them. Never exhale your smoke in the direction of another. This rule applies to animals, as well. Always deposit your “leftovers” in an appropriate container (potted plant containers don't count). If you are going to be jetting around on foot, carry along a used mint tin in your shirt, bag or pants pocket to use instead.

BTW, there has been a big revival in hookah parlor smoking (tobacco, I mean) in larger metropolitan areas. A few of these have opened in our fair state. This might be a good solution if you decide to proceed. Do check out the etiquette of such a spot first.Parlors have a culture all their own and you want to be respectful of that. Be well. No kidding.
Love,

Meg

For Almost a Year

Wow. The weather is beautiful outside today and I'm thinking about how lucky I am to stilll have people in my life who have known me for a few years who still care about me enough to read this blog. When I first decided to write it (thanks for the push, LEC) I sent out a notice to every single email I had in my address book w/ the very-much-a-joke promo line "shameless self promotion rocks". Jeez, some folks actually took that seriously and I got a little heat for not having enough humility. Oh well.

Anyway, I've been at this thing for better or worse for almost a year (lots of it for the worst) and I'll be danged if it isn't my oldest pals who seem to be my faithful readers. For an aging chick who landed in the middle of the country at the age of 31 and just sort of stuck it out, I'm pretty amazed at this. Most of my dearest friends have moved away but they're still interested in what's going on with me which is more than moderately miraculous to me. Whoa, I'm counting my blessings.

My family is rather exceptional, BTW. Have I mentioned that recently. My mother is wheeling around the rehab ward of the hospital giving the staff a run for their money. She's looking out for her roommate, Annie, who isn't as lucky as she is in terms of family support. I think its helpful for my mother to have Annie to care for as well. That's what we're supposed to, isn't it? We all take care of and look out for one another.

Being Pretty Specific

So I just met w/ my therapist. I really dig the guy. We had a long dicussion about how difficult it is the take the high road but at the end of the day going to bed with some integrity is well worth it. It's refreshing to have a male therapist who points out how misogynist so much of our culture is and understands that this makes my life cirumstances especially difficult right now.

I mentioned to him the thing about how I usually don't think anyone is ever attracted to me and that I believe it's much safer not to presume anything being said has much to do with you unless someone is saying it directly to you and is being pretty specific. Anyway, he told me about a study which was pretty irritating. It said that most men interpret sheer politenesss from women as flirtation of some kind whereas woman are far less likely to see politeness as anything but good manners.

This freaked me out because it confirmed my intuititon that a number of men I've met and been polite or friendly to in the past three years no doubt thought I was coming on to them. Jeez, I've been fairly clear if I wanted to socialize with someone of the opposite sex and generally I just was trying to make a new friend. I've asked a couple of guys out for coffee but, oh dear, never again. I'd like to date but I'm not asking another man that's for sure.

Good grief, now I'm a little afraid to be polite to any of them.

One more sweet thing about my therapist. I asked him if the person who will be replacing him is as smart as he is. He dodged the question. I got frightened because I've looked around for a long time for someone good who is both clever and empathetic. Turns out he just didn't want to say yes about my replacement because he was trying to deflect my compliment about how smart he is.

Cool.

Boo Hiss, Vatican

I'd be ashamed to call myself a Catholic right about now. I have this theory that some people subconsciously behave or become the names they are given. Nuff said about the new Pope.

Me, I love making art with eggs and I like clean white walls, white sheets, shirts and simple stuff. I least I try to.

Anyway boo hiss on the Vatican. What is wrong with this world right now?

On a happier note, I've been listening to John Hiatt again and I forgot how much I love him. Is "Thank You, Girl" one of the most romantic songs ever written or what? Most guys just don't get it.

I Emphasize the Word....

I was wondering today when the first blog diaries would begin to be published in print. I'm so out of that world this may already be happening and I just haven't heard a word about it. Now that I've written this, I'll no doubt start to read about things as this is what happens. There's no magic involved. When you focus on something, it's perfectly naturally to have a heightened awareness of it. This is the logic behind theories of manifestation or so-called magical thinking. This does not mean that they do not work. Quite the contrary. Think about it. Read what I've written again if you need to. Perhaps I need to do this? Perhaps, I've spent a little too little time sleeping or something (hey, it's not what you think!). My kingdom for a goodnight's sleep.

Okay, next.....

The article in today's Times about Hunter S. Thompson's last days made me feel sick to my stomach and, frankly, a little bit ashamed to call myself a writer. It's not that I don't have empathy and pity for the guy and how much he suffered. In truth, I have much more for his family and friends. What a dismal legacy of pain and grief he left.

I never cared much for his work once I passed the age of 13. I've always hated guns and violence. The most violent thing I've ever down in my life was mock hit (I emphasize the word mock) a man when we were going through a very painful break-up. Bad glam boys and their ridiculous bravado. These guys scare the beejesus out of me. That's a darn good thing. My goodness, I used to actually find it moderately attractive. I emphasize the word used.

Kelly's Photos

Sweet Kelly who moved to Queens now has her photography on a website. I'm encouraging everyone to check it out:

www.kellymckayphotography.com

More art girls from Iowa making good?

Article by a Friend

I'm posting this article by my friend, Laura, without her permission. I hope she will forgive me, she's done it more than once. Plus I mostly wanted to show off her work as it's Iowa Gals make good month.

from The Witness, June 2002

'I want to organize and agitate, but I also want to pray'

by Laura E. Crossett

In 1969, a group of students at Grinnell College turned the American flag upside down as a protest against the Vietnam War. My father, then a professor at Grinnell, spent a good part of the next two days standing beneath the flag, hand on the halyard, to prevent anyone from doing so again.

My mother told me this story when I was a freshman in high school and en route to a protest against the Persian Gulf War. I pointed out that, had I been there, I probably would have been one of the people trying to turn the flag upside down. "Yes," she said. "You and your father would have disagreed about a number of things. Call if you need to be bailed out."

Mostly I tell this as a funny story, but in fact I've been thinking about it for many years--turning a flag upside down may not seem like much, but in Grinnell, Iowa, it's a very extreme tactic. As an activist, I am constantly thinking about how to proceed -- about how to make the best strategic decision, about how to be true to yourself and what you believe, about how to reconcile the difference between those who just want to witness and those who want to print everything in Impact font, and how to do this all in the face of what seem like overwhelming odds -- in the face of a system -- call it global capitalism, call it what you will -- that seems relentlessly determined to crush most of what I consider precious in the world.

A few days after September 11, I put Phil Ochs's song "The War is Over" on my stereo on continuous repeat, and I've been listening to it almost every day since.

One might say, quite accurately, that I was being a little premature. But Ochs wrote the song in 1967, when the Vietnam War had not even reached its peak. In those years, the people trying to end the war were going increasingly nuts. They'd moved from protest to resistance: It wasn't enough to rally on the streets; they had to shut down induction centers. It wasn't enough to march on Washington; they had to try to levitate the Pentagon. Eventually, for some, it wasn't enough until they'd given their whole lives to the struggle, until they were fighting in the streets, destroying property, trying to bring the war home.

Yet what Ochs needed in 1967 was to declare that the war was over, and what I needed, even back in September, even as I was helping to build a new anti-war movement, was to hear that the war was a state of mind: that if I believed it enough, the war could be over.
I didn't mention this to the people I was working with: people who believed we just had to write enough letters, or get enough people to a demonstration, or dismantle the war machine and the forces of globalization by any means necessary.

I know kids now who are involved in Black Bloc. I don't join them: I can't. When I can, I try to persuade them that smashing up the windows of Starbucks, while satisfying in a certain way, is not going to help -- and that undoubtedly that destruction will have to be cleaned up by low-wage laborers -- the very people whose side (I'd like to think) we are on. But I know also that there are days when I want to smash things, as much as there are days when I want to move to the mountains, become a hermit, and pray. When we evaluate the actions of others, we must take care to make a very careful distinction between the action and the people behind that action, and we need to try to understand the ways in which the systems which surround that person have led to the kinds of actions they've taken. We must strive as well to try to understand, respect, and deal with the terrible toll that living in this world and working to resist and change its systems can take on us.

I don't know what ended the Vietnam War (supposing, that is, that it did in fact end), or what it will take to end this war, or to stop the global economic forces that lie behind it. I want to get out there and educate and organize and agitate, but I also want to pray: I want to believe that believing in a better world is the best way possible to change it.

Where the balance between these is, I do not know. I know only that we must, if we want to change the world, first change ourselves, and practice forgiveness.

Laura E. Crossett is a 26-year-old writer and activist. Most recently, she's worked with University of Iowa Students Against Sweatshops, with a local anti-war coalition, Iowans For Peace, and with the UI's graduate employee union, UE Local 896-COGS.

Problem With the Problem Page?

The blogger home page just cracked me up with its "problem with the problem page" notice as you log in. Is that my problem? Have I had a problem with my problem with my problem page for far too long? One can never be quite certain about these things.

I was really overjoyed last night to discover, once again, how a very small thing can make me so happy. I was getting ready to do my dishes and listening to the radio. That program from City Lights Book Store in SF came on and Wendell Berry was the featured guest. I danced a little jig in front of the sink. For any long term blog readers out there, you might recall that his poetry book on farming is almost a daily read for me and the closet thing to a bible I have. Okay, okay I have slacked up on that one a bit but the man is such a long time hero. I cannot wait to read his book of essays due out in this Fall.

In other news, I'm still pounding the 'ol job pavement but have a few interesting irons in the fire. My writing, although I think it is getting worse, seems to be liked by others. I have to stop telling people I'm unemployed. Writing is an occupation for goodness sake. Just because it does fit into the go-go paradigm of American capitalist form-over-content culture does not mean it is not a legitimate thing to be doing with one's time.

Happy to note that the Iowa Writer's Workshop has named its first non-white and female director ever to head the program. Happy to note that long time IWP professor Marilynne Robinson received the Pulizter Prize in fiction. What a great month for us girls here in the heartland.

NPR seems to be banking on its listeners having almost no ability to remember anything. On Talk of the Nation tomorrow they are actually having a show on how McDonalds has revolutionized the fast food eating culture. Good grief.

April Manners (Sneak Preview)

Dear Meg,

Lately I've been slammed with a bunch of solicitations for internet dating sites through my email server. One of my friends thinks this is a tool that is "leveling the playing field" between women and men in finding a good companion. I've never been especially lucky in my romantic relationships and am rather cautious. What would you advise about this or the possibility of placing a personal ad in a local paper?

Samantha

My Dear Samantha,

Whew. I wonder if you need to check the spam filter on your email. Actually, I think I may need to check mine because I've been receiving the same barrage of advertisements. I've heard of a few cases where people have met one another and happily mated over the internet or through classified ads but these cases tend to be the exception rather than the rule. Have you checked back with your friend and asked how he or she fared?

Twenty years ago I answered a personal ad in the City Paper when I was living in Baltimore. I was lonely and clinging to the belief that a man would be a quick fix to the myriad of problems I was facing at the time. Anyway, this guy sounded wonderful on paper and was very charming on the phone. We made a date to meet at one of my favorite East Indian restaurants in Federal Hill. The poor dear told me he looked just like William Hurt, bless his heart, which was hardly the case. That didn't bother me so much because I'm generally attracted more to who someone is on the inside. What I did find completely unacceptable was the fact that when his food arrived, he gathered up every dish on his plate and mashed them all together into a big pile of googoo. Do you remember the Seinfeld episode on gay issues where the cast were all saying "not that there's anything wrong with that!" about their queer friends? Well, it's sort of the same thing here. This man's table manners might have been a-okay to another woman, they just were unacceptable to me.

You stated in your question that you are cautious. That's a good instinct to listen to as long as you don't let your fears overwhelm you or prevent you from taking a risk every once and awhile. If you chose to go this route, meet any dates in a public place and take your own car or money for a cab. Ask yourself what your expectations are. Given the fact that you are admittedly cautious and have not been particularly "lucky" in romantic endeavours, you might consider the concept of looking for friendship first. It's a tired old tale but remember the tortoise and the hare? The tortoise was no doubt the long shot but the slow, lumbering 'ol guy with the short little legs did win that race. Have fun whatever you decide to do.

Love,

Meg


Dear Meg,

I'm having a problem a work. My boss is 83 and says things to me that are just wrong. They're pretty offensive to tell you the truth. Yesterday she told me if I dressed better I would be married by now. I'm 32 years old and if I wanted to be married, I'd be married. All I do for her is run errands and keep her house in order. How can I kindly suggest that she keep these opinions to herself?

Charlie

My Dear Charlie,

I'm guessing the two of you never agreed on a dress code? I know it's hard to tolerate the values, social norms and expectations of people who grew up in a diiferent time and culture. The comments of your employer are probably only meant to be helpful but nonetheless they are inappropriate. She is delivering these zingers with no prompting from you and this is outside the parameters of your relationship.

You need to ask to meet with her at a specific time to discuss this problem. I suspect she values your work highly or she would not be concerned with your personal life in the least. Tell her how it makes you feel when she says these things and ask her if she might consider a little restraint of tongue in the future. Ask if your wardrobe has become a concern to her as it pertains to your work only.

You already know how to do this, Charlie. You answered your question in your question. Be kind. You employed the patience necessary by writing to me before flying off the handle. I have a good feeling about this. I think you and your boss are learning quite a bit from one another and it's going to turn out fine.

Love,

Meg

Delta Gets Smart & Coelacanth

I was just thinking this morning about a women's publishing collective I co-founded in Baltimore. We were literary guerilla warriors of sorts, plastering poetry and fiction all over town in the form of broadsheets. It was heartening how hungry the community seemed to be for the work we offered and how quickly what we doing caught on. In a few short months our little group was creating quite a buzz.

We decided to publish an anthology of the work we had published and hold a reading in a public art space next to the Charles movie theater, most notably famous due to it's connection with "I deal in irony like a drug" filmmaker John Waters and his longtime colleague Pat Moran the theater and performance space's co-owner.

Anyway we put out flyers for the reading with the requisite publicity shots (a very diverse group of girls goofing off w/ a statue of Edgar Allen Poe -- I had my hand on his thigh and my friend Dori was putting lipstick on old dude). We were very specific about the time, location, event, etc. The thing we understood very well about marketing is what Delta is now doing. At the bottom of our flyer we printed in very bold print two important words, which as a former professional organizer I constantly advise groups to do over and over again, the words -- FREE FOOD.

We set an attendance record that for the space that I believe was never met again. I wish I could remember the name of place. This was 1991 or 2 and sadly I've lost a few too many brain cells. The name of our collective was Coelacanth - a species of fish which had been rediscovered off the coast of Africa after it had long been thought to extinct for millions of years. That was our metaphor. Writing as a process of rediscovery.

Speaking of fish, my new betta, Gills, is doing very well. He is pretty feisty which I really like.


Delta to offer free snacks, end food sales
Wed Mar 9, 6:39 AM ET

Business - USATODAY.com
By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY
After nearly two years, Delta Air Lines (DAL) next month will stop selling food on its U.S. flights.

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Instead, the No. 3 carrier will hand out free munchies to coach passengers.
Now, Delta offers coach passengers on flights of more than four hours bagels, salads and sandwiches for $8 or less. Coach passengers on shorter flights receive a free snack.
Starting April 3, Delta will scrap its food sales and offer a free, expanded snack selection to coach passengers. As is the case now, coach passengers on Delta flights of less than 90 minutes will receive no food. The new policy applies to flights in the USA, Canada and to some Latin America and Caribbean destinations.
Also on deck: Following American (AMR), Delta will eliminate pillows from its cabins, and alcohol prices will go up a dollar to $5.
In making the food switch, Delta becomes the first big U.S. airline to back away from the trend toward onboard food sales.
Delta's Paul Matsen says the airline is changing because the food-sale program is difficult to manage, causes confusion and goes against Delta's push for simplification.
Most major airlines have eliminated coach meal service since Sept. 11, 2001, and started selling food on longer flights. American and Northwest both began selling snacks and food on flights since February. Discounters such as Southwest (LUV) have taught travelers to expect little more than a bag of pretzels or peanuts.
Delta coach passengers will get to choose from granola bars, multigrain chips, honey-roasted peanuts and animal crackers. On longer flights, they'll also get a snack box with crackers, cheese, raisins and Oreos.
Delta now sells food on about 15% of its U.S. flights. But Matsen says that only about 20% of passengers on those flights have been buying items.
"We've learned that customers greatly prefer to have a choice of free snacks on board," Matsen says.
The switch to more free snacks will be about a wash financially for Delta, which lost more than $5 billion last year. The airline might see modest savings from handling prepackaged foods with a long shelf life.
Delta's Song flights will continue to sell food, because Song doesn't offer any free snacks, and flight durations tend to be long.
Snacks - free or otherwise - are becoming more common on airlines. This month, Northwest began rolling out a $3 snack box. United says that its $5 snack boxes are so popular on Ted flights that it's "seriously considering" selling them on United flights, spokeswoman Robin Urbanski says.
Continental (CAL), meanwhile, remains the only U.S. airline that still offers free meals to coach passengers on flights longer than two hours around meal times. On a lunchtime flight between Houston and New York, for instance, a customer might be given a packet of baby carrots, chips, deep-dish pizza or turkey sandwich and a piece of chocolate.

A Dream That Can Be Achieved

Yale University Increases Financial Aid
Thu Mar 3, 5:21 PM ET

U.S. National - AP
By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Yale University increased its financial aid for lower-income families Thursday, the latest move by the Ivy League to attract students who had seen the schools as out of their price range.

Beginning next year, families making less than $45,000 will no longer have to pay tuition for their children, and those earning between $45,000 and $60,000 will see their required contributions drop an average of 50 percent, Yale said.
"The general message is that Ivy League schools are affordable," Yale President Richard Levin said. "This is a dream that can be achieved."
Levin said many qualified students don't bother applying to Yale because they figure their parents can't foot the tuition of about $41,000 a year, including room, board and other fees. But about 40 percent of undergraduates receive financial aid, with an average award this year of $22,000.
The average family earning less than $60,000 will save about $2,700 under the new plan, the university said. It estimated the changes will cost about $3 million, and will be paid for by using interest from the school's $12.7 billion endowment and with money saved on operating expenses.
Yale's announcement follows similar moves at other Ivy League schools, which have pushed in recent years not just to make tuition affordable to more students, but also to remake their images. Last year Harvard said families making less than $40,000 do not have to pay tuition.
"Top-flight schools are all looking at what kind of barriers there are to low-income students," said Robin Moscato, senior assistant admissions director at Princeton, which replaced student loans with grants and made other financial aid changes in recent years.
Levin said the college plans to promote its new financial aid plan at high schools around the country.
Last year more than 550 families of Yale students earned less than $60,000 a year, and more than 300 of those families earned less than $40,000, the university said. About 5,200 students were enrolled at Yale this fall.
Although Yale is freeing lower-income parents from paying their children's tuition, the university requires the students themselves to pay at least $4,200 a year. They can earn the money by working $10-an-hour campus jobs or by taking loans.
On Yale's campus, where some students staged a sit-in at the admissions office last week in a call for more financial aid, Thursday's announcement was well received.
"I think it's an issue that all students follow," said senior Chance Carlisle, vice president of the College Council. "No one likes the perception that because you go to an Ivy League institution, you have to be from a financially well-off family."

Spongemops

one other thing to bear in mind here is the old white hunter's adage -- the wounded animal is the most dangerous one in nature.

Over a year ago, I was re-introduced to the concept of the "spongemop" boyfriend or husband. I'm a woman so I'm writing this from my perspective. Spongemop girlfriends and wives no doubt exist but I feel no need to address that issue here. Anyway, many of these guys are alcoholics or drug addicts and whether or not they are still "active" is not necessarily a measure of how spongey a guy may or may not be. This is a hard realization for some women to come to.

So just what does a spongemop look like? How does he act? What are the signs? Tell me, Meg, please.......

1) He does not have a job and is not seriously looking for one.
2) He is constantly asking you for money and smoking your cigerettes.
3) On a first date he inquires about the financial worth of your family.
4) He wants to know if you own your home.
5) He eats more and more of your food.
6) He does not have a place of his own to live (this is a big one).
7) He asks you to pay for his car insurance, his artist studio or for a hair cut.
8) He often gets and then quits perfectly acceptable jobs.
9) He has no social security number or finger prints.
10) His friends don't trust him with their house keys.
11) He has children but does not pay child support.
12) He's always eyeballing other women or the next best opportunity.

and he freely admits that quit his last job because he just wanted to hang out more and play music or chase an employed woman off to Denver.

Disclaimer: I'm underemployed (slut journalist for money) and looking for work. I do have fingerprints, a social security number, my own place to live and some friends who trust me with their house keys.

Hunter S. Thompson was an idiot......

although not an untalented one. BTW, guns suck. Let's say it again....guns suck! This is from a 2003 interview.

What's the best firearm for home security?
Twelve gauge short barrel shotgun.

And what's the best for just fucking around?
Machine guns are kind of nice. You can have a lot of fun with them. It's like watering the lawn. I don't get to play them very often.

Ralph Steadman said that you almost killed him in a gun-related explosion while he was visiting you in Aspen. What happened?
I don't know that story, but no doubt it's right. I can think of several times. Ralph is well acquainted with my lifestyle.

He also said that you claim that you are one of the few people who should be allowed to own a handgun gun, and he said that you definitely shouldn't be allowed to own one.
(Laughs.) Ralph is one person who definitely shouldn't be allowed to drink whiskey.

Why's that?
I'll wait for his reason why I shouldn't have handguns. Whiskey is not beneficial for Ralph.

RIP Henry

I had a dream last night that I was writing a post for this blog and the harder I worked on it, the more things spiraled out of control. That's rather obvious, no?

Here is a small update on my personal life. Last week I decided to adopt a pet fish. I went with a Betta and dubbed him Henry. I struggled with that name quite a bit. At first I felt I should call him Abraham because of the symbolism of A's faith and all that but ultimately I decided to just call him Henry because I've always loved the name.

Anway, I did lots of research about how to take proper care of Bettas and fed him well, talked sweetly to him, kept his water at room temperature and clean, etc. I came home from a meeting on Wednesday night and poor Henry was dead, floating at the bottom of the bowl, puffed up like a blow fish. It was a tough blow. It might sound ridiculous to say I cried over the death of a fish I only had for a week but it's true. I grew to love Henry in 7 short days. I'm not going to give up though. The universe seems to want me to have another fish. I was heading for yet another job interview this morning and I found $5 which is just about exactly what a new betta will cost me. Thanks God.

I've toyed with the idea that Henry may have been my father. Perhaps Dad just wanted to come back and spend a few more days with me and make sure I was doing all right. When he found out I was okay, he felt comfortable leaving and continuing on with his journey. I've always believed in reincarnation and the afterlife. The mystery is part of the appeal. I doubt too much is very systematic or linear for that matter.

Well, they you go. Do you get what my dream was about now?

Religious Wise Men Quietly Drank Up

A RABBI, A PRIEST AND A MINISTER WALK INTO A BAR TOGETHER...BUT NOTHING FUNNY HAPPENS

By SCOTT STEVENS

A rabbi , priest and a minister walked into a bar in a small Iowa town -- but nothing funny happened.

"When I saw the three of them walk in," bartender Joe Blobonski says, "I thought to myself, 'This is gonna be good. I mean, this is the setup for thousands of jokes, so I figured something hilarious is about to happen." But the results were disappointing.

"They sat down at a table, and didn't say much." Blobonski says he expected to burst out laughing when he took their order. "The priest said, 'I'll have a Virgin Mary.' Then the minister said, 'I'll have a Bloody Mary,' Blobonski says. "I could barely contain myself, waiting for the rabbi's punch line.

"But then he says, 'I'd like a Diet Coke,' A Diet Coke? THAT'S not funny. I couldn't believe it.

" At another point the rabbi asked, "Do you get many rabbis in here?" Blobonski says, "I said 'No,' waiting for the rabbi's hysterical comeback.

"But all he said was 'too bad.' " The three religious wise men quietly drank up, paid the bill, and left.

"It was really pretty boring, to be honest," Blobonski added.

Published on: 09/05/2004 Weekly World News

Working on the Same 12 Poems for 16 Years

or "David, why do you draw the same thing over and over again?" "I don't know."

The Reason? We care.

Changing Minds, One at a Time

by Howard Zinn

As I write this, the day after the inauguration, the banner headline in The New York Times reads: "BUSH, AT 2ND INAUGURAL, SAYS SPREAD OF LIBERTY IS THE 'CALLING OF OUR TIME.' "

Two days earlier, on an inside page of the Times, was a photo of a little girl, crouching, covered with blood, weeping. The caption read: "An Iraqi girl screamed yesterday after her parents were killed when American soldiers fired on their car when it failed to stop, despite warning shots, in Tal Afar, Iraq. The military is investigating the incident."

Today, there is a large photo in the Times of young people cheering the President as his entourage moves down Pennsylvania Avenue. They do not look very different from the young people shown in another part of the paper, along another part of Pennsylvania Avenue, protesting the inauguration.

I doubt that those young people cheering Bush saw the photo of the little girl. And even if they did, would it occur to them to juxtapose that photo to the words of George Bush about spreading liberty around the world?

That question leads me to a larger one, which I suspect most of us have pondered: What does it take to bring a turnaround in social consciousness--from being a racist to being in favor of racial equality, from being in favor of Bush's tax program to being against it, from being in favor of the war in Iraq to being against it? We desperately want an answer, because we know that the future of the human race depends on a radical change in social consciousness.

It seems to me that we need not engage in some fancy psychological experiment to learn the answer, but rather to look at ourselves and to talk to our friends. We then see, though it is unsettling, that we were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts appeared before us, startled us, and then caused us to question beliefs that were strongly fixed in our consciousness--embedded there by years of family prejudices, orthodox schooling, imbibing of newspapers, radio, and television.

This would seem to lead to a simple conclusion: that we all have an enormous responsibility to bring to the attention of others information they do not have, which has the potential of causing them to rethink long-held ideas. It is so simple a thought that it is easily overlooked as we search, desperate in the face of war and apparently immovable power in ruthless hands, for some magical formula, some secret strategy to bring peace and justice to the land and to the world.

"What can I do?" The question is thrust at me again and again as if I possessed some mysterious solution unknown to others. The odd thing is that the question may be posed by someone sitting in an audience of a thousand people, whose very presence there is an instance of information being imparted which, if passed on, could have dramatic consequences. The answer then is as obvious and profound as the Buddhist mantra that says: "Look for the truth exactly on the spot where you stand."

Yes, thinking of the young people holding up the pro-Bush signs at the inauguration, there are those who will not be budged by new information. They will be shown the bloodied little girl whose parents have been killed by an American weapon, and find all sorts of reasons to dismiss it: "Accidents happen. . . . This was an aberration. . . . It is an unfortunate price of liberating a nation," and so on.

There is a hard core of people in the United States who will not be moved, whatever facts you present, from their conviction that this nation means only to do good, and almost always does good, in the world, that it is the beacon of liberty and freedom (words used forty-two times in Bush's inauguration speech). But that core is a minority, as is that core of people who carried signs of protest at the inauguration.

In between those two minorities stand a huge number of Americans who have been brought up to believe in the beneficence of our nation, who find it hard to believe otherwise, but who can rethink their beliefs when presented with information new to them.

Is that not the history of social movements?

There was a hard core of people in this country who believed in the institution of slavery. Between the 1830s, when a tiny group of Abolitionists began their agitation, and the 1850s, when disobedience of the fugitive slave acts reached their height, the Northern public, at first ready to do violence to the agitators, now embraced their cause. What happened in those years? The reality of slavery, its cruelty, as well as the heroism of its resisters, was made evident to Americans through the speeches and writings of the Abolitionists, the testimony of escaped slaves, the presence of magnificent black witnesses like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.

Something similar happened during those years of the Southern black movement, starting with the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, the marches. White people--not only in the North, but also in the South--were startled into an awareness of the long history of humiliation of millions of people who had been invisible and who now demanded their rights.
When the Vietnam War began, two-thirds of the American public supported the war. A few years later, two-thirds opposed the war. While some remained adamantly pro-war, one-third of the population had learned things that overthrew previously held ideas about the essential goodness of the American intervention in Vietnam. The human consequences of the fierce bombing campaigns, the "search and destroy" missions, became clear in the image of the naked young girl, her skin shredded by napalm, running down a road; the women and children huddled in the trenches in My Lai with soldiers pouring rifle fire onto them; Marines setting fire to peasant huts while the occupants stood by, weeping.

Those images made it impossible for most Americans to believe President Johnson when he said we were fighting for the freedom of the Vietnamese people, that it was all worthwhile because it was part of the worldwide struggle against Communism.

In his inauguration speech, and indeed, through all four years of his presidency, George Bush has insisted that our violence in Afghanistan and Iraq has been in the interest of freedom and democracy, and essential to the "war on terrorism." When the war on Iraq began almost two years ago, about three-fourths of Americans supported the war. Today, the public opinion polls show that at least half of the citizenry believes it was wrong to go to war.

What has happened in these two years is clear: a steady erosion of support for the war, as the public has become more and more aware that the Iraqi people, who were supposed to greet the U.S. troops with flowers, are overwhelmingly opposed to the occupation. Despite the reluctance of the major media to show the frightful toll of the war on Iraqi men, women, children, or to show U.S. soldiers with amputated limbs, enough of those images have broken through, joined by the grimly rising death toll, to have an effect.

But there is still a large pool of Americans, beyond the hard-core minority who will not be dissuaded by any facts (and it would be a waste of energy to make them the object of our attention), who are open to change. For them, it would be important to measure Bush's grandiose inaugural talk about the "spread of liberty" against the historical record of American expansion.

It is a challenge not just for the teachers of the young to give them information they will not get in the standard textbooks, but for everyone else who has an opportunity to speak to friends and neighbors and work associates, to write letters to newspapers, to call in on talk shows.
The history is powerful: the story of the lies and massacres that accompanied our national expansion, first across the continent victimizing Native Americans, then overseas as we left death and destruction in our wake in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and especially the Philippines. The long occupations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the repeated dispatch of Marines into Central America, the deaths of millions of Koreans and Vietnamese, none of them resulting in democracy and liberty for those people.

Add to all that the toll of the American young, especially the poor, black and white, a toll measured not only by the corpses and the amputated limbs, but the damaged minds and corrupted sensibilities that result from war.

Those truths make their way, against all obstacles, and break down the credibility of the warmakers, juxtaposing what reality teaches against the rhetoric of inaugural addresses and White House briefings. The work of a movement is to enhance that learning, make clear the disconnect between the rhetoric of "liberty" and the photo of a bloodied little girl, weeping.
And also to go beyond the depiction of past and present, and suggest an alternative to the paths of greed and violence. All through history, people working for change have been inspired by visions of a different world. It is possible, here in the United States, to point to our enormous wealth and suggest how, once not wasted on war or siphoned off to the super-rich, that wealth can make possible a truly just society.

The juxtapositions wait to be made. The recent disaster in Asia, alongside the millions dying of AIDS in Africa, next to the $500 billion military budget, cry out for justice. The words of people from all over the world gathered year after year in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and other places--"a new world is possible"--point to a time when national boundaries are erased, when the natural riches of the world are used for everyone.

The false promises of the rich and powerful about "spreading liberty" can be fulfilled, not by them, but by the concerted effort of us all, as the truth comes out, and our numbers grow.

Howard Zinn's latest work (with Anthony Arnove) is "Voices of a People's History of the United States."

Meg Does Manners - March Preview

Dear Meg,

I drive much faster than I know I should. If I get another speeding ticket I am going to lose my license. A girl in my office told me she sweet talks her way out of tickets all the time because a lot of cops are men. Lately I've noticed more women in blue. Any tips on how to talk my way out of a ticket from the opposite sex?

Kenny

My Dear Kenny,

My advice is to tell you to slow down and not be in such a rush all the time. Take a deep breath. I am glad you've noticed a few more women on the force and your question is a timely one since March is International Women's Month. I did some research on your query and found some “tips” courtesy of Dick Dogger, a retired Texas State Trooper in Dallas. He recommends you use flattery and suggests saying "My, you have beautiful eyes!" or "Nice earrings, officer!" Don’t forget to slip her a couple of $20s when she asks for your driver's license, he says. "Lady cops don't make as much money as us guys so they're happy to pick up the extra dough.” Lastly Dogger suggests you feel free to lie through your teeth. Tell her you're speeding because you've got to get to church to see your kid’s play. You’ll get off the hook "because female officers are more understanding than us guys."

I'm just passing this on, Kenny. I suspect 'ol Dick's charm might be wearing thin and those “lady cops” are smarter than he thinks. They may be giving him a pass because he used to be a brother in arms? I’d keep in mind that what flies in Texas doesn’t necessarily sail so sweetly in Iowa but a compliment usually brightens everyone’s day. Try and stay outta trouble, ya’ hear.

Love,

Meg


Dear Meg,

I'm graduating from law school this spring and am beginning to be recruited by some big firms in the corporate world. I have no idea how to behave during these interviews. What are these people looking for. They didn't teach us anything about manners at the University where I went. Do you know anything about this?

Sheila

My Dear Sheila,

Congratulations on finishing law school. That's a big achievement. You have chosen an area to specialize in that appears to be going gang busters these days. Are you prescient? I am a bit surprised you never received any instruction in business or interviewing etiquette. This is an essential skill in securing a good position in the professional world. Job-seekers need to be on their P & Q's with potential employers. Donald Trump may be making arrogance and bad behavior seem like good strategies on television but, alas, television is not “reality” no matter what you call it.

Many of your interviews will probably take place over lunch. The agenda is to watch you maneuver your way through the meal. Small gestures at the table can be indicative of future behavior in the business arena. If you fumble with your cutlery you might be judged as having little control over psycho-motor skills and in need of costly medication; if you are nervous and fidget with food you risk being seen as suffering from a post traumatic stress disorder; and if you are more interested in your food than business matters you could be taken for a woman with a compulsive eating disorder in need of treatment. Any of these human frailties could wind up sneaking past the insurance company physicians making you, in their eyes, more financial trouble than you are no doubt worth. Heavens to Betsy!

I'm being my usual irreverent self, Sheila, but only slightly. You only have a small window of time when the possibility of employment presents itself. Try to have confidence in yourself and your abilities. You have no doubt invested a hefty sum into your education. Why not invest a few more dollars on a course in business manners?

In the meantime, if you have any lunch interviews, don't talk too much, chew with your mouth open, order any excessively expensive menu intems, drink alcohol or forget to thank the interviewers for their time and send a follow up note restating your gratitude for the former.

If you’d like professional counseling, you have my email. Good luck and thanks for writing.

Love,

Meg

Sexual Harassment is NOT Okay

in any form, by any means.

Women Win $2.3 Million in Sexual Harassment Case Against FedEx

A jury in California awarded two women $2.3 million in a sexual harassment case against FedEx Corporation. Kolainia Hettick alleged she was the subject over the course of several years of an obsession by a male coworker, Rubelle Cristobal, and Jana Bryant said she was harassed for persuading Hettick not to date Cristobal, according to Bloomberg News. Both women complained to management, and alleged that management did not act appropriately to protect them, according to Mercury News.The women won $1 million each in punitive damages. Hettick won an additional $298,000 and Bryant received $30,000in compensatory damages. Hettick delivered a message to other women through her lawyer, John Winer, that she hopes “this verdict sends a message that sexual harassment is not okay, and if you’ve been sexually harassed, don’t be afraid to come forward,” according to Mercury News. “This verdict clearly sends a message to corporate America that we will not tolerate sexual abuse in the workplace,” said Winer, according to the Bloomberg News. “In addition, workers should not be intimidated by companies that turn their backs on this type of behavior.”FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz said that FedEx believed the suit had no merit, and that it would appeal the ruling, according to the Memphis Business Journal.JOIN the Feminist Majority

A Theory on Male Fright & A Fun Link

I stole this offa Seth's blog. It's really funny. I better go home now. I think I have a few packages of ramen left in my cupboard (sniff, sniff). Are there any other women out there who felt as if going into menopause was about to drive them into the boobey hatch? Perhaps, the reason so many men leave their wives in their mid-40's for younger women is because men tend to be such emotional pee-wee's they lack the fortitude to help a gal "just hang on". It's really much better to be alone, girls, I swear it is. It sucks sometimes but you get through it. I've been doing it a long time and I'm still here. This is only a theory, okay? Just typing outloud. BTW, I know we woman are no saints either but our "stuff" tends to manifest itself in different forms of fear.

http://www.burningdoor.com/dick/images/venn%20diagram.html

Got a Good Idea? Tell George....

Okay boys & girls, our commander and chief says he will listen to any good ideas on how to save social security. Here's some contact info for the SOB (sweet old bliss-bunny, of course):



Contacting the White House
Offers basic contact information for the President, Vice President, the First Lady, and Mrs. Cheney, including e-mail addresses and mailing address. Guidelines for submitting invitations are provided as well. ... If you have a question about a particular government benefit, program or service, contact FirstGov.gov ... While the President and Mrs. Bush and Vice President and Mrs ...www.whitehouse.gov/contact - 20k - Cached - More from this site

I WANT TO HEAR SOME IDEAS TOO. BIG PRIZE FOR THE FUNNIEST

Go, Barbara, Go

"Well-behaved women rarely make history" - Laurel Thather

Sen. Barbara Boxer Steps Into Spotlight
Sun Jan 30,12:52 AM ET

Politics - AP
By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Sen. Barbara Boxer (news, bio, voting record) has always spoken up, but the California Democrat seems to have gotten a lot louder lately. Her opposition to Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites)'s secretary of state nomination was so combative that it was parodied on Saturday Night Live. That came on the heels of her decision to sign onto a House member's complaint about Ohio voting problems, forcing Congress to debate them before certifying President Bush (news - web sites)'s re-election victory.
AP Photo
AFP
Slideshow: Senator Barbara Boxer

She's being touted on liberal blogs as the Democrats' best hope for president in 2008. Conservatives are excoriating her as — in House Minority Leader Tom DeLay's phrase — the leader of the "'X-Files' wing" of the Democratic Party.
But Boxer says she is just standing up for what she believes.
"I've always been this way," she says, "and I'm trying to figure out exactly why people suddenly find this to be interesting, you know. Somehow I have touched something inside people, and I have not ever had this happen before. The only thing I can think, after reading what people said, is a feeling that I'm asking the kind of questions and saying the kind of things that they are feeling."
Maybe she's becoming a spokeswoman, or even a symbol, for voters who oppose the Iraq (news - web sites) war or feel shut out by the Bush administration. Maybe, with the Democratic Party at sea after November's election losses, some people sense a leadership void and are looking to her to fill it.
Maybe it's not that Boxer's gotten louder but that other Democrats can barely be heard at all. At least, that's what some of her supporters are saying.
Whatever the explanation, Boxer, 64, has never been more in the spotlight. At a time when Republican dominance of Washington politics is nearly complete, a Marin County liberal who drives a hybrid car and opposes almost everything the GOP does has become a newly prominent face of the Democratic Party.
"She seems to be assuming the position of being an outspoken voice for, as someone else said, the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," says Los Angeles Democratic strategist Darry Sragow, echoing a phrase adopted by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (news - web sites).
"In the wake of the losses in November ... there is a vacuum, there's handwringing, there's self-reflection, and she seems to have pretty sure footing as a determined, committed spokesperson for the liberals in the party," Sragow says. "Part of the handwringing will be over whether that's a good thing or a bad thing."
Barely five feet tall, Boxer must stand on a box — which she sometimes refers to as "the Boxer Box" — to see over the podium at press conferences. Fond of gold jewelry and colorful, occasionally mismatched outfits, she's energetic and aggressive, given to dressing down government officials at hearings, especially when reporters are within earshot.
That rankles Republicans, who say she's more show horse than work horse in the Senate. But sometimes, she can make even fellow Democrats squirm.
In the ongoing Democratic debate about how to effectively oppose the Republicans, Boxer represents a solution not everyone can embrace: She simply opposes, often without bothering to compromise. To some, she's too extreme and risks alienating moderate voters without producing legislative results.
Sen. Ben Nelson (news, bio, voting record) of Nebraska, perhaps the most conservative Senate Democrat, is diplomatic in describing Boxer's role in the party: "You don't get a center if you don't get a left or right."
Sen. Mark Dayton (news, bio, voting record) of Minnesota, a fellow liberal who stood with Boxer in opposing Rice, criticized her on the Senate floor over her decision to bring the November election certification to a halt. He called it "seriously misguided."
But the combative qualities that turn some people off endear her to others.
"Democrats are so afraid of being criticized, or so afraid that they'll be accused of being too liberal, that they don't really act with the courage of their convictions. And then comes Barbara Boxer," says Madeleine Begun Kane, a writer from Queens, N.Y., who created a "President Boxer" blog. "She's been a shining light during an otherwise very depressing period."
For the record, Boxer says she has no interest in running for president. But she's gratified by the blogs and the Boxer for President bumper stickers selling for $3.95 on the Internet.

If she did ever want to try for president, she could point to some compelling evidence of electability.
In winning her third Senate term in November, Boxer was the nation's third-highest vote-getter, behind only Bush and Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry (news - web sites). She squashed Republican opponent Bill Jones by 20 percentage points, scoring a bigger share of the electorate than Dianne Feinstein, the state's other Democratic senator, got in her last election.
Since she left the House to run for Senate, Republicans have targeted Boxer as too liberal for California. She had tough races in 1992, when she beat a conservative television commentator by 5 percentage points, and 1998, when she defeated a former state treasurer by 10.
Republicans talked tough about taking her on in 2004 as well, but in the end they hardly even tried. Jones, a social conservative and former California secretary of state, was endorsed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites); but he ran a weak campaign and never raised enough money to air a single television commercial.
"It's impossible for my opponents to say, 'Well she just squeaked by, she doesn't really represent a lot of people, she's a fluke.'" Boxer says. "Which is what they said the first two times."
Since Boxer and Feinstein joined the Senate in 1992's Year of the Woman, Feinstein has been the more prominent. Although they have cooperated on initiatives and vote together more often than not, they do not have a close relationship and part ways on some issues, including the Iraq war and the Rice nomination.
Republicans say they can work with Feinstein. Her advice and endorsement are courted by Schwarzenegger and others on issues while Boxer, whom they generally despise, is left on the sidelines.
"I don't think attack dogs are ever useful," said Rep. Darrell Issa (news, bio, voting record), R-Calif., who lost a 1998 GOP primary election for the chance to run against Boxer.
But lately it's been Boxer in the headlines, sought out by reporters from The New York Times and Rolling Stone, and parodied on SNL.
In the skit that aired Jan. 22, Boxer, as portrayed by actress Amy Poehler, used a series of props to interrogate Rice — among them a packet of baloney, a poster of the number zero (representing weapons of mass destruction found in Iraq), and a bar graph with one barely visible bar ("the truth") and another bar stretching the length of the chart ("what you say").
Boxer, who did arm herself with several enlarged maps and quotations during Rice's confirmation hearing, loved the skit. "They really nailed me," she says. "It was the funniest thing I've ever seen."
Leading the charge for the opposition isn't new for Boxer. As a Brooklyn newlywed, she once organized fellow apartment building tenants to petition for carpeting. As a House member in 1991, she led fellow congresswomen up the steps of the Senate to demand hearings into Anita Hill's sexual harassment claims against Clarence Thomas (news - web sites). She led recent opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (successfully), and against the ban on what opponents call partial birth abortion (unsuccessfully).
Some Republicans have suggested that Boxer should have accepted Bush's re-election victory as a sign of acceptance for his secretary of state nominee, and kept her mouth shut on the Rice nomination.
She's in no danger of doing that — on any issue.
"Bush got 60 million votes plus and Kerry got 57 million votes plus, so you can't say it isn't a sizable portion of the country that doesn't deserve to be heard," Boxer said. "They do deserve to be heard; and even if they are far left, they deserve to be heard."

The Oldest Story There Is

These are the last two paragraphs of today's review of the book mentioned below that appears in Salon.com. It was written by Rebecca Traister. You can get a free pass to Salon every day by watching an add which is a bit annoying but you don't have to look at the thing for very long. I love how Traister sees through the fact that this girl just feels so horrible about herself and trying so hard to make it stop. Been there, still suffer with it. Trying to stop.

"But in her tale there lies a larger pattern. Throughout "Smashed," Zailckas periodically lays off the hooch, then starts drinking again. It's a favorite syndrome for women. We quit eating, quit drinking, quit smoking. We quit talking to toxic friends, quit being sluts, quit being prudes. There is power in self-abnegation, deprivation, in foot-stamping "Nos!" But we're always falling off our wagons: drinking too much and loving immoderately, handing control to people and substances that make us feel bad about ourselves, until once again, we clamp down and punish ourselves for having given in. It's a cycle that marks and damages almost all of us, whatever our chosen poison.

Booze happens to be the skeleton on which Zailckas has hung her narrative. She insists it wasn't just a convenient way to sell her book, and I believe her. But if you boiled the alcohol off of "Smashed," you would have a story of a girl struggling with the fact that she feels terrible about herself and her place in the world. The oldest story there is. "

Winona & Me

It was such a great line. The one at the end of the movie Heathers, "I want cool guys like you out of my life." There are lots of great lines in the flick but that one did resonate with quite a few of us chicks who have had a tendency to fall for one or two bad boys (some of us having been bad girls ourselves). 2002 wasn't such a hot year for me and it wasn't a particularly great one for Ms. Ryder either from what I've read.

I was just checking out today's headlines thinking I wouldn't be too disappointed if acting as a Peterpan didn't garner one a major acting achievement but I'm guessing that Mr. Johnny will be getting the nod this year. Popularity and marketing are what the AA's are all about. I'm not sure if this wasn't ever really the case. Oh well, I hope Winona is better. If we ever cross paths we'd no doubt have quite a bit to talk about.

Nothing Like Science

Given the fact that I truly have never had too much faith that anything had much to do with me, I was speculating about the reason my profile views count went up from time to time. Now recently, I have discovered that I few more old pals read this silly thing from time to time (Thanks, Brun) but mostly I think it's random as are most things. I decided to try a new experiment which seems to be working. I'm using the Meg White as rock star thing again. I got rid of the age and location identifiers on my blogger profile and sure enough those view hits keep on going UP, UP, UP.

There I go, science works again. It didn't have anything to do with me ( as far as I can tell). That groovy drummer chick is scammin' my scene. Or am I scammin' hers?

BTW, I still don't know how to link to other sites so that's why I'm not using that method at present.

It looks like the UN finally has officially recognized the Holocaust. If life were a little more glorious, I'd feel like dancing but I guess that's a pretty dubious thing to dance about, no?

Whoops & So on

I guess that was ABC News that named bloggers the people of the year. I swear the harder I try to get some stuff just right the farther off the mark I actually get. It's pretty silly.

Yesterday was my father's birthday, the first since he died. I didn't even realize how much it was affecting me until I started to write about him and picked up the phone to call my sister and, then, my mother. I have this tendency to underestimate these things. Well, I think I either under or over estimate them. I'm not too good at having much perspective on my own "stuff". Left to my own devices I would be like that dude who was on "This American Life" (Public Radio International) yesterday morning on WSUI in Iowa City who had convinced himself that kidnapping Frank Sinatra, Jr. was both a logical and beneficent solution to dealing with his financial and life crises. He had a mighty fine plan and was convinced he was hearing the voice of God himself (maybe it was all part of the plan, who knows?). It was an hysterical segment. The theme was something about having "back up" plans. Ha, there's that word again. Anyway, I'm sure you can archive TAL and then do an audio tream if you have the technical capacity.

Happy MLK, Jr. Day. Keep the dream alive.

Love, Meg