tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18348887413853857182024-03-14T01:58:22.365-04:00Vicarious VoyageA view of life from my couch."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.comBlogger76125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-25385962567033917172010-08-18T15:54:00.002-04:002010-08-18T16:04:01.086-04:00Media BiasIt's getting old. The more I read, the more I see the bias in what people write. For instance, just this morning as I was going through a stack of accumulated newspapers, I read the following sentence, which stopped me in my proverbial tracks: <br />
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<b><i>“Coleslaw doesn't have to be a mayonnaise-laden mess of shredded cabbage and carrots.”</i></b> <br />
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It's not as though I found this unkind comment on some undisciplined blog either. The comment appeared a week or so ago in the Island Packet in an AP article by one Alison Ladman. Regardless of the writer’s experience with coleslaw, characterizing the mayonnaise-dressed version as a "mess" is wrong, wrong, wrong if one expects to maintain an appearance of objectivity. Whatever her personal feelings about her salad history, a credible writer would in my opinion not indulge them.<br />
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Imagine if the writer had said <b>“Those with erectile dysfunction don’t have to be lecherous old fools.”</B> Would no one take offense? This article appeared in the Packet, where everyone takes offense (and where some readers support government subsidized Viagra but not government-subsidized lunch), so of course someone would take offense. Therefore, I am puzzled at the lack of outrage with regard to coleslaw defamation. Media-bias brainwash, I believe.<br />
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So having used a journalistic hatchet instead of a suitably sharpened culinary blade, at least Alison Ladman continued with a presentation of <a href=http://www.nctimes.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/article_30951926-1056-51ee-a982-a57f6c78cab6.html>three tempting recipes</a> for what she says are better alternatives to the slaw she so disdains. Actually, they sound pretty good. I have no idea why I couldn't find a link to the Packet's article and had to go with one from California. Maybe the Packet saw the bias and rejected continued association with this particular offering of the Associated Press. Doubtful.<br />
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For those who wonder, the slaw recipes are for <b>"Fennel, Pea Shoot and Green Grape Slaw," "Apple and Celeriac Slaw,"</B> and <b>"Beet Slaw."</B><br />
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Note: As I reread the Beet Slaw recipe, I think I'll try using fresh instead of canned beets. Very thinly sliced raw root vegetables offer a resistance in the mouth that I prefer. On the other hand, they can be hard to digest. So we'll see."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-30563596660346922372010-05-31T11:21:00.001-04:002010-06-02T08:33:22.745-04:00House of RevengeI don't think this all started last night. More likely, these feuds are ongoing, with only occasional noticeable engagements. <br />
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What happened last night is that I saw a large, really large, "palmetto bug" crawling up the wall beside my back door, which I had inadvertently left open a crack. It quickly scuttled behind a mirror, and even though I was grateful to be alerted that the door was open when I'm usually careful to deadbolt it 24/7, my gratitude did not extend to coexistence with such a large intruder. At the next commercial, I got my spray tank and shot the door jamb and all nearby corners, baseboards, etc. Sadly, the pb succumbed. But wait, there was another one ON MY KITCHEN COUNTER! EWWW! So the next thing was to remove all the countertop items and spray all the wall-backsplash-countertop joints. More death. Now I realize that it's been a while since I sprayed the whole house, so I head for my bathroom, and of course found another one. This one was kind of sickly, as pb's are supposed to be in a well-sprayed house, but I gave it a dispatching shot and did that whole room too. Back to the tv.<br />
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So this morning, I'm thinking I'll have a swim and as I usually do, I get my pole skimmer to remove the night's accumulation of toad and frog carcasses, but suddenly I realize that there are a couple of those little guys who are alive and trying very hard to evade my reach. As I chase them, I suddenly start to feel like a powerful tyrant cleansing my world of "the other". Hitler comes to mind, and I remind myself of Godwin's law about the overuse of Hitler references. Anyway, I am relieved to see the froggies hop away after I dump the skimmer thing. And I'm thinking that I'm on the side of Good after all. Didn't I check on the crazy wren who crashed into my sliding door yesterday? Yes, I did. <br />
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But apparently some little body disagrees and has decided not to live peaceably in my queendom because as I walk around my pool, I see that all my portulaca blossoms are gone and so are my green pepper blossoms. The last time this happened, I blamed it on deer, but now I'm thinking it's whoever dug the holes in the same area. Deer I more or less tolerate because they come and go, but critters who take up residence will rue the day. They may try to avenge all the critters whom I have dispatched, but it'll cost them. I am plotting retaliation as I type this. St. Francis, please look the other way."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-32758161115648563652010-05-22T15:14:00.013-04:002012-12-03T15:45:29.956-05:00"Where's my honeymoon?"<em>"What happened to my honeymoon? Aren't I supposed to be getting one from you media guys?"</em> With these nonsensical questions as he tries to clean up after his <a href="http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/05/21/4323347-new-york -times-gets-rand-paul-wrong">May 19th appearance on Rachel <span class="goog-spellcheck-word">Maddow's</span> show</a>, Dr. Rand Paul reveals a smudge on his pure individualist principles. Although both <span class="goog-spellcheck-word">Drs</span>. Ron and Rand Paul have whiny singsong voices, I've never heard the dad complain like this. Does reason really require media acclaim? If you're right, you're right. No need for affirmation.<br />
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Dude! You stepped in it. You voluntarily came to a national cable-<span class="goog-spellcheck-word">tv</span> interview. You were asked a direct question and you couldn't come up with an answer that would satisfy the masses who vote and yet be consistent with your extreme libertarian views. Welcome to the world that exists outside of theory, where we find that human beings do not behave as theoreticians desire. Ayn Rand's mental gymnastics are interesting but her thinking was often wrong. Her own life proved it. So does the recent life of fellow traveler Gov Mark Sanford, by the way. Life on the planet Earth requires more imagination than simply labeling people as "productive" and "other". Human beings are messy and complicated and while some people soothe themselves by denying the fact that they themselves are messy and complicated, anyone who desires to govern human beings had better prepare himself to have his mellow <span class="goog-spellcheck-word">harshed</span> at times.<br />
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Listen, Dr. Rand, I happened to see the Rachel <span class="goog-spellcheck-word">Maddow</span> interview and then watched it again the same night and I tweeted a reply to one of your disciples too, who had already tweeted to a #FreedomFighter, "<em>unfortunately I don't think they'll EVER let him avoid it. This isn't good</em>." I believe she was referring to a #FreedomFighter who had said "<em><span class="goog-spellcheck-word">Dems</span> are gonna use that transcript to target Dr. Paul. He needs to avoid this civil rights issue from now on.</em>"<br />
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Our world being what it is, the May 19th <span class="goog-spellcheck-word">Maddow</span>-Paul event took place at the same time that American Idol was airing, and so for those monitoring the "#FreedomFighter" tweets there was the need to comment on both, so that shortly following the above exchange a #Freedom Fighter said, "<em>Crystal is safe! <span class="goog-spellcheck-word">Yay</span>! Go Crystal! (Damn she's hot!)"</em> <br />
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Seldom do I agree with Sen. Jon <span class="goog-spellcheck-word">Kyl</span>, but I believe he was exactly right to characterize the nineteen-minute Maddow/Paul interview as "<i>a debate like you had at 2 a.m. in the morning when you're going to college</i>" which is IMO a wonderful thing when you are young and just learning about the world, not so terrific when you are selling your potential to be one of one hundred Senators who make decisions for 300 million Americans.<br />
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Grownups who'd like to read a brief and lighthearted commentary on libertariansm might enjoy the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/michaeltomasky/2010/may/20/us-politics-libertarianism-is-kookoo">Guardian's Michael Tomasky</a>. He says that libertarianism is kookoo. To Rand Paul's civil rights quandary, I like what he says in another blog post: <blockquote><em>"And by the way, that's very nice, isn't it? Segregated facilities are just the price of a free society. It's free as long as you're not on the receiving end, which is maybe one reason why roughly 99% of Libertarians happen to be white.</em></blockquote><br />
For @<span class="goog-spellcheck-word">anniecm</span> and @<span class="goog-spellcheck-word">TonyHaul</span>, and their freedom-fighting (for or against, one wonders) followers, I offer the <a href="http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_campus_libertarians">Ayn Rand Institute Q&A</a> on her own views of libertarianism. Something to chew on between episodes of American Idol and other freedom-fighting events. Or maybe you could peruse it this Sunday morning, now that Dr Rand Paul, Kentucky's Republican Candidate for the United States Senate, has declared himself too exhausted to appear on Meet the Press."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-50301400384491275612010-05-19T23:22:00.006-04:002010-05-20T13:52:11.564-04:00Everybody should have a Dad like Stan WrightEverybody should have a dad like Stan Wright, but he is apparently the exact right person to be Chely Wright's dad. They both appeared on Oprah today and he struck me as a model of strong solid silence, what we often think typifies men but doesn't really. His silence masked love and support for his child as she told him she is gay and has since shared her truth with the world. How sad that she ever doubted that he would be there for her, but I can understand why. How beautiful that she finally dared to risk finding out who loves her and who doesn't understand love at all. How telling that only two of her peer country singers have contacted her. I guess it's easier to write songs and sing about love than it is to give love. <br /><br />The Wrights reminded me of the many times I've sat in church and heard homosexuality denounced and wondered how it would feel to be a parent of a beloved gay child and hear such judgment seemingly coming from Almighty God. The Wrights came up believing the preaching to homosexuals that says "the way you are is sinful...God wants you to be some other way...your desires and behavior are disgusting...you are disgusting." And yet, the power of Stan's love overcame all this indoctrination and allowed him to hear his daughter above all that noise.<br /><br />From <a href=http:\\www.oprah.com>Oprah's web site</a>:<br /><blockquote>Chely's lifelong secret also affected her relationship with her family. "When one lives a closeted life, there's a compartmentalization that happens. That's my experience," she says. "I became a skilled liar, and I lived two different lives."<br /><br />Then, one day, Chely received a phone call from her father, Stan. "He said: 'Chel, what have I done? Are you mad at me? Is there something wrong? Why aren't we close?'" she says. Soon after, Chely found the courage to tell her father the truth. <br /><br />After a concert in Missouri, Chely sat with her father and faced her fears. "[I said]: 'I have to tell you something I've needed to tell you my whole life. I've been afraid, though, to tell you because I'm afraid you won't love me, and I'm afraid you'll be ashamed of me. ... I'm gay,'" she says. <br /><br />At first, Stan didn't say a word. "I grabbed her, and I put my arms around her," he says. "I told her it was all right. It would be fine."<br /><br />Stan says he was raised to believe that homosexuality was wrong and sinful, but he found out quickly that was not true. "I knew her heart. I knew her mind. I knew her soul," he says. "You hear a lot of times unconditional love. Well, in this old man's world, it's true."<br /><br />Before passing judgment on others, Stan offers one piece of advice to people in the same situation. "The simplest thing I can tell anyone is, do not close the door," he says. "Open the heart." </blockquote>"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-67076886170267774462010-05-18T00:49:00.006-04:002010-05-18T03:01:25.886-04:00Dancing with the StarzThe first couple on the dance floor were obviously enjoying themselves and were fun to watch. He was mustachioed, spry and dapper, wearing a long-sleeved white guayabera and tan pants. She was older-looking but still game, wearing a pretty black cocktail dress and black stockings. I really couldn't see their shoes because the ballroom of the retirement community was full, but I'm guessing hers were flats. Anyway, they moved and twirled and soon some other couples joined them. A few in the audience, including me, were dancing in our chairs.<br /><br />Hilton Head Island is blessed with many good entertainers, but none are better or more versatile than Reggie Deas and the Guyz. This night there were seven Guyz on stage and they obviously were selecting carefully from their repertoire so that dancing was a possibility for people who might not move too quickly. One solo dancer moved unsupported to the music but then used a cane on her way out of the room. Deas-Guyz played on and on and on, for nearly two hours without a break and then returned for another set. They shagged a little, rocked a little, jazzed a little and mostly played and sang music that every American born since 1950 knows. Bless their hearts, there was no homage to Ronnie James Dio, late of Black Sabbath and mourned even on NPR. I love Deas-Guyz no matter what they play.<br /><br />This was an evening meant to showcase the retirement community in its best light, and certainly it was pleasurable. Nice-looking people enjoying themselves, great music, wonderful food, but something bothered me and it is the same thing that has bothered me for the 20-plus years I've lived on Hilton Head Island: The people enjoying themselves all appeared to be white, and the people creating the enjoyment were mostly brown-skinned. Deas-Guyz is almost all African-American, the servers were African-American, the bus persons were African-American, the visible kitchen staff were African-American, and yet not one single African-American was among the dancers or the other guests. <br /><br />No matter how nice, how elegant, how safe the community is, there is something distasteful about perpetuating such an obviously skewed division of the spoils. The fact that people like Reggie Deas continue to smile and share their gifts brings tears to my eyes. To suggest that they are victims of an unjust society belies their dignity, and yet something doesn't sit well. May God smile on them and on all the starz who quietly and generously work to provide some modern Tara moments."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-82138635664379143112010-05-13T22:36:00.004-04:002010-05-14T07:10:14.359-04:00Priorities, People. PrioritiesAs though I weren't already far behind in what I'm supposed to be doing, I see that the people I am voluntarily following on Twitter have tweeted up a storm while I put 700 miles on my car today. Maybe I'm not in the greatest of moods because I was too chicken to pass up the West Virginia gas prices in hopes of a better deal in Ohio, and paid $2.959 only to see a Pilot offering gas at $2.859 a few miles down the road. In Ohio I've been seeing $2.699, only now my tank is three-fourths full. So I'm grouchy.<br /><br />I was not surprised to read US Senator Jim De Mint's three or four tweets about his border fence bill, as though it had a chance of passing and as though it wasn't completely at odds with his shrunken government philosophy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, some people think that securing the borders is one of very few legitimate government functions, but then again, some people think that the best immigration policy is no immigration policy. The thing is though, Senator, futile tilting at the border windmill might not really be the best use of your time. (I heard on my car radio that Senator Robert Byrd had secured a buncha millions for Homeland Security in West Virginia, which also doesn't fit with your philosophy, but maybe South Carolina could use some securing too if you're spending for a fence someplace in the Southwest? I'm just saying.) And pardon my nitpicking, but would "completing" your 700-mile section really do it for a 2,000 miles of border? According to Whoopi Goldberg, who seems to be as knowledgeable as anyone on this topic, including you, a fence with an end just invites people to walk around it.<br /><br />But SC Senator Tom Davis' latest tweet tells me all I need to know about why, of all government entities everywhere, the SC State Legislature ranks high on uselessness. Here it is:<br /><br />"<em>senatortomdavis Compromise bill just passed in the Senate -- the code requirement that all new residences have sprinklers is suspended until January 2014. </em>"<br /><br />Sprinkler code requirement. Compromise. Suspended. For four years yet. Not even worth a tweet, IMO. OTOH, at least it's fewer than 140 characters, unlike this blog post.<br /><br />PS...to one of my favorite Tweeters: Toots, why are you, an esteemed journalist, fixating on Matt Lauer's rumored infidelity? Isn't there a yo-yo man somewhere to be interviewed?"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-57880355971055472022010-05-04T07:50:00.004-04:002010-05-04T08:46:36.604-04:00An(other) Unfortunate IncidentIf I lived anywhere near the Gulf Coast, and I saw the potential for massive damage to my lifestyle and livelihood, I don't think I'd use a phrase like "unfortunate incident" to describe the ongoing volcano of oil that is erupting underwater following the April 20th explosion of the oil rig Deepwater Horizon off of Louisiana. <br /><br />American Petroleum Institute Jack Gerard, however, is saying those very words this morning on tv, while an estimated 200,000 gallons of oil is fouling the Gulf of Mexico every day that the spill continues. Yesterday BP Group CEO Tony Hayward appeared, saying that while his company is responsible for the cleanup, the original oil rig explosion was not their fault because BP only leased the rig from a company called Transocean<br /><br />I am thinking about the hundreds of plays of the BP commercials that tell us <em>"we have the can do, we have the capability"</em> and all we have to do is <em>"find the [energy] solutions here"</em> and I am wondering what it all means. <a href=http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2010/5/3/84625/59328>Steven D at Booman Tribune</a> provides some liberal commentary that is interesting, but in the end outrage at the way America is managing its resources to provide needed energy is futile, as are plans formulated by PR firms and lobbyists and politicians. What is needed is thought, serious thought, about what the "can do" and the "capability" of America's energy resources really are. What is not needed is a public so fixated on comfort and ease that we accept the rationalizations and spin and outright deception on the part of those who wish to exploit common resources for private gain.<br /><br />And, oh yes, another eleven energy workers lost their lives in the explosion of the oil rig. April was a very bad month for those who work to provide the energy that runs America."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-50813325520596186252010-04-25T17:55:00.003-04:002010-04-25T18:15:29.681-04:00Miners Light the World"Mining is a way of life in West Virginia"...Senator Jay Rockefeller, 4/25/10<br /><br />It's all been said, and not enough has been done. Twenty-nine proud Americans died in a mountain in WV, doing the best work that was available to them, work that benefitted every American who ever flips a light switch. I will remember them every time I travel past Beckley, and I will try to remember the words of the Vince Gill song that was sung at their memorial today:<br /><br /><div align="center">Go rest high on that mountain</div><div align="center">Son your work on earth is done</div><div align="center">Go to heaven a shoutin' </div><div align="center">Love for the Father and the Son.</div><div align="center"></div><div align="center"></div><div align="left"></div><div align="left"></div>"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-42739369664431433172010-04-20T15:50:00.005-04:002010-04-21T10:15:55.344-04:00April 20, 2010The last time I saw my Barbara Mary, she was crying. That was four months after I said to her "Nothing worse will ever happen to you," as I tried to comfort her loss of her 29-day-old firstborn, Christian. Last week I visited their graves and was upset that the flowers I placed there on my last visit were gone. It was raining, and I had to go to the bathroom, and the flowers were gone. I stuck the new ones I had brought in the permanent vase and left. In the grand scheme of loss and misery, missing artificial flowers is bearable, maybe even a gift to distract from the actual reason for being in a cemetery.<br /><br />Today is the 17<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">th</span> anniversary of my <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">firstborn's</span> death at 31 years old, just seven months after her firstborn died. I'm having a hard time, harder than usual. As I type this, I am soaking wet from working in my garden in an effort to soothe myself with planting flowers, and I have given in to the pain and disappointment. My first child was beautiful and smart, as are the three still living. The promise of a future was there in her bassinet, at her First Communion, at the spelling bees she won, at her high school graduation, but along the way her dreams for herself faded.<br /><br />Not all of the memories I have of her are as adorable as the one where she said "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">delissa</span> pie, Mommy" or as sweet as the note she left me on my washer the night her baby brother was born: "I hope you go to the hospital soon and you bring home a boy baby." There was also the time she screamed "Bitch!" at me in the street when I tried to stop the drug activity that was taking place where she was then living. Had she lived longer, she would probably have learned that mothering is a mixed bag.<br /><br />We didn't always like each other, but we always loved, and I am so sad for everything she missed and is missing. She should be here to watch her son become a man, and to compare notes about life and parents with her sisters and brother. She should have the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">satisfaction</span> of overcoming mistakes and rising above bad decisions. She should not be lying in the ground, sharing a plot with her own baby son, nearly forgotten by the world and mostly forgotten by those who said they loved her when they were really loving how she made them feel temporarily.<br /><br />In the end, though, I am grateful to the child who first made me a mother, one of the things I love most about my life. I remember the feeling of running down the subway steps, knowing that I was no longer alone in my body. I hope Barbara had some moments like that too, and I hope she and Christian are somewhere at peace, maybe with my mother and father and brother and all the rest of the family who have passed on and are waiting for me."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-67827010538649055592010-04-09T17:22:00.006-04:002010-04-09T19:29:17.391-04:00The Cruellest MonthIt is of course a cliché to resurrect in April the often quoted line from Part I of T. S. Eliot's <strong>The Waste Land</strong>, <em>"APRIL is the cruellest month," </em>but I swear April really is the cruellest month. For me a beautiful sight like the peaceful May River yesterday, with signs of new life everywhere, and the suggestion that God is indeed in His heaven, contrasted with disturbing personal memories of other Aprils, where death was very present, is sometimes too much to contain. And then there is Waco. And Oklahoma City. And now there is Montcoal WV.<br /><br />I have been looking forward to my first Spring road trip this year and the "almost heaven" feeling of driving through the Appalachians in April, but next week as I pass through the area south of Charleston WV, I will be thinking more about what is inside those mountains than the life that is emerging on the hillsides. I can hardly stop thinking of the horror in the hidden mines now. The Scotch-Irish faces of the miners and mourners remind me of my own origins and clan. I remember that I am the daughter of a working man, a proud and dignified man, but a man who carried a lunchbox, a man who understood how his union empowered him. I wonder what I am doing behind gates on a resort island that does not really celebrate workers. I do not feel peacefully at home. Ah, cruelty. I relate to Eliot's despair.<br /><br />Part V of <strong>The Waste Land</strong> is titled <em>"WHAT THE THUNDER SAID"</em> and it alludes to mountains and death, although more cryptographic types than I am might dismiss that simple statement in favor of Eliot's more complicated messages. For me, today, it's about mountains and death in the cruellest month.<br /><br /><em></em><div align="center"><br />AFTER the torchlight red on sweaty faces<br />After the frosty silence in the gardens<br />After the agony in stony places<br />The shouting and the crying<br />Prison and place and reverberation<br />Of thunder of spring over distant mountains<br />He who was living is now dead<br />We who were living are now dying<br />With a little patience </div><div align="center"></div><div align="left"><br />Shantih. Shantih. Shantih.</div><br /><div align="center"></div>"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-55215120443860539652010-01-29T08:03:00.008-05:002010-01-31T09:06:38.290-05:00Fashion FridayPopular historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is wearing the same jacket on "Morning Joe" that she wore on "Jon Stewart" last night. I like that about her, and I like the jacket. That's why I noticed its repeat appearance. The jacket is reddish and tweedy and fitted and kind of short.<br /><br />It's not only the jacket that is making a repeat appearance, though. So are Professor Goodwin's remarks about the delaying tactic known as "<a href=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster>filibuster</a>": (paraphrased) "They can't even go to the bathroom... Strom Thurmond took a steam bath to get rid of liquids, but he finally had to end his filibuster by going to the bathroom." I guess there's not a lot of entertaining material about the filibuster, although the word itself has an interesting history. I'm kind of not listening to her anymore anyway because I'm trying to get a better look at the jacket. Maybe it's a suit? I hope I'm not going to feel driven to watch Jon Stewart on line to see whether there's a shot of her there that gives me more information about the jacket. Aha! She is standing, and I see that the jacket is just a jacket, not as short as I thought, and that Professor Goodwin is wearing it over a black top and black pants. A very attractive look: practical, stylish but not too stylish, colorful for tv. What's not to like? <br /><br />Somehow the word "filibuster" reminds me of the character "Phineas T Bluster" who was one of Howdy Doody's Doodyville TX friends on Buffalo Bob Smith's tv show from the 1950's, my formative years. In those days, my fashion interest was expressed through paper dolls, but that's another blog.<br /><br />Coming up on The View, the real place for "Fashion Friday" is Oscar de la Renta and his fabulous, feminine creations. I'm more of a Professor-Goodwin's-jacket type, but that's just a matter of lifestyle. Fashion! Friday! Yea!"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-12201137640610603882010-01-24T02:16:00.007-05:002010-01-24T13:01:20.279-05:00In the Unlikely EventIn the unlikely event that someone in the vast universe stumbles upon this blog, may I say right now that I am in no way affiliated with, a supporter of, or more than an occasional (one hour per week on Sunday) viewer of Fox News. I make that disclaimer because the way search engines work, it is possible that a query about Fox could bring an unsuspecting soul to this blog, probably bazillionth on any list of results, but heck, a hasty click could happen. Reading further will only reinforce my lack of association with Fox News anyway, but I am in a "let me make this perfectly clear" soap box mood.<br /><br />That wordy statement made, I wish to make known my dismay about Fox's lack of participation in Friday night's <a href=https://www.hopeforhaitinow.org/>Hope for Haiti TV Global Telethon</a> two-hour telethon. Dozens of media outlets and networks, including CBS, ABC, NBC, CW, FOX, TNT, Weather Channel, MSNBC, CNBC, CNN, HBO, Showtime, Major League Baseball Network, Style Network, E! Entertainment Network, ReelzChannel, TNT, Comedy Central, Oxygen, Soap Opera channel, Bravo, National Geographic Channel, Sleuth, G4, CMT, TV1, BET, MTV, MTV2, VH1, GMC,FUSE, Current, PBS. And there was live streaming on Oprah.com and IMDb, Hulu and YouTube and lots of other sites. All these corporations showed their human concern by pre-empting their regular programming to air a show that included music and on-the-scene-in-Haiti reports. <br /><br />Stars like Alicia Keyes and Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen and Anderson Cooper performed and pleaded, and IMO it would be a cold, cold heart that was not moved. Some of those cold, cold hearts were watching Bill O'Reilly anyway and absorbing even more of his crowing that Fox News Channel is a premier news source, based on high ratings and compared with the collapse of Air America.<br /><br />Personally, I'm glad I watched the telethon. Because I believe that on a spiritual level we are all connected, I am grateful to all those who give of themselves and their wealth to reach out to those in need. Whether outreach should be personal or civic is another discussion, but destruction that takes more than 100,000 lives and leaves people dehydrated and starving for days is worth at least two hours of attention.<br /><br />So Fox News, you can take your <a href=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/media/10ailes.html>high ratings and your profits</a> and spend them in hell."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-14616412429383355482010-01-22T00:36:00.003-05:002010-01-22T01:15:13.271-05:00Cold enough for ya?Coldish weather. Mostly, I like it. Maybe thirteen days in a row of sub-freezing temps is not exactly what I've come to expect of winter in lowcountry of SC, but mostly, I prefer it to August heat. I love the dry, fresh air. And the winter light. And the thinner foliage. And the sparsely populated windswept beach, where the low tides reveal all kinds of interesting stuff and lots of space to see it. This week there has been an abundance of live sand dollars and starfish. <br /><br />On the other hand, what puts me off every single winter is that soon after the holidays, my fingernails go all to hell. Lotion, olive oil, rubber gloves for chores...it doesn't matter, my nails still go all to hell: drying, splitting, breaking, tearing. I specifically recall gluing on some fakes last March to help me through some social thing or another, but by Thanksgiving I once again had ten lovely naturally long nails of my own. <br /><br />However, now I am once again sporting an assortment of lengths, all short, some shorter, and it may be time to do the gluing thing again. The problem about the gluing thing is that the chemicals make my fingernails dry out even more and so it's a dilemma and a vicious cycle. What cures the whole thing is summer, where I end up worrying more about my toenails than my fingernails and beach sand becomes an automatic smoothing treatment.<br /><br />But I still like coldish weather."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-32922584418458179602010-01-14T20:09:00.005-05:002010-01-14T21:09:21.640-05:00Thoughts on a lineThe last day for payment without penalty of Beaufort County SC property taxes for 2009 is tomorrow, January 15, 2010, and in typical procrastinator fashion, I presented myself at the Treasurer's office yesterday, check in hand. There were six people in the line ahead of me, not counting the two who were being served by the lone clerk. The complaining began almost immediately, with the woman in front of me getting out of line to see whether there wasn't a drop box or some option besides waiting. She and the woman ahead of her discussed the inefficiency of the situation. The word "terrible" was used. Maybe five minutes had passed since I arrived.<br /><br />PEOPLE! THIS IS THE DAY AFTER HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF HAITIANS SUDDENLY FOUND THEIR LIVES CHANGED FOREVER!<br /><br />As the wait continued while it seemed that the first two were accomplishing multiple transactions, the complaining continued too, and the two women ahead of me decided to leave and submit their payments electronically. But by now a man had joined the line and stood behind me, humming nervously before he too found his complaining voice. I think I had been there about ten minutes by then.<br /><br />PEOPLE! THIS IS THE DAY AFTER HUNDREDS OF THOUSAND OF HAITIANS BEGAN SUFFERING AT A LEVEL EVEN WORSE THAN THEIR USUAL. <br /><br />Two people who were not complaining were the young Latina now directly in front of me and the infant she carried in her arms, along with a huge tote bag. They cooed and clucked to each other, although I would imagine the woman's arms were tired and maybe her high heeled boots were painful, and just waited.<br /><br />And a third person who said nothing was the bowlegged African-American in front of her. Again, he just waited. Of course, I don't really know what the quiet ones were thinking, but I do know that I was thinking I'd rather be with them than the spoiled, privileged people who were more likely in my demographic and who definitely had different expectations about the procrastinator payment experience. <br /><br />So often we hear people describe Hilton Head Island and its environs as "paradise". That would be when we are not complaining about something petty yet "terrible". <br /><br />PEOPLE, WE COULD LOSE IT ALL IN AN INSTANT! LET'S TRY TO REMEMBER THAT."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-32533699105061742992010-01-08T11:06:00.000-05:002010-01-08T11:44:47.109-05:00"Less space, less things, more life"Maybe I will move to Denmark...if I ever get shed of all the stuff I have accumulated. I don't need it, and I don't really want it any more. At least that's what I tell myself. However...there is a certain comfort that comes from knowing that if I feel like reading, I have books, tons of books, and magazines too. If I want to cook, I have plenty of food and equipment and dishes and utensils to do a lovely meal. If I want to wear red or purple or black or white or almost any color, I have clothes that will work for me. And shoes. And handbags. And costume jewelry. Ditto so many possible "wants" that can easily be accommodated with material goods. <br /><br />But one "want" that is incompatible with all that stuff is the one that envies the near sterile order of Scandinavian homes. On a recent show, Oprah presented a view of life in Copenhagen, and was embarrassingly wowed by the lack of space that is the norm in Danish life. The husband and father in one of the homes she visited responded "Less space, less things, more life."<br /><br />The American way of life is undoubtedly wasteful. We waste space, we waste natural resources, we waste people and we waste a lot of time. It is highly unlikely that succeeding generations will be able to consume and waste as much. But maybe there is an upside to being forced to rethink and relearn. After all, the Danes are considered by some to be <a href=http://www.pri.org/world/denmark-happiest-place-in-world1783.html> the happiest people on earth</a>."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-14587954185970800822010-01-03T09:03:00.001-05:002010-01-08T12:05:36.184-05:00"Mr Jalopy"!"Mr Jalopy"! Now this is a man I could love and admire. This is a man who could save the world. Quietly, without a whole lot of public acclaim, he fights a system of consumption that is filling local dumps as it empties personal coffers.<br /><br /><a href=http://www.misterjalopy.com/>Mr Jalopy</a>, whose real name is Peter "Something" repurposes things and makes things. A central tenet of the "Maker Movement" he leads is that if you can't open something, you don't own it. I take that to mean that if an object you purchase is sealed and/or needs special tools to examine its innards, IT owns YOU because it has control of the situation. <br /><br />Now it's pretty well known that I have some kind of a VCR fixation. I bought my first VHS player/recorder when the price came down to $400, somewhere in the 1980s I think. It had a remote, but the remote was actually on a cord that plugged into the main box. In the past twenty years or so I've worn out a bunch of VCRs, but haven't given up on any of them without taking them apart and making a decent repair effort. I've also taken apart a couple of sewing machines, and yesterday I fixed a broken screen door latch. My most impressive fix-it of late has been an appropriate jiggle and wiggle of my vehicle hatch back lock after my son-in-law, an accomplished fixer, had given up on it. But there are a whole bunch of "new and improved" things around my house that I guess I do not own because I can't open them to fix them, and yet I'm somehow not willing to take them to the "convenience center" landfill. <br /><br />I wish Mr Jalopy didn't live in California."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-69458337265967518752009-09-27T09:36:00.000-04:002009-10-06T11:40:03.232-04:00Flash Forward to ...Flash Forward to...."I have asthma!"<br /><br />During the first segment of the new drama series "Flash Forward" there was, indeed, a lot of drama. Some would call it melodrama. There was noise and smoke and fire and blood and wreckage, and the segment ended with "our hero" (played by Joseph Fiennes) standing firmly with legs planted apart, surveying downtown Los Angeles in alarming disarray, with intense music playing. But the next words I heard were "I have asthma!" What? Is that part of the drama, along with the other weird things we're supposed to notice? No. It's a commercial, and it made me laugh out loud. How am I supposed to maintain an attitude of concern for the entire planet and all who live on it in the face of asthma (which to be sure is no laughing matter, but still...)?<br /><br />But I continued watching, and I probably will watch the show for a while, despite the feeling that this show is SILLY. For one thing, the Mysterious Date of April 29, 2010 is a big birthday for me, and maybe they'll all be celebrating ME at some point! Why not? It could happen. If the entire planet could suffer a 137-minute blackout and clean itself up in a couple of days, why not have a party?"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-20147938757898184222009-09-21T08:14:00.000-04:002009-09-27T09:35:47.683-04:00Suddenly...<div align="left">Cliff Monahan was a friend of my daughter, Andrea. <a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lZCY8DZWhZc/Sr9npwowCXI/AAAAAAAAAFM/SciZWBKnMk4/s1600-h/MonahanClifton.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 120px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 180px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5386137646486522226" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lZCY8DZWhZc/Sr9npwowCXI/AAAAAAAAAFM/SciZWBKnMk4/s320/MonahanClifton.jpg"/></a>For a reason that I can't explain he always intrigued me. It could have been his intelligence, his humor, his abhorrence of tv, his dedication to causes. Something. He was taken by a brain aneurysm while he was in his backyard, and although he died in a way that many of us would envy, he was only 55 years old, and it's hard to be philosophcal about the loss of such a positive force in the world. Godspeed, Cliff. By now you know whether God is benevolent or not.</div><br /><br /><div align="center"><strong>Clifton Michael Monahan</strong><br />(February 12, 1954 - September 15, 2009)<br />Dr. Clifton Michael Monahan died suddenly on September 15, 2009. He is survived by his mother Ellen Crowley Monahan, his sisters Leigh (John) Monahan-Fullbrook and Leslie (Mark) Peterson, brothers Russell (Kathy Semak) Monahan, Tim (Bill) Monahan and John (Barb Mailloux) Monahan, neice Colleen Monahan and nephews Jeff and Greg Monahan, and his especially his close friend Barb Bloetscher. Cliff was born on February 12, 1954, and grew up in the Detroit area. After two years at the University of Michigan, he spent a few years skiing and working in Jackson Hole, Wyoming where he began to develop his interest in animals. After studying horseshoeing at the Hillcroft School of Ferrier Science, he enrolled at Colorado State University, graduating as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. Never one to follow a standard route to happiness, Cliff signed up for service in the Peace Corps, working in Africa in eastern Zaire for over two years, assisting people with their cattle herds, other animals and basic needs. On top of providing much needed humanitarian assistance, he also accumulated enough stories to entertain people for years to come. After experiencing first-hand the conditions in Africa, Cliff returned to the USA, and began working on his post-doctorate studies at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and later in Shreveport, specializing in parasitology and epidemiology. It was in the Veterinary School at the Ohio State University in Columbus where he really connected with students and became known for his sometimes off-beat style and road trips that provided up close and first hand knowledge of working with different kinds of animals. Improving the lives of people in Africa remained a great a passion for Cliff. He supplied laptops, PDAs, hard drives and other computer and internet equipment, delivering them personally to villages in Rwanda. He also loved working on the wonderfully terraced gardens he built around his house. His collection of orchids and other exotic plants decorated his front porch and backyard and filled the interior of his home in the winter. The family will receive friends from 5-8pm on Friday, September 18 at the Deyo-Davis Funeral Home at 1578 W. First Avenue in Grandview Heights where a memorial service will be held at noon on Saturday, September 19. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Columbus Zoo or WOSU. </div>"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-52185582642168828022009-09-16T07:44:00.000-04:002015-09-23T00:39:19.361-04:00Once Upon A Time There Was A Guiding LightOne of my favorite short prayers -- Catholics used to call them "ejaculations" --is "Dear Lord, guide me and guard me." That's about it for me and guidance now. I don't do horoscopes, and I don't read self-help books any more. But there was a time when I watched daytime serial dramas, for me "the soaps", for some "my stories", for guidance in how to be a housewife. That sounds truly ridiculous to me now, but I was 20 years old and had no idea about how to run a home, what products to use, how to behave as an executive wife (which wasn't quite my real status) etc. Then I got hooked on the characters and the clothes until, for some reason I've forgotten, I was no longer hooked on Guiding Light or any other soap. I used to say that I stopped watching the soaps when my own life became one, but what that boils down to is that I was a single mother of four who found a job that interfered with my daytime viewing schedule. If only I had foreseen that there would be a market for publications about the "stories," I could have logged a lot more time on the couch and gotten paid for it.<br /><br />One of the stories that I watched every day was "Guiding Light." Actually, I started listening to it on the radio when I was a child because my mother did. Now I have no idea about the Reva and Josh story lines and even though I've met their players, Kim Zimmer and Robert Newman, a number of times at the Hilton Head Celebrity Golf Tournament, I don't feel any current attraction. That's a good thing for me because the Guiding Light is coming to its conclusion. <br /><br /><a href=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/10/60minutes/main5300917.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody>Sixty Minutes</a> did a segment last Sunday that reminded me of some things about the show and told me some things I never knew. I was very familiar with the early Bauer clan, whose generations lasted through the decades I watched, but I didn't know that "<em>The original focus was inspirational, featuring a minister whose Guiding Light attracted the down and out, the lonely and the troubled</em>." Was he a Bauer? I will probably never know and I will soon forget to wonder. But I will always smile at the recollection of conversations with friends of the day where we spoke about soap characters as though they were our friends too.<br /><br />And as a fond final thought about the soaps, here's a memory that is about "Another World," a late-comer in 1964 to the money machine known as daytime drama. Somewhere in the 1970s, my father, who was then about the age I am now, was retired and sitting at his dining room table with his Scotch-laced coffee and calling out to the console tv in the living room: "Don't do it, Iris." This man who had emigrated from Scotland, made a good life for his wife and children, led a union local, and even survived death threats, was giving serious advice to a fictional character. I wonder now whether that was advice he really wanted to give me. Another thing I will not wonder about for long.<br /><br />Farewell, Guiding Light. No one folded diapers better than I did when I was watching you."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-36410718604066962972009-06-20T16:03:00.000-04:002009-06-22T10:54:07.189-04:00Juneteenth 2009Days of watching American politicians and pundits debate about how to handle the unrest in Iran and then I stumble across what I need, which is the feeling of connection to the people of Iran whose lives are at stake. The <a href=http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/poem-rooftops-iran-june-19th-2009>video of the rooftop communication</a>, where people call out in the darkness to one another and to God, repeating "Allah-o Akbar", and where the narrator seems at times to be on the verge of tears as she fears for her country and shares her thoughts, is more than enough to make me care. I have been so wearied by the complicated names and the history and the blaming and the opportunism that I forgot about the people. And they are young people, mostly. I've heard several estimates about the unusually high number of those under thirty who populate Iran, and I wondered how that happened but didn't really think about how it would feel to be so young and in such straits. I found a <a href=http://www.slate.com/id/2220390/>Slate article</a> about how that happened, and it's interesting, but now it's less important to me than the cries on the rooftops and the feeling of destiny that these young people have.<br /><br />The video starts with a declaration of the date, June 19th 2009, and that reminded me of our own American <a href=http://www.juneteenth.com/history.htm>Juneteenth</a>, and for me the hook was in. I thought about last night's Hardball show, where Chris Matthews went off on a legislator (Rep Steve Cohen D-TN) who co-sponsored a fairly meaningless apology for slavery and other racial inhumanities and was so caught up in his own bluster (Matthews' bluster that is) that he ignored the date: June 19th, which isn't that obscure in its significance, especially considering the topic he was discussing and Matthews' own self-professed humanitarianism. It would have been nice if Rep James Clyburn D-SC had put in a reminder, but, of course, there was almost no time for him to comment at all, plus he had to get in his thought about health care. The past is prologue, not priority.<br /><br />Anyway, Juneteenth 1865 is worth remembering and parallels what is going on in Teheran in 2009 because it's about FREEDOM. What's so very, very different is that in the 1860's news traveled so slowly that slaves in Texas weren't informed about their freedom until June 19, 1865, two-and-a-half years after the Emancipation Proclamation was delivered in January of 1863. Freedom isn't so easily denied in 2009. You can close the borders, expel the media, threaten freedom seekers with death and still they find ways to communicate with each other and the outside world. Allah-o Akbar! God IS Great. And He made the human spirit."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-18427993918121418522009-06-05T22:26:00.001-04:002010-04-11T08:47:43.852-04:00I Didn't Ask To Be Born"I didn't ask to be born!" I don't think I ever said that to my parents, but I KNOW I thought it, and I know I've heard it from my progeny. Kids get away with a lot more disrespect than that these days, but that's not really my point.<br /><br />Last Sunday's Wall Street Journal page in the now combined Beaufort Gazette Island Packet carried an intergenerational article about personal finance that is one of a series written by a father and son, the Yoders. Often I don't read them, but this one interested me. Isaac, the son, is musing about how he should deal with the good fortune of having successful, hard-working parents. He is wondering about what moral obligations might attach. He says that there are "two basic ways to approach this issue".<br /><br /><em>"The first way to look at it is that we kids have an obligation to take full advantage of the opportunities given to us because of our parents' hard work. This would mean immersing ourselves in the education provided, going on to get a good job and living life in a way our parents find acceptable. This choice seems like the natural answer, but it also seems to mean that privileged children have to live indebted to our parents, always with something to pay them back for. In other words, we'll always live our lives according to their standards. That doesn't feel quite right.</em><br /><em></em><br /><em>"The second approach would be to say we kids have the right to basically ignore our parents' expectations. It wasn't our choice to be born. If we follow this argument, we could claim full moral freedom to go in any direction in our lives without feeling like we had to make decisions that our parents would be happy with. There would be no shackles and no indebtedness. This approach feels even further from the truth."</em><br /><em></em><br />No one has ever asked me for advice on this question, but if they had, I think I might have said something like what Isaac's father, Steve, said, which was maybe not so much about obligation but more about recognition of how his son's good fortune was achieved. He said, "<em>Your debt, like my debt and your mother's, is to the generation before us who passed blessings down to us. And it's to the countless others in the world today who are not as blessed."</em><br /><br />I say "recognition" rather than "obligation" because the former sits lighter with me. Obligation is constant and feels less free to me than recognition, which I may choose or not. But with that small distinction and not much difference, Steve Yoder is describing what is for me a way of life. Long ago I was taught about the "haves" and the "have-nots" with a sense that I should always care about social justice. But as an adult, I have chosen to live intentionally, every day, with gratitude. It's true that there are days when what I am grateful for is that things are not worse, but even on those days, I am aware of the blessings in my life, and I thank God for His company.<br /><br />So whether I asked to be born is irrelevant. I'm here and I live in a world with billions of other souls. I don't feel guilt for my comforts, but I DO appreciate them, and I DO wonder why I have them. And I wish for others every measure of peace and ease that has been given to me and more. I wish for young people who are just starting out the wisdom to see their own way, to not be burdened by unfair expectations, but also to be free to make use of their own special gifts. This is not a particularly easy time to be young. The pace of living is fast and the choices are many as are the temptations to waste precious time. But life goes so quickly. You wake up and you're nearly seventy years old. If you're so blessed as to get that far.<br /><br /><em>"For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more." Luke 12:48</em>"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-47108690721628592842009-05-27T20:10:00.000-04:002015-09-23T01:02:29.358-04:00I DO have a guilty pleasure.OK, OK, OK...I do have a guilty pleasure. In fact, I have a lot of them. It has taken me all month to decide which I dared divulge, and finally I've made up my mind. And it is couch-related. Maybe admitting I have this problem will help me conquer it, or at least help me WANT to conquer it.<br /><br />Months ago, thanks to Paul the Pool Guy, I discovered the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Nothing <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">housewifey</span> about them, and I think their homes are outside of Atlanta, but for me it become like the soaps I used to watch while folding diapers. My "baby" just turned forty-one, so it's been a while. These women appalled me, but they also fascinated me in a weird way. And so I graduated to the Real Housewives of Orange County, and watched several seasons of them on a BRAVO marathon. I am so glad not to know these women or any that even come close to their superficiality. That's really saying something when you consider that some people consider Hilton Head Island a plastic fantasy island. On to the Real Housewives of New York. (By the way, I never saw any of these women use a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Swiffer</span> or buy a cleanser of any type. Nor was there any cooking or laundering or clipping of coupons.)<br /><br />The New York women interested me the most, and there were a couple of them that I might enjoy but they probably wouldn't enjoy me. Plus, I would end up hating them as I stressed over what to wear when I met them. At least two of them are former models, and one of them is a Countess (and will remain a Countess now that she is about to become a single housewife). But I like Jill and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Bethenny</span>, and can take Alex. The others, not really.<br /><br />So when the New York reunion show was over, I thought, well that's the end of it. I wasn't attracted by the promos for the Real Housewives of New Jersey. It seemed as though it would be some kind of a Sopranos knockoff, and truthfully, I didn't like the Sopranos, even though I grew up in that part of NJ. Anyway, and I can't explain why, I watched the first show of the RH of NJ and my eyes bugged out as I realized that two of the women are sisters and are married to brothers (not their own brothers) who own The Brownstone in Paterson, NJ. I immediately related. I guess it doesn't take much.<br /><br />What probably got to me was a memory of family drama that took place at The Brownstone when I was maybe seven or eight. My mother was from a huge family and one of the cousins was holding a wedding reception there, and my maternal grandmother showed up, unexpected, and my brother and I were ushered into the bar area to say hello to her since my mother and she weren't speaking. Welcome to my childhood, which had more than its share of real housewives of New Jersey since my grandmother was one of six sisters, who cooked and cleaned and catered to the menfolk.<br /><br />I will keep watching, guiltily. This week's episode is coming on in eleven minutes. And I hear they are casting the Real Housewives of Chicago."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-87292940313773948862009-05-24T12:55:00.000-04:002009-06-18T09:20:45.771-04:00Jhenya морская звезда<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_lZCY8DZWhZc/Sh4OwtFdVHI/AAAAAAAAAFE/udmRqWwl28w/s1600-h/Jhenya+0509_4.JPG"></a><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lZCY8DZWhZc/Sh4OWsPunKI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ylr9dlJDcTU/s1600-h/Jhenya+0509_5.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340721991105027234" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 213px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lZCY8DZWhZc/Sh4OWsPunKI/AAAAAAAAAE8/ylr9dlJDcTU/s320/Jhenya+0509_5.JPG" border="0" /></a> <div><br /><div><em>We're expecting! Yes, we're expecting another grandchild in our family. He's 2-1/2 and he lives in Siberia. He has a beautiful round face and blue eyes and blond hair and a sturdy little body.</em> </div><div></div><div></div><br /><div>Well, we WERE expecting. And he DID live in Chita, Siberia. This was the start of a blog I tried to write a while ago. And now, after weeks turning into months of waiting, and after two stays in Atlanta to care for the grandson I already have while my daughter and her husband went to Russia, Jhenya is at home with his American parents and his big brother Nicholas and Daisy the dog, ("sobaka" in Russian; "wocka" in Jhenya baby-talk). We have all learned to say "nyet, nyet, nyet" as little Jhenya explores his new surroundings. That's a word he knows and says frequently. He is, after all, two.<br /><br />My daughter said she thought he hadn't been out of his orphanage to play since last fall and that it's unlikely he has ever felt grass under his feet. Now he has front and back yards and a playset and a driveway and an electric play car ("machina" in Russian) and a tricycle and rubber balls and tons of books and toys. But his favorite new belongings are his shoes. We think that shoes must have been prized at the "baby house" ("orphanage" in Euphemism). </div><div></div><div>May God smile on this child and both his families, old and new. I am so proud of my daughter (and my son-in-law) for having done so much to save this little starfish* (морская звезда in Russian) . May Jhenya one day come to know his Russian heritage as well as his American one, and may he always, always, from now on feel cherished and protected and loved for the very one he is.</div><div></div><div><br />*<em><span style="font-family:times new roman;">There is a story about a boy walking along the beach and, seeing hundreds of starfish stranded far up on the beach after the high tide, takes a few, one by one, and throws them into the sea. A man approaches and says, “What difference can you make when there are hundreds and hundreds stuck so far from the water?” The boy gives the stranger a quick glance, throws another starfish into the sea and says, ‘It made a difference to that one.”</span></em></div></div></div>"P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-769203012774430922009-02-03T15:05:00.000-05:002009-02-03T15:30:12.986-05:00Ipod Writing AssignmentOh, MH, I'm sorry that I have been remiss about posting. The problem is mechanical or ergonomic or something that has to do with equipment and environment. I'm down to using my desktop and it's in a room that's cold and my chair gives me a stiff neck. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whose fault is that? Oh well.<br /><br />Anyway, I do not have an actual Ipod, but I do have and love a Sony Walkman MP3. I chose it because I wanted something with an FM tuner. It holds only 3.5 gigs, even though it's sold as having a 4-gig capacity, but for me that's not a problem.<br /><br />What's on it TODAY is a playlist I call "mood alterers", which includes some inspirational things and some miscellaneous tracks that always get to me in some way. A few make me weepy, and a few make me move. A weepy one would be "I Believe" sung by Barbra Streisand, and a mover would be "Walkin' in Memphis" by Marc Cohn. Thanks to Mycokerewards, I have recently downloaded a whole album called "Don't Quit" by Jake the body guy, but I haven't really listened to it yet. I'm thinking it's mostly high energy tracks that will motivate me to really, really move. If someone finds me collapsed on a leisure trail, blame it on Jake."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1834888741385385718.post-62750153793997562812009-01-11T08:24:00.000-05:002009-01-11T14:45:57.983-05:00Elections have consequences.Elections have consequences. How many times have we in the USA heard that about our own ballot box choices? And now in Gaza we see the bloody reality of the Palestinian elevation of Hamas several years ago. Of course the suffering and loss are terrible. To say that is to understate the destruction and the waste. Of course western countries, who are not getting the full effect of what the Arab street is seeing on all-carnage-all-the-time-blame-the-godless-dirty-Jew-infidels-and-their-Western-friends Al Jazeera, don't know the extent of the suffering. However, even the brief comments I've heard from English Al Jazeera on NPR are enough to convince me that what is happening is horrific.<br /><br />This morning I heard a plea for context, and it included an abbreviated chronology of the provocations and responses from both Israel and Palestine since Israel was formed in the 1940's. It really didn't help. Yes, the carnage is beyond disturbing and tragic, especially among the youngest victims, babies and children. And my heart goes out to any mother who has to hold a dead infant in her arms. I have done that, and it was in a safe amd quiet funeral home, not a rubbled and noisy street. It was still enough to threaten my will to go on.<br /><br />But who is giving Hamas the power to use their children and elderly as shields against the Israelis who have seen carnage too? Who thinks that the elimination of an entire ethnic group will somehow benefit them? The Bush administration was dismayed when Hamas was chosen by the Palestinian people over Fatah in January 2006. The ensuing Bush plan seems to have been to choke off Hamas in Gaza by making life ever more difficult with checkpoints and border closings to show the Palestinians the error of their "free and democratic" choice. And now we see Middle East "democracy" evolving with behind-the-scenes nudging from Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the USA. And Iran. With Chinese-made weapons.<br /><br />However, This is what my hero Alexander Hamilton and other founders of the USA feared: That uneducated and poorly informed rabble would too easily be led to choose demagogic leadership even over their own self-interest. We cannot have security and order in the absence of an educated public and free access to information. There is no point to playing at democracy without those game chips. Let that be a lesson to all who think that politics isn't their thing."P. B."http://www.blogger.com/profile/14196128923210013743noreply@blogger.com0