Lost Summers

My grandparents used to take the family away for the summer to escape the sweltering heat of the Sacramento Valley.  They rented every summer a house in Stinson Beach right across the road from the house where my Grandmother’s Father had always and continued to have a summer rental.   I can remember listening to stories of these summers.  The supposedly haunted house that was my Great-grandfather’s; where my Grandmother and her twin sister were assigned the attic room which scared them to death.  The house probably wasn’t haunted, it was full of bats she said as a grown-up, but they had fun hiding under the sheets and listening for scrapings and creeks and groans. 

My mother and her brothers too had fond memories of summers spent at the beach with cousins, outside eating, the fog that hung about for most of the day, swimming in the very cold ocean. 

My Grandparents were never well off, but they were well enough.  My Grandfather and his brothers had inherited a Ranch that produced mostly dried pink beans, corn and some tomatoes, which my grandmother asked for when she married my grandpa, and the other brother’s wives supported.  There weren’t a lot of hands on the Ranch and every one of the six brothers worked hard to make a living for the families they supported who all lived on the ranch.  And yet even still they could afford a beach rental for the women and the children to escape the heat in a time before air conditioning.  The men of course had to stay and work and took shifts taking time off to go join the families. 

Things have changed a lot.  Although nowadays we probably make more than my Grandparents did during that time, there is no way we can afford a summer rental and very little anymore can we even afford to do “cheap travelling” like camping out, with a family.

With more and more families out of work and more businesses feeling the crunch of customers and clients not making payments it is not shocking to find that travel is down this summer.  People very simply cannot afford the cost of food, travel and lodging away from home.  And camping out is not much cheaper either with many popular state and national parks costing up to $40 a night to set up a tent. 

As usually happens, the federal government found some reason during the summer to open up the national oil reserves and bring gas prices down 10-20 cents.  However this year the lower gas incentives aren’t adding up to more people going away.  As I look around I see more people staying in town over the summer and when I ask they say they just can’t afford it.  The cost of keeping a family is eating up everything that would have been left over for a vacation.

So what are people doing instead? 

A great push has been made by publications catering to mums, both thrifty or not for something they call the Staycation.  The idea behind which is you stay at home and spend the money you may have spent on a trip on doing things in and around your area.  The idea sounds exciting when you read about it and see pictures.  Big puppy piles of family sleeping in one room, not doing dishes, going out to eat, going to local nearby parks…

On second thought that sounds pretty much like what we do on a regular day minus the cleanliness which I’m guessing would just stress a lot of moms out and drive them to the other room and their computer; back to business as usual.

Real people I’ve talked to say they are spending a lot of time doing the work around their places that they would normally be able to pay someone to do.  Things like exterior painting and repairs, plumbing projects and replacing and maintaining appliances.  Peppered with a couple of BBQs and that pretty much eats up their short summers. 

Which is another reason why families are able to get away less.  Summers are shorter.  This is because of the new-ish thinking that downtime is bad for kids’ brains.  TIME magazine did a piece on this recently; (http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2005863,00.html#ixzz1RWU9tdzg) and many teachers and administrators are behind this idea, calling summer vacation antiquated and stating that up to 30% of the academic gains are lost.  Increasingly summer time itself has been shortened, in many areas kids will head back to school at the beginning of August this year.  A large teacher lobby has been behind this because teachers have been losing their raises due to budget cuts in many states.  More time to them means more money. 

I don’t agree with the fight against downtime.  In fact kids need time to be industrious, imaginative.  The problem has become television and electronics as a babysitter.  This is simple to fix, turn it off and kids will find something to fill their time.  Sure your toaster oven may be in bits on the counter by the end of the day, but $30-$50 for a toaster oven is cheaper than summer camp anyway. 

Another thing families are beginning to notice is they are no longer “middle class”  I see their toys for sale all over the place, the boats, the 4 wheelers…I spoke to a neighbor recently who lamented both and seemed genuinely confused as to how things got this way and what to do with the summer.  I now see their kids spending a lot of time playing in the front sprinklers.

Which in and of itself is getting to be an expensive pastime out of reach.  With drought conditions across a lot of the states and water service hikes a simple pleasure of playing in the sprinklers can cost you as much as a $30 increase in your water bill.  This adds up when you take into account everything else people are paying for as cuts across the board are happening. 

No it’s not an easy way to have a fun summer.  It’s shorter, hotter, dryer and more expensive.  The days of taking off on road trips to cooler places and even educational excursions are sadly behind us I fear and I mourn a bit for those lost summers I will never have on Stinson Beach.

4th of July Blog-Warning: Includes loose assosications.

So it's the 4th of July here in America, Independence day.  Day of 3 day weekends, BBQ's, county faires and blowing shit up, which where I live is decidedly illegal and that much more fun. 

Anymore I feel like this is less of a holiday and just another day that disrupts my routine.  The whole weekend is spent avoiding the freeway because that empties into both Costco and Walmart where the masses are loading up on masses of shit.  I'm a little out of it because of it. 

Also I live in possibly one of the hottest places in the U.S.  It's a weird heat.  I just got back from a road trip to the southwest where the temperature was exactly the same as it is here and it was infinitely more bearable.  The heat here is strange, oppressive, not quite humid all the time but always thick.  At House Rhuad we combat this by hunkering down as much as possible in the air conditioned house until Dark, when we come out and cavort in the garden and square.  As a result we usually miss the early morning semi-cool hours, but that's okay, we own the night and really it is nice to be able to move freely through a town with a different sort of people, the night ones. 

As I mentioned I just got off a road trip which took me to the southwest and the beginning of the Heartland.  Well, not really but Utahians like to think they are the heartland, they really do.  What I noticed most about Utah was the churches, water parks and shopping malls as far as eye could see and every other billboard with Glen Beck's pasty face on it.  It was dizzying and strange.  All this from the freeway.  It looked like white heaven.  Especially with the other billboard advertising white stuff from clothing to mayo and the myriad places of worship.  And don't kid yourself, the water parks and shopping malls factor in as big here as the churches. 

Maybe bigger, it's hard to tell. 

Off the freeway it's a different story.  There were more Mexican markets in Utah than I have seen since I was in San Diego last year.  It was a strange contrast from a state that is avidly in accordance with Arizona's crazy immigration policies and busy drafting its own illegal alien bills.

However, Mexican markets aside, we were hard pressed to find any other world cuisines. Other than of course the watered down Americanized Chinese food, etc.  We were there to visit our college student and I really did not believe that there was no falafel in the stores there ,as she had told me.   But there wasn't . Now I have to send a box packed with falafel out there for her.   There also was precious little Indian Food, the best food we found came wafting from the apartment in the motel we stayed in.  Delicious scents only Indian grandmas can create.   I was told they order spices online. 

This is the land where the 4th of July was once more important than any other holiday.  Christmas wasn't celebrated in Utah by the early settlers, only Independence Day and Pioneer Day which are in the same month.  Maybe because it was warmer and easier to get together. Anyway it looked like the whole state  was heading up to a big asses explosion of red white and blue.  It was a little frantic, a little scary.  It reminded me a tad of film I watched of Anthony Bourdain's cookouts in Greece where men sat around shooting guns in the air and eating at the same time.  Big pieces of meat.  It felt like that. 

It's a different America there than what I grew up in and in truth what I am comfortable with.  My childhood 4th of Julys were on Coronado Beach in San Diego, where bananas roasted in coals with caramelized sweet milk.  Mexican polka played next to 70's rock and fireworks lit the sky while we watched surfers so brown it didn't matter what tribe they were from.  Little children digging into welcoming family campfires from all nations.  Fresh fruits sprinkled with chiles from Mexico and the middle east.  I knew we were a melting pot.  We tasted good, like a rich stew. 

Middle-ish America 4th of July is cool whip compared to that.  And I get the feeling that they want to spread their cool whip message everywhere. 

I hate cool whip. 

It isn't real, it's made in a lab of chemicals containing nothing of what real whip cream is, something divine and to be cherished, skimmed off the top.  It's a fake, a pretender.  And it's cheap easy and filling and like this fantasy of Americana it's spreading to everywhere near you. 

It makes me sad.

Anyway.  This 4th of July I intend to eat my way around the world.  Kabobs for BBQ, ceviche, roasted bananas, jicama with chiles, fennel and oranges and if I have need of anything white, it will be real.  Believe it. 

I also intend to honor our forefathers by doing something they did.  Something less than strictly legal.  Mark the Sky.

Sanctuary

They came to the shores, everyone of them
Journeymen, Pirates, Captains of Industry
But most importantly refugees.

These were the ones that gained access
Those seeking warmth, renewal, growth
Sanctuary

It really didn't matter to the land
What the reason was for the need
And yes sometimes the ones in need
The refugees,
Were the very same as the Pirates, The Carpet Baggers
The Mad



I'm seriously jealous of Neil Gaiman

And not because of the reasons you would think...

Yes, yes, he is an incredible writer but I kinda think he can't help that, some of us just have stories in us.  Some of us like Neil have stories that other people feel they cannot live without.  No it's not the writing gig. Although I respect you Neil for that.

No, it's not his Uber-Sexy Wife who I have a chic-crush on.  (Okay, maybe just a little bit, Amanda is so veryvery yummy) But one cannot be jealous of another's wife doesn't it say that somewhere in the Olde Testament?  Besides she looks a little too much like myself and macking down with a version of myself would only be fun for a few hundred times.

It's not because of his recent weight-loss-running regimen.  He's a guy, they naturally lose weight faster, how can I begrudge him that.

No and it's not his tambourine skills, white German Shepards or honey bees. 

I am jealous of Neil because he gets to be a part of this: the ReThink Music conference.  Which looks to be incredible, making an album in 8 hours.  It's going to be epic, it's going to be sexy and it's going to rock...and probably be silly too.  Be sure to log into http://www.partyontheinternet.com and/or get a a getglue account asap if you love music innovation and the likes of Neil, Amanda and her pals like Damian Kulash (Ok Go)

In anycase.  I am excited if slightly jealous, and really looking forward to seeing what comes out of this. Amanda Fucking Palmer has been pushing the Internet/music marriage to great success for some time now and this will most likely rock the house as well as change the way we look at all of our musical and media tools. 

Rock On!

Okay, only slightly jealous now...

*see Amanda's blog for more accurate info HERE

Still Unpacking and More Updates

I just got back from a trip to Monterey, Ca.  Usually March is a most excellent month to visit this section of the northern California coast.  It can be quite clear and warm and there are little to no tourists. 

This year it was just surreal.  When we were still packing the nuclear reactors in Japan were in full on melt down and while I expected some craziness in California I really wasn't prepared for the amount of shocked reactions from people who knew I was going away.  There was genuine concern from my neighbor who I almost never talk to except when I'm going away so they can keep an eye on the house.  "Aren't you afraid of radiation?"  was the question. Ummm, aren't you?  We only live 3 hours inland, do people really think if radiation levels are high enough to be concerned about in Monterey that we are going to escape it in Chico?  I think that freaked them out a bit because I saw them heading down to CVS not too long after that, probably to buy iodine and duct tape. 

Speaking of Iodine I read more than one article in which drug stores were running out of this 'precious' commodity in California.  Which made me wonder what the other west coast states were doing, if they were reacting with the same level of crazy door slamming after the horse has left the barn.  I was on vacation though and didn't care enough to look it up.  I was also too busy listening to my new Ani De Franco Album purchase, which is what I generally do when something big happens. Step 1: assess what I can do.  Step 2: Do everything I can do.  Step 3: Keep calm and carry on. 

We did actually get one very nice sunny day down on the coast.  It had been our plan to day trip down to Big Sur and pay for a massage/soak pass at Esalen,  I was really really glad I hadn't paid in advance because it turns out the road had crumbled into the sea sometime between 5 and 6pm the night before. Apparently it was just time, the road had had enough.  People said they noticed cracks earlier in the day, which kinda begs the question, "Why didn't anyone report it?"  Anyway it's going to be a while before they get that fixed and the 101 detour is long and a pain in the ass, so we spent the day in Carmel instead. 

The rest of our trip was ruled by rain which gave us the excellent opportunity of checking out hole in the wall thrift shops and eateries.  We were a half vegetarian group and while I have said it before I will repeat it.  Lighthouse ave has everything you need in the way of eateries for the meat lovers and the vegetarians and you will not break the bank.  If you want good food, stay away from the wharf.  That touristy crap will cost you an arm and a leg and will taste just like every other chain restaurant in America.

Back from holiday I took to bed sick for two days, immensely grateful that I hadn't gotten sick away from home, there's nothing worse than being sick away from home, except maybe having to drive home sick...yeah that's a bit worse. 

But I also returned to boxes of awesome from Black Phoenix Trading Post and Alchemy Lab.  Boxes filled with serious scents like Black Tower, The Bow and Crown of Conquest, Doc Constantine's Medicine Show and Cthulhu.  Cthulhu was really the only disappointment, while everything else smelled close to what I imagined I couldn't get my head around Cthulhu smelling exactly like fabric softener.  I had also ordered a T-shirt from their Neil Gaiman collection, The Vampire Tarot and while they messed that order up by sending me their monthly special shirt, their customer service more than made up for it, a replacement was sent right away and I was told I could keep the "oops" shirt.  I had a lovely couple of messages from whomever was handling shipping and really cannot speak more highly of their service and products.  If you like scents you will fall in love here, merely reading the descriptions had me absorbed for the better part of a morning. 

Aside from everything in my house now smelling excellent I am feeling a bit odd.  The world is in an odd place isn't it?   I'm terribly disappointed in our President whose promise of "Hope" has fizzled to something like "Suck it."  I'm not understanding why he finds it necessary for us to be involved in Libya but not as involved as we could be in helping Japan which will be cleaning up for years to come and needing clean water and food for most of that time.  Plus, it's winter there, it's flippin' snowing out and people are displaced.  But I'm really not surprised I mean we still haven't taken care of our own mess in the Gulf of Mexico and Haiti is, well, exactly the same as it was before if not worse. 

Which reminds me, a water walk is being hosted on Saturday by Bridging the Gap by Giving which I hope to be participating in, cheer me on! It's a good organization and has been doing a lot of good work around the globe, but has anyone noticed that water is the single most needed thing in all these areas of disaster?  I fear small organizations like this just aren't going to be able to cover it all, which is why I am looking up plans for roman -style cisterns. Why aren't people planning to capture and use as much water as possible?  I plan to begin digging up my yard this spring, hopefully I can get some decent stone masons in here to make the arches...offers? 

Anyway.  I'm still unpacking and probably will be for a while as there's work to be done, a lot of it.  

Song Saturday-Emancipate Yourselves From Mental Slavery

Waking up this morning to the news of reactors blowing on the island nation of Japan almost had me posting The Pixies' 'Wave of Mutilation' this morning.  It also had me making remarks about Godzilla, I think it's probably too soon for that though. 

However, I am a little bothered by trends I've been watching on line, in conversations on the streets, at coffeehouses in churches, etc.  I'm hearing two things that are really troubling to me.  They may not be troubling to you but let's find out. 

1. End Times- There have always ALWAYS been people predicting the end.  There was before the cult of Christ and there will be after.  Somehow it comforts people.  I think it does this in one of two ways.  For some people it helps keep them in line.  They may just barely have a reign on their moral reasoning and looking forward to some big finale keeps them "good" or whatever good is in their minds.  For the second group its a reason to party, hell everything's going to shit, why not?  Why not screw over my whole state. (I'm looking at you Gov. Walker) Why not keep Palestine in an 'Escape From New York' like lockdown?  The end is coming damn it!  I forgot a group, there are just the bat-shit crazies. 

But really in the past couple of years every single swivving time a natural disaster occurs, out come the megaphones and the biblical and Mayan support "evidence" that the time is drawing nigh, get ye to a kirkyard baby!- P.S. I really think the Mayans just ran out of room and were bloody done and figured they could start a new calendar anytime, we do it every year after all.  How were they to know they would be decimated? 

I don't think earthquakes happen because God or Gods and Goddesses want us to run out and worship them more heartily.  I think it's pretty well laid out scientifically how plate tectonics works.  And I know God works in mysterious ways, blah blah blah... In the song I chose today Bob Marley states "Some say it's just  a part of it. We've got to fulfill the book."  What the shit?  Why do you really believe that a loving parent would set up a disaster for us?  Or is it just possible that man, or satan or whatever boogey man you believe in whispered in some overworked monk's ear as he was transcribing, "don't forget this part, it's going to make things a lot more interesting."

 Think about this.  If your parents were mean angry punishing assholes would you live in their house?  Hell no, you'd hightail it outta there as soon as you could.  Conversely if your parents are kind, loving and give direction with the ability to make your own choices wouldn't you come home for Christmas more?  Of course.  Why then worship and angry punishing parent-god? 

It doesn't make sense.

But that's just me.   And before anyone gets their panties in a was and starts calling me a god-less heathen-pagan, I'll let you know I am decidedly a heathen-pagan but god-less, no.

2. The other thing that has been bothering me is that in the same span of time-the past couple of years or so, the Atheists out there have been becoming as vehement and angry and persecuting as the religions they claim to hate.  I have watched as numerous atheists call all believers in, well anything foolish, stupid, insipid, retarded, lovers of fairy tales.  I am wondering how that is helpful to their own belief (or non-belief) system.  If you have to name call, you should be looking inwards at why. 

I'll just say it.  Atheists you are getting ugly.  Clean up your act, so we can take your arguments seriously again.

Anyway the song I chose today is Redemption Song.  Why?  Because we all need it from the Atheists to the Crazies.  We need to cool it down, take a step back start thinking about what needs to be worried about, what can be done and work on the things we can. "Have no fear for atomic energy"  or anything else because really it is us we need to be afraid of and that is something we can do something about.

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.

Movie Picks for the beginning of March

Somebody asked me about movie suggestions so you all get subjected to hear about my picks.

At  House Rhuad we are in early spring, what that means is one can never really tell from one day to the next unless they have psychic barometric abilities if it is going to be kick-ass picnic weather or you need to run out in the early morning hours and turn off the sprinklers. So we have had some really nice days for strolling and working in the garden and generally kicking back taking in the clouds.  We have also in the same week had some cozy up to the fire days which posed a bit of a problem as my Cthulhu sweatshirt keeps getting stuck to the glass I now have a permanent imprint of the Dark Lord on my fireplace which is in a way ...kewl, and starts plenty of conversation.  It looks like this only a lot melty-er

Anyway here's my two must see movie picks of the week.  They were both surprises to me as nobody had recommended them and I had heard nothing about them

1. In Bruges- with Colin Farrell, Ralph Fiennes and a really under appreciated and excellent performance by Brenden Gleeson, a character actor best known for playing Mad Eye Moody in the Harry Potter franchise and a bunch of other supporting roles in which you probably didn't know who he was.   I say under appreciated because Colin Farrell received a BAFTA award for his performance in this which all things considered, he deserved but Brenden was the heart of the movie in my opinion.

Basic synopsis- Hit men hiding out in Bruges awaiting next assignment.  The story is dark comedy and a British to boot, so don't expect Fargo, but it has quite funny moments, watching hit-men site see in Bruges made me think of trying to get teens excited about visiting missions and haunted lighthouses.

2.  My second recommendation is from Canada and is called One Week.  If you're looking more along the lines of a feel-good movie without all the gooeyness this is it.  It is about a young man who finds he has stage 4 cancer and his decision to re-write his life on a road trip.  What I loved was it was realistic, no crazy love stories, no big-time glamour and glitz, just maybe what would happen to us if we decided to travel our countryside.  While I'm on that topic I loved seeing the Canadian countryside and his stops at roadside attractions just made me smile, that's my big thing too.

 It also raises the age old question "What would you do if you knew you were going to die."  Which is always a good conversation starter so if it's date night, pop this in, have the convo and decide now whether or not to move on, no sense in wasting time because here is the secret: You are absolutely going to die, we all are. 

Anyway I sincerely hope you have amazing outside time this weekend, but if you're on the fence about movies and haven't seen these give them a go and let me know what you think. 

P.S. no idea why I can't get the highlighting off of Cthulhu, the Dark Lord must need recongnition

Music Monday- The Unwelcome Guest

So yes, I decided to stay home this weekend.  And while I'm looking at pictures this morning of well groomed crowds out at state-capitols and large cities around the country in solidarity today I'm glad I did.  We have a short attention span in America and really it looks like everyone wanted in on this latest photo op.  I'm beginning to believe the words "The revolution will not be televised"  are truer than ever because anyone doing anything to change in one direction or the other will be too busy to be on t.v. or any other sort of a camera.  Busy, thinking, changing and doing.  It's the changing part I think that people are missing though, we're getting pretty good at doing.



Anyhoo, anyone heard anything about Arizona lately?  We have at Subversify. There was this article this week discussing Arizona House Bill 2582 http://subversify.com/2011/02/24/karma-arizonas-republitards/  come by and take a look. There's still work to be done and people are continuing to be marginalized.  

It has me thinking, a revolution of any sort in our country is going to be a dicey and difficult thing to accomplish, our country is just too bloody big.  There are too many states that can and will do too many different things.  And just like any other county our military which the federal government relies upon to "keep the peace."  is made up of citizens.  The problem is they come from all over the country and their real, heartfelt allegiance is hard to figure.  We saw this problem in the civil war when brother was pitted against brother and Union soldiers defected to the Confederacy and vice versa.  How much bigger we have become since then. And how many different loyalties and separations are being born in the hearts of each person.  It's hard to account for.  

I don't think we'll see a revolution of the sort that we saw in Tunisia or Egypt which is why I think headlines like "Is Wisconsin our Egypt?" are just stupid. No it's not, it's our Wisconsin.

But it may be time to think about our country being smaller.  Just maybe....

In anycase I spent Saturday walking the streets of my town, just getting out and seeing how people were feeling here.  It had snowed a couple of days before and Saturday it was sunny if crisp, but the sun in the early spring always brings people out.  Usually it brings smiles too.  However not this Saturday.  People were on-guard.  There were glares, suspicious glances at street peddlers.  Off handed cussing with families in the car by overworked and aggravated fathers.  In our own neighborhood there has been a rash of burglaries and down the street there is a rumor that some guy in some car keeps trying to pick up kids from around the school.  No real description is given, which to me is indicative of just fear.  Fear produced by the ongoing parade of media and the very real problems around job loss and poverty. 

Anyway when thinking about the unrest we have here, the inability to help our own, to elect officials who want to be helpful or even to recognise the good from the bad, I thought of this song, penned by Woody Guthrie and put to music by Billy Bragg and Wilco. 

The Unwelcome Guest.  -It may be that we need some outlaws just now, and not the kind from t.v., the real ones-




To the rich man's bright lodges



I ride in this wind


On my good horse, I call you


My shiny black Bess


To the playhouse of fortune


To take the bright silver


And gold you have taken


From somebody else

And as we go riding


In the damp foggy midnight


You snort, my good pony


And you give me your best


For you know and I know


Good horse 'mongst the rich ones


How oftimes we go there


An unwelcome guest


I never took food


From the widows and orphans


And never a hardworking man I oppressed


So take your pace easy


For home soon like lightning


We soon will be riding


My shiny black Bess


No fat rich man's pony


Can ever overtake you


And there's not a rider


From the east to the west


Could hold you a light


In this dark mist and midnight


When the potbellied thieves


Chase the unwelcome guest


I don't know, good horse


As we trot in this dark here


That robbing the rich


Is for worse or for best


They take it by stealing


And lying and gambling


And I take it my way


My shiny Black Bess

I treat horses good


And I'm friendly to strangers


I ride and your running


Makes my guns talk the best

And the rangers and deputies


Are hired by the rich man


To catch me and hang me


My shining black Bess

Yes, they'll catch me napping one day


And they'll kill me


And then I'll be gone


But that won't be my end

For my guns and my saddle


Will always be filled


By unwelcome travelers


And other brave men


And they'll take the money


And spread it out equal


Just like the Bible


And the prophets suggest


But men that go riding


To help these poor workers


The rich will cut down


Like an unwelcome guest

Planning for the Revolution

One of the biggest blocks I am blaming for my lack of writing lately is overload.  I know in some ways it's a cop-out  I could after all be focusing on my ongoing and dust collecting collection of fantasy which actually screams at me from time to time. 

And if your fantasy characters have never screamed at you, you must be a more focused writer than me,  mine tend to knock me awake in the middle of the night and bid me to get out of my cocoon of warmth in order to tend to their stories.  Honestly they are contributing to their own neglect by keeping me up at weird hours shivering at my desk, but that is besides the point.  I COULD be writing them, they have not much to do with overload, but I'm not.

Much.

Instead I'm blaming overload.  And I think it's a solid scape goat.  Take for example the article I submitted last week on Bradley Manning.  I thought I would do a quick update on what the fuck is going on with his case and quickly found myself down a swivving rabbit hole with no end in sight.  There was just SO MUCH to cover.  And that's just one story.  Never mind that it led to me posting an erroneous picture of him that I had to retract.  (Thank you very much couragetochange.org- and I'm not being snide, I mean it.  Thank you.)  It also brought to my attention numerous organizations that are trying to do good works and working against the tide like couragetochange.org. which if I had time I would love to ask more questions of.  Especially given they had their Paypal acct. frozen, then unfrozen all within a 24hour period due to their diligence in getting the word out about abuses and the buckling behavior of Paypal. 

Paypal is another place that deserves some investigation.  Those online bankers who when they started seemed so Internet friendly but buckle so quickly to government pressures as well as other special interests.  Who the hell is Paypal and what are they going to do with everyone's banking info...have you thought about that? 

Then there's Wisconsin.  I'm intrigued and confused and conflicted about the whole thing.  I need to know more.  And so do you really.  We all do.  Edward-Yemil Rosario did a nice little write up this week comparing the situation to bad porn at Subversify you should come by and read it.  But lately I  have not been impressed with unions.  Nobody else I know is either.  This stems from the fact that unions in California are doing exactly nothing that I can tell other than collecting undeserved money and giving out slightly discounted tickets to Disneyland.  In fact when I asked someone if they wanted to go with me to Sacramento to cover the "let's show allegiance to Wisconsin demonstration" (I made name up, I'm sure there's an official name but I'm feeling lazy) I was told, "Hell no, fuck the unions, they have not answered any of my letters from the past 5 years." 

I tried to explain this had nothing to do with unions here, but rather the fact that Wisconsin's governor is an ass. And maybe we should be supporting unions that DO want to do the right thing.  Anyway I'm terribly unclear about the union involvement altogether, which in part is why I wanted to go.  We'll see. I spent the last two weekends in Sacramento and I'm not sure I want to go down there again this weekend.  And no it was nothing as exciting as covering or writing about anything.  It was all about service.  Community and individual. 

Which I think is another hold up.

There is too much to do.   Too many people need help just with fecking food.  Hell, I carried 500lbs of beans back from the state capitol to feed the hungry.  Are these hungry people going to be stopping work to support something in Wisconsin?  Should they be?  I don't know the answer to that.  I really don't.  I just feel grateful to not have to worry about where my meals are coming from and have an opportunity to give to others.  I can't imagine what it's like to have to chose, do I strike now?  Or hang on because my family is hungry. 

And all this is just my little corner or the world.  The bigger picture is we have growing unrest across the globe which is the harvest of the seeds we have planted.  Really, we shouldn't be shocked, but we like a show so we get lots of shots of shocked and crying people.  But why aren't we prepared for this? 

Which in a way helps me with my dilemma...Maybe instead of marching on the state capitol of California,my time would be better spent at home, heading out to farmer's market with my $50 which is what gas would cost to get down there and making some soup and planning my garden.  Because when all these marchers come home, whether they win the fight or not, they're going to need to eat.  And someone has to plan for that.  Might as well be me.

New Blog for the Day

So an hour and a bent and pulsing shoulder later I think I am starting to figure out this Blogger arena, which is not as complicated as I first figured.

However I do like to just sit down and write so figuring anything is a pain in well...numerous body parts.

You will notice you can now follow me on twitter which is cool if you like random insults mixed with what I feel passes for wisdom for that day, which could be anything from good to horridly bad.

You can also follow Subversify Tweets, which you should as it will keep you updated on our collective wisdom and upcoming articles/events. One of the most exciting of which you will also now find on my blog, Subversive radio, thanks to staff member Astra Navigo for spearheading and making happen. We will soon have inteviews and other spoken word up.

In case you aren't familiar with our E-Zine which is possibly the best in cyberspace it can be found at http://www.subversify.com/ or just follow the myriad links I have on the page.

Enough from me today, I am now going to go figure out how to use my new voice recognition technologie on my phone which is supposed to translate all my ramblings to blogs, so we shall see...

G'Night All.