Yes, All Politics Are Local

Little Merry Sunshine recently put up a post about how there is no escaping that fact that politics are local and that who you support might or might not impact your relationships with your neighbors. Now, her situation is a little funny. She has been blessed with a snow shoveling fairy throughout this horribly snowy winter. She also is likely the only progressive liberal Democrat in a neghborhood of true-blue Republicants. So, her wonder was if she put up a sign supporting her favorite candidate, if her neighborhods would take that as an affront to their conservative sentiments and perhaps cause her kind fairy to vanish into the ether.

Some dear readers might be going, "But, Goddess, it's just a stupid sign." But politics signs in the lawn or being held on the street corner are never just signs. I have seen them leading to yelling matches and, indeed, fisticuffs.

I have always believed that the politic lawn sign is incredibly passive aggressive. I find them lazy. Don't just throw a name at me, people. Why should I give a rat's ass that you support Joe Schomo? Come and talk to me! Tell me why! I might or might not agree with you, but hopefully, we will learn something from our interaction and go away better people. They are also incredibly invasive. If my neighbor has a sign on their lawn, I can't ever not see it. There is no respite.

Which is why I was so incredibly annoyed on Monday morning to come out of my house to discover my lawn had been signed. And not just my lawn, but every single lawn within at least a two block radius.

Democrat Eddie Washington is seeking reelection as the state representative for my district (#60). And it appears that one of his campaign volunteers decided that the best way to get my vote was not to knock on my door and chat with me or give me literature. NO! They felt the best way to win my vote was to trespass on my property and vandalize it. With a frickin sign. That was really hard to pull out of the ground. Dammit.

This signing strikes me as indicative of really bad judgement. As a political figure, Washington should make it clear to his volunteers that this kind of behavior is unacceptable in his campaign. So I will be calling to complain. I will likely be told that it was the work of an over-zealous campaign volunteer. But I also feel it important for Washington to know that this action has had a very negative impact on my feelings about his as my representative.

Open Letter to the Makers of Blue Bunny Dairy Products

Dear Wells Dairy,

I cannot begin to tell you just how pleased I am to have discovered your line of Light (spelled correctly!) yoghurts at a nearby supermarket. I am especially fond of the Light Superfruits, with such strange fruit combinations as white cranberry strawberry and pomegrante acai. I have not yet found one that I did not find singularly delicious, and with such a rich and creamy texture! And I am most pleased about what you don't put into it! No corn syrup and none of that nasty inulin that has become so popular with yoghurt makers lately. I know that inulin is a good thing for most people, being a natural fiber that promotes the absorption of calcium, but, frankely, it gives me the shits. And until I saw your product on the shelf, I had resigned myself to a life of eating only whole milk cream top Brown Cow plain yoghurt, because it was the only stuff I could find without inulin.

Sadly, our country's diet industry might have suggested I stay with the inulin fortified products, as artificially induced diarrhea is supposed to help with weight loss and the whole milk cream top stuff is obviously OMG high in calories, but I just couldn't do it. I have suffered in many attempts to be thin, and I will not do it through laxative yoghurts.

So, Wells Dairy, please keep up the good work!

Sincerely,
Me

You're The Mists of Avalon!

by Marion Zimmer Bradley

You're obsessed with Camelot in all its forms, from Arthurian legend
to the Kennedy administration. Your favorite movie from childhood was "The Sword in
the Stone". But more than tales of wizardry and Cuban missiles, you've focused on
women. You know that they truly hold all the power. You always wished you could meet
Jackie Kennedy.


Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

with thanks to Jennjer!

A New Meme

I got tagged again - this time it is the 5 things that are in my life that I never would have expected when I was 25.

It will help if I frame this discussion by saying that I was 25 in 1999. It was a momentous year for me. I quit my job as a journalist in northern Wisconsin and moved to Cambridge, MA, to being grad school at Harvard. That being said, this was still very difficult for me, as I realize I didn't have many expectations for my life nine years ago. Not really anyway.

1. I never expected to be working in academia as an administrator, let alone as a fundraiser. In 1999, I still had visions of myself as the brilliant professor or as the superstar academic book editor.

2. I never expected that I would be sad to realize that I feel like I missed out on my real career path as chef. I never even knew it was a career option. When I was younger, there were no chefs. There were only short order cooks working for minimum wage. I am too old now to start at the bottom of a restaurant and work my way up, but perhaps another path will present itself.

3. I never even dreamed that I would move back to the Chicago area, let alone start work for my alma mater. But I am glad I did. Chicago has become very cool, and my alma mater is getting its act together.

4. I never expected that there would come a time when I loathed the deep winter cold with every aching joint in my body.

5. I never would have expected that I would become comfortable with realizing that my presence in the world doesn't really make much of a difference. I'm not superwoman. I am not some big hero. Grand events will not happen in my presence. And I am ok with that.

I am not officially tagging anyone, but if you read this feel free to play along.

Prudie, I Love You!

The following is from slate.com ... and, frankly, I could agree with Prudie more!

Dear Prudence,

I'm 24, and I've been with my boyfriend for about 18 months. We were friends in high school, then met again after college, and started living together almost immediately. We have been talking about marriage lately, which I am beyond excited about; however, my boyfriend has informed me that I need to lose 20 pounds before he will propose. He claims that's the only reason he hasn't asked me yet. In his words, he wants "a hot wife." Am I crazy to think that unconditional and true love still exists? Everything else in our relationship is great. I don't want to walk away from something so wonderful, but this just seems a little ridiculous. Help!

—In Love With Mr. Vain


Dear In Love,

I have a plan that will make both of you happy. It begins with you starting on a new exercise program. Get a comfortable outfit and a pair of excellent workout shoes. Then put all your worldly possession in a suitcase, pick it up, walk out the door, and keep on walking.

—Prudie

Oh My God, How Did They Know?

You Are Thai Food

Trendy yet complex. People seek you out - though they're not sure why.

What Kind of Food Are You?

Yours Truly Really Is Going to Have a Stroke Now

So as some of you dear readers now, I have been having some health concerns lately, bad enough that I actually went to the doctor, something I almost never do. I was having numbess in my face and in my fingers and I was dizzy. I had also been battling a really awful probably sinus infection/sinus pain that I just couldn't shake off. I get to the doc's office and she is very concerned about the numbness and the dizziness, fearful that I have had a mini-stroke, not at all an unreasonable diagnoses considering my family history and the amount of professional stress I have been under lately. So she orders a gazillion blood tests, an echocardiogram, and a brain MRI, which - in her words - is the most conservative course of treatment. So she faxes off the referral form to the hospital, gives me a copy, and sends me off for a prescription for a major antibiotic and super hydrocortizone cream to deal with the hives the antibiotics are going to cause (I get hives from antibiotics). I call the hospital and get scheduled, thinking everything is just great.

Last week I got a notice from the hospital saying I was going to have to pay 20% of my MRI bill, or almost $800. I was freaked. But I can see finding a way to pay that off in a year.

Today, I got a notice from my health insurance that has me in a total panic. Someone somewhere did not tell the insurance company that they had referred me for an MRI and the insurance company is refusing to pay any of it. Not one dime of the $3500.

So I called my doctor to find out what the deal was, and I am waiting to hear back. Her MA had never heard of such a thing. Obviously, the hospital also did not contact the insurance company, although they had a copy of the referral form a week before the tests. And I am afeared I am about to get caught in between the evil medical red tape machines. I will, of course, file an appeal, but I hear from my coworkers that appealing to United Healthcare is like peeing into a wind storm. So I fully expect to be screwed. If so, please be prepared to attend at least one of Heather's Heinous Health benefits, donation in hand...

Here are some new slogans!

I Wish They All Could Be Gourmet Goddess Girls.

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi" method="get">Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator, for all your slogan needs. Get more Gourmet Goddess slogans.

Exceedingly Good Gourmet Goddess.

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi" method="get">Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator, for all your slogan needs. Get more Gourmet Goddess slogans.

and my personal favorite:

Unzip a Gourmet Goddess.

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/slogan.cgi" method="get">Enter a word for your own slogan:

Generated by the Advertising Slogan Generator, for all your slogan needs. Get more Gourmet Goddess slogans.

Update on Winter Holiday Insanity

So, for the gift, the gift that was driving me insane, I finally decided to to send two cookbooks - one on basic technique and another on the international slowcooker. I also threw in a couple of gingerbread men soaps, which I found adorable because they look like they are screaming in horror, summing up my feelings in generally about the holiday season. I just heard back that my next eldest cousin got the box, and was quite pleased and plans on enjoying the cookbooks. She also said that the gingerbread men caused some hilarity as no one knew if they were soap or chocolates and that, of course, no one was willing to take a bite of one and find out. I suppose, coming from me, that it would make sense that they were chocolate, but nope.

Anway, I won't see my holiday gifts until almost Chinese New Year, which is fine, as I much prefer to celebrate Chinese New Year. More fun, less stress, far better food, and spectacular entertainment all around.

I spent most of my holiday hermiting. I did work, and even worked on Christmas Day, but I also took several breaks, including trying to work only 8 hours a day instead of 10, and even - on a couple of days - coming home an hour or so early. See, I had a bad health scare and am under doctor's orders to rest.

About two weeks before Christmas, I had some numbness in my faec and my fingers, and I was also dizzy. Now, dizziness is a perennial state for me, but I thought nothing of it, but the numbness made me nervous, so I went to the doctor. She ordered an MRI and an echocardiogram for me, on the possibility that I might have had a mini stroke. She also gave me an antibiotic because I had horrific sinus pain and pressure. Anyway, it appears that the antibiotic did the trick, because the numbness is gone, although I am still congested. The other tests seem to be good. The echo showed I have the heart of a 20 year old (go fat chicks!), and I haven't heard back about the MRI, but I figure if something was really off, she would have clapped into hospital toot sweet. Unless, of course, they just can't find my brain.

Still, I now have some new worries, i.e., unpaid medical bills. Because, although I have ok insurance, I am still going to have over $1000 in bills to cover. Which is not anywhere in my budget, which is stretched to the max right now.

So, if you care to make a donation, let me know! Or, if you have a project I can help with that and are willing to pay me a small amount, or if you need a cooking lesson or your pantry reorganized, let me know. Cause I need the cash.

Damn Dog Tagged Us

So, Logan over at Boxer Rebllion put the tag on us to play along with this meme. We must reveal seven untruths about ourselves. So here goes...

Pele says:

1. I am not the most gorgeous, softest cat in the universe.

2. Squirrels respect my authority.

3. I never, ever knock things off the dresser when I want attention in the middle of the night.

4. I feel perfectly calm and at ease when human feeder #1 is in the shower.

5. I never cry when human feeder #1 goes to work as I am perfectly self-sufficient.

6. It is certainly some other evil cat who digs in the potted plants.

7. I am never frightened when the alarm clock goes off in the morning.

Leo says:

1. I am totally smart.

2. I mean it, way smart.

3. I don't like beer!

4. I enjoy the great outdoors, especially in winter time!

5. Someday, I will be able to go through the magical barrier and destroy that squirrel that taunts me.

6. I have fantastic depth perception.

7. Have I mentioned that I am very smart?

6.

Obesity is Not a Moral Issue

I've been promising for weeks now to post video of a speech I gave at my college's academic festival this fall. I was part of a panel on "women in the academy," and my talk focused on a study that came out this summer showing that obese girls were least likely to pursue higher education. Unfortunately, the video has never made it to me, and I think it likely it has gone into the ether, and so I will post the text of my speech:


In summer of 2007, Robert Crosnoe, a Sociologist at the University of Texas at Austin released a study that found that among all groups, obese girls were least likely to attend college. Using data collected on nearly 11,000 adolescents by the ongoing National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which started in 1994, Crosnoe showed that obese girls were 50% less likely to go to college than non-obese girls. Moreover, he found that self-rejection, self-hatred, in obese girls was 63% higher than for non-obese girls. He theorizes that girls are internalizing negative social feedback, which can often lead to low self-esteem, alcohol and drug use, failure in school, truancy, and suicidal ideation.

My reaction to the study was a “No! Really!? Fat girls don’t go to college!?!?! Fat girls hate themselves!?!?!?!” As blogger Kate Harding said in a post on Shakesville not long after the report on the study, “I'm sure that shocks exactly no one who's ever been a fat adolescent girl… after surviving the snakepit of high school, not many adolescent fat girls are bursting with faith in their abilities and worth as human beings. And that's without getting into the practical reasons not to go: that those who don't commute will be forced to live closely -- possibly in the same room -- with fat-hating strangers instead of their families; that dining halls involve the opportunity for all sorts of strangers to observe your eating habits; that too many colleges have molded chair/desk combos that fat people can't fit into comfortably or at all; that too many professors, being part of this culture, will assume that fat students are stupid and lazy.”

As an adolescent fat girl who is now an obese woman, it has certainly never been a secret to me that the obese, and especially obese girls and women, face extreme levels of stigmatization in a wide variety of situations. In recent years, obese individuals have been blamed for just about every societal problem one can think of – from the high cost of insurance to the high cost of gas. A September 20, 2007, CBS News report even blamed obese Americans for the growing divorce rate in America, stating, “…as the American waistline continues to expand, the length of the American marriage is shrinking.”

Obese individuals begin facing stigmatization at a very early age. A study conducted 40 years ago and recently replicated found that children reacted more positively to peers who had severe facial disfigurements or were missing a hand than they did to obese peers. In recent years, researchers have reported that obese individuals face as much if not more social stigma than drug addicts and criminals.

The situation is no better in the academic world, where, at least, one might think that one’s body would have no bearing on the strength or weakness of one’s intellect. This, unfortunately, is not the case. According to the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University in conjunction with the Obesity Action Coalition, “obese children are less likely to be accepted to college, despite equivalent application rates and academic achievement.” Research has also shown that obese students are viewed by their peers as self-indulgent and lazy. They are often excluded from social activities. Educators are shown to view obese students as untidy, more emotional, and less likely to have what it takes to succeed academically.

Stigmatization continues into the working world. No matter the level of their qualifications, obese job applicants are usually rated as having poor self-discipline and less ambition and productivity. They have a higher likelihood of being relegated to low-paying, low-status jobs that require no face-to-face contact. If they are lucky enough to be hired, they are less likely to be promoted in general and are rarely promoted to high-level positions. Obese women earn, on average, 12% less than their similarly qualified but non-obese peers. 17% of obese people have reported being fired or pressured to resign because of their weight (Rothblum, 1990). In 1999, Mark Roehling of Western Michigan University, while being interviewed about a study he conducted about obese workers, said, “One manager said to me, ‘There’s one kind of person I’d never hire – a fat girl.’”

If my reaction to the 2007 study by Crosnoe was essentially “no duh,” I was equally unsurprised at other individual’s reaction to the study. There was a smattering of genuine concern, a call to examine what high schools and colleges can do, as a matter of policy, to help obese girls not only attend college but be successful. Don Beauregard, co-chair of the National High School Association, said in Time Online, “…that part of the problem can be solved with greater awareness by administration and faculty about how obesity can affect high school kids’ emotional and academic lives, and with a willingness to work some of that understanding into the curriculum.” A majority of what I saw, however, were the stereotypical reactions of individuals coming from a society that often sends the message that obesity is a moral failure on the part of the obese person rather than a complex problem that has biological, environmental and behavioral components.

Some examples are in order. The Chronicle of Higher Education website, which had a small blurb about the study, also allows subscribers to provide commentary. “Bill,” a rather vocal commentator on the story, wrote, “A recent news item predicted that 75% of the population will be overweight by 2015, 41% will be obese. That comes from shoving food down your piehole.” A similar reaction happened on Rudd Sound Bites at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. At 7:58 pm on August 8, 2007, an individual identifying himself as David Specter commented on the study, “That sounds like a good reason to lose weight. Maybe parents should talk about this with their girls. ‘Shelly, honey, do you want to go to college and have a good future? Well, then, stop eating so much and exercise!” No one responded, but David couldn’t contain his moral outrage. At 8:03 pm, he commented again, “If you’re suffering emotionally due to weight bias, there’s a simple solution. Lose weight! For God’s sake, do you think parents say to their kids, ‘Don’t listen to those nasties who make fun of dirty people. You can be as dirty as you want, because you’re special?’ When society comes down on people it’s often for a damn good reason. Being overweight is unhealthy, unattractive, and immoral. If a person doesn’t take care of himself, how can he care for anything else?”

And it’s not just men who seem to have this reaction to obesity. Lauren Pearce, one of the “Cute College Girls” at collegehumor.com commented to an interviewer that her greatest fears are losing a loved one and getting fat. The interviewer then says, “What about losing a loved one to obesity, that’s scary,” to which Lauren replies, “Yeah, but no one in my family is obese, thank goodness.” The interviewer goes on: “I don’t get obesity. I think if I were getting really fat there would definitely be a point where I stopped eating.” Lauren again: “Yeah, I don’t understand it either, but I guess it’s lie [sic] any addition [sic]. But I would get off my ass and eat some fruit before I weighed 200 lbs.” I have a feeling that Ms. Pearce is probably one the 83% of college girls who reported in a 2006 study that they were restricting food intake in some fashion to lose weight, regardless of their current body weight.

Over and over again, the comments turn back to the obese individual, to the failure of the obese individual to police his or her eating, his or her unwillingness to take responsibility for him or herself, and, often, his or her stupidity. As Roehling said, “There is a deep, basic-level reaction to fat people, a belief that they could control being fat if they wished, but are too lazy to do anything about it.” In other words, there is a belief that the obese are inherently self-destructive, that their predicament is of their own creation, and that therefore society owes them neither compassion nor the opportunity to reach their full potential. Unfortunately, this reaction to the obese never translates into benign disinterest; rather, it translates into outright cruelty, teasing, put downs about everything from looks to intelligence, “dog fights,” calls for fashion designers to stop making nice clothing for the obese because, after all, if a fat person can wear something other than a mu-mu, it only enables them to remain obese.

As an adolescent fat girl who is now an obese woman, I realize that I am one of the lucky few who have managed to turn my adolescent self-hatred around, through time and hard work and sheer cussedness. And yet, I have faced my own more-than-fair share of stigmatization over the years – from my peers, in school, and in the workplace. It has been a terrible struggle for me to overcome external and internal prejudices; indeed, I struggle with these prejudices every single day. And if I had several “no duh” moments reading Crosnoe’s study, I also faced several all-too-familiar moments of great weariness and sadness when I realized there’s been so little progress in treating adolescent fat girls as worthwhile human beings during the 20 years it has been since I was an adolescent fat girl myself.

There may be, however, a light at the end of the tunnel. A study being released in the November issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that a history of being teased about being overweight was one of the strongest predictors of extreme dieting and later obesity among girls. When that teasing happened within the family, girls were at even greater risk for later obesity. The study’s lead author, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, professor of public health at the University of Minnesota, said, “We have seen over the years that it does not work to make people feel worse about their bodies. The data are striking — talking about weight, worrying too much about diet, focusing on it increases risk not only of eating disorders, but also of being overweight.” What should people do instead of teasing and taunting the overweight? Eat healthy yourself, exercise, be a positive role model, understand that the obese have just as much to contribute to our society as anyone else, and, above all, be kind and compassionate of the people around you, no matter their size. I, for one, will whole-heartedly welcome the day when those behaviors are the rule rather than the exception.

Christmas Shopping Is Pissing Me Off This Year

For Christmas this year, my family decided (why, I don't know) that the women were going to buy a generic women's gift (as if there is such a thing) and the men would buy generic men's gifts, upper price limit of $15, and then everyone would just draw numbers and pick a gift from the pile.

I hate this.

First, it is harder than hell to find a gift - a decent gift - for $15. Even if I bump it to $25, it is still rough.

Second, it goes against my nature. It has been heretofore the family tradition that we draw names and then find a suitable present for the name we draw. I rather enjoy this. I spend a lot of time thinking about the person and finding a gift unique for them. This buy a generic present thing is annoying. Hell, I don't even know what a generic gift for a woman might be! You can't buy clothes, as you will get the wrong size. You can't buy scent. You can't buy a spa day for $15 and under. Ideas, anyone? What is a secular humanist with neopagan tendecies supposed to do?!?

I am tagged, again...

Damn you, Sir Robin! I am not so interesting that I have 16 things no one knows about me.... But I am not tagging.

First, I must post the rules:

1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.

2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.

3. People who are tagged write their own blog post about their eight things and include these rules.

4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged and that they should read your blog.

5. Thou must post eight. Eight shall be the number of the posting and the number of the posting shall be eight. Nine shalt thou not post, neither shalt thou post seven, excepting that thou then proceedeth to eight. Five is right out. Once the number eight, being the number of the posting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Tag in the direction of thine fellow bloggers.

1. I don't eat a lot of red meat (not counting venison) but what I do like to eat, I like very rare.

2. I collect rocks. My friends actually bring me rocks from foreign countries for my collection.

3. I once fell in a hole on John Hughes' lawn (the film director) while walking to the beach at 2 am.

4. I like a little bit of coffee with my cream and sweetener. When I discovered that coffee milk was the state drink of Rhode Island, I was in heaven!

5. I adore mushrooms and plan to establish a mushroom farm in my basement.

6. My greatest fear is that I am a failure. I never said it was a reasonable fear.

7. I once gave my favorite stuffed animal from when I was a little girl to my first love. He was kind enough to return it when we broke up.

8. I once woke up and found a feather attached to my arm. I suddenly thought I was evolving wings, when all that really had happened was a feather from my pillow got poked into my skin.

100%ALCOHOLIC

You know, for someone who doesn't drink, I sure know a lot about alcohol...

Many Updates

So, the last few days have been very momentous. First an ice storm and today and snow storm - 6 inches they say and then bitter cold for a few days. Well, winter is here. It's only a matter of shoveling before bed or in the morning.

My mom had surgery yesterday. Total knee replacement. I talked with her this morning and she sounded groggy but mostly upbeat. Go morphine derivatives!

Leo is having a bad time. He has stopped tolerating the salmon food. I am now trying a turkey only, to see if he does ok on that. I know he likes turkey at Thanksgiving and it seems to work ok for him. Cost for this food - $40/month. If this doesn't work, we are on to the only non-prescription venison food out there - at $50/month. If that doesn't work, it may be the beginning of a slow decline for him, about which my heart is breaking.

Leokins is definitely my fur-child in ways that Pele is not. If things start going very badly for him, and he is in constant pain, I will have to make some very hard decisions. I hope we can stave it off for a while longer...

A Musical Meme - Young Americans by David Bowie

I got tagged! Damn you, Boxer! :P On the other hand, it is good to know you want to be hungry like a wolf when you grow up!

This are some funny results in here. Some songs that almost never come up on shuffle did. Som work. Others not so much... Hmm, who can I tag - Jenn, RedKemp, Sir Robin, Balancing Boyfriends...

The rules:
1. Put your music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT(this is in capital letters, so it is very serious.

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY? Sunday Bloody Sunday - U2 (so, I agree because we can be as one)
2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? O Death - Ralph Stanley (I am so not this depressive!)
3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Jump in the Line - Da Vinci's Notebook (spicy!)
4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? Break on Through - The Doors (well, I am doped out on turkey)
5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE? She Bob - Cindy Lauper (my life's purpose is to masterbate. Um, ok)
6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? Waist Deep in the Big Muddy - Richard Shindell (Let the forces of nature destroy the arrogant bastards!)
7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Moon Over Bourban Street - Sting (my friends think I am a bloodsucker?)
8. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS? Take It Easy on Me - Little River Band (self-explanatory?)
9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Paperback Writer - The Beatles (Aye, I do read a lot)
10. WHAT IS 2+2? Sweet Home Alabama - Lynard Skynard (wev)
11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Ramble On - Led Zeppelin (the girl of all my dreams, hmm?)
12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Moondance - Van Morrison (a good romance song!)
13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Dedicated to the One I Love - The Mamas and the Papas (This makes sense in a weird sort of way)
14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Bookends - Simon and Garfunkel (I want to get old and sit on a park bench - ok)
15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Stewball - Peter, Paul and Mary (I think about losing at the racetrack?)
16. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU? Straight Song - Verdell Primeaux and Johnny Mike (This one is in Lakota, I think - I have no idea what it is saying)
17. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Your Woman - White Town (hahahahahahahahahahahahaha - You know I saw my best friend yesterday. She said she never liked you from the start....)
18. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) - Journey (OH MY GOD!)
19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? Bad Company - Bad Company (*laughs* - well, I guess there aren't too many songs about cooking and food)
20. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? Prologue - Loreena McKennitt (hmmm - it is from an album called Book of Secrets)
21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Ventura Highway - America (laid back, sunny, California types?)
22. WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS? Young Americans - David Bowie

A Lawn Mowing Bandit?

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that someone had mowed the public grassy area in front of my house - you know, that little strip that runs between the sidewalk and the road. Coolness. I usually mow it, even though it belongs to the city. I figured maybe the city had done it while collecting yard waste from the fall. I thought nothing of it, and I ceratinly didn't mow the lawn in my front yard.

See, I like to keep my yard at about 3 inches, especially in the fall before winter hits, because I think the longer grass will surive winter better. I also don't use any chemicals, and I have some weird strain of grass that looks a bit scraggly at 2 inches beacuse it spreads out horizontally, not vertically, like most grass does. Unfortunately, most of the folks in my neighborhood like to keep their lawns at about half an inch, using tons of chemicals. Heck, some of my neighbors are out there working on their lawns every other day.

Now that it is practically December, I leave in the almost-dark and come home in the dark. But I noticed this morning that someone had actually come behind my fence and mowed my front yard. Down to half an inch. Yesterday. When it barely cracked freezing. So I am slightly annoyed that the lawn mowing bandit has mowed my personal property, against my wishes and feelings about organic lawns and preparing for winter. On the other hand, they did do a nice job of dealing with the evil grass that touches the evil fence.

I just hope that my grass doesn't completely die because of this late mowing. I guess I won't know until spring hits. Not that it really matters all that much as I am removing a lot of the grass in the front and putting in flower and herb beds. Frankly, the less lawn the better...

Days of Turkey Destruction

Well, miracle of miracles, I actually did get to travel home for Thanksgiving. The DOE only mildly messed with my travel plans, and I ended up only having to work for part of a day on Saturday. A big thanks goes out to my friend Donna, who let me borrow her employer's Internet connection so I could download all of my needed files.

I actually began my holiday on Wednesday, driving through the pouring rain to Bakers Square, where I collected the holiday pies. I then had to stop and get new wiper blades, as mine were, well, dead, and I needed to be able to see to drive north. I managed to leave Gurnee at 10 am, and made it to the family homestead about 4ish. There was little traffic, the weather cleared, and there were few cops on the roads. Bliss!

Thursday was a pretty restful day, actually, involving some food prep, but mostly the playing of cards and the looking at of dead deer. Yes, I was the happy recipient of a small milk-fed venison, courtesy of the mighty family hunters. A picture will be forthcoming of the poor little bambi without his winter coat. Dinner was terribly traditional, although I did spice things up by adding some Middle Eastern spices to our roasted root veggies. Mwahahahahahahahaha! We finished the evening with more card playing, and I won a whole sixty cents playing poker.

Friday was spent processing the bambi, which is no fun in near zero weather. It may be easier to make carpaccio when the meat is semi-frozen but it is definitely harder to butcher a body when it is semi-frozen. Still, working together we got it done and I went to my friend Donna's house to cook her family dinner and use her Intertubes.

The evening ended sadly, however, as a family friend had too much to drink and got a little out of line and was physically escorted to the door and ejected. I may be an ardent feminist, but after that little incident, I can certainly say that there are times when a display of brute male force is not only appreciated but needed. What could have been a major incident was dealt with posthaste, leading to only a bit of discomfort and the understanding that an intervention is needed.

Saturday, I worked in the morning, and the afternoon was spent handing out (tm), eating leftovers, etc etc. And I headed home early Sunday morning. Again, little traffic, good weather, and only a handful of cops. Bliss! The only things distressing about the drive at all were the leaking of a quart of milk in my back seat which I didn't discover until I got back home (yuck) and the excessive number of signs supporting Ron Paul.

Going home for me is always a bit of bitter sweet. I often feel like some sort of weird alien. There are several things that really strike me when I travel north. The first is the incredible poverty of the area. And it appears to be getting worse - that or I really am a pretenious middle class bitch, what with my radical independence, my education and my owning a house and my lack of a male partner, etc.

I am also struck by the incredible racism of the area. The anti-Latino sentiment is glaring, and, frankly, if I hear one more of my friends or relatives tell me the difference between "blacks" and "niggers," at least as it was explained to them by our white relatives from Alabama who I am certain are not considering historical context of the terms, I am going to puke. So much of the racism is rooted in ignorance and poverty. Unfortunately, trying to educate most folks in that area doesn't seem to work well. They are very proud of their ignorance; for many, it seems to be a mark of high character (and yes I know not everyone is that way, but there certainly are a lot of folks I interact with up there that are that way).

The rest of the racism is rooted in poverty. See, there is this feeling that poor whites in that area are losing everything to interlopers, who - of course - are non-white. I had a friend tell me her son would never be able to go to college because he was a white man and everything was stacked against him and all the scholarship money goes to "those Mexicans." What they don't realize is that, for centuries, they - the white lower class - were completely disempowered by the white patriarchal system. They were powerless. They had a lack of resources. And the only folks worse off than they were were minorities. Well, now that many minorities are working toward moving out of that lower class, the white lower class is feeling threatened, feeling like they are going to loose what little power and resources the white upper class allowed them to have. What I wish for is if they could get over this and realize that if everyone in the lower classes banded together (no matter the color of their skin) and worked to take power and resources away from the white upper class, they would be better off. As long as the white upper class can keep the white lower class and the minority class battling each other, they can keep getting richer, while everyone else gets poorer.

You know what?

Viva la revolucion!

Curried Wheat Berry Salad

My cousin living in New York has requested the recipe for this favorite cold salad. It's a very free form recipe as I have never actually measured anything, but it will get her close.

16 oz wheat berries
1 small package slivered almonds
1 package of golden raisins
1 bunch scallions
equal parts olive oil and lemon juice
1 T honey
1 T sweet curry powder
salt and pepper

Fill a large pot with water. Bring to a boil and salt the water, then add the wheat berries. Cook them until they are tender and then drain. Put in a large mixing bowl. Add in the almonds and golden raisins. Chop the scallions fine and add to bowl. In a smaller lidded container, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, and curry powder. Shake until mixed thoroughly. Pour dressing over the wheat berry mixture and then stir well. The salad is best if it is let to sit a bit, letting the flavors get all happy with each other. Since wheat berries can be hard to find, this is also a good recipe for things like barley or brown rice.

A Deer?

So as many dear readers know, I was supposed to start my vacation on Saturday, but due to the machinations of the US DOE, I am required to stay here until at least Tuesday. I truly hope to be able to head home on Wednesday morning, so that I can earn my deer.

See, I had made arrangements to be camp cook for deer hunting season this year, hoping to earn money and/or deer to help with the horrible debt I now owe as a result of replacing my 80+ year old roof. Needless to say, I will not be getting credit for the whole week of deer camp, but it looks like I will at least get something.

I had a message on my phone last night from mia madre - crackle crackle, static crackle "got" crackle "heart" crackle static "bring knives." And then dead air. See, they don't get good reception up there due to the huge copper deposit on the homestead, but guessing from the few words I could make out, I either have a deer to butcher when I get up there or my family has decided to become some sort of strange Aztec religionists and are planning a sacrifice in honor of the Thanksgiving Holiday.

So, yeehaw, I will at least have free protein for half the upcoming year! It's something anyway, although donations towards the new roof are gladly accepted.