Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Only One Point?!!
I was surprised by the outcome of the Wolves-Boston game on Friday. The NBA's best team, playing at home, beat the worst team by... only one point?!
Gotta give the Wolves credit! The celtics are 34-7; the Wolves are 7-35. Literally. And the game was that close.
Go Wolves!!! :)
I Own Snowpants!
If you know me, you will be surprised to learn that I own snowpants. You will try to remember a time - since I was about 12, anyway - that I was outside doing something more than skating or playing broomball, and you will come up blank. And as you think about it, you'll be pretty sure you have not seen me on a frozen lake or pond in recent years. I just returned from two days out in the cold with 160 6th graders at the environmental learning center at Eagle Bluff. For the occasion of standing for 2 hours on a 30-foot-tall platform on a high-ropes course helping kids navigate from one challenge to the next, I utilized my new warm jacket, insulated boots, snowpants (with two layers under them) big mittens AND gloves, which I switched off (the gloves were better for clipping carabiners) and a warm hat. It was below zero for most of the morning, but I was just fine. (And shocked to be so!)
I am reasonably sure that I have not worn a winter hat since my dog died in '04 and I no longer had to walk her in the cold. Which means I have not been out in the cold for more than 10 minutes at a time in the last few years... but even though it was below zero for most of the time we were up there (oops, down there) we all had a great time.
One funny moment: as we began our night hike, we walked down a steep hill toward the path. The kids figured out that they could slide down on their butts just as well as walk - and all I could think was: "yay for snowpants!"
On Obama
In his analysis for the LA TImes, James Rainey explains much better than I can why an Obama win really matters to some people. Having a president who looks like you is symbolic in many ways:
Rainey, talking to voters in South Carolina, found that: "On Saturday, black schoolteachers talked about how an Obama in the White House would motivate students who complain that the deck is stacked against them. Parents hoped it would help them keep distracted sons on the straight and narrow. One woman said she felt it might even push those Confederate flags, occasional dots on the piney landscape, a little farther into the shadows."
It's the potential result of having a black president that excites people. And I don't disagree. For my students, and my friends, this is a big deal. I think I have the same reaction in wanting Hillary Clinton to win. If she wins and does well, it has the potential to shatter the last myths about what women can't do - which impacts me personally.
Rainey noted that: "Most of the Obama voters expressed no animosity for Clinton. "If she can win, that would be big, too," Chandler said." That's how I feel about Obama.
Either way, America wins.
Rainey, talking to voters in South Carolina, found that: "On Saturday, black schoolteachers talked about how an Obama in the White House would motivate students who complain that the deck is stacked against them. Parents hoped it would help them keep distracted sons on the straight and narrow. One woman said she felt it might even push those Confederate flags, occasional dots on the piney landscape, a little farther into the shadows."
It's the potential result of having a black president that excites people. And I don't disagree. For my students, and my friends, this is a big deal. I think I have the same reaction in wanting Hillary Clinton to win. If she wins and does well, it has the potential to shatter the last myths about what women can't do - which impacts me personally.
Rainey noted that: "Most of the Obama voters expressed no animosity for Clinton. "If she can win, that would be big, too," Chandler said." That's how I feel about Obama.
Either way, America wins.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Post from Eagle Bluff
I just returned from two days out in the cold with 160 6th graders at the environmental learning center at Eagle Bluff. I want to say "up north" but it's actually south of here. We had a BLAST - but it was an adventure in more ways than one! And although I did have an internet connection and my laptop, I didn't have time to post.
The picture here shows Brenda standing on the platform of the high-ropes course that I was on for most of the morning, helping students navigate through the challenges. I took the picture from another one further along. I'm not afraid of heights, so being up there was actually pretty fun.
The interesting thing about the ropes course is that it's full of choices - you can go the easy way, a couple middle-level options, or complete the challenge and go all the way. Kids do whatever they can handle. It is not my habit with physical challenges to go for the max, but I did on this one and finished the whole course - just to entertain the kids. This was a classic case of doing something "for the kids" that I was not so excited about, and finding that it was actually entertaining for me as well.
Big Brother Goes to Court
I'm glad to see that the Indiana law requiring a photo ID in order to vote is being heard by the Supreme Court. The more I think about it, the more inane this law seems! And yet I know it's quite the opposite - it's intentionally disenfranchising certain voters. There is a special place you-know-where for the perpetrators of this idea. There is no documentation of any voter fraud at polling places in Indiana - or Georgia or Minnesota, where leaders are trying to pass similar laws. The fraud comes at the vote-counting level, an issue this law doesn't pretend to touch.
But the League of Women Voters (LWV) has rightly jumped into the battle. If you're not familiar with it, the League is: "a nonpartisan political organization, [which] has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. It neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government." In other words, fols who care about the process and getting it right!
The League filed an Amicus Brief in the case, which (as I understand it) is a friend-of-the-court document from someone who doesn't represent either side, but has a relevant opinion in the case. According to LWV: "The brief points out that while those burdened by the Voter ID Law may be in the minority that does not change the fact that each individual has a fundamental right to vote." The League has documented several cases since the law passed in Indiana in which votes were either not counted, or people were simply not allowed to vote. (For example, although one can supposedly get a photo ID card for free, the birth certificate required to get it costs a fee. One woman found she would ave to spend $50 just to vote. Good grief.)
So YAY for LWV and people who care enough to step up and challenge those who would pervert our political process for their own selfish ends. Someone has to.
But the League of Women Voters (LWV) has rightly jumped into the battle. If you're not familiar with it, the League is: "a nonpartisan political organization, [which] has fought since 1920 to improve our systems of government and impact public policies through citizen education and advocacy. It neither supports nor opposes candidates for office at any level of government." In other words, fols who care about the process and getting it right!
The League filed an Amicus Brief in the case, which (as I understand it) is a friend-of-the-court document from someone who doesn't represent either side, but has a relevant opinion in the case. According to LWV: "The brief points out that while those burdened by the Voter ID Law may be in the minority that does not change the fact that each individual has a fundamental right to vote." The League has documented several cases since the law passed in Indiana in which votes were either not counted, or people were simply not allowed to vote. (For example, although one can supposedly get a photo ID card for free, the birth certificate required to get it costs a fee. One woman found she would ave to spend $50 just to vote. Good grief.)
So YAY for LWV and people who care enough to step up and challenge those who would pervert our political process for their own selfish ends. Someone has to.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Instead, We Should Ask...
A recent commentary by Rosa Brooks has the headline: "Can a Woman or Black Man Be the Next President?" Which of course I found annoying, but it did pull me in to read the article.
She not only makes a case that it CAN, but given the way America has changed in the last generation, she concludes with:
"Can a middle-aged white guy possibly be qualified to lead us into the future?"
She lays out some interesting statistics, including the fact that in 2006, less than 20% of older Americans (60+) were of color, compared with about 40% of younger Americans (under age 40 - I'm still there!) And she points out that the range of people of color is so much broader now, both in ethnicity and socioeconomic level, that the old black-white paradigm just doesn't fit anymore.
Thus, she asserts, questions like "would you vote for a black man for president" make no sense to the younger generation, because "black" is not a fixed notion for them the way it might have been in the past.
Food for thought!
A related aside - when I looked up her original piece in the LA Times, it had a different headline: "Sex, Race and Gen Y Voters" - I think it's interesting that the Strib changed it...
She not only makes a case that it CAN, but given the way America has changed in the last generation, she concludes with:
"Can a middle-aged white guy possibly be qualified to lead us into the future?"
She lays out some interesting statistics, including the fact that in 2006, less than 20% of older Americans (60+) were of color, compared with about 40% of younger Americans (under age 40 - I'm still there!) And she points out that the range of people of color is so much broader now, both in ethnicity and socioeconomic level, that the old black-white paradigm just doesn't fit anymore.
Thus, she asserts, questions like "would you vote for a black man for president" make no sense to the younger generation, because "black" is not a fixed notion for them the way it might have been in the past.
Food for thought!
A related aside - when I looked up her original piece in the LA Times, it had a different headline: "Sex, Race and Gen Y Voters" - I think it's interesting that the Strib changed it...
Monday, January 07, 2008
Big Brother No Longer Scares Us
I am so disgusted with Minnesota - we are seriously moving toward requiring ID to vote! People are so used to Big Brother that they don't even think about how completely unconstitutional such a thing is. One guy was quoted as saying that it bothers him that he is not asked for ID when he votes because: "I could be anybody" - as opposed to what? Why aren't we offended at the implication that there are people out there who don't deserve to vote?
Rep. Ellison had the good sense to note that it's a poll tax - an unconstitutional poll tax - all official forms of ID cost money!
Mary Kiffmeyer, (our former Secretary of State) on the other hand, shows her true colors with a great quote: "I assure you that applying for a photo ID is as easy or easier than getting on welfare or other social services." How the hell would she know? Has she applied for welfare? Does it cost money to apply for welfare?
And even if the state decides to waive the fee, does that make it OK to require citizens to bring ID? Yes, we have to pay taxes, yes, we register to vote, but photo ID? Oh come on.
People in the middle class think carrying and showing an ID is easy because they just do it. People who live in poverty don't have it so easy. When you move regularly, things get lost. When you have no extra cash, and no transportation, getting a new ID isn't so "easy".
I have worked as an election judge in a poor area of north Minneapolis - and will again this year. Folks move and don't know where to vote - we help them figure it out, but then they have to get there! And if they're not registered, they still need proof of address. All this - and now we add photo ID?
So what happens when this law passes? Lots of poor folks don't vote. This is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters - no different than all the shitty ways they did it under Jim Crow.
An old Jim Crow joke:
"A white man goes into the polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - the book, Run, Spot, Run - which he reads with some difficulty. The judges let him vote. Then a black man goes into the same polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - a Chinese newspaper. He hesitates. The men laugh and ask: what's the matter, can't you read it? He replies: oh yes, I can read it. Well then, what does it say? He responds: It says there won't be any black folks voting here today."
Mean people suck.
Rep. Ellison had the good sense to note that it's a poll tax - an unconstitutional poll tax - all official forms of ID cost money!
Mary Kiffmeyer, (our former Secretary of State) on the other hand, shows her true colors with a great quote: "I assure you that applying for a photo ID is as easy or easier than getting on welfare or other social services." How the hell would she know? Has she applied for welfare? Does it cost money to apply for welfare?
And even if the state decides to waive the fee, does that make it OK to require citizens to bring ID? Yes, we have to pay taxes, yes, we register to vote, but photo ID? Oh come on.
People in the middle class think carrying and showing an ID is easy because they just do it. People who live in poverty don't have it so easy. When you move regularly, things get lost. When you have no extra cash, and no transportation, getting a new ID isn't so "easy".
I have worked as an election judge in a poor area of north Minneapolis - and will again this year. Folks move and don't know where to vote - we help them figure it out, but then they have to get there! And if they're not registered, they still need proof of address. All this - and now we add photo ID?
So what happens when this law passes? Lots of poor folks don't vote. This is a blatant attempt to disenfranchise voters - no different than all the shitty ways they did it under Jim Crow.
An old Jim Crow joke:
"A white man goes into the polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - the book, Run, Spot, Run - which he reads with some difficulty. The judges let him vote. Then a black man goes into the same polling place to vote. They hand him a reading test - a Chinese newspaper. He hesitates. The men laugh and ask: what's the matter, can't you read it? He replies: oh yes, I can read it. Well then, what does it say? He responds: It says there won't be any black folks voting here today."
Mean people suck.
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Redefining "Refugee"
No update from Baghdad Burning since October... have to wonder how she's doing and keep praying! Here is an interesting excerpt from her most recent post:
By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.
[In Syria] We live in an apartment building where two other Iraqis are renting. The people in the floor above us are a Christian family from northern Iraq who got chased out of their village by Peshmerga and the family on our floor is a Kurdish family who lost their home in Baghdad to militias and were waiting for immigration to Sweden or Switzerland or some such European refugee haven.
By the time we had reentered the Syrian border and were headed back to the cab ready to take us into Kameshli, I had resigned myself to the fact that we were refugees. I read about refugees on the Internet daily… in the newspapers… hear about them on TV. I hear about the estimated 1.5 million plus Iraqi refugees in Syria and shake my head, never really considering myself or my family as one of them. After all, refugees are people who sleep in tents and have no potable water or plumbing, right? Refugees carry their belongings in bags instead of suitcases and they don’t have cell phones or Internet access, right? Grasping my passport in my hand like my life depended on it, with two extra months in Syria stamped inside, it hit me how wrong I was. We were all refugees. I was suddenly a number. No matter how wealthy or educated or comfortable, a refugee is a refugee. A refugee is someone who isn’t really welcome in any country- including their own... especially their own.
[In Syria] We live in an apartment building where two other Iraqis are renting. The people in the floor above us are a Christian family from northern Iraq who got chased out of their village by Peshmerga and the family on our floor is a Kurdish family who lost their home in Baghdad to militias and were waiting for immigration to Sweden or Switzerland or some such European refugee haven.
Here's My Excuse
My mother was giving me a hard time this fall about my choice not to get a flu shot - I never have - and my standard "why put anything into my body that doesn't belong there" response was not working...
But maybe this will: Kids in Nigeria, which has had a tough time eradicating polio, are contracting it from the vaccine. (Read more here.) I seriously suspect I would get the flu from the vaccine - rightly or not - and that's why I won't do it.
I have not taken a sick day for myself in my entire 15 year career (knock wood, praise the Lord - though I did take four for my kid in '02) and it seems to me that the way to keep it that way is to keep doing what I'm doing! (That's lots of water and sleep, if you're curious. :) So the flu shot is still not on my list.
But maybe this will: Kids in Nigeria, which has had a tough time eradicating polio, are contracting it from the vaccine. (Read more here.) I seriously suspect I would get the flu from the vaccine - rightly or not - and that's why I won't do it.
I have not taken a sick day for myself in my entire 15 year career (knock wood, praise the Lord - though I did take four for my kid in '02) and it seems to me that the way to keep it that way is to keep doing what I'm doing! (That's lots of water and sleep, if you're curious. :) So the flu shot is still not on my list.
No, Really, It's Just Fine!
I wear 3-inch heels most days - work and weekends. (I do not, however, wear pointy styles that scrunch up the toes.) People sometimes comment, wondering how I can stand to wear them, and I always say I prefer them and my feet are just fine.
Still, the truth about what women's shoes do to their feet is pretty gross...
Thursday, January 03, 2008
No Resolutions
Got a text from a friend asking about my new year's resolutions, and I replied that I have no specific resolutions - just an intention to live right!
Integrity.
Sometimes easier said than done, but so much more important than weight.
Integrity.
Sometimes easier said than done, but so much more important than weight.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
A Prayer for Kenya - and the Rest of Us
I got an email from a friend today asking for prayers for Kenya as it struggles in the violent aftermath of messed-up elections... and all I can think is that we had better all learn the lesson from this! In my mind, it's all about corruption.
Last summer, Vanity Fair published a whole issue devoted to Africa - including a really interesting article about Kenya by Binyavanga Wainaina, a native Kenyan. Its focus was on the crazy amount of corruption that goes on in Kenya. It was really interesting.
Coming from Minneapolis, the town of clean politics - because Hubert Humphrey cleaned it up back in the day - I have a strong sense that fair play is, really, good economics too!
Last summer, Vanity Fair published a whole issue devoted to Africa - including a really interesting article about Kenya by Binyavanga Wainaina, a native Kenyan. Its focus was on the crazy amount of corruption that goes on in Kenya. It was really interesting.
Coming from Minneapolis, the town of clean politics - because Hubert Humphrey cleaned it up back in the day - I have a strong sense that fair play is, really, good economics too!
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