How Counter-Productive Is This?

I was waiting at the local café for my Mocha Millie Latté (it was either that or a 2 hour nap) when this article in the Wall Street Journal caught my eye:

College students returning to campus in a few weeks will be greeted by steep increases in one of the few items they have been able to buy cheap: birth control.

For years, drug companies sold birth-control pills and other contraceptives to university health services at a big discount. This has served as an entree to young consumers for the drug companies, and a profit center for the schools, which sell them to students at a moderate markup. Students pay perhaps $15 a month for contraceptives that otherwise can retail for $50 or more.

But colleges and universities say the drug companies have stopped offering the discounts, and are now charging the schools much more. The change has an unlikely origin [Unlikely? Yeah, right.]: the Deficit Reduction Act signed by President Bush last year. The legislation aimed to pare $39 billion in spending on federal programs, from subsidized student loans to Medicaid. And among the changes was one that, through an arcane set of circumstances, created a disincentive for drug makers to offer school discounts.

This infuriates me on so many levels I don't even know where to begin.

1) If you want to reduce the number of abortions, women must have access to affordable contraceptives. I know that in the wet-dreams of so-called Christian fundamentalists, young people are abstaining from premarital sex, but in the real world that is not happening (nor should it happen, in my opinion. Sex in a loving relationship between consenting adults is healthy and normal.)

2) It is one more way that Americans are being forced to pay for endless war and line the pockets of the war profiteers. Real budget deficit reduction would mean ending the war and cutting military spending. Period.

3) A loss in profits that the deep discounts on contraceptives supposedly cause the big pharmaceutical companies? Yeah, right! Their greed and arrogance is breathtaking. Check this out:

At drug maker Organon, Nick Hart, executive director for contraception, says, "On the one hand, it's a tremendous disservice to our customers, our young women." But he says that providing low-cost access to young consumers has to be balanced with "our fiduciary responsibility. It puts us in an untenable position."

(Blogger wipes tear from corner of eye.)

I have no doubt that this was no accident. It satisfies the Christian Right's desire to control all aspects of women's sexuality and delivers a nice monetary gift into the laps of Big Pharma. As Mr. Ether says, when it comes to any of Bush's policies, simply follow the money.

4) Finally, I HATE the way the corporate media continually reports on this president as if anything he does has any credibility. (I wanted to call him a "fuckwad", but I refrained. It isn't very Quakerly.)

Read the entire article here.

Blogging: Slim to None

Well, actually more on the none side.

We leave tomorrow for an annual week-long camping adventure on a little island in Lake Michigan accessible only by boat, where only the tallest people (and that ain't me) can get a cell phone signal ...

I like to describe the wonder of this experience as Club Med, except no one serves you drinks in coconut shells with little paper umbrellas (unless we were to pack in our own and bribe the children to do the serving.) We go with a group, so we are on a cooking team responsible for dinner (faux pad Thai) for 50 on one night. Otherwise we show up with our dinnerware every evening, and food miraculously appears.

It's rustic: pit toilets, bathe in the lake, haul your water ... but once camp is set up, it is amazingly relaxing. And amazing sky-watching. Last year we watched the sunset and the moonrise simultaneously, and the Perseids meteor showers. Every clear night the Milky Way is breathtaking. These are things that I am so distanced from in my everyday life.

Essential gear for the week: good books, knitting, guitar, and hammock. Plus swimsuit, sunscreen, and shoes for hiking.

The big challenge this year will be keeping Georgia's (the dog) insulin cold all week. Still working on that one.

I'm sad that our eldest is choosing not to come this year, although she assures me that she will next year. And we're bringing our youngest's best friend, so that will be interesting.

I'm at the point in packing-procrastination where I look at the list and say, "I don't really want to go. Let's just stay home for a week." But that's not what I really want. This week is truly one of the highlights of every year; I can't believe it's almost here!

More on Conyers and Impeachment

My friend PoodleDoc, in comments on my last post, reminds me that it is important not to make Rep. John Conyers the lightning rod for all anger and frustration with BushCo and the Democrats' relative inaction. And he's right.

Ruth Coniff, regular contributor to The Progressive, has a column about it where she speaks to Nation writer John Nichols. It is worth reading.

However, I still believe that impeachment is the cure for the last 6 years and that it is imperative to keep the pressure on our representatives to move forward with real efforts to hold the despots accountable. Go here to send a message to Conyers and the Judiciary Committee and here to contact your representatives and strongly suggest they sign on to H.R. 333, the bill to impeach Dick Cheney. You might also want to contact your senators (and Harry Reid) and strongly suggest that they support Feingold's call for censure on multiple counts. Read John Nichol's article in my previous post to find out why censure may be significant.

Thanks.

I*M*P*E*A*C*H

John Nichols speaks out on Russ Feingold's motions to censure Bush and Cheney:

There is every reason to be enthusiastic about U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold’s decision to ask the Senate to consider a pair of censure resolutions condemning the President, Vice President and other administration officials for misconduct relating to the war in Iraq and for their repeated assaults on the rule of law.Indeed, as the movement to impeach Bush and Cheney attracts more support with each passing day, Feingold’s resolutions should be seen as evidence that the essential American principle of presidential accountability is finally being put back on the table by responsible members of Congress. Read the rest.

Cindy Sheehan completed her trek to DC, and was ultimately arrested in Rep. John Conyers' office where she and others first attempted to speak to him about putting impeachment back "on the table", and then in frustration began a sit-in. As I read about this I thought, "Conyers had them arrested?! For conducting a sit-in??!" Yes, indeed.

If Rosa Parks had lived two years longer, what happened today in the halls of Congress might have killed her. It certainly would have broken her heart.

Rep. John Conyers, venerable member of Congress, finally chair of the House Judiciary Committee, a man who worked with Parks in Alabama and then hired her on his staff after he won election to Congress in Detroit, today had 48 impeachment activists, including Gold Star Families for Peace founder Cindy Sheehan, Iraq Veteran Against the War activist Lennox Yearwood and Intelligence Veterans for Sanity founder Ray McGovern, arrested for conducting a sit-in in his office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Read the rest.

David Lindorff, the author of this article asks some good questions about citizens' right to protest and the intent of the framers of the Constitution.

Rep. Conyers wants to see the Democrats "win big" in 2008. I think that the way they are going, not only will they not win the presidency but they will lose their slim majority in Congress. Do they not understand how angry the American people are?

So there you have it: one senator making tentative moves toward doing the right thing and a member of the House rolling over and peeing on himself -- again.

It's not easy being rich ...

A few days ago I posted about the über rich, with their 5-story yachts and private submarines. You think those people have it good? Well, think again. This little piece of news just caught my eye when I was reading Harper's Weekly:

It was reported that during intercourse the owners of private submarines are sometimes troubled by peeking dolphins.

I hate when that happens!

What the Cat Dragged In or Mr Ether, My Hero

We've had these cats -- Feather and Daisy -- for 7 years, and we've always suspected that they aren't really cats at all, but aliens from a distant planet. They are so weird and un-catlike. They have always been indoor cats, but this summer they took an interest in sitting just outside the door soaking up the sun. How sweet, I thought.

Well, they must have gotten a communiqué from the mother ship to discover their inner cats, because this morning both cats were so naughty. Daisy took off down the street and wouldn't come back; she kept putting her ears back and trotting away from me. And Feather caught a mole, which she brought inside and released in the basement; I think she thought it was a new variety of yummy bug although she didn't seem to know what to do with it.

I was going to pretend that there wasn't rampaging wildlife underneath me, except that every time the cat would catch it, the mole emitted a high pitched electronic sounding noise. I guess that moles must use a form of echolocation, like bats, which actually makes a lot of sense.

So I descended into the basement and bravely yelled, "Ed, Ed, I see the mole! There it is! Bring a container down here to trap it" and then I courageously said, "There it is! Get it! Get it!" while I heroically climbed onto a chair just so I wouldn't be in the way, and then boldly asserted, "Awwwww, it's so cute ..." as he swiftly popped the Tupperware over the mole.

And it was cute. Feather thought we were just joining in her game, but to her chagrin the mole was taken outside and released. And I don't care how much they beg; those cats are not going outside again.

"Same As It Ever Was"

No line of Quaker action figures would be complete without bend-o-matic David Byrne with patented arm chopping motion. It's a once in a lifetime offer!

Trickling Down

America's super-rich have returned to the days of the Roaring Twenties. As the rest of the country struggles to get by, a huge bubble of multi-millionaires lives almost in a parallel world. The rich now live in their own world of private education, private health care and gated mansions. They have their own schools and their own banks. They even travel apart - creating a booming industry of private jets and yachts. Their world now has a name, thanks to a new book by Wall Street Journal reporter Robert Frank which has dubbed it 'Richistan'. There every dream can come true. But for the American Dream itself - which promises everyone can join the elite - the emergence of Richistan is a mixed blessing. ["Mixed blessing??!!" the blogger says, incredulously.] 'We in America are heading towards 'developing nation' levels of inequality. We would become like Brazil. What does that say about us? What does that say about America?' Frank said. Read the rest, if you can stomach it.

Private submarines? 5-story luxury yachts? This disgusts me. The only thing that trickles down is the golden shower as they piss on the poor and middle class.

The Librarian

Yesterday I went to the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin and signed my life away; I officially enrolled as a Masters candidate! It was the next step in a journey that started way back when I was very young, walking to our old "downtown library", holding my dad's hand, and giving Dr. Seuss' Happy Birthday To You and Where the Wild Things Are to the elderly lavender-haired youth services librarian for check out.

It continued through elementary school with Miss McCarthy, the librarian at Randall School, who was really grumpy, but nevertheless allowed multiple serial check-outs of The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes, Pippi Longstocking, and Little House in the Big Woods. (Miss McCarthy just didn't like us 6th graders using the 8mm film viewer to watch Walt Disney's The Lemming Migration over and over, forwards and backwards -- but it was so life-affirming to watch the lemmings jump back UP onto the top of the cliff!)

And so on. I've been taking classes for the last 5 years to become a school library media specialist , and last summer decided I would go for the gold ring: the MLS. (angels descend, celestial harps play) But in any good quest, there are adversaries ("Here there be dragons.") My first test yesterday was to get the crabcake secretary to authorize me to register for the seminar I plan to take. She informed me "You have to take these 5 basic courses before I'll authorize you for THIS one!"

But I have a fairy godmother -- an advisor with whom I've been in communication for the last year, who seems to like me because a) I've got lots of teaching experience already, and b) she was my husband's 6th grade English teacher and he was such a good, sweet and creative child. (She said something like that.) So SHE authorized me for the course I want and I'm on my way.

But what all this is leading up to is that I wanted to link to this fantastic essay by Garrison Keillor, which appeared in a lot of papers today. It's a sign that the omnipotent lavender-haired library goddess is smiling on my journey.

Pass the Popcorn

We went out to see a movie last night. I'm a tough film-goer to please (i.e. stubborn, opinionated, judgmental, dogmatic, and snobbish.) In fact, I've all but stopped going to movies -- or even watching them at home -- because I fear and resent disappointment. So it is such a pleasure to come home and feel that both my time and money have been well spent, that I haven't been shamelessly manipulated into feeling something for characters who are totally unbelievable or unlikeable, and that my intelligence wasn't insulted.

No, we didn't go to Harry Potter. We saw Mira Nair's The Namesake. Like all of her movies, it explores the straddling and melding of Bengali and American culture. This one is about a family living in New York City; the Indian-born parents and American-born children and specifically the drama around the oldest son who has the unlikely name of "Gogol."

It is a beautiful and loving portrayal of a family. If you have a chance to see it, I highly recommend it.

Forgiveness, Compassion and Peace

Friends, please read this and then this.

I wonder what the world would be like today, had the official and popular response to the 9/11 attacks been different. What if the follow-up had been a principled look at the real roots of terrorism, and the action taken had been in the spirit of Greg Mortenson's work, for example?

Yeah, I know that Osama bin Laden had/has an agenda, and I don't think it's a whole lot different than the NeoCon agenda. Its success is dependent on a large pool of people, mostly young, who don't have much hope or opportunity for education or a comfortable future. Young people, like this would-be suicide bomber, like the U.S. troops in Iraq, are the pawns in this "destabilization=huge profits for a small minority" game.

Shortly after 9/11 it was dismaying to see the number of thoughtful, educated, normally liberal-minded people who supported military action in Afghanistan. As if war ever solved anything. Ever. Ever. As if one couldn't see what the future was going to hold for that invasion. I remember one columnist -- Ted Rall -- wrote something like, "We can't just turn the other cheek!"

Well, why not? What has 5+ years of this madness accomplished? How could any thoughtful person have believed that putting your trust in BushCo, the Pentagon and the CIA was a good idea?

I also remember hearing on the radio a father whose daughter was killed in the 9/11 attacks. He said something to the effect of that the U.S. should use our military to fly over Afghanistan and drop ... food, medical supplies, educational supplies. No bombs.

What would the world be like today?

CINDY SHEEHAN ROCKS

Cindy has more integrity in a fingernail paring than most of Congress put together.
And don't tell anyone, but Chris Matthews is a wienie.

What's the weirdest thing on your kitchen counter?

I'm finally getting around to doing a much-procrastinated chore: oiling our countertops and I'm finding some interesting things (given my habit of creating impromptu museums on every available flat plane.) I have an ostrich egg on my kitchen counter. What's on yours?

Sunburned Shoulders, Strong Legs

As was touted in a video I posted a few weeks back, our city is blessed with myriad bikeways. With a few exceptions, you can get almost anywhere on designated bike/pedestrian paths in about the same amount of time it takes to drive a car. Sometimes less, depending on traffic! Recently my routes have taken me along lakeshore, river and creek, past a Cajun music festival, under bridges and through old rail underpasses, not quite over the river and through the woods but almost. And this is all within 5 miles of my home!

Getting places under my own steam is a real joy. I ride an English 3-speed, which I figure to be about 60 years old, and it's just about perfect. My bike mechanic tells me that for $500 he could totally overhaul it: rebuild the hub, replace the wheels with lightweight aluminum, make it a lighter and faster bike overall. It's tempting; maybe if I come into some extra money someday. Until then I'll just keep on doing what I'm doing. It's one of the pleasures of not-winter.

Everything Is Music

Don't worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it doesn't matter.

We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.

The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world's harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing.

So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.

This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.

Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge
of driftwood along the beach, wanting.

They derive
from a slow and powerful root
that we can't see.

Stop the words now.
Open the window in the center of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.

(Jaluddin Rumi, 1250s; translated by Coleman Barks)

Happy Birthday!

To my favorite veterinarian and good friend, PoodleDoc. Go wish him a happy birthday. He might share his potato abundance with you.

(Don't you just love the look on the dog's face? "Just don't let the bearded guy insert the thermometer!")

The Secret Is Out (Sort Of) ...

... in a Business Week article titled Bloggers Bring In the Big Bucks. "Oh, no ... I'm OUTED!" I thought. "I'd better quick do some damage control!" So here is the truth about where this blogger's big bucks come from. Sshhh. I spend 10 months of the year tying shoes and wiping snotty noses. Yes, that's it! The champagne and caviar life of a blogger! Bwahahahahaha!

Theocracy? No Thanks! pt 2

I missed the most recent "Blog Against Theocracy" swarm, but anyone who is concerned about this issue should go here and read John Nichols' excellent column, published in response to the "Christian" outcry over a Hindu prayer offered this week in the U.S. Senate chambers.

Let's Play!

(Warning: This post contains irreverent sentiments toward an organized religion or two.)
This headline caught my eye this evening:

Wal-Mart To Test Bible Action Figures In 425 Stores

We've got something way cooler than that at our house -- Mormon action figures! Captain Moroni, Samuel the Lamanite ... they belong to Mr. Ether. Really. A few years back we were in Salt Lake City where my brother somehow ended up living. Mr. Ether was on a "mission" to buy Mormon refrigerator magnets, so we stopped at a Deseret Bookstore. (That's an LDS bookstore chain.) He went in while we waited in the car. And waited. And waited. Finally I went in looking for him, and there he was stocking up on action figures! He was pretending to be a concerned Mormon dad buying wholesome toys for his lovely children. I think I blew his cover when I burst out laughing and said something like, "What the -- Why are you buying THOSE???" Captain Moroni disappeared for a while -- we think he went on a mission -- so we had to have my brother mail us another one.
(Check out Brother of Jared's glow in the dark stones ... COOL! I wonder if they're peep stones.)

I've grown to appreciate our LDS action figures. They're great ice-breakers at parties.

I'm waiting for the Quaker action figures. George Fox, with a battery-operated Light within! William Penn with a removable sword ("He wears it as long as he can!") Margaret Fell with interchangeable plain and fancy dress. And they all feature patented "Sit-in-Silence" technology. Made from recycled materials, Fair Trade, and available only at independent and locally owned bookstores.

Jo-ji Channels Marie Antoinette

"I mean, people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room."

Did you know I support impeachment?

After Downing Street is an excellent source of information, inspiration, and (dare I say it?) hope.
This is what our representatives/candidates need to hear:

Open Letter to the National Democratic Leadership

By davidswanson

Created 2007-07-17 12:35

By Dan Monte, California Democratic Central Committee

The 2008 elections are the distraction, not impeachment.

Impeachment is not a distraction for our military that sees our once invincible force being destroyed. Impeachment is not a distraction for the families of the 380,000 soldiers and private mercenaries that are occupying Iraq. Impeachment is not a distraction for the families of the 6,000 who have died in Iraq, American and coalition forces and mercenaries. Nobody asks anymore of the many who have died in Afghanistan. Impeachment is not a distraction for the families of the nearly 1,000,000 dead in the Middle East because of this administration. Impeachment is not a distraction for the 100s of millions of people that
this administration is threatening with aggressive war.

Impeachment is not a distraction for the millions whose votes were not counted or who were kept from voting in the 2000 and 2004 elections. Impeachment is not a distraction for those whose great grandchildren will be indebted by the money stolen by this administration.

They can jail us without trial and torture us without prohibition. They can convict and execute us on secret evidence at sham trials. I will never forget this Congress that after we have given them the power to stand up and defend us against the tyranny of this administration is too distracted to do so.

Why should I think of 2008 when you will then tell me to think of 2010? You will never be forgotten for your failure of 2007.

Dan Monte, California Democratic Central Committee

Impeach, Impeach, Impeach

Cheney’s Actions Put Impeachment on the Table

by John Nichols

Four more members of the U.S. House signed on this week as cosponsors of H. Res. 333, the measure that outlines articles of impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney for actively and systematically seeking to deceive citizens and Congress about an alleged threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda and for openly threatening aggression against Iran.

Congressman Bob Filner, the chair of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, added his name, along with another veteran Democratic representative from California, Sam Farr.

The additional cosponsorships from Washington Democrat Jim McDermott, a Vietnam-era veteran who has been one of the House’s sharpest critics of the war in Iraq, and Virginia Democrat James Moran bring the number of supporters for the articles to 14, including sponsor Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

House Members are backing impeachment for a number of reasons, including anger with Cheney’s involvement with manipulations of intelligence regarding Iraq, illegal spying on Americans and the promotion of torture, as well his recent attempt to avoid scrutiny by claiming that the Office of the Vice President was not part of the executive branch. And then there was President Bush’s decision to commute the 30-month prison sentence of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s former chief of staff and co-conspirator in moves to punish former Ambassador Joe Wilson for exposing the deceptions that led to war.

The founders were very clear about the fact that abuses of the presidential authority to pardon or otherwise lift the burden of the law from subordinates was an impeachable offense. And a number of House members who take constitutional matters seriously have spoken up for impeachment since the commutation of Libby’s sentence.

As Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. said after Bush commuted the sentence of a former aide who could connect the dots outlining presidential and vice presidential wrongdoing, “In her first weeks as leader of the Congress, Speaker Nancy Pelosi withdrew the notion of impeachment proceedings against either President Bush or Vice President Cheney. With the president’s decision to once again subvert the legal process and the will of the American people by commuting the sentence of convicted felon Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby, I call on House Democrats to reconsider impeachment proceedings.”

That’s an increasingly popular sentiment among Congressional Democrats, who are breaking with Pelosi to speak the “i” word.

It is an even more popular sentiment among the American people.

According to recent polling by the American Research Group, 54 percent of Americans want Cheney impeached. Among Democrats, that number rises to 76 percent. A majority of self-described independents back action to hold the vice president to account, as do a striking 17 percent of Republicans. With conservatives such as former Reagan administration lawyer Bruce Fein coming out strongly for Cheney’s impeachment, the numbers of Republicans who are pulling for accountability is likely to grow.

Local pro-impeachment initiatives around the country — coordinated at the national level by the brilliant www.afterdowningstreet.org website and its driving force, activist David Swanson — have kept the pressure on House members to sign on to Kucinich’s resolution.

California’s Farr, for instance, felt the heat from constituents in the Santa Cruz area. Last year, at the behest of the local Coalition for Impeachment Now (COIN) group, the Santa Cruz City Council voted unanimously to endorse impeachment — as have close to 80 cities and towns nationwide.

In Congress, impeachment of Cheney is now formally supported by the co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, California Democrats Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee, as well as the founder of the Out of Iraq Caucus, California Democrat Maxine Waters.

Also on board are three members of the House Judiciary Committee, California’s Waters, Georgia’s Hank Johnson and Minnesota’s Keith Ellison. It is the Judiciary Committee that would take up the issue of impeachment, under the chairmanship of Michigan Democrat John Conyers.

Conyers, who has made little secret of his belief that the president and vice president have taken actions that are in conflict with the Constitution, has yet to endorse H. Res. 333. But he is feeling pressure to do so. In May, the Detroit City Council voted to support impeachment of Bush and Cheney for misleading Congress and the public regarding the threat from Iraq, approving spying on the American people, conspiring to encourage the use of torture and acting to strip American citizens of their constitutional rights by ordering indefinite detention without access to legal counsel.

The arguments for impeachment are varied, to be sure.

But at the heart of the growing enthusiasm for putting the process in motion is a sense that Congress can no longer neglect abuses of power by a lawless executive branch.

“The Founders intended impeachment to be used when those running the government forgot that they worked for the people, and the Founders intended impeachment to be used when those running the government acted as though they were above the law,” explains Congressman McDermott, who argues that, “The vice president holds himself above the law, and it is time for the Congress to enforce the law.”

John Nichols’ new book is The Genius of Impeachment: The Founders’ Cure for Royalism. Rolling Stone’s Tim Dickinson hails it as a “nervy, acerbic, passionately argued history-cum-polemic [that] combines a rich examination of the parliamentary roots and past use of the ‘heroic medicine’ that is impeachment with a call for Democratic leaders to ‘reclaim and reuse the most vital tool handed to us by the founders for the defense of our most basic liberties.’ "

Copyright © 2007 The Nation

As a Wisconsin citizen, I'm just wondering ... where is Tammy Baldwin?

I read a piece this week -- I think on Crooks & Liars (yeah, yeah ... even though they do link to Amazon) about the approval rating of Congress being lower than that of Bush. The mainstream media spin on that is that the public (that's us) doesn't like conflict and would like to see more bi-partisanship and cooperation between Congress and the White House.

Isn't that special? Why can't they just play nicely and let me go back to my mindless consumption of cheap plastic crap from China?

As the writer pointed out, the danger in that assessment is that our representatives in Congress may be so out of touch with we the people, that they believe the media spin and do something like declare that impeachment is off the table for all time, because they don't want to look like they're obstructionist or bad sports or something. They want that coveted comment, "Plays well with others" on their midterm report cards.

And of course the spin is a bucket of hogwash. Hey, I'm no rocket scientist and I don't even play one on t.v., but it is absolutely crystal clear that the low approval rating for Congress is precisely because they refuse to really hold the Bush Administration accountable for anything. They talk kinda tough sometimes, but as soon as Karl Rove crooks his little finger or Dick Cheney raises his upper lip into the merest suggestion of a sneer, like neurotic dogs they roll over and pee on themselves yet again.

And the more cynical view is, yup, the Democrats duped the progressive voters once again. We were hoodwinked. In our desperation to see this disastrous course reversed, we gave them a majority in Congress ... but they are so beholden to the Corporate World, they will always do what they can to maintain the status quo.

I wish I'd moved to Canada 20 years ago.

John Nichols, by the way ... I am so grateful for his writing.

Who would you pay $3000 to hear?

Warning: This is a puff piece. I post it in honor of my dear friend Potato Prints, who recently left Long Island for the Land of the Wind Chill Factor.

So, would you pay $3000 a pop to hear the Artist Formerly Known As the Artist Formerly Known As Prince? The Dave Matthews Band? James Taylor? Billy Joel? Me neither, but these people would. Which proves that some people have w-a-y too much money.

I got a kick out of this last part though:

But for Kyle Anderson, no matter where the event is held, only one performance really seems worthy of such a price tag:

"I think it would take the resurrected corpses of the dead Beatles," said Anderson laughing. "You'd probably get people to pay that much to see the zombie John Lennon."

To which my perceptive daughter said, "You can watch the Zombeatles and get that!" So I present to you, hometown sweethearts The Zombeatles in their rock video "Hard Day's Night of the Living Dead."

Plans gone awry ...

I thought I was going to the DMV with my daughter this morning to get her driving learner's permit, but when the muffler mostly fell off the car last evening, it was clear that my plans had changed.

I spent an hour waiting in a parking lot for a tow truck to come and get my beloved 1990 Volvo wagon (dubbed "the hippie-mobile" by a friend, a label we wear proudly) and take it to our mechanic.

When I called the AAA dispatcher (located who knows where) and told her where I was, she said, "Madison, Wisconsin -- recently voted the most literary city in the U.S." Well, then ... what else could I do but take along a book of Wendell Berry's poetry to read while I waited for the tow truck? And my knitting, of course.

What do you want your money to support?

Madison (F)friend Margaret Krome has written the following essay. Food for thought.

Published on Thursday, July 12, 2007 by The Capital Times (Wisconsin)

Doing The Right Thing For Justice, Peace Costs

by Margaret Krome

Offer me a helping of potatoes and sugar snaps from a local farmer or a plate full of war and carnage, and I’ll take the vegetables, thanks.Invite me to sit on a cushion in a chair made locally from willow branches or let me settle softly into plush slave labor and environmental degradation, and I’ll choose the rustic chair and cushion.

None of my friends or family actively seeks to support war, impoverishment, or desecration of the earth. But what is indisputable is that most any product I purchase, unless I know its maker, has long supply chains in its manufacture that do just that. [my emphasis]

My point is not that farmers, even those in industrial production, support war or use practices that knowingly harm others or that furniture stores harm the environment or workers. They may or may not. But behind virtually every purchase, there are profound impacts, sometimes for individuals, but overwhelming for the broader society.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science says that of 20 major traded commodities, our nation consumes the greatest share of 11 of them: corn, coffee, copper, lead, zinc, tin, aluminum, rubber, oil seeds, oil and natural gas. Some of that consumption is obvious and wasteful, such as the 6 tons of rock mined to produce a pair of typical gold rings or the approximately 330 kilos of paper (around five trees) the average American uses each year. But much is hidden, because products are too complex to discern the impacts of our purchases.

Cars, for example. It’s not just the loss of life of miners in China and elsewhere or environmental havoc created to obtain metal for the car. Or the wars our nation fights to protect supplies of petroleum used to make plastics in the car. Or the labor abuses in developing countries used to assemble them. There’s no practical way to assess the environmental impact of one manufacturer over another.

We don’t understand the hidden world of power behind our purchase, and so we buy the model that looks best, drives most smoothly, and perhaps has good gas mileage.

From computers to clothing to musical CDs, the list of consumer products whose components have unknown environmental and social impact is virtually endless. Even some peace groups sell bumper stickers, mugs, key chains and computer mouse pads but give no information about the resources used in their manufacturing.

Where does this leave us — in guilt, passivity or self-reproach? Mostly we seem to ignore it and accept without question the marketing systems that obscure the impacts of what we buy.

I spent last week in a spiritual community with 1,500 Quakers at an annual gathering. I sang and ate with new and old friends, contemplating throughout the week the question of “Who is my neighbor?” For me, this has translated into a question of how to make consumer choices that support not only an environmentally sound but also a peace-based world.

My first decision must be forcing myself to decide whether I really need to purchase something. Can it be shared or done without? Second, given how well my junior high school home economics class trained me to seek the best dollar value for what I buy, I have to accept that not harming others I don’t know will cost more. Every time I buy a more expensive item whose provenance I know and support, I need to remind myself that I am buying healthier lives for others, a hope for environmental relief.

Current marketing doesn’t make this easy. Fair trade campaigns, organic food, and other certification programs are a first step in creating the peaceful world we want. And like “Build it and they will come,” I place my faith in the belief that if consumers communicate a desire to know, marketers of responsible goods will enter the marketplace to help us take more control over our impacts on neighbors across the world whom we will never know.

Bookstore Soapbox, Again

This article appeared on the front page of our evening newspaper yesterday:

As recently as six months ago, Madison's independent bookstores seemed to be bucking the national trend that has reduced the number of shops from 4,500 in 1993 to 2,700 this year. But store owners like Sandy Torkildson, co-owner of A Room of One's Own, are now noting that Minneapolis has lost nearly all its independent bookstores and fear that Madison could go the same way.

As Star Books prepares to close, there is plenty of concern among local bookstore owners over several unnerving trends they say are undermining their businesses, including a massive consumer shift to online book buying, easy access to information on the Internet, corporate booksellers, rising rents and increasing competition for people's time.

Spending your dollars within your community makes a difference. It's true. And if there is not an independent bookstore in your community, is there one nearby that you could shop at before turning to the corporate store or the internet? Most bookstores can special order just about anything, if you're able to wait. Same with record stores. And if you do turn to the internet, are you buying from an independent business?

A few independent bookstores in and around Madison: A Room of Ones Own, Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, Prairie Books (a sweet, well-stocked little book store on Main Street in Mt. Horeb), Paul's (used) Books on State Street.

On the internet: Powells, BookSense (a cooperative of independent book stores; you can find out here where your nearest indy book store is located or buy a gift card that is good at any BookSense store anywhere in the country.)

Locally owned businesses keep communities economically healthy.
They also give communities their unique flavors.
Ignore your independent bookstores, and they will certainly go away.

This is a peace conference ...

... only please don't talk about any wars that might happen to be going on right now. I found this article on Common Dreams, and it has me shaking my head.

(Published on Thursday, July 12, 2007 by the Dallas Morning News (Texas))

Nobel Laureate Calls for Removal of Bush

by James Hohmann

Nobel Peace Prize winner Betty Williams came from Ireland to Texas to declare that President Bush should be impeached.

In a keynote speech at the International Women’s Peace Conference on Wednesday night, Ms. Williams told a crowd of about 1,000 that the Bush administration has been treacherous and wrong and acted unconstitutionally.

“Right now, I could kill George Bush,” she said at the Adam’s Mark Hotel and Conference Center in Dallas. “No, I don’t mean that. How could you nonviolently kill somebody? I would love to be able to do that.”

About half the crowd gave her a standing ovation after she called for Mr. Bush’s removal from power.

“The Muslim world right now is suffering beyond belief,” she said.

“Unless the president of the United States is held responsible for what he’s doing and what he has done, there’s no one in the Muslim world who will forgive him.”

When an audience member told Ms. Williams that Vice President Dick Cheney would become president if George Bush were impeached, she said, “Can’t you impeach them both?”

“It’s twisted. It’s all wrong,” she said. “There are so many lies being told. It’s hard to be an American and go out into the world right now.”

Ms. Williams started her speech by asking every member of the audience to hug everyone around them. Then she cut to what amounted to both a call for peace and a stinging rebuke of the American government.

Conference organizers have said that the conference is nonpartisan and that no one was invited to speak about the war in Iraq. After Ms. Williams finished her speech, conference chairwoman Carol Donovan took the podium to say that Ms. Williams did not speak for the conference — only herself. [my italics]

“It’s important for us to separate the opinion of the person and the position of the conference,” Ms. Donovan said.

What the hell did organizers think this conference was about? Selling Mary Kay Cosmetics? I agree that peace is not necessarily a partisan issue, but what is the party of th administration that started and has profited mightily from the ongoing wars? I am truly baffled.

My stepdad suggested that it might be OK to talk about the Peloponnesian War.

What do you carry with you?

That is a question asked this week on Thailand Chani's blog. My first thought was, "Easy. My knitting, so I will always have something for my hands to do, and sometimes a book." Of course, that's not what she meant. She meant in a larger, life (or lives) long sense.

In my Quakers and Money workshop last week, one of the assignments was to try to identify a personal testimony; that is, a core organizing principal upon which one bases their beliefs and actions. Friends are big on testimonies. The ones that are most frequently identified as Quaker testimonies are Peace, Integrity, Equality, and Simplicity (PIES, for those who need an easy-to-remember mnemonic.) Then there are Friends who expand on that: SPICE, which adds Community ... or even PICKLES, which further adds Kindness and Love. (Being a relatively newbie Quaker -- about 17 years -- I was rather surprised to learn from my workshop leader that the big 4 were not actually codified as such until the latter part of the 2oth century, although the ideas have been basic tenets of Quakerism for 350+ years. Feel free to tenderly correct me if I am wrong.)

I am fond of pies and spice, but apparently I like pickles even better, because what I identified as my testimony was Loving Kindness. Back to Chani's question: her point was, some believe we come into this world already carrying baggage, and we certainly accrue more as we wend out way through our lives. Some of it is good, some of it is wounding. What do we do with it? Do we bury it? Throw it away? Hide it in a closet? Drag it all around with us? Integrate it?

I'll use a knitting metaphor, since I do love to knit. I think what I have tried to do is knit all of these life experiences together into one great big -- let's call it a blanket -- of loving kindness. That's what I carry with me. I'm not perfect. I drop stitches, it wears thin sometimes or develops holes, I've dragged it through mud puddles, or forgotten that I had it ... but overall, that is how I try to approach the world. That is my testimony.

I have a few quotes that I carry in my head:

"My religion is simple. My religion is kindness." -- His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

"Love is the first motion." -- John Woolman

This one from a Friend who had been away from our Meeting, and upon returning said, "It's good to return to a place where love will always be on the cutting edge."

And finally, a little prayer that I found in a children's book long ago:

Make my life a little light within the world to glow.
A little flame to burn bright wherever I may go.

Heist!

Guards staged one of the largest bank robberies in Iraqi history, making off with a stunning $282 million dollars in cash from a private bank in central Baghdad, Aswat al-Iraq reports in Arabic.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Interior Ministry source told Aswat al-Iraq that, “Three guards working for the Dar al-Salam Bank located on Sa'adoun Street in central Baghdad were able to attack the bank . . . stealing a sum of up to $282 million dollars, and fled in an unknown direction after implementing the operation.”

“The bank robbery is considered one of the most massive thefts to ever happen in Iraq,” the source continued. (Except for the looting of the national library, the "missing" billions of $$ last seen in the grubby mitts of Halliburton, and in fact, this whole bloody war.)

(read the rest)

And be sure to note this:

While the sum of $282 million is massive, especially by Iraqi standards, it would fund less than one day of US expenses for operations in Iraq. (Just by a little.)

Time to end this travesty!

Nominate Pete Seeger for the Nobel Peace Prize

But, of course!
Please go here to sign a petition asking the American Friends Service Committee to nominate Pete Seeger for the Nobel Peace Prize. I can't think of another individual who has done more over the course of a lifetime (and in Pete's case it's a long one) to further the cause of peace.

You don't have to be a Quaker to sign the petition.

Book Review: "Three Cups of Tea"

Sometimes a book just grabs me and I feel I must evangelize about it. Three Cups of Tea is one of those books. Subtitled "One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time", it is the story of Greg Mortenson -- a former mountaineer -- who ended up in the Pakistani mountain village of Korphe after a near fatal attempt at climbing the famed K2 in 1993. Grateful for the warm hospitality shown to him by the village, he promises to come back and build a school for Korphe's children. True to his word, Mortensen returns to Korphe (and the saga of raising the money and building that first school is an adventure story unto itself.) In the process, Mortenson realizes that much of rural Pakistan is without schools (especially those that will educate girls) and a mission is born. With the help of the mountaineering community (one crotchety old man in particular, who gives him a check for $12,000 accompanied by a note -- "Don't screw up!") he founded the Central Asia Institute (CAI), which had built 55 schools as of the book's publication, as well as a number of other humanitarian projects.

Most interesting was Mortenson's account of being in Pakistan over September 11, 2001. His eyewitness descriptions of the rise of the Taliban and the Saudi-financed madrassas in the years prior to the 9/11 attacks are fascinating. It is clear that the 9/11 attacks were a long time coming. It is also clear that they had little to do with the majority of people hating America. And I woul maintain that Mortenson's work is doing much to further the cause of peace.

This is a part of the world that I admit knowing very little about. Yet today alone there were two news articles that made a little more sense to me since I read this book. (Here - h/t to Quaker Dave - and here.)

One caveat: I'm not particularly keen on the writing style of Mortenson's co-author. This story first appeared in a very abbreviated form as an article in Parade Magazine ... and not to sound like a literary snob, but it shows. On the other hand, that initial article generated the first widespread U.S. interest in Mortenson's project and raised a lot of money from ordinary individuals when the CAI was teetering on the brink of insolvency.

I was also struck by the fact that Mortenson's key supporter in Congress was Mary Bono, a Republican. Sometimes recognizing a genuinely humanitarian effort cuts across party lines. And Mortenson himself is no flag waver; he is appreciably critical of the Bush administration and their handling of the so-called War on Terror.

As I was reading it, I was reminded of another excellent book that I read a couple of years ago: Mountains Beyond Mountains, about the work that physician Paul Farmer has done in Haiti and elsewhere. I am reminded again that one person can be a catalyst for doing immense good in the world, and with a lot of contributions directed toward the large NGOs (like UNICEF, Heifer Project or AFSC) I am planning to direct my efforts this year to the CAI and Steady Footsteps (which I wrote about last week.)

Still Alive and Kicking ...

... and no, I told you, I don't snore.

I have a big old bruise on my wrist and partway up my arm, so the new theory is that I must have hit a blood vessel with the needle. This is why I could never become a heroin addict. I'm way too much of a baby about needles.

Weird Stuff

During my week gallivanting with Quakers, Mr. Ether kept the homefires burning with the 2 cats, 4 guinea pigs, flower garden and diabetic dog (and to understand how heroic that is, you have to know that those are pretty much all my projects.) Yesterday I slipped back into the routine of getting up at 6 a.m. to let the dog out and give her an insulin injection. But I must be out of practice, because when I had the syringe poised she tossed her head and somehow I got a needle stick in my left wrist, right on the bone. Wow, did it hurt! It felt like a hornet sting. It was painful, red, and swollen.

Toward evening (after a day of worrying and working my jaw to make sure I hadn't contracted tetanus -- although as Mr. Ether helpfully pointed out, one doesn't usually associate tetanus with sterile hypodermic needles ...) I emailed my medical guru, Poodle Doc, correctly assuming that he has probably experienced similar mishaps in his veterinary practice. He theorized that I was probably having an allergic reaction to whatever traces of insulin that were on the end of the needle -- good to keep in mind if I ever become diabetic.

He told my husband to wake me up if I began snoring louder than normal (to which I indignantly replied that I never even snore softly; it's unladylike) because I might be experiencing anaphylactic shock.

Today it is still painful, but the redness is more diffused. It's spread out over an area about 1 1/2 inches around where the original stick was. I will certainly be more careful in the future.

Harry Potter fan? Not!

The hot question is, of course: What now for JK Rowling? How can she possibly top the best-selling children's books in history? How can she match the weight of expectations about her next move? Will she write something quite unexpected - a history of the Franco-Prussian war, say, or a grown-up three-decker family saga set in Scotland? (Either would, of course, become a massive best-seller.) One imagines the senior management at her publishers, Bloomsbury, sitting around the boardroom table, gently trying to steer her towards a new seven-part childhood chronicle, but without becoming too, you know, insistent about it - nobody is likely to apply pressure to the glamorous goose that has laid seven enormous golden eggs. In fact, so nervous are they of giving the slightest offence to their star author, nobody at her publishers or her agent's office will talk to the press about Jo Rowling at all. (Read it all here, but be sure you have your motion sickness bag at hand.)

Oh, puh-leez!

Are these books good from a literary standpoint? I don't really care. I read the first 3 and they were OK and entertaining. There is a lot of mediocre literature and I may not like it, but I'm glad to see writers not turning their back on their muse. I can appreciate that nonreaders began to read when Harry hit the shelves.

It is the aggressive marketing that disgusts me. And more than that, the attitude that somehow J.K. Rowling invented, revolutionized, or rekindled the art of writing good books for children. That she's been called the best British writer (presumably not just of children's books,) beating out Harold Pinter and (this one really hurts) Terry Pratchett. Seriously, before J.K. Rowling, even before Terry Pratchett (tee hee) there was excellent literature for children in the middle grades. If they weren't finding their way to it, somebody was dropping the ball.

And guess what. There will continue to be excellent literature for children even if J.K. Rowling never sets pen to paper (finger to keyboard?) again.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I will admit that I placed an advance order for 2 copies of the new book -- and in order to get my children to buy it at the independent feminist bookstore instead of the deep-pockets mega-book store offering the 40% discount, I resorted to bribery, offering to pay half. If they weren't buying it there, I wouldn't pay anything for it, not even the $2 rental fee for new books at the library.)

Glad I got that off my chest. I am fully expecting some razzing from Poodle Doc -- to whom I have this to say: Go ahead and add Madonna to that list of my dislikes to razz me about. Along with Nicole Kidman, Harry Potter and Borders. I need to branch out ... Have I mentioned that I always thought Paul Simon was a bit of a phony? And don't get me started on Trader Joe's!

Fighting Bob Fest is Coming!

If you're a Wisconsin resident (or you like to travel) save the second weekend in September for Fighting Bob Fest at the Baraboo Fairgrounds. Sure they're preaching to the choir, but sometimes it does the heart good to hear some good old-fashioned progressive political agitating. I was pleased to receive an email announcing that Cindy Sheehan will be there to receive an award honoring all the work she has done for peace. I'll be there. Will you?

How perfect.

This series of letters came up when Mr. Ether was leaving a comment on a blog; my sentiments exactly.

Happy (Agitator) birthday

to Quaker Dave, The Quaker Agitator. He's one of the people who inspired me to begin blogging. Hope it's a good one, and that NJ is a few degrees cooler than WI!

No Pie?

It's good to be home (and with 12+ hours to do laundry and repack to get the young'un off to summer camp tomorrow for 2 weeks. Whew!)

We made a delicious detour to beautiful Osseo, Wisconsin to the Norske Nook, frequently mentioned on Michael Feldman's Whad'dya Know. A bunch of Madison Quakers converged there. (Doesn't the Bible say something about "Where two or more are gathered in my name, we'll eat pie, ala mode optional"?) Mmmm. Apple-lingonberry pie. It was heavenly.

More about my workshop at Gathering when I have time to digest and synthesize the experience.

But What's the Secret Handshake?

Another hilarious anecdote from the fun and fabulous Friends General Conference gathering: On Wednesday night, which, if your patriotism-o-meter was working you will remember was The Fourth of July (that's English for Syttende Mai), my daughter and I walked to a high point on the River Falls campus to see if we could see fireworks. We walked past a couple of guys who I took to be locals leaning on a bridge. I overheard one of them say, "I heard that the campus has been rented out to Masons!"

Truth In Advertising

This just struck me as funny and oh, so Quakerly: At the children's performance of "The Neighbor" on Wednesday night, someone was circulating through the crowd with a pump bottle of DEET-free, all natural insect repellent and a hand-lettered sign that read "It's supposed to work."

Can you imagine what the world would be like if all marketing was done in that spirit? "Crest Toothpaste: We think it might make your teeth a little whiter."

Home tomorrow, with maybe a stop at the Norske Nook in Osseo, where the Pie Queen used to practice her craft ... Yah hey der, I love up nort' in Wisconsin!

How Quakerly! part 3

Whew! What a whirlwind the last couple of days have been. I keep thinking "I want to blog about (fill in the blank) but then I'm carried away to yet another fun and fulfilling activity. Let's see: When we last saw our heroine ...

... she was going to an interest group about Vietnam, entitled "Stepping Out On Faith: Another Life Is Possible". Virginia Lockett is a physical therapist who has moved to Vietnam to do volunteer work in a rehabilitation facility. Predictably, Vietnam has a high number of people who have lost limbs stepping on land mines. A lesser known, equally grave (and wholly preventable) problem, is head and spinal cord injuries resulting from motorbike accidents. Virginia trains young physical therapists; she and her husband have also imported and designed adaptive equipment to help people be able to function with their disabilities more readily. She is also working to make helmet use, something which is virtually nonexistent now, widespread. She has founded an NGO called Steady Footsteps. (I'd link to it, but this computer will not allow it. You'll have to look it up yourself.) I love Vietnam, and I was inspired by her talk, her optimism, her humor. It's been enlightening to be in my money workshop with her too.

Last night there was a play/puppet show created and acted by my daughter's Junior Gathering workshop joined by many others. It was called The Neighbor (following the Gathering theme "And Who Is My Neighbor?") and based on the folktale The Woman Who Outshone the Sun. Musical accompaniement was provided by sacred harp singers, as well as a band made up of hammered dulcimer, fiddle, steel drum, concertina and various percussive instruments. It was so beautifully done (and I especially liked the giant black and white striped mosquito; now THAT's a mosquito I could take home with me!) I hope there will be a dvd of it available to purchase.

Today, I visited a traveling museum exhibit about yet one more shameful slice of U.S. history: the internment of German-American (as well as Japanese and Italians from South America) civilians in concentration camps scattered throughout the U.S. during WW2. Many of these people were forcibly removed from homes throughout Latin America and the U.S., and shipped to camps ostensibly because they were under suspician for being spies. Actually, under a plan conceived by George Marshall (whose name is on the Marshall Plan) these civilians would be used in trade for U.S. prisoners of war. Never mind the simple fact that they had left Germany (or Japan or Italy) 30 years earlier, or the fact that war was raging in their supposed "home" countries, or the fact that a number of them were actually German Jews and were delivered directly into Hitler's hands. Pretty diabolical, if you ask me.

On a close to home note, I was saddened to see that one of those camps was at Fort McCoy near Sparta, Wisconsin (the very same place that hundreds of Cuban "boat people" were interned in the 1980s. before being shipped back to Cuba or granted assylum in the U.S. -- yet another shameful stop along the way.)

It's a shocking story which has largely been kept under wraps. No effort has been made to make reparations for these people or their descendents, as was belatedly done for the Japanese-Americans. Dateline did a breathlessly outraged and sensational episode on it in 1996 (I think.) I couldn't help but wonder where Dateline has been for the last 6 years when we are being primed for the very same attrocities to be repeated (and in fact are being repeated at Guantanamo.) While I am glad that they "exposed" this story (for all the awareness it has raised) they stuck with something that is largely safe, as it happened so long ago. We can all let out a big sigh of relief and say, "Thank Heaven that something like that won't happen today!" Yeah, right. If you want to read more about it, look up the Traces Museum in Minneapolis.

Then to round out the day, world famous blogger Poodle Doc and I took our children and went on a mini-road trip, in search of the Franconia Sculpture Park. After many miles of driving and a frantic phone call to Mr. Ether at work ("WHERE did you say it was, again?") we found it, and it was interesting. I was a little disapointed that it wasn't the life work of a Norwegian bachelor farmer sculpting larger-than-life Bible characters out of concrete bejewelled with broken bottles and mirrors. No, it was sculptures made by a variety of REAL artists. Many had a political theme. I was especially struck by one called Literal Biblical Horrors, that unfortunately brought to mind the photographs taken at Abu Ghraib (but we don't torture, the Commander Guy says so.)

I hope I can post some photos of both the puppet show and the sculptures at a later date.

We got back too late for dinner in the cafeteria. But if God wanted us to eat good food, S/he wouldn' have made Dairy Queens, right?

What wonders will the next two days hold? Tomorrow we will be displaying the Minnesota and Wisconsin portions of the Eyes Wide Open exhibit. The whole exhibition has gotten too large to be able to be displayed in its entirety. There's a sad commentary on this sad and shameful war.

I want to believe that we are in the midst of a nonviolent revolution, as many theologians say we are. Yes, I still hope.

How Quakerly! part 2

Last night ... the Intergenerational Dance (sponsored by the high schoolers and Adult Young Friends). I got dragged to it by my younger daughter, dances of that ilk are not generally my cup of tea. But I really took great joy in watching the dancers, particularly the younger ones for whom that is a natural environment. Let me describe the finery I saw: everything from prom dresses to negligees over jeans, leather kilts, Barbie boxer shorts, and one incredibly delectable party dress that had been skillfully created from newspaper, shopping bags and duct tape. It was beautiful! And although I feel awkward doing free form dancing like that (I'm more of a waltz & polka person) I had a great time and stayed out too late.

This happened to me several times at the dance, and was a bit disconcerting: A person would come up to where I was standing and ask me to dance. I would decline, usually saying that I am enjoying myself just watching, and they would persist -- I suspect thinking that I was just shy. Then I would say, "I really don't like to dance," and they would STILL persist. One person said, "No one will be watching!" as if it was vanity that was keeping me a wallflower. Although I know that all of these people were well-intentioned, I wanted to say, "No means no! What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

An AHA moment: I have been attending Quaker Meeting for about 17 years. I was drawn to it in part because so many of the principles of Quakerism are in line with lessons I learned as a child in a very progressive household. And while I have embraced Meeting and made it my spiritual home, there are parts of it in which I have always felt "other" (if that makes sense.) Today I had a mini revelation that, although my mother in particular was fervently against war, her background (socialism and organized labor throughout the thirties and forties) had been in movements of armed resistance, which is a very different thing from choosing a path of nonviolence. I'll have to mull this over some more ...

Still having fun. This evening I will be going to a session with a woman (who is in my Money workshop) who now lives and works providing health care in Viet Nam. I'm excited.

How Quakerly! part 1

Wow, I don't even know where to begin ... everything is a bit overwhelming. I think I will just describe a few discrete experiences and impressions. There is no time to synthesize it into one profound essay, at least not right now. Maybe not ever!

Did I say it was overwhelming? I've been here since Saturday, and I think I'm starting to get the hang of things. I think. There are between one and two thousand people here. A mixture of people who have been to this gathering before and so-called "newbies" (identified by a blue dot on your name tag, so that everyone can be extra nice to you.) I feel like I've been walking around with an idiot grin on my face for 2 days, but it's really because I don't know what the heck I'm doing! My teenaged daughter (who has done this twice before and has the cocoon of the teen group) keeps calling me on my cell phone: "Are you having fun, Mom? Have you made any new friends? Did you like your workshop?" Her caretaking of me is very sweet.

OK, my workshop. You get to sign up for one workshop and you go to it every morning. Way back in March when I looked over the choices (over 50!) I was torn between going with something I knew I enjoyed ("Walking Toward Wholeness") and one that would challenge me ("Quakers and Money: Applying Your Ethics".) I chose walking, and after our first session yesterday I wasn't quite satisfied. I knew it would be OK, but I realized that the somewhat lackluster OK-ness was coloring my whole experience of Gathering. I labored over the decision to change workshops all day (I was afraid I'd hurt the workshop leader's feelings; never a good reason to stick with something) but in the end I changed to the money workshop. Perfect! The emotional challenge of this issue nourished my soul, and I think will continue to do so.

Food: College cafeteria food. They swipe your card and you shuffle into the line with your tray like so many sheep. Baa! I'll take one of that and one of that, mmm, cream pie, I never get to eat cream pie, and look, there's salisbury steak over there, why not? It took me a day to come to my senses about food. Too much smooth brown and white stuff augmented with mushy vegetables! So now it's a light breakfast and right to the salad bar, maybe a small serving of whatever meat is on the menu. I'm already feeling better. (The kids, predictably, are going to town with the self-serv ice cream machine. I think the teens were having a contest of some sort to see who could make the tallest cone. It was impressive.)

FGC Book Store: I'm keeping my buying under control (just in case Mr. Ether is reading this and has been worried.) It was a joy to go to a presentation with Catherine Whitmire yesterday; I have loved her book of meditations around Quaker Simplicity, and she has a new one about Peace. I bought them both (sharp intake of breath from Mr. Ether.)

Golf carts: The people driving them look like they are having altogether too much fun! (I liked seeing in the daily bulletin that listed when the various worship times were, that "Golf cart service starts at 7 a.m." I thought, "Meeting for Worship with attention to golf carts. Something for everyone. How Quakerly!" Tee hee.)

Afternoons and evenings are the hardest. If you know me personally, you might be surprised to find out that I actually feel very shy and awkward in social situations. I really want to cling to my friend Poodle Doc like a drowning person, but I realize that would be sort of stifling. So I'm doing my best, but sometimes I just retreat to a quiet bench or to my room to nap or play guitar. There seem to be opportunities to make music with other people, which I have yet to explore. Round singing, sacred harp singing, Broadway songs, singing from the ubiquitous Rise Up Singing songbook, hymn singing ... and then in the evening folk AND contra dancing (in two different locations.) I should say that I have a hard time with self esteem around my guitar playing -- it feels very fragile -- and ever since seeing the devilishly accurate "mockumentary"A Mighty Wind, I have this fear of channeling the woman with the autoharp. So, I tend not to seek out people to "jam" with. I think I'll check out round singing though.

My younger daughter is testing out her independence, making giant puppets, bonding with other kids and just generally having a good time. I hardly see my older daughter; the high schoolers move in a world of their own.

Men in kilts: 2 so far.

T-shirts with anti-war slogans: Everywhere (but what did you expect?)

Recumbant bicycles: A few

Oh well, things are looking up. I think the next time my daughter calls I will be able to give her an enthusiastic answer. YES! I am making friends and having fun. YES! I like my workshop. So it's all good.

More later in the week.