Pass the Popcorn

Politics aside, tonight I sat down with my knitting in hand (lace socks) and watched the documentary Rivers and Tides, about the sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. If you aren't familiar with his work, look it up. There are actually a number of very expensive coffee table books with gorgeous photos of his work. He works with all natural materials, creating artwork that, more often than not, is only temporary. Not only are the materials taken directly from nature, but the forms that he uses echo nature's flow (as he likes to call it.)

The film follows him as he creates and talks about his art. I liked the scene where he is at home with his wife and a passel of children (the man is prolific in all ways, I guess), then he kisses them good-bye and heads out into the streets of his Scottish village to collect dandelions from the neighbors' yards and the roadsides. Next we see him at the side of a stream, perched on some rocks, placing the dandelions in the water. Finally the camera pulls back so we can see the flow of the stream and, off to one side, a large vibrant yellow circle. It is a hole, several feet across, that the stream has carved into the rock and Goldsworthy has filled it with dandelion blossoms. Lovely.

I have to comment on the role his wife must play in his creative efforts. Clearly someone is staying home and taking care of all of those young kids while Andy is out creating art from icicles! And someone must launder his muddy jeans at the end of the day. Not to belittle either of them, but it seems like behind every artist, someone is keeping the home fires burning and hopefully gets some credit for it.

If you're looking for excitement and it's a choice between Jackie Chan and this, get the Jackie Chan. But if you're feeling introspective and want to watch something quite beautiful, unique and inspiring, this is a very good movie. You'll be out making towers of rocks in no time!

"Brain To Nowhere"

H/t to my dear spouse, Enriched Geranium, who posted it first. Ken Lonnquist (writer of the eighties classic "Peepee in Jars") and Dave Adler pay tribute to ... well, you'll see.

And furthermore ...

Read what Michael Moore has to say:

Monday, September 29th, 2008
The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning ...a message from Michael Moore

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions."

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What's this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it's because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage "crisis" may never have happened.

This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something -- NOW! Here's what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they've made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we'll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say "NO!" If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.



Question (from me, not Michael Moore): Has Nancy Pelosi done anything other than stand up for the extremely wealthy in this country?

Dennis Kucinich Is STILL My Man!

Did you see this?

Excellent reading also, at Information Clearinghouse.

And this:


Something is rotten in Denmark.

Goodman-Atwood Center -- It's a Good Thing

Yesterday was the grand opening celebration of our new neighborhood center, the Goodman- Atwood Neighborhood Center. Several years in the planning and building, this project is really a dream come true for our community. Community is a big deal in Madison, and it's probably a bigger deal on my side of town where it has grown out of neighborhoods that were largely mixed use industrial/residential, blue collar, and -- in some parts -- skid row.

Atwood Neighborhood Center has been around for a long time, offering programs for all ages. A few years ago when it was obvious they were outgrowing their current digs, they embarked on an ambitious fundraising drive, purchased a former foundry in the neighborhood, and hired an architect (who happens to be a friend of ours. Excellent work, Cliff!) The project was given a huge boost when local jewelers/philanthropists the Goodman brothers ("Hi. I'm Bob. And I'm Irwin. We're Bob and Irwin Goodman.") gave them a boatload of money.

They managed to preserve the overall structure of the foundry, complete with original beams and some of the industrial equipment, and yet create a state of the art complex with sound studios, art studios, a preschool, a full size gymnasium, a café (to be run by high school students), a teen center, and more.

The new center is right on a bike path, so neighborhood residents had plenty of opportunity to watch it develop. My school had an inservice there 2 weeks ago, and we got a tour of the facility. It is beautiful! And the most amazing thing about it? It was built for ordinary people to use: senior citizens, kids, teens, accordian players (OK, so they're not so ordinary, but ... ) It is a gorgeous, green-constructed, multi-million dollar facility that is a nonprofit, instead of being the headquarters of a bank, insurance company or HMO. That's pretty unusual in this day and age -- or perhaps any day and age here in these United States.

Yesterday was a joyous celebration. Here are a few pix:
The Reptile Palace Orchestra -- one of Mr. Ether's many bands -- played a set. That's Mr. Ether on the right and brother-in-law Ether on the left.
More Reptiles.
Where the Reptiles go, folk dancers follow. This is Fran and Lew, my all-time favorite dancers and role models for how I want to be when I am in my eighties.
Looking through the awesome playground at the main building of the center. All those beams are part of the original equipment.
The Feeny bros., all dressed up for the occasion. Brother-in-law Bill is wearing the shirt that I covet. I actually had one of my own, but I jettisoned it in, oh, 1973. If only I had a crystal ball and could have seen into the future!

Holy Guacamole, Look At All Those Grapes!

Have I lost my mind? That's the bottom of my kitchen sink, filled with Concord grapes. My friend Frances stood up in Meeting 2 weeks ago and asked if anyone wanted to harvest grapes from her yard. I finally made it over there today. It was an impressive abundance of grapes! I could have taken 3X as many, and still there would be grapes left. Right now those grapes are stewing on the stove, releasing their lovely juice, so that I can make grape jelly in the next day or so. PB&J, anyone? (Too bad I don't know anyone growing peanuts in their backyard!)

I Can See Clearly Now

A basic tenet of Quakerism is that, not only is God still speaking (referred to as "the continuing revelation") but that Divine wisdom is available to anyone at any time. We worship by sitting in silence, waiting for the "still small voice" of the Divine to speak to/through us, and the potential exists for any worshiper to receive a message.

Quaker worship is, by and large, corporate worship. No, that doesn't mean that this week's worship is brought to you by EXXON. It refers to the body of the Meeting, the group. We worship together in silence broken only by individuals who are moved (or led) to stand to deliver a message. There have been many, many times when I have been turning a thought over in my mind and someone across the room has stood up and spoken about the very thing that was on my mind! In Friendly parlance that is sometimes called "speaking to one's condition" as in "Friend, you spoke to my condition." It never fails to give me the shivers when it happens. That is the beauty of corporate silent worship.

One of my favorite aspects of Quakerism is the notion of seeking clearness (or clarity.) In Quaker Meeting we have a process for those who are seeking clarity around a specific question, called a "clearness committee." Within Meetings clearness committees are most frequently convened for individuals seeking official membership in that particular Meeting and for couples seeking to marry under the care of the Meeting. Clearness committees can also be requested when an individual is wrestling with a thorny issue or when people are engaged in a seemingly unresolvable conflict. (I requested a clearness committee a few years ago when I had what could be described as a crisis of faith around my chosen profession, teaching. It was very sustaining and helpful.)

In short, a clearness committee is a small group of people who meet with an individual -- or couple -- around a specific issue. A committee's charge is first and foremost to listen to the focus individual, and then to ask questions which will guide that individual in discerning what their right action should be (or in faith-based language, what the Divine wants of them.) It is not the charge of the committee to act as gatekeepers or the Spanish Inquisition. (Go ahead, Python fans, say it. I'll wait.) It is to be hoped that the person who requested the committee is seeking clearness, not clearance.

Anyway, I love being part of clearness committees. Participation is always enlightening and often joyful. I am currently a member of my Meeting's Care Committee (Quakers are inordinately fond of committees) which is the body responsible for convening clearness committees for membership and marriage. In fact, this week I participated in a meeting for membership. I am also the co-convener of a clearness committee for marriage for a dear friend, which has yet to be scheduled (good thing the wedding is still months away.) It's my first time convening a clearness committee. Yikes!

Parker Palmer, in his Courage To Teach program, has adopted the framework and language of the clearness committee and introduced it to the world outside of Quaker Meeting. I guess that's a good thing, although I question whether the process can be disconnected from its roots. (Other Friends ... what do you think?)

And for the rest of you, now you know perhaps more than you cared to know about one tiny part of Quakerism.

Blurting Out Random Crap

This column of a day or two ago, by Bob Cesca, speaks the truth, makes you laugh, and is a good illustration of my point that "saucy" should become a regular part of everyone's vocabulary.

Jesus, I'm Sick Of These People

I'm just about as sick of hearing how John McCain is a "maverick" as I am of hearing that he was a POW. (I'll bet you didn't know that he was a POW, did you?) Here is Sarah Palin, being interviewed by hard-nosed investigative journalist Katie Couric:

COURIC: You've said, quote, "John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business." Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us any more example of his leading the charge for more oversight?

PALIN: I think that the example that you just cited, with his warnings two years ago about Fannie and Freddie--that, that's paramount. That's more than a heck of a lot of other senators and representatives did for us.

COURIC: But he's been in Congress for 26 years. He's been chairman of the powerful Commerce Committee. And he has almost always sided with less regulation, not more.

PALIN: He's also known as the maverick though. [My italics. By the way, I think that sentence would have had more oomph if she had begun it with the words "Yet however." "Yet however he's also known as the maverick though."] Taking shots from his own party, and certainly taking shots from the other party. Trying to get people to understand what he's been talking about--the need to reform government.

COURIC: I'm just going to ask you one more time, not to belabor the point. Specific examples in his 26 years of pushing for more regulation?

PALIN: I'll try to find you some and I'll bring them to you.

Sarah Palin is dangerous. She's also a blithering idiot, but that didn't stop people from falling for the lies of Bush/Cheney now, did it?

You want a maverick? Here's a real maverick!

Schools in Trouble

Wisconsin schools are in trouble, big time. Since 1993 we have attempted to function in spite of legislation that (in simplistic terms) caps the amount of revenue that school districts can raise through property taxes without going to referendum. This legislation was pushed through by former governor (and GOP presidential candidate) Tommy Thompson, under the influence of an absolutely small minded, greedy organization -- Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce. What has happened is that every year the cost of educating students goes up, while school districts cannot exceed the caps. The gap gets larger every year. For example, my school district has had shortfalls of 7-10 million dollars almost every year since 1993. This has resulted in massive cuts in programming and permanent teacher lay-offs. (We are going to referendum for the third time this November, in an attempt to avoid another round of major cuts.)

Not surprisingly, the school districts that have suffered the most are the very large urban districts and the very small rural districts. Suburban districts are faring somewhat better because their tax bases are growing, largely as a result of white flight from the urban districts. (Isn't that special?)

The chickens came home to roost in a big way last week, when a majority of the Milwaukee School Board voted to explore the dissolution of the Milwaukee Public School system. In doing so, they stated that "the system is broken." This was big news, even on a national level.

Milwaukee is not the first district in Wisconsin to do this. It may not have made the national news, but the tiny school district of Wausakee in the northeast corner of Wisconsin voted in August to dissolve and send their children to a nearby district. This is significant for me, because a whole branch of my family grew up in that school district. A number of my cousins have taught in Wausakee, and one was even the superintendent of schools for a number of years. This has got to be devastating for their community.

Hard to know where this will lead. It depresses the hell out of me.

Don't Mourn, Organize!

Two little ways to take action today, right now.

First of all, this PBS poll is making its way around via email, asking whether you think Sarah Palin is qualified to be the vice president. If you haven't seen it, go here to put in your 2¢ worth.

Second thing regards the proposed bail out. HuffPo had an article about "section 8" of the bail out proposal crafted by the White House. Section 8 reads

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Read it carefully and think about what it means. Non-reviewable by any court of law or agency (including the U.S. Congress.) It amounts to highway robbery -- the White House can take any amount of taxpayer money to give to their friends and nobody can say anything about it. I find this horrifying. It makes me feel sick to my stomach, literally.

For what it is worth, the folks at ImpeachBush.org are on it and have an easy link for sending a message to your representatives in Congress, stating that you do not support a bail out for the fat cat bankers who will only get richer at the expense of ordinary citizens. They correctly refer to the bail out as "a bankers' coup d'etat." Friends, whether or not the current financial disaster was engineered, it is being manipulated into a major power grab by the neocons, as surely as the 9/11/01 attacks were. Click here to send letters to your representatives.

Sleeping Under the Stars

Mr. Ether and I left the chilluns at home chillin' last night and went to spend the night at our favorite Quaker summer camp, Camp Woodbrooke, to enjoy some beautiful fall weather and help in a small way to put the camp to bed for the off-season.

We enjoyed viewing the moons of Jupiter through a telescope, thanks to Mr. Sminthia (husband of our favorite mouse blogger.)

We set up a tent where we eventually ended up sleeping, but we started the night under the stars, serenaded by a multitude of very loud crickets.

Molly the dog was totally weirded out by the fact that we were laying outside on the ground (were we morphing into dogs??) and was very restless. All of the night sounds -- coyotes, deer, falling branches in the woods -- made her growl or bark. (Mr. Ether said that she also growled every time I snored. It makes a good story, but there's one problem with it: I don't snore. Just saying.)

Moving into the tent was probably a good idea, because when we woke up the dew and morning fog were so heavy everything was dripping wet. It was beautiful though. I'm glad that we went.

WTF?

I'm not sure I follow either the chain of events or the motives here. Some people really know how to have a good time, I guess. Or not. This is from the AP:

CHIPPEWA FALLS -- A groom is accused of throwing a knife at his wedding reception and injuring a young man wrapped in duct tape.

Matthew J. Willi, 46, is charged with felony second-degree reckless endangerment and misdemeanor endangering safety with a dangerous weapon.

The criminal complaint says the victim was with some 17-year-old friends, and with Willi's son. The two youths played with wooden swords, which split at one point.

A friend wrapped the victim's upper body in duct tape and someone commented he looked like a pinata.

Willi wanted to hit him with a wooden sword, but the others wouldn't let him.

Willi then allegedly grabbed a handful of knives at a house. The complaint says Willis threw one, hitting the victim in the upper chest. He was charged Sept. 11.

A Life That Spoke

My friend Donna sent me a link to this obituary in the New York Times. Don Rivera was a good friend of hers. It is a reminder to me of how any one of us can be an agent of significant change in the world, and that humble acts as well as humble materials bring about big results. (Humility seems to be my theme these days.) It also reinforces my belief in micro- over macro- economies: small, local, and sustainable works.

How are you letting your life speak?

Ron Rivera, Potter Devoted to Clean Water, Dies at 60

By WILLIAM GRIMES

Ron Rivera liked to call his ceramic water filters “weapons of biological mass destruction.” For 25 years he traveled to poor villages throughout Latin America, Africa and Asia teaching local potters to make what appears to be a big terra-cotta flower pot but is in fact an ingenious device for purifying water.

“You put dirty water in — gray water that many communities still drink — and it comes out crystal clear,” he told an audience last year at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in Manhattan, where his filters were included in an exhibition called “Design for the Other 90 Percent.”

A recent study in Cambodia found that the filters cut in half the incidence of diarrhea, a leading cause of death in the third world, especially among children.

Mr. Rivera died on Sept. 3 in Managua, Nicaragua, after contracting falciparum malaria, the most dangerous form, while setting up a water-filter factory in Nigeria, said Kathy McBride, his wife. He was 60.

Mr. Rivera, a Bronx-born Peace Corps volunteer who spent much of his life as a development worker in Central and South America, discovered his life’s mission in Ecuador in the early 1980s. A Guatemalan chemist, Fernando Mazariegos, was showing local potters a ceramic pot he had invented. It was made of clay mixed with sawdust or ground rice husks that burned off during firing, leaving pores so tiny that they blocked the passage of water-borne bacteria while letting the water seep through.

After being coated with a bacteria-killing silver solution, the pot effectively eliminated 98 to 100 percent of diarrhea-causing contaminants like E. coli, cryptosporidium and giardia.

The pot was easy to make and cheap to buy. Suspended inside a five-gallon container to collect the water, it could purify one to three quarts an hour, drawn through a spigot.

Off and on, Mr. Rivera began working with charities and development groups to set up workshops for turning out the filters. He later improved the filter by developing a mechanical press and standardized molds to ensure a consistent product.

After Hurricane Mitch cut a swath through Central America in 1998, Mr. Rivera, who had been doing development work in Nicaragua for the previous decade, joined with a tiny American organization called Potters for Peace and went into high gear. “He became the guy you went to to set up a filter factory,” said Daniele S. Lantagne, an engineer working on safe water systems at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Mr. Rivera often said that his goal was to set up 100 enterprises. The factory in Nigeria was his 30th.

Ronald Rivera was born to Puerto Rican parents in 1948. After graduating from World University in Puerto Rico, where the family moved when he was 11, he joined the Peace Corps and spent two years working in Panama. He went on to do development work in Ecuador and Bolivia with the Peace Corps and with Catholic Relief Services, although he was an atheist.

It was while studying with the radical educational theorist Ivan Illich in Mexico that he learned to throw clay pots. “Illich said that human beings were disconnected from the earth, and Ron realized that he did not really know how to do anything with his hands,” Ms. McBride said. “So he moved in with a Mexican potter and learned.”

In 1977 he married Maggie Padilla, whom he later divorced. She survives him, as does their son, Demian Rivera of Bloomington, Ind., and Mr. Rivera’s four brothers: Larry, of Parkland, Fla.; Eddie, of Miami; Dennis, of Orlando, Fla.; and Louis, of San Diego. The marriage ended in divorce. After he moved to Managua in 1988, he and Ms. McBride, who had been high school sweethearts, reunited and eventually married. Three stepchildren survive, Camilo Power of Brooklyn, Ana Gabriela Power of Norfolk, Va., and Maria Belen Power of Minneapolis.

For the last decade of his life, Mr. Rivera traveled all over the world setting up microenterprises in Ghana, Cambodia, Yemen, Colombia and other countries. Many thrived, especially after Mr. Rivera began organizing the workshops as profit-making microenterprises. Some produced filters for a short period and then shut down, either abandoned by their sponsors or caught up in political turmoil, as was the case with a workshop in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Beverly Pillers, the chairwoman of the board of Potters for Peace, said Mr. Rivera’s factories had produced about 300,000 filters, selling for $5 to $25, and used by about 1.5 million people. At the moment, 13 more filter factories are scheduled to begin operating by the end of next year.

“I saw Ron as a Pied Piper,” said Robert Pillers, the treasurer of Potters for Peace. “He had the capacity to draw people in and then give them the means to accomplish something.”

See. This. Film.

You might not recognize the name Philippe Petit, but if you are old enough you may remember the man who crossed the space between the twin towers at the top of the World Trade Center in 1974, walking on a high wire. He didn't just cross it once, he spent 45 minutes going back and forth, dancing in the air 102 stories above Manhattan. Man On Wire is a new film that documents Petit's performance that day, as well as all of the preparation that went into it.

The film plays like a heist movie. Petit started dreaming of this act as a young man, before the WTC was even built. Once it was mostly complete and open to the public, he spent months observing and taking notes in the building. He and his team (a pretty ragtag group made up of a few friends and some last-minute recruits) smuggled their supplies to the still-unfinished tops of both towers. Then on the eve of what he termed "the coup", they secured the cable and the following morning Manhattan woke up to see Petit suspended between the towers. Amazing.

Equally amazing is the fact that not once during the film is 9/11/2001 mentioned. It was certainly in the back of my mind as I watched, but I found Petit's story to be transcendent. As I write this two days after the 7th anniversary I am reflecting on how the entire tragedy -- whatever its source -- has been hijacked, perverted, and multiplied exponentially in the past 7 years. We've been bludgeoned with it. It was so beautiful to watch this movie and see those towers stand for something else -- something so improbable yet whole.

If you have a chance to see this on a large screen, it is well worth it (even if you have to pay $3 for fictitious amenities. Hey, Bob Redford needs our money!) It was breathtaking and beautiful.

Pretension R Us

Tonight I swallowed my pride and went to see a movie at Sundance 608. I know I swore that I would not patronize it; when they announced they were opening their first Sundance theater here in a small upscale shopping mall, the locally-owned theater that had been at the other end of the mall for 40 years closed its doors. I wanted to see a particular movie, however, and wasn't sure it would make it anywhere else.

Sundance is outrageously overpriced. Every ticket has a $3 "amenities fee" attached to it. What amenities? Free peanuts? No, they claim you get to reserve your seat. That means, when you walk in and buy your ticket just as the movie is starting, as we did tonight, they show you a touch screen and you pick your seats from what it shows as available. Then you walk into the half empty theater and sit where you want. All that for $3! Such a deal. Such pretension.

I get it. The amenities are getting to mingle with the upper crust -- the men in their sweaters and tasseled loafers, the women with their haircuts. Yuck. The seats weren't even all that comfortable, and because the theater is relatively new everything is still off-gassing like crazy.

Sigh. I miss the old Majestic Theater days where we always sat in row 5 under the precariously hanging chandelier, where the seats were broken, the floor was sticky, there was brewers' yeast to shake on the popcorn, and an interesting double feature every night -- all for a couple of bucks! And when you came out at 11 p.m., the prostitutes were out in full force across the street and you got another show for free.

Those were the days ...

Musing on Election 2008

I am having a very hard time being excited about this election. It isn't that I cannot get behind Obama. While he is not perfect, I can and do support his candidacy. I was briefly excited and hopeful during the convention, but now I just feel defeated and beaten down. I don't want a yard sign, I don't want a bumper sticker, I don't want a button.

I think what I really don't want is a repeat of election 2004. It was so disheartening. I liken this feeling to my third pregnancy after my second child died. It is hard to get invested and trust that everything will be alright. I kind of just want to curl up in a ball and not come out until everything is over. (Except to vote, of course. With my heart in my mouth.)

Yesterday I picked up my copy of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting's Faith and Practice. (For readers of this blog who are not Friends: Faith and Practice is the name of books compiled by each Yearly Meeting, containing pertinent passages gleaned from the writing of historical, as well as modern Quakers. They are intended to support Friends in living in the faith.) I opened to a section on "Belief" and found this, from the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, 1969:

As Friends we believe that love is the unifying force in human relations. Let us understand what brotherly love is and what it is not. Love is not self-seeking; it is self-giving. Love does not try to make up a deficiency in that of God in another from an overabundance of divinity in ourselves; it opens us to the divine Light in him and rejoices in it. Love does not mean agreeing on all questions of belief, values, or rules of conduct; it means accepting with humility and forbearance such differences as cannot be resolved by open and patient give-and-take. Love does not recreate our brother in our image; it recreates us both in relation to each other, united like limbs of one body yet each distinctly himself.

So, what does this have to do with anything? It made me realize that, all other issues aside (and there is so much at stake in this election) the thing that is so striking in Obama is that he projects humility. That is something I can really get behind. The thing is, one can be humble and still kick ass. It is all about what's at the center. Obama may be ambitious -- how can you run for higher office and not be? -- but it feels as if a call to service is what's at the center. I believe that a good politician (in the good sense) is a community organizer writ large. And now he needs to hold true to that center, get out there, and speak Truth to power. With humility.

I am so sick of hubris. We need humility. We need decency. We need a human being for president.

Also, a Movie Review

The young Misses Ether and I watched the 1984 cult classic Repo Man last night. (And then this article appeared on Crooks & Liars today. Coincidence? I think not. It's like this: You'll be thinking about, say, a plate of shrimp. And then someone will say the word "plate" or "shrimp." Or "plate of shrimp." Is that a coincidence?)

I last saw this movie back when my hair was ultra short and moussed. In other words, a long time ago. I remembered it being bizarre and funny. Guess what? It is bizarre and funny! Emilio Estevez plays Otto, a kid at loose ends who falls in with a seedy "repo man" (played by one of my favorite actors, Harry Dean Stanton.) There is so much to enjoy in this movie! There is a ridiculous car chase scene between rival repo men, àla Road Warrior. There are the punks turned convenience store robbers. There is the nerdy Kevin -- whose character had to have been the model for Napolean Dynamite. (I'm putting that nicely. Napolean Dynamite was an obvious rip-off.) There are the old stoner parents of Otto, who have become followers of Pat Robertson. And the junkyard philosopher, Miller.

It was produced by the only Monkee with any talent, Mike Nesmith. (No slight intended against any monkeys here, just Monkees. And it's another ... non-coincidence! This is starting to weird me out a little.)

If you haven't seen this, it's a fun flick.

(And another excellent movie from the same era ... Tapeheads, starring a very young Tim Robbins and John Cusack. I HIGHLY recommend it.)

There. I've provided you with everything but the popcorn.

Another Book Review ... FINALLY!

Reading has slowed way down. That happens when school starts. Life takes on a different shape. I was reading a book that I bought for Sparkly Seacow a while back: Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. It had an interesting premise. Two adolescent girls living in London find a portal to a place called Un Lun Dun. Un Lun Dun is kind of like London through Alice's looking glass; things are the same, but definitely not the same. Un Lun Dun is in dire trouble, and it has been prophesied in a sacred book that a young girl will save it.

Here's what I really liked about the book: Plot twists. Word play. Fantastic characters. (My favorite was a cute little milk carton named "Curdle.") A heroic young girl. Fairly obvious references to these times we're living in.

Here's what I didn't like: I bogged down in the story after a while. That may have less to do with the quality of the book, than with the fact that fantasy is not a genre I find particularly compelling. I am also very tired of war as the dominant paradigm for defeating "evil" -- even storybook evil.

Overall, I don't regret buying this book for my daughter (she liked it quite a bit) nor do I regret reading it. If you know a kid in the 10-13 range who likes fantasy, this is a highly original and well written book. (I thought that the style was reminiscent of The Phantom Tollbooth. Other reviewers compared it to Neil Gaiman's books.)

However, I am now looking forward to reading something else.

I'm certified!

Nuts? Yes.
A school library media specialist? Yes again!
Woo hoo!

A meme from long ago

A few weeks ago, DCup posted photographs of her book collection and invited others to do the same. Well, it has taken me a while to get it together, but here goes. I started in the kitchen with the cookbooks. I love my cookbooks. Sometimes I just take them out and read them. (Lots of stirring passages, haha.) I probably use the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home more than anything else. I also have been getting many recipes out of the innertubes, so I have a big binder of recipes. I used to have The Boxcar Children Cookbook but I gave it to PoodleDoc as an engagement gift. (Note to PoodleDoc: We are expecting an invitation for wienies and s'mores. Said Benny.)
On to the basement. We shouldn't really store books in the basement, but we do. Our living room is too flargin' full of musical flotsam and jetsom to have room for another bookshelf unit. This shelf contains many children's books that our progeny don't want in their bedrooms anymore, but that I cannot bear to part with. I collected children's books long before I ever had children! Another basement shelf. You may not be able to tell, but there are actually 2 layers of books on these shelves, not counting the ones stuffed in on top of other books. The way that we keep our books is rather embarrassing, given that I am a wannabe librarian -- but there you have it. The shoemaker's children go barefoot.A portion of my craft books.

In the living room, this is a bookshelf that the lovely and talented Mr. Ether built. (There is a second one in pieces in the basement. If the giant black amps and speakers -- Mr. Ether's tools of the Rock God ™ trade -- ever get moved somewhere else, maybe we'll have room for another unit in the living room!)And a close-up.
Upstairs now. Molly is in her favorite spot, and it is yet another ridiculously disheveled bookshelf!A peek into the Luminiferous boudoir, and what do we have? More books!
Knitting magazines and miscellaneous stuff ...The nightstand/bookshelf ...And the pile on the floor (overseen by Feather.)

I left out a couple of smaller cases because I didn't want to become even more tedious than I already am. The fact is, I love books. However, I am a very discerning book buyer; I've reached the point where I will not buy a book unless I know that I absolutely love it and plan to read it multiple times. Yet we still have books in every nook and cranny of the house!

Free Fuzzy Thing!

I signed up an email newsletter from Michael Palin for President (no spam, ever, spam,) and all I got was this free fuzzy thing! Get your own free fuzzy thing here.

Palin for President!

My favorite Python!

Baaa!

Today we enjoyed a nearly perfect September day at the Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival in Jefferson, Wisconsin. It was Mr. Ether and me accompanied by my lovely sister (and soon to be first-time grandma) Lisa, as well as the always-delightful Sparkly Seacow and her friend Violet. While Mr. Ether went to watch the sheep dog demonstrations, and Sparkly and Violet did whatever it is that they do (it usually involves a lot of wrestling like puppies), Lisa and I shopped in the 2 barns-full of vendors.

I am usually very frugal at these events. I tell myself I have enough yarn and take vendors' business cards instead. I don't know what got into me today! I bought a pattern for a sweater and a pattern for a shawl, plus angora yarn to make the shawl. I bought some beautiful variegated merino and cashmere yarn to make socks. ($28.00 socks!) I really debated on the sock yarn. I must have gone by the booth 4 times. When I finally went back to buy it, the vendor said, "Oh, I wrote up your receipt half an hour ago. I knew you'd be back." I also bought not one, but two handwoven rag rugs.

Hey, Sen. Gramm is right: our economic woes are all in our heads! We just have to quit whining, get out there and stimulate the economy! (Incidentally, my sister shared the shocking news that her husband was recently "let go" from the tax accounting firm where he has worked for more than two decades. So that's my cabinet-maker husband, my brother with a Master's degree in urban planning, my auto mechanic nephew, and my CPA brother-in-law who have all lost their jobs in the last year. But we're a nation of whiners.)

But I digress into the sordid world of politics. Back to sheep and wool. I love these sheep and wool festivals. A number of years ago I talked a new friend into going with me to the Michigan Wool Festival (before we had our own here.) It was around Kalamazoo when she turned to me and said, "You mean you're really serious about going to this thing?" She thought I was just looking for an excuse to get away from my family for the weekend. Ha! (I think that was the first time I left Sparkly Seacow. Wool is very compelling.) I think I might even go back tomorrow!

Cooking With Luminiferous Ether

Eating local is just about the easiest thing in the world this time of year in this part of the country. I don't have beautiful step-by-step photos like some bloggers I know, but I'll do my best to describe what I've been eating.

Last night I made Cheesy Corn Chowder from the LaLeche League cookbook, Whole Foods For the Whole Family. (Great cookbook; it's been a stalwart kitchen companion for almost 20 years.)

I love when a cookbook opens to a certain page, and that page is sticky and stained. Here's the basic recipe:

1 potato, diced
2 c. boiling water
1 bay leaf
1/4 t. sage
1/4 t. cumin
3 T. butter
1 onion, chopped
3 T. whole wheat flour
1 1/4 c. milk, buttermilk or cream
1/4 t. ground nutmeg
1 1/2 - 2 c. grated cheddar cheese
2 c. corn, fresh or frozen

Cook potato, bay, sage, and cumin in water until barely tender, 15-20 minutes. Sauté onion in butter until tender; blend in flour. Off heat, gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Stir milk mixture and corn into potatoes and water. Add nutmeg and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Add cheese and stir until it melts.

So the cool thing is, with the exception of the spices (and possibly the butter -- Organic Valley brand,) all of the ingredients came from within about 30 miles of home. The produce came from our garden, the cheese from "Farmer John" and the milk from Blue Marble Dairy.

Tonight I made stuffed peppers: sweet red peppers from our garden and "gyro meat" from a local farm. (What kind of an animal is a gyro?) Yellow watermelon and cantaloupe from the garden for dessert. The rice is Lundberg's, I think from the Dakotas.

This One's for Quaker Dave ...

... and all the other teachers who are newly back to school. Chrissy says it best!



(This song never fails to give me goosebumps.)

Unbelievable

As someone who is just a heartbeat away from becoming a librarian -- well, OK -- actually I have to pay the $100 for my license and then find a job -- this is shocking. Nay, appalling!

[Former Wasilla mayor John Stein] says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. "She asked the library how she could go about banning books," he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. "The librarian was aghast." The librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn't be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire her for not giving "full support" to the mayor. Read the rest at Daily Kos.

Sarah Palin sounds like a monster in every way.

"What are they, getting married?"

That's what Cinderbelle had to say on viewing this:

Then she said, "Can you imagine Barack Obama saying that about Joe Biden?"

Blogger Meet-Up

Oh, yeah ... and tomatoes.
Yesterday the illustrious blogger PoodleDoc and I met, in my kitchen of all places, to can tomatoes.
It was one of the hottest days we've had all summer. Just perfect for boiling gallons of water on your stove ...
Mr. Ether wanted to help. Ed -- Put. down. the. drill. and. step. away. from. the. tomatoes ...
I caught one! I caught one!
Some of the finished product. Aren't they pretty?

Next on the docket: freezing sweet corn.