Our scintillating talk with Damali Ayo, the author of "How to Rent a Negro"goes up against the debates between Barack Obama and John McCain tonight. For that reason i am making an extra effort to get our show uploaded to the KBOO site, so that you all can check it out later. I will be on the radio at 6 pm, but i will be wanting to watch Obama whoop up on that sniveling toad.
But in case you love this mama more than Obama, it's on at 6 pm on 90.7 FM, and worldwide at http://www.kboo.fm/
Revolution Time!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
I just wanna daydream
Today i learned that when you can see Mt. Hood among the clouds, it means said clouds are coming from the continent. When you can't see Hood, they're coming from the sea. The Marine Layer. We are talking about clouds a lot again, because they've come back to Oregon.
Once we were summer people
now we're just not.
Time to dance with the fairies
in the land the sun forgot.
This weather makes me want to
daydream all day
start a fire
wash my sheets
stay in bed reading
rearrange my dressers
take out the sweaters
hang a heat lamp for the dog
build a greenhouse
sip hot tea
make chili, all mashed up with crackers and cheese
put together puzzles with the kid
drink dark beer
buy new shoes (after wearing flip flops for months)
make lists
commune with the trees
throw some wet dirt around
daydream all day.
I've remembered the lines of one Yeats poem, since i saw it circling the walls of an Irish coffee house. In Galway, i think. It comes back on soft days, like today:
Come away, oh human child
To the waters and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.
commune with the trees
throw some wet dirt around
daydream all day.
I've remembered the lines of one Yeats poem, since i saw it circling the walls of an Irish coffee house. In Galway, i think. It comes back on soft days, like today:
Come away, oh human child
To the waters and the wild
With a fairy hand in hand
For the world's more full of weeping
Than you can understand.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Why i love Portlanders: Part Deux Mille
This is some Portlander's idea of a political joke. I find it hilarious. If you don't know what it's all about you may have been under a political rock lately... but this should fill you in.
Thanks to the PDX Pipeline for throwin down the photo. Good site, if you are lookin for something to do around town. There are also a lot of other links there, for Portlandophiles.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Hope is not enough - we need action
For those of you who live on the left coast, it's especially important to be reminded that the race between McCain and Obama is just too close to call. You might forget that, in a city that cannot pronounce the name "McCain" without spitting. Edwin McCain came here to play a music show, and i felt sorry for him. I am sure some people didn't show up because of his unfortunate last name.
Anyway, the latest polls show Obama with a slight lead in electoral votes, but it's all just too close for me to feel comfortable.
Here's the latest breakdown.
So don't get complacent. Make sure you register to vote, and cast your ballot when the time comes. Obama holds the lead among young voters, but those young voters are also the ones most likely to take the tack "o, i don't need to vote, everyone else will do it for me," and lead us into four more years of nasty policies, a longer war, and a stymied effort to revolutionize our energy policy.
I feel i must do my part to make sure everyone i know is registered to vote, even those of you who reside outside the borders of the United Sad-states. So here you go:
Oregon voter registration. In our state, we do mail-in ballots. So make sure it gets in on time to be counted.
So don't get complacent. Make sure you register to vote, and cast your ballot when the time comes. Obama holds the lead among young voters, but those young voters are also the ones most likely to take the tack "o, i don't need to vote, everyone else will do it for me," and lead us into four more years of nasty policies, a longer war, and a stymied effort to revolutionize our energy policy.
I feel i must do my part to make sure everyone i know is registered to vote, even those of you who reside outside the borders of the United Sad-states. So here you go:
Oregon voter registration. In our state, we do mail-in ballots. So make sure it gets in on time to be counted.
The Overseas Vote Foundation will help my expat friends do their thing. You are needed and must be counted.
And Barack Obama himself is helping all the rest of you, who may not know how to register in your state. That link will take you to voter information for all 50 states.
Revolution time!
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Discussing Sarah Palin
Palin's caribou huntI am plotting a radio show that lambasts Sarah Palin in any way possible. I shudder in fear when i hear her talk. I would appreciate all of your thoughts about this woman and why she frightens you/moves you... whatever she does to you.
This here editorial by Thomas Friedman explains (for all you who may not have gotten it yet) why McCain and Palin are so out of touch.
Log onto my radio show blog: http://www.kboobreadandroses.blogspot.com/ and drop some comments.
Or check out our Myspace page (search bread and roses, or look in my top friends) and comment on our blog there. It's time to get the discussion going. (As if it's not going around enough -- but this time i want to be the moderator, sorry for the ego push)
Revolution Time!
Friday, September 12, 2008
My teeth hurt
I thought about burying this story in my head, under a bunch of cobwebs and piles of dirt where no one would ever hear about it, even if my subconscious makes me start sleeptalking again. But it's just too good, so i have to self-depricate.
I made a stab at vanity this week, deciding that my teeth were getting too yellow and i needed to bust out the whitening kit. I used the painful orthodontic retainer and the goopy gel successfully the first night, but the next day i decided i needed to do it again. (As i write this i realize how many of my stories involve me being half-cocked. This is another one -- but i suppose i forgive myself, since the kiddo is gone again and it's my time.) So i came home half-cocked and got out the stuff again before bed. I had a hard time putting the gel on the retainer this time; it got all globby and wouldn't spread like it had before. But i just thought the stuff was getting old or something. But the second i put those damn retainers in my mouth, stuff started burning like the fires of hell. I thought 'o this stuff is getting waaay old, but it's burning because it's working...' So i kept it on for about a minute, before i realized something was seriously wrong. It didn't taste all minty fresh, and it f'ing hurt. In fact it kinda tasted like putting my head in a bucket of chemicals and breathing in a nice, unhealthy gasp. So i took the trays off and looked in the mirror to see the gums around all my front teeth were pure white and still burning. What the hell!? So i took out that tube of whitening gel -- which was sitting right next to....
My daughter's wart gel. Yes. Have at it. Gasp. Simper. Cringe. Laugh. And yes, a four year old has warts which require that nasty gel. Yeesh. Somehow in my partly drunk, gonnna-get-pretty-before-bed state i pulled out the wrong tube. And they aren't even the same size or color! Some of my gums are still white. Other parts of the skin are peeling off. And they're sore -- like how they feel after the dentist pokes around in your mouth with that metal probe. (I didn't tell you this was going to be a nice story...)
So much for freaking vanity.
I made a stab at vanity this week, deciding that my teeth were getting too yellow and i needed to bust out the whitening kit. I used the painful orthodontic retainer and the goopy gel successfully the first night, but the next day i decided i needed to do it again. (As i write this i realize how many of my stories involve me being half-cocked. This is another one -- but i suppose i forgive myself, since the kiddo is gone again and it's my time.) So i came home half-cocked and got out the stuff again before bed. I had a hard time putting the gel on the retainer this time; it got all globby and wouldn't spread like it had before. But i just thought the stuff was getting old or something. But the second i put those damn retainers in my mouth, stuff started burning like the fires of hell. I thought 'o this stuff is getting waaay old, but it's burning because it's working...' So i kept it on for about a minute, before i realized something was seriously wrong. It didn't taste all minty fresh, and it f'ing hurt. In fact it kinda tasted like putting my head in a bucket of chemicals and breathing in a nice, unhealthy gasp. So i took the trays off and looked in the mirror to see the gums around all my front teeth were pure white and still burning. What the hell!? So i took out that tube of whitening gel -- which was sitting right next to....
My daughter's wart gel. Yes. Have at it. Gasp. Simper. Cringe. Laugh. And yes, a four year old has warts which require that nasty gel. Yeesh. Somehow in my partly drunk, gonnna-get-pretty-before-bed state i pulled out the wrong tube. And they aren't even the same size or color! Some of my gums are still white. Other parts of the skin are peeling off. And they're sore -- like how they feel after the dentist pokes around in your mouth with that metal probe. (I didn't tell you this was going to be a nice story...)
So much for freaking vanity.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Be happy you have a job
While it may be true that it could be worse, having a job in these troubling times does not really mean you are doing all right. We are now at the highest level of unemployment in a decade, but just because you are earning a paycheck doesn't mean you are rolling in your easy chair with your cronies, passing around cigars. In my own line of work, i have seen the "be happy you have a job" line be used in defense of the erosion of our creature comforts, our sanity, and our lunchtime. We are now working more for less, with fewer people.
But be happy you have a job.
As for my health care plan, i am expected to pay more than 100 dollars a month in premiums, after my workplace pays a little less than half of it. When we do go to the doctor we pay another 50 dollars for a co-pay. Many more elaborate procedures are not covered under this co-pay plan at all, and must be paid for out-of-pocket. This is "health insurance" in the United Sad-State of America. I do not qualify for any programs that would help a single mother pay for such burdens, because my income bracket defines me as fat-and-happy-middle-class. Try squeezed middle class.
But be happy you have a job.
My daughter is in the year now defined by the overbearing, overzealous mothers of America as "pre-k". (Did you have this when you were a kid? Wasn't it just called "preschool?") But again, because of the income bracket that i am in (read= no matter what the pay, you are cashing a paycheck, so be happy you have a job...) i do not qualify for state-sponsored preschool. I am expected to pay preschools a tuition that is more than most people's college tuition. All while i struggle to find a way to keep the lights on, keep organic food in the fridge, and pay for my own college tuition bills from ten years ago. So i am forced to settle for a sweet babysitter where the kid learns about gardening, eating well, and riding trike. For this i get disapproving looks from friends and family. I am, of course, a career woman -- how could i do this do my child when of course i am getting paid and aren't i paid well and
Happy to have a job?!
Now right about now you might be saying, well where is her father in all of this? Why are you not demanding more from him? Why is he not paying for her schooling? This too goes back to the title of this post. When i bring up the fact that i need money to pay for school and healthcare and dance class, he says "be happy you have a job." Or rather, something like, 'well you make so much more than me and you drive a nice car and go on trips to Hawaii, so it looks like i need the money more than you do." Ha. He gets food stamps to eat and is is happy not to have a job. And he forgets the fact that i earn my money for myself as well as her, but his daughter is half his responsibility too, so no matter what i make, he is bound to offer her some financial assistance. So then you might be asking, 'why don't you have the state garnish his wages?' To that i say, what wages?
He is happy not to have a job.
This is another product of living in the United Sad-States. If i sue him for child support, it may take years. If he continues not to pay, he will wind up in jail, where he will have no recourse for paying at all. Afterward, he will be a felon who would be ineligible for many nicer places to live; he would be discriminated against for jobs, and would be in the company of other felons.
Are you getting this people? Am i becoming a lazy-ass American pig by saying that it seems to me it's easier not to have a job? I would get child care, preschool, food, and health care for free for my daughter. I could get on free programs to help me with my electric and gas bills, and I could even get unemployment for a while. No looming health care bills, no shithole changes to my schedule at the drop of a hat...
But then these rants would not fly from my fingers at the speed they do. Then i would not be able to call myself part of this nasty, overstimulated, infinitely interesting business of journalism. So i sigh and say to myself...
Be happy you have a job.
But be happy you have a job.
As for my health care plan, i am expected to pay more than 100 dollars a month in premiums, after my workplace pays a little less than half of it. When we do go to the doctor we pay another 50 dollars for a co-pay. Many more elaborate procedures are not covered under this co-pay plan at all, and must be paid for out-of-pocket. This is "health insurance" in the United Sad-State of America. I do not qualify for any programs that would help a single mother pay for such burdens, because my income bracket defines me as fat-and-happy-middle-class. Try squeezed middle class.
But be happy you have a job.
My daughter is in the year now defined by the overbearing, overzealous mothers of America as "pre-k". (Did you have this when you were a kid? Wasn't it just called "preschool?") But again, because of the income bracket that i am in (read= no matter what the pay, you are cashing a paycheck, so be happy you have a job...) i do not qualify for state-sponsored preschool. I am expected to pay preschools a tuition that is more than most people's college tuition. All while i struggle to find a way to keep the lights on, keep organic food in the fridge, and pay for my own college tuition bills from ten years ago. So i am forced to settle for a sweet babysitter where the kid learns about gardening, eating well, and riding trike. For this i get disapproving looks from friends and family. I am, of course, a career woman -- how could i do this do my child when of course i am getting paid and aren't i paid well and
Happy to have a job?!
Now right about now you might be saying, well where is her father in all of this? Why are you not demanding more from him? Why is he not paying for her schooling? This too goes back to the title of this post. When i bring up the fact that i need money to pay for school and healthcare and dance class, he says "be happy you have a job." Or rather, something like, 'well you make so much more than me and you drive a nice car and go on trips to Hawaii, so it looks like i need the money more than you do." Ha. He gets food stamps to eat and is is happy not to have a job. And he forgets the fact that i earn my money for myself as well as her, but his daughter is half his responsibility too, so no matter what i make, he is bound to offer her some financial assistance. So then you might be asking, 'why don't you have the state garnish his wages?' To that i say, what wages?
He is happy not to have a job.
This is another product of living in the United Sad-States. If i sue him for child support, it may take years. If he continues not to pay, he will wind up in jail, where he will have no recourse for paying at all. Afterward, he will be a felon who would be ineligible for many nicer places to live; he would be discriminated against for jobs, and would be in the company of other felons.
Are you getting this people? Am i becoming a lazy-ass American pig by saying that it seems to me it's easier not to have a job? I would get child care, preschool, food, and health care for free for my daughter. I could get on free programs to help me with my electric and gas bills, and I could even get unemployment for a while. No looming health care bills, no shithole changes to my schedule at the drop of a hat...
But then these rants would not fly from my fingers at the speed they do. Then i would not be able to call myself part of this nasty, overstimulated, infinitely interesting business of journalism. So i sigh and say to myself...
Be happy you have a job.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
I'm now on Flickr
I am a bit photo-obsessed of late so i started a Flickr account to manage them all and let ya'll enjoy more of them. Plus my kid is so cute she must be displayed as much as is couth and civilized. Course every mama says that (the cute kid part).
Btw, in the background of this photo you see "da bus" that i have told many a debaucherous tale about, to some of you who've seen me since my return. It was the scene of madness, and the savior to all our drunken souls at my sister's mainland wedding reception. It was pure coincidence that the driver had a pidgin name for his bus, that he used for carting around a bunch of wild Hawaiians and Minnesotans that night. Lord, what a pairing of cultures.
Back from Sodak -- where there is some dopeness
Graffiti Art Alley, off 7th street in Rapid City
Trying to convince my pops to let them extend it across the street, to the brick walls of his office building...
Freedom on the road, ala my unkie Dave & his Harley (not as cool as a Kawasaki Vulcan!)
They ask my sis if she puts mascara on Koa's eyes. Lord help us.Fearless eats News Center One for lunch
A pic of my two favorite boyz -- Pops and 'Koa -- when my former rival t.v. station came to interview them about their new enterprise in Summerset, SD. I love that the kid is munching on the mic like he owns the thing. My pops has a few new businesses going right now -- one of them involves a boutique bowling alley and movie theater in the middle of motorcycle country. But in order to keep their liquor license (ahead of the construction of the entertainment center) they had to put up this makeshift pavilion tavern and open it for 60 days. So they spent the summer partying under a glorified picnic shelter. My nephew can now say he grew up in a bar. I don't know whether to be proud or not...Saturday, September 6, 2008
Boot Camp
I just posted a little bit about this on the Urban Mamas site -- a great resource for mamas in PDX. But i feel like elaborating about it more on my own forum. The honey chile just got back from "Grandma and Grandpa Bootcamp". Despite the militaristic-sounding title, it is a great 'summer camp' for the kiddo. For the past two summers, she has spent close to three weeks in the South Dakota sun, following Papa Bryan and Gramma Darla around through their busy lives. This year she got to spend a lot of time with her baby cousin too, since my sis is living in their town. Some days she does nothing more than color and make a mess in the corner of Papa's office; other days are filled with kid-related outings -- swimming pools, bike rides, sugar, cowgirl hats and lots of kisses.
But there is also some discipline going on. While i spend most of the year juggling being the disciplinarian and the nurturer, they have the time and the dual-personitude to tag team the two roles. So by the time she got back this time, she was taking time outs a little more seriously, reducing the number of daily freakouts, and learning what "compromise" means. These are things i work on with her all the time, but with two of them at it at once, they were able to accomplish a little more in a short amount of time.
It is refreshing and amazing to see how much a kid can learn in just three weeks. How their voices change. How they look a little taller and their hair hangs a little farther down their backs. How they hug you like they're never going to let go, not this time! But after reading the blogs on Urban Mamas, i realize i am giving her a much longer leash than other mamas do. Partly because of my single status, and partly because it's in me. While some mamas lose it when their child is gone for the night, i say bring it on. It gives her a chance to interact with other people and be comfortable as a chameleon, and it gives me a chance to be something other than freaky stressed out mama. While other mamas cling tight, i let her spread her wings.
Except now that she's been back for a few days, she's gone again. This time to her dad's. Now here my contrariness comes out. For all my talk of letting her take flight -- i want her back in the nest. I miss her.
But there is also some discipline going on. While i spend most of the year juggling being the disciplinarian and the nurturer, they have the time and the dual-personitude to tag team the two roles. So by the time she got back this time, she was taking time outs a little more seriously, reducing the number of daily freakouts, and learning what "compromise" means. These are things i work on with her all the time, but with two of them at it at once, they were able to accomplish a little more in a short amount of time.
It is refreshing and amazing to see how much a kid can learn in just three weeks. How their voices change. How they look a little taller and their hair hangs a little farther down their backs. How they hug you like they're never going to let go, not this time! But after reading the blogs on Urban Mamas, i realize i am giving her a much longer leash than other mamas do. Partly because of my single status, and partly because it's in me. While some mamas lose it when their child is gone for the night, i say bring it on. It gives her a chance to interact with other people and be comfortable as a chameleon, and it gives me a chance to be something other than freaky stressed out mama. While other mamas cling tight, i let her spread her wings.
Except now that she's been back for a few days, she's gone again. This time to her dad's. Now here my contrariness comes out. For all my talk of letting her take flight -- i want her back in the nest. I miss her.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Many-ass-police
I have not had any time to write lately but i am disturbed upon returning to my world and hearing that one of my heroes is facing charges for demanding DEMOCRACY NOW! at the Republican National Convention. She and a number of other journalists were arrested in St. Paul for next to nothing. I don't try to hate on anyone -- even police officers -- but i have long heard the name "Many-ass-police" thrown out there in reference to Minneapolis and St. Paul. Now i know why. And did you know the authorities there got 50 million for security at the RNC?!
"Democracy Now! Host Amy Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s office is in the process of deciding whether or not to press felony P.C. (probable cause) riot charges against Democracy Now! Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar."
If you know Amy Goodman or even if you just value our right to peaceable protest... log on to Democracy Now and sign their petition.
"Democracy Now! Host Amy Goodman was arrested while questioning police about the unlawful detention of Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar, who were arrested while they carried out their journalistic duties in covering street demonstrations at the Republican National Convention.
The Ramsey County Attorney’s office is in the process of deciding whether or not to press felony P.C. (probable cause) riot charges against Democracy Now! Producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar."
If you know Amy Goodman or even if you just value our right to peaceable protest... log on to Democracy Now and sign their petition.
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