I was at an embassy luncheon in San Francisco. It was first class all the way, caviar canapes, vodka flights, and snifters of brandy. The high life, these are the circles I run in and why not.
If you grease enough wheels or even just polish the right ego, then an ambassadorship to some low maintenance country can be yours! Besides flying first class, transporting all the drugs and explosives you can smuggle (no one looks!), there are parties galore with the movers, shakers, and palm greasers across the globe.
It was at this soiree in San Francisco that I was introduced to Kim Jong-un. People were just tip-toeing around the guy. I can't help but poke fun in these situations so when introduced. I said, "You're the guy lobbing nukes around." Kim Jong-un looked at me in surprise and we chatted about the city and North Korea. "Is dim-sum a thing there?"
The afternoon wound down and I walked out of the embassy, through the columns and down the marble steps to the street. Kim (I could call him Kim now) came rushing out and down the stairs to walk with me as I headed towards Golden Gate Park on my way home.
Mr. Jong-un grabbed my forearm and was pulling me along the path in the park. For a moment I thought I was being kidnapped into North Korean slavery. Doing what? Laundry? I thought they were already good at that.
"What are you doing?" I asked, highly annoyed. Kim looked at me puzzled, and let go.
After we walked in silence for a bit, he tentatively reached out and held my hand. We strolled on like that for a ways. No one seemed to notice that this was Kim Jong-un and why would they? It made no sense. Here was this guy, the size of a Presto log, dressed like The Littlest Communist, walking hand in hand with a young, vivacious, and utterly gorgeous blond through Golden Gate Park.
"Kim. You can't hold my hand. I have a boyfriend so it's not OK." Kim looked crestfallen and let go. I attempted small-talk but he would just look up at me with those inquisitive, shy, and slightly sad eyes.
He reached for my hand again.
"No, Kim. You cannot hold my hand. Put your arm out, you can escort me."
"But escorting is for old ladies."
"It doesn't matter, Kim. I have a boyfriend so you cannot hold my hand but you can escort me."
We continued on across the park until we reached my painted lady Victorian home along the panhandle. The 3rd floor was my apartment.
"I want to see all of it."
"What, Kim?"
"I want to see all of it. This building. I do not see anything like it in my home. What is the top like? What is the bottom like?"
I showed Kim my flat and my bedroom with the big pink fluffy comforter. And then my roommate's, with her Vogue covers and Robert Mapplethorpe on the walls.
We went downstairs to the basement door so Kim could see "what the bottom of the house looked like." But when I opened the door the stairs were gone, having crashed away as water was pouring through a wall and filling the basement. My roommate, Janice Dickinson appeared and tossed a bag of garbage past me into the abyss.
"Oh. You know Kim Jong-un," she sniffed, like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Monday, July 15, 2019
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
A Family Meeting
"We are having a family meeting."
It is always the family room. Always.
It is mid-century modern, lingering redwood scent from ashes in the fireplace.
It is always the weekend. Always.
My brother sits to my right on our nubby sky blue couch.
And it is always bad news. Always.
I wonder if my brother is feeling the same stomach dropping dread?
Does a black hole open before him as my parents explain the history of depression in our family?
My parents dropped a bomb that afternoon, the concussion of which resonates throughout my life.
"Your grandfather did not die of a heart attack, he committed suicide."
It is always a gun. Always.
We have faded photos of my grandfather holding my brother, his face weathered from the New Mexico sun, a laborer from the Great Depression. You could see it in every line of his face.
I wonder in that moment if he ever held me. It was Christmas when he left us and I was just a baby.
"He was so sad and lonely after Grandma divorced him."
My grandfather had been the first to go, but I never knew until that day. That gun blast resonates through three generations, harming family members in ways he would never have to know.
I am standing on the precipitate.
I carry that day with me. Always.
A black pit opened before me, the whoosh of updraft beckons me to spread my arms and fall forward.
Maybe forever.
I learned that we can be sad in a way where we no longer want to continue. That day I learned we can be so alone in our despair that there is no relief except at the end of a gun.
I wonder if it is ok to learn this so young.
Saturday, October 14, 2017
Is There A Home in the Valley of Capitalism?
God help me, but I am glad my parents
are not here to see this. Mountain View, California. There are
people living in their cars on the
streets now. Never, never in my life have I seen such a thing here.
I was born in Palo Alto and raised in
Mountain View. This is the home of Facebook
and Google. This is the home of capitalism. This is my home.
Every family has it's myth, or it's
truth. My parent's story sounds somewhat like a truth of mythic
proportions. My mother was the first
woman to graduate as an electrical engineer from New Mexico
State University. My father was a mathematician and engineer. They met while working on missile
telemetry at White Sands Proving
Grounds in the post Manhattan Project cold war era. In 1955 they
left to Palo Alto, California in an
exodus of engineers and scientists for the peace movement of the
San Francisco Bay Area. Many landed as
professors at Berkeley, or to Palo Alto as teachers and
engineers. Many joined the Unitarian church, the
epicenter of political activism.
“We no longer wanted to work on
weapons of mass destruction,” my mother said.
So I grew up learning to program
computers with punch cards. I grew up in an economy that was
nothing but upwardly mobile. I grew up
understanding that as my parents were of the Great
Depression, it was a given in this
life: Work hard, things get better.
It was one of those endless
Saturday afternoons, the type where all options are yours when you're
ten. Coloring, reading, bike riding,
playing my little guitar... the world was wide open for a child in
the early 70's. An old truck pulled up in
front of our manicured lawn. A man, he was Mexican, and a
boy about my age walked up to our front
door and I ran to answer. My father joined me and spoke to
this man while his son and I looked at each
other curiously. He probably wondered about my life as
much as I wondered about his.
The boy's dad said that he and his son
would wash all the windows on our house for twenty
five dollars, and my father said yes.
They did the work and my father offered them a few more jobs.
One day my mom told me that the man who
came to our door that day now had a full time job as
the handyman at a motel our neighbor across
the street owned. I asked my dad about that one day. He
told me how impressed he was. He told me of
the important and valuable lesson this father, who
barely spoke English was imparting on his son.
That it is ok to knock on someone's door. There is no
shame in asking for work. This boy had a
good father who was teaching him important values in this
world.
So I wonder when I look at the
level of homelessness where I come from, Silicon Valley. I wonder
how my father's values translate now.
How can any society continue when those whose hard work
doing the most basic things we all need,
childcare, cleaning, making food, washing windows... are
left to be homeless?
My father felt a deep commitment to
his fellow man. My father grew up in poverty, but he worked
hard and Things Got Better. In all
truth, my father could never say no to those who knocked on our
door for help.
So I wonder what he would do now.
There are so many to help. On the streets of Mountain View,
people have no place to live.
Right up until the crash of 2007/2008,
my father's life got better. That's when two thirds of everything
he worked for in this world vanished.
And it killed him. He died April 3rd, 2009.
God help me but I am thankful he is not
here to see what is happening in the town he made our home.
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Bernie Sanders; The Match That Lit the Flame.
It is the match that sacrifices itself, now and forever more. We must never attach ourselves to the match. It is from the flame of which we grow.
Bernie has been the voice across 5 decades for civil rights and equality. It is a life spent as an independent thinker. My God, how difficult that is, how isolating it must be.
Bernie Sanders did not betray you, my friends. He sacrificed himself. At 74, he looked at his life's work and knew that time is short upon this planet of ours. Bernie stood up for all of us and the establishment despises him for that. He made many enemies within the Democratic Party for being so bold. He was mocked and his supporters are told to get in line. Bernie put his life in danger for us.
74 years old and we will never have anyone like him again.
That flame, so tiny in May of 2015... who knew that Bernie Sanders voice spoke for millions then? We are in a unique time in history, as our country slides out of our grasp and we have lost our direction. We have been handed a gift. Every single supporter of Bernie is our 2nd Greatest Generation. We know the truth. We know what is good and we are fighting the good fight.
Bernie Sanders is the match, my friends. He lit the flame and now it up to us to burn brightly.
Every Bernie supporter shed a few tears last night to see Bernie speaking. This is not a cult of personality, or maybe it is. To be a leader and speak for millions is not an easy thing. Movements need leaders to direct focus. It is up to us now to elect the leaders who truly represent you and me.
Be the change.
It is our revolution now. The ascension of progressives has begun. We will take the White House with a true progressive in 2020. We will fill the Congress and take over the Senate. We must move forward. Bernie brought us together and if we do anything at all, we will honor the voice he has given each of us. A voice that stands up to the oligarchy. A voice that stands for what is good and what is right. He has given us organizational tools. He encourages you and he encourages me to run for office. He has raised us up to be better and active citizens.
I have learned so much over this last year. At some point I realized that even if we got Bernie into the White House, change takes work, time, and real effort. I learned that I don't have to feel so cynical. I learned to pay attention. Bernie's words, "If we stand together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish." finally make sense.
Bernie was the match that lit the flame. It is up to us now. The match always sacrifices itself. Always. We will keep the flame going and burn stronger and brighter than ever.
Bernie has been the voice across 5 decades for civil rights and equality. It is a life spent as an independent thinker. My God, how difficult that is, how isolating it must be.
Bernie Sanders did not betray you, my friends. He sacrificed himself. At 74, he looked at his life's work and knew that time is short upon this planet of ours. Bernie stood up for all of us and the establishment despises him for that. He made many enemies within the Democratic Party for being so bold. He was mocked and his supporters are told to get in line. Bernie put his life in danger for us.
74 years old and we will never have anyone like him again.
That flame, so tiny in May of 2015... who knew that Bernie Sanders voice spoke for millions then? We are in a unique time in history, as our country slides out of our grasp and we have lost our direction. We have been handed a gift. Every single supporter of Bernie is our 2nd Greatest Generation. We know the truth. We know what is good and we are fighting the good fight.
Bernie Sanders is the match, my friends. He lit the flame and now it up to us to burn brightly.
Every Bernie supporter shed a few tears last night to see Bernie speaking. This is not a cult of personality, or maybe it is. To be a leader and speak for millions is not an easy thing. Movements need leaders to direct focus. It is up to us now to elect the leaders who truly represent you and me.
Be the change.
It is our revolution now. The ascension of progressives has begun. We will take the White House with a true progressive in 2020. We will fill the Congress and take over the Senate. We must move forward. Bernie brought us together and if we do anything at all, we will honor the voice he has given each of us. A voice that stands up to the oligarchy. A voice that stands for what is good and what is right. He has given us organizational tools. He encourages you and he encourages me to run for office. He has raised us up to be better and active citizens.
I have learned so much over this last year. At some point I realized that even if we got Bernie into the White House, change takes work, time, and real effort. I learned that I don't have to feel so cynical. I learned to pay attention. Bernie's words, "If we stand together, there is nothing we cannot accomplish." finally make sense.
Bernie was the match that lit the flame. It is up to us now. The match always sacrifices itself. Always. We will keep the flame going and burn stronger and brighter than ever.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
This Is My Blog So You Never Have To Read It
This is my blog so I can write what I want.
This is my blog so you never have to read it.
It's the dead of night ramblings when all things come into sharp focus. I feel like a chewed up carcass, shat out on the side walk by a work house dog. Run over by a dump truck veering to take out the hyenas babbling and groveling for scraps on a corner in Times Square.
It's a dark night of the soul and all things surround a democracy dying while people shout to be heard.
Buried. We are buried. Democracy scrapes the dirt from her eyes and blindly pitches forward grasping at the tiny bit of light that somehow seeps through the gaping wounds.
Stumbling through the sycophantic Stockholm legion of HRC followers with their ears unable to hear, their eyes unable to see, the truth rises like scum on a putrid pond, fracked out to such toxicity that the lifeless fish are the least of our worries.
Ugly, ugly, ugly. Trolls, child porn, bomb threats, there is treachery at every turn.
This is my blog so you never have to read it.
It's the dead of night ramblings when all things come into sharp focus. I feel like a chewed up carcass, shat out on the side walk by a work house dog. Run over by a dump truck veering to take out the hyenas babbling and groveling for scraps on a corner in Times Square.
It's a dark night of the soul and all things surround a democracy dying while people shout to be heard.
Buried. We are buried. Democracy scrapes the dirt from her eyes and blindly pitches forward grasping at the tiny bit of light that somehow seeps through the gaping wounds.
Stumbling through the sycophantic Stockholm legion of HRC followers with their ears unable to hear, their eyes unable to see, the truth rises like scum on a putrid pond, fracked out to such toxicity that the lifeless fish are the least of our worries.
Ugly, ugly, ugly. Trolls, child porn, bomb threats, there is treachery at every turn.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
We Got 99 Counties and Confusion Has Won
Can you breath? Did you sign up to be a delegate? Then show up.
That's my frustration speaking, can you tell?
On March 12, in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, what should have been an 11/11 split between Hillary and Bernie ended as Hillary-12, Bernie-10. As many as possibly 80 Bernie delegates and alternates just not showing up was made worse by delegates leaving as frustrations mounted and time dragged on.
This is the day that precinct delegates from each of Iowa's 99 counties choose their district delegates. If all goes properly, the number is already set. We know how many precinct delegates there should be from each county and once at the county convention, the district delegate count is assigned accordingly.
But that is not the case. It comes down to this:
A. How much do you really want it?
and
B. An endurance challenge.
I cannot impress enough that those who sign up to be a precinct delegate must be committed to showing up. We will lose and it may be down to a handful of people who forget how important their involvement truly is.
There is an unsettling number of those in charge of these county conventions who are Hillary supporters. Wasting a lot of time and dragging out counts play out well for the Hillary side. Any observer can see that the Hillary side of the room has more retirees while the Bernie side has more people of age who need to rush out the door and get back to work. This is not a judgement. I was there to observe, but as Quinn Symonds, Bernie Sanders County Captain and owner of @Iowa4Bernie stated, "Anything to win but actual democracy." This was never more apparent than when the time came for realignment, a vote passed unanimously by the now tired and frustrated delegates to change it to one minute rather than the usual one hour. If you are unfamiliar with realignment, it is the time allotted to talk to those on the other side and sometimes, just sometimes your belief, your passion, and your words will bring someone to your side. This is what democracy looks like, talking to each other and sharing your views. Democracy limped home today in the confusion of signing in, being seated, repeated counts, and frustration across Iowa. Bernie supporters in Dubuque, Waterloo, and Polk county among others reported in with concerns similar and much worse.
As we move forward, these mistakes must not be made in any other states. LEARN FROM IOWA. Understand that Hillary has a bag of dirty tricks that include paid delegates, disrupters, those in place whose job it is to throw the counts, and people in high places who run and organize these conventions.
What do we do?
We make sure that those who sign up to be a district delegate understand immediately what they are getting into and the time commitment it involves which may possibly be all day.
understand that we do not depend upon being reminded and if for any reason you cannot make it to the county convention call your Bernie office so they can set up the alternate. If you don't know or have a local Bernie office, get on a Bernie Facebook site and ask for help.
Do not be late. Be early! Mingle. If you are unsure of the time, again reach out.
Make sure you sign in immediately. Get your packet. Sit down.
Monitor, monitor, monitor the situation. Ask names. Get clarifications.
Do not leave until it is over. Don't just take anyone's word for it either. Look for Bernie staffers.
The confusion in Cerro Gordo county was multiplied across Iowa by 99. There are reports from across the state that Bernie delegates did not show up. DO BETTER THAN US. This cannot happen in other states. Learn from this. We must be vigilant. We must stay on top of this situation.
Bernie is in this to be the next President of the United States. We must not let him or ourselves down.
Monday, March 7, 2016
Is Bernie Sanders Our Last Chance?
We want what is good for this country. We may not agree on how we
get there or what that looks like, but that is our common ground.
We agree that the health of this nation and the people in it is of vital importance. What does that look like? Does a hand-to-mouth existence inspire one to work harder and reach for higher or are we slowly beaten down by the odds stacked against us in this new economy? Are we stymied by futility in the face corporate greed that employ so many at the expense of worker's health, welfare, and pride?
How is our minimum wage $7.25 per hour in this America?
I am frustrated by conversations implying those who work in retail or food services do not deserve better. That somehow we can judge how others choose to work and decide they deserve an abusive wage. I hope the person wiping the table, flipping a burger, or sweeping the floor is paid well. In this country we should all be making enough money to live reasonably.
I was challenged on this. What's your definition of reasonable, I was asked?
Well, here's my definition of reasonable: Enough to pay rent, utilities, food, and a few bucks left over to save.
How about that?
How about if I don't wish ill upon my fellow man?
How about if I want everyone's life to be better?
Hey, what if I said I'd gladly give some of what is "mine" to help others?
Are we so broken as a society that we must guard what is "ours", hard earned yes, with a suspicion and even hostility? Are we a society living in that much fear? I sadly think so.
Do you believe that a government that cares about it's people is wrong?
How do we move past that fear?
I came of age in the 80's. There was a lot of cynicism by then about 1960's idealism. We laughed as Reaganomics kicked off our country's slow, nearly imperceptible decline and here we are. I am not laughing now. We have reached a tipping point.
We are Feeling The Bern. Why now?
There are too many of us who have been affected by this stagnating economy where jobs of quality are no longer widely available. We are talking. We are connecting. We are rising together and our voice is Bernie Sanders.
We may have one last chance here. This is why Bernie Sanders supporters are so passionate. We can't help but feel we are walking on some sort of edge. That this income inequality and our lives at the mercy of bought and paid for politicians is at a precarious end-point of no return.
If we continue the politics as usual, our lives will be set. We will continue this slide towards shorter life spans, struggle, an inability to meet even our most basic needs, and despair. The American Dream is vanishing as I write this blog.
This time there will be no turning back.
We feel, and I will not apologize, that Hillary and the status quo will be the marker of what this country becomes.
We will be the land of the haves and the have-nots, with nothing in the middle. You are either the server or are served.
It is un-American to question our right and our ability to make it the American way.
Here is the reality:
You are only worth $7.25 per hour.
We agree that the health of this nation and the people in it is of vital importance. What does that look like? Does a hand-to-mouth existence inspire one to work harder and reach for higher or are we slowly beaten down by the odds stacked against us in this new economy? Are we stymied by futility in the face corporate greed that employ so many at the expense of worker's health, welfare, and pride?
How is our minimum wage $7.25 per hour in this America?
I am frustrated by conversations implying those who work in retail or food services do not deserve better. That somehow we can judge how others choose to work and decide they deserve an abusive wage. I hope the person wiping the table, flipping a burger, or sweeping the floor is paid well. In this country we should all be making enough money to live reasonably.
I was challenged on this. What's your definition of reasonable, I was asked?
Well, here's my definition of reasonable: Enough to pay rent, utilities, food, and a few bucks left over to save.
How about that?
How about if I don't wish ill upon my fellow man?
How about if I want everyone's life to be better?
Hey, what if I said I'd gladly give some of what is "mine" to help others?
Are we so broken as a society that we must guard what is "ours", hard earned yes, with a suspicion and even hostility? Are we a society living in that much fear? I sadly think so.
Do you believe that a government that cares about it's people is wrong?
How do we move past that fear?
I came of age in the 80's. There was a lot of cynicism by then about 1960's idealism. We laughed as Reaganomics kicked off our country's slow, nearly imperceptible decline and here we are. I am not laughing now. We have reached a tipping point.
We are Feeling The Bern. Why now?
There are too many of us who have been affected by this stagnating economy where jobs of quality are no longer widely available. We are talking. We are connecting. We are rising together and our voice is Bernie Sanders.
We may have one last chance here. This is why Bernie Sanders supporters are so passionate. We can't help but feel we are walking on some sort of edge. That this income inequality and our lives at the mercy of bought and paid for politicians is at a precarious end-point of no return.
If we continue the politics as usual, our lives will be set. We will continue this slide towards shorter life spans, struggle, an inability to meet even our most basic needs, and despair. The American Dream is vanishing as I write this blog.
This time there will be no turning back.
We feel, and I will not apologize, that Hillary and the status quo will be the marker of what this country becomes.
We will be the land of the haves and the have-nots, with nothing in the middle. You are either the server or are served.
It is un-American to question our right and our ability to make it the American way.
Here is the reality:
You are only worth $7.25 per hour.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
The Haunted Hour
It is that hour when all things that haunt me come to a terrible
clarity before the light of dawn. It is the hour of truths when all my
decisions, made and not made, parade in succession before me to live
through one more time.
The idea of voting against my conscience is so depressing to me that it is no joke that I have these thoughts in my darkest hours. If it comes down to it next November and I am faced and pressed by social conscience to do so, will I give up all hope, hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton?
Because when I see the future come to pass when the minimum wage ideal just fades into the ether, when more jobs are shipped away and the families around me in this small part of Iowa are further blown apart by poverty, as corporate control rends all workplace protection asunder, and when the war machine continues churning death for profit, and prison is our new slavery, and when a child's choice comes down to military service as there will never ever be affordable college, I will never have the heart to vote again.
And I will not be the only one.
The idea of voting against my conscience is so depressing to me that it is no joke that I have these thoughts in my darkest hours. If it comes down to it next November and I am faced and pressed by social conscience to do so, will I give up all hope, hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton?
Because when I see the future come to pass when the minimum wage ideal just fades into the ether, when more jobs are shipped away and the families around me in this small part of Iowa are further blown apart by poverty, as corporate control rends all workplace protection asunder, and when the war machine continues churning death for profit, and prison is our new slavery, and when a child's choice comes down to military service as there will never ever be affordable college, I will never have the heart to vote again.
And I will not be the only one.
Thursday, December 3, 2015
License Plate 721 WJB
Knock knock knock
"I want to see my mother."
Knock knock knock
"I want to see my mother."
"I'm sorry Mr. Svensson. Visiting time is over."
"God damn it. What's wrong with you people?!"
"Mr. Svensson, we just can't accommodate people here after hours. You should know that by now. We go through this every week."
"I just want to see my mother!"
Mr. Svensson stormed out the automatic doors and back to his 1992 brown Toyota Camry, license plate 721 WJB He opened the trunk and pulled out the 2 handguns he had been saving. He knew he was right. Mr. Svennson was always right. He had God on his side.
He had a special jacket for this occasion, navy, made of a heavy matte denim.
The words "active shooter" rang in his head and he knew what he had to do. He plunged the 2 handguns into the pockets of his heavy denim jacket.
Jacob Svensson, active shooter. He knew he would never see his name on the news that night. He had played it all out in his head, over and over again, how this mass casualty suicide was going to go down.
Now was the day. Now was the time. It was zero hour. He slammed the trunk closed and straightened up. With a feeling of purpose that he had never felt before in his life, Mr. Svensson calmly strolled back through the sliding glass doors. The woman behind the petition glanced up and had barely registered surprise before Mr. Svensson riddled her body and face with bullets. She vanished on the floor behind her desk. He was surprised at how easy this was. Mr. Svensson remembered the girl in second grade who had thrown mud at him. It had stuck to the back of his jacket and all the kids laughed at him. When he got home, his mother had said, "It's ok, honey. We'll just wash it." But that wasn't the point.
The elevator opened. An orderly carrying a tray stepped out and looked at Mr. Svensson, confused. Her mouth opened as if about to say something and Mr. Svensson shot her in the face. There was a feeling of satisfaction that overcame him. She had brown hair like the girl in 6th grade. Mr. Svensson had accidentally gone into the girl's bathroom and she saw him sitting in the stall. The school didn't have doors on the bathroom stalls. That was one thing. The brown haired girl followed him back to class and announced Mr. Svensson had been pooping in the girl's bathroom. The teacher said, "Well I'm sure he will know which bathroom to use next time." But that wasn't the point.
Walking down the hallway of Hillside Gardens, he glimpsed through the open doors the sleeping residents. They all looked dead to him anyway. Mr. Svensson shot in the stomach a nurse who came out of a room. It was pretty quiet here. He had imagined people running and screaming while Mr. Svensson stood strong amid them. There was a girl once, when he was 14. Mr. Svensson tried to kiss her and she ran away. When he told his brother, he said, "What a homo. There's always other girls." But that wasn't the point.
Mr. Svensson approached room 16-A. It smelled bad here. Mr. Svensson said, "Hello, mother." and shot her through the temple. She had told him she loved him once, but that wasn't the point.
"I want to see my mother."
Knock knock knock
"I want to see my mother."
"I'm sorry Mr. Svensson. Visiting time is over."
"God damn it. What's wrong with you people?!"
"Mr. Svensson, we just can't accommodate people here after hours. You should know that by now. We go through this every week."
"I just want to see my mother!"
Mr. Svensson stormed out the automatic doors and back to his 1992 brown Toyota Camry, license plate 721 WJB He opened the trunk and pulled out the 2 handguns he had been saving. He knew he was right. Mr. Svennson was always right. He had God on his side.
He had a special jacket for this occasion, navy, made of a heavy matte denim.
The words "active shooter" rang in his head and he knew what he had to do. He plunged the 2 handguns into the pockets of his heavy denim jacket.
Jacob Svensson, active shooter. He knew he would never see his name on the news that night. He had played it all out in his head, over and over again, how this mass casualty suicide was going to go down.
Now was the day. Now was the time. It was zero hour. He slammed the trunk closed and straightened up. With a feeling of purpose that he had never felt before in his life, Mr. Svensson calmly strolled back through the sliding glass doors. The woman behind the petition glanced up and had barely registered surprise before Mr. Svensson riddled her body and face with bullets. She vanished on the floor behind her desk. He was surprised at how easy this was. Mr. Svensson remembered the girl in second grade who had thrown mud at him. It had stuck to the back of his jacket and all the kids laughed at him. When he got home, his mother had said, "It's ok, honey. We'll just wash it." But that wasn't the point.
The elevator opened. An orderly carrying a tray stepped out and looked at Mr. Svensson, confused. Her mouth opened as if about to say something and Mr. Svensson shot her in the face. There was a feeling of satisfaction that overcame him. She had brown hair like the girl in 6th grade. Mr. Svensson had accidentally gone into the girl's bathroom and she saw him sitting in the stall. The school didn't have doors on the bathroom stalls. That was one thing. The brown haired girl followed him back to class and announced Mr. Svensson had been pooping in the girl's bathroom. The teacher said, "Well I'm sure he will know which bathroom to use next time." But that wasn't the point.
Walking down the hallway of Hillside Gardens, he glimpsed through the open doors the sleeping residents. They all looked dead to him anyway. Mr. Svensson shot in the stomach a nurse who came out of a room. It was pretty quiet here. He had imagined people running and screaming while Mr. Svensson stood strong amid them. There was a girl once, when he was 14. Mr. Svensson tried to kiss her and she ran away. When he told his brother, he said, "What a homo. There's always other girls." But that wasn't the point.
Mr. Svensson approached room 16-A. It smelled bad here. Mr. Svensson said, "Hello, mother." and shot her through the temple. She had told him she loved him once, but that wasn't the point.
Tuesday, October 13, 2015
Midwest Working Class and the Great Decline
I wonder if The Great Depression was called The Great Depression during The
Great Depression? Or was it history that looked back and named it so?
How did our middle class diminish so drastically? If we have learned one thing in this 21st century, it is that we cannot trust the robber barons not to rob. "Trickle down" economics is a fallacy and a fantasy for the wealthy who long had their buckets in place to catch any spill-over.
I will give history a heads up and name this The Great Decline.
It encompasses more than the decline of the middle class, it encompasses the politics of hate and contempt. We are led to be contemptuous of those who have less. We are embroiled in a war on words. We mention race or racism are immediately called racists. We talk about the disparity of wealth distribution and charges of class warfare are leveled against us. The Relentless Machine Which Churns Fear and Divisiveness is fueled by Fox New Corp and the Koch brothers. It encompasses a populace so divided, and so unsure of themselves that they routinely vote against their own economic interests or vote not at all.
Last summer I moved from a lifetime in Silicon Valley to Iowa. I have moved away from the abstract liberalism of the Bay Area to a place where the reasons we need Bernie Sanders are strikingly obvious. This is not the America I learned of as a child. The America I learned of as a child was full of opportunity so that anyone could pull themselves up and have a decent wage, a good life, and a chance to raise children who could achieve even more.
What I encounter here in this Midwest is starkly different. I do not recognize this America. The American dream is that we are all able to pull ourselves up, but there are entire rungs of the ladder missing here. The rungs of the ladder that one can reach to and pull oneself up with are gone. They have just vanished and people are left dangling at the bottom over an open pit where they will fall headlong into homelessness.
There are great divides in this country. In Silicon Valley, I never felt without opportunity. The culture raised me to believe in my talents and abilities. I feel that I get an equal rate of return for whatever effort I put in and often times more. But here in Iowa, I see hard working people who take on 2 or 3 jobs. Each are twenty-five to thirty hours per week with no benefits, sick leave or paid time off. There are no allowances or leeway. They are "asked" to work holidays. It is reprehensible that we are treating the very backbone of our society this way. Iowa is a very family oriented state. It is a great place to raise children. These parents have to keep their child home from daycare when they themselves are sick as they cannot afford it. Schools and daycares give the children their meals provided by the Iowa Food Bank. 3 out of the 4 public elementary schools in the neighboring Mason City are rated below the national poverty level and children are given their meals there.
Not long ago, I read a Facebook thread regarding people who work in fast food. There were comments like, "McDonald's was not meant to be a career path." and "If you want more money, get a better skill set." There is some ignorance of circumstance in these particular statements and I will raise my hand first to admit that at one time, these sentiments may have come from my own mouth.
From my view, there is not the vast array of job opportunities that I had become use to in the San Francisco Bay Area. People work their entire lives in retail, or restaurants, or fast food here. These people are white. Yes, I will talk about race. In California our Latino brothers and sisters take the jobs no one else wants. Much like my great-grandparents from Germany, Denmark, and Ireland, people come to America for a better life.
Bernie Sanders wants to end this abuse of the American worker. He wants to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. Bernie Sanders wants to end the corporate welfare that makes taxpayers take up the slack when corporations like Walmart routinely send their employees to sign up for food stamps and other social services. This corporate welfare model applies to nearly every job situation I see out here.
How can we have American companies employ us and we still do not have enough money to eat? Bernie Sanders wants to end all this.
We are Americans. These are American corporations. These are American jobs. We are the richest and strongest country in the world. This abuse of the American working class must end and we must all work together to see Bernie Sanders as President of the United States.
Great Depression? Or was it history that looked back and named it so?
How did our middle class diminish so drastically? If we have learned one thing in this 21st century, it is that we cannot trust the robber barons not to rob. "Trickle down" economics is a fallacy and a fantasy for the wealthy who long had their buckets in place to catch any spill-over.
I will give history a heads up and name this The Great Decline.
It encompasses more than the decline of the middle class, it encompasses the politics of hate and contempt. We are led to be contemptuous of those who have less. We are embroiled in a war on words. We mention race or racism are immediately called racists. We talk about the disparity of wealth distribution and charges of class warfare are leveled against us. The Relentless Machine Which Churns Fear and Divisiveness is fueled by Fox New Corp and the Koch brothers. It encompasses a populace so divided, and so unsure of themselves that they routinely vote against their own economic interests or vote not at all.
Last summer I moved from a lifetime in Silicon Valley to Iowa. I have moved away from the abstract liberalism of the Bay Area to a place where the reasons we need Bernie Sanders are strikingly obvious. This is not the America I learned of as a child. The America I learned of as a child was full of opportunity so that anyone could pull themselves up and have a decent wage, a good life, and a chance to raise children who could achieve even more.
What I encounter here in this Midwest is starkly different. I do not recognize this America. The American dream is that we are all able to pull ourselves up, but there are entire rungs of the ladder missing here. The rungs of the ladder that one can reach to and pull oneself up with are gone. They have just vanished and people are left dangling at the bottom over an open pit where they will fall headlong into homelessness.
There are great divides in this country. In Silicon Valley, I never felt without opportunity. The culture raised me to believe in my talents and abilities. I feel that I get an equal rate of return for whatever effort I put in and often times more. But here in Iowa, I see hard working people who take on 2 or 3 jobs. Each are twenty-five to thirty hours per week with no benefits, sick leave or paid time off. There are no allowances or leeway. They are "asked" to work holidays. It is reprehensible that we are treating the very backbone of our society this way. Iowa is a very family oriented state. It is a great place to raise children. These parents have to keep their child home from daycare when they themselves are sick as they cannot afford it. Schools and daycares give the children their meals provided by the Iowa Food Bank. 3 out of the 4 public elementary schools in the neighboring Mason City are rated below the national poverty level and children are given their meals there.
Not long ago, I read a Facebook thread regarding people who work in fast food. There were comments like, "McDonald's was not meant to be a career path." and "If you want more money, get a better skill set." There is some ignorance of circumstance in these particular statements and I will raise my hand first to admit that at one time, these sentiments may have come from my own mouth.
From my view, there is not the vast array of job opportunities that I had become use to in the San Francisco Bay Area. People work their entire lives in retail, or restaurants, or fast food here. These people are white. Yes, I will talk about race. In California our Latino brothers and sisters take the jobs no one else wants. Much like my great-grandparents from Germany, Denmark, and Ireland, people come to America for a better life.
Bernie Sanders wants to end this abuse of the American worker. He wants to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. Bernie Sanders wants to end the corporate welfare that makes taxpayers take up the slack when corporations like Walmart routinely send their employees to sign up for food stamps and other social services. This corporate welfare model applies to nearly every job situation I see out here.
How can we have American companies employ us and we still do not have enough money to eat? Bernie Sanders wants to end all this.
We are Americans. These are American corporations. These are American jobs. We are the richest and strongest country in the world. This abuse of the American working class must end and we must all work together to see Bernie Sanders as President of the United States.
Saturday, September 19, 2015
A Place of Integrity: Thy Name is Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders holds a place in my heart reserved for my grandfather and his plain-spoken integrity. On MSNBC and in interviews over the last months, Bernie is led in question to criticize Hilary Clinton. He refuses. In Iowa, August 16, Bernie rebutted a Washington Post reporter by telling him that he would not participate in "that sport you like."
This is the appeal of Bernie Sanders. When I see and hear Bernie Sanders speak, there is a longing, and a feeling for a time and place when people dealt with each other on a more honest level. I am tired of slick politics. I am sick of the hate-filled double speak and fact-free rhetoric that infects our society and turns us upon each other.
I work with young kids. Often houses built from blocks by a child will be kicked over by another, more aggressive child. I then sit down with them both and we work on how we can rebuild together.
There are many things that need to be rebuilt in this country. Bernie Sanders will spur the creation of jobs to rebuild our roads and bridges. But that is just the physical. There is far more that has to be rebuilt in this country and that is the American spirit.
There is so much that has been kicked over. It is our economic certainty. We now worry if our children can ever afford college and worry if paying for food outweighs paying for heating this month. How did we sink to this?
It is our dignity in the American workplace that has been kicked over. We have lost that can-do American spirit from years of abuse at the hands of corporations who hold the strings to our government. That proud slogan of Made in America? How often do you see that?
Our indignity encompasses low wages and abusive hiring practices. Our abuse encompasses routinely being sent to sign up for food stamps, no paid vacations or sick days, no payment of overtime and workers being locked into workplaces. All this has kicked over our home built of trust, our home built on security, and we see our future turning to rubble of which there is no way to dig ourselves out.
This is America and we are a great country full of great people. We are diverse. We believe different things. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate not bought and paid for by the corporate machine. What Bernie Sanders is doing is bringing us together and bringing our focus back to our basic needs which are not those of giant corporations, but the needs of We the People.
The reason Bernie Sanders is pulling record crowds is that we are realizing It Is Not Our Fault. We have been brainwashed, slowly and effectively to forget the protection in the workplace afforded to our parents and grandparents. We forget, as unions are demonized, the hard won benefits that made this country the most upwardly mobile society in history. As wealth accumulates at the top, our ability to move up the income ladder has degraded considerably, and entire rungs of the ladder are missing as we dangle precariously above a pit called economic despair, and yes, homelessness.
We are told to blame ourselves.
Bernie Sanders speaks to this despair. He does not believe families should work full-time and have to resort to food stamps. He does not believe families should struggle just to afford childcare costs. He states that it is a moral outrage that any American go without healthcare. He believes a higher education should be within reach of every American.
Healthcare, childcare, education, and a living wage, these are the building blocks of society. We are rebuilding America anew and Bernie Sanders is the voice of each and every one of us.
This is the appeal of Bernie Sanders. When I see and hear Bernie Sanders speak, there is a longing, and a feeling for a time and place when people dealt with each other on a more honest level. I am tired of slick politics. I am sick of the hate-filled double speak and fact-free rhetoric that infects our society and turns us upon each other.
I work with young kids. Often houses built from blocks by a child will be kicked over by another, more aggressive child. I then sit down with them both and we work on how we can rebuild together.
There are many things that need to be rebuilt in this country. Bernie Sanders will spur the creation of jobs to rebuild our roads and bridges. But that is just the physical. There is far more that has to be rebuilt in this country and that is the American spirit.
There is so much that has been kicked over. It is our economic certainty. We now worry if our children can ever afford college and worry if paying for food outweighs paying for heating this month. How did we sink to this?
It is our dignity in the American workplace that has been kicked over. We have lost that can-do American spirit from years of abuse at the hands of corporations who hold the strings to our government. That proud slogan of Made in America? How often do you see that?
Our indignity encompasses low wages and abusive hiring practices. Our abuse encompasses routinely being sent to sign up for food stamps, no paid vacations or sick days, no payment of overtime and workers being locked into workplaces. All this has kicked over our home built of trust, our home built on security, and we see our future turning to rubble of which there is no way to dig ourselves out.
This is America and we are a great country full of great people. We are diverse. We believe different things. Bernie Sanders is the only candidate not bought and paid for by the corporate machine. What Bernie Sanders is doing is bringing us together and bringing our focus back to our basic needs which are not those of giant corporations, but the needs of We the People.
The reason Bernie Sanders is pulling record crowds is that we are realizing It Is Not Our Fault. We have been brainwashed, slowly and effectively to forget the protection in the workplace afforded to our parents and grandparents. We forget, as unions are demonized, the hard won benefits that made this country the most upwardly mobile society in history. As wealth accumulates at the top, our ability to move up the income ladder has degraded considerably, and entire rungs of the ladder are missing as we dangle precariously above a pit called economic despair, and yes, homelessness.
We are told to blame ourselves.
Bernie Sanders speaks to this despair. He does not believe families should work full-time and have to resort to food stamps. He does not believe families should struggle just to afford childcare costs. He states that it is a moral outrage that any American go without healthcare. He believes a higher education should be within reach of every American.
Healthcare, childcare, education, and a living wage, these are the building blocks of society. We are rebuilding America anew and Bernie Sanders is the voice of each and every one of us.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Body Politics
I have always thought my legs were fat.
Athletic to be more charitable.
Recently I was wearing dark wash skinny jeans and playing with a 5 year old boy. At some point he exclaimed, "Your legs are skinny!"
I blurted out, "I love you! That's the BEST thing anyone has ever said to me!"
Oh God help me. If this had been a girl, I know this would be an issue and a scar for the rest of her life. At 5, the girls at my preschool are already comparing who is thinner.
As it is, my loss of control did not help this boy in anyway. The thing is, I didn't know what to say afterward to mitigate the damage that had just flown out of my mouth.
I damaged him. I damaged future society.
I view my body through a lens of a male dominated and patriarchal society. I grew up consuming the culture of fashion and Diet Pepsi. I don't even know what it's like to view my body objectively. Is any woman capable of that? Is there some magical, mythical land called Body Acceptance?
At 2, I was voted the cutest little girl on Ramona Street in Palo Alto. They somehow missed the future Nobel prize winner in biochemistry that lay latent within me.
Where is the line? Where is the balance? We love beautiful things. At what point is appreciating someone's physical beauty corrosive?
And then there is the measure and standard of beauty. I read a great story by a large (for American standards) woman who constantly had to deal with dismissiveness and sometimes straight up hate towards her because of her weight. She went to Jamaica and people would stop in the street to tell her how beautiful she was. It was an eye-opening piece for me, this idea that beauty is a variable thing, based on a society's preference,
I had an experience on a MUNI bus in San Francisco. I was coming home from working as a nanny. My hair was up in a messy ponytail. I had a zipped up hoody on, and I was wearing what I can only describe as really awful librarian glasses. Three guys behind me started commenting in loud voices how ugly I was. I casually took my ponytail out and shook out my hair. I tied my hoody around my waist, I was wearing a tank top. I threw my glasses into my backpack. I had to walk past them to get off at my stop and as I did, one of them jumped up and followed me off the bus. He began apologizing profusely for his friends as the bus drove away, saying they were drunk. I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say. I just looked at him and walked away.
To this day, I don't know how to think about this event. Why did I feel compelled to make myself "prettier?" What if I had been the age I am now? What if I were 70? If that would have happened now, how would I handle it? I don't even know how to look at my body objectively. I don't know what that is even like. Is any woman capable of that? Is there any woman out there who sees herself beautiful no matter her size or shape?
It starts so very very young for us. I don't think I will ever get away from this damage and critical thinking. I often tell girls how pretty and beautiful they are. I feel they will not believe it of themselves if I do not tell them and reinforce it. Am I helping? Or am I hurting?
I have another troubling story to admit here. I never thought that my mom was beautiful, or even pretty. She would make disparaging comments about her own body and looks and I internalized that. She said it was more important to be smart.
I did not believe her.
Soon after she died, I was in my Menlo Park business photoshopping a picture of her for my dad. A co-worker wandered by and spontaneously exclaimed, "Your mother was beautiful!" And suddenly I saw it. My mother is beautiful.
By anyone's standards, she was beautiful. She was beautiful and I never saw it.
Because of her words, I could not see it.
We can damage each other. We can hurt each other. We hurt ourselves by mutilating our bodies and risking death to obtain some elusive and unobtainable goal.
Acceptance.
I don't know how to do it.
I don't know how that feels.
All I know is I have to be careful with my words. I have to be aware of what I say and how I speak of others and especially of how I speak about myself.
Athletic to be more charitable.
Recently I was wearing dark wash skinny jeans and playing with a 5 year old boy. At some point he exclaimed, "Your legs are skinny!"
I blurted out, "I love you! That's the BEST thing anyone has ever said to me!"
Oh God help me. If this had been a girl, I know this would be an issue and a scar for the rest of her life. At 5, the girls at my preschool are already comparing who is thinner.
As it is, my loss of control did not help this boy in anyway. The thing is, I didn't know what to say afterward to mitigate the damage that had just flown out of my mouth.
I damaged him. I damaged future society.
I view my body through a lens of a male dominated and patriarchal society. I grew up consuming the culture of fashion and Diet Pepsi. I don't even know what it's like to view my body objectively. Is any woman capable of that? Is there some magical, mythical land called Body Acceptance?
At 2, I was voted the cutest little girl on Ramona Street in Palo Alto. They somehow missed the future Nobel prize winner in biochemistry that lay latent within me.
Where is the line? Where is the balance? We love beautiful things. At what point is appreciating someone's physical beauty corrosive?
And then there is the measure and standard of beauty. I read a great story by a large (for American standards) woman who constantly had to deal with dismissiveness and sometimes straight up hate towards her because of her weight. She went to Jamaica and people would stop in the street to tell her how beautiful she was. It was an eye-opening piece for me, this idea that beauty is a variable thing, based on a society's preference,
I had an experience on a MUNI bus in San Francisco. I was coming home from working as a nanny. My hair was up in a messy ponytail. I had a zipped up hoody on, and I was wearing what I can only describe as really awful librarian glasses. Three guys behind me started commenting in loud voices how ugly I was. I casually took my ponytail out and shook out my hair. I tied my hoody around my waist, I was wearing a tank top. I threw my glasses into my backpack. I had to walk past them to get off at my stop and as I did, one of them jumped up and followed me off the bus. He began apologizing profusely for his friends as the bus drove away, saying they were drunk. I didn't answer. I didn't know what to say. I just looked at him and walked away.
To this day, I don't know how to think about this event. Why did I feel compelled to make myself "prettier?" What if I had been the age I am now? What if I were 70? If that would have happened now, how would I handle it? I don't even know how to look at my body objectively. I don't know what that is even like. Is any woman capable of that? Is there any woman out there who sees herself beautiful no matter her size or shape?
It starts so very very young for us. I don't think I will ever get away from this damage and critical thinking. I often tell girls how pretty and beautiful they are. I feel they will not believe it of themselves if I do not tell them and reinforce it. Am I helping? Or am I hurting?
I have another troubling story to admit here. I never thought that my mom was beautiful, or even pretty. She would make disparaging comments about her own body and looks and I internalized that. She said it was more important to be smart.
I did not believe her.
Soon after she died, I was in my Menlo Park business photoshopping a picture of her for my dad. A co-worker wandered by and spontaneously exclaimed, "Your mother was beautiful!" And suddenly I saw it. My mother is beautiful.
By anyone's standards, she was beautiful. She was beautiful and I never saw it.
Because of her words, I could not see it.
We can damage each other. We can hurt each other. We hurt ourselves by mutilating our bodies and risking death to obtain some elusive and unobtainable goal.
Acceptance.
I don't know how to do it.
I don't know how that feels.
All I know is I have to be careful with my words. I have to be aware of what I say and how I speak of others and especially of how I speak about myself.
Tuesday, September 1, 2015
How Do We Talk To Our Replublican Friends About Bernie Sanders?:
*or*
(You disagree with me so by definition, YOU'RE WRONG!)
How do we talk to those whose ideals and values are very different from our own?
How do we talk about Bernie Sanders to those who jump to disagree?
How do we find common ground?
We don't have to convince those who agree with us, we have to persuade those who do not.
So how do we talk to a Republican?
We are all Americans. This is our common ground. One of the American values we hold high is family values. We, as Americans, value the strength of family. We value the ideal of our children achieving their goals, and of achieving more. We value education. We value a family structure that if one or both parents are working, the family should not be struggling. A strong family unit can only be strong if the basic needs are met. If the parents are working, childcare should be in place and a family should not have to struggle to make that so. I think we can agree on that. There should be enough food for the family to eat. I believe we agree on that. The parents should be able to reasonably pay rent or mortgage without fear of losing their home if they, or one of their children fall ill. This one, for whatever reasons, we struggle to agree upon. But I think as Americans, we can agree that these values are a baseline.
Unfortunately this is not the America we are living in. Parents working full-time must also receive food stamps. It is shocking how many schools across this country feed meals to their students because entire communities are below poverty level.
These are not American values. These are not Bernie Sanders' values. Bernie Sanders wants to adjust the minimum wage to support a family in 2015 so they can depend upon their own income and are not routinely directed to receive social services by our own American corporations.
Republicans agree than an educated America is a strong America. If our Republican friends are worried about our national security, then they will certainly agree that nothing is more important than a higher education. Our first line of defense starts with our scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Our student loan system is predatory and corrosive. Bernie Sanders advocates college affordability and a college education should not be out of the reach of anyone.
These are just a couple areas, that we, as Americans can find some common ground.
Here are some more thoughts of how we can talk about Bernie Sanders from my conversation with Colin Cole, Field Organizer for Bernie Sanders. We met in a small Mason City, Iowa coffee shop.
"Democracy, if it is working properly, is a good system. It works. The people. and what they want their government to do, should be relatively in sync. So if the majority of your constituency - whether that be in a city, or a state, or the United States - feels a certain way, in a democracy the government will represent those views, and the people will be satisfied."
Our democracy is not currently working and our voices are not being heard. Colin went on to talk about how, yes, we each have one vote in the ballot box, but individuals can spend millions promoting their candidate, and attack others with influence that you and I will never have. Thus my vote really does have less power when another's wealth can influence so many.
As Americans, if we can agree that a properly functioning democracy will lead to a good outcome, then our Republican friends should consider Bernie a "gateway" candidate, - whose goal is to fix the system-, so that you and I will better have our voices heard, AND our Republican friends will have a better chance to elect the candidate of whom they really want and best represents their interests next time around.
(You disagree with me so by definition, YOU'RE WRONG!)
How do we talk to those whose ideals and values are very different from our own?
How do we talk about Bernie Sanders to those who jump to disagree?
How do we find common ground?
We don't have to convince those who agree with us, we have to persuade those who do not.
So how do we talk to a Republican?
We are all Americans. This is our common ground. One of the American values we hold high is family values. We, as Americans, value the strength of family. We value the ideal of our children achieving their goals, and of achieving more. We value education. We value a family structure that if one or both parents are working, the family should not be struggling. A strong family unit can only be strong if the basic needs are met. If the parents are working, childcare should be in place and a family should not have to struggle to make that so. I think we can agree on that. There should be enough food for the family to eat. I believe we agree on that. The parents should be able to reasonably pay rent or mortgage without fear of losing their home if they, or one of their children fall ill. This one, for whatever reasons, we struggle to agree upon. But I think as Americans, we can agree that these values are a baseline.
Unfortunately this is not the America we are living in. Parents working full-time must also receive food stamps. It is shocking how many schools across this country feed meals to their students because entire communities are below poverty level.
These are not American values. These are not Bernie Sanders' values. Bernie Sanders wants to adjust the minimum wage to support a family in 2015 so they can depend upon their own income and are not routinely directed to receive social services by our own American corporations.
Republicans agree than an educated America is a strong America. If our Republican friends are worried about our national security, then they will certainly agree that nothing is more important than a higher education. Our first line of defense starts with our scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Our student loan system is predatory and corrosive. Bernie Sanders advocates college affordability and a college education should not be out of the reach of anyone.
These are just a couple areas, that we, as Americans can find some common ground.
Here are some more thoughts of how we can talk about Bernie Sanders from my conversation with Colin Cole, Field Organizer for Bernie Sanders. We met in a small Mason City, Iowa coffee shop.
"Democracy, if it is working properly, is a good system. It works. The people. and what they want their government to do, should be relatively in sync. So if the majority of your constituency - whether that be in a city, or a state, or the United States - feels a certain way, in a democracy the government will represent those views, and the people will be satisfied."
Our democracy is not currently working and our voices are not being heard. Colin went on to talk about how, yes, we each have one vote in the ballot box, but individuals can spend millions promoting their candidate, and attack others with influence that you and I will never have. Thus my vote really does have less power when another's wealth can influence so many.
As Americans, if we can agree that a properly functioning democracy will lead to a good outcome, then our Republican friends should consider Bernie a "gateway" candidate, - whose goal is to fix the system-, so that you and I will better have our voices heard, AND our Republican friends will have a better chance to elect the candidate of whom they really want and best represents their interests next time around.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Coffee, Tea, or Me
For reasons I will not disclose, I cannot drink coffee anymore.
I like to travel and I absolutely depend on Starbuck's free WiFi, and I NEED lattes with 2-3 extra shots daily. Coffee shops are my home away from home.
"Coffee? I don't drink coffee. Do you have any tea?" SLAP!
SHUT UP! Hear that little superiority dance in their voice? I don't want to be THAT PERSON. I already annoy people enough with my goings on, "Oh, I have such a delicate disposition. Is it gluten-free?" I gleefully bore people to death with my rambling monologues about the glorious future for each and every one of us if we just embrace organics!
So
I
am
drinking
tea.
If I could make that sentence droop and fall off the page, I would.
Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.
Moan and complain.
Here's the thing. I have everything I need in this life and mostly everything I want. What's a little coffee in the larger scheme of things?
EVERYTHING.
SHUT UP!
ok. That's my brain going off the rails for a moment.
Like sports, coffee is a great social lubricant. Everyone can talk about coffee.
Except those assholes who only drink tea. AND I'M ONE OF THEM NOW!
I like to travel and I absolutely depend on Starbuck's free WiFi, and I NEED lattes with 2-3 extra shots daily. Coffee shops are my home away from home.
"Coffee? I don't drink coffee. Do you have any tea?" SLAP!
SHUT UP! Hear that little superiority dance in their voice? I don't want to be THAT PERSON. I already annoy people enough with my goings on, "Oh, I have such a delicate disposition. Is it gluten-free?" I gleefully bore people to death with my rambling monologues about the glorious future for each and every one of us if we just embrace organics!
So
I
am
drinking
tea.
If I could make that sentence droop and fall off the page, I would.
Bitch. Bitch. Bitch.
Moan and complain.
Here's the thing. I have everything I need in this life and mostly everything I want. What's a little coffee in the larger scheme of things?
EVERYTHING.
SHUT UP!
ok. That's my brain going off the rails for a moment.
Like sports, coffee is a great social lubricant. Everyone can talk about coffee.
Except those assholes who only drink tea. AND I'M ONE OF THEM NOW!
I expect to get slapped upside the head any day now.
Monday, July 20, 2015
Glimmers of Hope
I have been mired in a cynicism that has colored my political views since 2000 and truly, I have had little hope for the future of our nation since the Republican theft of the highest office in the country.
My senior co-worker danced in hate-filled glee across the lobby in my former Silicon Valley business, and all I heard was the sound of checkbooks slamming shut across the country and the crash that swallowed us alive. Republicans had the reputation of not being particularly supportive of tech.
I was accused in a thread, here on Facebook that I profess to abhor this country. I do not profess to abhor, I yearn for better.
The two Supreme court rulings have changed my view from here.
I feel hope for the future. I feel hope because Bernie Sanders exists and is bringing out record crowds who also yearn for better.
I do not believe people should be left on their own.
We are screamed at that unions are bad and welfare recipients cause the deficit. We distrust each other. People are struggling across this country in numbers unseen since the Great Depression. I believe it is government's role, and mine as a taxpayer to care for the weakest among us.
I get in these baffling conversations here, in the Midwest, that one needs to hoard what one has and defend oneself against their brothers and sisters who need it. I feel these deep set fears are controlled and manipulated by the corporations that keep wages so low that all are living on edges of economic ruin.
Bernie Sanders is correct. Minimum wage is starvation wages. No one should live like this in these United States. All this economic uncertainty leads to the misplaced fear among us. Immigrants!
It must be ILLEGAL immigrants. NO WAIT. ISIS! Liberals! It's liberals all wanting FREE health care. And it has to come out of MY POCKET! SOCIALISTS!
I MUST keep what's mine because I WORKED FOR IT!
and I make $7.25/hour.
How does a person feel after working for decades and all they can make is $7.25/hour?
You are worth $7.25/hour.
How does that make you feel?
Fear.
Misplaced fear.
The politics and exploitation of fear.
For the first time in 15 years, a true feeling of hope glimmers inside of me that change is in the air.
Sunday, July 19, 2015
What Does Trust Look Like?
"So you like white socialism? Seems a little racist."
And another. "Mostly White, lest we forget." followed by "Do you believe there are characteristics pertinent to different breeds of Canis Lupis?"
These are just a couple responses on my wall to my recent postings about Denmark and in extension, Bernie Sanders. I find that last statement, comparing people to dogs most egregious, although implying that a society can only work well is based on gradations of skin color is downright insulting.
What if there was a country where everyone is trusted to make good choices? What does a country look like where it is a built in understanding that people will do the right thing?
What does that society look like?
It looks like Denmark.
The default is trust.
There is a lot of foot-stamping in America. "My tax dollars are paying for HIS healthcare?!! SCREW HIM."
The overall feeling in Denmark to that is, So What?
Our economic uncertainty has fueled a distrust of each other. We have fits over how and who we should help. We should help everyone. All citizens deserve this. In a country as powerful as the U.S., we deserve our basic human needs met.
Social policy in Denmark makes sure that almost no one falls into economic despair. Healthcare is a right of citizenship. Childcare, 2 year unemployment benefits, and education are all part of the system that protects Danish citizens. College, graduate school, and even medical school are all free. An educated populace is a productive populace.
Imagine that here.
During my trip, the people I encountered were fit and healthy. They were calm. Their children were calm. Even in the best restaurants, families with children were present. I notice these things because I don't want children in my restaurants, airplanes, or hotels.
Yeah, I'm a horrible person. I work with the little snots so I can say these things.
No, but really, in every situation that I encountered with families, the children were happy and chatting with parents. Not a cell phone in sight either. What we perceive as poor parenting here is a reflection of our overall stress as a society.
What if? What if a parent never had to worry about how to pay for their child's care? What if we never had to worry or debate the right to healthcare? What if we knew we would receive 90% of income during 2 years of unemployment?
What if we could live together without guns? What if we didn't feel the need to arm ourselves against each other?
Trust.
I live in a country without trust and it reflects in everything here.
And another. "Mostly White, lest we forget." followed by "Do you believe there are characteristics pertinent to different breeds of Canis Lupis?"
These are just a couple responses on my wall to my recent postings about Denmark and in extension, Bernie Sanders. I find that last statement, comparing people to dogs most egregious, although implying that a society can only work well is based on gradations of skin color is downright insulting.
What if there was a country where everyone is trusted to make good choices? What does a country look like where it is a built in understanding that people will do the right thing?
What does that society look like?
It looks like Denmark.
The default is trust.
There is a lot of foot-stamping in America. "My tax dollars are paying for HIS healthcare?!! SCREW HIM."
The overall feeling in Denmark to that is, So What?
Our economic uncertainty has fueled a distrust of each other. We have fits over how and who we should help. We should help everyone. All citizens deserve this. In a country as powerful as the U.S., we deserve our basic human needs met.
Social policy in Denmark makes sure that almost no one falls into economic despair. Healthcare is a right of citizenship. Childcare, 2 year unemployment benefits, and education are all part of the system that protects Danish citizens. College, graduate school, and even medical school are all free. An educated populace is a productive populace.
Imagine that here.
During my trip, the people I encountered were fit and healthy. They were calm. Their children were calm. Even in the best restaurants, families with children were present. I notice these things because I don't want children in my restaurants, airplanes, or hotels.
Yeah, I'm a horrible person. I work with the little snots so I can say these things.
No, but really, in every situation that I encountered with families, the children were happy and chatting with parents. Not a cell phone in sight either. What we perceive as poor parenting here is a reflection of our overall stress as a society.
What if? What if a parent never had to worry about how to pay for their child's care? What if we never had to worry or debate the right to healthcare? What if we knew we would receive 90% of income during 2 years of unemployment?
What if we could live together without guns? What if we didn't feel the need to arm ourselves against each other?
Trust.
I live in a country without trust and it reflects in everything here.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Midwest Working Class and The Great Decline
I wonder if The Great Depression was called The Great Depression during The
Great Depression? Or was it history that looked back and named it so?
How did our middle class diminish so drastically? If we have learned one thing in this 21st century, it is that we cannot trust the robber barons not to rob. "Trickle down" economics is a fallacy and a fantasy for the wealthy who long had their buckets in place to catch any spill-over.
I will give history a heads up and name this The Great Decline.
It encompasses more than the decline of the middle class, it encompasses the politics of hate and contempt. We are led to be contemptuous of those who have less. We are embroiled in a war on words. We mention race or racism are immediately called racists. We talk about the disparity of wealth distribution and charges of class warfare are leveled against us. The Relentless Machine Which Churns Fear and Divisiveness is fueled by Fox New Corp and the Koch brothers. It encompasses a populace so divided, and so unsure of themselves that they routinely vote against their own economic interests or vote not at all.
Last summer I moved from a lifetime in Silicon Valley to Iowa. I have moved away from the abstract liberalism of the Bay Area to a place where the reasons we need Bernie Sanders are strikingly obvious. This is not the America I learned of as a child. The America I learned of as a child was full of opportunity so that anyone could pull themselves up and have a decent wage, a good life, and a chance to raise children who could achieve even more.
What I encounter here in this Midwest is starkly different. I do not recognize this America. The American dream is that we are all able to pull ourselves up, but there are entire rungs of the ladder missing here. The rungs of the ladder that one can reach to and pull oneself up with are gone. They have just vanished and people are left dangling at the bottom over an open pit where they will fall headlong into homelessness.
There are great divides in this country. In Silicon Valley, I never felt without opportunity. The culture raised me to believe in my talents and abilities. I feel that I get an equal rate of return for whatever effort I put in and often times more. But here in Iowa, I see hard working people who take on 2 or 3 jobs. Each are twenty-five to thirty hours per week with no benefits, sick leave or paid time off. There are no allowances or leeway. They are "asked" to work holidays. It is reprehensible that we are treating the very backbone of our society this way. Iowa is a very family oriented state. It is a great place to raise children. These parents have to keep their child home from daycare when they themselves are sick as they cannot afford it. Schools and daycares give the children their meals provided by the Iowa Food Bank. 3 out of the 4 public elementary schools in the neighboring Mason City are rated below the national poverty level and children are given their meals there.
Not long ago, I read a Facebook thread regarding people who work in fast food. There were comments like, "McDonald's was not meant to be a career path." and "If you want more money, get a better skill set." There is some ignorance of circumstance in these particular statements and I will raise my hand first to admit that at one time, these sentiments may have come from my own mouth.
From my view, there is not the vast array of job opportunities that I had become use to in the San Francisco Bay Area. People work their entire lives in retail, or restaurants, or fast food here. These people are white. Yes, I will talk about race. In California our Latino brothers and sisters take the jobs no one else wants. Much like my great-grandparents from Germany, Denmark, and Ireland, people come to America for a better life.
Bernie Sanders wants to end this abuse of the American worker. He wants to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. Bernie Sanders wants to end the corporate welfare that makes taxpayers take up the slack when corporations like Walmart routinely send their employees to sign up for food stamps and other social services. This corporate welfare model applies to nearly every job situation I see out here.
How can we have American companies employ us and we still do not have enough money to eat? Bernie Sanders wants to end all this.
We are Americans. These are American corporations. These are American jobs. We are the richest and strongest country in the world. This abuse of the American working class must end and we must all work together to see Bernie Sanders as President of the United States.
.
Great Depression? Or was it history that looked back and named it so?
How did our middle class diminish so drastically? If we have learned one thing in this 21st century, it is that we cannot trust the robber barons not to rob. "Trickle down" economics is a fallacy and a fantasy for the wealthy who long had their buckets in place to catch any spill-over.
I will give history a heads up and name this The Great Decline.
It encompasses more than the decline of the middle class, it encompasses the politics of hate and contempt. We are led to be contemptuous of those who have less. We are embroiled in a war on words. We mention race or racism are immediately called racists. We talk about the disparity of wealth distribution and charges of class warfare are leveled against us. The Relentless Machine Which Churns Fear and Divisiveness is fueled by Fox New Corp and the Koch brothers. It encompasses a populace so divided, and so unsure of themselves that they routinely vote against their own economic interests or vote not at all.
Last summer I moved from a lifetime in Silicon Valley to Iowa. I have moved away from the abstract liberalism of the Bay Area to a place where the reasons we need Bernie Sanders are strikingly obvious. This is not the America I learned of as a child. The America I learned of as a child was full of opportunity so that anyone could pull themselves up and have a decent wage, a good life, and a chance to raise children who could achieve even more.
What I encounter here in this Midwest is starkly different. I do not recognize this America. The American dream is that we are all able to pull ourselves up, but there are entire rungs of the ladder missing here. The rungs of the ladder that one can reach to and pull oneself up with are gone. They have just vanished and people are left dangling at the bottom over an open pit where they will fall headlong into homelessness.
There are great divides in this country. In Silicon Valley, I never felt without opportunity. The culture raised me to believe in my talents and abilities. I feel that I get an equal rate of return for whatever effort I put in and often times more. But here in Iowa, I see hard working people who take on 2 or 3 jobs. Each are twenty-five to thirty hours per week with no benefits, sick leave or paid time off. There are no allowances or leeway. They are "asked" to work holidays. It is reprehensible that we are treating the very backbone of our society this way. Iowa is a very family oriented state. It is a great place to raise children. These parents have to keep their child home from daycare when they themselves are sick as they cannot afford it. Schools and daycares give the children their meals provided by the Iowa Food Bank. 3 out of the 4 public elementary schools in the neighboring Mason City are rated below the national poverty level and children are given their meals there.
Not long ago, I read a Facebook thread regarding people who work in fast food. There were comments like, "McDonald's was not meant to be a career path." and "If you want more money, get a better skill set." There is some ignorance of circumstance in these particular statements and I will raise my hand first to admit that at one time, these sentiments may have come from my own mouth.
From my view, there is not the vast array of job opportunities that I had become use to in the San Francisco Bay Area. People work their entire lives in retail, or restaurants, or fast food here. These people are white. Yes, I will talk about race. In California our Latino brothers and sisters take the jobs no one else wants. Much like my great-grandparents from Germany, Denmark, and Ireland, people come to America for a better life.
Bernie Sanders wants to end this abuse of the American worker. He wants to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. Bernie Sanders wants to end the corporate welfare that makes taxpayers take up the slack when corporations like Walmart routinely send their employees to sign up for food stamps and other social services. This corporate welfare model applies to nearly every job situation I see out here.
How can we have American companies employ us and we still do not have enough money to eat? Bernie Sanders wants to end all this.
We are Americans. These are American corporations. These are American jobs. We are the richest and strongest country in the world. This abuse of the American working class must end and we must all work together to see Bernie Sanders as President of the United States.
.
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