Murder music, community demands, venue changes

The Majestic Theater, in the face of community pressure, canceled a Buju Banton concert that was to held tomorrow. The Zainea family (owners of the Majestic complex) claimed to not have known that Banton has used his music to advocate violence against gay people. They reported trying to get out of the contract for a month and finally deciding to break it and accept the financial consequences.

Instead Wednesday, September 30th, Affirmations, Transgender Detroit, and Triangle Foundationan are hosting an LGBT Awareness concert at the Magic Stick (part of the Majestic: 4120-4140 Woodward Avenue in Detroit) at 8pm. Confirmed performers volunteering for the event include Ami Mattison, Andrea Wilson, The Big Pink Black, Chantel & Youth Montage, Cheryl Strebel, Coup Detroit, Jocelyn B “B----” of the Blues, Leslie Thompson, Steffie & the Dirty Virgins.

Meanwhile, an Ann Arbor venue has decided to hold a Banton concert. Protesting outside the Blind Pig at 208 S. First Street is an option if you happen to be in Ann Arbor Wednesday night.

It's the end of the blog as we know it...

Hey Beautiful People (and aren't we all???),

I don't think I'll be adding to this blog that frequently anymore. I have really enjoyed blogging, but I can't keep it up at the current time. The change in season brought my summer vacation to an end and I had a bit of a health setback last week. While I'm fine and hopefully there are no ramifications to it...well, I've gotten behind on quite a few fronts. So I definitely won't be making regular posts, though I may have something to say every now and then.

Thanks for reading. Peace and love!

DDOT Bus Changes to Go into Effect 9/26/09

Thursday the city announced the changes to the bus lines. According to an article in the Detroit News, when the ridership data from the fareboxes shows less than 15 riders per hour, the route is considered to be "failing." Two routes (the Grandbelt and Holbrook) are being eliminated completely. Other routes are having weekend services cut or overall time between buses increased. See the official list of changes on the DDOT website. Changes are expected to reduce expenses by $5million.

Given how quickly these changes were decided upon and how soon they will go into effect, I am even more convinced that the earlier bluster about ending all service at 6pm Saturday and ending it totally on Sunday was in fact just a distraction to make the intended cuts more palatable to residents. What I find amazing is Bing implying that huge changes to weekend service were never really on the table and simply blown out of proportion by the drivers union. I am currently looking at the "Proposed Service Changes" document handed out at the DDOT public hearings and definitely that proposal is there--on page 12, under a bold and underlined heading which reads: "Proposed changes for Sunday's[sic] include the discontinuance of all service on all routes." Hmm.

Still frustrated about bus service cuts

The city is expected to announce what changes are to be made to the bus system on Thursday. Bing has now backed away from the idea of ceasing all service from 6pm Saturday until Monday morning. An article in Workers World claims this as victory of the masses (Mass outrage stops Detroit bus cuts). I am cynical. I wonder if the plan all along was to rile people up about impossible to survive cuts and then offer us less severe cuts that we will more easily accept.

While Bing demands that Council stop "playing politics" and support the cuts to the system, he has yet to provide them with the ridership data used to determine which routes will be reduced. Further his bolstering about the DDOT not receiving complaints when 50 drivers called out (the Saturday after 113 layoffs were supposed to take effect) was the most ridiculous political braying. If I called DDOT every time a bus was late or did not show up, they would certainly use up all my day-time cell phone minutes. I have OFTEN waited 40 minutes for a Hamilton bus to arrive in the afternoon. The only time I have called to complain about waiting for a bus was when I waited over two hours in below freezing temperatures at night for one bus that may have come early and a second bus definitely never showed up. I think I got home at 1am that time. So, yeah, I'm probably not calling if a bus is late on a Saturday when the whether is good. DDOT riders have very low expectations at this point.

The article Dread builds for Detroiters as decision looms on bus cuts lays out why the bus system is a core service of the city. It lists such statistics as an estimated 20% of Detroit households without vehicles and the city's unemployment and poverty rates. It also gives voice to some individuals who use the bus service and need it to go about their daily lives. Ironically enough, the picture used with the story is taken at the brand new Rosa Parks Transit Center.

Once more, alternatives to cutting bus service:
1. use smaller coaches on less used routes
2. increase fares
3. take advantage of stimulus money
* update the fleet to be more efficient, to create less pollution, and use less fuel
4. partner with SMART to effectively handle the region's transportation needs
5. increase rates on parking meters
6. increase cost of parking tickets

Bill Cosby knocking on door for DPS

Yesterday Bill Cosby knocked on doors, trying to get parents to bring their children to Detroit Public Schools. He then led a rally Henry Ford High School. He went with Robert Bob, the school district's installed emergency manager. Cosby was drawn when he heard Bobb say that he would put his own mother in jail if she stole from the district.

Um...yeah...if there are legitimate reasons I don't send my child to DPS, is having a celebrity tell me to really going to change my mind?

"It would be kind of scary to me for my daughter to go somewhere else," said Aljamaalah Moore, the mother of three children.

Moore said her 10-year-old daughter attends a free charter school.Moore, who is taking college courses, said her daughter is learning a higher level of math at the charter school than she is at community college. from a story on ClickOn Detroit

And people wonder why I don't like dating...

I've said for years that if I could find a reputable matchmaker to arrange me a marriage, I'd go for it. Yeah, I dislike dating that much and yet very much like the idea of marriage (a friend thinks that I'm just lazy). Still, as much as I don't like dating, I have never had as bad an experience as the woman whose date stole her car:



From Fiddler on the Roof...

Disturbing

I just was reading a few news items before getting ready for work and I came across a Reuters article entitled " Obama more successful on terrorism-security adviser." The blurb accompanying the link was:

WASHINGTON, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The United States is having more success fighting terrorism under President Barack Obama partly because of his "radically different" approach to foreign policy, National security adviser Jim Jones said on Monday."

How disturbing I found the article goes beyond from how wrong I find it for a "reporter" to lead with a quote from a government instead of giving us facts. Instead of engaging in fact-finding and analysis, the mainstream media has become accustomed to telling us "X said this" and "Y said that," giving the impression that each have equal weight. That is not objectivity, that is laziness. So we have what National Security Advisor Jim Jones thinks and what Cheney thinks. One particularly surreal paragraph:

Jones did not, however, counter Cheney's argument that Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to investigate suspected CIA prisoner abuses could have a chilling effect on the work of the intelligence agency.

WHAT???

1. This is not a debate between the administration and Cheney. The man, who had more power than a vp should have in the first place, is now out of office--how is it that what he thinks still makes news?
   
2. There needs to be a chilling effect on the "work" of an intelligence agency that tortures human beings. Credible intelligence does not come from torture; we should not strive to be people who value life so little; and abusing people does nothing to convince them we are human as they are and really gives terrorists an excellent bit of propaganda.

Jones's definition of "success" in "fighting terrorism" is captured by "We are seeing results that indicate more captures, more deaths of radical leaders." Given our history, I'm wondering what kind of evidence and what kind of judicial process is in place before we carry out these executions.

On a related note, Mohammed Jawad--an Afghani teenager who had been held in Guantanamo for seven years without any evidence to make a case against him--was released last week. His confession was thrown out by a military judge who ruled that he confessed because interrogators threatened to kill him and his family if he did not. Definitely there needs to be a "chilling effect."

Buses still running on weekends

The weekend bus service is safe, for now (see news blip on Michigan Public Radio site). The jobs of the 113 bus drivers scheduled to be laid off as of last Friday still exist. The city has cut 205 other jobs. I do not currently know where these jobs are, but according to Michigan Messenger, they are not with Police, First, Water or DDOT.

Missionaries

I attract missionaries. I don't know what it is about me. Maybe my eyes say that I am open to their proselytizing. Maybe I look like I am searching for a path. Or maybe they try to convert everyone.

I have been approached by Protestant Christian missionaries, Muslim missionaries, a Rastafarian missionary, a Quaker missionary, and even an atheist missionary. I find this really interesting. Protestant missionaries are, without any doubt, the ones I encounter the vast majority of the time. I have been approached at bus stops with "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal lord and savior?" more than once. The single Rasta missionary was on a lovely Ghanaian beach. I must say that he was much more interesting during our first conversation just after he finished performing some acrobatics along the ocean's edge. The second discussion he was preaching at me about various evils that didn't seem so evil to me and I kept getting distracted by his bloodshot eyes. I met my most memorable Muslim missionary as I was walking through a souk (an outdoor marketplace; I love markets). I was somehow drawn into a very long discussion about religion, particularly he wanted to convince me of the general wrongness with thinking it was possible for God to have a child. The only thing that finally saved me was the call to prayer. Given what I knew about the American Society of Friends, I would not have expected a Quaker to try to convert me, but life is interesting that way. The Quaker is tied with the atheist for the most unpleasant attempted conversion experience.

One: why are these people so convinced that they are right? Two: why do they want to intrude on something so personal? I suppose I am also convinced that I am correct. Could this post be considered missionary work?

Here's what I believe: I believe that as spiritual beings having a physical experience, it is rarely (if ever) possible for us to grasp the Divine. The metaphor that applies here is the story of the six blind men who went in search of an elephant so that they could learn what it was by direct observation. However, instead of any of them exploring the entire elephant, each concentrated on a single part (no doubt due to the elephant's limited cooperation for this exercise). As such, the one who had grabbed an ear emphatically declared the elephant to be like a fan; the one who had felt the trunk insisted it was similar to a water spout; another who had explored a leg was convinced the elephant was something like a pillar, etc. In most versions of this story, the different observers become highly agitated with each other, sometimes resulting in a physical fight. Occasionally an outsider is there to explain to them that each of them is right, although not quite entirely.

That story highlights the limitations of perception (and raises the question: why is it so important that others be convinced that we are right? This will have to be different, much later post, as I do not have any well-developed theories on that and am guilty of having become highly offended when someone did not recognize that I was right). It also explains why, if I have the time, I listen intently to the missionaries. I believe that, even if I am unlikely to accept the whole of their belief system, I am likely to find something that resonates with me and can be incorporated into my approach to life. Now some would warn me that this is a dangerous path (oopsie!), yet I consider my reasoning and intuition two of my most important gifts and use them as such.

I know some people believe that we should avoid talking about politics and religion. I disagree and worry that then there would be little else to talk about and we might fall into even more discussions about reality t.v. or whether our co-workers need girdles. Besides sometimes--many times--these discussions can be enriching. One Sunday I was waiting for a bus when someone else who was waiting asked if I had been to church. I was not in the mood to be preached at that morning, I really wasn't. But I answered anyway and we had an interesting discussion. He officially considered himself "a student," not belonging to any particular religion, but sought to understand as much as he could, having friends and going to the services of several faiths. Just last week I was in a meandering conversation that included an explanation that baby showers were not religious celebrations, why Easter is a higher religious holiday than Christmas (actually this one maybe I should have stayed away from...as someone who was raised Christian, but does not practice) the two different Eids, and the reasons behind and the limitations to having more than one wife under Islam.

The Potato Harvest

When I planted my seed potatoes, I really had no idea what I was doing. I cut the around the potato eyes and had little one inch chunks that I let dry and form a "callous" to avoid rot. Then I planted them. I had little hope for them. I placed sticks in the ground to mark where I planted them, convinced that nothing would come up and knowing I wouldn't recognize them if they did.

Then I stopped paying attention. Notice the weeds in that picture. Maybe I watered them once. They were off the side of the garden, planted near the air conditioner and I rarely thought about them. Weeks after planting them, I started to notice them and thought I might actually enjoy some home grown potatoes after all.

I think I would have been able to make quite a few potato dishes this fall. Except for the watermelon jungle I've already described (btw, I have at least three on the vines--the largest is now bigger than my hand! That's a lot of growth in one week so I have hope it might ripen after all). The jungle choked the life out of the potato plants and ended the growth of the potatoes. It has also overtaken one of the giant marigolds and I have to pull it back away from my tomatoes nearly every other day now.

Confronted with dead plants, there was nothing to do but harvest what I could. After moving enough of the jungle to see soil, I used a spade to gently loosen and remove dirt and look for potatoes. It was funny--the red potatoes were like Easter eggs someone had hidden for me to find. They were no longer attached to the plant. The white potatoes still looked like they belonged to the plant. I read that I should let them dry out outside first, but given the rain, that's not really working. I'll probably bring them in to cook either tomorrow or Friday. I'm thinking a nice potato-kale stir-fry. Mmmm...

DDOT Public Hearings

If I had to guess, I'd say about 300 filled the Rosa Parks transit Center for the public hearing on "proposed" changes to the DDOT bus schedules. U.S. Congressman John Conyers showed up early on and was given a chance to speak. His recommendation? If Bing doesn't change his position, citizens should begin a recall petition. (You know, I like Bing as mayor even less than I did when I voted against him in May. Still, for some reason "recall" sounds like something that would cost the city even more money that we don't have).



Not one of the people who got up to speak for the nearly three hours of public comment voiced any support for the cuts. A lot of people got up to share how the cuts would affect them personally. A grandfather said that he worked midnights while his son and daughter worked and went to school during the day. In this way there was always an adult at home during the day if someone needed to go to his grandchildren's school. He shared that he had lost one job--a very good job, when routes were cut under Kwame Kilpatrick's administration. One woman told that she worked at a nursing home. On Sundays she already takes a cab to work because she has to be there at 6am and the bus starts running on that route at 8am. She said that she couldn't afford a taxi in both directions. Several people got up and spoke about employees of casinos, entertainment, and the hospitality industries downtown. More than one brought up the Cobo deal that had finally been made and wondered who would work at these venues without transportation. An Episcopal priest with two part-time jobs explained how she navigated the bus system to get to work and her community activities.

One bus driver shared how he had taken the bus to work a few years back. He related that 12 or so individuals arrived with him at Capital Park at four in the morning and how they scattered, scrambling to make their connections. The current "proposal" ends service between 2am and 5am. Another driver said that she has watched the children who take the bus get younger and younger. She expressed concerned for them, waiting longer with increased wait times and with predator awaiting them when parents' have to leave them to catch their own buses. While she made her comments, the individuals facilitating the public hearings sat with the same constant lack of expression.

Henry Gaffney, president of the bus drivers' union, told the crowd that 113 drivers will be laid off Friday. These, he reported, account for 70% of the weekend drivers. In effect, the cuts are already happening.

According an article in the Detroit News, "Councilwoman JoAnn Watson, who attended the first of eight hearings, said she may move to scuttle the changes." Oh, she may? Alberta Tinsley Talabi was present at the Tuesday evening meeting, stating that the buses were a "core service" that should not be cut. When an audience member asked about her city-provided car, she replied that she had suggested two weeks ago that City Council let the cars go. Unimpressed, the man suggested that she should have already done that twelve years ago. Council Candidate Saunteel Jenkins insisted city officials give up perks before taking things from those who are already overworked and underserved.

Several practical suggestions were offered and, I'm sure, diligently written up by the court reporter present to be filed neatly somewhere and never looked at. Several commenters noted that people who actually use the system were not consulted for feedback. A fare increase of 25 to 50 cents was suggested (at least twice), without serious objections. Losing cars for city officials was a well-received. A couple of individuals were interested in establishing a transportation authority to run the system. Naturally someone suggested partnering with SMART. One older man suggested that now was the time for innovation--he wanted to see the system increase bus service to the point that people don't want cars.

BAMN was present (with about a dozen organizers who commented and told everyone to attend the union-community meeting being held Saturday 8/29/09 at 4pm at the St. Regis Hotel's Boulevard Room; there's also a Wednesday 9/2/09 4:30pm meeting somewhere (I'll post if I find it). Detroit FIST was also there, with two members who spoke (the first of whom gave us the only Spanish heard at the meeting). Both groups advocated organizing and not expecting the elected/city officials to do it for us.

Unlike what Oneita Jackson wrote that she saw at the earlier meeting today, I found the people remarkably calm and respectful of each other (especially given that people's livelihoods are threatened). Now people did get a little "church" up in there at some points--but I have never seen anything wrong with a little call and response.

Random Beauty

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I should carry around my camera at all times. I think it was a good decision. Unfortunately I haven't managed to put it into action yet. Last Friday, at Northland Mall, I happened across some random beauty and was left with nothing but a cellphone camera to capture it.

The first was a rainbow. A beautiful, full arc of a rainbow that stretched across the whole sky. I was so captivated by it that I tripped on a curb cut. And I wasn't the only one impressed. There were at least three other folks who had whipped out cell phones and were trying to squeeze that immensity into a 2" screen. Of course, me being me, there is a bus in the picture. The second picture is absolutely terrible, but it at least gives an impression of its size (though not how vivid it was).

As I was putting my phone away, I happened to look down at some weeds poking through the asphalt around the bus shelter. One of them was a tomato plant.

The State Health Care Reform "Action"

I rode by a group of folks waving signs on Woodward in Birmingham yesterday. We were turning a corner so I only saw one end of it, but I did see a few signs: one railing against "Obamacare", one that read "Healthcare for All," and one that pleaded for HR676 (the House bill that would enact single payer and that no one seems to be taking seriously) to be brought into the debate. I hadn't heard about any planned rally and I was already late to somewhere so I didn't get a chance to learn anything more until this morning.

There was an article on the rally in the Detroit News and an account from Detroit Mark in the Huffington Post. Detroit News blogger MakoYamakura to exception to Detroit Mark's characterization of those in the northern suburbs as "white conservatives [...] moved their businesses and families up in the upper counties to escape the diversity of Detroit. You know, bigots. Not everyone but an impressive sample, I'd be willing to bet." Interestingly there was a couple on the bus with me discussing the rally who, based on their experiences growing up there, felt that just by the nature of their conservatism, Oakland County residents were practically obligated to oppose anything proposed by any Democrat.

In his piece, Detroit Mark pointed out some of the signs for the anti-health care side. There are those that just list things that are just wrong, complete with supposed citations from the bill (FactCheck.org has is a good resource: look at Seven Falsehoods about Health Care). The other sign that he pointed out that I want to mention is one of Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a Hitler mustache. When similar depictions of Obama started cropping up a while back, I was completely mystified, but then someone forwarded a piece entitled "Stuff White People Like: Comparing People to Hitler" to a mailing list. I now get it: this just means that they don't agree with something and they think it's very, very bad.

Last week I signed an internet petition to support (and keep honest) the 60-plus House Democrats who have pledged to only support a health care reform bill that includes a public option. Below is a clilp of Rachel Maddow interviewing Jane Hamsher of FireDogLake.com. Perhaps ironic given my below comment about another interviewer, I really enjoyed watching how tickled Maddow is about Progressive Democrats with a spine.



Listening to NPR the other day, I really enjoyed Steve Inskeep's interview with Angela Braley, CEO of health care insurance company giant Wellpoint. I normally "tsk, tsk" during his interviews because he generally laughs so much that I feel more like I'm listening to a morning show instead of news. But he actually asked serious questions (such as "What do you get for those millions of dollars that you spend lobbying?"):

Alas, My Garden!

My kohlrabi: a gardening casualty.

Well, this has been my first year with the garden. I worked hard: removing sod--that is, digging up the grass from an area that's at least 12x15 feet and then constantly weeding for the first two months. Then I just kinda stopped. I mean, I still water and weed on a weekly basis, but there's no pampering going on. After I harvested the kale and collards I planted early in the season, I started taking it a little easy. Which is good, because otherwise I'd be heartbroken right now. Some rodents (I'm not sure if the culprits are squirrels or rabbits) have found a new diner: my garden.


Every single time my kohlrabi starts looking good--all leafed out and strong, they come and eat every single leaf on the plants. Every one. Consistently. Last night was the their third run in this little game they play. Soon after I brought the kohlrabi home from the Garden Resource Program and planted them, the creatures ate all the leaves. It was sad, but I really hadn't formed any attachment to my first crop of kohlrabi so it was okay. I mean, I was looking forward to the yummy stems that taste something like broccoli, but I had no emotional investment. So when the sturdy little plants grew new leaves, it was a great surprise and like a gift I hadn't done anything to earn. A few days after I started looking forward to a fall harvest of the kohlrabi, the ravenous little monsters came back. That time, I think, they maybe left one leaf on one of the four plants. And yet hope springs eternal so when the determined little plants grew their third set of leaves, I again began dreaming of sauteing my kohlrabi. Ha! After this third strike, I refuse to believe the poor dears will be unmolested long enough grow stems large enough to bother cooking.

Sigh.

So it's really good other things are growing well enough to keep me distracted. The tomatoes are doing well--I've got roma and heirloom. This morning I had a lovely breakfast of fresh picked heirloom tomatoes sliced on olive bread from Avalon (purchased for practically nothing at the end of the Farmers Market yesterday). And the surprise of garden: my watermelon plants. I never really expected anything of them, but I planted them because I got them. I now have a watermelon vine jungle that has hidden my potato plants (hmmm...I suppose I should go dig those up this week). It's also threatening to overtake some marigolds I have planted out there.

Take a peek:


And I even have at least one fruit on the vine:

It's palm-sized and absolutely beautiful:

Some snippets from the African World Festival...

As usual, it was wonderful. Friday I caught Amp Fiddler and Ras Kente performing together--I'd never seen either individually, but they were great together. It started with Ras Kente playing Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing on electric guitar (think Jimi Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled Banner).

On Saturday there was a parade down Woodward from Mack to Hart Plaza. I'm sure it was wonderful, but I missed it, waiting for someone who was in traffic for two hours. At the end of the route, we did find two belly dancers collapsed and recovering from their three miles (!) of shimmying. Apparently we missed wings.



Around Hart Plaza, some of the floats from the parade were on display:

I must say, I am loving Little Man's hair here.

Looks like they did it up properly!

I was drawn to the Great Lakes African American Quilters Network's booth. I spoke with the president for a while and one of the things she talked about was trying to reclaim the heritage of our grandmothers and their grandmothers who quilted.


Here's one of the quilts they had on display:


And of course there was the Omowale Cultural Society. Here are some shots of them from Saturday. The drummers were getting it:




And the dancers...


The young woman below was all energy (notice how fast her beads are moving!):
They called this woman out of the crowd to come dance with them. I think her initial reluctance was just for show, because she was quickly barefoot and her skirt was flying:

Alert: Bus System in Danger

You know, I'd just assumed that Mayor Bing would win in November. After all, even among those who voted against him in the special election in May, who really wants the city to have four mayors within 12 months? Now, I'm not so sure. Less than one month after the grand opening of the Rosa Parks Transit Center, the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT) is suggesting cutting back 12 routes, ending Saturday bus service at 6pm, and eliminating Sunday bus service altogether. Check out the details in the article on the Detroit News website.

WHAT?????

The bus drivers' union estimates that 50,000 people ride the bus on Sunday and that 20,000 more would be effected by the Saturday cutback. The News article notes that the DDOT made this announcement a few days after the mayor said he planned to cut the jobs of 1,000 workers.

Maybe the mayor has not noticed, but public transportation in the city is already as bare bones as a dinosaur skeleton. It's 12:30 in the morning and I'm just getting in from the African World Festival--one of the major summer festivals downtown and you might think the city would be a little invested in making transportation available for it. Guess not. I live 12 miles from Hart Plaza, yet took me an hour to get home. And it was only that quick because I walked the last mile and a half rather than wait for a second bus which only runs once an hour (if that) at night. We can't take any more cuts in service and still have a system.

During the weekends, people use the bus to get to work, to church, to family, to shopping. How are they--how are we supposed to do that without the bus? That whole Cash for Clunkers only worked for those of us who a) had a clunker and b) had the cash/credit for the rest of the pricetag. Taxis are too expensive. Does he expect us to walk? When we're traveling over 10 miles? When we need to be there at 8am or get off in the middle of the night? More bus cuts are not an option.

If Tom Barrow really wants Bing's job, he might try riding the bus and talking to folks and then sending his campaign team out to register folks waiting at bus stops and on buses. I can imagine that if this goes any further we just might get more than the approximately 15% voter turnout we enjoyed in May and August.

A DDOT Rider Alert flyer states that public hearings will be held next week at the following locations:

Monday, August 24
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Wayne County Community College
5901 Conner

Tuesday, August 25
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Rosa Parks Transit Center
360 Michigan Ave.

Wednesday, August 25
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Southwest District Neighborhood City Hall
7400 W. Vernor

Thursday, August 26
10am 12 noon and again 6-8pm
Northwest Activities Center
18100 Meyers

In addition, I believe Mayor Bing could benefit from hearing why this is a bad idea from his constituents. You can let him know at:

City of Detroit
Executive Office
Coleman A. Young Municipal Center
2 Woodward Ave., Ste. 1126
Detroit, MI 48226

(313) 224-3400

Go ahead, raise my taxes

Dear Congress,

You may raise my taxes. I figure I could still manage to pay bills and eat if you took another couple percent of my pay in taxes. No, I don't make over $250,000, but I want universal health insurance. I mean I want it in that way that makes me willing to give something up to get it. I have this crazy notion notion that it makes sense to sacrifice something I have for something I really, really want.

So, what do I want?

• every person in this country to have access to quality health care

Oh, this was going to be a bulleted list, but that about sums it up. I want everyone to have the care they need. I don't want preexisting conditions, or unemployment, or a measly employer provided benefits package, or factors like age and gender to keep anyone from having access to health care.

And if the Muttface has to live on store brand dog food and I have to take my lunch to work every day (instead of just most days)...well, we'll adjust.

Sincerely,

A concerned citizen

African World Festival this weekend!

It will be going on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There's a schedule available at the African World Festival website (http://www.awfdetroit.com/).

Local Currency (again)

"The Plenty", local currency in Pittsboro, NC, where
15,000 are in circulation. (The Abundance Foundation)

A while back, in one of my first posts, I blogged about why I think Detroit needs a local currency. Today, on one of the mailing lists I follow, someone forwarded an article from the LA Times, Local currencies cash in on recession. The article describes several examples in cities and towns across the U.S. (Ithaca, NY, Pittsboro, NC, Mesa, AZ, Portland, ME, and others). Overall, local currency can encourage local economies and increases social capital (social capital is basically the social connections between people that make collective and communal actions possible).

Protectionist that I am (free trade? That benefits whom exactly?), I really don't see a reason not to have local currency in Detroit. Though, unlike how it has been enacted in the article, I want the Detroit currency larger than a group of businesses banding together. I want to see the city itself involved.

Visibility

I'm not a fan of rainbows. Well, actual rainbows, yes. They rank up there with waterfalls for me. What I'm not a fan of is the crayola-colored type of rainbows that have been adopted as a symbol of LGBT pride. They just don't really match my sense of style (or, maybe non-style would be more accurate). But sometimes I feel like I should wear a rainbow pin on my sleeve or maybe just tattoo a rainbow on my forehead. Because coming out gets old. Real fast.

I've had friends accuse me of going so overboard with being private that I cross the line into secretive and almost being in the Witness Protection Program. So I have no compulsion to talk about my sexuality. I'd actually prefer not to.

Except. Well, if you don't talk about it, people will just go ahead and assume you are heterosexual. Yeah, I'm not comfortable with that. I believe in privacy, not closets. Shoot, I have a hard enough time getting my clean laundry from the basement to my closet, there's really no way I can manage to put myself in one.

So I'm thinking that a forehead tattoo would avoid any confusion. You know that woman you see walking her dog around the neighborhood, greeting everyone she passes? Well, look at that! She's romantically attracted to women. You know, her, the one who gave away all those carrots from her garden? She likes women, really likes them. And I think it would be good for all those straight people who don't think they know anyone who sits under the LGBT umbrella. They could note me, with my big sign, going about the quirky, mundane business of my life. Not at all being a threat to the fabric of society (well...hopefully I'm at least occasionally a threat to some social ills, but not the beautiful parts of the fabric).

I like this idea--other than the whole permanent part, but at least it would save me from collapsing into a fit of giggles when someone random person asks me about boyfriends.

Catching up...on blogging and civic responsibility

So this past weekend I was on mad dash to gather information about the candidates in the primary election that was held yesterday. Which is why there's hasn't been much blogging lately. I'm going to try to do better. On both counts.

I was really impressed by one of the candidates for the charter commission: Jenice Mitchell Ford. I really appreciated her answers to the questions posed to candidates by MiVote. I think her video (unlike those of most of the other candidates) was outstanding: she very clearly explained the charter, the charter commission, and specific issues that need to be addressed in the revision. She also did a great job of sharing her qualification and making points about the issues that demonstrated that she had thought about them on more a cursory level.

I could have done without the slogan, though.

Summertime and the reading is easy...

..though apparently not the blogging. I've been trying to write this post since Friday. A little last minute marathon candidate research got in the way (but that, dear people, is another post).

It's amazing! I've actually had enough time to get in some pleasure reading. For the last six weeks or so I've been able to read strictly for the joy of reading. Free time is such a beautiful thing.

I grabbed a few books recommended on an NPR summer reading segment. One was a bust: Laura Rider's Masterpiece. Just eh...I was not feeling the shallow, self-absorbed characters and their little manipulations. The others have been enjoyable. The Stolen Child, by Keith Donohue, was a lovely 20th century Grimms' fairy tale. Okay, lovely might not be the best word, given core of the story: basically, a gang of shapeshifter children steal a child and one of them takes his place. I still think it was lovely and offered some interesting reflection on human connection, growing up, perspective, and group membership.

Kao Kalia Yang's The Latehomecomer: A Hmong Family Memoir kept me company on vacation. She shares the story of her family as they fled Laos in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, spending several years in refugee camps in Thailand and eventually settling in Minnesota. She offers a very loving portrait of her grandmother and a fascinating snapshot of Hmong people.

I'm currently reading Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano's Mirrors: Stories of Almost of Everyone. Which is amazing. Most of my summer reading has come to me from library books, including this one (interlibrary loan is such a good idea). However, it's due back tomorrow and someone has a hold on it so I can't renew. Today I ordered a copy online. This book is full of excellent bedtime stories and I want the hardcover on my shelf. These stories are less than a page, often no more than a paragraph, but, oh, the stories. It reads to me like a Brief History of Everything.

I know I've read a lot more, but it's late and I'm sleepy so I'll just share one piece of good news: The Serpent's Gift is back in print!!! The novel by Helen Elaine Lee is one of my favorites. I stopped recommending it to folks when it went out of print and I recently found out it was back after loaning out my copy. This is such a beautiful book: the language, the love among the family members, the imperfect humanity of the wonderful characters.

Still to come: Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South, The Revolution Will Not Be Funded, and whatever else I want because it's summertime and I can.

Now, when I really have some free time, I need to find myself a book club. Oooo...

Deeply ingrained beliefs that aren't actually true

This evening I went to a physics talk for non-physicists ("Einstein's Biggest Blunder: A Cosmic Mystery Story"). It was given by Professor Lawrence Krauss and fairly interesting. Opinionated as I am, I had a lot of reactions towards certain things he said, but one thing is sticking with me. He related how he wished that all students have the experience of having some cherished belief proved wrong. He believes that that opens minds and that greatest and most important advances in science share the characteristic of forcing us to throw out some deeply held belief.

I'm really not thinking of this in terms of science, what's rambling through my mind is interactions between people. How, many times our deeply held belief about a situation keeps us stuck in the same pattern. How, sometimes we just KNOW we are right and do not bother listening to the other person since of course we already know where they're coming from. Last summer around this time, I was reading Don't Be So Defensive by Sharon Ellison. I must have told everyone talked to about it. The main idea was that traditional methods of communication follow a war model and accelerate conflict. The author outlines Powerful Non-Defensive Communication, communication strategies to increase authentic exchange.

Earlier today, I somehow found myself on a post from early 2009 on the blog of someone whose self-described identities include South Asian, immigrant, and feminist. In it, she described how, during election season, she and others were worried that "blacks might feel that Obama is their savior, that there is hope in our current system because a black man is now at the helm." Starting there the group of communists approached Black activists "to find out how to alert blacks to the corporatist-capitalist nature of Obama’s presidency." Oy. My head is spinning from the condescension. Suffice it to say, they did not get the reception they had hoped. She goes on to write "[h]onest overtures are not wanted, apparently. Nor is it acceptable for whites to discuss problems being faced by minorities. "

Here's the thing: people do not appreciate being told that they should think what/how/when you think. If you go in somebody's house with an agenda on how they should redecorate, please don't be too surprised when you're told "don't let the door catch you on the way out."

People. I know this is difficult. Step one of communication: listen. I fall down at that point myself at times (I frequently revel in the delusion that I'm always right). Folk do what they do for a variety of reasons. Before you try to change someone, it might help to know what they think and why. People's motivations and thought processes are complicated so starting from a place of wanting to understand often helps.

The cost of war

During primary season, I was a supporter of Dennis Kucinich. One of the major reasons was that I wanted a Department of Peace (in 2008 and 2004 and now). I want to know what is possible outside of the violence we currently operate under. I worry about its effects: on the enemy, on us, on the world. Even in the case of "just" wars and revolutions, somehow even the "right" side always seems to engage in powerful wrongs.

In The Gazette of Colorado Springs, there is a very thought-provoking story. It is about one of costs of war: its effects on our soldiers and, by extension, ourselves. It's a long piece, but I think an important one.

It begins with:

Before the murders started, Anthony Marquez’s mom dialed his sergeant at Fort Carson to warn that her son was poised to kill.

It was February 2006, and the 21-year-old soldier had not been the same since being wounded and coming home from Iraq eight months before. He had violent outbursts and thrashing nightmares. He was devouring pain pills and drinking too much. He always packed a gun.

“It was a dangerous combination. I told them he was a walking time bomb,” said his mother, Teresa Hernandez.

His sergeant told her there was nothing he could do. Then, she said, he started taunting her son, saying things like, “Your mommy called. She says you are going crazy.”

The full story is available at Casualties of War, Part I: The hell of war comes home.

Doing our work

Audre Lorde wrote: "...I am myself -- a Black woman warrior poet doing my work -- come to ask you, are you doing yours?" Alas I fall short of that. I am not doing my work. I haven't quite figured out what my work is. So I am drawn to stories of people who most certainly have found their work and are doing it.

On NPR today there was a profile on a couple in Karuchi, Pakistan (interesting: the way the article is titled and framed, it is about the husband; the way I read the story, it is about both of them). They run the largest social service network in Pakistan--so far this year, they have raised $36 million to serve the city's poor. Their efforts include running two maternity wards, burying the city's unidentified dead, placing children with adoptive families, assisting families displaced by fighting in the Swat valley, and advocating for prison reform. The NPR story is embedded below.

Abdul Sattar Edhi and Bilquis Edhi

"I feel happy. There's so much craftiness and cunning and lying in the world. I feel happy that God made me different from the others. I helped the most oppressed," he says.

A few pictures from the Hotter than July picnic

Ah, the sights of Hotter than July....

Such as the folks who, like me, probably belonged at home, resting with their feet propped up:


I also saw one more person on crutches, but I hadn't started snapping pictures yet.

And of course there were the couples. Mostly I left the anti-romanticism at home and just went "aw." Below are two I spotted. The first hammed it up for a picture (not mine). The second, I assume was a couple because of the matching shirts (cute!), but I suppose they could have been other people's partners (doubt it though).

The wonder of health insurance

I have health insurance. Woohoo!

I had minor surgery yesterday and I did not have to decide to stop paying my mortgage to maintain my health. I did not have make a plan for which bills I would no longer pay. I did not have to delay the surgery until my relatively small issue became a major one and I had no choice but to make my way into an emergency room for treatment. All because the surgery was covered by my health insurance plan.

I have health insurance. Woohoo!

And I do not think I'm special. Alright that's a lie, I think I'm very special. But not special in the sense that I deserve health care more than anyone else. I do not feel that having a decent job means that I deserve health care. I do not feel that having a job job means that I deserve health care. I do not feel that if my employer did not provide health insurance, but that I could afford to privately pay for insurance and I had no pre-existing conditions that I would deserve health care more than anyone else.

This is where I start on health care. So, yeah, I suppose I do think that health care is a right, not a privilege.

According to a CNN report, medical bills contribute to 60 percent of bankruptcies in the United States. In 2006, there were 47 million Americans without health insurance and it was estimated that 22,000 people died because they did not have health insurance (see Dying for Coverage from Families USA). How much worse have things gotten with the last year of extreme economic turmoil? The Urban Institute has a report that puts the estimated $1.6 trillion cost of the Senate's health care plan in context (Beyond the $1.6 Trillion Sticker Shock).

This morning I signed a petition asking the House of Representatives to stay in session in order to pass health care reform bill (they're quickly approaching their August recess). I know some people are seriously doubtful about the impact of online petitions, so if you really want to make sure your Representative understands you want him or her to stay in Washington to get real reform, call. You can call the switchboard at the Capitol (202) 224-3121 or you can look up your Representative's office number online by entering your zip code in several places, including the Congress Merge: Online Congressional Directory).

So here's the thing...

There is this segment of the U.S. population that believes that only white people are worth anything.

I really don't understand them, yet they exist. These are the people who will read the report on discipline of public school students in Michigan and dismiss the fact that Black students are disciplined way out of proportion with what you'd expect based on their percentage of the population. They will say that it must be because Black students commit more offenses. They will believe it. I read comments to this effect on a forum which had posted an article on the report. Even though the story specifically stated that this was not the case. It must make life if easier if you can believe that the status quo is also the right thing.

Conservatives going crazy over the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor were incensed over the centrist jurist (with 60 Democrats in the Senate, we still can't get a liberal nominee? le sigh). The main focus of their ire? The Ricci case, in which the New Haven civil service board threw out the test it had chosen to use to decide promotions because only one non-white applicant passed the test and they feared a lawsuit. A federal district court ruled no laws were broken and, on appeal, a three-judge panel which included Sotomayor, affirmed the ruling. I'm not versed in the specifics of the case--I don't know why New Haven thought having a written test designed by an outside consultant was a good way to do promotions. I don't know what the test consisted of. So I am making no comment on the specifics of that case.

What I do want to note is how it has a certain segment of the population fired up. And it seems to me that this is mainly because they find it completely unbelievable that this metric could have possibly been biased. From what I can tell they seem to feel that if white people have a disproportionate share of the power, it's because they deserve it. Pat Buchanan was advancing this idea in an interview with Rachel Maddow (see below). I'm with Elon of This Week in Blackness of this one. I get stuck right there and find it hard to have something to say because it is an idea that makes no sense to me. TWiB is hilarious to me, so here's a link to the episode, 2009 is the New 1952 (there are a few cuss words, if that bothers you).

A couple shallow notes on the above post...

1. Is it just me or does Elon from TWiB look like of Lemont from the comic Candorville?

2. I swear that every time I see Rachel Maddow's show, she gets a little more feminine. Hmm. Must. Conform. Hmm?

Let America Be America Again

I'm in the midst of reading Static by Any Goodman and David Goodman and reflecting upon the ACLU report and thinking about torture and a thousand other things. And I thought how wonderful we would be as a nation if we lived our ideals. And that of course brought me to this poem by Langston Hughes, recited below by Danny Glover.




"Let America Be America Again" is also available in print for your reading pleasure at http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15609.

Has anyone seen an ACLU card?

I'm a card carrying member of the ACLU. Okay, that's not technically true. I have no card (are there really cards?) but I remember some Republican politician (the first George Bush?) treating the phrase as if it were a high insult and I remember having no idea why. I actually still don't get it. Who thinks defending civil liberties is a bad thing?

You might ask what the ACLU of Michigan has been doing lately. While you can go to their website and read up on them yourself, I wanted to share two things. First: the ACLU represented a Michigan minister whose probation was revoked based on the judge deciding that an article he wrote for a small Chicago newspaper was “defamatory and demeaning” and such communications
violated the conditions of his probation. The Michigan Court of Appeals found that the terms of the probation were unconstitutional as they impinged on the first amendment rights of the man.

Second: they released a report on the school-to-prison pipeline in the state and the disproportionate disciplinary actions taken against Black students:

“In school district after school district, from one end of the state to another, we found that black kids are consistently suspended in numbers that are considerably disproportionate to their representation in the various student populations,” said Mark P. Fancher, ACLU of Michigan Racial Justice Project staff attorney and principal author of the report. “More alarming still are studies we examined that show that the behavior of black kids and white kids is essentially the same, and black kids are still kicked out of school proportionately more often. This is true regardless of socio-economic factors and geography.”

Previous studies have shown that students who are suspended are more likely to drop out of school. 68% of incarcerated Michigan residents are identified as high school drop outs. More information on the report can be found in the linked press release and the report is “Reclaiming Michigan’s Throwaway Kids: Students Trapped in the School-to-Prison Pipeline." Well worth reading.

Broccoli flower followup

I almost forgot...the broccoli flowers are pretty good. They gave the broccoli a lemony taste. I'd advise that if you let the flowers bloom that you not also try to eat the largest part of the stalk; that was a bit tough and cooking didn't really make it more edible. This is a picture of them in the colander in the sink:

Who sponsors petitions?

I was sitting at the bus stop today and a woman was trying to get signatures on a petition. The young brother sitting next to me signed it for her. He then asked a really good question: whether she was volunteering to circulate the petition. Interestingly enough, she got a little defensive. Hmm. So I asked her who was sponsoring the petition. She dodged and skated and then settled on an answer: "the city." I insisted that that didn't make sense and asked directly who was paying her. She stated that she was not allowed to talk about who was paying her or how much she made. I assured her that I would not ask her how much she made, but I was curious who was sponsoring the petition. She asked me if I was a registered Detroit voter and if I wanted to sign. I am, but I told her I am not interested in signing something being circulated by shadowy persons who don't want to be revealed.

The petition was to get the question of districts on the ballot. Basically the petition wanted a proposal before voters that would move us from an at-large city council to a council that has only two at-large members and seven members that each represent a specific district. I am not against this idea. Council could definitely use more accountability and districts might be a way to do that. But I am very concerned with the process that would draw up districts. Very concerned.