Out On The Stoop is my exploration about things to know, talk about or experience these amazing times. The Stoop mantra is Think, think, it ain't illegal yet.
I'm a day late but I did it. Gonna have to bone up on the weekends. You can't stay up past your bedtime even on Election night and not expect repercussions during the day. It still is freaking amazing. On to the story.
Part of living in L.A. is seeing and not seeing. I am surrounded by what is called the L.A. River. It is of concrete and occasionally water.
I was outside having lunch and it occurred to me that I have accepted this without thinking about it. I use to think about, especially when I saw a car being moved by water down the street in 1982. I thought that I had made a mistake in moving to California. Here is a very short story about the L.A. River.
There are currently 61 member and 165 videos on Vimeo for Videoblogging Month. It is our version of National Novel Writing Month. One video a day for 30 days. Last year I think I made it to day 15ish.
Once upon a time I was a Deputy County Clerk for the County of Los Angeles. Part of my job was to issue marriage licenses. I think that was the best part of the job. There were specific tasks I had to perform, questions to ask and I watched as the couple swear or affirm what they said was the truth.
Sometimes I looked at a couple and thought “For the love of humanity dude, run, do not marry this chick!” or maybe “Hell, they don’t need a license, they are already married in their hearts.”
I did have one lady who I think was working on marriage number 14. I like persistence but at some point you got to give it a rest. There was such a range of people. All with hope and expectations of what they thought marriage was or will do for them. One person loving the other more. Immigration marriages. Impulsive marriages. Love beyond measure so strong it was an honor to prepare the license for them.
Many people seem to conjure a culturally supported mythical image of what an American marriage looks like. I grew up on this particular version (in re-runs, I’m not that old.) of what a typical married household looked like when I was growing up.
I’m going to start old school and open up my paper bound Webster new Explorer Desk Encyclopedia:
Legally and social sanctioned union between, usually, a man and one or more women that accords status to their offspring and is regulated by laws and customs that prescribe the rights and duties of the partners.(Page 759)
(1): the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual and contractual relationship recognized by law (2): the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage.
A non-ethnocentric definition of marriage is a culturally sanctioned union between two or more people that establishes certain rights and obligations between the people, between them and their children and between them and their in-laws. (Page 208)
Not matching up to your definition? Yeah, I know. All I have been hearing for the past couple of weeks is one man, one woman. If I had know that I had options that I could marry more than one man at a time I might have been more open to the concept of matrimony. Go figure. Ignorance is definitely not bliss.
There is no one definition of marriage. It is dependent on the culture, the society and the needs of the community. Some of those needs are of commerce and business. In fact that was the driving factors in early marriages. Love did not necessarily have anything to do with it.
In Ye Olden Days…
If people really want a traditional marriage you might have to start looking at your biological brother or sister in a new way. 2,000 years ago it was important for farm families to hold on to whatever resources they had. It was easier to marry within the family, the immediate family to maintain control over property.
There is an extensive historical article that goes in depth at the History of Marriage by the Magnus Hirschfeld Archive for Sexology. In this passage is an explanation of how Greek and Roman marriages were designed. A Greek or Roman man could be married and still play both sides of the street:
A father arranged the most advantageous marriage for his son and then had a contract signed before witnesses. Shortly thereafter a wedding celebration was held and the young couple (who might never have met before) was escorted to bed. All marriages were monogamous. As a rule, the bridegroom was in his thirties and the bride was a teenager. In addition to this disparity in ages there also existed an inequality in education and political rights. Women were considered inferior to men and remained confined to the home. Their main function as wives was to produce children and to manage the household while their husbands tended to public affairs. For their erotic needs, men often turned to prostitutes and concubines. As Demosthenes, the orator, explained it: "We have prostitutes for our pleasure, concubines for our health, and wives to bear us lawful offspring." Many men also cultivated intense emotional and sexual relationships with male adolescents (paiderastia).
In a 2005 Psychology Today there is a brief article on what some ancient marriages were like. For example:
6th-century Europe: Political polygamy—The Germanic warlord Clothar, despite being a baptized Christian, eventually acquires four wives for strategic reasons, including his dead brother's wife, her sister and the daughter of a captured foreign king.
12th-century Europe: Marriage is good for loving...someone else—Upper-class marriages are often arranged before the couple has met. Aristocrats believe love is incompatible with marriage and can flourish only in adultery.
Stephanie Coontz in a2007 article in the New York Times explains how the Catholic church recognized non-church marriages:
In 1215, the church decreed that a licit marriage must take place in church. But people who married illicitly had the same rights and obligations as a couple married in church: their children were legitimate; the wife had the same inheritance rights; the couple was subject to the same prohibitions against divorce.
Not until the 16th century did European states begin to require that marriages be performed under legal auspices. In part, this was an attempt to prevent unions between young adults whose parents opposed their match.
I’ve only touched on a very brief look of monogamy type marriages. There certainly other kinds such as polygamy marriages that help to sustain cultures across the globe and endogamy, marriage within a certain group of individuals inside of a set community.
We questions its history of sexism and its emphasis on reproduction. We wonder why the state should even be involved in people's relationships in the first place, outside of the logistics of next-of-kin and that sort of thing. We believe in the importance of the ceremony, but question the relevance of insurance premiums or tax breaks. That being said, the reality is that we live in a culture where marriage - in that form - IS a part of our society. And if you, like us, are concerned with the values of marriage in this culture, than you should be very concerned about barring queer access to it.
Because queers can update this custom and infuse it with gender equality that will free men, women, and the rest of us from all of our historical attachments.
Misty at Saintless.com is wondering if government should get out of the marriage business altogether. Should there be a legal definition? And at Philosophy Sucks ask the lyrical question, why not split the difference?:
So I say we should formally distinguish these two aspects. Let marriage be a religious institution and let civil unions be a secular institution. Let the church govern marriage and define it as between one man and one woman. And let the state govern civil unions and define it as they want; a loving commitment to partnership and family between two persons. That way religious people would get marriages and secular people would get civil unions.
My point in sharing this information with you is that it is not true that there has been only one form of marriage sanctioned for X number of years. Humans are too diverse with different social and cultural needs. Marriage adapts to what the society requires. It is not a finite condition. It is an evolutionary one.
Over at Garbled Noise is a review of the book "Uncommon Arrangements by Kate Roiphe on how of some literary famous in London conducted their lives around the constrictions of matrimony.
Susan Squire author I Don’t A Contrarian History of Marriage gives an interview on the Leonard Lopate show on WNYC
This post originally appeared on BlogHer where I am a Contributing Editor.
Over the past few weeks I have seen a exponential growth in the number of flat out stupid people. Stupid as in “lacking or marked by lack of intellectual acuity.” Maybe they have always been around and I was off doing something else. I’m am not exempt. I have done stupid things. But I learned and didn’t do the same stupid thing again and again.
And it is not just that they are stupid people but there are proud of it and wave it as a badge of honor. And collectively as a group they try to make you feel bad because you are not stupid like them. Yo, education is not a dirty word!
So, where does this leave the rest of us? Tired. Exhausted. Baseball bat mad.
Fortunately I do not have a baseball bat. I do not look good in orange jail jumpers. I’ve never worn any but I can tell from a distance the outfit just doesn’t work for me. What does work for me is to find voices of reason, of patience and those guiding lights that can help show the way to help make less stupid people.
The population grows every day and we have to keep in mind that we have not perfected the institution of education. There still are many drop-outs, standardized test failures, and unprepared graduates. But we must also remember that we cannot stop trying. My aim is to be a part of those who really try to make things better rather than sitting around waiting for others to do it. I hope to bring a spirit of optimism and excitement to my classroom. Having seen my best teachers do that, I know that plays a key role in effective teaching.
So from her I guess no matter how daunting the task of revising American education we have to keep trying to make it better, find a way to communicate skills necessary for students who will live in the future.
My philosophy of education? It is and always has been student centric. Of course the world has changed much since I started teaching, and my teaching philosophy has reflected this. It is definitely grounded in the 21st century. I’ve made it a point to be a life long learner and be on the cutting edge of new developments in education so that I can be the best teacher possible for my students and their parents. Being the best teacher possible also means collaborating with my colleagues and sharing what I have learned and learning from them.
Maybe we need to take a look at constantly using 19th century techniques to educate 21st century people. Perhaps we make people stupid because we use old tools and rules that don’t necessarily apply to their lives as they currently live it. The video is from Kansas State University entitled “A Vision of Student’s Today
Principle Jessica Hunzenger echoes many of the sentiments reflected in the video:
I believe education has become the basis for survival in a rapidly changing information technology society and global economy. The technological transformation that has occurred in the last twenty years has crept in quietly like a thief in the night. We have moved from a labor intensive, mechanized industrial age where success was defined by rote and assembly-line skills to an information technology age requiring analytical and critical thinking skills. Yet, for the most part we educate, deliver curriculum and pedagogy in the same manner we did 100 years ago, while in fact our very survival as a society, and as a world power, is hinged on the quality of our education system. Therefore, all members of society should share a sense of urgency for transformation.
So there is some consensus that teaching the old way may not work very well. If we want this country to survive we need to engage in a revision of how we teach and what is being taught versus learned. If only it was that easy.
Nickey at Teach! gives an overview of the various Philosophies of Education that focus on student centered learning:
PROGRESSIVISM : A 'progressive' school focuses on the concerns of their students. A teacher who follows a progressive teaching style encourages students to formulate questions, and to do the research to discover the answer. Small groups are norm in the progressive classroom as well. Students are encouraged to work together to find answers.
SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTIONISM : This teaching style encourages teachers to focus on the wants and demands of modern society. Students focus on social issues and formulate answers and plans to implement social change. Teachers who follow this style create lessons to inform and stir students about issues in their society. Long term social projects (food drives, adopting poor families) are usually focused on for the better part of the year.
EXISTENTIALISM : This teaching style asserts that the purpose of education is to help children find the meaning and direction in their lives. Existentialists believe that adults should not direct meaningful learning for children. Teachers focus more on students understanding and appreciating themselves. These teachers also believe that teaching cannot occur until after a student feels confident enough in themselves to learn.
Me, I’m digging that Progressivism vibe. Sound like the way to go but I am biased about the topic. It matches how I tend to learn things. But one style of education may not fit all students. It will take some time to bring other folks around. It will happen. Keep the faith.
This post originally appeared on BlogHer where I am a contributing editor.
I went to two additional polling places. All of the voting booths were occupied but there were no long lines. That is a good thing. Really. Or it means that I managed to hit those places when there was a lull in the action.
Or maybe there was no action. Not in my surrounding areas anyway. Drat! Um, I mean yeah, good job on absentee ballots and voting early folks. So there goes my fantasies of making like Crusader Rabbit.
Time for me to come clean. I voted for Obama/Biden.
I didn't necessarily want to say who I voted for, it is a right of privacy. I'm a private person. I'd tell you if I knew you but didn't want to put it in people's faces. Also there are folks that come here and are of other minds. I respect that. I don't like it when I go to other blogs and because of what I believe I am attacked, vilified and held accountable for every wrong in the country.
I also didn't want to be accused of "drinking the Kool-Aid" meaning I would by racial obligation or left leaning tendencies I would vote for him. Nope. My initial choice was John Edwards and then considered Hillary.
I thought it was too soon for Obama to be running. I could see him as a Vice Presidential candidate but if he could have waited four years that would have been just right. Mr. Obama had other expectations. I had to adjust.
When I look at this long race it should have been impossible for him to do what he has done. He ran without the support of the Democratic party. He and his team put together an incredible network; both real world and online. They worked steadily toward a goal with few major missteps.
Fund raising that made Howard Dean's achievement look pedestrian. Engagement with a cross section of Americans. The man acted like a President. Responded the way a President should respond or how we would want him to. When he went to Germany and gave that speech that got my attention. That was audacious. It was a brilliant way to introduce himself to the world community.
I could go along with most of his platform but I'm nursing fiscal conservative tendencies so he is gonna have to be more creative than asking for money to implement some of his ideas.
So I'll wait for the number 270 and then I'll start to believe this has happened.
I'm tired. Waiting and hopping on buses will do that to you if you haven't done it for a while. I'm out of shape. Recharging myself and the batteries. I forgot about the Lithium children and attention must be paid to the person who needs to sit in three different seats within 10 minutes.
I need food. (Pause to heat up soup.) I went to one polling place in Pasadena, located in a church annex. It was around quarter to one.
There was one lady with a toddler finishing up but the poll workers didn't seem to have much to do. It was the same at another Pasadena polling place. Now this is typical for elections. Most folks try to get in early or have to wait to get off work.
In California, you can ask time off for voting. Most people can't afford to take the risk of asking. I'm going to go back out in an hour to see if my theory holds up. The other factor that might be affecting this is that many people did absentee ballots or early voting.
I don't know how to describe the mood but it is quiet. No, maybe muted is a better word. It is a collective holding of breath. Trying to be prepared for...what? Nothing about this campaign is normal. Why should the end be any different?
Mischief - yes, it it happening. From Future Majority a string of fake e-mails are being sent to voters. Please tell your voting newbies that they have to do it today.
Megan at Megan's Minute has a great round-up of M$M Highs and Lows of election coverage.
It is important to know that there are two sets of votes today. The popular vote for a candidate and, in reality, the electoral vote. I hope this post is a waste of time and there is a clear winner in the election. If it is a tight race however then understanding how this electoral process works will be very important. Fancy isn’t quiet sure on the details of the process so let’s clear it up for those that have questions.
A Brief History Lesson:
According to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), the Electoral College process was created as a compromise by the Founding Fathers between those that wanted to have just a popular vote and those who wanted Congress to elect the President.
Americans go to the polls and cast a ballot for President and Vice President. Generally, the candidate who gets the most votes in a state wins that state’s popular vote. What we as voters are actually doing is voting for the Electors who will actually cast the deciding vote on who becomes President. There are 538 electoral votes and 270 electoral votes are needed to determine who will be President. If neither candidate has enough votes then the House of Representative selects the next President.
The population of a state determines how many electoral votes a candidate will get. Jan at The Prytz Family has a map that shows the number of electoral votes each state has assigned to them. This is why candidates focus on those states with the largest number of elector votes or the one they need to ensure that they will be elected. Some states are in the bag for a candidate due to political leaning but others states have to be courted. Over at MartinZoo a home schooling mom help teach her child about the electoral votes in each state using coins.
Who Get’s To Be An Elector?
It is a little easier to say who can’t be an Elector. You cannot be a Senator, a Representative or hold a federal political office. Electors are general chosen by the political parties during political conventions, state officials or have a connected with the candidate. but there are no real requirements for the job.
When you vote for a candidate you are also voting for an elector. Some state show the Electors on the ballot, some do not. You vote for them just the same.
So The Elector Has To Vote According to the Popular Vote in a State?
No. They do not. There are states that mandate that the Elector has to vote for the winner in the state’s election but that is not legally binding.
There is no Constitutional provision or Federal law that requires electors to vote according to the results of the popular vote in their States. Some States, however, require electors to cast their votes according to the popular vote. These pledges fall into two categories—electors bound by State law and those bound by pledges to political parties.
It is unlikely that a party selected Elector is going to go against the will of his or her political party. But it could happen and there would be nothing to stop them from doing so.
Does My Vote Count?
Journalism student Jessica Simeone wonders about is it worth it? Alice from the Trouble of Being Alice has vivid memories of the 2000 election where Al Gore won the popular vote but the electors (by way of the Supreme Court) gave the election to George W. Bush. I don’t agree with everything Alice wrote but there is a huge chunk of people who do and it is a valid concern.
Faye Anderson at Anderson At Large speak about the anxiety of African American votes feel about the election.
I've been wondering, too, whether my vote really does count. It's been a while since my last American Government class, and I'd forgotten how the election process works. So I started to give into the mentality that no, I can't change the direction of the vote. Thinking that way made me feel like a bad citizen—especially as a woman. Afterall, women in the early 1900s worked hard to gain suffrage.
The short answer is yes, your vote counts. It always has. Now I have very strong feeling about that vote being usurped, dinged and manipulated. That will not change anytime soon no matter who is elected.
I vote because it is my civic duty. My historic obligation to those that fought so hard to ensure that I had the right to even decide to vote or not vote. There are issues that require my response. Voting is one of the ways to respond.
For More Information:
There is an plain English explanation of the Electoral process at Project Vote Smart.
The Library of Congress has a Teacher Resource Page that also simplifies understanding the electoral process.
It is raining on and off. It has eased up a bit but it is seems like it is going to be a drippy day. I hope not. I wanted to go to different polling places to take photos and see for myself what the day will unfold. Doing that on Los Angeles Metro Buses makes it challenging to say the least. Doing it while raining is not what I had planned.
I'm cranky. Allergies. No. Scared out of my mind on what this country will do. I don't trust the vote. You can't ask me to, not after 2000 and 2004. All it would take is a is a malfunction here, a disenfranchised voter there and a pound of lies that become the truth.
On the other hand, I have never seen this level of citizen political activity in my life. There was a photo in the L.A. Times of African-Americans standing in line to participate in early voting on Sunday. Some had been there for hours. I hear people taking politics and not "the game." Politics being discussed in multiple languages on the bus.
It matters. It matters to the totality of America. Not in selected pockets of the country that is designated "the real America." There are more good people than I gave this country credit for and they have been stepping up, contributing time, effort, money and vision. It is the whole flipping thing. And that is why I'm have taken the day off work and sit her cranky as hell waiting to vote at 7am.
How are I going to do the other things? Well I don't know. Maybe I'll camp out at one polling place and see what happens. I haven't got a clue.
But I want to say I was out there, I saw for myself. I see on behalf of the ancestors and those that died making this day happen. On this day I want to bear witness to what was and what will be. I have to live here no matter what so I'll be posting on and off all day.
Soon as the Emergen-C kicks in I'll be good to go.
I have been thinking about death and transitions, both voluntary and involuntarily. While I was back east I took some photos and videos. I didn't have much and I didn't know what to do with them until now.
Today Yma Sumac passed. Today a grandmother from Hawaii passed. Those who are left behind often go back home but home isn't the place you left behind. It has changed.
You can't go back. You can visit and you can stay but you can't return to what you remember.
This is my quick way of showing that happening to me.
The PTC video is from the Philadelphia Transit Museum. This is day 3 of International/National Videoblogging Month or VloMo08 or VloMo or whatever you want to call it.
There are people that you are supposed to know and understand why it is important to know these people. Studs Turkel was one of those people and we just lost him this week.
This guy is another person I have heard of, seen on 1960 and 1970s television interview shows. I had a vague sense of who he was. So when I saw in the newspaper that he was going to be on campus I ran out of excuses. I grab old faithful and jumped a #780.
In this short clip, Gore Vidal is explaining that even with an unusual name you still can be confused with someone else. There is that and the fact that when an 83 year old man talks about "doing me" you tend to pay attention.
The video was recorded at Pasadena City College at an ACLU sponsored gathering. I also bought his book so that I could know his writings beyond what is commonly believed about him.
This is my day 2 contribution to VloMo08, a video a day for the month of November. Recycling is encourage and some days dang near necessary.
I just got to do it, stay on task. Yeah. It is either this or the laundry. Hell of a choice.
For those of us who will peddle push our way to the polls it is an exciting time. Many people want to take their daughters, sons and grandchildren to witness the most dramatic and unpredictable election in recent American history.
Before I begin, I need to give an ancestral shout out to Mrs. Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Ida's career included being an homemaker, teacher, writer, pamphleteer (pre-Internet print based blogger) and journalist.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett wrote about her experiences of living in her time. Ida wrote about social and political injustice when mainstream media would not touch the subject. She was not afraid to raise the BS card on suffragette peers who exhibited racist acts in the name of equality.
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett is one of many women who made it possible for us to even contemplate recording and documenting our experiences on November 4, 2008.
Be Clear On Your Purpose
There is no right or wrong was to document an election. I would like to suggest that you take some time to figure out what you really want to do. Here are some options:
Recording Your Decision to Vote. That can be as simple as a blog post, an audio recording or a short video describing why you selected the candidate, the person that you believed would serve the country best or what was the deciding factor in your process.
Talking With Your Children/Grandchildren. Let them ask you questions on why is this such a big deal? Why do you want them to go with you to the polls? If older children have participated in the Weekly Reader election then engage them in a dialog (hopefully on video) as to how they came to their decisions and why you came to yours. No video camera, no problem you can shoot photos and record audio and then upload to one of the many slide show/presentation services.
No Kids? No problem. Perhaps you might like to stop by your local polling place and just observe. Is there a long line? How far does it go back? Can you time how quickly people are entering and exiting the polling place? What is the mood of the crowd? You can do this via paper, texting, still photos or video.
Recording Your Vote. This is the diciest activity of the day. This really depends on where your live, and whether or not you are legally permitted to have a camera inside of the polling place.
Protecting the Process Against Error and Fraud. This is the second most risky activity. Election fraud can mean an overly aggressive observer from another political party, machine malfunctions, poll workers giving incorrect information or voter intimidation.
We need to document what 21st Century women across this country have to say about process and what they are witnessing. You have rights. But you also have election laws.
Election Laws & Your Right To Photography/Videography
With new technology there is a collision between federal, state and local election laws and your right to record your voter participation. I am not a lawyer. Each state and each county has different rules. When in doubt check with your local election office. These are just guidelines and avenues of assistance from respected sources.
Citizen's Media Law Project has extensive information about elections laws and your behavior. You want to take a look at the State and Local Codes page, it will give you an idea of what you can do near the polls on election day. Californians, pay attention to your state section. You cannot use your camera to intimidate or stop someone from voting but it implies that you can video. Not so fast. Keep reading. You might not be able but then again check out Secretary's Bowen letter to the troops about voter questions about Video The Vote.
A must read is Burt Krages' The Photographer's Rights flyer. Most polling places have a video or photo restriction of between 100 and 150 feet. If you are at the 151 foot however snap away. If you are on a public side walk recording a news worthy event there shouldn't be any problems.
For example, taking photos of people in long lines is ok, but take a specific individual's photo and publishing it on you blog/web site is not ok unless you have a photo release signed by the subject.
This is especially important if you have any kind of advertising on your site. This is an example of an Adult Release by the National Professional Photographer's Association. You can modify it by added your blog or e-mail contact info. Your subject gets a copy and you keep a copy.
For vloggers planning to do interviews you could start the video by asking the name of your subject and permission to record the interview. Having a signed release is better.
Texting, Cell Phones, Digital Still Cameras and Camcorders, Oh My...
Texting/SMS/Twitter you should be ok. Come up for air once in a while to know what is going on but for the most part there isn't precise laws against twitter in a polling place. If your tweets become disruptive or you are impeding the process of voting however you will get the boot. On the other hand, if you do observe a problem you can use Twitter to contact Election Protection, you can get more detail at the website.
Cell phones and specifically cell phones and PDAs with camera/camcorder mode. Be cool. Don't take photos of poll workers or other voters. Wait until you are in the booth. Should you happen to press the photo button that is between you, the ballot and your camera. This is illegal in North Carolina, by the way. You can't take a photo of the ballot. Not that it hasn't already been done.
It you happen to witness wrong doing you can call Our Vote at 1-866-687-8683 and report your observations.
Still Cameras/Camcorders, this is where you definitely have to check your state and local government position on cameras in the polling place. I will say the more small and unobtrusive equipment might not be notices as much as a fully grown camcorder. I'm thinking Xacti's, Flip Video and RCA Small Wonder. Leave your hi-definition baby home or in the backpack for outside.
Lastly, If you plan on participating with Video The Vote has information on guidelines of what you should and shouldn't be doing around voters and video recording tips on how to prepare and upload video to the various web hosts.
YouTube and PBS have partnered to Video Your Vote 2008 as a repository for user generated videos.
I know I jammed at lot of stuff in here but I don't want anyone getting thrown out of their polling place unnecessarily. It is gonna be something to behold and I can't wait to see some of your photos, videos and reports on this most extraordinary day.
This post originally appeared on BlogHer where I am a Contributing Editor
If you haven't heard there are a number of things happening in November. It is National Novel Writing Month. It is also VloMo, which use to be National Videoblogging Month except that many of the participants were not from the U.S. and objected to our nationalistic tendencies. In the interest of planetary unity, a solution was sought to unite rather than piss off what few people are still talking to us.
So by consensus, a quick poll and the fact that saying National Videoblogging Month is a mouthful it has be re-named VloMo08 or VloMo for short. This year the gang is hanging it's out at Vimeo and you can search for videos at the VloMo channel on Mefedia.
You don't have to be a member of any organized group to participate. Videobloggers are the most unorganized organized group. The only rule that is steadfast is shoot video, upload and share. It has been awhile since I've been able to participate so I'm in training mode. Keeping it simple.
Day 1 in the bag. Day 2 - cheeze, I forgot about that. Wish me luck. Oh, you don't have to use Vimeo, I'm a Blip.tv girl myself but I like to check out how other do things.
We kick the weekend off proper with the Impressions. There are many impressions that linger from the past week. Some I am still trying to shake. Maybe that is the point. Impressions can be fixed or fluid. They can change.
For you Southern California votes that live in the 19 counties that have early voting you still have a shot at it. It will continue Saturday November 1st from 8am to 8pm and Sunday November 2nd. from 8am to 4pm.
The registration and poling places have been swamped so to be sure you can dot your spot kick on over to www.lavote.net and see if you are on the rolls or to find out where your polling place is located. You might want to check yourself out just in case. There is going to be enough people pitching a fit and you don’t want to be one of them if you don’t have too.
I'm aching for November 4th so it can be November 5, 2008. There are lies, damn lies and the truth has gone in to a witness protection program. I keep on saying it and will continue to do so. We are not electing the first African American, Geezer American or Vaginal American.
There is the office of President and Vice President. Not the messiah, not the warrior king or MILF/DILF potential stand-ins. This country is in such freaking bad trouble we only know the tip of the situation. Whoever walks into the Oval office is gonna catch hell on Day 1. There will be no Honeymoon.
So, does it really matter who sits in the chair? That is up to you and me. But once installed in office I do promise this. I’ll ride you like a bad suit if I don’t like what you are doing and let you know if you got it right.
It is an impossible job but you asked for it. There are those of us who really meant it when we said we want change. It can’t be like it was before. We do know how to network and those of us with sense have different beliefs can work together. Mr. President, all you have to do is ask. Or not.
If you don’t ask we are going to tell you what you need to be focusing on and how to fix it. We will be silent no more. Good luck and Spirit help us all.
For more information about The Impressions you can visit their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame page or you can listen to some of the most notable work at Last.FM
Gotta bust some salt to put in my wounds. It is your choice. It is your right and if you can't vote Presidential RepDem there is Green, Peace & Freedom and AIP. There are other issues that require your attention. Like freeing the California chickens. You want to talk sister solidarity, un-cage those hens!
I want to start sharing some of the amazing documentation that is out their regarding problems with voting, independent voices and a reminder of a certain Declaration.
Voter Machine Problems In West Virginia From West Virginia citizen Virginia Matheny tells of the problems she had with touch screen voting.
Independent Voter Voices There are other political parties in America. And there are people to do not cleve to a specific political party. This is an opportunity to hear from Jackie Salit, with a potential new vision of participation of Independent voters.
Young People Speak Old Words We finish with the next generation giving a recitation of some of the lines in the Declaration of Independence.
I don't know what to think about this. Seriously. I appreciate that everyone has a voice. Certainly these actors and the characters they portrayed on television are embedded in our collective pop culture history.
I am move moved by how passionate people on all sides of the political spectrum feel about this election. I hope after the election we are still equally motivated to get in their and begin to do the hard work of restoring our nation. That isn't a political act, that would be one of community.
So I'm going to let the fellas have their say as I get ready for work.
Mercy, this election is gonna drive political scientists and historians nuts. h/t Huffington Report
This comes under the heading know before you go. You do not have to show identification before you cast a ballot in California. That does not mean that you will not be asked. Now all you have to do is produce your copy of the office Sample Ballot and Voter Instruction guide, flip it to the back cover and bada bing end of story. Your name, address and polling place appear, that means you are registered.
Well, no. If this is your first time or there is a problem you might need to show some form of identification. There are at least 30 forms of voter identification that is acceptable. You can check out Barclays Office California Code of Regulations located at the California Secretary of state web site. It is a .pdf file and just jump down a few pages to see the list.
Here is just a sample, the full list is in the .pdf:
(A) driver's license or identification card of any state; (B) passport; (C) employee identification card; (D) identification card provided by a commercial establishment; (E) credit or debit card; (F) military identification card; (G) student identification card; (H) health club identification card; (I) insurance plan identification card; or (J) public housing identification card.
There is a heck of a lot more. Do not expect your poll worker to know all 30 forms of acceptable identification. Take no chances. And if you hear one giving misinformation to another person do the right thing and tell that person (or have a printout) of what is acceptable for casting a vote.
Know your rights, know the issues and then go vote.
First of all a big shout out of love and affection for those that donated to the Appalachian History Donor Challenge. The project was fully funded on October 15, 2008. No one has asked me the question but I'll answer it. Why would an African-American woman sponsor a history project for an Appalachian school?
Because I am an American. And all sectors of this country must know their history and then share that history. Knowing about the Irish in America is my history. Knowing about the Chinese experience in America is my history. It is not just about what happened in Independence Hall.
Look at this way. It is like always feeding a staving man a piece of bread. He will eat the bread. Now put some jam on the bread. There is now a choice. Knowing your history and other people's history gives you choices. It expands the ability to think beyond yourself.
Speaking of choices, I couldn't just pick one video so we got a double header this week with Miss Peaches herself, Miss Etta James. This first video is from 1966 and Etta rips it up with a live version of Something's Got A Hold of Me.
Like I said, I couldn't just pick one so we do a little time traveling a few years to 1980. My girl puts the hurt on the Tom Snyder show with her version of Take It To The Limit.
As for the coming days, all I can say is hang on. Scared people are slipping into the Wakadoo zone and saying all kinds of stuff. You don't have to follow them; just keep an eye on them from a distance.
Do the best you can. For those on the pray and affirmation tip I think we can spare some for a grandmother in Hawaii and her grandson. For those on the other side of the belief system a random act of kindness will do just fine.
For more information about Etta James you can visit her RCA/BMG web site where you can get glimmer of her biography and discography and if you go to the soundroom page you can sample some of her work from her 2006 album, All The Way. You can also read a tribute to Etta by Bonnie Raitt at RollingStone.com
I have spent some time visiting in a place called the Dark Nights of the Soul. It is place where you know bad things are happening, you are doing what you can but you are very careful not to make a mistake.
You can handle what you've got but not one more thing. So you go to the essentials and the necessaries but you don't risk anything more. Hense, the lack of actual videoblogging here. I have good reasons but that is not the point of the post.
This is a photo slide movie of the L.A. Chocolate Salon held in Pasadena, CA. The music is from Donovan McLean called Chocolate a la naraja which I just discovered I misspelled in the video that I have already uploaded.
See! Imperfection! Jebus, I goofed. But it is ok. The world still spins. I have my blanky and my bed. It is ok. I'm not taking it down. It took three weeks to get it up without judgment.
Not that I haven't shot video. It just was more than I could handle to edit it. I had editor's block. I also had a lot of "life events" happen at the same time. So I tried to keep that title of a wonderful book by Anne Lamott, Bird, by Bird in my head.
I can write. But that comes from a different creative union in my head. Video cells said strike, writers union say things like "Hey, why is that guy walking around with a butt cheek for a back pocket?" It was the color of a light rose that had been spanked.
So I try again. In small steps. For the record, it takes as long as it takes to journey out of the Dark Nights of the Soul. Don't let anybody bully you or bum rush you out faster than you are ready to go.
Mr. Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops has made his transition from this world to the next. I was struggling to find an appropriate tribute song. The events of the day seem to keep me in an hovering state of rage. When I heard of Mr. Stubbs’ passing the song came right to me.
From the 1970s this is a slide show of how four men worked, sang and loved together for 40 years.
I always liked this song and the instrumental version, Still Waters (Peace) as well. My past is ebbing away and parts of me as well. It is better to look forward I supposed. I'm looking forward to the end of the election for sure.
And if a certain gentleman gets elected then indeed still waters run deep and we will have a new national model for developing our own still waters cuz it gonna get rough.
If the other guy wins then we will indeed need to find our own personal still waters. Gotta find out if there is any U.S. territories on the other side of American Samoa?
Then again, I hear British Columbia is kinda cool but might be a little too close to Alaska than I would feel comfortable visiting at the moment.
I know a few of y'all are talking New Zealand but I'm thinking the whole planet might be a little pissed at us at the moment. I ain't too happy with some of my fellow Americans either. But that is for another post for another time.
If you would like more information about The Four Tops check out the following:
This is the 43rd anniversary of the federal program known as Head Start. The program was designed to do two important things. One of the first goals was to provide a range of services to low-income families such as education, access to health care, and parental involvement and parent education. Later the Early Head Start program was added that addresses the needs of infants and toddlers as well as their families. Yes, babies now go to school too, accompanied by one of their parents.
The second goal was to fight poverty by giving students the necessary skills and by helping their parents by connecting them to the available community resources that would help parents gain employment.
Now some would argue that programs like Head Start and Early Head Start are programs that throw money down the drain. That these types of programs are “nice” in theory but there is little or no return on investment. The money could be better spent.
Not so fast, this is not a political piece of pork barrel whimsy. There was a long term study done of the first students who attended the program and a control group of those children that did not attend a Head Start program. The High/Scope Perry Preschool Study Through Age 40, shows the effects and benefits of providing early education and parental support.
So when these children and the family become involved in a Head Start or Pre-Kindergarten (Pre-K) program the long term effects seems to be less crime, increased income, better ongoing school participation and you get a smarter kid by the time she or he gets to Kindergarten.
And those that did not attended? Not so good and the cost of continuous incarceration is much more than the cost of educating a small child, which in FY 2008 was $7,326. Additional studies and evidence have proven this is a wise, sane investment for the entire country whether you have children or not. There is a downloadable summary of the report that goes into detail on findings of the study.
Everybody Wins Right?
Well, no. There has been increased funding for the program but only half of the eligible students gets to go to Head Start. And if your income exceed your local poverty level your kid doesn’t have access to the services of Head Start or Early Head Start. So the truth is half of the intended population does not get access to Head Start. Working poor and middle class families that could also use the help are not eligible or cannot afford the co-payments to the non -educational components of Head Start and Early Head Start.
Homeschool Options
Over at Contented Baby is one mom’s chronicles of searching for the right books, tools and skills to help educate her daughter. Stay At Home Mommy has a bit of frustration at finding home schooling toddler lessons and plans. Joanna at Is That So offers tips on home schooling at two year old.
Faith Based Pre-K Option
What if you as a parent want your toddler to educated but to be introduced to the tenets of your faith? There are faith based Pre-K programs. One that make good use of blogging is the Noah’s Ark Early Childhood Education Program in Lake Oswego, Oregon. Parents can get day photos and updates on what the children and staff are learning in the classroom.
Montessori Pre-K and Early Childhood Education
This is a 10 minute video that show the Montessori teaching system as applied to infant and toddler education. It is an experiential as opposed to a structured approach.
To be honest, I did not know about this approach to education so I sought out information at the American Montessori Society's FAQ page. Any educational philosophy that starts out with "The aim of Montessori education is to foster competent, responsible, adaptive citizens who are lifelong learners and problem solvers." is alright with me. Susana at Montessori Candy and Montessori Mama are two mom bloggers who support this method of instruction.
Whose Got The Money?
Yes. It does come down to the dollars. I doubt that there will be an increase in the federal budget that would allow for full funding of the Head Start and Early Head Start programs. There may need to be more public/private partnerships but those are going to be harder to archive with the economy in flux.
The Inside Pre-K blog is written by folks that actual teach the Pre-K population and their opinions on policies that shape access to education. This blog and the Pre-K(Now) web site is promoting the establishment of a voluntary Pre-K program that would be available to all citizens.
It may be time for communities to consider creating their own versions of educational support programs and work with governmental, non-profits and foundations to insure that their children make it to age 40 safe, sound and self-supporting.
Speaking of supporting education, The Appalachian History Donor's Challenge is a go! Thank, you, bless you and kisses and hugs. As of October 15, 2008 we met the challenge and the project is fully funded. Wow! Let it be known that we can fight the forces of darkness with illumination.
This post originally appeared on BlogHer where I am a Contributing Editor.
It might be too late but at least you should double check to make sure that you can vote. If your are African-American, Latino/a American, Asian-American or you have a name that you have to spell more than three times make sure you can vote.
Those that are in process of losing their homes, I know you have much more important things to think about and voting isn't one of them. But the bastards are kicking legal voters who are in foreclosure off the rolls and that isn't right. When you get settled get your registration taken care of, if you just got paroled in California you can vote if you registered.
Think of Florida. Think of Ohio. Not telling how to vote mind you That is up to you. Take it back. Take your country back!
I want to encourage folks to support the Appalachian History project at DonorsChoose.org. To be honest, it was tough to pick just one. This particular project has life changing possibilities. Mrs. L's class needs 15 books on Appalachian history and culture. The transfer of cultural information is a crucial element in visualizing success in your future.
If you know that your ancestors journeyed thousands of miles and established themselves in a new country it does wonders to help young people to take the next invisible step. A well rounded cultural image helps to inoculate your from those that disrespect you and determine your worth just by looking at you.
I want to share two reasons why I think this is a good community investment.
The Foxfire Books
My high school was hooked on the Foxfire Books. You could learn how to skin a squirrel, camp out in the holla or read oral histories of life in Appalachia. The documentation was done by high schools students who went out into their communities and recorded the events, experiences and skills necessary to live in the region. Mind you, we were city kids and not a one of us had any desire to skin anything. But we did connect with the writers of the magazine and the book compilations.
I felt a connection because my grandmothers had to do similar things to feed their families. So when I would read about how much work it took to slaughter a hog and how every part of the animal was used I began to understand about real world reuse and recycle issues. Thirty years later Foxfire is still going strong. You can visit the current Foxfire's educational and cultural history project.
Bloggers Rally Against Media Presentations of Appalachian Life
If you think about it, what do any of us know about "Appalachian Life?" The Clampetts and Mayberry's Ernest T. Bass? How about Hee-Haw and Lil Abner? The Coal Miner's Daughter gave us one view but then you have a movie like Deliverance. That had to put a crimp in tourism for a few years.
Many of the above examples where created or fashioned by people who did not know anything about the area. Worse still, they played up or enhanced stereotypes that we hold to this day. I know that I get steamed when someone creates a TV show, movie or a so-called news story that bears no resemblance to the people that I know.
Hillbilly Savants is a team blog that take the time to look at the small and the large picture of life in the area. Redhen at Brambleberry Blog keeps it almost lyrical. The quality of the light of day, the food she has harvested and what she is doing almost reads like a prose poem. There is Mullet Pride at Mullets of Appalachia.
Not all of the residents are red to the bone; Some are but then you have Left Wing Cracker. Easy Bake Coven is waiting for you with her sense of irony and Raging Red is very blue – politically speaking. RedNecromancer, I don’t know where to start. From cultural attitudes about negativity to the explanation of what the word cracker means and what it really means when you have to deal with one.
I could go on and on. There is some damn fine writing and photography taking place up on and around the ridge. But I want to leave you with a musical balm that I hope will inspire you to drop some cash at DonorsChoose. We only need 11 more people to contribute $20 and one person to contribute $2.17. Do what you can but you have 28 days left to do it. Make that move!
This is a video of musicians Jayme Stone and Mansa Sissoko combining Appalachian and African styles of music to create a joining place. The song is called Yelemane.
Now after you’ve made your donation go on over to Jayme’s site and soak up more goodness.
I have decided to get off the fear merry-go-around. The financial one anyway. I have been waiting for someone or a group of golden parachute troopers to step up and accept that they made a huge mistake. Or admit they didn’t look at the zig when they were grooving on the zag.
But you cannot start a blessing without having a tragedy or two. Well you can but they tend not to get notices near as as much. Americans are hard headed and this is the universal equivalent of a baseball bat upside the head.
We need to start over on how we do business. How we live our lives. How we relate to each other. This is Tracy Chapman and the tune is Make A New Beginning.
Tracy is doing fine. She has a new album that is coming out in November. From what I can gather, she performs most of her musical dates in Europe cuz they got the good sense to appreciate singer/songwriters.
We have temporarily lost our good senses but there is a lot going on. This is an opportunity to clean up our acts. Pay down our personal debt. Put some money in a bank and a credit union and a secret stash (not the mattress!)
Watch out for the flim-flamers who are popping up on late night television and Bus TV. You don’t need their help that will only serve to take more money from you.
You don’t have to listen to doom and gloom about the financial news. Once ever three days will do just fine. If it is really bad three or more people will come running to you to tell you about it anyway. Reduce the auditory toxins.
How long has it been since you have been to the ocean or the mountains? Visited a real park? Stared up at a moonlight sky? Gone for a good long walk without thinking about your problems?
Tonight in the northeastern section of Los Angeles the Eagle Rock Music Festival 10. will kick off at 5 p.m. The focus of this year's festival is giving exposure to local musicians and groups that are bubbling under the surface of so-called fame and fortune. It is free to all that want to attend.
This is a good opportunity to find out that Los Angeles is far more than Hollywood, Rodeo Drive or starlettes lost in transition. Eagle Rock worked hard to transform itself from being a pass through point from Pasadena to Hollywood. It is home and community to so-called middle Americans and the increasing ranks of the broke folk nation. Some drink beer, some sip wine and as for me, a smoothie will do nicely, thank you very much.
Some of the performers will not be on your local radio playlist because they don't fit the format. That alone is recommendation enough to attend. But wait, there's more!
Folk and Experimental music is over at the American Legion Hall where the Cobra Lilies, The Antarcticans and Emily Lacy will get to strumming.
For those on the Dub vibration there is Dublab and Very Be Cool on Casper and Colorado.
If you are willing to step out on the composers edge there will be classical and contemporary music from Renaissance Arts Academy at 1800 Colorado.
You want some blues or jazz with your chow? Head over to Columbo's for your fix.
Indie Rock is setting up camp at American Tire Depot and the Eagle Rock Bowling and Drinking Club.
HipHop is over Casper and Merton with DJ Grainshifter, Bambu, Akasha and more
The first note drops at 5pm and wraps up at midnight. As always I encourage you to take Metro but this is gonna be a little tricky. If you can take the #84 or #81 that will get you as close to some of the performers but you are gonna have to walk, there will be detours.
Those taking the #180/180 same deal, you can get into Eagle Rock but you might have to walk a block or two extra to find your peeps. Those of you using DASH to come to the festival know you will have find another way to get home, otherwise it is going to be a long walk back to the Highland side.
Go Metro and plan your route defensively. This means that you want to plan more than one way to get home.
I was so tired by the past week. I was hurt. I was being lied to and grown people tried to tell me that putting two new wheels on a busted economy would work just fine. I think Don Hendley and Bruce Hornsby on piano nailed it solid. So sit back and nod one more time with misty eyes The End of the Innocence.
Identity politics and the hatred of the intelligent, code word elitists is being held up as a banner by people claiming to speak for middle America.
We didn't have Hockey in my neighborhood. Black folks would not have been allowed to step foot in the arena that held the games. Never heard of Soccer. We had Stickball, Double Dutch and much later the Roller Derby on Saturday afternoons. Moms & dads would sit on the porch and talk about the world as they knew it and the changes happen so fast they could not believe it.
No air conditioning, no 24/7 spin doctors just real people talking about where to find work or a job. What was happening at the school. They did care about this country just as much as those who had playgrounds in there neighborhoods and Soccer for their kids.
We have grown up. The world is more complicated than it is made to be. There are different responsibilities now that call for attention, information and being aware of the truth of the situation. I keep harping on that. I don't know what else to do but hope we take the scale off of our eyes and face the fears before us. We need to deal with them.
I'll stop now. The crickets in the back yard are calling.
I was messing around the NY Times site. I like to keep an eye on what David Pogue and Mark Bittman are up to, specially Bittman. He really does make simple food look good but I'm thinking it took him 25+ years to make preparation look that simple.
Then again it is that bald thing. I like smart talented bald headed men. Where was I? Oh yeah fiscal crisis. So like I was saying I was fiddling around and watched this video from BloggingHead.tv
Yves Smith and Megan McCardle were talking about the situation before the passing of the bill. But I think Yves was spot on that this sucker is a palliative and the drug will wear off in weeks.
So when some folks talk about cleaning up Wall Street I think it means getting the hookup so that you too can start a job, be let go after three weeks and get to keep your $7.5 million sign-up bonus and your golden parachute.
Who said bankers were dull? I want to be that dull. Living the dull life. There is a song in there somewhere. Remember, this was after the first version tanked and before the passage of the second version of the Bail Out Bill.
I never intended to be a Spinster. I thought that I would get married I never for a second thought of myself in the image of an "Old Maid." Hair in a bun, sucked up cheeks and bifocals. I'm older and a wee bit wiser. I have removed the last of the illusions of finding Mr. Right or "the one and only." I have even moved pass finding a somebody to love. I accept that it may or may not happen. In any case, I am done collection frog memories.
Cultural Sanctioned Images of Spinsters
When I started thinking about my concepts of spinsterhood I had a lot of powerful images and media messages that flooded my consciousness. Spinsters are old and ugly and they turn mean or unstable without a man.
My mind can see cartoons with the Sea Hag and Alice the Goon as spinster role models. The many variations of the shushing sexually repressed librarian. The Jane Austin books that put the word out that you better hook up with someone or you might have to depend on the kindness of flipped out relatives or dark, powerful but aloof men.
I'm thinking there has got to be a positive spinster image somewhere in my mind. Here is an example with Bette Davis in "
Um, for those that haven't seen the movie it is a wonderful film but to tell more would spoil it. But the way she looked in that scene? Spinsterville.
From the theater there is that poor soul in Tennessee William's Summer and Smoke, Rosalind Russell in the movie Picnic where she practically begs a guy to marry her to keep her from being one of the "unwanted." and a boat load of Katherine Hepburn movies that start her off as a spinster but some how she gets hooked up with her unexpected man by the end of the movie. Sometimes he will even let her be what she dreams of, so long as she make room for him.
A Little History & Positive Cultural Images of Spinsters?
I needed help to understand what was going on. I found an article by Deborah J. Mustard, California State University Los Angeles entitle: Spinster: An Evolving Stereotype Revealed Through Film. It was originally written for the Journal of Media Psychology Winter 2000. She did a good job of giving me a context to understand why I was having so much trouble being able to visually positive images of unmarried women.
"Modern American culture has raised generations of women who believed that their true and most important role in society was to get married and have children. Anything short of this role was considered abnormal, unfulfilling, and suspect. This female stereotype has been exploited and perpetuated by some key films in the late 40’s and early 50’s. But more recently we have seen a shift in the cultural view of the spinster. The erosion of the traditional nuclear family, as well as a larger range of acceptable life choices, has caused our perceptions of unmarried women to change.
The film industry has reflected this shift with updated stereotypes that depict this cultural trend. The shift in the way we perceive spinsters is the subject of current academic research which shows that a person’s perception of particular societal roles influences the amount of stress or depression they experience when in that specific role. Further, although the way our culture perceives spinsters and the way the film industry portrays them may be evolving, we still are still left with a negative stereotype."
Film and theater reflected the culture identities and society themes that came from religion, from paternal institutions and from women themselves. Having a husband and family (if you wanted that) was desirable, it is desirable if that is what you want. Really, not knocking happy families. Need more of them.
But if you didn't want that lifestyle, if you wanted to pursue a career or an adventure or you just needed solitude in your life it took a lot of moxie for women to get around that huge cultural imprint. So are there any positive movie images of Spinsters?
Well, kinda. Rachel, Rachel from 1968 about a 35 year old school teacher in a small town that has choose the way she wants to live her life.
In 1978 there was An Unmarried Woman who, technically is not a spinster but does have to recreate her life after her husband drops her for another woman
More contemporary in 2008 is a movie called "Single, A Documentary Film" that talks about recognizing that millions of us will not be married.
Yo, What About Bloggers Eh? Another Working Mom did a review of three movies with spinster-ish themes.
There are vast number of women bloggers reclaiming the "S-word" and holding it as a badge of honor. The Spinster Girl's Guide to Life on navigating this world coming into view. One way is by telling your unfiltered story.
Over at the Women's History Project blog there is an brief interview with Charles J. Shields of a biography of To Kill A Mocking Bird's Harper Lee. What do we know of her life? Well she lives it on her terms, in her own self determined privacy. She may or may not be a Spinster.
SueBob Davis At Red Stapler has a few words to say about the men she has known and how she managed not to get married.
So what movies or plays have you seen that culturally influenced your thought about being single or married or any permutation in-between?
So if I can bust out of the fugue state today I am going to try to go to the Festival on Grand Avenue. At 2:45 pm they are going to try make the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people doing the Electric Slide. This is gonna be hysterical.
I wanted to show you an example of Electric Slide but there seems to be some dispute about how to do the dance. I didn't think there would be a problem but I just learned not everybody does the dance the same way.
Truthfully, I didn't think it had anything to do with country music but I might be wrong. Now to present yet another perspective:
Lawdy, there is gonna be confusion in Los Angeles today! Back on the country tip:
More on the soul flow aspect, dig the lady dancing with a cane!
Well, I don't know which version of the slide is going to make it in the book. Half of them are gonna be slinging hips and dipping. The other half will be busy counting the steps. So I'm going to go find my camcorder changer and clear off the SD cards.
The particulars: Sunday, September 28, 2008 11am to 5pm Grand Avenue, between Temple and 5th Street Downtown Los Angeles
If you want to be one of 30,000 people dancing, eating and cultivating culture leave the car at home and ride the Red Line:
Take the Red Line to the Civic Center exit. Walk north on 1st Street for one block towards Grand Avenue, walking up the hill.
In the interest of peace and harmony let us come to a consensus of not stepping on anybodies toes. I mean that literally.
I was over checking out Lovebabz blog and she had taken the quiz. I like this kinda stuff so I hopped over to the What Number Are You Quiz. This is what came up:
You Are 5: The Investigator
You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker.
You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does.
Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations.
You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.
At Your Best: You are sharp, inventive, and creative. You have the skills to lead the world.
At Your Worst: You are reclusive, weird, and a bit paranoid.
Your Fixation: Greed
Your Primary Fear: Being useless or incompetent
Your Primary Desire: Being competent and needed
Other Number 5's: Bill Gates, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Bjork, and Stephen Hawking.
Now it isn't that far off the mark. The reclusive/weird part, yeah but I'm working on it. The reclusive. The weird is ingrained and that ain't changing anytime soon.
Open minded? I try to be open except when I'm bullheaded. I'm a work in progress.
Skills to lead the world? Naw, I hereby promise not to run for any public office or in any way be thought of as a politician. The mere thought sends shivers.
Fixation; Greed. Okay, I had a choice between Greed and Lust. I would have chosen lust but due to circumstances beyond my control I'm not in the mood. I'm not greedy but I have to stay out of electronic and photography stores for a while.
I don't need anything. Well maybe one of those small Internet notebook computers but I don't really need it. I just want one. And maybe a Nikon D40, 50, 60, 80 or D90. Seriously there are some sweet digital cameras. Okay, I cop to greedy.
Because I have been thinking about life and death lately I am concerned about living a useless life. Useless meaning I'm just sucking up air and not doing more to add something positive to the planet.
I know that I doing what I am able to do at this time. Maybe I should do more. I can do more. But I want to know before crossing into the twilight that I honored my desires and intentions. The bucket list is heavy on my mind.
