I'm freaking out

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I got a "late" notice today. It was stuck between the boards of my front gate, the one I don't use, on a very windy day. It says I own $120.-- in late fees!

My rent is due on the 1st. My disability check isn't deposited 'til the 3rd. I have to advance myself from next month's check, so I wait a day, to make sure that clears, before I mail my rent check.

I'm mailing my rent on the 4th. Before I signed the lease, I explained this to the manager. He said it's ok.

He TRIED to get me to mail a POST DATED check on the 1st. I said I won't do that; I don't know when they'll cash it, for one thing. For another, if there's any problem with my bank, the check will BOUNCE! THEN, I'd have both late fees of $50 AND an OVERDRAFT notice of $35!

ONE MONTH, a July, my rent didn't reach their office until the 7th. That's because mail isn't delivered on the 4th of July! AND it was a weekend!

They still cashed it by the 10th, which is the day they usually deposit the rent checks.

They sent a late notice. Tim, the manager and owner of the company, said he'd forgive it.

I don't remember the circumstances, but I remember something like that happened another time, too.

I have records of all this.

I do NOT have records of Tim's VERBAL promise that the late fees wouldn't be charged! DAMN it! But this is a SLUM! I DON'T want to provoke these idiots!

I've got tenants disturbing my work online and waking me with screaming. I've got tenants smoking SO much weed, my clothes on the line smell of it!

I've got tenants who SCREAM at me, threaten to kill my dog AND me! They insult me every time they see me! They're alcoholics, addicts and CRIMINALS!

I USED to try to get the mgmt. co. to make them tone it down and get off my back. They won't do anything without police reports! Cops won't take noise reports during the day. The woman in the basement warns Raoul the cops are coming, so he puts out the weed. His music is sporadic: deafening for fifteen minutes or an hour, then silence. By the time the cops come three hours later, he's often GONE!

It's only by the sheerest of luck I even saw that notice! If I hadn't done something about it by 10am Tuesday, they were taking me to COURT to EVICT ME!!!

They may yet!

My lease is up as of this month. I'm in a very vulnerable position.

My heater damn near caught fire; the wires were melted. It was going on when it was HOT outside!

I didn't have an air conditioner for two months this summer; they wouldn't replace it!

Landlords are REQUIRED to provide heat and air here; it's lethal here not to have them!

When I tried to talk to the secretary, she got pissed at me and said, "If you don't like it, MOVE!"

The mgr. wasn't there, of course, and I have to wait 'til tomorrow to talk to him.

He's coming here tomorrow. There's another electrical problem.

My electric cuts out, without warning, about once a month. Other units are effected, too. ANd the circuit breakers for my apt. are in Raoul's apt: the addict alcoholic who causes me the most disturbance and distress.

Since Tim's coming tomorrow, I quick borrowed that girl's vacuum cleaner, repaired it, and started cleaning house.

Except for the dishes and the trash, I have everything ok inside.

In the morning, I'll work on the outside.

I'm TOTALLY freaking out!

I JUST started volunteering at the radio station. I have my appointment with Vocational Rehabilitation this month. I'll have my SCOOTER running next week. I'm paying down that damned direct deposit advance at the bank!

I'm STARTING to get some stability, and now THIS???? JUST in time for me to have to decide whether to plant my GARDEN???

I have no money or vehicle for moving. I'm in SO MUCH PAIN!

I FREAK when people threaten me with homelessness!

I don't know HOW I'll manage to sleep tonight!

I'm the most responsible, dependable tenant in this whole SLUM! CRIPES!

Wild Oats domestic weeds

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Cara,

Why won't Wild Oats sign me up for my local store's email announcements of weekly specials? I made it very clear I need that.

As to your web site's compatibility: funny, I run my own domain http://rriverstone.com and run eight blogs http://rriverstone.blogspot.com all from my MSNTV, with no problems. I shop online, particularly at eBay. I bank online. I use PayPal regularly.

Please don't lecture me on the limitations of my internet appliance, as an excuse for your exclusionary webstering. I'm low income; I use the appliance I can afford -- unless Wild Oats is offering to purchase a computer, tech support, software, etc. for me.

If anyone knows the limitations of this appliance, it is I. After all, I wrote for http://net4tv.com/voice/ about this appliance for years http://rriverstone.com/rogiwrites/index.html and managed to wordprocess, edit and publish almost 200 articles on how to use this appliance WITH this appliance!

Vision impaired people can't read the text on your side bars, either, even with a computer!

If you go to my MSNTV blog, http://msntv.blogspot.com , you will find a link on how to webster for MSNTV. It's extremely simple. "Upgrading" isn't required; a sensitivity to accessibility for all is.

Don't blame me because your site isn't accessible.

You KNOW I'm low income! I'm also malnourished, and trying DESPERATELY to access affordable, wholesome foods!

The entire tone of your reply to me was alienating.

Now, if it wouldn't be TOO MUCH TROUBLE, could you PLEASE add my email address to the mailing list for weekly store ads of the Indian School store?

Rogi

PS: I'm copying this email into my http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com Hood Life blog, about the marginalization and stigmatization of low income people by the priviledged! ~rr

From:"Cara Lovett"

Hi Rogi,

Thank you for writing. We apologize for the inconvenience. The technology used by WebTV/MSNTV has limitations that wildoats.com does not currently accommodate. WebTV/MSNTV users account for less than 1% of the total internet users and because of this, our site was not developed to work in that small population of users. However, due to customer requests like yours, we are looking into what we can do to upgrade our site to accommodate customers who use WebTV/MSNTV.

Keep in mind that even with some enhancements to the site - there will still be limitations to the site functionality, depending on the version you use, and in some cases, the service it uses to connect to the Internet.

WebTV/MSNTV is still an Internet access product and cannot offer you all the functionality of a personal computer.

Although it will connect you to the Internet and provide a broad range of features, such as e-mail, instant messaging, and an enhanced TV experience, it will not let you access all content on the Internet.

I will hold onto your email address and notify you once we determine if we can modify our website to enhance your Wild Oats experience.

All of our stores do accept the EBT-food stamp cards, but we do not offer deliveries. Thanks,

Cara Lovett
Customer Relations Coordinator
800-494-9453
Cara Lovett
Customer Relations Coordinator
800-494-9453
-----Original Message-----
Sent: Monday, March 01, 2004 11:39 AM
To: info@wildoats.com
Subject: Question from Rogi regarding Other
From: Rogi
Email: rriverstone

I shop at Indian School Plaza Wild Oats Natural Marketplace in New Mexico

My question is regarding Other.

The website is not compatible with the MSNTV browser, which I can't upgrade.

It wouldn't allow me to select stores and, therefore, refused my request to be placed on the local email list.

Also, the fonts on the website are so small, I can't read some of the side bars.

I'm low income, with no car. I live near University and Central.

Is this the nearest store?

Can I get deliveries?

Do you accept food stamps?

how am I supposed to eat healthier?

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.com
All I wanted was some simple groceries: green tea, soy flour and some other soy stuff.

A friend, Joey, drove me to the co-op. Green tea: TEN DOLLARS A POUND!! I said, "but, it's ten dollars a pound!" Clerk, "you could buy less than a pound." JESUS!

No soy flour, except prepackaged at a dollar MORE than it's sold on line!

NO one who knew anything.

Joey took me to an Asian market, near her house. I found everything I needed and a few things I hadn't thought of, all at reasonable prices. Got to the check out, swiped my food stamps card, clerk JERKS the swiping machine away from me and says, "We no take food stamps."

I walked out without a word.

Joey bought the groceries for me, but THAT's not RIGHT! I should be able to buy my own, damn groceries, WITH my food stamps!

I tried contacting Wild Oats about their incompatible web site, which makes it impossible for me to sign up for the weekly specials by email.

Did I get help? No! I got a LECTURE on how inadequate MSNTV is, how I need to get a computer, and how less than one per cent of their customers are on MSNTV!!! OF COURSE, you IDIOT! We can't NAVIGATE your SITE!

Funny, I run a domain, operate 8 blogs, write published articles, shop at eBay, use PayPal AND BANK on my MSNTV!

YUPPY TRASH! Only the WEALTHY are allowed to eat nutritious food!

I'm friggin MALNOURISHED! I NEED FOOD!

BASTARDS!

spring cleaning

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Well, I killed myself yesterday.

I had to move the washer, to find out why it had been making such a racket, last time I used it. Seems the spindle was rubbing against the platform on which it was resting. I almost killed it. The resistance had been so bad, the overheating circuit breaker had kicked in and the machine refused to work again 'til it had cooled. There were actually metal filings! Yikes!

So, I moved it out and tried to level the area. Moved it back and did five loads of blankets, linens and clothing!

Then, I moved the rest of my large planting containers out of my fenced yard and into the empty lot. This includes moving 6 5-gallon buckets of potting soil. moan.

I then cleaned up some clutter in my fenced yard. It collects every winter. I had to pack and repackage stuff, sort through things...blah blah.

In all, I spent 6 hours outside, working.

Forgot to eat breakfast, beyond a small bowl of oat cereal.

So, when I came in at 12:30, I was famished and wolfed down 2 turkey burritios and 2 glasses of iced tea.

I took a 3 hour nap. When I woke at 5pm, I ran outside, gathered the dry laundry off the line, threw waterproof covers on lawn furniture and work tables and collected logs for the fire place.

It's supposed to rain or snow today, but I'll bet it doesn't arrive 'til tomorrow.

Meantime, I have clothing on hangers, drying all over the house. Didn't dare leave them out last night, cuz I knew a strong wind would have thrown stuff everywhere.

I have a German pancake in the oven and 1/2 lemon waiting. Coffee's fresh and hot. House is heating so I can take a long, hot shower.

I have six loads of laundry to put away today, dishes to wash, decluttering to do, etc. My neighbor who lives in the guest house beyond the empty lot says I can borrow her vacuum this week. Good thing: the dust bunnies are almost bigger than I am!

I'm getting ready to start gardening: repaired some fences, restrung some water lines, etc.

If everybody will leave me alone, I ought to get alot done before the inner tubes arrive.

I'm running out of asprin, which is really bad; I'm in a LOT of pain!

I went to bed early: 10:30; I usually go to bed around 1am.

BUt I want to start waking at 5:am again now, as spring is coming and I can work outside in early day light.

Smells like the pancake's done.

C U L8terz

Waking up the vote

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Waking Up the Vote
Doris "Granny D" Haddock, AlterNet
March 7, 2004

Doris "Granny D" Haddock, 94, is on a 15,000-mile voter registration trek through the swing states. The following is a speech she gave in Gainesville, Florida on March 7.

I am on a long trek across our beautiful country to see what one person and a few friends might do to engage more citizens in this democracy and to have them participate in the coming election in a way that will provide us with leadership that we will all have had a hand in selecting. That may seem like boring old politics, but it is much more than that, at least to me. And my journey is a great joy.

On the farms where I have stayed, and in the poorest corners of our poorest neighborhoods, I have met so many people who are kind and generous and full of dreams for their lives and for their community and for their country. It is heartbreaking sometimes to see how far their reality is from their dreams. Can I do anything to be of assistance? It is a simple question.

I am not an expert. I have no special university degrees or training that might suggest I have a role to play. And yet I do have a role to play, and so do we all. To be a citizen of the United States of America is a very big job but it takes no special qualifications other than a capacity for love and a determination to take your part.

In my travels, I have found communities waiting for ideas and leadership and hope. In the poorest communities of Tampa and Fort Myers and Miami I have met people who are alienated from our democracy. They live in another nation, almost.

They long for respect, inclusion, prosperity, dignity. They search for it in their own way.

Remarkably, they have the power to bring great resources to their communities and their families if they would vote as a community -- not only for senators and presidents, but for city councilmen and county commissioners. Getting them to do that is like dragging someone from a gas-filled house: they are too overcome sometimes to do anything but lay down.

So we have, with the leadership of those areas, conceived ways to drag people into the fresh air where they might find their power over their own lives.

Let me tell you about one program we are building, called "Vote for Me."

It began when the young artist traveling with me put out poster boards and blank bumper stickers and crayons at a block fair in a poor neighborhood of Miami. She asked the kids to make a "Vote for Me" poster or bumper sticker. All were different and all were beautiful, creative, surprising. We presented these treasures to their parents with the message that the adults are indeed voting for their children when they vote, and that they are voting against them when they fail to vote. There are too many education, health, economic opportunity and justice issues in play to think that who we vote for does not affect our children's lives. It is a message that people instantly understand.

This idea connected with an idea that sprung up in Fort Myers. An African-American leader worried with us that all the coming voter registration programs will fall on deaf ears in the poorest neighborhoods, especially among the youngest voters. Even if they are registered, they will do on election day whatever their peers are doing. Few of us, at that age, are stronger than the tides of our peer group.

But, we thought, what if, when those young people were registered to vote, they were given a bracelet with the name of someone who gave their life for freedom or for equality -- someone who can no longer vote for themselves, but for whom the wearer of this bracelet might vote. The bracelet will come with the story of that person, and it will say, "Vote for Me." This emotional bond may become important enough to this new voter that he or she will break away from the normal activities of November 2, 2004 and show some respect for this name.

Within those same communities, we are working with gospel churches to create a "Wake up and Vote" gospel music tour, and we are working on a program called "Stretch the Vote," in which stretch limousines will shuttle between the poling places and the neighborhoods on election day. Whatever it takes to wake up the spirit, generate a smile, make it a day of fun and liberation, we shall do. There are many programs from other organizations, too: Arrive with Five, Mi Familia Vota, and many more.

It is a time to look at the deep needs of such communities. During the Clinton Administration, some 100,000 new police were put on our streets in an effort to make America safer. It did so, but at a great expense. Would some of that money have been better spent on community programs to improve life in poor areas? Perhaps. But the cities were made safer. Sometimes young people were stopped for a broken tail light and were found to be in possession of something that led to a felony arrest. It is hard for them to get their voting rights back after they have paid the price for that error. It is also a problem for them when they apply for jobs -- they are stuck for life, it seems, at minimum wage.

We need a "clean slate" program to erase these criminal records after a period of lawful behavior. No judge intended these to be lifetime sentences, and that is what they are in terms of job prospects. If we provide leadership in areas such as this, believe me, the mothers and grandmothers of the housing projects will become very interested in politics and voting and all that comes with it. It is no good for the Democrats or anyone else to show up in these communities a few minutes before each election and ask for votes, when poverty and agony are never improved by it.

These people see the elites of the right fighting with the elites of the left. And that is all it is, usually. Even when the elites of the left are elected, there are never enough resources provided to really solve problems of the poor on the required scale. Unless we address this failing on our part, we have no right to ask people in poor communities to register just because we want them to. Part of waking up the vote is waking up our own moral sensibilities.

Now, I am telling you all this because I think it is amazing what can be done -- what can be well started -- when you come and you have your eyes and your ears wide open. I need hearing aids, you know, but I can still listen and I do. My eyes are old but they see injustice very clearly. My legs are frail but they can walk me through hard places where beautiful people live and dream.

What can one person do? What can you do? Anything and everything.

You will not believe it, but the world is waiting for your ideas, your creative energy, your love, and your courage. It is your world, and you are remarkably more in charge than you can imagine. Have the courage to dream, to lead and to follow. I include the word "follow" because the progressives, of which I am one, are rather leadership-averse, and they would sometimes rather trade emails back and forth and draft long statements of their precious positions on this or that than to actually pick a leader, be good followers and get things done that need doing in the world. And real progress is always an occasion for shoe leather more than email.

Just do it, friends. It's all out there and it's beautiful beyond description.

Let me say one more thing. I am hoping all the progressives who have had candidates in the presidential race will join forces in a new progressive organization, and I hope that can begin this month. I specifically hope Mr. Kucinich and Gov. Dean will have a conversation about that soon. In person yesterday, I have asked Mr. Kucinich if he will call the Governor about joining forces for a new progressive organization, and he said he would make that call.

Politics is a means of creating social change. The most important word in politics is the word "energy," because energy is needed to overcome inertia of rest, to lift us forward out of the old ruts in which the wagons of civilization get bogged down.

There are two kinds of political energy: joy and fear. Too often, we progressives succumb to using the politics of fear, which is the specialty of our opponents. The politics of joy is more powerful.

We live the free, creative, just and sustainable life we would hope will spread to others. Our events and our words and our campaigns must be expressions of this better world. Our politics must be grounded in the joyful present moment, not dragged from a fearful future. Even our most progressive candidates project fear of the future when they should operate from the joy of the present. That is who we are. We are about life, in all its flowering forms, and we are about love. We celebrate this.

We are fearless of the future, for if we make too much space in our hearts for fear, we lose the joy that is the energy we need to move our people forward.

So break out the food and the drinks and the kites and the music and the art and the creative juices of the moment. We must create a moving feast, a moving celebration of life. We must put the party back in party politics, and you will see who joins us.

Thank you.
Read Granny D's weblog at GrannyD.com.

http://www.alternet.org/members/story.html?StoryID=18057

Working Moms in a Bind

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Working Moms in a Bind
Heather Boushey, Center for American Progress
March 8, 2004

This month, Congress must reauthorize the welfare reform law passed in 1996. As Congress considers welfare reform's track record, let's look at what really helped low-income families find jobs and care for their families.

The list is short: good jobs, child care, and health insurance. Without these, welfare reform is a sham.

A look at the facts shows that the punitive measures embodied in the welfare reform law were not the primary cause of its success.

Welfare reform was successful because the economy was good and because work supports -- child care and health insurance -- helped make work pay.

During the late 1990s when the states implemented welfare reform, jobs were plentiful and wages were rising, especially for low-wage workers. The tight labor market led to historically high levels of employment among Americans and more mothers were at work than at any previous time.

The strong economy meant that finding employment was easier than it would have been if welfare reform passed in the middle of a recession or in a period of falling inflation-adjusted wages.

Finding a job, however, is not enough to ensure that former welfare recipients are successful off welfare. What made the difference for many welfare mothers was the increased availability of child care and health care that were a part of welfare reform.

Since most former welfare recipients found jobs that did not offer health insurance and since child care is critical for working mothers, these work supports often made the difference between keeping a job and not.

Welfare reform recognized that a low-wage job might be insufficient to sustain a family through the notion of "making work pay." As a part of this, welfare reform gave states the flexibility and the funds to provide assistance to welfare mothers who began working.

Fortuitously, states had more money per welfare recipient in the late 1990s than they had previously because welfare rolls fell faster than funding levels.

Many states did use this extra cash to make work pay. Over the four years between 1997 and 2001, states gave an extra $7.7 billion to help pay for child care for low-income families. They gave an extra $24 billion to cover low-income children under the new Children's Health Insurance Program. They also gave more money for transportation and job training.

These extra funds helped mothers transition into the world of work. Access to child care was critical.

Finding child care in most American communities is tough for any parent. It is even harder for low-income families. On average, for low-income families -- those below 200 percent of poverty -- child care eats up about 14 percent of their family budget, compared to only about 7 percent for other families.

Money spent on child care directly supports the employment of mothers.
Mothers who use child care centers are more likely to stay employed than are mothers who turn to informal kinds of care, such as their grandmother, sister, or neighbor. Informal care can be wonderful -- when it works.

However, informal care is frequently not reliable, which means that it is inadequate for workers who can get fired if they must take off work to care for children.

Money spent on increased access to health care was also critical since most low-wage employers do not provide their employees with affordable health insurance. Among low-wage workers, only about one-third receive health insurance from their employer. The Children's Health Insurance Program, implemented in 1997, sought to increase coverage for children of the working poor, many of whom were former welfare recipients.

This is not to say that funding levels for child care or health care were entirely sufficient in the late 1990s. The Department of Health and Human Services reported that only about one in eight children eligible for federal child care subsidies actually received any assistance in 1999. Further, even though health insurance coverage increased for low-income children, millions remained uninsured.

The picture has worsened through the recession and tepid recovery.

As states sought to balance their budgets over the last two years, child care and health care subsidies to working parents were often first on the chopping block.

Thirty-two states have made cuts to their low-income child care programs and the Children's Health Insurance Program has been cut back in 22 states.

The Bush administration had the opportunity to prevent these drastic cuts. They could have offered real budget assistance to the states to limit these cuts.

This would have both helped their fiscal bottom line, as well as helped provide valuable assistance to families struggling to make it in a job-loss recovery. Instead, the administration gave tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans.

The issue before Congress now is what worked and what didn't in welfare reform. The administration believes that what worked were the sticks, not the carrots. Their proposed changes would limit child care spending while increasing the hours of work required for welfare recipients. The administration wants welfare moms to work 40 hours per week -- more hours than the typical mom works -- with no additional money to help pay for child care.

This blindness to understanding what working families need to make work work will only hurt families doing their best to find and keep jobs in today's economy. It is most telling that even though the economy has more than 2 million fewer jobs today than it had when Bush took office, the administration expects the lowest-paid workers to put in more time at work.

Dr. Heather Boushey is a research economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C.

http://www.alternet.org/print.html?StoryID=18061

scooter tubes coming!

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Just got the email this morning, acknowledging my payment and order. SHOULD have the tubes by next Tuesday. OH! I hope so!

I'm planning to stay home this week. I have lots of spring cleaning to do. I have the garden to start. And I need to rest my aching body.

It was so warm yesterday, I slept all night with the bedroom window open, and wasn't freezing when I woke. The cats ran in and out all night, fighting on the window sill. sigh.

I got clean linens on the bed yesterday and it's all soft and gooshy. I hate to get up. My sore bones sink into fluffy pillows and my feather bed and just say, "aaah!"

I made burrito filling yesterday. Bob, the homeless guy, had placed 2 bags of dry lima beans and a bag of elbow macaroni over my fence.

Now, I have, historically, hated lima beans my whole life. But I thought, what the heck? Let's see what I can do.

I rinsed 2 cups of dried beans. I soaked them in 2 cups water and a can of chicken broth.

I added a can of those "Mexican style" sliced tomatoes, a small can of green chili.

I have this "shrimp flavored" powdered boullion. It's a brand sold in Mexico. I sprinkled some of that in, assuming the shrimpiness would be drowned by the other seasonings; it was. I have lots of that stuff; it was marked down to fifty cents a jar, and I bought four jars. A whole pot of food only requires a few tablespoons.

I brought the pot to a boil and reduced to a slow simmer. I added meat from my turkey drumstick, but any meat will do. It was only about a cup of meat. And I added some turkey fat, too. I added some Mexican picante sauce.

I let the pot simmer all day, about eight hours. I drained the broth from the beans and saved it with about 1/3 of the beans, for soup.

I smashed 1/3 of the beans with another tablespoon of turkey fat until it made a fine paste. I added 1/3 drained, whole beans and mixed it thoroughly.

I smear a few tablespoons on a tortilla, add scant sour cream and very thinly sliced goat- and cheddar cheese, dice 2 ounces of turkey over it, add a few tablespoons of cooked rice.

I fold the burrito in a large frying pan and slowly warm it on both sides.

Lima bean refries are actually just as tasty as pinto refries, as long as they've been thoroughly soaked and cooked in flavored broth!

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HONG KONG - Digging through stinking heaps of garbage in one rubbish bin after another, a small boy stops occasionally to pluck out a prize - bunches of old newspapers or cardboard.

"I'll be able to sell them for a few Hong Kong dollars (20-30 U.S. cents)," said the skinny eight-year-old, who identified himself only by his middle name, Chun.

"If I don't do this, how can we have enough money for milk powder for my brother and sister?"

Chun is not picking through garbage dumps in India, the Philippines or Bangladesh, but in Hong Kong, one of the wealthiest cities in the world.

Not far away, state-of-the art skyscrapers gleam along its scenic waterfront and a shiny parade of chauffeured Mercedes and Rolls-Royce limousines deposit captains of industry at their offices, hardly drawing a second glance from passersby.

Not long ago, many people in the financial center dreamed of becoming the city's next tycoon, wheeling-and-dealing their way from rags to riches like Asia's richest businessman Li Ka-shing.

Now, many would be happy just to get a real job or, like Chun, have a little money in their pockets to help feed their families.

Despite signs of recovery in recent months, years of economic stagnation have widened Hong Kong's rich-poor gap and unemployment levels remain among the highest in Asia. With more poor mainland Chinese settling here, poverty is potentially a growing social problem in the territory.

Social workers estimate nearly one in seven people in the city, or almost one million people, are living below the poverty line, including nearly 400,000 children.

"Poverty is seriously affecting children in Hong Kong, leading to problems such as malnutrition. Our situation is a bit like that in third-world countries or developing countries," said social worker Sze Lai-shan.

"Poverty undermines children's health and academic achievement.
Consequently, these children are likely to remain poor when they grow up. That is a vicious cycle where the poor will always stay poor and a social burden," she remarked.

CHILD LABORERS ABOUND

Sze estimates there are thousands of child laborers in Hong Kong, including hundreds picking through junk piles. Child labor is illegal in the city, but many elude the police by saying they are merely helping out their parents.

"I'm not happy when I'm picking garbage. I'm afraid people will laugh at me," admitted Chun.

Chun's father is in jail. His mother is from mainland China and is not allowed to work in Hong Kong, but manages to stay by repeatedly renewing her tourist visa.

Chun has to help take care of a three-year-old brother and a baby sister.

Crammed in a 100-square-foot flat, the family live from hand to mouth on monthly welfare payments of some HK$6,000 (US $770).

That is well below the per capita poverty line which Sze estimates at about HK$2,650 per person per month in the city, one of the world's most expensive places to live.

KIDS ARE HUNGRY

Many children from families on the dole get only half of their required daily energy intake, according to a recent survey by Sze's Society for Community Organization (SOCO).

In a recent survey, some said they picked through discarded food at markets looking for something to eat while others said only that they have obtained free food from various sources.

Wai, a 10-year-old boy who would not disclose his family name, says he regularly takes free packs of ketchup from a fast food chain.

"I mix it with rice," said the pale lad, whose family is too poor to afford dishes to accompany rice every day.

Rice is the staple food for Chinese and is usually eaten with dishes of meat, fish and vegetables. "I also put ketchup on bread," he added.

Unlike many of his peers who are better off, Wai has never eaten at McDonald's. To him, even fruit is a luxury that he seldom gets to eat.

Wai wore the same school uniform for three years before his mother bought him a new one.

"Carrying a heavy schoolbag, he walks half an hour to school and back every day to save transport expenses," said his mother Ho Siu-fong, who is chronically ill and unable to work.

The pair live on HK$4,000 of monthly welfare payments.
About 290,000 households in Hong Kong scrape by on social welfare and housing assistance. But the government, battling a ballooning deficit, has been cutting expenditure, including welfare payments to each claimant.

Social workers fear the government will announce cuts in welfare payments in its 2004/05 budget presentation on March 10.

"We're concerned about insufficient payments to families with children. We keep lobbying the government for rises. But there's some opposition from the public to such increases," said Law Chi-kwong, the lawmaker representing the social welfare sector.

Story by Carrie Lee
Story Date: 10/3/2004

Check out Planet Ark on the web at www.planetark.com

in the capitol of the richest nation on earth

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Washington DC Sued by Residents Over Lead in Water

WASHINGTON - Angry Washington residents filed suit this week against city authorities they said kept the public in the dark about excessive levels of poisonous lead in tap water in the nation's capital for more than two years.

The law firm representing the residents - two couples with infants whose tap water was found to contain as much as 30 times the acceptable level of lead in recent tests - said it also planned to file suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies.

Charles Patrizia, one of the lawyers at Washington law firm Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker working on the case, said the suits sought more than anything else to force authorities to supply alternate clean drinking water and clean up the lead.

If ingested in critical levels, whether through water, paint dust or other means, lead can cause permanent brain damage to infants and young children. It can also be toxic to adults.

The lawsuit alleges the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, or WASA, which buys treated water for delivery to the capital, first discovered unacceptable levels of lead in 2001 but covered up the findings and failed to alert the public after tests in subsequent years confirmed the findings.

WASA board Chairman Glenn Gerstell told a congressional hearing last week the authority alerted the city Health Department and affected customers directly in 2002 and had since made numerous public announcements.

A spokesman for Washington Mayor Anthony Williams said no residents had yet been diagnosed with any lead-related health problems.

The spokesman also highlighted efforts to distribute water filters to residents even before the EPA ordered the city last week to provide alternative drinking water to affected residents within 30 days.

The headlines over the lead levels are a blow to Washington's local leaders, who have in recent years begun to shake a reputation for chaotic management and shoddy services.

Story Date: 10/3/2004
Check out Planet Ark on the web at www.planetark.com

Green Tea

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http://www.dhn.csiro.au/radio8.html

No bs; just the facts. It does reduce cholesterol.

they're killing us for profit

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I can't prove this...yet. But I WILL!

Noticed a milk commercial today; said most Americans aren't getting enough calcium.

There will be a report, on the evening news tonight, that diet-and-exercise-related deaths in this country have risen over 30 percent.

Pharmaceutical companies are pushing: heartburn, cholesterol, blood pressure, constipation, "overactive" bladder and other digestive drugs.

I'm even convinced a lot of people who suffer from "depression" are actually malnourished!

If we eat crap, we'll buy drugs. Medicare and Medicaid pay for dietary problem drugs. But the poor can't get a prescription for FOOD!

Hell, our diets are SO bad, they're pushing Ensure, for healthy adults and children! That's a food suppliment for people who physically CAN'T EAT! When I used to be an aid to disabled people, I had to feed it to some of them!

I'll bet you damn near anything that, if you counted the vitamins and minerals in the daily intake of people who look like me: sixty pounds overweight, portruding belly, fatigue, pain.... I'll bet you ANYthing they're ALL MALNOURISHED!

It PAYS to keep us SICK!

When I was in the grocery today, I saw only 2 aisles of produce and meat. I saw SIX aisles of PROCESSED foods, mostly high carb, high fat, high sugar and high salt!

Do you know, for several years now, I've found it UNNECESSARY to walk down the middle aisles of grocery stores, for the most part? I only go to: dairy, meat, bread and produce!

I only go down the middle aisles about 1 out of 4 trips to the grocery. Usually, it's for pet food, paper products, baking and canned goods.

There's rarely anything in the freezers that I can afford or need, except occasional vegetables on sale.

Everything else on the shelves is toxic "cleaning" chemicals, processed foods and impulse items!

We need to liberate the grocery!

I'm telling you, I really think they're making us sick to sell drugs!

would a LITTLE respect KILL you?

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Went to clinic today. Took early bus, so I could shop at Stadium grocery, next door, first. Put groceries in suitcase with wheels, went to clinic.

Nurse practitioner isn't coming in 'til 1pm today; signed up for "walk in." They can't phone here, cuz my line is dedicated to internet, so they didn't bother to tell me she wasn't coming in.

Sat there an HOUR, waiting for results of blood tests which would FINALLY explain why I'm in SO MUCH PAIN!

Talked to security guard. Last time I was there, a well-groomed lady followed me over to grocery with guard. I'd lit match in stinking bathroom, so I wouldn't get sick from whatever evil, sick smell I was smelling. I had turned on vent and left door open, to air out room, when I left.

"We don't light matches in bathroom."

I explained why I'd done it. SHe didn't care, "we don't light matches in bathroom."

Security guard told me today he understood what I'd done. He also told me SHE WAS CONTEMPLATING HAVING ME ARRESTED!!

I have a warrant. A mentally ill man in the war zone was breaking into my house every day, stealing my dog and locking him in his yard.

He also stole Stumps' dog tags.

He called ANimal Control, reported stray dog, had dog picked up.

I bailed dog out, paid fines.

Then, my house was condemned, and I was homeless.

Apparantly, some sort of citation was mailed to the old address, and I didn't receive it. Dog without tags, I think, and dog running loose.

Citation went to warrant. I only found this out 2 yrs. ago; warrant's 7 yrs. old. I "failed to appear" in court.

ANY TIME I speak to a police officer, I'm in danger of going to jail!

Tried going to court. THey said I'd have to pay a $340.00 bond, just to SEE a judge! I can't come up with that kind of money. Explained that to court clerk and asked what I should do.

She said, "get the hell out of here, right this minute, before I have you booked and locked up."

So, for trying to protect my health and keep from breathing in someone else's sickly fecal matter, I could have been locked up for up to a WEEK, while my animals were here alone and my gate was unlocked!

I finally told the receptionist today I had to leave, to take bus home before transfer ran out!

Got letter from Vocational Rehab today; have appointment at end of March.

Got good groceries: pintos, lentils, canned chilis, marked down cream and cream cheese, tortilla corn meal, cabbage, lemons...all on sale.

Soon's I'm done writing this, I'm starting a pot each of: lentils, rice and beans.

Bob, homeless man, dropped off unopened sacks of navy beans and pasta.

I have plenty of food.

cats r weird people

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Silly ol' Chaco! He's sitting in the windowsill. His head's outside; his back legs are inside.

His ear starts itching.

So, he's kicking the hell out of the window pane, three inches from his ear.

oh lord

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Oh, sister Maya's on the radio, reciting Phenomenal Woman. Gawd, did I need to HEAR THAT!

I'm hurting so bad. Porky and I walked to Smith's for groceries today.

The baker had just taken loaves of whole wheat French bread out of the oven. I bought one and dang, it's good.

Butcher had another 1/2 turkey. It JUST came out of the oven, and I made me a sammich: just 2 hot slices of turkey and some of the drippings on that fresh bread. Had me a glass of milk. Nothing else: just wanted to taste the fresh food, without spices or sauces.

I got my bed linens in off the line, but I'm to tired to put them on the bed today. Did manage to wash dishes and put the groceries away.

Got canned: tuna, Mexican style tomatoes, tomato juice, mushrooms.

Got me some sharp cheddar cheese, to go with the fresh wheat tortillas...gonna make me turkey burritios again.

Got me some more milk; gonna try to make yogurt.

I'm in soooo much pain. And I'm real sleepy, even though I slept 14 hrs. last night. I'm just worn out.

I tried not to do too much today, since I have so much walking this week.

It's International Women's Day. Heard a story this morning about Afghani women, so desperate they're pouring fuel on themselves and setting themselves on fire. Yeah, we really "liberated" them, huh? 13 year old girls, forced to marry old lechs who rape and beat them.

The problems we're discussing in the news are ALL CAUSED BY MEN! EVERY DAMN ONE! I'm starting to think we oughta chemically castrate every male over the age of 6, for one generation. bastards.

So, my sisters, as your work is belittled and laughed at because it's not "man's" work, as you struggle to keep the kids fed, as you dodge another blow or insult or bullet, as you self mutilate with heeled shoes and extreme makeovers, as you turn on your sisters with hateful gossip because you think we have to compete, as you hate yourself and fear the men whose approval you're desperate to gain, remember:

Women hold up more than half the sky.

Stop being victims. And stop BLAMING the victims!

Their ways not only don't work, they're KILLING ALL OF US!

PUSSY POWER!

scooter's ready

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I took the scooter out, put it up on a table, and checked out the rear wheel assembly. I took it apart to remove the old inner tube.

In order to change the inner tube, I have to disassemble the brakes, remove the drive chain, remove the axle, remove the chain gear, and unbolt the wheel. The wheel's in two pieces, and the tire won't come loose until I split the wheel!

Lots of easily-lost, tiny parts.

I took out the tube and put the entire wheel assembly back together as it had been, so I won't forget its order.

I folded up some of the laundry I'd done on Saturday. I finished the cart wheel job.

Bob, the homeless guy, came by for a hair cut and some tamales.

He'd brought me some tamales he gets at a factory. They put them out when the date is up. They throw out lots of them. So, it looks like I have free dog and cat food, as long as he brings me some.

His hair is fine and curly. He's been wearin a wool cap for four months. The hair was matted like a Brillo pad. And something nasty and crusty, which seems to be eminating from an old scar on his scalp, was crusted into it. No bugs.

I wrapped a sheet of plastic around him, like a smock. I made him rub some hand lotion into his hair, to act as conditioner and detangler.

I tried very very hard not to touch his hair or head.

I used a wide toothed comb and gently pulled the mat away from the scalp. I had to cut through the matting in five places, just to loosen it up enough. I didn't want to cut his hair too close to the scalp.

It took me about an hour to cut all the mats out. I'd managed not to hack big gaps out of his hair. It was all at least an inch long.

So, I trimmed it up and evened it out.

I told him to come by this morning, after it warms up, to take a real shower and wash his head. He couldn't yesterday, as the hair cut ran late in the day. He doesn't want to be wet when it gets cold.

He bought a box of beer, and I actually drank a few.

The cow in the basement walked by. Porkchop was in the empty lot, sleeping on leaf mulch in one of my garden beds. She startled him and he growled and barked at her. He was on his leash, behind sturdy chain link fencing.

Before she saw Bob sitting there, she said, "I'm going to kill your dog!"

Bob didn't say anything and I ignored her and kept talking about what I was saying before she'd arrived.

After she was gone, I explained how the people in my bldg. treat me, that she's a ring leader. I asked him to continue to ignore her out bursts.

I'm glad to have a witness now, though.

She's a vicious drunk.

Porkchop couldn't and didn't hurt her.

Every dog along the alley did EXACTLY the same thing: at least five dogs. They all charged their chain link fences, growled, snarled and barked at her. But MY dog, she wants to kill. uh huh.

So, I'll make sure Porky's tether is short enough he can't reach her as long as she STAYS in the alley and doesn't try to approach my back gate.

She may have done something, deliberately, to provoke him; I don't know; I can't see that corner of the yard from my gate; there's a salt cedar tree in the way. That's why she only saw me, and not Bob.

I went to bed early last night.

Today is food stamps day. Smith's has lots of canned stuff on sale today, so Pork and I are going shopping in a few minutes.

It's going to be a hard week: shopping today, clinic and radion station tomorrow, station on Thursday. Lots of walking. I may have to skip the radio station tomorrow.

And Rachel, volunteer coordinator, wants me in volunteer orientation next Sunday. After I do orientation, I'm allowed to do more at the station.

I'm in SO MUCH PAIN. I'm really dreading walking today.

warm day

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I did too much. I washed 5 loads of laundry: mostly blankets.

I worked on my cart today: built a cover out of a flat, metal wire I'd found. It's built sort of like a basket, held together where it crosses with CDs (aol.com, etc). There's mylar garland and mardi gras beads all over it. I hung the fabric from an umbrella up inside, to shade groceries. I'll have Marcos take a digital pic of it.

I'm getting the cart ready first. Tomorrow, I'll fix the flat tire on it.

Then, I'll check the scooter to make sure it's all in good shape and take the wheels off so I can put on new tubes.

I want it all ready, so I can start driving it as soon as possible.

I"ve been crying, off and on, ever since the incident at RB Winning's the other night.

Impotent rage is the worst feeling in the world.

When that kid said, "I don't care," he disappeared me; I no longer existed; nothing about my struggles or talents or experience or pain or courage or anything about my life mattered. It was hideous.

Telling me to "f..." myself was NOTHING compared to "I don't care."

That's the MOST EVIL THING ANYONE can say about a person!

My heart hurts over it. It haunts and torments me.

I want to hurt him. I want to torch the restaurant. I want them to suffer and I want to make them disappear.

I want them to FEEL what they did to me!

It felt just like a beating. JUST like a beating!

to KUNM

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Dear Rachel, Marcos and Paul,

I want to thank you for your generosity, respect, kindness and welcome.

I'm not accustomed to such, and every smile, kind word, explanation of equipment and operations, and silly gesture is medicine to me.

Since I screwed up the courage to walk into that station, something profoundly damaged in me is beginning to heal.

I respect and appreciate the work of the station so much. To be welcomed into such useful and necessary work is a paradigm shift for me.

I get treated very badly, out on the streets of Albuquerque. Some people see me, Porkchop and my cart and prejudge me. I think many assume I'm crazy and that I'm homeless. If these things were true, they ought to be reason for compassion and patience. Instead, I'm treated with contempt, scorn, abuse.

I try to be dignified, but it's very hard.

An intelligent, articulate, creative, inquisitive person like me doesn't wind up eating out of dumpsters and pulling her own teeth unless something catastrophic has happened to her.

Slowly, I'll begin to reveal my story. I'm dancing all around it, with my sonnets, blogs, KUNM commentaries, etc.

I hope to do more. I hope to speak about some of the disadvantaged, particularly for those who've lost, or never had, a voice. My experience isn't singular; it's symptomatic.

But I'm very traumatized. I'm in a lot of pain. I'm scared and self protective. It will take time.

Please be patient with me, if I'm too needy or peculiar. My social skills are out of shape. And I'm so close to the edge of failure, I sometimes get frantic.

I have much to offer KUNM. I have much to offer, period, when someone will let me and not slam doors in my face. KUNM hasn't done so, and I'm very grateful.

I need to tell my experiences to the public: the beatings, the rapes, the death of my daughter, the homelessness, the constant rejection when I'm out in public. I need to be part of the solution, not a victim of the problems.

I will work like a dang dog for KUNM, if I can have a little space at the station in which to do my work. I'm very loyal. I have integrity. I'm a good "mother" and a supportive friend.

I'm not at the station to massage my ego, brandish my manifestos, steal the CDs, mystify the obvious or otherwise do anything that will place more of a drain on the station.

I really want to be useful. Correction: I really NEED to be useful!

Everybody at the station has been SO NICE to me! What a nurturing and productive environment you've all created together!

Even the grumpy people are funny!

Thank you for this opportunity to be part of the KUNM community.

Please thank Tristan for helping me with my last commentary sound file. He was professional, respectful and informative.

You guys have helped me more than you'll ever know and more than I could ever articulate, and I ain't a shabby writer.

Keep the faith,

Rogi Riverstone

http://rriverstone.com

Puerto Rican Obituary

You are reading http://livinginthehood.blogspot.comthis could have been written about the War Zone.

Pedro Pietri
Puerto Rican Obituary

They worked
They were always on time
They were never late
They never spoke back
when they were insulted

They worked
They never took days off
that were not on the calendar
They never went on strike
without permission

They worked
ten days a week
and were only paid for five

They worked

They worked

They worked
and they died

They died broke
They died owing
They died never knowing
what the front entrance
of the first national city bank looks like

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
All died yesterday today
and will die again tomorrow
passing their bill collectors
on to the next of kin

All died
waiting for the garden of eden
to open up again
under a new management

All died
dreaming about america
waking them up in the middle of the night

screaming: Mira Mira
your name is on the winning lottery ticket
for one hundred thousand dollars

All died
hating the grocery stores
that sold them make-believe steak
and bullet-proof rice and beans

All died waiting dreaming and hating

Dead Puerto Ricans
Who never knew they were Puerto Ricans
Who never took a coffee break
from the ten commandments
to KILL KILL KILL
the landlords of their cracked skulls
and communicate with their latino souls

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
From the nervous breakdown streets
where the mice live like millionaires
and the people do not live at all
are dead and were never alive

Juan
died waiting for his number to hit

Miguel
died waiting for the welfare check
to come and go and come again

Milagros
died waiting for her ten children
to grow up and work
so she could quit working

Olga
died waiting for a five dollar raise

Manuel
died waiting for his supervisor to drop dead
so he could get a promotion

Is a long ride
from Spanish Harlem
to long island cemetery
where they were buried
First the train
and then the bus
and the cold cuts for lunch
and the flowers
that will be stolen
when visiting hours are over
Is very expensive

Is very expensive
But they understand
Their parents understood
Is a long non-profit ride
from Spanish Harlem
to long~island cemetery

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
All died yesterday today
and will die again tomorrow
Dreaming
Dreaming about queens
Clean-cut lily-white neighborhood
Puerto Ricanless scene
Thirty-thousand-dollar home
The first spics on the block
Proud to belong to a community
of gringos who want them lynched
Proud to be a long distance away
from the sacred phrase: Que Pasa

These dreams
These empty dreams
from the make-believe bedrooms
their parents left them
are the after-effects
of television programs
about the ideal
white american family
with black maids
and latino janitors
who are well train
to make everyone
and their bill collectors
laugh at them
and the people they represent

Juan
died dreaming about a new car

Miguel
died dreaming about new anti-poverty programs

Milagros
died dreaming about a trip to Puerto Rico

Olga
died dreaming about real jewelry

Manuel
died dreaming about the irish sweepstakes

They all died
like a hero sandwich dies
in the garment district
at twelve o'clock in the afternoon

social security number to ashes
union dues to dust

They knew
they were born to weep
and keep the morticians employed
as long as they pledge allegiance
to the flag that wants them destroyed

They saw their names listed
in the telephone directory of destruction

They were trained to turn
the other cheek by newspapers
that mispelled mispronounced
and misunderstood their names
and celebrated when death came
and stole their final laundry ticket

They were born dead
and they died dead

Is time
to visit sister lopez again
the number one healer
and fortune card dealer
in Spanish Harlem
She can communicate
with your late relatives
for a reasonable fee
Good news is guaranteed

Rise Table Rise Table
death is not dumb and disable
Those who love you want to know
the correct number to play
Let them know this right away

Rise Table Rise Table
death is not dumb and disable
Now that your problems are over
and the world is off your shoulders help those who you left behind
find financial peace of mind

Rise Table Rise Table
death is not dumb and disable
If the right number we hit
all our problems will split
and we will visit your grave
on every legal holiday

Those who love you want to know
the correct number to play
Let them know this right away
We know your spirit is able
Death is not dumb and disable
RISE TABLE RISE TABLE

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
All died yesterday today
and will die again tomorrow
Hating fighting and stealing
broken windows from each other
Practicing a religion without a roof
The old testament
The new testament
according to the gospel
of the internal revenue
the judge and jury and executioner
protector and eternal bill collector
Secondhand sh)t for sale

Learn how to say Como Esta Usted
and you will make a fortune

They are dead

They are dead
and will not return from the dead
until they stop neglecting
the art of their dialogue
for broken english lessons
to impress the mister goldsteins
who keep them employed
as lavaplatos porters messenger boys
factory workers maids stock clerks
shipping clerks assistant mailroom
assistant, assisant assistant
to the assistant's assistant
assistant lavaplatos and automatic
artificial smiling doormen
for the lowest wages of the ages
and rages when you demand a raise
because is against the company policy
to promote SPICS SPICS SPICS

Juan
died hating Miguel because Miguel's used car was in better running condition
than his used car

Miguel
died hating Milagros because Milagros
had a color television set
and he could not afford one yet

Milagros
died hating Olga because Olga
made five dollars more on the same job

Olga
died hating Manuel because Manuel
had hit the numbers more times
than she had hit the numbers

Manuel
died hating all of them
Juan
Miguel
Milagros
and Olga
because they all spoke broken english
more fluently than he did

And now they are together
in the main lobby of the void
Addicted to silence
Off limits to the wind
Confine to worm supremacy
in long island cemetery

This is the groovy hereafter
the protestant collection box
was talking so loud and proud about
Here lies Juan
Here lies Miguel
Here lies Milagros
Here lies Olga
Here lies Manuel
who died yesterday today
and will die again tomorrow

Always broke
Always owing
Never knowing
that they are beautiful people
Never knowing
the geography of their complexion
PUERTO RICO IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE
PUERTORRIQUENOS ARE A BEAUTIFUL RACE

If only they
had turned off the television
and tune into their own imaginations

If only they
had used the white supremacy bibles for toilet paper purpose
and make their latino souls
the only religion of their race

If only they
had return to the definition of the sun
after the first mental snowstorm
on the summer of their senses

If only they
had kept their eyes open
at the funeral of their fellow employees
who came to this country to make a fortune
and were buried without underwears

Juan
Miguel
Milagros
Olga
Manuel
will right now be doing their own thing
where beautiful people sing
and dance and work together
where the wind is a stranger
to miserable weather conditions
where you do not need a dictionary
to communicate with your people
Aqui Se Habla Espanol all the time
Aqui you salute your flag first
Aqui there are no dial soap commericals
Aqui everybody smells good
Aqui tv dinners do not have a future
Aqui the men and women admire desire
and never get tired of each other
Aqui Que Paso Power is what's happening

Aqui to be called negrito
means to be called LOVE

Puerto Rican Obituary,
Pedro Pietri,
Monthy Review Press,
N. Y., London, 1973, pp. 1 - 11

yuck

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Flouncing around in cold rain doesn't do anything for me.

I have eye strain, from squinting to find puddles in the dark.

And everything hurts so bad! Upper back, shoulders, arms from pushing cart; legs, feet hips from walking soooo far.

My ankles and feet are swollen like sausages and it's very hard to walk.

It's a very rainy, gloomy day. I'm so glad I'm not homeless. Last night, the wind screamed past my bedroom wall, and I worried for the homeless people.

So, I suppose I'll be spending most of the day in bed.

I have my new tortillas and plan to make more burritos today.

But I'm weak as a Republican argument and twice as painful.

So, the dust bunnies and other crap will have to wait.

I suppose I should wash dishes; I haven't seen the bottom of my sink for two days. Dishes, in a tiny kitchen, must be kept cleaned and put away. There's just no room for dish sculptures while cooking on a one-foot space!

I'll post my burrito stuffing recipe later.

I just caught up yesterday's blogs and cleared out my inboxes.

And I seriously have to pee now, so the recipe will wait.

I'm almost out of asprin. I'll have to go get some when the weather clears in the next, few days.

I'm happy to announce we've had almost as much percipitation in the last week as we normally have in a monsoon month!

It's such a blessing. I'm not saying the drought is over, but if you knew how badly the earth here has been grieving for water!

As I walk across campus, I see baby daffodil and tulip sprouts coming up. I've seen some crocus bloom. Yesterday, I saw a three inch tall Dutch iris cluster in full bloom!

The ducks are totally horny and biting each others' tails.

The birds are coming back and making "come get me" noises.

Buds are swelling on every bare tree branch.

It's a glorious season to be alive!

Jill of All Trades

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I was driving my VW through Topanga Canyon one pretty, summery day. I stopped at a record store and found "Seductive Reasoning," by Maggie and Terri Roche The Roches. Must've been '75, cuz the album was new. I knew nothing about them, but the lyrics on the jacket were fine.

I really love the Roches. They've got a new album out with a song called, "Anyway." That song gets played with noticable frequency on KUNM. It's about lost causes. I relate.

These women are good writers. They sing acoustic 3 part harmony.

Here are the lyrics to the song I was quoting in the previous post.

jill of all trades
(Words & Music by Margaret A. Roche)

Blowin' in from Boulder with braids
Jill of all trades
Jill above all

Runnin' in to luck
South of the border
Why you wanna stuck
With a needle and a kid?

You didn't guess his kind of love
Could be made on a business trip
Jill the old maid

Go on, get out of here
You and me ought to both run away
In this swelling of the moon

We know how you lay
And how he's bored with the way
He told it in the bar
Ah, and then he'll follow with the columns in the Morning Star
Tryin' to find where the jobs are

And there's chances on the edge of town
Blowin' by an east-bound car
Blowin' by an east-bound car

It was snowin' in Boulder on my way home
Jill of all trades
Jill who stayed

All of you will buy a ticket just to see my face again


Now, I am a Jill of All Trades. Never got stuck with a needle and a kid...coupla temporary PIGS, but shook them off fast enough to survive.

'course, the line to which I relate isn't about Jill; it's about the narrator: the woman who made it out, who didn't end up a powerless victim.

Anyway, I've loved that line for nearly thirty years. It has brought me much comfort, on nights like these, when all people see is human garbage.

Buy everything the Roches ever recorded and send it ALL to me! :)