Dear Mom,
As you may or may not have heard, Paul the Psychic Octopus has died. No, really. He evidently predicted all the World Cup matches last year, including Spain's surprise final win over the Netherlands. German soccer clubs are reported to be 'devastated' by his death.
I am not making this up.
Nor am I making up the prevalent political climate, with the founder of the World Wrestling Foundation running - credibly - for Senate in Connecticut, another Senate candidate (this one in Utah) questioning whether 'separation of church and state' actually appears in the First Amendment to the Constitution, the baby daddy of Sarah Palin's grandchild musing for the press about whether he'll vote Democrat or Republican (he also considered running for Mayor of Palin's hometown, I guess on a Platform of 'why not the jerk?')...
But Anne and I are convinced that our states are currently the most insane. She got in a good one, when she referred me to the NY Gubernatorial debate. The Republican candidate took a quick bathroom break in the middle - just walked offstage. One candidate seems to be running on the simple platform of 'Rent is too high'. Which even Andrew Cuomo agreed is true. Then there's Kristin Davis (no relation to the very pretty actress who used to be in "Sex and the City," which you never watched anyway) Ms. Davis, running as an 'independent', is a former madam. She got most of the laughs, including when she answered a question about the MTA by pointing out that she only kept one set of books for her brothel, and her customers got on time service.
I still think Arizona wins. This may be the only state where even the Tea Party may not be radical enough, where raping the education and child services systems is accompanied by calls to destroy the Department of Education, where the Republican candidate for Treasurer was responsible for the widespread failure of a number of regional Coldstone Ice Cream franchises, and where the opposition to our sitting Congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, likes to refer to her almost exclusively as 'Gabby' in a condescending tone. Where the current state head of Education, tom Horne, runs for Attorney General so that he can continue his focused, personal attacks on the Tucson Unified School district and anyone else who has the nerve to have an Ethnic Studies program. Where the Governor rants about 'beheadings in the desert' and, when told it's a myth, simply continues her endorsements of racist profilings and raids - and, when someone questions her health, has her spokesman say, "That's not relevant, she's fine, and by the way, Terry Goddard's gay!" Which... does it even matter that he's not?
Saw a bumper sticker the other day: "Don't Criticize Someone Till You've Walked a Mile In Their Shoes: That Way You're a Mile Away and Have Their Shoes". It seems right for the times.
My Victorian/Edwardian proposal cleared a major hurdle - the Curriculum Committee unanimously approved it, with special praise for its 'professionalism'. It felt good.
Through a loopy series of coincidences I was put back in touch with Peter Williams, who you may or may not remember from our New Bern days. He was a very sweet, intelligent, artistic young man who hung around the store, helped out when needed, and bought a wide range of books. Now he's married, teaching writing and film courses in Pittsburgh, and just as sweet and smart. It was a joy to catch up with him. I told him you had died and he was terribly sorry - remembered you well. When I mentioned that you had always liked him, he laughed and said, "Thanks... when it came to your mother, I was never sure if she did."
I told him we all felt that way sometimes!
Love,
b
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Dear Mom - Political Nihilism? Or Just More Nuttiness?
Dear Mom,
Further signs of the oncoming apocolypse - or maybe just random awfulness or silliness: First of all, understand that in Arizona, we looove our ballot initiatives. There's always several to consider, and plenty more that don't make it because of insufficient valid signatures or other matters of parliamentary procedure. This year they range from a proposition to legalize medical marijuana to one that regularizes the succession process when a governor does not complete a full term - something that, for some reason or another, happens an awful lot here. In the last thirty years or so, three governors were removed for illegal or corrupt activity, and two left to take on other jobs - most recently Gov. Janet Napolitano was asked to become Pres. Obama's Director of Homeland Security. (I would think it's hard to say 'no' to the President of the United States). It happens that in Arizona there's no Lieutenant Governor - if the Governor 'cannot complete his/her term', the Secretary of State steps up. Which is fine, except for two things - you end up without a Secretary of State for at least some period of time and, more crucially, the Secretary of State, for some reason, is almost never from the same party as the Governor! This is, in fact, our current situation, with the lovely Jan Brewer. Just about everyone on both sides of the political spectrum agrees that it would be a good idea to regularize this situation.
But wait, don't order/vote yet! There's a couple of other points in the proposition that are giving some of us pause. 1) the Secretary of State position would basically cease to exist, with its actual duties parcelled out to other offices. 2) Any Gubernatorial candidate on the state ballot would also have to have a Lt. Governor of the same party. This has created quite a storm, and accusations that the backers of the proposition are trying to stifle third party activity, since often smaller parties have trouble coming up with such a candidate. The other POV here is that if you can't find someone to run for LT Governor, maybe you're not ready for the big time...? Anyway, it's a mess.
But that's not the reason for the heading on this letter. The other day I was driving to work when I saw the usual array of signs along the road: Vote for Him, Keep Her in Office, Vote for This Proposition or Face a Lonely Death, Send That Proposition Back to Hell Where It Belongs, etc... when I saw a new one: Vote NO on All Ballot Propositions.
Just Say No. Not to drugs. To everything! Whatever they propose, say no to it. It does have the advantage of efficiency. And I have to admit, some of them are pretty bad - the ones giving the State Government the power to raid early education and public land funds to balance the budget - while some are just silly. But No to Everything? Pre-emptively? That's pretty nihilistic.
Or maybe just politics as usual in our fair state!
Love,
b
PS. Reading a book you'd have loved - Queen Consorts, which traces British History through the political, personal and social/cultural impact of every Queen Consort from William the Conqueror's Matilda (btw - lots of Matildas in medieval history - to Elizabeth of York's marriage to Henry VII.
Further signs of the oncoming apocolypse - or maybe just random awfulness or silliness: First of all, understand that in Arizona, we looove our ballot initiatives. There's always several to consider, and plenty more that don't make it because of insufficient valid signatures or other matters of parliamentary procedure. This year they range from a proposition to legalize medical marijuana to one that regularizes the succession process when a governor does not complete a full term - something that, for some reason or another, happens an awful lot here. In the last thirty years or so, three governors were removed for illegal or corrupt activity, and two left to take on other jobs - most recently Gov. Janet Napolitano was asked to become Pres. Obama's Director of Homeland Security. (I would think it's hard to say 'no' to the President of the United States). It happens that in Arizona there's no Lieutenant Governor - if the Governor 'cannot complete his/her term', the Secretary of State steps up. Which is fine, except for two things - you end up without a Secretary of State for at least some period of time and, more crucially, the Secretary of State, for some reason, is almost never from the same party as the Governor! This is, in fact, our current situation, with the lovely Jan Brewer. Just about everyone on both sides of the political spectrum agrees that it would be a good idea to regularize this situation.
But wait, don't order/vote yet! There's a couple of other points in the proposition that are giving some of us pause. 1) the Secretary of State position would basically cease to exist, with its actual duties parcelled out to other offices. 2) Any Gubernatorial candidate on the state ballot would also have to have a Lt. Governor of the same party. This has created quite a storm, and accusations that the backers of the proposition are trying to stifle third party activity, since often smaller parties have trouble coming up with such a candidate. The other POV here is that if you can't find someone to run for LT Governor, maybe you're not ready for the big time...? Anyway, it's a mess.
But that's not the reason for the heading on this letter. The other day I was driving to work when I saw the usual array of signs along the road: Vote for Him, Keep Her in Office, Vote for This Proposition or Face a Lonely Death, Send That Proposition Back to Hell Where It Belongs, etc... when I saw a new one: Vote NO on All Ballot Propositions.
Just Say No. Not to drugs. To everything! Whatever they propose, say no to it. It does have the advantage of efficiency. And I have to admit, some of them are pretty bad - the ones giving the State Government the power to raid early education and public land funds to balance the budget - while some are just silly. But No to Everything? Pre-emptively? That's pretty nihilistic.
Or maybe just politics as usual in our fair state!
Love,
b
PS. Reading a book you'd have loved - Queen Consorts, which traces British History through the political, personal and social/cultural impact of every Queen Consort from William the Conqueror's Matilda (btw - lots of Matildas in medieval history - to Elizabeth of York's marriage to Henry VII.
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