This Does Not Bode Well for Law & Order

The Times reports today that NYC is on track for the fewest homicides in a 12-month period since 1962. Pretty remarkable in such a bad economy (yes, traditionally lack of money makes people trigger-happy). But what about our dearly beloved NBC drama? Will the "ripped from the headlines" plots of the next few months be reduced to golf scandals and foiled plane bombs? Yawn.

The Mayoress's 2009 Arts Picks

Like those who write them, I have a love/hate relationship with top ten lists. I love lists, but favorites rarely come in tens. Still, always one full of opinions, The Mayoress presents her "what I can remember seeing right now" lists:

Film

• Precious - if it's endorsed by both Barbara Bush and Oprah Winfrey, you know its message is far-reaching. Lovely performances by every single actor.
  
• Sin Nombre - beautifully shot, gritty, and genuine, Cary Fukunaga's gipping story follows emigrants toward the border.
  
• District 9 - allegory at its best.
• The Last International Playboy - a fun crash course in New York socialite-ism.
  

Theater

• Post No Bills (Rattlestick Theater Company) - brilliant drama where everything was pitch-perfect.
  
• Jump Jim Crow (Subjective Theater Company) - everything off-off-Broadway should be: provocative, funny, sad, inspiring, and not using an intimate venue for an excuse not to bring quality.
• Hair (The Public) - though it's a bit tourist-ized for this downtowner, a thoroughly joyful night of theatre.
  

Television

• Law & Order: SVU (NBC) - another glorious season of the best drama on network television. Note to writers: enough with the preachy scene in each episode though, ok?
• True Blood (HBO) - Alan Ball has created a world I never thought I'd find so addicting.
  
• Modern Family (ABC) - Hilarious - best new sitcom.
  
• Jersey Shore (MTV) - When the Kardashians are starting to seem smart.
• Yo Gabba Gabba (Nick) - The kids' show that makes me want kids. Well, for 30 minutes anyway.

So what are your favorites of '09?

Who Us, Unhappy? Fuggedaboudit!

It was so funny to read this article today about NY ranking lowest on the happiness scale out of all 50 states and DC. I was feeling particularly happy for no reason (other than the fact that I have a pretty awesome life full of pretty awesome people) today, although if I'd read it last week I'd probably have bawled my eyed out. Oh, being human. Anyway, the author's explanation for the "unhappiness" of New Yorkers is nothing short of... well, New York.

Another Act of PR Briliance from Google

Talk about a win-win. A cool $20 million to charity. Nice work Google.

A Church & State Were All Snug In Their Beds

Why does the Senate have a prayer before the Pledge of Allegiance when convening? Can someone explain this to me?

In Which Barack & the Gang Wish Me Happy Holidays

Oh man, it just kills me when MoveOn.org does cool stuff like this.

We Should All Be So Passionate

Thanks to Bret for this one.

You Too Can Create a More Boombastic Environment

Lo and behold, The Mayoress is all busy posting about the environment when right to her inbox flies this gem. (Thanks Adam.) See? Even if your opinion is about hybrid aesthetics or the "greenery" (ahem) of the Caribbean, you can make your voice heard.

In related news, I hear Shaggy has a kickass website in the works created by Brooklyn's newest, hottest marketing firm. Just sayin'.

The Hypocrisy Continues

Remember how much I used to hate Bloomberg? I still do! Continuing today's theme of environmental personal responsibility, check out this report from the Times:

The average New Yorker uses one-half to one-third the electricity of other Americans. Our carbon footprints are just 29 percent of people who live outside the five boroughs, and City Hall has practical plans to reduce even that amount by nearly a third over the next two decades. No wonder that this month, in a talk at the New York Academy of Science, Rohit Aggarwalat, the mayor’s chief adviser on sustainability, said the city was “the most environmentally efficient society in the United States.”

So it makes perfect sense that Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg is going to Copenhagen on Monday and Tuesday to address the international conference on climate change: his administration is working to head off problems that will not emerge until long after he is gone. A strong case can be made that when it comes to energy and climate issues, Mr. Bloomberg is the most visionary public official in the country.

And a strong argument can also be made that on a personal level, he ranks among the worst individual polluters ever to hold public office.

Mr. Bloomberg owns a helicopter and two jets, both Falcon 900s. He flies everywhere on private jets, by far the least efficient form of transportation on or above the earth. He takes his jet to Bermuda many weekends. He has flown around the globe on it. He uses it to go to Washington. He is planning to get to Copenhagen for the climate conference by private jet, too.

Seriously, you have to see the full article.

Man, I can't stand that guy. If I ever see him in person again I don't even know what I'd do! It's not like he's have to listen to anything I said, because unlike every other single government official in our entire city and state, we don't pay him. So he doesn't work for us. Perhaps he works for the producers of the movie 2012, ensuring all that catastrophe will indeed come to pass by personally destroying the environment. Just sayin'.

But the article is actually about the moral relativism that comes with money. It's easier, the article posits, for me to sit here and point a finger because I can't afford a private jet. I don't know. I'd like to think most of my standards of social responsibility will stay in place as I become more established. Time will tell.

Talk vs Action

Big shout out to all the protesters who took to the streets in Copenhagen to encourage world leaders to act aggressively on climate change.

It's great to have opinions and even convictions, but so much better to DO something. No, you don't have to fly to Copenhagen, but you do have to do something about the issues you care about; I feel very strongly about this. Your something can be big or small, but doing something isn't hard, it feels good, and has the power to affect change.

Environment is the easiest place to make a difference on your own. It's easy and can save you money to:

• Walk or ride a bike or take mass transit instead of driving
  
• Recycle
• Compost
• Use those pretentious reusable bags when you grocery shop
• Buy local
• Buy local organic (not Walmart organic, which still leaves a big carbon footprint)
• Shut off water while you're brushing your teeth
• Are you seriously still buying bottled water? What is this, 1997?
  
• Use energy saving light bulbs (this is a big money saver)
• Unplug stuff when you're not using it (energy is still sucked out even if that appliance isn't in use)
  
• Make sure your next car gets excellent gas mileage (see beyond the marketing - a hybrid SUV is still worse for the environment than a lot of sedans)
• Eat vegetarian once a week
• Flush your toilet less (unless I'm coming over)

Here are a few easy things that take less than 5 minutes and can apply to almost any issue:

• Email an elected official when an issue affects you
• Donate to a nonprofit you believe in
• Put an article link on your Facebook page
  
• Give change to a homeless person on the street
• Sign up to volunteer in your community
• Call someone out when they say something sexist/racist/otherwise setting us back decades
  
• Email your friends/family about your thoughts around an issue
• Read/listen to/watch a reliable news source to get informed about what's going on
• Bookmark Meet the Pressler and read often
  

From environment to health care to human rights, you can make a difference.

But the Wealthy Want Their Tax Cuts

Although I think we have a moral obligation to get health care for everyone in this country, some people think money is more important than, oh, people's lives.

Those people are invited to check out the editorial in today's Times:

Over the next two decades, the pending bills would actually reduce deficits by a small amount and reforms in how medical care is delivered and paid for — begun now on a small scale — could significantly reduce future deficits.... A trillion dollars is still a lot of money, but it needs to be put in some perspective. Extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy would very likely cost $4 trillion over the next decade. And the Medicare prescription drug benefit, passed by a Republican-dominated Congress, is expected to cost at least $700 billion over the next decade.

A Reason to Like the Bushes

Babs Bush is on NPR right now plugging the movie Precious and giving great solutions for helping kids in rough situations. The Bushes even sponsored a screening of the film in Texas. She says everyone should see this movie. I can't wait.

And Now Cycling is Anti-Semitic

Thanks to Stephen for this one:

The New York Post reports that "hipster vigilantes" are repainting the bike lanes on Bedford - reportedly taken away at the request of the Hasids in South Williamsburg because bikes and cyclists "pose a safety and religious hazard."



I'm sorry, but this is the last straw.

I am a Brooklyn taxpayer. That means allllll of Brooklyn. And if my 11211 stretches south, you best believe I'm gonna ride my bike through it and expect some safety. This is America, and we're governed by the Constitution, not the Torah, and I will not have people endangering my rights and safety because it's "difficult for them to obey the law about not looking at women." Tough stuff, buttercup. What next, I can't own stuff because the Christians might covet it?

Why is The Mayoress so heated up? Because, as you know, my religion is Runner. And until Mile 10 of the New York City Marathon -- yes, Hasidic Williambsburg -- is not the only one where people don't cheer, I withdraw my support of South Williamsburg. Except Moto, that place is awesome.

Now I will go organize a topless ride down lower Bedford Avenue. Thanks to Yvette, I now know it's within my rights as a New Yorker. Now that's a protest everyone can love!

In Which Obama Acts Like a President

Is everyone listening to Obama's speech right now? He is kicking all the ass we've been needing him to! This is so so exciting!!

He's shutting down TARP, criticizing the people (ahem, Republicans) that cut taxes when they couldn't pay for it, cutting the deficit, creating jobs in the biggest way since the Depression, investing in infrastructure, directing money toward new business, repeating his vow to get us health care without raising the deficit, and reminding the critics that he inherited all these problems, not created them.

Full transcript.

What a beautiful close, too - you can't help but feel he's on the common American's side, and believes in this country more than the majority of us do:

Everywhere I've gone, every stop I've made, there are people like this, men and women who have faced misfortune, but who stand ready to build a better future. There are students ready to learn. Workers eager to work. Scientists on the brink of discovery. There are entrepreneurs seeking the chance to open a small business. And once-shuttered factories just waiting to whir back to life in burgeoning industries. There is a nation ready to meet the challenges of this new age and to lead the world in this new century. And as we look back on the progress of the past year, and look forward to the work ahead, I have every confidence that we will do exactly that.

These have been a tough two years. And there will no doubt be difficult months ahead. But the storms of the past are receding. The skies are brightening. And the horizon is beckoning once more.

I literally have goosebumps. Seriously guys. Yes we can.

In Which the Mayoress Criticizes Obama for the First Time

I still just love Obama. The hope that brought us all together last year got under my skin in a profound way, and I'm glad that optimism is still part of my outlook over a year after that historic election.

That said, I understand why people are frustrated. The economy, the war, health care, terrorism, environment, and our perceptions of whether

One thing I do give our high-up leaders credit for is that they know far more about what's really going on that we do in areas like international relations and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's why I don't comment a lot on those topics here. I hate that the wars are still going on, and I'm not crazy about this surge news; but I also don't have any understanding of war strategy or how to effectively end one.

Where I do criticize is on matters where I have first-hand knowledge or experience, or where my day-to-day life is directly affected. (Again, why I'm also active in local politics.) So, health care, economy, taxes, and equal rights are the issues I care about most.

My biggest complaint with the Obama Administration so far is lack of oversight in the financial industry. It's criminal what the banks have gotten away with.

And second, but much less, other economic stimuli. But he's addressing that now, and has done some pretty great immediate things, like helping me pay my COBRA and extending unemployment. And I think it's very long-term visionary of him to work so hard on health care and will ultimately make this a better country in many ways.

But when it comes to most everything else, let us not forget that he's not even been on the job for a year, and he was left with a despicable mess by a disgusting administration.

So I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt. I have faith; I still think he's up to a whole lot of good.

I Am Annoyed at the Dept of Labor and Media

Excuse me. The US lost "only" 11,000 jobs in November, according to the NY Times headline. I'm so tired of hearing these crap statistics out of the US Dept of Labor. We all know the real story behind what they call a 10% unemployment rate. It's so misleading. Do you really think only one of out ten people are hurting from the recession? How about:

• People who are employed but were forced to take paycuts
• People who can't get a job in their chosen field
• People who can't even get a survival job
• People whose unemployment money has run out
• People who are going back to school because the job market sucks
• People who got severance so they maybe aren't claiming yet
• People who kept their jobs but now have to do two more people's jobs on top of theirs because the rest of their department was laid off
• People who don't get their raise this year
• People who won't get their bonus this year
• People who can only get part-time work
• Families whose overall income has gone down
• People whose benefits were cut in lieu of a layoff
• People who can't afford COBRA
• Service people who don't get tipped appropriately because people are cutting the wrong corners
• Businesses making less money
• Businesses closing altogether
• Less taxes the government is collecting because we aren't making any money to tax
• Retirement funds no longer getting contributions, making these problems reach on for decades
• And there goes your inheritance too
  
• Girls who no longer get bought drinks because guys aren't making money anymore or are too scared to spend it
  

And in the other category:

• People who work at Goldman Sachs

My first guess is that in my own circle, at least half of us have been screwed by the financial mess. And my demographic is the young, upwardly mobile, college educated, mostly white set. Not representative of our nation as a whole.

So, the media: stop repeating these hollow numbers without telling the rest of the story.

Meet Diana Savino

Reposted from Jezebel, thanks Pam.



Out of yesterday's NY state gay marriage setback has emerged a new icon: Sen. Diane Savino, whose brilliant, off-the-cuff speech in favor of same-sex marriage has made her an overnight internet star. Just watch this. (Savino for President 2016!)

Some choice quotes:

"I'm over the age of 40 and that's all you're going to get from me, but I have never been able to maintain a relationship of the length or the quality that Tom and Lewis have."

"Turn on the television. We have a wedding channel on cable TV devoted to the behavior of people on the way to the altar. They spend billions of dollars, behave in the most appalling way, all in an effort to be princess for a day. You don't have cable television? Put on network TV. We're giving away husbands on a game show. You can watch The Bachelor, where thirty desperate women will compete to marry a 40-year-old man who has never been able to maintain a decent relationship in his life."

"That's what we've done to marriage in America, where young women are socialized from the time they're five years old to think of being nothing but a bride. They plan every day what they'll wear, how they'll look, the invitations, the whole bit, they don't spend five minutes thinking about what it means to be a wife. People stand up there before god and man even in Senator Diaz's church, they swear to love honor and obey, they don't mean a word of it. So if there's anything wrong with the sanctity of marriage in America, it comes from those of us who have the privilege and the right and have abused it for decades."

A former labor activist, Savino was elected in 2004 and serves Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.

Gay Marriage Vote in NY Senate RIGHT NOW!

Guys! This is so exciting! Check out the totals here: http://tools.advomatic.com/24/nyequality/totals?.

I just emailed my senator to say thank you for supporting equality for all.

Here's where to find your New York State senator: http://www.nysenate.gov/senators

What.

Pretty much the only thing I had to respect about Palin was that she ran a marathon. But now that the HuffPo reported this, I can go back to respecting absolutely nothing about her! Thanks guys!
r

Sarah Palin dropped out of a 5k race on Thanksgiving Day in Kennewick, Wash. The former vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor quit the race because she wanted to avoid the crowds that were waiting for her at the end, according to The Tri-Cities Herald.

Palin was 1 of about 3,000 participants. The paper reported that her presence drew a "mass of onlookers." Palin announced that she would be running the race on Twitter.

Porn!

I'm watching "Porn: The Business of Pleasure" on CNBC. I guess that's better than just watching porn, because I'm learning something. Wait -- I mean, because it's still polite to watch in my living room when my roommate's home.

They mentioned this thing called The Cambria List -- it's from some 70s court case about which porn goes too far. So I Googled it and OMG it is ridiculous! I can see where they're coming from on a few things, but "no male/male penetration" and no "black man/white woman themes" is more offensive than most of what's wrong with the porn industry to begin with. Check out the full list here.

In related news, I found out at my birthday dinner that even my more conservative friends watch porn regularly, which I think is great. I'm thinking of adjusting my investment portfolio. Sex, after all, always sells.

In other related news, whoever stole my iPhone last Saturday, please do not read my text messages.

Before You Go Postal

Seriously? This is what we're considering federal crime? Perhaps it's time to reevaluate. I can think of, like, 10 things worse for society than reusing stamps. Like that kid throwing a tantrum at the park yesterday while the dad just let it roll. Make that a crime, then we'll talk about getting a second use out of a 43-cent product.

The Most Terrifying Movie Ever

Meet Lou Jing

Before, on the street, people might say things like, 'How come she looks like that?' But that was just a small number of people. When I was younger, I thought life was beautiful. Why is it that now I've grown up, I don't think that anymore?

- Lou Jing, 20-year-old Shanghai woman whose mother is Chinese and father is African-American

Full article.

Home of the Brave

Um, not only is Stephen Colbert shaving Woody Harrelson's head on his show right now, they are singing the national anthem in harmony while it happens. What is this, a cabaret act at Galapagos?

God Help Us All

Pre-order yours now, just in case there's a firewood shortage this winter.

Don't Ask, Tell Anyway?

Umm, did Michael Musto of the Village Voice just accidentally out Anderson Cooper on Keith Olbermann's show? It was an offhand joke about Lameass Prejean, but still... whenever I offhandedly mention Cooper's homosexuality, people are always shocked. Then I hit them with the one-two punch that he's Gloria Vanderbilt's son. Yep, it's true!

But I digress. What I do think is that if we had a mass coming-out day in which every closeted famous or famous-ish or, well, everyone just came the fuck out, a whole lot of homophobes would have to think again about their alliances. Just sayin'.

Another Glowing Example of Exemplary Christianity

In case anyone ever needs to vomit voluntarily, I highly recommend this interview in Christianity Today with former Miss California, Carrie Prejean. You're welcome, swallowers of turpentine and glue!

Get such insights as...
* The appropriate age to release a sex tape!
* Why gay people are acceptable as hairdressers!
* That God approves breast implants! But not gays!
* Why honesty is always a foolproof policy! Hey, you know who else was honest? Hitler!
* How the pros train you to answer pageant questions!

If only it explained why pageants are acceptable at all, on any level, in this day and age! Awesome!!

Oh, the Irony

Or more accurately, hypocrisy: Dems had to make major concessions on covering abortion in the public health care bill in order for it to get through the House, and yet the RNC health plan covers abortion. Hello, plank-eye.

(Thanks to future DC heavy hitter Ian Rivera for this one!)

Why My Christianity Makes Me Lean Left

In doing my verse-searching for the previous post, I came across this site: http://www.zompist.com/meetthepoor.html. The author puts it this way:

The Bible on the Poor, or, Why God is a liberal

The Bible contains more than 300 verses on the poor, social justice, and God's deep concern for both. This page contains a wide sample of them, and some reflections. It's aimed at anyone who takes the Bible seriously.

As you read these passages, you will very likely feel a good deal of resistance (possibly at first manifesting itself as indifference). American churches have departed strongly from Biblical values in these areas, and even created a rationalization-- "prosperity theology"-- for rejecting them. It takes time and reflection to get past this misteaching.

But try to get past the resistance. Spiritual growth doesn't come from what goes down easily, or what we like to hear and read. It comes from what's different, and even difficult.

To add to this well-put sentiment, from my reading of the Bible, God talks a whole lot more about helping each other tangibly than about abortion or gay marriage, the things that currently make the mainstream American Christian church apoplectic. I just can't imagine that denying health care to everyone regardless of status, taking care of the environment, fighting racism and any institutionalized inequality wouldn't be at the top of a Christian's priority list.

My dear friend Emily is the Christian I respect most, for being a living example of being an active yet thoughtful member of her religious community and drawing a very reasonable boundary between her religious beliefs and how they ought to impact all Americans politically. For example, she believes the Bible is very clear about homosexuality as a sin, but doesn't believe that gives her or the church the right to oppose gay marriage as a right. While I personally choose to read those verses as more contextual than literal, I support her argument because it's built on logic, study, discussion, and a belief that all people are inherently equal. By the way, Emily and her church spend their extra money and energy helping the less fortunate, not battling Prop 8. If our country had more churches like that I think we'd be much better off.

To me, Christian (and "family") values are tolerance, feeding the hungry, taking care of the sick and less fortunate, listening to and hanging out with those who are not like you, not placing your value on material things, sharing, compassion, treating others better than you want to be treated, humility, and donating your money, time, and talent in accordance with what you've been given. To me, it's pretty obvious that these values more closely align with the initiatives backed by the left and our Democrat elected officials. Pretty simple, really.


(For more on the effort by some in my generation to make Christianity relevant, sincere, and less manipulated by politics, I highly suggest the writings of Donald Miller, especially his book "Blue Like Jazz." He's kinda like the CS Lewis of Portland, well worth a look. Whoa, now that I'm seeing he's way hotter than I pictured him, definitely worth a look.)

What it Means to Do God's Work

By now you've heard the utterly preposterous assertion by Goldmine Sach's CEO Lloyd Blankfein that he and the banking industry are "doing God's work." Oh yes, it's true.

Read about it on Huffington Post

Or in Maureen Dowd's column

That's funny. Mostly based on my Christian upbringing and the fact that I've read most of the Bible multiple times, I was under the impression that doing God's work includes:

• Loving one another (John 13)
  
• Taking care of the poor (Luke 4; James 1)
• Healing the sick (Luke 4)
  
• Paying taxes fairly (Matthew 22)
• Sharing with one's community (Acts 2)
  

None of which I see the banks doing in the spirit Jesus (incidentally, pretty much the gold standard of what it means to do God's work here on earth) taught, which was to give according to your means. This, one of my favorite Bible teachings, comes to mind:

Mark 12:41-43 (New Living Translation)

⁴¹ Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. ⁴² Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.

⁴³ Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. ⁴⁴ For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on."

But then, what do I know? I'm just one of the taxpayers who helped bail out the financial industry.

People Honestly Watch Fox News for News?

I've been thinking lately that I need to start being more neutral on my blog and Facebook posts, and less hostile toward the vocal far right. Then crap like this happens. How on earth should anyone tolerate this? Ridiculous.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Sean Hannity Uses Glenn Beck's Protest Footage
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Out of Order

Thanks to Bixby for this one.

218 Baby

On Saturday night at around 11pm I jumped off my couch cheering - no I wasn't watching Sportscenter, I was watching CSPAN, and the number of "yes" votes had just hit the 218 mark. In a giant step forward, the House passed Obama's health care bill. Way more exciting, and far more important, than any game on TV.*

This article in the Sunday Times points out some really remarkable things that are in the bill that further help us move toward equality, like gays not being taxed on health care for their partners. Also, calorie postings on chain restaurants from McD's to Ruth's Chris are going nationwide.

Cheers to Anh Cao of Louisiana, the only Republican to vote yes on the bill.

Here are the Democrats who voted no.

Now let's talk about why I support this bill and why I think you should too, and the good and bad reasons to oppose it.

I believe we all deserve to get help when we're sick. As it stands now, you could lose your job today and lose your health care. Maybe you couldn't afford COBRA. Maybe you're employed and your employer won't pay for your health care. You could also be dropped from your health insurance for a preexisting condition -- acne has been cited as one of these conditions in recent history. An accident or serious disease, then, could bankrupt you, even if you're employed and have a savings account.

But enough with the fear marketing. Don't you think it's troubling that we're #1 in so many things, but one of the only (if not the only - fact check?) industrialized nations without universal health care?

The primary argument I hear from people opposing or questioning the bill is money. How will we pay for it? It is projected to cost $1.1 trillion over the next ten years. The thing is, these people, especially our Republican elected officials, have had no trouble authorizing infinite dollars for our two wars or bailing out big business. Health care is not a "want," like a new stadium (which we get without eyes blinking every year*), it's a necessity. Like national security. Like education. Plus, how much does it cost us when people are not insured and the state has to foot the bill? How about the poor that use the emergency room for primary care, clogging up the system and making it more expensive for everyone else?

Also, I want to point out that the only people I personally know that oppose universal health care are white men who are at the upper end of middle class or higher. Also, my mom. Hmm, same as the people I knew who voted for McCain. Theories?

Here's how the debate is waging on my Facebook page.

But, friends, here's a good reason to oppose the bill that just passed through the House. Did you know that if a woman was receiving subsidies to pay for health care, but paid for an abortion out of pocket, her subsidies could be taken away? How's that for a moral judgment of something that's perfectly legal? Why aren't we penalizing people who make health care more expensive, like smokers or people who don't exercise?

My point, however, is that the bill is not going to be perfect or please everyone, but we need to pass it now and continue to fix it later. It's just too important.

*I will continue to use sports as my prime comparison for people's attention to and involvement in what's going on politically. It's the best one I can think of. For example, if the people who fought crowds, took off work, and stood for hours to go to the Yankees parade last Friday had put in just a fraction of that effort and showed up at the polls last Tuesday, we'd be in a much better place, don't you think?

In Which the Mayoress Crashes Bloomberg's Victory Party

I wrote this the morning after Election Day in 2005. Seems appropriate to share now...

--------------------------------------------

The Other Republican Party

No matter what anyone says, it’s fun to be on the winning team. Losing with dignity is a nice idea, but a mirage – even Red Sox fans had to invent The Curse so they could feel like they accomplished something every year they were met with a certain pinstriped team. So when the candidate I’d been volunteering for in a pivotal New York City council district won on Tuesday night, it felt good to party, good to be thanked, good to be part of the team people wanted for the next two years.

I was new to all of it – campaigning, victory parties, and even the Democratic Party. Growing up in homogeneous suburbs and later attending a conservative Christian university, my party affiliation had never been a question – everyone was a Republican. My campus didn’t have a Young Democrats chapter. Come to think of it, I’m not sure my campus even had a young Democrat.

I had been holding out longer than I’d realized, so when I swung left, I swung hard. Call me a Scorpio- my loyalty is off the meter: when I pick a party, a cause, hell, a coffee shop, my allegiance is rock solid. As with most things, when you decide to associate yourself with an idea, it seeps into your skin more than you know.

My experience volunteering had been wonderful – I met all sorts of New Yorkers, learned about the political process, truly saw the importance of the individual in democracy. And even though my hours were nothing compared to the tireless staffers, they remembered my name and thanked me profusely at the humble yet energetic victory party, our new councilmember even taking time to offer advice on my current career path.

And it’s good to be a Democrat in 5-to-1 New York City. We’d won most of the new seats in the council and our incumbents blew away any competition, though the King of New York remained, and remained Republican.

Don’t get me wrong – by November 8, I was more than dismayed at the inept, unfocused campaign Fernando Ferrer had run. Ignoring entire demographics, narrowing his image unjustifiably, press mess-ups… but I still voted for him. Yes, out of party loyalty, but for many other reasons ranging from Bloomberg’s stratospheric Bush campaign contributions to residual bitterness at his ridiculous Olympics bid, instead of practical initiatives like real change in public education and housing affordable for those of us who can’t quite assume the suffix -illionaire.

“Hey – wanna go to the Bloomberg victory party?” The whisper came from Angela, one of the staff members and my new friend from the campaign. We both looked around, a little guilty. “It’s still going on and everything’s free.”

After all, our party had started to dissipate. And my fading energy and staunch Ferrer loyalty melted in light of the word that being a former starving artist had conditioned me to obey Pavlovianly: free. Plus, I reasoned, if I was going to endure four more years of Bloomberg, he could at least buy me a drink.

At the New York Sheraton, a purposeful loop of the crowded, St. John’s and Brooks Brothers-wearing, donor-soaked lobby yielded official Mike ’05 buttons and the names needed to gain entrance to the 45th floor, the site of the staffers-only fete.

One thing that was immediately apparent as we exited the mirrored elevator: no one looked like a staffer. The staffers I worked with were all wasted from too little sleep and too many action lists, with wrinkled clothes and grateful smiles barely masking their complete exhaustion. The Bloomberg staffers were in cocktail attire without exception – apparently their literature handouts were stationed in salons rather than subways.

Our entrance was blocked momentarily by the no-nonsense female bouncer, who insisted she knew nothing about our connections to get in. As I stepped aside to avoid getting shoved back, I noticed a few women waiting in head-to-toe hipster vintage, making me exhale a bit in my less-than-glam jeans and velvet blazer.

Just then, the reason for our wait emerged: Mike himself, with complete security detail, leaving the party, the only one who looked at all drained from the day’s events. I’d only seen him in person once before, on one of his famed subway rides. He was still well-dressed, well-protected, and well-fettered with an intimidating entourage. As he breezed past us to the elevator, barely acknowledging congratulations, we ducked into his penthouse party, which was still going strong.

After promptly visiting the top-shelf open bar (welcome after pacing out our drinks at the previous cash-bar victory party so many floors below), we gravitated toward the back bedroom where Angela’s friends had set up camp. They, after all, weren’t regular Bloombergians, they were part of a fellowship that assigns workers to various campaigns, and several of them had been placed on this one – our key to entry. All of them were Democrats.

Eager to investigate the foreign land I’d just gained passport to, I embarked on a purposeful mingling circle around the penthouse. The large rooms housed glamorous groups of groupies looking me up and down with condescending approval (men) or dismissal (women), and the small rooms revealed twos and threes that I half-expected to snort lines off the pristine gold-and-marble countertops. Okay, call me overdramatic, but my only experience partying with people whose bank accounts had never been in the red included access to all the stuff conservatives were always railing against.

Why didn’t anyone introduce himself? Why didn’t any other girls eat the copious amounts of chocolate cookies still out on every table? Why didn’t anyone stop to admire the amazing top-floor view of the Manhattan skyline, which still moves me after five years in the city? I guess I wasn’t used to being up so high.

Back in the bohemian oasis, tones were more relaxed, conversation less forced. That is, until a well-suited staffer dropped in on our circle of Levi’s and childlike delight that we were drinking bourbon instead of PBR. The conversation with these legitimates was always polite, congenial, but in the way that made me rub my cheeks in sympathy for the forced smiles, and rub my ears in angst of the screechy tones people assume when trying to sound interested, or worse yet, interesting.

That’s when I realized the girls in vintage hadn’t found their outfits rummaging through Williamsburg basement stores, like I had. It was the flavor du jour, a ruse, maybe; like my temporary re-alignment with the Republican Party.

“You were a Republican?” Angela gasped. “You have to explain that.”

“Well, I was, but not like this…” I began, then stopped short, not only by the crowd of Jenna and Paris clones that pushed past us, but by my realization that the Republicans I knew in real life, the ones who were puzzled by my party realignment, were not these people.

The Republicans that populate the red states, and more pivotally, the red half of the swing states, are not oil tycoons and CEOs bathing in stock options and corporate bonuses. The Republicans who vote Republican – my mother, my grandmother, my best friends from childhood – are hard-working, tax-paying believers in the old American dream, and don’t need big government to protect or even help them – yet. They trust that if the president says we need to go to war, well then, he must know, because after all, he’s the president. These are the values of their peers – or parents or grandparents- that fought the good fight against Nazi Germany and Communism – and won. I know because this is how I felt until I lived through September 11, when things started to seem more relative than black-and-white; when I found myself a resident of a city of immigrants, of every world culture, and of the widest gap between rich and poor, and it became all too clear that everyone in the land of dreams doesn’t wake up on the same pillow. The party I was presently party to has little in common with them other than US citizenship, yet they are the ruling class that the common people repeatedly vote into office.

The difference between the Bloomberg festivities and the councilmember’s was like going to a Hollywood movie premiere from an Off-Broadway play opening: glassy, evaluating, “Should I know who you are?” eyes versus rolled-up sleeves, “We’ve only just begun!” energy.

“Parties aren’t what you’re beholden to once you are in office,” a former city council speaker had said in a symposium I’d attended a month earlier. “You’re responsible to your constituents. Parties are the vehicle to get you into office.” Now I understand what he meant.

If there’s one thing Ferrer was right about in his push for mayor, it was his concept of Two New Yorks: the rich and poor, the white and non-white, the represented and ignored.

Only this was the first time I felt solidly in the second category.

Election Results

Guys, I am too upset to even write a coherent blog post.

Bloomberg re-elected after cheating. Every cheating incumbent City Councilmember getting another term. Republican governors in Virginia and New Jersey. I mean, for serious, WHO is voting for Republicans after all we've seen over the past few years???

I just... I can't... ARGH. It's nothing short of disgusting to me that more New Yorkers know -- and care -- about what's going on with the World Series than who's running our city and why. I give up.

Think of the Children!

Hurrah! That racist judge in Louisiana who refused to marry an interracial couple resigned today. What, you didn't hear about this last month?! Apparently this older white gentleman just looooves black people (he lets them use his bathroom!) but refuses to issue interracial couples marriage licenses out of his concern for their future mixed-race children.

I could go on and on about the many things wrong with this guy's unapologetic racism (why does he assume they're even having kids? why is that his business? what empirical evidence is the presumed hardship of biracial children based on? how did this guy get voted into office in the first place? why was this the first couple to take legal action against him?), but I'll just be chilling over here in the Biracial Underachievers Corner with Barack, Mariah, Halle, and the gang.

The Mayoress Finishes Her 7th Marathon

What an amazing day. After an inconsistent training schedule, I was surprised by my strongest run yet - a combination of incredible support from friends, confidence of running this race for the 6th consecutive year, can-do attitude, and the "It's My Birthday" shirt that got tons of shout-outs along the course.

Thanks to Erica & Kirk for this amazing video at mile 7: http://onedayinnovembermarathon.blogspot.com/2009/11/highlights-from-new-york-city-marathon.html

And thanks to everyone who came out to support me & the 40,000 other runners: Alison, Flora, Anthony, Sydney, Marne, Pam, Angie, David, Chris, and my six-time Marathon Maid of Honor, Nicolle. And of course, everyone who blew up my Facebook page with marathon & birthday wishes.

Very special thanks to Lindsey from Toronto, who I met at the start and ran with for the first 16 miles, and Michael "The Power", who I met at mile 18 and ran with for 2. Congrats to fellow finishers Traci, Aida, Andy, Bixby, Chana, and Toby & the Shoe4Africa team.

As the "barefoot runner" Christopher McDougall wrote in my copy of his book "Born to Run": Running is pure magic.

Finally, Someone Designed an Ecard Just for Me

On Despair

I'm not going to lie, it's been a tough month. The mental, emotional, and physical energy it's taken to train for the marathon, work on my business, evaluate some relationships, go back to Oregon for a week, and get rid of all my vices for the pre-marathon taper (read: my most loony week of the year) kicked my ass, and it's taken a daily diet of writing, meditation, affirmation, and inspired action to maintain some semblance of sanity.

And I'm not the only one. It seems everyone in my circle is a little off, from colds that won't go away to continued unemployment to just feeling out of it. So I'm not surprised that this article hit #1 on the Times most-emailed list. Give it a read.

“A human being is a synthesis of the infinite and the finite, of the temporal and the eternal, of freedom and necessity.” Despair occurs when there is an imbalance in this synthesis. From there Kierkegaard goes on to present a veritable portrait gallery of the forms that despair can take. Too much of the expansive factor, of infinitude, and you have the dreamer who cannot make anything concrete. Too much of the limiting element, and you have the narrow minded individual who cannot imagine anything more serious in life than bottom lines and spread sheets.

Though it will make the Bill Mahers of the world wince, despair according to Kierkegaard is a lack of awareness of being a self or spirit. A Freud with religious categories up his sleeves, the lyrical philosopher emphasized that the self is a slice of eternity. While depression involves heavy burdensome feelings, despair is not correlated with any particular set of emotions but is instead marked by a desire to get rid of the self, or put another way, by an unwillingness to become who you fundamentally are...

He goes on to discuss the American Dream, or in my interpretation, the way our national ambition can be a source of anxiety as much as accomplishment. If all the Kiyosaki-ans weren't so determined to BUY HOUSES NOW!, would the mortgage crisis have been so bad? Why do we all deserve whatever we can dream up? Have the American Idols and Biggest Losers made uber-success closer, or just dangled it in front of people who might be better off being content with what they've already got?

I like that the Times has the Happy Times blog to discuss the cultural climate and offer some wisdom.

Do Atheists Need to Market?

After church on Sunday, Flora brought up the subway posters up lately that essentially advertise atheism. She thought they were pretty unnecessary - what's the point in advertising an opt-out? I somewhat disagreed, bringing up how much religion, primarily Christianity, influences our laws and elections, and so atheists need a seat at the table. Ironically, Flora is an atheist and I grew up very Christian. And we went to service at a Unitarian church.

This blog post by Randy Cohen, aka The Ethicist, on discussing religion touches on what I was trying to get at:

My political beliefs, my ideas about social justice, are as deeply held as my critics’ religious beliefs, but I don’t ask them to treat me with reverence, only civility. They should not expect me to walk on tiptoe. It is not as if religious institutions occupy a precarious perch in American life. It is not the proclaimed Christian but the nonbeliever who is unelectable to high office in this era when politicians of every party and denomination make a public display of their faith.

What do you think? Should religion be sacred? How about when it crosses over into politics? When it affects you, your children's education, your community?

Person of the Day: Judy Lobo

Thanks to Erica for bringing this blog to my attention. I'll be emailing the full text of this to all my NYC peeps.

‘I know, I know — but’ - is the response I have been getting from all of my friends when I tell them that I am not voting for Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Some friends look away with a momentary guilty look. Some hang their heads down and say ‘but I don’t like the other guy (Bill Thompson).’ Some just say ‘ well, he cannot be bought.’ To all of them, I say, as Rachel Maddow always says, ‘Bull Hockey.’

Here is why I am not voting for Mayor Mike.

Read Judy's seven dead-on reasons.

Cory, We Are So Over.

Oh. Hm. I have always been of fan of Cory Booker, Newark's mayor, not just because he is hot and as a single mayor provides one of the few opportunities for me to become an actual mayoress without running for office, but like so many men in the tri-state, I severely overestimated him.

On April 17, Mr. Booker, a Democrat, crossed party and state lines by endorsing Mr. Bloomberg, an independent running as a Republican, in Harlem. About a month later, Mr. Bloomberg’s longtime accountant contributed $26,000 — the maximum allowable — to Mr. Booker’s re-election committee next year, according to campaign finance records.

Full article.

LiveBlogging the Mayoral Debate

(refresh to see latest thoughts)

Watch it here.

Didn't tune in until 7:40 so I missed the bulk of it, but gotta say I'm quite impressed by Thompson, he's super prepared and holding his own; he's in it to win it.

I love how they're both pulling out their NY dialects even though Mike is from Boston.

Mike claims he's in touch with the average New Yorker because he once had a small business. Thompson rebuts by pointing out that his policies are pushing the middle class out of their neighborhoods. (Bloomberg's development incentives in my neighborhood are the very reason why I no longer have the lovely cityscape view I once had.)

Mike says immigrants will pull us out of the recession. WHAT?! Cheap labor is the answer? How about jobs for those of us who are already here?? Still waiting on that help for the economy Mike, or are you too loyal to your paying customers, aka the investment banks?

Thompson really is rocking it. I have to admit, I underestimated him. Probably because it's hard to drown out the $83 billion + in Bloomberg marketing cacophony.

"I think I'll be kind and give him a D-," Thompson on grading how the mayor has done.

Remember, I think it was the '05 election, when Bloomberg didn't even show up to the debates? Like he even has to. SIGH.

The NYT is All Up in Your Marathon!

Ho! Juliet Macur just called y'all out! Her article in today's Times about slow marathon runners, I must say, is awesome because it's good journalism. She does a good job of explaining arguments for both sides: if you are super slow, what the hell are you doing in a marathon? Versus: 26.2 is 26.2, regardless of time.

Being a six-time marathoner, I'm in the first camp. My PR is 4:02 and my slowest was 4:48, which turns out to be good in the grand scheme as the current women's average is 4:43. But in 1980, it was 4:03.

This year, my excitement at running NYC on 11/1 is very much undermined by the fact that I did not earn my marathon this year. After burning out last year, I took months out and was slow to begin training this year. I was pretty diligent in August, but September was completely off track (pun intended), until a few weeks ago when I just couldn't resist the unique opportunity to race on my birthday. I ran 18 on Wednesday and know I'll get through it, but nowhere near my dream time of breaking 4 hours. If I finish under 5, I'll be thankful.

The best argument for the speedies to keep the slowpokes is that they're funding the race (NYC cost $165 this year - robbery!). But guess what? Real runners don't need the bells and whistles that come with running a big race like New York. Sure, it's fun to have two million fans along the course (except the overeager fans who seep in from the sidewalks in Harlem and near Atlantic Street, STAND BACK WE'RE F'ING TIRED!!), as a purist, my favorite race was the Newport (Oregon) Marathon, just the runners and the scenery. It means more when you work hard.

Then again, if the New York Road Runners would finally enforce the "no headphones in races" rule, I'd personally recruit the walkers. Don't. Get. Me. Started. But for serious, if people who had "marathon" on their bucket list would look at it more like "writing a book" and less like "visit Berlin", we'd have a lot less tourists and a lot more people who respect the time, dedication, and heart it takes to run the race.


~Addendum~
Truth be told, I came back in and edited this post after reading the article's comments -- if you give it your very best, you deserve to be there. I didn't this year, I'll be the first to admit it. I'll still show up, but I have more respect for anyone finishing after me that sacrificed over the past months or even years to kick 26.2 ass next Sunday.

Be Still My Style Heart

Nice pictorial on How to Get Michelle Obama's Style for Less on ivillage.com. Looks like I'll have to re-subscribe to the Spiegel catalogue. What is this, 1994?!

Obama Endorses Thompson!

The headline says it all folks! Even the POTUS has to speak out when a mayor makes a power grab that flies in the face of democracy.

Oh Crap I Forgot to Photoshop Myself This Morning

Check out this interesting blog post by the Times' resident Ethicist, Randy Cohen, on the rampant photo altering in the fashion & beauty industries. I really like the analogy he makes to car ads, and the consequent argument that it's false advertising.

There is the counterargument that fashion ads are inherently false: preternaturally beautiful models are worked over by makeup artists and hair stylists, illuminated by lighting designers and shot by sophisticated photographers. In such a context, where can we draw the line on deceit? Here’s where: with the electronic manipulation of a photograph. It may be an arbitrary limit, but we set arbitrary limits all the time. The 55-mile-an-hour speed limit draws on the knowledge of traffic engineers, but it is not a manifestation of some immutable law of nature.

It could also be argued that a labeling law, equitably applied, would require warnings on nearly all ads, including those that alter reality in other ways. For example, few roads are as serenely traffic-free as those in car commercials (and indeed some automobile ads on TV already note that they were photographed on a closed course). But here’s the distinction: Although that open road deliberately conveys a bogus sense of driving delight, the road itself is not the product. The car is the product. In fashion ads, however, whether for clothes or makeup or shampoo, the model’s beauty is the product, or at least the direct result the product is meant to achieve. Because that beauty cannot be obtained via the proffered merchandise but only through a tricked-out photo, this is a case of false advertising.

Everyone's Favorite Topic!

Is everyone kidding me right now?

According to MSNBC, people are upset because Teen Vogue has a pregs teen on the cover. Hello, she's gorgeous. Hello, they didn't know she was pregs during the shoot and as we now know from watching the excellent doc "The September Issue" (in theaters now!), it costs way too much to re-do a cover shoot. And hello, if your teen role model is a model, your risk of teen pregnancy is probably already through the roof.

Why don't they point THIS out: if her feature article profiled her decision NOT to have the baby, imagine how the conservatives' heads would spin THEN.

It's 2009. Do people really think women of all ages aren't getting pregnant all the time, married or not? Aren't we past this yet?

And because everything has to happen in threes, last night I was borderline shocked to hear the pregnant Kardashian even utter the word "abortion" on the ep where she's deciding whether to have her baby. It's like Hollywood kryptonite, which is just amazingly backwards.

But that's a reality(ish) show. I'm so annoyed that people on TV and in movies don't deal with the news of pregnancy the way people like them in real life would. It's the reason I refused to see "Knocked Up." The only reason I can bear "Accidentally on Purpose" is the brilliant Lennon Parham as the quirky sister, but you know that in real life no 30-something single urban career woman would just suddenly decide to keep a pregnancy without seriously considering abortion.

Now, the residue of growing up fundamentalist Christian is that I'm still highly uncomfortable with the idea of abortion. But I am politically pro-choice, because people who are smarter than I am are and I know a lot of my former opinions were a result of radical conservativism (the three being that I came across my parent's copy of Chuck Swindoll's "The Sanctity of Life" while watching a particularly preachy ep of SVU last night. Hmm, I guess that's four. Quadruplets!).

So let's talk about real life, or at least as much as we can while protecting privacy. I'm personally lucky that I've never been pregnant, but every single woman I know who has become pregnant when not purposely trying has either aborted or personally visited an abortion clinic, and that includes my friends that you still see at church every Sunday.

My point is that if we all acknowledged what's actually going on in the world instead of ideas and ideals (I suppose that could apply to nearly every right-wing hot point), we'd be in a much better place to actually deal with what's going on and develop strategies (contraception, education, counseling), to make things work better.

300th Post!!

300th Post! 300th Post!! In honor of it, I will review the movie "300". Ha ha just kidding, I never saw that movie.

Kids, What's the Obsession?

Ooh! Ooh! Story on NPR about choosing to be childless! As someone who's never wanted to have children, loooove it. This is a choice that's rarely covered in the news, but one nearly everyone makes. The story's called "Kids, What's the Obsession?"

My sister and brother are 8 and 10 years younger than I am. Until I left for college, I was more of a parent to them than a sibling; I had a hand in raising them (chew with your mouth closed! save your allowance! wear sunscreen!) and loved it. And after baby-sitting my way through junior high and high school, I kind of feel like I've been through it.

Yesssss, I know "it's different when you have your own." But ever since I realized there was a choice, I just didn't want my own.

Thank goodness we're in a time and I live in a culture where this is a very valid decision. Still, I can't believe it when I'm on a date or talking to a guy my age and reveal my choice to be childless and this look of horror, this judgmental aghastness, comes over them. Hello, this is a completely different decision for a man than a woman. If I could be the dad, I'd probably be in. But until a child is crying in a restaurant and everyone glares at daddy, until women are making the same cashmoney allowing men to stay home, until a 7-pound human can push out of a penis, I'm out. And I definitely roll my eyes everytime a guy says he would be pregnant if he could. Riiiiight. Let me tell you, after a decade of contraception, it's hard to suddenly hope you don't menstruate. Just sayin'.

I don't hate children (I do however, have a strong distaste for obnoxious parents). On the contrary, the older I get, the more I like them and the more they seem to like me. I'm nothing less than obsessed with my nephew August, and I start campaigning for godmother the second one of my friends gets pregnant or married.

Besides the satisfaction at being an aunt, my personal reasons for not wanting my own children include: pregnancy and childbirth sounds like absolutely no fun to me - I prefer my self-elected pain in the form of marathon running; the prevalence of divorce in my world and not wanting to put kids through that or ever be a single mom; not at all being drawn to the identity of "mom"; not needing to be a catalyst for anyone's therapy; my hobbies include going to the theater and discovering the kinds of restaurants & bars that don't have playrooms; my dislike for stepping on Fisher-Price products. Have you ever tried to run with a baby jogger?! It's no walk in the park (ahem).

That said, I'm 30, my biological clock might blow up any day. So my tubes are intact, I understand that things can always change. But I imagine I'd favor adoption and I think I'd be a kickass foster mom.

It angers me when people ignorantly claim it's selfish not to have (biological) children. What could be more selfish than needing to see what you look like as a little one then living vicariously through it for at least 18 years? These people usually recoil at the idea of adoption, which is the truly unselfish choice (though unfairly expensive). Of course, my own upbringing, being raised by a stepfather and loving my half-siblings wholly, very much informs this opinion. And especially being alone on the East Coast, my family is Tina, Nicolle, and my other friends who are there for me on a daily basis. Family is what you make it.

Other interesting child-free reasons out there include:

Consider yourself an environmentalist? The best thing you can do is not bring another polluter in the world. Yes, I agree, this would be an extreme singular reason not to have children, but it's a reasonable answer to the notion that it's "selfish" to not have children.

Money, money, money. It costs something like 350K to raise a child. I'd rather sponsor a few, take my nephew to the zoo, and then take a two-week (child-free) vacation.

Does this mean that as Mayoress, I won't support families with children? Hardly. My job will be to represent my constituency, not my personal situation.

(Although it seems more fair to me that I should get tax deductions for not putting another person in the public school system, not the other way around.)

In conclusion, please use a blanket when breast-feeding in public.

Sense of Entitlement, Gen-Y Edition

This article about 24-year-old twins Kristy and Katie Barry really got under my skin. Inaccurately titled, "Jobs Wanted, Any Jobs at All," it's all about how they haven't been able to find jobs as journalists. Hello, they're entry level. Hello, there are plenty of experienced journalists who need a job right now, ones with families to support and 401Ks to fund. And hello, they DO have jobs, as bartenders. As someone who subsidized her dream career with restaurant work well after I landed in the city, it's really, really hard to feel sorry for these girls. And I love how their career objectives include "have our own TV show." Honestly? Yes, just out of college, this is a completely viable plan. I suggest these girls move back to Ohio and apply for The Real World. They can even use their college skills and write about the experience. Problem solved!

BTW, what are they doing in that top left picture? Maybe they can get a weekend gig posing for figure drawing classes. In what world do large-breasted twentysomething blondes have a legitimately difficult time with, well, anything? Hmm, maybe Flora knows...

Currently Carnivorous

Here's a great article on vegetarianism in today's Times by Jonathan Safran Foer (his "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" is one of my favorite novels).

He talks about something that isn't often mentioned on the topic - a lot of us are meat eaters because we can conveniently ignore the extreme problems of the farming industry. I'm the first to admit that I have little ethical dilemma with hiring someone to kill animals for me, from fishermen to exterminators, but the time I had to kill a mouse I had to administer a mini-funeral out of guilt.

While we're on the topic, few things are as annoying to me as people calling themselves vegetarian when they eat fish. In what sense are fish not animals? In diet as in life, if we put as much effort into acting as we did into self-labeling, imagine how much more we'd actually accomplish.

Love this quote in the article: "more important than reason in shaping habits are the stories we tell ourselves and one another."

The Crazification Factor

Thanks to Nicole for posting a link to this script on FB:

Tyrone: (shrugs) Probably right, then. Speaking of Obama, I need to get t-shirts printed up to sell.

John: I can do that on the web. What do they say?

Tyrone: Don't You Dare Kill Obama

John: How about Don't You Dare Kill Obama (... and we know you're thinking about it)

Tyrone: Niiiiice.

John: Or You Kill Obama and WE WILL BURN SHIT DOWN

Tyrone: Even better. Nobody wants their shit burned down.

John: Glad to help.


Full conversation - it's a doozy.

That's the first time I've ever used the word "doozy." I'm not even sure how to spell it. Man, William Safire dies and everything just falls apart, doesn't it?

The Art of the White House

The NY Times reports that the Obamas have chosen an array of mostly contemporary & modern art to decorate The White House - see the slideshow here.

All I'm Going to Post About Letterman

What the Letterman scandal can teach nonprofit theaters

Posted by Laura Collins-Hughes on her blog Critical Difference, October 6, 2009:

I'm not going to name names -- not of the artistic director, not of his theater. But the David Letterman scandal raises an issue that applies to all bosses and all workplaces. The artistic director I'm thinking of is well known (as is his theater), straight, married and given to hitting on any reasonably attractive woman in his vicinity who has less power than he has. The drain of female talent from his theater over the years has been striking and harmful. More striking is that apparently none of the women has sued him, or the theater, which does, after all, have an obligation to protect them in the workplace. The absence of employee lawsuits against that theater may or may not hold, but the current economic climate likely gives workplace predators like that artistic director -- and there are plenty of them -- even freer rein. What better time to prey on the staff than when they're fearing for their jobs? Conversely, for boards, there's no better time to be vigilant, protecting the staff from unwelcome advances and protecting the institution from scandal, embarrassment, internal turmoil and the financial drain of legal payouts. Boards of arts organizations are often filled with people infatuated with the myth that bad behavior is inherently artistic behavior. The charisma that's so attractive in artistic leaders can also be used to charm trustees into overlooking sexual transgressions. Board types aren't always sure where the line is with creative types. But there's nothing creatively healthy or normal about a hostile work environment in which subordinates, female or male, believe they have to submit to advances if they want to be successful.