Category Archives: do-good-ery

Everybody’s Time Has Come

Posted by Tata on

Let us take stock of this moment. Our current normal:

  • Economists are now conditioning us to accept double-digit unemployment for at least a decade.
  • Foreclosures continue.
  • Our police forces regularly apply potentially lethal electric shocks to our neighbors for sometimes no reason at all.
  • The people who wrecked the economy got richer and Congress just adjourned – again – without extending unemployment benefits or covering COBRA.
  • Our military prosecutes two pointless, already lost wars that are draining our treasury and killing uncounted numbers of men, women and children, and apparently will forever.
  • Our children’s future is being subverted by people who seek to destroy public education.
  • Even reality itself is subject to revision, sometimes several times.

    • I could fill this post with links to appalling breaches in the public trust and demonstrate the world is actually a lot worse off than we even know, but that would be beside the point. Yes, I have one. Don’t act so surprised, sheesh!

    The most outlandish ideas enter our public discourse first as a joke, then as a crazy suggestion, then our talking heads repeat magic words and then Constitutional scholars talk about torture in casual tones and we ourselves become monsters. Gingrich likes to claim credit for changing the language of our public discourse but his tactics wouldn’t have been possible if advertising hadn’t taught us to take a cue when a turn of phrase meets our verbal, tribal needs. In other words, if we weren’t looking for words that told us we had found fellow travelers, a good portion of American pop culture falls apart. Don’t believe me?

    Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl…

    Of course you’re laughing. Welcome to my tribe. So back to the discourse: you’re watching TV and some maniac with a strange glint in his eye says something so bizarre you hope someone’s going to adjust that guy’s meds. Let’s fabricate an impossibly stupid example: “Nurses promote weakness by healing sick people. If we weren’t burdened with a parasitic nursing industry, Americans would heal themselves and trim the deficit.”

    Work with me, here. That is some hot, steaming horseshit. You can almost hear George Will let that one loose.

    Anyway, some plainly crazy person says this. Then another crazy person says it in print. Then a bunch of less-than-sane commentators on TV, radio and in magazines say hauntingly similar phrases like those fake Florence Nightingales and healthcare hoochie mamas and next thing you know, 30% of the population cringes at the sight of crepe soled shoes and pickets vaccination clinics. All of this goes on way too long – nursing schools get the Molotov cocktail treatment in Kansas and hospitals close in rural districts – and one day, for no reason anyone will ever discern, the fire goes out and twenty years on, women’s history courses include a small, puzzling mention that spawns a few Ph.D. theses. The hospitals never reopen.

    This is what happens over and over because we allow it, because crazy people shout and we politely refute their points and they keep shouting, because taking a step back and murmuring, “Well, the smell of rubbing alcohol makes me nervous, too” is all the agreement a crazy person needs to control the conversation. Got it? Get this: crazy people have been working to cut Social Security and the rhetoric has reached the stage where a Democratic President agrees. There is no need to cut Social Security. Doing so will not fix the deficit. The point is to fuck the poor and middle class.

    If you flinch now, if you take a step back, it will happen. It is time to ditch wonky, splintered arguments and take passion straight to the crazy. Your opening line:

    Your ideology failed.

    Oh yes. You are GOING THERE.

    YOUR IDEOLOGY FAILED. COMPLETELY. CATASTROPHICALLY. It destroyed the industrial manufacturing base and the crashed the world economy. Trashing the Geneva Accords has wrecked our international reputation. Your racism and sexism are evident to even the most casual onlooker. There is nothing you can say that can twist these failures into grand successes. They are failures.

    You’re not done yet.

    You can say anything, but we know you’re lying. New Orleans drowned and we saw you let people die. We saw you. We know most of the prisoners at Guantanamo are innocent. We know that you are poisoning the only planet we have because you love money more than your children. We know you hate women, working people, the poor, children, and you see us as serfs and servants. We see you. And we are not going to back down anymore. We have earned the right to grow old with dignity and we will not give it up for your personal enrichment. YOUR IDEOLOGY FAILED AND THERE IS NO FURTHER NEED OF YOUR ADVICE. YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING. STOP TALKING.

    Specifics?

  • If they say, “No one could have known,” you say, “Inevitable outcome.”
  • If they say, “Business must have a free hand,” you say, “Business can make plenty of dosh when it’s stringently regulated.”
  • If they say, “Illegal aliens,” you say, “that’s a racial slur. Would you care to rephrase that racial slur?” AND KEEP SAYING “RACIAL SLUR.”
  • If they say, “No timetable for withdrawal,” you say, “Why do you hate our men and women in uniform?”
  • If they say, “Homosexual agenda,” you say, “ARE YOU GOING TO THAT PARTY? WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?”
  • If they say, “Criminalize abortion,” you say, “LOCK ME UP RIGHT NOW, I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION, AND I WILL NEVER STOP DEFENDING EVERY WOMAN’S RIGHT TO MAKE HER OWN.”

    • Let no point go. Let no lie pass. Let no banker off the sharpened hook. Let no insult go unanswered and no fatuous ass go unmocked. Go. Don’t let ennui become your normal state. Go forth and be a ferocious, mouthy defender of your and your children’s future. Go.

    And here, take with you some way-dated, eighties musical inspiration: Rise up!

    Look Amid the Garbage And the Flowers

    Posted by Tata on

    Last night, I saw about half an hour of this, though not the whole thing, because I saw a shiny object and chased it and I don’t drink bottled water.

    This morning, I looked at the ancient plastic cups from which I drink water-cooler-water coffee and water-cooler water and realized I drink so much bottled water out of plastic my innards are probably a Superfund site. Tonight, I washed out old ceramic mugs for coffee and a quart Ball Jar to minimize trips to the water fountain.

    I Gave You A Long Look

    Posted by Tata on

    On Tuesday night, I got an odd email from a person I didn’t know. It said simply, “We’ll be shelving tomorrow night at 7:30. Hope to see you there.” Because I work in a library and have no intention of freelancing, I wrote back to ask who the writer was, shelving what and where – and I didn’t use the word fucking even once. The Mystery Writer responded that the food pantry blocks from my house was looking for volunteers the following night. Then I stopped swearing with my inside voice. The times I’ve sorted stuff at the food pantry followed all hands on deck emergency calls, but this was not that. Though curious about ordinary activities at the food pantry, I was also concerned that stress on my hip would force me out before the work was completed.

    Turns out I needn’t have worried: three middle-aged women, another in her thirties and six teenage girls sorted donated items for half an hour at a high rate of speed, then tossed around cases of industrial-size canned goods, then composed bags the food pantry distributes to its clients once a month, I believe I heard. I’m not entirely sure, since I was running my tail off and tossing off one-liners. We cleaned up the room and left in place a satisfying arrangement and quantity of those special bags. I explained that emails to me must contain information such as who and what they’re talking about and surprisingly no one punched me. Admittedly, the ache when I sat down concerned me, but the next morning, I told Lupe about how much fun volunteering was and Lupe intimated that after exams, she’d like to join in. The food pantry needs Wednesday night help every two weeks. It really is that easy.

    In our backyard, lettuce seedlings in containers are just about ready to live outside the greenhouse. It’s not really a greenhouse. It’s a clear plastic tent, but it serves the purpose: as soon as the tender seedlings are ready to live outdoors, younger seedlings can be transplanted into containers. In the kitchen, we thought long and hard about it and decided that we should be eating organic, cage-free eggs, which cost about $1-$1.50 more per dozen than eggs where the chickens lived in grisly factory farm conditions. These eggs were so pretty Pete took their picture. It matters how animals are fed and treated, you know? Kind of a lot like it matters to people.

    On Angel Hair And Baby’s Breath

    Posted by Tata on

    The footage from Haiti is heartbreaking. The blogosphere is full of advice about donating to relief efforts, but just in case you happen to find yourself here at a decisive moment:

    The American Red Cross

    Doctors Without Borders

    Oxfam

    Mercy Corps

    Search Dog Foundation

    UNICEF

    Someone I trust recommended Partners In Health, though I can’t personally vouch for them.

    For the long road ahead:

    Habitat For Humanity

    Let us hope today is a better day for the Haitian people than yesterday was, and tomorrow is better than today.

    I’ve Got Mine She Got Latin Roots

    Posted by Tata on

    The other day, I was packing up to ride home when I realized the holes next to my back pockets had gone from glamorously threadbare to thrillingly gaping. Fortunately, the temperature was in the nineties and I didn’t have a jacket, so I pedaled two miles with an exciting rear view, and now I have a pair of jeans I can’t wear without plaid body makeup. According to CottonFromBlueToGreen.org, anyone with an exposed flank could strip down and step up.

    The COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.® denim drive is a call-to-action to donate denim and give it “new life” by converting it to UltraTouch™ Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation. The insulation is then provided to communities in need to assist with building efforts. UltraTouch™ is composed of 85% recycled cotton fibers and is an environmentally safe, non-itch insulation without carcinogenic warnings, formaldehyde or chemical irritants. It provides exceptional thermal performance and acoustically provides 30% better sound absorption than traditional fiberglass insulation. In addition, it is one of the only insulating products that contains an active mold/mildew inhibitor.

    …

    Currently, 75,000 sq. ft. of insulation is being manufactured from the 2008 collections. Habitat for Humanity affiliates will be receiving insulation in the spring of 2009. Cotton Incorporated its and partners will participate in installing the insulation in approximately 75 houses as a means of providing much needed housing for areas of the country affected by natural disasters. Since the start of the COTTON. FROM BLUE TO GREEN.® denim drive in 2006, the program has received a total of 89,799 pieces of denim and provided over 185,000 sq. ft. of UltraTouch™ Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation to help build 180 homes at Habitat for Humanity affiliates in the Gulf Coast Region.

    Got scouts? Got sophomores with a community service requirement? Got ennui? Consider holding a denim drive! Contact these able do-gooders and talk it over.

    An addendum: on Sunday, I found myself sulking in the Sears Levi’s section. Buying clothes is a horror show, especially when a person now needs a decoder ring, a friend to read the tag on her butt and a compass to find the right fit, and the Sears employee putting hangers in order points to a rack of sweatpants. It is impossible to feel badass in misses stretch jeans.

    Am Everyday People

    Posted by Tata on

    This is vile. It happens all the time, which only makes it worse.

    Request for Action from the Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance (MIRA):

    Cirila Baltazar Cruz gave birth to her baby girl in November of 2008 at Singing River Hospital in Pascagoula, MS. She speaks very little Spanish and no English, as her native language is Chatino, an Indigenous language from Oaxaca, Mexico that is spoken by some 50,000 people.

    The hospital provided her with an “interpreter” who is from Puerto Rico and does not speak Chatino, the language of the mother. Because of the language barrier and the misunderstanding by the hospital’s interpreter who only spoke Spanish and English, a social worker was called in.

    The hospital’s social worker reported “evidence” of abuse and neglect based on the following:

    * The “baby was born to an illegal [sic] immigrant;”
    * The “mother had not purchased a crib, clothes, food or formula.” (Most Latina mothers breast feed their babies).
    * “She does not speak English which puts baby in danger.”

    Ms. Baltazar Cruz’s baby was snatched from her after birth at the hospital and given to an affluent attorney couple from the posh Ocean Springs who cannot have children.

    The authorities made no effort to locate an interpreter in her native tongue. MIRA located an interpreter who is fluent in Chatino in Los Angeles CA and has interviewed the mother extensively with the interpreters help. The mother has been accused of being poor and not being able to provide for this child. No one has asked the mother to provide evidence of support. She owns a home in Mexico and a store which provides both secure shelter and financial support, not counting the nurturing of a loving family of two other siblings, a grandmother, aunts, uncles and other extended family.

    Meanwhile, there is word in the Gulf Coast community that the “parents to be,” have already had a baby shower celebrating the “blessed arrival” of this STOLEN child!

    PLEASE MAKE CALLS & WRITE LETTERS DEMANDING THE SAFE RETURN OF BABY & REUNITE WITH HER MOTHER

    If you believe this is unjust and outrageous and goes against all moral and religious beliefs and values, please call or write to the presiding Judge and the MS Department of Human Services to STOP this ILLEGAL ADOPTION! Stealing US born babies from immigrant parents is a growing epidemic in the United States. Many Latino parents have lost their children this way!

    Honorable Judge Sharon Sigalas
    Youth Justice Court of Jackson County
    4903 Telephone Rd.
    Pascagoula, MS 39567
    (228)762-7370

    Children’s Justice Act Program
    MS Dept. of Human Services
    750 North State Street
    Jackson, MS 39202
    Call (601)359-4499 and ask for Barbara Proctor

    For more information please call MIRA at: (601) 968-5182

    MIRA Organizing Coordinator
    Victoria Cintra at (228) 234-1697 or Organizer Socorro Leos at(228) 731-0831

    Between 800-1000 people read this blog every day. You could do some real good in the world by making a couple of polite phone calls.

    The Nights We Harmonized ‘Til Dawn

    Posted by Tata on

    I never settled into November. It seemed kind of makeshift this year, what with the strange weather changes, unexpected events and that wedding smack in the middle. I’ll get back to that. It was packed with pathos and mortifying eighties music, and my relatives, who are very funny with mini quiches and an open bar. Anyway, November came and went and I can’t say I’ll miss it. Our backyard is full of muddy leaves. One of the tenants is moving out today so the front yard is full of broken mattresses. Over the long weekend, I had two whole days to rest, launder and mediate between warring cat factions. All of these things are small, vanishingly small.

    Today is World AIDS Day.

    You Run Like A River That Runs

    Posted by Tata on

    From the Pretty Bird Woman House: They need towels.

    Hi everyone,

    If you’re coming here looking for things to donate around the holidays, check out the right side of this blog for a complete list of ongoing donation needs for the shelter.

    HOWEVER, since women are constantly coming and going, right now there is an urgent need for towels. So if you’re cleaning out your linen closet, or looking for something to buy, think TOWELS.

    Word has it that Linens ‘N Things is going out of business and has cheap towels now…We’ve also had a Yahoo Groups member order them from Anna’s Linens.

    Once again, thank you for all your support. This means the world to the women on the Standing Rock Reservation.

    Posted by Betsy Campisi at 10:51 AM

    Linens & Things is going out of business. Right now, everything is selling at a discount. I was planning to buy new towels for myself, but now I feel inspired! The address where you can mail donations is:

    Pretty Bird Woman House
    211 First Ave W.
    McLaughlin, SD 57642

    Scope out Linens & Things’ towels: they range in price between $2.39 and $11.99. Can you imagine, as Thanksgiving approaches? For less than $10, you can really help someone in need.

    Please pass the news.

    Make Some Book Of Records

    Posted by Tata on

    Remember this cast of characters from December, 2005?

    Dad is a decisive person weighing his options.

    Dad: InExcelsisDeo’s son graduates from military mechanic school in Pittsburgh on the 23rd.
    Tata: That date can only have been set by a man whose wife wipes his nose, and to whom he doesn’t listen. Fucker!
    Dad: Do you kiss babies with that mouth?
    Tata: What did you say when you heard about it?
    Dad: “What fucking madness.”
    Tata: Moving on, then…
    Dad: Your brother Todd comes in from California on the 30th and stays until the 2nd.
    Tata: Really? I knew he’d be here at some point.
    Dad: And Dara has to have Christmas with her mother and be back to school on the 2nd. I can only make one trip. What are your plans?
    Tata: Gluttony and sloth. Tell me when and where, and I’m there.
    Dad: My problem is I promised my sister I’d make Christmas Eve dinner, since she will be out of town until appetizers are plated.
    Tata: Don’t worry. My sister, my cousins and I will do it.

    OH MY GOD! Did you see that coming? Because I didn’t!

    Dad: How’s the apartment?
    Tata: I’m considering piling the remaining boxes in front of a vulnerable window and calling it my burglar alarm. I may leave it for my grandchildren to incinerate when they cart me off to the home!
    Dad: Serves ’em right! Bastards!
    Tata: They’re cashing my social security checks! I would!

    So Dad’s staying three hundred miles away for Italian Christmas Eve. This morning, panic set in when Auntie InExcelsisDeo agreed to let the Girl Gang do the cooking because there just isn’t any other way that doesn’t involve folding our arms and blinking forth Emeril. I call my cousin Sandy, eight months older than Miss Sasha, most of a foot taller and 100% more local. Sandy’s temporarily bunking in at Auntie InExcelsisDeo’s family compound in South Brunswick, which gives us access to modern on-site refrigeration in the absence of the homeowner. And salmon!

    Tata: Your sister told your mother who told my sister who told me that she, your sister Monday, wanted to make the chicken and polenta.
    Sandy: Monday wants to eat the chicken and polenta.
    Tata: What do you want to cook?
    Sandy: I can’t cook.
    Tata: Fine. You’ll make Edith’s bean salad. We’ll make the manicotti together. You’ll make shrimp pose seductively in a circle.
    Sandy: WE’LL COOK TOGETHER?!
    Tata: Are you in traffic?
    Sandy: Bumper to bumper.
    Tata: You are a danger to yourself and others. Doesn’t your boyfriend have a Costco card?
    Sandy: He does.
    Tata: Keep your eyes on the road. If you crash, he might be too busy whining about what a marvelous person you were to go shopping for your family. You’re so selfish!

    If you read the stories leading up to Miss Sasha’s wedding, you know Daria, Monday, Sandy and I are now lined up to play a mixed doubles game of YOU’RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! Daria calls.

    Daria: Did Daddy call you?
    Tata: Daddy called me.
    Daria: Did you talk to Auntie InExcelsisDeo?
    Tata: I talked to Auntie InExcelsisDeo.
    Daria: Do you know why he’s not coming?
    Tata: He’s coming, just later. Todd’s coming later.
    Daria: Stop talking to me like that!
    Tata: You stop talking to me like that!
    Daria: Don’t be so bossy!
    Tata: You don’t be so bossy!
    Daria: I’m going to hang up on you in a minute!
    Tata: Pot to Black Kettle! Come in, Black Kettle!
    Daria: You taking the right half and I’m taking the left half of the buffet?
    Tata: I talked to Sandy. She’s psyched. We’re going to cook.
    Daria: Oh my God, Sandy’s going to cook?
    Tata: We have boyfriends, fiances, cousins and spare moms. With any luck, we will also have other help. It’s going to be fine.
    Daria: Are you drunk? They let you drink on university property? Hello!
    Tata: We’ll put appetizers on every flat surface and make Monday bake something into dessert-like submission. And fuck anybody who complains.
    Daria: My husband will handle the meats.
    Tata: …And there’s my cue to hang up.

    If I had money, I’d hire a camera crew and a bulletproof director. If I were smart, I’d hide the fondue forks. I don’t, and I’m not, so it’s stuffed mushrooms and a side of SHUT UP AND DICE for me!

    Remember? You do? Congratulations! Meet Auntie InExcelsisDeo, relentless do-goodererer.

    The Winner of a Nationwide Contest Gets a Well-Deserved Holiday Makeover
    After a nationwide contest, Vern surprises a very deserving [Auntie InExcelsisDeo] with a makeover just in time for the holidays. She has taken in families in need, fed the hungry and made quilts for disaster victims, the homeless and soldiers’ families. Vern creates a beautiful kitchen and dining room in French country style for [Auntie]. And downstairs, her brand new laundry room comes complete with an area perfect for her quilting.

    AIR TIMES:
    • November 16, 2008 8:00 PM ET/PT
    • November 17, 2008 12:00 AM ET/PT
    • November 22, 2008 4:30 PM ET/PT
    • November 23, 2008 5:00 PM ET/PT
    • November 29, 2008 8:30 PM ET/PT
    • November 30, 2008 12:30 AM ET/PT

    Tomorrow, Sandy’s getting married. Sunday, Auntie InExcelsisDeo greets her public. Monday, I’m going to hide under my desk and meow.

    Brush Me, Daddio

    Posted by Tata on

    Mr. Breszny is a clever man:

    AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): All of the good works you do in the coming week will send ripples far and wide, but not all of them will be recognized and appreciated. I hope that’s OK with you; I hope you won’t get obsessed with trying to get all the credit you deserve. The fact is, your influences will be more effective and enduring if they are at least partially anonymous. Ironically, your power will be greater if it’s not fully noticed.

    The universe calls my bluff. My ego is ginorrrrrrmous! My desire to Do Good is great. Can I trick me into doing piles of right things while shouting, “Nothing to see here, nothing to see, move along” at the tops of my lungs? Stay tuned for stuff I can’t take credit for and don’t mention!