You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

Under the rocks and stones

There is water underground

~ Talking Heads “Once in a Lifetime”

Things were going swimmingly yesterday—haaaaa, see what I did there?—until the well pump gave up the ghost.

No running water.

After some frantic texts and phone calls with Ken at work, we came to the logical conclusion that we were screwed. I called a local company, someone called me back right away, and he came out within the hour. He checked a few things, tested a few gizmos, and said, “Yep, you’re screwed.” Not really. He just said, “Yep, you’re pump’s blown.”

He gave me an estimate, I okayed it, and although he tried to get the service guys out by the end of the day, they just couldn’t do it. I zipped up to the store and got several gallon jugs of water and we decided we could get by for a day or so. They came first thing this morning and got us all fixed up. What a wonderful sight to see water coming out of the tap, even if it was kind of black and debris-laden from sitting in the pipes! It cleared up quickly, and I can say that the shower I took just a little bit ago was one of the most enjoyable showers I’ve ever taken.

It made me think about how easy it is to take something as simple as running water for granted. We did without for a day, but we were still able to get enough bottled water to get us through. There are people in the world who never have access to clean running water, and are subject to so many water-borne infections and dehydration. It may seem like a simple thing to us, but thank science for organizations like Water.org who work to help communities around the world have access to safe and clean water. Such a simple yet vital part of a healthy life.

It also made me think about how woefully unprepared I really am for the imminent zombie apocalypse, but that’s a story for another day.

Teenage Music

Buy time don’t lose it

~ Duran Duran “The Reflex”

John Taylor and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran recently did a Q&A session on their Tumblr page, and among the many gems (I love the ‘70s Batman show, too, Roger!), I was struck by this answer from John Taylor about his thoughts on today’s music scene.

I seem to recall reading an article about research that shows that our brains are more susceptible to lasting imprints when we are adolescents, but anecdotal evidence would seem to bear that out as well. I think John summed that up very nicely.

I grew up listening to quite a bit of different music (my Dad liked country, especially Johnny Cash, my Mom liked gospel, and my big sis Diana was a stone cold Beatlemaniac!), but I really got serious about listening to music in the ‘70s, when I was in high school. So much of it was Top 40, AM radio stuff, but when Shane and I discovered Devo, the B-52s, and so many others, that was all she wrote. We became obsessed, and the nascent MTV fueled the obsession. Duran Duran was obviously a big part of that.

So here I am, some 35 years later, still loving all of those bands, so much so that we’re flying to Berkeley in October to see DD! (More on that in the coming months.) I still seek out new music, and there is a lot of great stuff out there. One of my pet peeves is to hear someone say, “Today’s music SUCKS!” No, it doesn’t. You’re just too lazy to look for the good stuff. There are plenty of newer bands that I dig a lot.

But when it comes down to what moves me the most, what touches me inside and brings out my inner lizard, it’s the stuff of the punk/New Wave era. It was a time when Shane and I pored over the liner notes of albums and learned the lyrics. I subscribed to Creem and later Rolling Stone and learned everything I could about the bands I loved. I was a little musical sponge soaking up everything I could.

I believe that JT is right. The music of our adolescence is what remains the best...at least for us. I’ve made an effort to not stagnate or be stuck in a musical rut, and there is so much fun music being made out there even as I type! But for those of us a certain age, pop in “The Reflex” and see how we react. You’ll probably be a little embarrassed for us, but we won’t care!

Lost in Suburbia

I’m all lost in the supermarket. I can no longer shop happily.

~The Clash, “Lost in the Supermarket”

I’m doing kitty care for Shane and Matt while they’re on vacation, and because of some road construction, my usual route to their house is going to be closed. So I made sure to map out the back way and successfully navigated the twists and turns of the neighborhood when I went over today. I was pretty proud of myself until I went to leave. Just do the opposite, right? Doesn’t that make sense? I almost immediately took a wrong turn and ended up on a road that was not supposed to be on my route.

I consider myself a fairly intelligent person. I’m no brainiac, but I can usually work my way through a problem and find a solution. There are a few things that I find perplexing, though. One I wrote about yesterday. (Trump? Really? WHY?) One is figuring out which way time zones work, although I’ve gotten better with that over the years (sun rises in the east, Beth). A big one is a sense of direction. I have none. ZERO. If the sun is rising or setting, I can figure out which way is east and west, but I was over there right around noon, so the sun was of no help to me whatsoever. Stupid sun.

I finally pulled over to check my phone and saw that I was very close to a main drag that I could take to get home. Thank science for smartphones! I could have meandered all over that neighborhood until I managed to stumble across a place I recognized! It doesn’t help that it’s not laid out in a straight grid. The roads curve around all over the place—lovely to take a drive through and look at the cool houses, but a bitch to find your way out!

I’m all set for tomorrow, though. I made sure to map out the return trip, too.

The worst time I got lost was when we went camping at the nearby Potato Creek State Park. We were down by the lake, and I said I was going to head back to the cabin—on foot—to get cleaned up and start dinner. I ended up wondering if they were going to have to send out a search party for me, because I was hopelessly lost. We’re talking about over 3,800 acres, folks. Visions of Baby Jessica down the well started springing to mind, and helicopters with searchlights, and was I going to have to sleep in a tree? I was rescued when Ken and the kids pulled up beside me and Ken said, “Need a ride?” There was amusement in his voice, but he figured out pretty quickly that I wasn’t in a real freakin’ jocular mood. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, it really was kind of scary.

I envy people like Shane who seem to have a roadmap in their heads. I have never feared getting lost when I’m with Shane, and we’ve been out in the cornfields of Indiana trying to get back to to a main road and avoid the Children of the Corn.

I’ll say it again. Thank science for smartphones and MapQuest!

I don’t really get lost in the supermarket, though. I’ve got that one down.

Something like a phenomenon

Can someone please explain the reason for this strange behavior?

~ Duran Duran “Skin Trade”

I know I’m not the only one who is completely and utterly perplexed by the appeal of Donald Trump to a portion of our electorate. Has a segment of our population lost its collective mind?

I also know I’m not the only one trying to figure it out. I’ve been reading quite a few political articles about it, and have even gone back to watching (lawd help me) “Meet The Press” as the political class tries to come to grips as to how we have gotten to this point.

The best explanations that I have found have come from those who believe that Trump is tapping into a simmering rage that is happening with these people. His supporters seem to applaud him for “speaking the truth” and “telling it like it is.” They love his chest-thumping, America-is-the-greatest rhetoric, and they love that he is ready, willing, and able to offend multiple groups of people, including immigrants and women. They’re sick of political correctness and they’re not going to take it anymore!

It all seems to tap into the idea that their country is being taken away from them, made weak by all of those browns and blahs and wimmins and everyone else who isn’t a white conservative Christian. I can’t help but think of Richard Hofstadter’s “The Paranoid Style in American Politics,” written in 1964, but eerily accurate in today’s atmosphere of toxic politics and this almost inexplicable support for Trump.

Given Trump’s lack of policy specifics, I also have to believe that Trump supporters are low-information voters. When asked about the Affordable Care Act, his response is that it’s terrible, and as president, he will repeal it and replace it with “something terrific.” How can anyone support a candidate who says something like that? It is preposterous. Maybe I’m weird, but I want my candidates to lay out specific policy details, and go into quite a bit of depth as to how they will fund and make it work. Anything less is posturing and bluster.

I don’t like the implications of this for our country. If people are willing to ignore policies because they like a guy who “tells it like it is,” that doesn’t say much for the intelligence or depth of our voting populace.

While this all plays out, my fellow Democrats and I are popping some popcorn and settling down to watch it all play out. Trump is the candidate they have been building towards for the last few decades, so I hope the Republicans are enjoying what they have wrought. You built this!

"I have been, and always shall be, your friend"

This is a crummy way to bring my blog out of semi-retirement, but it’s something I need to write.

Over a month ago, I was contacted on Facebook by a mutual friend of mine and Sheria Reid’s. I met him through Sheria, and he was reaching out to several of us to let us know that Sheria had died, apparently of a massive heart attack.

I hope Sheria will understand that I haven’t been able to write about this yet. I needed time to process it and get over the worst of the grief, although there is still much there. I’m crying as I type this.

We encountered Sheria years ago, back in the Days of Yore when we were all writing our blogs on AOL Journals. Almost ten years ago! A friend said, “You should read her blog...I think you guys would like each other.” Boy, was she ever right. We hit it off immediately and became great friends online. We were both political junkies, and we both were proud supporters of Barack Obama. The 2008 campaign made for some heady days. A small group of us became email buddies as we parsed and discussed every aspect of the campaign. I met so many wonderful people through Sheria, including Mark, Bruce, Aaron, Brendon, and Louise. I am still friends with all of them, and I know we were all devastated to lose our friend. We all obsessed over the polls, and when Obama won on that wonderful night in 2008, we all celebrated.

You see, Sheria was a black woman who grew up in the Jim Crow South. As joyful as I was at Obama’s victory, I can only imagine how much it meant to Sheria.

The 2012 campaign didn’t have quite the same historic impact that the 2008 campaign did, but we were joyous all the same. Sheria and I often pushed back at our brethren on the left who felt that Obama should be doing more, issuing more executive orders, putting his foot down...it was all good, a wonderful bond between those of us who shared the same vision as our President and wanted our country to move forward. We could have such discussions and still remain committed to the progressive cause. Sheria was a lawyer, and brought an amazing depth of knowledge to such discussions. She was my “go-to” when I had legal questions about politics. “Can Texas really secede?” “Can Obama really issue such an order?”

We were just starting to talk about supporting Hillary vs supporting Bernie. I don’t doubt that our little political group would have had many lively discussions about that.

We also shared a mutual love of science fiction, especially “Star Trek.” I think we loved it for the same reason: a vision of a future where racial divides were long a part of history, and the purpose of this diverse group of people was scientific exploration. A common goal, without the division that we still face in this country every single day. It is still a goal to work towards.

And oh, her laugh...that hearty laugh. We were also fans of “I Love Lucy,” and often joked about my Lucy to her Ethel. We were able to laugh at the absurd, and when she occasionally got down about some of the things she’d read online, I would advise her to “Stop reading the comments! Nothing good can come from it!” I know I wasn’t the only one to pull her out of feeling such despair by making her laugh, but I’m glad I was in that number. She always talked about how her Aunt Dorothy cautioned her to not get so het up about such things, because her “head would explode.” We talked each other down from imminent head explosions quite often.

As I watch the current Republican primary debacle, I miss Sheria even more. I would love to be discussing this with her, sharing thoughts and ideas and laughs. The thought of what she would say about Trump alone…! Ken and I loved her so much that we made a point to stop in Raleigh and see her on our way back from one of our Florida vacations. We had a wonderful time, eating North Carolina barbecue at a restaurant she recommended, and we enjoyed our fellowship so much that we met for lunch the next day before we headed home. I am so grateful that we stopped to see her and were able to meet her in person.

I miss her political commentary, I miss her legal knowledge, but mostly I just miss the wonderful, amazing, brilliant woman that she was. I am forever grateful to have met her and to have had her in my life. I think the feeling was mutual, and that makes me grateful, too.

I miss my friend, and I always will.

Beth’s Books: Boom, Bust, Exodus

Subtitled The Rust Belt, The Maquilas, and a Tale of Two Cities, author Chad Broughton

I came across a description of this book somewhere and thought it sounded very interesting. It made me think of my hometown, South Bend, Indiana, and our loss of the main employer in the area, Studebaker, over fifty years ago.

The book recounts the story of how Galesburg, Illinois lost its own “Studebaker,” the Maytag plant. This happened at a time when many companies were moving operations to Mexico and other such locations, partly due to NAFTA, and it also looks at how Mexican border towns were affected by this change.

The book is well-researched and well-written, and left me with an overwhelming sense of loss and sadness. The struggle of some workers to deal with the impending loss of what they had thought to be a lifelong career was sometimes courageous, but most often heartbreaking. Some planned ahead and worked hard to get a degree. For those who went into fields like healthcare, chances were good that they would get a job. Others ended up doing something completely different, like part-time teaching, janitorial work, or railroad work, often for much lower wages than they had been getting.

As for the Mexican workers who flocked to the border towns like Reynosa to find steady employment, they were subjected to long hours, slave wages, and abuse. Drug cartels meant a dangerous environment for them and for their children. Some in this country love to hate the Mexican workers “who are taking our jobs,” but they are hard workers who are used by corporations to feed their profit margins.

I mourn for the loss of strong unions in this country. While the union was unable to save the jobs at the Galesburg Maytag plant, they put up a good fight, if an ultimately futile one. Some of the Mexican workers were fighting for stronger unions and worker protections, a fight that took place here years ago, and one that it seems we have finally lost. I know that unions aren’t always saving angels, but in the face of overwhelming corporate profits, they are the working person’s last refuge for representation. The loss of strong union representation in this country helps no one but the corporations who exploit the workers.

We have gone from a post-WWII boom, one in which corporations shared the profits with the people who manufactured their goods, to an atmosphere of antagonism and exploitation of workers. I find this tragic. So when people like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker boast about breaking unions as some sort of grand achievement, I think that this is a person who doesn’t respect the American worker.

The South Bend experience is mentioned in this book:

South Bend, Indiana, once home to Studebaker automobiles, is now home to a data center for cloud-based computing, with hopes for rebirth based on high-tech manufacturing.

I know we aren’t the only town, especially in the Midwest, to have experienced the loss of a main employer like Studebaker. Galesburg dealt with the same thing some thirty years after we did. It can be a devastating thing for a community. Most of us who grew up in this area had at least one relative who worked there; I had a good half a dozen. Suicide rates in town went up after the plant closed; our population took a significant hit as people moved elsewhere to find work; the loss of pensions for Studebaker workers led to federal legislation that protected pensions even when companies declared bankruptcy. How does a community deal with such a loss? Fifty years later, it is still a work in progress for South Bend, and we have a larger population than Galesburg as well as another large employer (University of Notre Dame).

Income inequality is only growing in this country. The top 1% control 40% of our nation’s wealth. Wage stagnation fuels the growing divide. Who will stand up for the American worker? Who will be the voice of the middle class?

Grades for Trades

In an effort to stem the tide of what seems to be an epidemic of accidental shootings at the hands of children, some cities are looking at a novel solution: asking children to turn in their firearms. The incentive? Receiving a good grade.

One official who chose to remain anonymous due to the possibility of threats from the NRA said, “It seems like you can’t go a day without hearing about some kid shooting another kid...or an adult. We think it could work to get guns out of the hands of children if we guarantee a passing grade in one of their classes.”

When asked how the program would work, he said, “Well, we haven’t worked out all the details yet. We’re thinking that the bigger the gun, the better the grade. Turn in a .22, get a C. A .38 Special would get you a B. A .45 Magnum? Definitely an A. We’re thinking of factoring in the difficulty of the class, too. If you want an A in Calculus, you’re going to have to cough up the big ones. It’s a win-win situation. Fewer guns in the hands of kids, and smarter kids. At least on paper.”

He went on to say that they are also considering a scholarship program. “If you turn in something like an AK-47, you deserve to get a break when it comes to college. Since you’ll be getting better grades through this program, you’re also more likely to get into college.”

NRA spokesmodel Tammy Sue Spratt reacted strongly to the possible program in an issued statement:

“It’s a child’s God-given right to own a firearm. We feel that this is more important than vaccines. A child can fight off those diseases. You can’t shoot a virus, but you can shoot the neighbor kid trying to steal your bike. The only way to stop a bad toddler with a gun is a good toddler with a gun.”

When an official at the CDC was asked about the program, he placed his face in his palm and muttered, “You have got to be kidding me.”

***

This was a silly bit of fun that came to me the other morning. It’s really no laughing matter, though. Although the statistics are out there, it seems that there has been no comprehensive study of the numbers of children who shoot others, either accidentally or deliberately. It does seem to me that this seems to be happening more frequently, but maybe it has always happened, and we just hear about it more. The NRA has tried to block the CDC from studying gun violence as a public health issue, which strikes me as beyond absurd. Gun violence in this country is most certainly an issue that affects every American. President Obama attempted to direct the CDC to pursue this after the Sandy Hook shooting, but sadly, the CDC remains in fear of losing funding from a Congress whose balls are tightly in the grip of the NRA.

One can only imagine the long-term psychological effects such a shooting would have on a child, especially if they are old enough to realize that they have just harmed or killed a person...perhaps even their sibling or their parent. And yet...this still keeps happening and we ignore the consequences. It will continue to happen until people figure out that the NRA is not a benevolent organization. They are nothing more than shills for gun manufacturers.