a little red hen

A Gift for Graduates, Safe Sex Style

500 NYC condoms rested  in my front hall awaiting their moment.  Graduation down the street-- Columbia University's Law School--was a window of opportunity (unidentified female grad & family in photo).   Did she know what had occurred earlier this year? In a March 2007 report, MSNBC was one of the few news outlets reporting that prices for oral contraceptives were doubling and tripling at student health centers.  Why?  Changes in Medicaid that end incentives for our friends at drug companies to provide colleges with discounts.  Here's the complex, disheartening story.  But ours is a more hopeful tale

We were an Oberlin group-- Stella Kim, '83, whom I met recently at a knitting circle, me '55, and Ron Bloom, who taught there in the late 1960s.  Stella and I are adorned with knit condom amulets(hers is the Oberlinian) and aprons from Ocotlan, a small village near Oaxaca, Mexico.  I thought we needed to look approachable--like your Mom-- as we reached out with our message, "Free condoms, courtesy of New York City's Health Department!"  Great response; we wrapped it up, so to speak, in 45 minutes.

Ron passed on the vintage half-apron from a hardware store,  wore a Condom Amulet, made from recycled materials--gold-colored mesh bag that once held chocolate candy attached to telephone wire cord.  (Hope to replicate this with knitting.)  Near him was a woman vendor who told about HIV-positive relative.  Earlier a journalist who had contracted the virus ten years before, thanked us for our public awareness effort.

We hope Tom Frieden, Oberlin '82, Commissioner of Health for NYC, likes our post-Valentine's day distribution.  More doable than icy February.  Stella thinks the City could start this at every college around freshman orientation.  Where are the advocates for condom give-aways outside high schools--currently not allowed? 

Thank you, but . . .

Earlier this month I posted my unhappiness with oddness when I want to leave a comment at some weblogs.  A number of you, my readers out there, have responded.

Xtreme English has tried to contact her service, Blogspot since mine is but one of the puzzled emails she has received about comments not appearing.  However, it is only through Wordpress that the true intention of this practice seems to be alive and well.  What do I mean?

If blogging is about an open exchange with others, my expectation is that the hosting services would make that a reality.  However, in the tradition of advanced capitalism, that concept appears to be losing ground as these services become larger.   If I wanted to indicate my interest to helping homeless people connect with families, through Found in NYC, I'd have to decode the following screen .  If I do not get it right the first time (often happens), I get another chance--until i can decode the letters/numbers.  In this instance, the second screen was lighter, only required two tries!   Yes, I have contacted Type Pad, the service I use, to indicate the challenge for old eyes.  Basically, the response was:  your problem.

I understand that others want to screen comments.  Though 800 is the current average number of hits received here each week, only three spams have arrived in the 15 months in the life of A Little Red Hen.  Since my goal for this blog is the conversation among us, I'm happy with this number, do not expect it to get too much larger. 

Please help this Elderblogger understand the following.  As "other," the BIG guys at Goggle/Blogger make sure that no one who sees my comment at Maya's Granny can connect to me, 'cause my name appears in black, not blue.  So I'd have to become a member of their service to run blue?  This is interactivity?  This is accessibility?

Google/Blogger

Other

Anonymous

UPDATE 5/25/07: 

Correction made on my stats:  average is 800 per week.

TypePad responded: We appreciate your feedback on the CAPTCHA image and  this isn't something that we can't or won't assist you with.  We are actively working on changes to the CAPTCHA - includingadding an audio CAPTCHA for people that find the image difficult. 

Comment from Maya's Granny confirms that something has changed toward "outsider" commenters at Blogger. Seems a drift away from their intention of "...focusing on helping people have their own voice on the web..."   

Flowers Bloom Here Too

My friend Bethene is perfect company on a walk through flowers.  Saturday we visited The Conservancy Garden in Central Park.  Though cloudy and a bit sprinkly, the weather proved just right for admiring the spent yellow tulips, disappearing lilac, and flowers still sturdy.  While I am drawn to the color and shape of a bold flower, she notices details.  Her blog, Sensei and Sensibility , reflects our different view--and her study of ikebana.

Both of us were fascinated by this bench.    Rosemary and roses beautifully arranged and tied.  "Rosemary-- remembrance," Bethene noted. It must have been left that very morning.  The dedication on the placque, "For who can end in despair when there is such beauty in the world."  Rain seemed to add to the pleasure of the three nymphs in a fountain.  Oddly, there was no information on the title or artist.  Is anonymous another woman?

We ate lunch on Madison Avenue in the kind of restaurant that thrives on the east side of Manhattan.  It's comfortable, the food is ordinary, one can stay for a long time and talk--without loud music.  Our conversation was more techy than usual.

  As one-year-bloggers, we reflected on how we viewed it now, what had changed for us.  With quite different goals, we agreed that posting regularly has been useful in our writing practice.  Our other interest in computers revolves around a women's organization we belong to, The Transition Network.  With other members we hope to increase the comfortability of computer use among those who are reluctant to get more intimate with the technology.

Looking out the restaurant window, I found more flowers as a woman on the third floor across the street puttered in her window box garden.  Bethene and I marveled at the City's having Central Park, this 19th century inspired idea, that we could enjoy in the 21st.

Here's a wonderful book, The Granite Garden about urban nature and human design.  Anne Whiston Spirn, a landscape architect published it in 1984; still very relevant, now in paperback. 

Tupperware's Unusual Salesperson

My first Tupperware Party...in a small, dark shoebox theatre, our hands stamped on the way in, individually greeted by a BIG woman in a tight-fitting vintage apron.  "Oh my, you're knitting...I never could do it on all those needles!"  Do what, Dixie?  Most responses called forth a coy answer--usually double-entendre, sexual.

Was it by chance that she called out "Number 10," the one on my, yes, nametag as a raffle winner?  Bounded onstage, answered, "How do you feel?" with an exuberant, "Excited!"  Wish you could have been with me as I was challenged by "Dixie Longate," who truly is the Number One saleswoman for what she calls " this plastic stuff."  Picture a little fuzzy?  We were laughing so hard.  Wish Ron had taken a picture of her red and white high heels, 1950s vintage.  You can see she towers over me, challenged me with questions about a small red and blue ball on a key chain, odd object that was my prize.

Always in character, when I offered Dixie, nee Kris Andersson, New York City condoms--she's from Alabama-- "Well, honey, I needed these at 4:30 this afternoon!"  Of course I bought "the product," two skinny orange pitchers and a set of collapsible, lime green, 3-cup bowls with lids.  Ever since meeting that  Saturday with Xtreme English, been carrying the NTC condoms all the time.  Only about 500 left--and a plan ahead.

Dixe's Party is on through June 17.  I learned so much from her performance; wish I'd seen it when I was promoting Wormware, the world's smallest kitchen composter--the little blue takeout container in photo at right.   There's still a chance with Condom Amulets; I have the vintage aprons, forget the high heels.

Dixie has been supporting herself--currently booked up--with at-home Tupperware parties.  She averages $20,000 a month; a great fallback for a working actor.   See the show for a splendid mix of cross-dressing, hilarity, women's studies/feminism.

Enjoy your Mother's Day--if that's your thing. Check out this different approach ... thanks to Women's Voices for Change for the link.

Grandmothers: Not Your Media-Notion

Tuesday lunch in New York City.  Judy Lear hands me the latest Universal Health Care Hearing flyer about the Gray Panthers' May 21 meeting. In return, I tell her to send a letter right away to the New York Times about the war going on between old people and Congress--the latest revelation in Monday's paper. 

Then we showed one another our grandchildren's latest photos.

"The Fraud of Medicare Advantage Plans" at the blog, Time Goes By, is what I'd urge you and Judy, Convener of NYC Panthers* and arrested Granny Peace Brigadeer, to read.  She will not because, like many older computer users, blogs are for kids.  That's a bit like saying HIV/AIDS is only an issue for gay men.  Since you are reading here, I strongly urge your visit to that blog immediately.  No sensible elder (or their younger relatives and friends) could disagree with Ronni Bennett's conclusion--same as Gray Panthers--

"...get rid of all private coverage and create a single-payer system - that is, universal health coverage..."

On the predictable grandma front here's my grandson Zach in my latest sweater effort to accommodate his sensitivity to wool.   Trying to find a wool/cotton combo that was reasonably-priced--80 bucks is too much for a kid sweater--I broke down and went on line.  Chose fiber from Knit Picks called Main Line, 75 pima cotton/25 merino wool.

Though I'd hoped the wool would give it body, did not happen.  That's why there's no link here; I would not suggest it to other knitters.  Pattern is "Cabana Pullover," Interweave Knits, Summer 2003.  Problem:  body too boxy, too short.  Added 1x1 ribbing, via advice from Betty and Diane and women at Knitty City Wednesday group.  (Never too much input in knitting quandries.)

Zach and his Mom were in the City for a brief visit that included a number of rides on his beloved subway, an over-the-top day at Rye Playland in Westchester with his newest and New York City cousin Roxie.

Told Rachel, when she gets back to Portland and washes the new sweater to pull it down at bottom to give added length.  Sleeves long enough to grow over the next year.  One hopes!

*It was Judy's support that led to  "Sex, Seniors, and the HIV Crisis," the 2005 Gray Panthers' meeting, the first general public presentation in New York City to promote prevention of HIV to sexually active women and men.  And sparked my idea for knitting Condom Amulets. 

Adventures with Safe Sex Messaging

                                           Waiting for the Number One train at the elevated 125th Street station, my stop on the subway, I was thinking about the day ahead.  The young man sitting on the bench next to me was looking at the buttons on my yellow Taxi bag.

"Did you know New York has its own condom this year?"  He'd heard about it.  "Would you like one?"  He was agreeable.  From the bag I took the small plastic storage lid with the red cover that I'd started carrying the day I met M. E. Carew a/k/a the blogger, Xtreme English. 

"Take some!" I offered.  He was surprised, "More than one?"  I reassured him that many more were in my front hall awaiting takers.  A long wait between trains, gave us time to exchange pleasantries.  Roberto, from a city north of Mexico City, is a first year law student at Columbia.  He encouraged me to distribute the NYC condoms at the gate in front of the school.  Now that the weather's warm, Ron Bloom promises he will do just that with me.  More later.

Much later in the day met a friend at Knitty City where  a serendipitous knitting circle happens most Wednesday afternoons.  Betty (on the right), another former lawyer who knits, teaches classes there, has followers.  Others of us join in.  "What do you do with knit swatches?" one asked.  Suggestions bounced around...patches on jeans.  "I made one into a condom amulet; would you like to see it?"

"Did you say condom amubulance?"  Much hilarity.  Showed them the Book of Condom Amulets also in my bag and THE PRINCETONIAN, the first in my academic series.  I met Stella--a name from my past--who knew that I'd knit worms and gone to Oberlin College.  But she was not sure how she was aware of these two unrelated facts. 

Here's my second Oberlin Condom Amulet--a pin-on style.  Gave my first to an Obie, a librarian, who publishes a terrific blog, Women's Health News.  The link is to the archive of her HIV/AIDS category, one of many important to read.  I'm overdue in adding her to my blogroll.  When she published my gift on her blog, I read it caused a stir her town, Nashville.  And that is what we want--public art that makes people think.

Your Blog Service Have Two Classes of Commenters?

Have you noticed the shift occurring when you leave a comment on some blogs?  First it was that one had to identify as a blogger from that service or "other." 

Then some services began to require two sets of gibberish letters for the comment to be posted.  Sometimes it was not clear whether it ever happened.

Now a new wrinkle.  At Blogger, for example, if the commenter is "other," then his/her name appears in black.  Took me a few times to figure out that only those in blue linked back to the commenter's blog.

Seems as if there is an effort to exercise a kind of control of the ether.   One day I may  only be talking to others with Type Pad.  No fun there.

Actors! Reading My Play!

It had taken a few months but, after all it's New York City, I finally found my second playwriting class this past semester.   About my first class, a bad TV sit-com could be written.  It was at the New School, taught by a burned -out adjunct, populated by a curious collection of folks most of whom were writing plays that made me want to go home and take a bath. 

But I got lucky this time.  Jennifer Camp, a young playwright herself, has been a terrific teacher to our small group at Makor, the west side outpost of the 92nd Street Y.  Last night three of us had the thrill of having our work read by genuine actors, friends of Jen's who appeared gratis.

The man at the left in the photo read my stage directions, the other five did the characters for "Knitting in Public."   A one-act play with knitting,  of course,  it's message (you knew there would be one) is we can relate to one another across the generational divide--in surprising ways.  Two of the characters are women over 60, and I was delighted that one of the actors was a truly older woman.  She was pleased too.  All of them read with skill.  It was a very satisfying experience... more work ahead.

At the end,  we vigorously  thanked our actors.  I offered each one a tw0-pack of New York City condoms from my large collection.  The quiet crisis of HIV among women over 50 was the other message in my play.  Once again,  surprising information for all.

MAY 20 is AIDS WALK in New York City.