a little red hen

Boston this time, New York City then, and next?

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Making sense of what is happening is beyond me. Bombs at Boston Marathon unmoored me--along with many, many others [live feed from Boston CBS].   Grandmothers need to think more clearly.  I'm in search of better language for upbeat conversation about the future.  

Pretty and pink on the street here in Portland, Oregon. Slight distraction from the news...state legislators may lose their will on gun control as they did in Congress...dumbness from dependable right wing--New York's Steve King in the House uses Boston tragedy to put skids on immigration reform.

The first image I saw of the explosion at the Boston Marathon brought back memories of how I experienced New York in the days after September 11, 2001.   It happened on a Tuesday.  I was deep into preparations for my most ambitious environmental work, an art installation at Queens Botanical Garden.  I needed to buy more fabric in a place close to the World Trade Center.  Everyone, everywhere talked about how to give support to those living close to the site, children who had seen it happen and had to evacuate schools. Hard to stay centered around my own concerns--important to me, small in the big picture.  

The show was meant to celebrate a better day for the enviroment in New York City.  Fresh Kills on Staten Island, where the City's garbage had been dumped for over forty years, had been closed to create a cleaner environment for families who lived there.  But shortly after 9/11 the City announced that the remains of victims of the terrorist attacks would temporarily go to Fresh Kills.    After a few days, it was decided that the show could open as planned--with a shifted focus.   The Garden's Director correctly sensed that the public gardens would offer respite for many.   

Downtown, most of the streets near the World Trade Center were blocked off.  Canal Street where I wanted to go was one of them. Smoke from the Towers still filled the air when we could get near the store; in the upper lefthand corner a pigeon flies.   We watched Sanitation and Army trucks passed by over and over again.  Young NYPD officer man let us past the barrier to the store on the other side.

What did we learn from 9/11 that will support us now?  The two brothers bombers have been identified.  One is dead, the other badly wounded.  The negative chatter has begun again about Muslims.  How do we reassure our families?  Do we ignore what has happened, or bring out the flags.   Oppressively flagged after 9/11--what we really needed was leadership to help us examine our values and prepare for how those awful events might change our world. But Rudy Guiliani, New York's Mayor then, and George W. Bush were too limited for that sort of thinking.  Their urge to DO SOMETHING only led in the opposite direction. Two wars.

Earlier this week, I wrote this post's headline.  As if reading my mind--and so many of us--David SarasohnI the Sunday Oregonian writes a commentary, Watching Boston and waiting for Portland's time."

We could have been Boston.  For Portland, of course, that has two meanings. There's our creation myth about Francis Pettygrove from Maine, winning a coin flip with Asa Lovejoy of Massachusetts, who wanted to name [us] after his hometown of Boston.

Then there's the more immediate reality that Portland or any city in the country--could at any instant find itself...Boston...its street running with blood and its emergency rooms swamped with casualties.

He talks with Martin Schrelber, a trauma surgeon, at Oregon Health & Science University, the state's health and research institution.  Its many buildings stand up the hill from where I live.  Dr. Schrelber is very direct, "Our reality is not if it is going to happen [here] but when."  He says OHSU has a plan, along with the city's other trauma hospital.  That plan is rehearsed every six months.  For details, see Sarasohn's article.

Am I reassured?  Not at all.  While impressed with the doctor's dedication to emergency preparedness and his difficult work, it is a different plan I seek.

 

 

 

"American Winter" Kickstarted to theater near you...

Were you with us when HBO announced the new film "American Winter"?  At the website there's more about it's producers, Joe and Harry Gantz, and their focus on social justice films. Maybe living in Portland, Oregon, where it was filmed gave it a certain immediacy for us.  Also that it was about real middle class families who have fallen into poverty since--what do you call it now--the economic disaster  of the last decade.

Seven of them white, one black, all doing okay and then...  When there is so much focus on the funny and forthy "Portlandia" picture of the city, it's crucial that more people see the reality of everyday life here for so many.  

 

At Lettboxd, reviewer Steve Pulaski comments:  

The staggering amount of people on unemployment begs a documentarian analysis, and American Winter provides the best one I've seen yet. High on reality, low on statistics, and often emotional, this is 2013's best documentary thus far. It is the third I've seen detailing the poor's struggle in an increasingly complex world, next to Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare and this year's limited/VOD release A Place at the Table. Needless to say that American Winter sores past the goodness of both films into gratifying greatness.

He brings up a secondary problem frustrating many of us.  Access to documentaries.  If you do not have cable, and HBO, you were dependent on the kindness of interested friends to see "American Winter."

That's why I was pleased to join their Kickstarter campaign (check out the site for a model of hands-on change at their Portland premiere) to raise funds to expand outreach for

"...a series of events around the film...bring together speakers, comics, and social theater to draw attention to critical needs of working poor and disappearing middle class...."Cirque Du Soleil" meets "Les Miserables" that will bring people together in an invigorating movement to create change."

Thrilled to learn yesterday we were among the 217 Kickstarters who made it happen!

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Writing this post, I discovered Mom Bloggers for Social Good--another to watch along with the quickly growing Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, seen here in the past week's "Stroller Jam" happening at various congressional offices around the country.  

Worthy followers of Gray Panters, Grandmothers against the War (see blogroll).  Personally satisfying for this grandma to hook onto the local Moms Demand group at demonstrations and on Facebook; my futile resistance to FB ended last summer. 

 

Chris Hayes: what was that on your table?

Having moved his desk at MSNBC from his weekend UP show to the daily ALL IN, Chris Hayes appears to have settled in quickly.  And told his audience that working weekday evenings is preferable to 8 a.m. (ESTt) on Saturdays and Sundays.  

My concern was that his excellent format of three to four guest would change to one more like Rachel Maddow's show.  Now I am a fan of Rachel also; the link is to her blog.

What Chris does in a very special way for me personally is fill a space for intelligent conversation among informed people--often with a person who is not of the progressive persuasion.  The "space" is one my spouse and I often discuss: most of our social interactions are pretty light.

Happily, Chris  has successfully retained his design from one many of his viewers appreciated and I think contributed to his success.  So what was it on his table on the UP show, the view of which both surprised me and grossed me out? 

Yes, those platefuls of sugary breakfast "treats."  On one of his last UP shows, the subject was improving school lunches--not one of his finest.  And I recall a remark, maybe from the visiting chef about the lackluster offerings on his table.  Maybe at 8 a.m. (the actual time the show began in New York) some assistant producer thought guests and Chris needed this kind of fuel in addition to the coffee.  Some fruit, nut bread loaves might have been too p.c. for this very politically correct show.

The set is entirely different at ALL IN--  slick glass desk and foodless.  I'm with that.

Life in Gun Control Lane: Rally @ Oregon Legislature

April 4, 2013 in Salem, Oregon.  Anniversary of MLK assassination 45 years ago.  

April 4, 1968  Oberlin, Ohio.  Due date for first child, we were devastated. Uncomforable with response by small college town to angry black community.* 

Everything about being part of the day at the Salem Rally was inspirational.  Heard moving remarks by  family members of those killed by guns at Clackamas Town Center and other places.  Bravely they have joined the fight for gun control.

Six of us women of age made the trip to visit with our legislators who all are working hard to move bills through the Oregon State legislature.  In the morning we were in the offices of  Represenative Jennifer Williamson first.  Then on to Senator Ginny Burdick, a woman of great personal courage who speaks in a matter-of-fact way about the death threats she has received for her longstanding support of improved public safety through gun control laws.  Ginny wears the two stickers her office handed out about those bills--background checks and K-12 safety in schools. 

Not a surprise that we were almost almost entirely women.  I heard someone say recently that we'd know progress had been made toward our goal when a large number of men turned out for these events.  Those I heard were gun owners eager to make a case for their representing the "sensible" gun owners.

When they form a new organization, separate from the NRA, it will be easier for me to hear them.  Even though the majority of the state's population is in Portland and its metro area, laws or lack of them, favor those in rural areas.  Only the mayors of Eugene, where the University of Oregon is located, and Portland are participants in Bloomberg's "Mayors Demand an End to Illegal Guns" coalition.  And here I was in Salem, the state capitol, third largest city in the state (pop. 154,637), and a mayor who has not signed on. 

Since moving here, I've been amazed that government buildings have little concern about security.  Back in New York City I was always ready to hold open my purse for checking not only at City Hall but museums too.  Attending court hearings in 2006 for Grandmothers Against the War, I even had to give up my knitting needles.  Here, one simply walks right in with a smile.

The State House was built in 1936, the third one after fire destroyed two.  I liked the feeling of being part of the democratic process as I walked its halls.  The Impressive rotunda, the carpeting with images of chinook salmon and wheat representing fishing and agriculture central to Oregon's economy and identity. Sorry I was moving too fast to get a photo of the carpet to show grandkids.

At noon we gathered for the Rally.  There were 150 of us, an accurate count by the media, and 50 of the very loud, anti-control NRA guys.  Of course some of them carried weapons so we would not miss seeing what they feared losing if stricter gun controls were enacted.  

Under a tent the coalition that had organized the Rally erected a Memorial Wall. Children's shoes were lined up across the bottom.  Any of us could post photos, thoughts. My two contributions were a cartoon--teacher thanks a student, "Why Bobby how thoughtful.  A holster for my glock!"  And a "Sensible Firearms Resolution" a neighbor of mine had written.  

The Oregon Alliance for Gun Control is three groups--two that have been around for a while, Oregon Ceasefire and the Brady Campaign.  The third is new:  Moms Demand A Plan.  I hope this coalition approach continues; we have so much more strength, can pool our resources more effectively.  And we are all working toward the same goal.

No surprise that it was raining off and on.  Though most longtime Oregonians are loath to use umbrellas, many popped up in the crowd.  Toward the end of the Rally, I found myself standing behind our friends Carl and Olivia.  They were in Clackamas Town Center when the shooting began and Carl (at left in photo) spoke of the need to keep close to young adolescent boys and they struggle with their values.

Olivia brought one of her beautiful paintings inspired by her pain when she learned of the massacre at Newtown.  My neighbor, who gave me a ride and helps me understand this Northwest Territory, took our picture. 

On Facebook, I've both connected with the local group and learned what women are doing nationally through Moms Demand Action.   Representing the Moms in Portland,  Jenny, here with Sen. Burdick, collected speakers (legislators and community people) who kept our attention.  For a change there was no foolishness from the antis.

Though it was exhausting for me and my senior lady friends, we're ready to go forward in this difficult struggle.

*Now, 45 years later, my grown child has young children who need protection from gun violence.  

Greatest thing since sliced bread?

Saved this page from New York Times Sunday magazine.  What was it about a slice of bread that was so compelling?  That the shrinking, obsessively up-scale newspaper paid attention to an object from everyday life?  Just a slice of  a pre-sliced white, the kind my father described as "punk bread."  He was good an naming things he disdained, ideas and objects favored by people different from him.  It's a trait passed along that I must be cautious about in my judgementalism.

The article is part of a "Who Made That?" series in the Times.  It is filled one page of odd facts that tie together many aspects of the influence of the industrialization of America in the early 20th century.  Last year a social history, White Bread, by Aaron Bobrow-Strain (oh, people, why did you do this to your offspring; the hyphenated name is sure to create relationship problems) was published.  [There it is-- the too judmenta...sigh]

"The sliced loaf becomes a kind of small, edible promise of a better world."

Much more interesting to me than recent explorations about  cod or salt, I now intend to purchase it from Alibris for hardly any money (as the almost-free economy moves on).  In a New York Times review of the book, titled  "Against the Grain," there was further exploration of how problems of unsanitary public bakeries led to the business solution:  industrialized bread. What would another review deliver?

Libby Copeland wrote a longer essay a harsher title, "White Bread Kills".  Subtitled-- "a history of a national paranoia," she addresses the present-day "...backlash against white bread" and the growing interest in gluten-free products and increase in people receiving a diagnosis of celiac disase which afflicts one in 133.  She points out that little is known about how gluten sensitivity may effect the majority of us.

In turn, there was another book also published last year, emeritus Canadian historian Harvey Levenstein's Fear of Food: Why we worry about what we eat.  This one, as one food writer explains its message, 

"...from the ‘germophobia’ of the 19th century to concerns about cholesterol and chemical residues in the 21st. Read this book and you’ll understand why warnings about the safety of your food should always be taken with a pinch of salt. (Just a pinch, though — too much could be bad for you.).”

Even though my results are not always edible--like this one (left) which looked much like the one in the book (middle), and filled with many good pumpkin seeds, I'm working on getting comfortable with major mishaps.  The successful ones are always better than packaged and pre-sliced American white bread.  In Mexico, similar product is Bimbo!

ADDENDUM  Every now and then, not often enough, bread-making is enhanced by doing it with Zoe, our seven year old granddaughter.  I have a sense that she is learning something that will be long gone by the time she has her own household.

Something grander than Google will speak to her about what the ancients once did in kitchens.

Women, we are the ones...we must seize the moment

Needed right now:  more women like Rosa Parks.  The Detroit News on the centennial of her [The link is to a new biography that begins with her activist life before her famous bus ride.]  The Detroit News on the centennial of her birth (1913) marked by a new Forever postage stamp and Obama unvieling of her statue in the Capitol.

Charming and satisfying for us old ladies from the Second Wave to travel down memory lane as our moment in 20th century feminist history rolled by on"Makers:  Women Who Make America." Surprised that public television would offer something with the "F word so prominent.

Most satisfying for me was that two younger women I suggested it to--one in college, the other in her forties--watched and responded with enthusiasm.  In another time we would all have been in the same room, the same movement, working on gun control, violence against women.  So many issues, so little time.  That was the theme in early meetings of the Women's Political Causcus in 1972 in my Baltimore living room.

Needed right now:  women to move gun control into the direction that only women have the courage to do, i.e., take on the biggest challenges.  Think Elizabeth Warren and banking.  Now Robin Kelly, Illinois legislator now running for Jesse Jackson's Congressional seat with a total focus on gun control.  While looking for a photo of her, I encountered a vicious site, "Legal Insurrection," a window into her crazed Republican opposition.  [photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/AP] 

 The Griot, an NBC blog, reported on her win and her commitment to "fight to ban assault weapons. To close the gun show loophole.  And to ban high capacity magazine clips...We will do whatever it takes to end this epidemic of gun violence, once and for all."

Women's History Month was marked on March 1, at  Folkways Notebook with a post on  Women and Inequality.  Barbara linked to the L.A. Times on the reauthorization of VAWA, the Violence against Women Act.  The Times used a group photo of Native American Women at a meeting on the Tulalip Reservation (Washington state).  They have gathered to promote passage of the Act which has special meaning for them.

Needed right now:  women of all colors to move voting rights into the center of public discourse.  The League of Women Voters' blog  keeps its eye on what the Supreme Court is up to in Shelby County v. Holder.  That's how I found the February 27 rally outside the court on February 27.  Speaking on the Voting Rights Act to is Francine Lawrence, president of the American Federation of Teachers. 

 

Often I miss being back East.  And then I found in the Oregonian, our conservative, clueless local newspaper, a photo [Bilal Hussein/AP] from Beirut.  "The Uprising of Women in the Arab World"  commenorating March 8, International Women's Day. 

Translation:  I want society to see me as a woman first before they see me as a mother, wife or daughter.  

Women's, the people's action, continues in many places.  

Related articles

One Billion Rising: a more loving Valentine to all of us

 

  

 

Rise wherever you are with me, with our sisters around the world.

Portland, when it's good for old people

Oh, it is a challenge to keep batting away like summer mosquitoes our national bad news. Especially when I start the day by reading the local, daily newspaper.  The Oregonian shapes its content to appeal to dwellers on some far-off planet. Many of them live right here in oppostion to the trendy, very young and hip types celebrated on Portlandia.

If mine were one of those everybody-reads-blogs on Huffington Post, I'd run a contest to name the group of dailies across America that ignore/disparage all ideas sensible people hold dear...gun control, CHOICE, climate change.  I wish Rachel Maddow, an excellent "namer" would come up with something.  See her post "This Week in God" for the latest on a a favorite category she calls, "the God Machine."

However, in the tradition of  What Would Rachel Maddow Do? Let's turn to my good news.   As privileged old lady and man, we take advantage of our reasonably good health (thank you Medicare and Maryland retirement system) and disposable income to go to the theater often. [Too many disclaimers but often have company at Hattie's Web.  Especially today it turns out.]  Since we're drawn to what we knew in New York as "off" and "off-off Broadway," the cost of the habit is reasonable.

"The Road to Mecca,"  presented in a small space by Profile Theater was one of three we've seen in the last week.  (Overdosing due to baby-sitting schedule.)  Glorious photo by Jamie Bosworth; enlarge it to see the perfect set--worn rugs, many glass bottles on tables, hanging from above.

Made me think of Grandma Prisbrey's Bottle Village, how many of us fill space, aloneness with  objects endowed with special meaning. Portland Monthly's useful, thoughtful review here.  

It was invigorating to be with actress Eileen DeSandre, who embodies aging perfectly as Miss Helen, the central character, has found her own bliss through non-traditional art-making.  Of course, I could very much identify with that.  Though South African playwright Athol Fugard writes about his own country, it could be mine. The other two actors played parts familiar to many of us.  There was Elsa, played by Amanda Solden, the young friend, both powerful and gentle, who wants Miss Helen to embody personal strength she seeks in herself.   David Bodin was an oppressive church minister, determined to convince  Miss Helen to move to an old people's home. He had more dimension than we'd expected as he ultimately revealed a softer side wrapped in his judgemental exterior.

Talkback.  As I've written elsewhere, Ron and I gravitate toward these.  How else can strangers in a city, women and men who may never meet again, share our pleasure, our questions about a theatrical experience.  Last night's included two of the actors, the young director (how do they have so much insight so early), and Katy Liljeholm, Artistic Director of Well Arts, an arts-in-medicine nonprofit theatre company.  "Voices of Elders" is one of their life-review projects at a local senior center.

We were a most suitable audience for her:  a mostly over 50 group, mostly women, with much to relate to about our own roads to Mecca.  Great evening...preceded by that other thing Portland does well: FOOD, delicious, moderately priced for happy hour (unknown to us in New York), a short walk from the theater at Accanto.

 

 

2013 & what's to love?

It is as if I have bought into the worldwide, or at least nationwide malaise of the end of 2012, the start of 2013.  That's about how long it's been since my last appearance here. Do you look for reasons for how you feel--something in the air, something beyond your personal space? I do.

There's the personal/political that always envelops me.  There were so many things pleasureable in December 2012.  Introducing two granddaughters to the idea of giving to others as a way to mark the New Year.  We spent a December Saturday night looking at the possible animals that could go from Mercy Corps to help families in other parts of the world.

Elie was convinced she was getting her very own sheep.  That's a four year old.  Zoe, always the older, clarifying sister, explained otherwise.  Later the two of them visited our retirement community which surprised me with a screening of the original "Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs"  film.  Elie was only momentarily frightened by the Wicked Queen, and probably the menacing music.  Then enjoyed it along about 20 other children.

Family--I am very fortunate-- was a soothing distraction from Hurricane Sandy and the gun violence here in Portland and in Connecticut. Stunned by all that, it turned out that sulfa medication was part of the reason for my two-week lethargy.  I'm beginning to return to a more energetic feeling.  And school started again! 

 

Tale of two knitters, or unexpected consequences

Very slowly my fingers have returned to the needles, absent my attention for the past several months.  That space, however, has been filled by my spouse.

Some time in June,  I completed my latest knit vest.  The yarn is "Kudo" from Plymouth.  Happy to find a mostly cotton yarn--55% cotton, 40% rayon, 5% silk--I did not pay attention that all styles designed for its use required 200 or more stitches on the needle.  Not me!  

If this was not one's choice, it knitted up as horizontal
stripes.  Not flattering for chunky old ladies.  Thanks to the internet, I found "Sideways Sweetheart," designed for #6 needles; I used #7.  A mother-daughter team provided  easy-to-follow instructions. Their company, Live.Knit.Love, located in "the charming town of Kalamazoo, Michigan."

At the Black Sheep Festival in June, I purchased a wood pin that works better as closure for lighter weight yarn like Kudo than metal ones I have for bulkier yarns.  Made out of found Yew, native to the Northwest, same wood as Ron's spinning wheel by Wallace Van Eaton.

Always in search of more vest ideas, I will order the duo's "Twisted" pattern. Would be a just-right fit for the word that best describes where I live. Preferable to the popular adjective on bumper stickers everywhere,  "Keep Portland Weird."  May it catch on.

Ron Bloom, however, since his discovery of the wheel ten years ago, has filled our space and heads of many with knit hats.  Seems to be found his creative space.  Some of the recent ones for all ages, mostly using yarn he has spun.

 

 

 

Last spring he was seized with the notion of trying out other shapes. Several monochromatic styles emerged.  Followed by a great bursting out in color.  It's cold in Portland these days, so he has unlimited opportunities to heal the world with hats.  That's just my take on his trip.