New Fall Favorites

1) Rachel Maddow getting all silly about saying the "L" word. Of course, being a nerd, she means "Liberal" not, you know, Lesbian. Unfortunately, they cut it out of the online video and the transcript but she said something like, "Up next, Obama and 'the L word.' Oh wait, not the L word you're thinking of. I meant something else entirely." And then she put her head down and laughed. It was very charming. Anyway, here's what she was gushing about:

2) And speaking of liberals, my favorite t-shirt on a protestor at a right wing, anti-tax, anti-government, anti-Obama, anti-everything protest in Washington, D.C., September 12, 2009: "I'd rather be a right wing nutjob than a liberal with no nuts and no job."

Well, at least he had a sense of humor. It was fascinating, after eight years of anti-war protests in the streets, gawking at a right wing protest instead. What a strange reversal of roles. Particularly for a bunch of anarchists to suddenly be defending the government!

3) Some other highlights from the September 12, 2009, "Taxpayer March on Washington":

Male Protestor, white, male, late 40's, bellicosely: "Did you know you have $300,000 in debt because of the federal government?!"

Amanda, white, female, mid-30's, patiently: "Would you mind lowering your voice. We're standing right here."

Male Protestor: "You know what, you're right. I just get so passionate."

Amanda: "Well, a lot of people have debt."

Someone Else: "If Bush hadn't invaded Iraq, we wouldn't have so much debt."

Protestor: "No, I didn't support Bush either. (Something about the federal government needing to get out of our lives.)

Amanda: "What about public education?"

Protestor: "I'm for public education. We just need competition. Like here in DC, they blocked charter schools. My wife is a public teacher and she can't even get anything done."

Me: "What about the VA? Would you dismantle the VA? What about Medicare?"

Female Protestor: "I worked all my life and paid into Medicare. That's my money. Now you're going to have the government taking away my healthcare."

Me, to the Female Protestor: "No. If you have insurance, you'll be able to keep it."

Female Protestor: "Oh, no you won't!"

Me, to the Male Protestor: "Well, we get that you're against the public option. What are you for?"

Male Protestor: "If you wouldn't keep interrupting me, I'd tell you."

Me: "Okay, what are you for?"

Male Protestor: "Well, first of all, buying insurance across state lines. Now they're trying to block that!"

Me: "Fine. Sounds reasonable. What else?"

Male Protestor: "Well, now you've got me all flustered." Pauses at length, stuttering. Goes on to rail against Obama's government takeover.

Male Protestor, soon thereafter: "I can't talk to you guys. You're just too pig-headed." Marches away.

xxx

Later, on the plane back from DC, I sit next to a 50-something couple with antitax protest t-shirts, and decide to strike up a normal conversation. We talk about the weather in Houston, where they were from, and in San Francisco, where I'm from.

Me: "So, what do you do?"

Husband: "I sell tires at Sears."

Me: "How's business?"

Husband: "So-so. But my wife here works for ExxonMobil. There's always going to be money in the oil business."

Me: "Yeah. At least for another 25-30 years until the oil runs out. Then you'll have to be manufacturing soybeans or something like that."

Wife, sharply: "Right!"

(End of conversation. So much for across-the-aisle dialogue!)

4) The September 9-15, 2009, SF Weekly cover story, "The Wrong Stuff," where Mayor Newsom's former campaign managers and staffers describe their doubts about his skills as potential Governor. It's frightening, really, how consistently they describe him as lacking integrity. Again, his confessions of wanting to be president (and, I've long thought, fashioning himself after a Kennedy), just prove that he is a man more in love with the idea of being a leader than he is with leading.

More Crafts

So much of what I make is for people's birthdays, and most of what I make creatively I give away. One of the reasons I started this blog was to share my nerdy joy in making things for people I like with scissors and glue and a room full of fabric scraps and images, and to have images of things I've made. The latest:

Birthday Card for Martha, Front & Interior

Congrats to Martha for heading off towards medical school. It's exciting to see friends learn and grow and figure out what life looks like post outreach / harm reduction work.

Birthday Card for Timmee, Front & Interior

Thanks to Timmee & Billay & Hank for taking us all to Fremont for Indian food and Bollywood. Pure inspiration. Can't wait to see the next one with the tranny boy cricket player!

The challenge now is to create the structure that making a present for someone else provides to pursue other creative goals. I'm excited for my new long distance writing group with my seisi Laurie! We're going to nerd out on academic papers we're trying to write. Fun! Maybe someday you'll see here a paper on overdose prevention history in San Francisco and some lessons learned from six years of naloxone distribution at syringe exchange programs here. Who knows?

the world is upside down, but it still has crafts

HIV prevention programs, HIV counseling and testing programs, and syringe exchange programs are losing major funding ($82 million) from the State, and possibly from counties, too, once the radiation from the Governor's budget line item veto leaks out like some kind of bureaucratic Bhopal. A lot of people I know may lose their jobs. Even the heads of the California Department of Public Health said they're concerned this will lead to new HIV infections.

Enough. It's time to lift the federal ban on funding for syringe exchange AND the amendment introduced in the House that would ban funding any syringe exchange that was within 1,000 feet of any place where children congregate (playgrounds, daycare centers, etc.). I want to believe that amendment is not just a ploy so members of Congress can look like they're taking action while effectively banning funding for syringe exchanges in urban areas.

I made some crafty things recently for other people, (one it was her b'day, one it wasn't). These things still make me happy, even if (and maybe because) they're small in scope.

Office Diorama for Sy, "Ye Olde Baitline Headquarters"

Card for Danielle, Even Though It Wasn't Actually Her B'Day

In other areas of hopeful news, worker collectives in Argentina are approaching full ownership of the factories they occupied when the Argentinian economy collapsed. Maybe we can do the same thing here while we're celebrating our gay, anticapitalist love.

Comfort food for the eyes and ears on a cold and foggy summer day in San Francisco

Beautiful, sad animated video for Seventeen Years" by Ratatat. Take note of the bunnies and turtles and squirrels; they'll have their sweet justice in the end, I swear to you.

Thanks to Scout for the youtube inspiration. Here's Rufus Wainright signing Hallelujah in Ireland. Yay for the gay gays!

More on the Gavinator

Today's SF Chronicle has a great chart fact-checking the claims Newsom is making on the campaign trail for California governor: Getting Real About the Mayor's Claims.

And in case you missed it, be sure to read the New York Times Sunday Magazine's great article about all the candidates: Who Can Possibly Govern California? On the Coast of Crazy.

Adventures in NYC, Summer, 2009

Fantastic trip to NYC to see family, friends, and, most importantly, "9 to 5" on Broadway. I'd forgotten how much that movie riled me up; I had dreams of stringing certain previous bosses up by a garage opener, but was brought back to earth by my imaginary girlfriend, of West Wing, Juno, and Away We Go fame, the talented and funny and beautiful Allison Janney (right):

Next in joyful amusement was my brief affair with the crazy kitten who I've renicknamed floozie, because she was born unable to walk or see straight, and is unbelievably cute (thanks to Gretchen and Anna for taking her in!):



Then there was the craziest thing of all. Hope and I had been sitting on a bench in Cobble Hill park, observing the seventy-five plus toddlers and mothers and nannies buzzing about the playground and surrounding benches, when we decided to take a walk. Just after we got up to leave, behind us came a thunderous crack, like the splitting of an ice shelf before it cascades into the frigid sea. Down came crashing an enormous tree branch, maybe 10 feet long and 9 inches wide. Completely unprovoked by lightning nor windstorm, it fell into a crowded park and knocked a guy out. Old Italian ladies started yelling and called 9-1-1. Apparently this kind of thing had happened just a week before. When the ambulance came, the guy was taken away on a stretcher. Hope of course found a story all about it in the local news. Ah, Brooklyn.

Summer Solstice, San Francisco, 2009