The Big Answers

I have always thought the President should get paid minimum wage. I think this would solve the poverty problem almost entirely. Plus, since s/he gets free housing, living on $6.50 an hour should be a piece of cake!

Well, a governor in Oregon (oh, those crazy Oregonians) is living on a food stamp budget for a week (via megnut). Cool. But I wish it was for longer, and I wish it was real. I get $20 a month in food stamps, and I'd love to see anyone live on that.

Reminds me of that blog by that guy who lived on $1 per day for one month. I like this kind of activism.

Signs of Oncoming Summer

1. Walking to work
2. Sore legs (see 1.)
3. Arrival of the LLKids summer catalogue
4. Sleeping with the windows open
5. Switching the direction of the ceiling fans
6. Pulling off the first tick of the season (see 1.)

Happy Day-After-Earth-Day

K, S, and I spent a good part of the day yesterday at Portland's little Earth Day celebration.

I actually hate Earth Day. I have to resort to platitudes here, but seriously--every day is Earth Day. I mean it. I was sitting on the sidewalk at one point and overheard a bystander asking another person what was going on. When she heard it was Earth Day, she said, "Oh, great. Another thing to waste taxpayers' money on."

I was infuriated. Partly I wanted to point out that without the Earth she and her ignorant attitudes wouldn't exist at all. And partly I wanted to agree with her, because I'm not sure what free juice from Wild Oats and handcrafted jewelry have to do with Earth Day--and that's what the vendors were like. Nonprofit booths were shunted to the side and crammed around the edges. The music was too loud for people to talk to the folks staffing the nonprofits anyway. I didn't say anything to the woman.

The whole concept of Earth Day just pisses me off, but I'm a good greenie so I have to go. On the plus side, it was a beautiful day, and S got to practice her roller blading with some of the kickass Roller Derby Ladies.

So, in celebration of the Day-After-Earth-Day (when all of the folks who attended it have driven away in their SUV's to buy organic plastic wrap at Wild Oats), I thought I'd share this with you. It's a chart of which companies own which in the organic industry (via bec):

Free to Be

It is my sad job to inform you that Lesbian Radio will not be heard today, as WMPG is without power. There goes S's radio debut, right down the crapper. But you can see her in a performance of Free to Be You and Me tonight at 7pm at the East End Community School.

Maine Life

It was a big storm. Lots of trees down, lots of folks without power. The only casualty in my home was the cable, which, since we are "borrowing" our neighbor's line, may not ever come back.

But, more importantly, Allen's Coffee Brandy is ranked the #1 alcoholic beverage in Maine for the 10th year in a row.

I like this tidbit best:

Allen's is so popular that its different bottle sizes rank first, second, sixth and ninth on the Maine Bureau of Alcoholic Beverages and Lottery Operations list of the top 25 alcoholic items sold last year. Allen's is the only brand that appears more than once in the top 10.

I imagine a survey:

"So, what's your favorite kind of booze?"

"Well, I like the half-gallon. The fifth is good too. And nothin beats the pint if you're on the go."

So It Goes*

How many times has that reference been made today? Kurt Vonnegut died yesterday.

Sigh.

*and I can't even claim to have thought of it myself. I stole it from kottke.

Today's News

New logo. Lesbian Radio. Wednesdays at 1:00. You know.

Yesterday's News

My across-the-street-neighbor from when I was growing up--the ones I mentioned whose house recently burned down--are in the news again, this time because there have been complaints of animal cruelty and waste complaints from the site:

...the town is investigating claims of animal cruelty and the possible contamination of a nearby stream. Piles of manure -- some of it possibly human -- had been leaching into the stream, officials said.

"We're installing a silt fence around the manure to protect the land and stream," Monmouth Code Enforcement Officer David Shaw said.

Shaw and Bird said a representative from the Maine Department of Agriculture got a complaint about manure on the property and went to the land to inspect.

Inspectors then found two 150- to 200-pound sows dead on the property, Shaw said.

A subsequent inspection by Shaw, Monmouth animal control officer Mike Costello and the police chief found three dead kittens.

Again, not surprised. I saw this particular guy hitting his oxen with an ax handle when he was training them to pull.

However, weirdly, I have feelings of protectiveness and sympathy for this family. I think that they represent a kind of worst-case-scenario for rural poverty, and I can't blame hardly anyone for being poor. I know what it meant for that family when the mill shut down and when someone became permanently disabled from a work-related injury. And I also have many happy memories of riding ponies and visiting their mom before she died. Plus, I think that drinking their raw, unpasteurized milk for my entire childhood gave me a kickass immune system.

Crazy world.

Gnus

A few things:

There is new content at www.wtchronicles.org (thx bec), so read to your WT heart's content.

I had a bit of surgery on Friday, but am feeling pretty good, considering. The doctor gave me a little valentine, which I thought was pretty creative of her. Although I wish it was a bunny or a cross. You know, in honor of the holiday:

We watched a whole bunch of movies during the recovery time, which was fun. Sort of. In a turn-off-the-thinker kind of way.

I liked Junebug (nothing speaks to me like movies about familial repression) and Clockwatchers (temps just wanna have fun and be seen as human beings). I did not so much like Max (I fell asleep after just forty-five minutes of virulent anti-Semitism). We also started Born Into Brothels but decided after a few minutes that it would have to wait until later because we were in more of a Snakes on a Plane mood.

I also spent five hours working on my creative thesis, which works out because the first draft is due on Tuesday. It's up to 23 pages. Seven more to go.

Of note:
S is visiting her grandparents this weekend, so it's my first easter ever that didn't start with a sugar rush.

Fringe Benefits

Being a parent isn't always a disco party. But there are some perks.


Like snow days.
























I'm going to go make some pancakes. Happy April, everyone.

I Got a Digital Camera: a photoessay

We have a car...

...and we are both inside of it.

Untitled #7462 (Kids These Days)

The View from Here

Trans-Continental Donuts


Outer Early April


Sepia #3 (There Are Effects)


Untitled #865 (Nine and a Half)


The Boulevard of Broken Dreams