In this review, I want to say where I am coming from: I am a secular Jew, not a Zionist. These days, a Zionist is one who believes that Jews should be totally in charge of Israel, too bad about the native Palestinians, and those who support the Likud government attempt to bomb Hamas to oblivion. Never mind that that can’t be done. I am horrified that Likud has gotten support from the United States—the thinking being that if the USA doesn’t support the Israeli government, Iran will bomb Israel to oblivion.
When other Jews ask us to support Israel….are we being asked to support Israeli government policy, or the people?
The idea that Israel exists at all is interesting. Based on the words of 56 MEN (over voting the 51 who did NOT want to support Jews whose plan was to eliminate native peoples, but work with them to support a multi-religious state…) the British conveniently FORGOT their promise to Hussein for assistance in building that multi-religions country controlled by the people there . More horribly, Hussein trusted the British to keep their word to him. This is history. Hussein would have had his followers support the ‘Young Turks’ who hoped to overthrow the Ottoman empire for the the control of the people. The allies would not have ‘won’ World War I: A counterfactual condition which has led to tragedy.
Years ago, I was traveling in Malaysia with a Malaysian man. I asked him what he thought about the country being overrun by Chinese. What he told me was interesting. To paraphrase, he said that most Malay didn’t care as long at the Chinese didn’t attempt to influence government policy. The system worked. Of course, most people were either Buddhist or Moslem—neither of which religion proselytizes.
I don’t think that many American know that there weren’t many Jews involved in lobbying the British during WWI for a ‘colony’ (protectorate) in Palestine. More—by a vote of 51 to 56, the ‘assimilationists’ (those British Jews who were quite happy to be Jewish in Europe, particularly Britain), who were concerned also about the Arabs already living in Palestine…lost to the Zionists who planned to push the Arabs out. & here we are.
Jewish friends have pushed me into a corner, asking, “Are you saying Israel doesn’t have a right to exist?”
If it’s either/or? No. Now, get rid of Likud, get the settlers off disputed land, admit that in many cases, if not most, the original settlers—the Palestinians (many of whom are Christians) were terrorized off their land and deserve reparations, stop harassing the Palestinians now in Israel, and ask both Britain and France to admit their role in lying to the Arabs, and we may be on our way to peace.
When I saw a mini review of this book in The New Yorker, I knew I had to read it. So little is written of the Asian experience in Africa. My own book, The Pleasure Seeker, is about a more recent history, but involves a family story started when parents were trafficked to Africa from India.
In the US (and I would assume most of the rest of the world, but particularly Europe), we learn so little about the rest of the world—particularly areas colonized by the Europeans. It’s as though nothing of importance happened before Europeans ‘civilized’ Africa and Asia. What we learn is that the Europeans divided Africa in 1885 at the Berlin Conference. As though nobody lived there. However, trouble started when the slave trade started.
This book begins with a patriarch, as a teenager, being tricked onto a boat, being told he’d make money. His family is desperately poor, he has no idea where he’s going, thinking not possibly far, and he is enslaved, working on the railroad the British were installing over Kenya into Uganda.
The story is told in little vignettes: as the father marries and has children, and their children marry and have children. The timeline is a bit off, but basically accurate about what occurred. When the British left, they’d show these Africans that they couldn’t govern themselves. They left Milton Obote in charge, He was then overthrown by idi Amin, whom the British supported (the Europeans and the United States have a terrible history of supporting corrupt, cruel rulers in the name of economic development/freedom for exploitation).
Most of the family ultimately settles in Canada (except for the oldest daughter) and starts anew, keeping a sad secret from the youngest child. They, again, encounter racism, but have a community of other refugees, and push along. There is talk of returning to Uganda, as Museveni had saida mistake was made and invited the Asians back. Turns out, Museveni is also a dictator, but that’s an aside.
The ending is somewhat sad, although not unrealistic. I wish a glossary had been included. I knew most of the food terms, and I had known the history because 1 of my first Swahili teachers (in the 1980s) was a Ugandan refugee.
I hope high school teachers will add this to their curriculum of books addressing the experience of Africans.
Ah, the GOP continues to murmur about what they a call ‘entitlements’. Somehow, grants to the wealthy aren’t entitlements, foreign aid isn’t an entitlement. over-funding the military isn’t entitlement… but what we pay into— Social Security and Medicare—are entitlements? Why aren’t the media—the journalists we do the reporting—-addressing this jargon as a false narrative?
Meanwhile, since the 1960s, we’ve been sending foreign aid to dictators. The rationale is that democracy will come when they have strong economies. We’re ‘encouraging’ ‘right thinking & policy’. However, we know from history, and analyzing the facts, that democracy doesn’t appear until most of the population is literate, has access to communication infrastructure as well as basic health care, until women can control their fertility, until all children have access to education… and there is no unfair support by outside powers to keep a status quo that obviously isn’t working.
I keep returning to social indicators. The push for self rule in Africa happened when there were enough literate Africans as well as communication to address colonial powers. Same with Viet Nam. Why didn’t it happen in India? Social stratification through ‘genetic’ caste being supported by political recognition. Which we, in the USA, apparently think is fine.
We say that we support democracy…but look at our history? We’re always on the wrong side.
Now, again, we are addressing what h is happening in Israel and Palestine. England played both sides and will not address what they caused: taking land that belong to people—Arabs— promising assistance with self-rule—and giving the exact same parcel to a small group (less than 200?) Zionist men. Let the chips fall where they may, eh?
Why did they do that? Because the Zionists were white Europeans & nobody liked the Jews. The Jews wanted a land that the Bible says is theirs. It could have happened peacefully, but that’s not what England cared about.
Because the holy land is holy also to Christians, American foreign policy—also shaped by white men—developed a convoluted narrative, which even fostered more antisemitism.
It doesn’t matter that antisemitism and hate crimes are illegal. This is white American culture. Our foreign policy is more influenced and e developed by public relations agencies for dictators than Americans who have to pick our battled. My tax dollars at work.
I am a secular Jew. I was raised as a Reform Jew. That means we don’t do the daily or weekly rituals. How do Reform Jews raise their children? We’re taught the gist of the Old Testament (“The Bible”) stories, and many of us celebrate the ‘High’ holidays (Rosh Hashana/Yom Kippur…& later, Pesach), but the gist is that there is one God. Jesus may have existed, but he’s not ‘special’. We don’t believe in virgin birth… we’re all God’s children.
We’re told the one God we believe in is the same God the Christians and Muslims believe in, but we believe God is inside us–our conscience. We are the chosen people, but Sikh people also believe God is inside us. More, Sikh believe women and men are equal (Jews believe women are separate but equal). We also believe in altruism like the Sikh do. Altruism is important for our communities—not for future reward in the afterlife.
It wasn’t until I was an adult, and read the Bible (several different translations into English) that I learned that Jews kept slaves—but we were to release them in the jubilee year. I also read so many contradictions.
We were Zionists by default. My parents married in the early 1950s, and it was important to them to live near other Jews. Skokie, a suburb of Chicago, was open to Jews. They could get mortgages and home owners insurance. So, I lived in a tolerant, secular appearing community.
My parents joined a synagogue, and we bought trees for Israel.
It wasn’t until I was a teenager, and got a goyem boyfriend (and also went to visit an acquaintance in rural Illinois) that I understood that we Jews were different….from Christians. I just didn’t know how, or why. Was it only because we didn’t believe only Jesus was the child of God? You may notice, in the New Testament—-it’s disciples expounding—not God.
The goyem— Christians, tell us they believe that Jesus was Jewish, and we Jews killed Jesus by betraying him. I still don’t understand the logic, but in the era of Trump, it’s a little more clear.
What we believe, in terms of philosophy, doesn’t really matter as much as how we manifest out beliefs. Jews support Israel because we have no other place to go (we believe) if goyem come after us. Actually, we could go to Buddhist countries, but a small group of Zionists—many of whom were atheist (which also angers goyem) convinced the anti-semites in Europe that they should help us take over Palestine politically, with violence, if necessary.
We have Israel due to anti-semitism. It seems we believed the myth that Palestine was sparsely populated, and the land belonged only to Jews.That’s what our parents taught us: The whole of Palestine was a desert, barren, and the Jews made it bloom.
The British have a lot to answer for, but the gist is that they did not respect the Arabs who controlled the land, and made promises they had no intention of keeping. Yet, they are off the hook, choosing to put their money into the monarchy. In the 21st century. totally silent about the hatred they fomented.
As many have pointed out, Gaza could have been developed like Singapore or Hong Kong, but the hatred the Palestinians had for the usurpers (Jews) combined with their cultural reality has made it so I don’t think the dynamics can be fixed. Their anger should be aimed at the British, but how would they know why this happened? They didn’t have radios, they couldn’t read English newspapers even if they were available. Suddenly, they were invaded—first, just by settlers, then by the British military. The movie, “Exodus” (based on the book by Leon Uris (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exodus_(Uris_novel) makes the founding of Israel seen so romantic. In fact, it was brutal and messy.
Would the British fund reparations to the families that lost their land? Shouldn’t they?
As far as giving Israel back—not gonna happen. i believe the disputed territories should be returned, but I don’t live in Israel. More, I live on Native American land. We have a lot to answer for, but let me state right now that prayer to God—or Jesus, is a waste of time
We can all point fingers at who was at fault, but the gist of capitalism is investment to make more money. The article dances around why deregulation is bad. Simply, if all the ‘investors’ in the bank pull all their money out all at once, does the bank have the means to stay afloat and continue as a business?
Shit happens. I’m not a gambler, but I take calculated risks, and there is a very fine line between gambling (I’d say hope is involved) and taking a risk (past performance, blah blah blah).
By all accounts, Sam Bankman Fried is a brilliant mathematician. Ironically, both his parents teach business ethics at Stanford. According to a brilliant article by Sheelah Kolhatkar :https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/10/02/inside-sam-bankman-frieds-family-bubble, B-F wasn’t really managing day-to-day operations. In spite of the best lawyers and accountants money could buy, when a single investor, Changpeng Zhao, tweeted he was dumping FTT (digital tokens—a little complicated), he sent a run on FTX, and B-F could not borrow enough actual money quickly enough & the whole scheme imploded. Riiight: he needed to borrow actual currency—dollars—to keep fantasy money afloat.
Just like the Trump boys stated they pay accountants to take car of their business, the boys only ‘supervise’ and apparently don’t read what they’re signing, B-F relied on staff to make sure everything was kosher. But more, he had plenty of actual cash. He just apparently spent it all on gifts for his parents, a fancy penthouse in the Bahamas, and a lifestyle he didn’t seem to really enjoy. His ultimate goal, he and his parents say, was to invest in people, countries. and ideas to make the world more equitable.
Good intentions are not enough. I don’t feel bad at all for the people who lost money with B-F. If they didn’t have it to lose, they shouldn’t have speculated. Even if you trade options, investment firms ask for proof you have a pool of money.
But people invest in crypto because it’s unregulated. This has me scratching my head.Even though it is unregulated, firms invested actual cash in the company….and now they want to be made whole.
This is above my pay grade, but there’s money to be made….by lawyers.
If you’re a fan of Penn & Teller, you know that Penn recently lost about 1/3 of his body weight. He did it for health reasons. In the book, he admits he was on a lot of drugs for his heart, diabetes, arthritis, you name it. He was considering a sleeve or lap band surgery, and a friend who he trusted told he trusted suggested he try a very unusual diet of eating only potatoes…& it worked!
This book is about his ‘weight loss journey,’ which apparently worked extremely well. He was able to go off all his meds and get healthy for his kids.
So, if you come across this book free or used, and are interested in losing weight, you’d probably be interested in the story.
I waffled about doing a review because the book is badly edited. Worse, it’s published by Simon & Schuster. They’re a well-known publisher. This is the best they could do? So much redundancy. Maybe Penn didn’t have enough words for an actual book,,,but here we are.
I also got a copy of 1 of his other books, Every Day is An Atheist Holiday. Similar ramblings, also in need of editing, this was published in 2012 by Plumb/Penguin,
I assume most people don’t know how a dog show comes together & how we pull it off. It’s sort of like planning a wedding, except we try to make money on the event.
These days, clubs make money by charging a parking fee, charging for a place to set-up grooming (about half the size of a parking space), booth space for vendors (usually selling grooming supplies, dog beds, and suits for women)and FASTCAT (dogs have to run 100 yards—-I don’t think it proves anything, but the dogs enjoy it and we make money).
We lose money on paying for judges: their meals & hotels, paying the superintendent (who provides the show catalogue, the rings, tables, 1st aid kits, ribbons (imprinting is not cheap), paying for the venue, insurance, and just holding the show.
Judges aren’t allowed to judge more than 175 dogs per day, but these days, unless people of a particular breed find the judge very knowledgeable, there is no danger of the judge drawing the limit. So, we don’t make money on conformation (the ‘beauty contest part) unless we also have a sweepstakes—& then we make money if people don’t show up: the money goes back to the club treasury.
When you come right down to it, Dog shows are not a money maker, However, we who do performance are the ugly stepchildren. People come to dog shows want to see dogs do something other than run around a ring. We all started with obedience or performance (rally, agility, nosework, etc) but for some reason, the Professional Handlers hold sway. We make room for them because they represent multiple owners. However, most s dogs are shown by their owners (or breeders). Does it really make sense to pander to the pros when regular folks are keeping the sport afloat? I don’t think so.
In any case, for those who smirk and think this is a ‘first world problem’ and we should all be rescuing dogs….many of us are involved in rescue—but you’re asking those of us who haven’t cause the problem of surplus pets to solve a problem others are causing—& off the hook for.
You’re al;so asking us to take any random dog, whether we can’t handle the size or grooming , or temperament should be of no consequence. they aren’t all 4 legs & a tail. We choose our breeds because we find them easy to live with. I just want those involved in our sport to think twice when they eliminate performance. You are killing the fancy.
Every year I shop for homeowners’ insurance. Depending on the types of insurance that companies offer, it pays to invest in these companies. They are amazingly profitable. They can find a zillion ways to not honor claims, but you need to protect your investment in your property.
I once made the mistake of responding online to “E-insurance” which is a lead generator for people selling insurance. Why was it a mistake? Within minutes of answering their questions and submitting the form, I started getting phone calls…and all the sales people asked the same questions. It seems all they got from the lead generator was that I am a home owner in my zip code area.
I’ve since used an independent sales agent, but I went to YouTube to see a video, and “OTTO INSURANCE” claimed to be different. I’m such an idiot.
Of course they have to know whether my home is a single family or multi-unit, how long I’ve owned it, the age of the home, and the zip code. No problem there….but why is my age, marital status, and gender more important than what the sales people REALLY want to know? 1. The material of construction? 2. Whether the roof if flat or pitched? 3. How old the roof is? 4.What kind of heating system I have? 5. Whether there are out buildings? 6. Is the basement finished? 7. what breeds of dogs do I own?
Hell, if they hadn’t made asking illegal, I’m sure they would ask my race. If they all want the answers to these particular questions before they decide what to charge me—-why don’t they have the lead generator ask those questions?
I’m on Facebook with a group called “Retiring on a Shoestring,” and it’s a great group. We have those who’ve been careful and ingenious,and on the other end of the spectrum, people who are about to retire (or already have) and have no idea how much money they’ll need, or realize they can’t stay where they are because they don’t have enough money to even last them a year.
Sad, isn’t it? I admit, I started ‘late’, not really thinking about a future of not working until I was in my 30’s. In fact, I didn’t go to college until i was 30, and I partly did that out of stupid altruism: I wanted to return to Africa and I knew that they didn’t need dog groomers. They didn’t really need anthropologists, either, but I felt it was a good place to start. After contacting several universities (including a few private ones)that offer anthropology, I settled on a state school.
However, before that, several friends suggested that I take CLEP (College Level Examination Program) exams to get credit for life experience. i got 2 years of college credit—skipped the prerequisites. I could have possibly gotten more if I had majored in something else, but check their website: https://clep.collegeboard.org
I did my undergraduate degree going part time, and I minored in environmental and international studies. I then got an assistantship to grad school.
I don’t regret my college experience, but I never got a job using my degree: lots of competition, people with connections, bilingual Spanish speakers, just not interviewing well. I worked as a planner in Peace Corps. My point is, I paid cash for my undergraduate degree & actually got a stipend for my master’s.
My niece took a different path. She knew my sister and brother-in-law couldn’t pay for college, so she did her first 2 years at community college, earning an associate degree in accounting & worked for a bank as a teller/ She did her last 2 years at a state school, for which she took out loans, majoring in political science. Then she took out loans for law school—but she had a plan. She married her fiance, who became a building contractor, and she specialized in real estate law. They started buying foreclosures & she did all the legal work and paid back her loans easily.
This was all a bit over 30 years ago—and even back then, college loans were a big issue. The problems of paying back loans and having interest added on as you were paying down debt was never made illegal by the politicians who are capitalists & invested in the lending companies. So—why why why are students still taking out loans—-especially to pay for private colleges? I learned from working internships that the only reason your college matters is the network you develop—hopefully the alum and your professors will recommend you to their contacts. Otherwise, getting a job with a liberal arts degree is the luck of the draw. Ask anyone how they got their jobs.
So now people are posting on this Facebook feed about retiring and their issue is their kids and grandkids loans, and how they want to help, but don’t know how. Or, they co-signed and are now in trouble. Why did they do this or why are they doing this? They refuse to face the facts about capitalist economics.
As an aside, the United Auto Workers are on strike, Apparently, the board of directors of Ford just gave their CEO a 40% pay raise. When questioned, he couldn’t respond directly. Sounding like a politician, he explained to a reporter that Ford had already made a generous offer to the workers, and such a high pay raise would be unsustainable! LOL: sidestepping that if you didn’t get a pay raise or took maybe 5% (whatever…), there’d be enough for the people who actually do the work.
This is what people don’t understand. it’s not based on logic. Or rather, the logic is: the wealthy control the money. You have to game the system and not get involved or ‘believe’ it will work out: faith.
People seem to think I don’t believe in “God” because Sikh believe God is inside you. We say everything is preordained, but we also recognize science, and math, and how everything works toggther.
We don’t believe you can pray for different outcomes. It’s very much a Christian thing. Jews don’t believe you can pray for different outcomes, either. In fact, many Jews are atheists (another blog…), but no matter. You can’t make bad choices and hope your faith will make it all work out in the end.
Horrible. I can’t imagine what outcome Hamas planned…unless they believe martyrs are saved by God & will end up in heaven. Could there be any other explanation? That they planned to die & take a bunch of innocent people with them?
I am Jewish. I was raised a Jew, and although my global outlook is more Sikh (because it makes a ton more sense), my relatives were victims of antisemitism.I know nothing about Jesus, heaven, or hell, except for what believers have told me.
Why are so many antisemitic? The only thing I can figure out is that Christians resent the fact that we’re happy believing we’re not sinners and not being saved, that we can’t petition God or use prayer to change what’s pre-ordained. That—& they earn ‘brownie points’ with God/Jesus for lying to us.
There are lots of lies in the Bible. My favorite shocking 1 is when God tells Moses to tell the Israelites to ‘borrow’ wealth and jewels from their neighbors because they are going to flee to The Promised Land. Lots of bad stuff there. The Jews are kept wandering, told to sacrifice perfect animals, and make war on people God says are bad. Not that the new Testament is any better. Slavery remains permitted, even sanctioned. Go figure. It’s one reason I turned to Sikh.
I always new that Israel was a construct, and ‘we’ needed Israel because nobody else tolerated us. But how Israel got to be is a story most of the world doesn’t understand, Yes—we believe God gave us the land, but we apparently left, so how does that work as an excuse since we left?
You actually have to go back to WWI. A brilliant explanation of why America got involved in World War I is given in Howard Zinn’s “Peoples History of the United States.”
America didn’t have a horse in that race. We supported our European allies who were after Middle Eastern oil. Forget the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. It had nothing to do with Americans.
You learn about all this in a context if you read about T.E, Lawrence. I won’t go into what an interesting guy he was. He joined the army as a cartographer, but was fascinated by Arab life, He was a rule breaker. Long story short, he realized the allies were losing the war to the Ottomans. The Arabs were also fed up with being rules by foreigners. Lawrence asked his superiors if he could train the Arabs and have the Allies be ‘allied’ with them…and it worked. They turned the war around.
At the time the agreement was made, there had preceded it (apart from the Balfour Declaration) the McMahon-Hussein Correspondence, the Sykes-Picot Agreement, the Hogarth message, the Bassett Letter, the Declaration to the Seven and the Anglo-French Declaration. Of these, the Sykes-Picot Agreement had been made public by the Bolsheviks and the Declaration to the Seven as well as the Anglo-French Declaration were also public documents. The Sykes–Picot Agreement had called for an “Arab State or a Confederation of Arab States … under the suzerainty of an Arab chief”. The French and British also proposed an international administration in the “brown area” (an area including Jerusalem, similar to and smaller than Mandate Palestine), the form of which was to be decided upon after consultation with Russia, and subsequently in consultation with the other Allies, “and the representatives of the Shereef of Mecca”.[8]
Henry McMahon had exchanged letters with Faisal’s father Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca in 1915, in which he had promised Hussein control of Arab lands with the exception of “portions of Syria” lying to the west of “the districts of Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo“. Palestine lies to the southwest of these areas and wasn’t explicitly mentioned. That modern-day Lebanese region of the Mediterranean coast was set aside as part of a future French Mandate. After the war the extent of the coastal exclusion was hotly disputed. Hussein had protested that the Arabs of Beirut would greatly oppose isolation from the Arab state or states, but did not bring up the matter of Jerusalem or Palestine. Between 1916 and 1920, the British government interpreted these commitments as including Palestine in the Arab area. However, in the 1922 Churchill White Paper they argued instead that Palestine had been excluded.[b]
On the basis of McMahon’s assurances the Arab Revolt began on 5 June 1916. However, the British and French also secretly concluded the Sykes–Picot Agreement on 16 May 1916.[11] This agreement divided many Arab territories into British- and French-administered areas and allowed for the internationalisation of Palestine.[11] Hussein learned of the agreement when it was leaked by the new Russian government in December 1917, but was satisfied by two disingenuous telegrams from Sir Reginald Wingate, High Commissioner of Egypt, assuring him that the British government’s commitments to the Arabs were still valid and that the Sykes-Picot Agreement was not a formal treaty
Here’s where it gets complicated, and really, the British & French are to blame. Not only did the British not hold up their end, but a very small group of right wing Zionists decided they were not just moving in, but taking over.
If you’ve ever been to Malaysia, you know there is a very large ‘minority’ of Chinese, who have been there for over a century now. The Malay people never had a problem with the Chinese because the Chinese don’t get involved in politics. They just do business.
This was not good enough for the white European Zionists….and to this day, the very Orthodox Jews (who don’t consider me Jewish, but want me to defend them), who also don’t respect their women, always try to take more than they should. They settle on disputed land, and do everything they can to make life difficult for the indigenous people…many of whom have moved to Gaza or the West Bank because they’ve been pushed out with violence. What can they do? the world believes the PLO and Hamas are the same, that these people are backward and don’t deserve rights, and they have nothing left to lose. & the Orthodox Jews continue to ‘poke the bear’.
We Jews al;ways claim we had no place else to go. Hmmm…many went to Argentina, South Africa, Cuba, and were welcome in Thailand and Malaysia. Of course, we wouldn’t be in charge.
In America, we deny our history. I was taught that all of Israel was desert, and the land wasn’t occupied. That wasn’t the truth…but then, I was also taught that Africans had no culture or religion, and Europeans did them a favor by enslaving them & bringing them to Christianity.
Israel is known as the only democracy in the Middle East. It is as much a democracy as India. Is India a true democracy?
There’s a lot to unravel here. But just as we in America can’t rid ourselves of right-wing Christian nationalists—who now control our Supreme Court and also commit terrorist acts and always have, we can’t be blaming the entire Palestinian people for Hamas.
We Jews have to support the current government of Israel. But we also have to speak out against Likud and taking i disputed land—because there will never be enough land.
I’ve lived in my home a bit over 30 years. When I first moved to the neighborhood, I knew it was high-density & there were a lot of absentee landlords who didn’t do credit checks on tenants. This was in the late 1980s, and crack was still a problem.
Gradually things got better. More buildings got converted to condominiums, so there were more owner-occupiers.
Modernity also happened. Pay phones disappeared and more people had cell phones—and those cell phones got cheaper and cheaper. We also got ‘”Ride share” Divvy bikes—-where you could use a credit card to rent a bike. This is what petty drug dealers use.
Things on the street became relatively quiet. At 1 point, we did have a huge drug dealing & thug problem on the commercial street just north of me, and the police couldn’t seem to find the troublemakers, so I actually went to the Tactical Unit (these police don’t patrol) & told them to ask a landlord who owned a building on the commercial street, to go up to his 2nd floor & just watch. The drug problem was solved that day.
That was about 10 years ago. Now, the drug problem is back—made worse by ‘unintended consequences’. A few years ago, a really bad cop, Jason van Dyke, shot a teenager, Laquon McDonald, in cold blood (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jlrMmBScuU). A bunch of other police saw him do it—-& nobody called him out or came forward. Mayor Rahm Emmanuel tried to suppress the tape, but good reporters used the Freedom of Information Act to doggedly pursue it, & get it released.
What happened to the police who saw this go down? Nothing. But, since now the police have to wear bodycams, a lot of police decided the stress was not worth the benefits. They quit.
I’m not saying the teenage macho thugs should be excused, & I’m amazed more parents aren’t being charged with neglect, but nobody forces people to become police.
So a few months ago, this guy started hanging around on the corner, sitting on a planter barrier—-doing NOTHING. Not reading, not talking a cell phone. Sometimes I see him begging outside a grocery story, but he’s not homeless; someone is feeding him. He doesn’t read, doesn’t talk on a cell phone. All day he does nothing. A wasted life.
The police know he’s connected with the ‘Vape/Dope’ (that’s the store’s name) shop on the corner. What we don’t know is how so many people are referred to this guy, except possibly if they go into the Vape/Dope shop…& he tells his customers to wait for a drop by my neighbor’s garbage cans.
They people waiting for the drug drop know their rights: It’s not illegal to hang out on the sidewalk Nor is it illegal to drop your trash on the pavement even though you’re leaning against a garbage can, nor is it illegal to urinate on the street if the police don’t catch you….or to look into parked cars, or argue, or sleep on the sidewalk. In fact, a block north, a woman has pitched a tent on the sidewalk under the train underpass. & this is how it is now. & by not actively addressing a problem they acknowledge to exist—the police strategy is CONTAINMENT. You’re not going to solve or prevent crime—-so let us confine it to this particular geograpjic area—behind out houses.
So, in addition to the drug customers—who know their rights—we have the homeless, the mentally ill, & refugees bussed up from Texas…& nobody is doing a damn thing. OH wait—that’s not right: Mayor Brandon Johnson has ordered tents & contracted with a provider (adding another layer of bureaucracy) to ‘house’ them until Congress—which has over-funded our military & who feel the threat is in the Indian Ocean, or inland Africa—-to process the refugees. What? give more funding to immigration & naturalization? Seriously? That would make too much sense.
Where are all these refugees coming from? Venezuela, after we ruined their economy because of our oil embargo (because we don’t like their economic system which, when they had the money—provided for their citizens), & Central American countries (for an in depth look at how we manipulated governments in Honduras, Guatemala, and even Nicaragua, get a copy of Howard Zinn’s “Peoples History of the United States.” The unwoke like DeSantis don’t want you to know we caused this crisis.
Our governor, J. B, Pritzker, could call out the National Guard & start processing all these people so they could find work or housing, or even move to a place that could absorb them. Are our National Guard committed elsewhere? Why would they be. The crisis is right here.
BTW—my book, “The Pleasure Seeker,” is p up for preorder on Draft2Digital & Amazon—-however—-if you want to read it now and will agree to leave a review on Goodreads, Amazon—a newsletter or magazine, I’ll send you an EPUB or a PDF of the ‘Advance Readers Copy.” I am not going to label them NOT FOR RESALE as the book is about integrity (as well as the MC trying to shield his kids from ‘Christian ethos’), but I know what used books are worth. I prefer you pass the book along.
I’m a boomer, and I was raised in the northern suburbs of Chicago and got an excellent arts education. My mother’s family was visual artists. My grandfather did marquetry. and one uncle does assemblages & started a packaging design firm. Another was a creative director for an ad agency. They encouraged my talents. I have a sister and a brother who also dabbled in the visual arts.
I had started taking piano lessons, when I was about 12 but after three months quit because I was still doing scales and other friends were learning chords. I have mixed feelings about that. I wanted to learn, but wasn’t making progress, and I didn’t think our teacher was that good. I didn’t think to ask my mother to find another teacher. I thought I didn’t have talent.
I continued dabbling in making montages. assemblages. and doing some painting for years, but my most creative outlet was grooming dogs. What one writer called ‘moving topiary’. i enjoyed grooming dogs for decades, and still train dogs,.
Some people wondered why I didn’t go to art school. I just felt that is would be difficult to make a living creating visual art. I didn’t think I was that talented, and I was able to start earning a living grooming dogs.
Frank Zappa was a classically trained musician, as are many rock stars. In the late 1960’s, Zappa started working on his movie masterpiece, ‘200 Motels’, distributed in 1971. It was about being a serious musician, but the only way to make a living was to teeter on the brink of selling out (in the movie, he mocks Donovan for selling out to Yardley cosmetics). Check out the Wikipedia description (which lists the cast). if you’re a Mothers fan, you gotta see this. The point, however, is that you have to commercialize yourself to make a living.
I still have a few friends who make their livings as musicians. They perform, and are often called to be sidemen to famous musicians, but mostly they are studio musicians… and this is what Mozart in the Jungle is about: developing your craft, your talent auditioning for the ultimate job: first chair in a symphony orchestra. The odds are against you.
Tindall did an excellent job describing her life as an oboist. She pays for private lessons, is seduced by unscrupulous musicians who recommend her for jobs when they are screwing her, and ignore he when she dumps them. She pays to travel to auditions, and finally realizing that she will never make a living if she continues the way she has, makes a decision.
She describes the cultural hierarchy among musicians, and how defeated she felt taking studio work (playing for commercial jingles) and being in the orchestra pit for a Broadway musical. Yes, she finally was making decent money and had a retirement plan, but she never saw the audience and they never saw her. She realizes she has to change careers…and learns that when she doesn’t have to scramble to make a living as a musician, she loves playing the oboe.
They made a TV series based on the book.
I often attend concerts at Northwestern university’s Beinen School, and the live music I get to hear is always wonderful. I just have to wonder who is paying the way of these students, and what is their plan. Most, I’m sure. have wealthy parents, or are on scholarship. However, if they don’t marry wealth, what will they do?
I’ve worked in the pet industry virtually all my working career. I’ve worked for several imbeciles who’ve told me how many dogs they’ve owned, as if quantity proves you’re a dog lover.
We recently euthanized Venus, Yes, it was sad, but as I told friends, the real sadness was knowing that the end was near.
I turn 70 in a few months. ‘My’ 1st dog (that I was responsible for) was Khyber, a black Afghan. What a pedigree…but he was proof that you don’t breed pedigrees…you breed dogs. He was very loyal. He was the first dog I seriously trained. he was good, but i didn’t have the confidence to compete with him: i didn’t know how he’d be off-leash. in fact, when we started training, i was 13, and so many people tried to discourage me, nobody trained an Afghan! That’s what i was told. But my father and I couldn’t imagine why not. this was the late 1960’s.
Unfortunately, he died at age 9: he had a heart attack, so I had him euthanized, and I had an autopsy done, as he had always vomited bile. Turned out he had undiagnosed pancreatitis. 50 years ago, it was almost impossible to diagnose without a biopsy, and even then, there wasn’t really a treatment. However, it is still somewhat common in Afghans,
I got Aswan from Wally Pede when I moved out of my parents home. Another dog with a spectacular pedigree, but who didn’t mature to my tastes. She was to be my foundation, but I chose her (or rather, Wally chose her for me) too young, and she never developed a brisket, had an east-west front, and a very plain head…& no coat pattern. I ended up having her spayed. Still, I put a CD on her (novice obedience title), trained her for Open (jumps & retrieves), but she could never be counted on to do everything on one command. I couldn’t afford the entry fees if she was going to ham it up for applause. She became an ASFA field champion, and was a joy to watch run. She had a gorgeous silky strawberry blond coat. She was a very good dog once I trained her & lived to be almost 15. She became blind, deaf, incontinent the last couple of months of her life, and I knew the end was near, so I euthanized her. This was about 1987.
My husband didn’t want another Afghan after Khyber died, so I got Bari. Another dog with an exciting pedigree, but who also didn’t mature; no brisket, and flying ears. I put a C.D. and Field Championship on him. He was a very sweet dog, but Aswan was a roughneck with him. When I went into Peace Corps (after being divorced and finishing grad school…), several friends wanted him because he was very well behaved. He live to see me return, but his last few months, I could tell he was uncomfortable. When he started vomiting and couldn’t keep food down, I euthanized him at age 14.
During this time, I was involved in Afghan rescue, and ultimately left the Afghan Hound Club of Greater Chicago. This was the mid 1970’s, and no breeders supported rescue. The only club member who was a breeder who supported rescue was Fredric Alderman, and that was because he did an extremely good job of screening potential buyers. The rest of the club members who were breeding mocked me. I got Bali from Chicago Animal Care & Control, from the old facility, which was horrible,. I had been alerted by an employee there. She was in awful shape, down to 28 pounds when I got her. She vomited tinfoil and bottle caps for a few days, and I had to shave her—even her ears. I placed her, but she kept escaping, and finally the person I placed her with asked me to keep her. I have no idea how old she was: over 6—younger than 10. She looked very Belden (bloodlines) She had hookworm disease, and when she started hemorhaging, I euthanized her, but she was so loyal while I had her.
I wanted to consider a larger sighthound, after Bari died, and I called Jayne Harpling (Al Talat), who I knew from lure-coursing, She was no longer breeding dogs, & she referred me to Bill & Cindy Brown, They remembered me from ASFA field trials. I told them that I didn’t want a puppy, and they called me back a few days later telling me they had too many male dogs, and would give me ‘Bari’ whose name I changed to Sadiq. They told me he had never been in the house alone, and my 4 years with him were fraught. He was never fully housebroken: no crate could contain him He loved me & my then roommate, but was very nervous, would steal anything he could reach (fruit from a hanging fruit basket), hated obedience training. and ultimately died of lymphoma (after I spent over $2000 trying to treat it).
I learned about Saluki Rescue Central, which was sort of an ad hoc group formed by the Huron Valley Saluki Club, and there were no Salukis in rescue, but I was referred to a breeder who had kept 2 young males, both over a year old. I drove with my roommate, Melvin, to Fennville Michigan and Nancy (den Hollander) Badra gave me Dazzle.
Nancy didn’t think Dazzle was show quality, but after seeing other Salukis around me, when he was mature, I felt he was, so she said go show him. He finished quickly, We had trouble finding majors, but he got them when he was shown (usually Best of Winners over bitches—where the majors were). I didn’t spend $500 showing him to his title. We tried lure-coursing, but he got disqualified for ‘playful interference’, endearing me (as you can imagine) to all the other people running Salukis. So that was the end of that. He also didn’t like being in a class with common dogs, so we didn’t do obedience, but he was so naturally well-behaved. An anomaly! He was with me 14 years and seemed fine until one day he couldn’t stand. I knew it was the end, even though he showed no other signs of illness or pain. When I had had Dazzle about a year, Whippet Rescue (this was a forerunner to WRAP) called and asked if I’d take a young male. I had been on the waiting list for 4 years! His owner had died, and the person fostering would keep him, but the dog & her bitch played too hard & the bitch wasn’t healing from an injury. I said I’d take him if he got along with Dazzle. We called him BeBop. As soon as he walked in, he walked under Dazzle, a sign of dominance, but they got along fine. Bop was a calming influence on Dazzle, who was also a bit nervous.
Bop lived to be 14, and this was a sad time for me because by this time, Kunihiro was living with me, and he had never lived with dogs. Bop slept with him, and he didn’t want me to euthanize Bop. Bop fell down the stairs one night, and although he seemed ok, he wasn’t. The next day, I returned home from work and found him collapsed in the kitchen laying in a pool of urine. I said it had to be done. By this time, we had been lucky to find Dash.
I put the word out that I was looking for another Whippet.
Dash, who we got from Sarah Shakespeare & Linda Larsen, was returned to them for chasing the cat! Although he and Bop didn’t play a lot, they did play. I managed to put Beginner Novice, CGC, and Rally Excellent title on Dash. We started lure coursing, but he broke his leg in a freak accident (he stepped on a deflector), and that was the end of that. Linda referred me to an excellent veterinarian, and Kunihiro paid at least half the bill—which was very high. Just before COVID, Dash seemed to be dying. We knew he had a heart murmur, but nothing else was showing up. After a few weeks of back & forth with the Vet, and COVID complicating everything, we brought him to be euthanized. Again, Kunihiro asked the vet if nothing could be done. After he died, about a quart of liquid spilled from his lungs.
We had gotten Venus a few months after Bebop died. She was originally named Tosca. She was returned to her breeder, Sally Long, at age 7 due to a crisis her owner faced. Just by networking with other Whippet fanciers, I learned about her, and picked her up at the American Whippet Club Specialty outside Milwaukee in 2008.
Venus adjusted quickly, but aside from being housebroken and walking on a leash, she needed training, She was a nipper, and vocal when she got excited, but she bonded with Kunihiro quickly. I started training her in Rally, and within 3 years she had CGC and Rally Excellent titles. We were going for an RAE, which required 10 groups of 2 qualifying scores in 2 different classes at each trial. We got 3 groups of 2, but she started ‘NQing’ Rally Excellent, usually jumps. However, I had paid the entry fees and did the Advanced exercises. She had so many qualifying scores in Advanced that she was nationally ranked! We did a little WRA straight racing, but by this time she was a senior.
Both Venus and Dash were great hunters. Venus caught a rabbit 1 evening in the yard and ate it. The next day, her stool was filled with hundreds of wiggly black worms. Scary. I brought her next stool sample to the vet I worked for: nothing. Shed them all. Once I saw Dash grab a squirrel right off a tree. I have a friend who has trained dogs and thinks she knows animal behavior, and thinks it’s horrible that I ‘let’ them kill animals. It happens so fast. I was working at a very poorly run kennel that was in an old warehouse, and they both caught mice there all the time.
By this time, I agreed to foster a dog for WRAP. I had taken 1 dog, who initially seemed fine, but after a few days, he started bullying Dash, so I returned him and agreed to take Delilah.
The story I got, which was 3rd hand, was that she came from a hoarding situation.; maybe, but all the dogs they took (at least a dozen adult dogs) (& at least 2 litter of puppies) could walk on leashes and were housebroken. More: Delilah had been obedience trained. I realized this when I started taking her to classes (I am a member of Northshore Dog Training Club, so we’re always going to classes. $50 for a 6 week session for members). Also, it was clear, at least the 1st month we had her, she was looking for someone when I walked her around the neighborhood. She didn’t go willingly from whomever had her.
WRAP found a home for her, but Delilah just freaked out. She got into the car to leave me, but when they got her to the new home, she bolted. They chased her, she bit someone, but they got her back into the car, and they brought her back to me. Not what I had planned, but that’s how it was. She is extremely nervous, but she loved both Dash & Venus, it was clear. She continued to try to sleep next to Venus, but Venus wasn’t having it, By this time, Venus was old, and couldn’t take a rambunctious dog. We have no idea how old Delilah is. I’ve had her 5 years, so 6? 7? She won’t let me do her teeth, and I can’t pick her up without muzzling her. Sally Long, Venus’s breeder, asked what happened with Venus, and the short answer is: she wore out. As old dogs do, she lost muscle mass. She didn’t have cataracts, buy opacies. Not unusual. Her hearing went. She was rickety, but I knew she still enjoyed her life, What she started doing on walks was sniffing a lot more. I usually don’t let my dogs sniff on walks, because it’s too easy to ingest ‘something’ Khyber got giardia from ingesting.
How do you know when it’s time? By knowing your dog, I tell my grooming clients that they’ll know: the dog will sleep a lot more, not want to go for walks, start pacing in the house—possibly end up stuck in a corner (a sure sign of dementia), but that wasn’t Venus, In the end, she stopped eating, and due to neuropathy in her legs, couldn’t stand.
Kunihiro, her buddy, was very broken up, Just three days before he bought latex boots and some nonslip rugs, He carried her up and down the stairs, but he knew.
My vet is ‘fear free’—so my dogs always liked going because they got cheese and that Henry Shein soft-moist fudgy fake meat. Venus had a peaceful death with us with her at the very end.
Have I really owned that many dogs? I don’t think so. It’s been important to me to have a personal relationship with my dogs. At 1 time, I wanted to own a kennel, but those days are gone. Perhaps if I had married well, things might have been different, but I learned from my dogs and from having a wonderful roommate (over 20 years with Kunihiro), it’s better to have reliable than drama and disrespect.
I have loved teaching my dogs and competing with my dogs. I’ve met some really wonderful people from dog training and performance (which off set the imbeciles who wanted to be in the dog business but never bothered to learn anything about dogs, and disrespected me to the point of sabotaging the success of their businesses).
Now. I’m retired. No more drama. We will begin searching for another dog to keep Delilah company in a few weeks.
I plan to start selling THE PLEASURE SEEKER, my fiction book, on January 15, 2024. I have to get the book into the hands of reviewers. if you’d like an ARC (advance review copy—not for sale), let me know. I had the book designed by a book designer. I guess if you bang out cheap stories, you can learn to do this, but I wanted the book to look good. I’ve put it up on Amazon and Draft2Digital, I’m waiting for Ingram-Spark.
Here’s the blurb:
Dayal Singh is brilliant, quirky, and has Asperger’s.The child of parents trafficked to Africa from India after independence, he knows he’s Sikh and that calculus is the evidence of God.
Having fallen in love with the granddaughter of the man who bought his father, she tells him he is too young and that he must stay in school as long as he has a scholarship. He starts school in Singapore, but is offered a better opportunity in Switzerland, where he is surprised at being proselytized to, which he finds irritating. He meets fellow music lovers, they form a group, THE PLEASURE SEEKERS, and suddenly they are famous. Dayal wants a lover, and agrees to meet Sita, the daughter of a man his father met. He tells her right from the start that if they marry and have children, he wants them raised Sikh, and she agrees. However, Sita is not totally honest. When Dayal discovers she’s been lying to him, he has to make a decision to protect his kids from succumbing to Christian ethos. This is a serious problem and the story may offend devout Christians. There is also erotic content.
I’ve learned a lot the past several years. The publishing industry has changed. usually, unless you are referred to an agent, and you don’t have a social media following, they won’t waste their time on you. that’s why so many authors are now self-publishing.
I know there is a readership for this story. If you have any questions—you know where to find me.
In case you, as an American, believes that our foreign policy has anything to do with human rights, I’ve got news for you. We don’t care.
The whole foreign aid thing started after WWII, and lobbyists (public relations people) got on board quickly. If the leader of a less developed country said he wasn’t a communist, we gave him money. Seriously. Our whole foreign policy has been—for years—- giving money to dictators who claim to not be communists (or at least under the sphere of the USSR).
We send negotiators who may or may not have degrees in political science, development, economics…it never really mattered if OUR PEOPLE had ever been to the countries they were suggesting we Americans should give aid to. The goals were vague: to make their governments friendly to the USA? Certainly not to improve living standards for most citizens. Even the World Bank believes that citizens should pay for education and medical care.
It’s difficult to learn about a country’s policies unless you live there. In Malawi, there were laws that women could not wear pants or trousers unless they wore a shalwars Khameez tunic over it. Skirts had to cover women’s knees. Men’s hair could not touch their collars (to prevent white hippies from settling in and changing the ‘culture’).
We’ve given a lot of aid to Malawi. You can Google by country, how much aid we give in three year aid cycles. The goals? Who even checks to see if the literacy rate has gone up? If people are food secure? If they have access to health care? In fact, due to some really screwed up politicians, many women can’t get access to family planning services because we believe the Christian Bible says we should be fruitful and multiply.
I call out Uganda because they have the most restrictive laws regarding LGBTQ people—including prosecuting those who associate with them. This makes no sense. Worse, it shows that the people who make the decisions about aid are racist, sexist, elitist—& don’t care about human rights. Then they wonder why so many people become refugees & try to come to the USA.
I got myself banned recently from a Facebook feed because I dared to tell a woman her ‘Emotional Support Animal’ is NOT A SERVICE DOG,–& that a shrink bamboozled her.
Ok, I went too far: i shouldn’t have told her a license psychologist was a fraud—but here we are: a lot of them are pandering, writing letters on letterhead, so they look official. These ‘care givers’ know nothing about dog training, but are pandering to neurotics who want pets & want to be treated as though they are special.
Some service dogs DO provide ’emotional support’—like to victims of PTSD, but they often do it in a physical way: by leaning, by guiding, by standing between their owner and someone they don’t trust. They are trained to do that. You can’t train just any dog to be a service dog, There are evaluating tests dog trainers use to determine which dogs are possibly suitable. Because—even after evaluation and training, some dogs just don’t cut it. They are usually given away as pets.
‘Emotional Support Animals’ are not given any training. In fact, neurotics are allowed to buy any dog they want and claim the dog provides a service of emotional support.
Because there is so much confusion CAUSED BY UNETHICAL PSYCHOLOGISTS, there are guidelines for how to determine what a service dog does to provide service, and we are allowed to ask, “What service does this dog provide?” Some sense seizures coming on. Some guide the blind or alert the deaf. Some pull wheelchairs. Years ago, I had a friend with cerebral palsy. She didn’t need a wheelchair, but she was definitely spastic and unsteady on her feet. By a miracle, she acquired an Afghan Hound who recognized his owner’s issues, and he was her ‘steadier’. This was before anyone even thought that dogs could do this.
In the case where I offended the woman and the site administrators, the woman wanted to go on a cruise with her ‘ESA’ and the cruise line wouldn’t allow it, and she wondered how to get around this because she could not leave the dog alone! Seems that she made the dog neurotic and the dog now had separation anxiety! Some service dog!
I know a lot of dog trainers because dog training is my hobby, and they get calls all the time from people who’ve bought a random dog and want the dog trained to be an Emotional Support Dog—which they are confusing with a service dog. There’s less than a 50/50 chance that the random dog can be a service dog—but here’s how you get an emotional support animal that will protect you and not be a menace to society: You train the dog.
If you’ve never trained a dog, we start with what we call basic ‘novice’ obedience. The dog learns to walk on a leash without pulling, and to sit. We also teach the dog to come when called, stand, lay down. and ignore other dogs. If you have trained a dog to off leash reliability, you might want to start with a rally class, as it’s more interesting and fun. No matter where you start, you want to teach your dog the basics. This takes patience and persistence. The interesting thing is that by attempting to communicate with the dog, and succeeding, you’re creating an emotional bond with the dog, You get a trained dog, YOU gain confidence, your mind is off your grief or other emotional issues, and everyone’s happy.
And—-to prove you’ve trained the dog—-get a Canine Good Citizen certificate. You can google this—& where a local evaluator is. 1 test. Takes about an hour, and the dog doesn’t ohave to be purebred. You’ve proved you have control at least on a leash. If you’re ambitions, you can go for a ‘Rally Novice’ and /or Beginner Novice title. You go to AKC trials. Some clubs offer 2 chances in a day (you just need 3 qualifying scores), you get a certificate from the AKC, & you’ve proven onleash control.
As I write this (summer, 2023), a segment of Americans are trying to get libraries—particularly school libraries, to ban books. Mostly, parents and pseudo-religious ‘Christians’ want books about sexual activity, sexual ‘orientation’ (being homosexual, transsexual, bisexual),and ‘alternative lifestyles’ banned. In many parts of America, people are trying to get drag shows (where men dress as women and perform, singing, mostly) banned and even making cross dressing illegal. Seriously, look at how Catholic priests dress, and statistically, how often children are abused by them—but there is no movement to ban the Catholic Church. Baffling.
Now this book, written for a middle school audience and published in 2010 by Arcturus Publishing, LTD, is not about sex at all. It’s about real history: the Iraq War that George H.W, Bush started with a ‘preemptive strike; (meaning, the USA started the war) claiming Saddam Hussein had ‘weapons of mass destruction’, and was harboring terrorists. There were no weapons of mass destruction, and to Americans, because of the Saudi nationals involved in the 9/11 attacks (which occurred after the Gulf War…), we believed what we wanted to believe. In fact, if you showed Americans a geopolitical map or a globe, they couldn’t find Kuwait, Iraq or Iran on it,.
I remember this war, when it all happened, and here is a book written for kids that tells the historical truth, and who the decision makers are. It’s wonderful! Very well written and designed. I hope you will order a copy for your kids’ school libraries.
I just read Jennifer Weiner’s book, “Good in Bed.” It was first published in 2001, and, due to the subject matter. is as fresh today as it was then. It’s about a chubby Jewish girl…..
It’s fiction, but if you read her memoir, you see she drew from her own life. Truth is stranger than fiction, and poor Jen went through a psychological upheaval.
She was always heavy, but she lived a privileged life for a while, her father being a physician. Then, when she became a teenager, her parents marriage unraveled. Her father ultimately left, his whereabouts unknown for a long time. Her mother came out as a lesbian. Dad sent no child support, and she had to scramble to pay for college. She starts working as a journalist. These are real facts.
In the book, there is no erotic sex. The title is based on a column her (ex) boyfriend does for a women’s magazine— something like Cosmo or Madamoiselle. After the break-up, he writes about being with a fat woman: the author.
She pines for the ex. She always loved his parents, but felt the ex never grew up, and just wanted to ‘take a break’. He decided to move on. When HIS father dies and she pays him a condolence call, they hook up and she becomes pregnant….but doesn’t tell him.
I won’t spoil the ending, but she’s a modern woman with a good job, and along the way, when she was sent to interview an actress, she and the actress became friends, and in a bit of fantasy, the actress gets our MC’s screenplay optioned and produced. Don’t we all wish…but it’s a story.
Being a chubby Jewish ‘girl’ (born in the last century and size 14/16) myself, I’ am, of course, drawn to these stories of other women like me. Most of us write about love.
I started wondering, however, what the larger gentile community thinks of us. Are we all from disfunctional homes (in fact, most of the women write about fairly normal households)? Do all Jewish people suffer from angst?
Let me put it this way: we live in a gentile world. Most of us live in urban areas, so we are pretty well assimilated, and move among you gentiles relatively unnoticed. Most of us are secular. We were raised as Jews, but aren’t observant for the most part. What sets us apart is that we don’t believe we’re sinners, don’t celebrate your religious holidays (how do Easter bunnies and candy have anything to do with the resurrection? If nothing—-why do you do it?), However, most of us are moral people, and wrestle with issues every day. Currently, where I live, we have an influx of refugees with no place to go. We also have churches that are vacant most days. The people who run the churches claim they can’t have the unhoused sleeping in churches due to security. Huh? Are you afraid they’ll steal your hymnals? What am I missing? So what Jesus tells gentiles to do isn’t really as relevant to most Jews as tamping down dissent, or possibly having their children exposed to the idea that they aren’t sinners. They can live moral lives without church and Jesus. Scary.
I have enjoyed the writing of J.D. Salinger, Phillip Roth, and Saul Bellow…but do they reflect who we are? For that matter, do Jewish entertainers reflect who we are? When Monica and Ross Geller on the old TV show, ‘Friends’, celebrate Christmas, does that reflect what Jews do?
We Jews say that when you get 2Jews together, you get 3 opinions. We don’t all believe the same thing. i wonder if Jennifer Weiner’s religion has affected her global outlook as much or more than having a lesbian mother and a mentally ill father. But I think that all writers write from the experiences in their lives.
The publishing industry has changed. It was starting to crumble before COVID, in terms of agents being able to sell novels to publishers, and publishers committing to marketing and distribution, but it is in the process now of reforming itself. More and more writers are self-publishing and we’re doing our own marketing. Social media has also influenced the whole industry. There are more websites where readers can post book reviews. Goodreads, owned by Amazon, is one of those sites.
In one case, a writer, Megan Nolan, had a book reviewed on Goodreads before it was published (she had not published an ARC—advanced reader’s copy), & the reviewer, who could not have read the book, gave the book 2 stars (sort of meh–not worth the read). In another case, a debut writer posted and was reviewed-bombed based on the premise/plot of her book: that a black liberal woman falls in love with a white Trump supporter shouldn’t be written about. None of the reviewers had read the books. Tthey even say in their reviews that they didn’t read the books!
Certainly, there are other sites that allow book reviews. In many cases, you have to have an account, but there is no integrity left in the world, and obviously Jeff Bezos—where ‘the buck should stop’—doesn’t care. He’s making money he doesn’t know what to do with!
Bad reviews are a bit of a form of censorship. they are made to influence us. If people just see the stars, they may not bother with your book.
I can’t imagine why anyone would review a book they hadn’t read. Seriously. Maybe they feel they’re protecting us from our own ignorance, but I do know this: many of these people think they’re Christians, and even if they bear false witness. all they gotta do is ask Jesus to forgive them and poof!
The book I will be publishing soon, “The Pleasure Seeker”, will need reviews. I know the story is controversial: Asian Sikh boy, Dayal, from East Africa, the son of trafficked parents, learns to play the piano, falls in love, is told to stay in school, gets a scholarship, becomes an accidental rockstar, marries and realizes his wife is not the person he thought she was: she does the very thing he asked she not do when they met and discussed marriage: she tries to inculcate their children in Christianity. He fights back asking her about the inconsistencies in the Bible.
I’d be happy to send a PDF if you contact me, and tell me where you will post your review. Even if it’s a bad review.
It’s July 2023. In much of the world (not just the USA—the world), we’re experiencing not just record high air temperatures, but intense storms. Our oceans are unusually warm, and coral is dying. Ocean currents are changing. Fish schools are declining. We’ll be paying more for fish than mammal meat very soon—if there are fish to buy.
Al Gore published “An Inconvenient Truth in 2006, where he quoted meteorologists and other environmental scientists about what would happen…and it has.
About 20 or so years before that, in the early 1980s, a friend asked me to join the board of a start-up nonprofit: Uptown Recycling Station. The way she and a few other do-gooders envisioned it, we’d open a recycling station for glass, metals, and paper, and we’d buy this discarded waste from people we called ‘alley entrepreneurs”: mostly southeast Asian (Viet Namese, Laotians, Cambodians) refugees, They’d have small businesses, and we’d start getting people recycling.
It was what my father called ‘a cute hippie idea’.
Ken Dunn, the father of recycling in Chicago (and many other creative community based ideas) was already starting a curbside collection route in Rogers Park, where I later moved. On the face of it, it was a crazy idea. We had to canvas the neighborhood & convince people to source separate their newspapers, magazines, jars & cans, and collect them. We’d prove to the city that people supported the venture.
At the time, Harold Washington was mayor. Our first black mayor, and a progressive. He hired people to work for the city based on skill, not patronage. However, we still had an overabundance of patronage workers—especially in the department of ‘Streets and Sanitation.”
Say your doofus kid wasn’t going to college—especially a white kid. You—the dad—would contact the ward committeeman, and get your kid hired. In exchange, around election time, you’d work for the approved candidate.
Yes—that was the famous CHICAGO WAY.
What we recycling do-gooders had to do was arrange to collect set-outs on a day that streets & sans didn’t collect garbage. Even though our project was small, already the streets & sans employees saw us as a threat. As though there wasn’t enough garbage for us all.
It wasn’t that so much as that with us out on the street:, we saw a lot of them goofing around and not working. Even sleeping on the job. It wasn’t just us. Newspaper photographers took photos, too.
How did we prove to our elected officials that we got participants? By weighing what he collected (before reselling it—which Ken Dunn did for us). We then asked for a DIVERSION CREDIT. That is, we knew the city paid for landfill space by the cubic yard (yes—still done that way), so we wanted to be paid (by the ton—we had an idea of what the average cubic yard weighed) for the recyclables we collected. We used that money to pay recycling center staff (the southeast Asian refugees).
We got a lot of support from area philanthropic groups, because we were a pilot project, and very new. What’s amazing is that our route—in Rogers Park—was filled with apartment buildings. A very HIGH DENSITY NEIGHBORHOOD. When I got to grad school a decade later, I learned that annual turnover of rental units was about 30 %. Yet, we got participation.
We hippie do-gooders strategized and got a lot of support, but our aldermen were mostly white men who took their orders from more influential white men, or black guys beholden to white men, and it was slow going. The streets & sans garbage men would change their route days & trash our collectibles. We had a lot of meeting with their bosses.
As source separating trash for recycling gained popularity, the powers that were, under a new mayor, Hizzoner, jr (Richie Daley), cut a deal with Waste Management & the aldermen decided if we wanted to recycle, we had to buy BLUE BAGS. & we do-gooders bought blue bags! The garbage guys of Streets & Sans would collect the blue bags along with the garbage—it would all go in the same truck & be separated later. Riiiiight.
Of course the bags got torn. Waste Management had lawyers who were told by the EPA that THEY had to do better, and around 1990, some low density communities started getting BLUE BINS—-a separate cart for recyclables. The whole city got them by 2007.
Very little education was done around all these changes. In fact, the rumor was that no matter what we separated for recycling, less than 10% was actually resold as input material. We’ve been hovering at 8% for decades, as there has never been any actual commitment to recycling since the Washington administration.
Yet, I still source separate. In grad school, researching curriculum change (for environmental science), I learned that it is not necessarily up to the school board to implement curriculum or policy change: the principal of every school has a say—-& virtually none have been committed to primary school environmental education, recycling or energy conservation in their schools. They aren’t paying the bills, so why should they, right? Also, every time their is a principal or Local School Council change, it is as though everyone has to reinvent the wheel.
What got me thinking about all this was….after we got blue bins, they were put in Chicago parks, too, Now, the smart thing to do would be to someway link a black trash bin to a blue recycling bin, but why would we do something like that if the employees who pick y up the trash are paid whether they do a good job or not? The Streets & Sans guys would say that people moved (or even stole) the blue bins. Nobody cared.
I went to a community meeting the other day. We have lump sum budgeting in Chicago, where every ward is given $1.5 million to spend at the alderman’s discretion. Since we’re progressives, our last alderman allowed us to vote on how $1million would be spent. We started in 2009.
So now it’s 14 years later. Not many people showed up at the meeting, but 1 guy who did was on the park advisory council. I said something about the blue bins overflowing at a park I ride my bike through, and said something about calling the ward superintendent, and he shook his head and told me, “That won’t work. The city doesn’t pick up trash or recycling from the park. There is no recycling. the Park District said it was too hard, and they contract with a waste hauler.
So why are there blue bins in the park? Everyone claims residents move them over to the parks. Is it because the residents think recycling is stupid, or because they see there are not enough trash bins, so they bring over their unused bins because they don’t know who to call?
What makes this even more frustrating is that because of this, new people come in and either are trying to recycle & don’t realize that if they throw away aluminum or glass in the park it won’t be recycled, or they have no idea that the bins are being used for mixed trash. the bottom line is: the streets and sans employees started out with this ‘culture’ of sabotaging recycling, and the private waste hauler is continuing with this sabotage.
Is it really too difficult to address landlords about recycling—& telling them they will be fined if they don’t explain recycling to new tenants (& if they want to not get a raise in rent, to put their recyclables in the blue bins)? Is it too difficult to address the many groups that work with refugees (many of whom have never used a flush toilet, either)> Why aren’t our schools teaching environmental science and what a difference the small actions make?
The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Below, which I kept for years because in the book he says he worked for a dog groomer….gone. “The Myth of the Negro Past,” by Herskovits….given to a teenage relative, along with “Black Power,” by Carmichael and Hamilton. “Native Races of the British Empire,” bought in Malawi 30 years ago, now a historical artifact but grossly out of date….donated to a library. Two of our three English/Japanese dictionaries also given to another relative. Several books of Salvador Dali’s works…sold. A book with photos of African hair styles—given to my hairdresser. Giving away lots of books on dog grooming and dog training.
What compelled me?
Friends and neighbors who had to move and who refused to give up n unneeded books until forced to. It felt good to look at the spines on my bookshelf. One book I have trouble parting with is Kiley Reid’s, “Such a Fun Age.” At some point, I’ll read it again, and I’m shocked to see the average rating for this book is just 3.3 stars. Uncomfortable with white privilege? Gee, now you know. This is a well told story , not just about white privilege, but about how people want to ‘help’ you when you don’t need help. Seriously, having Asperger’s, I’ve been through this so many times. Christians. Ugh!
Keeping Leon Uris’ “Exodus.” This fantasy of the founding of Israel is as popular among Jews as the myth of Santa Claus is among Christians. For a balanced history, I refer to just about any book about T.E. Lawrence, (of which I have at least 4).
A couple of decades ago I had a friend who was dying of breast cancer. She knew she had less than a year to live, so she decided to return home to Denver (we’re in Chicago) & asked for help packing up her books, A mutual friend decided to help, and asked me, but I said that if she wasn’t editing them down, it was a lot of work for nothing. Penny paid to have around 20 bankers boxes of books shipped. Money that could have gone to many other causes that she actually supported. she wanted to see those books around her. Penny died, and her sisters contacted our friend and asked her what to do with the books.
Sometimes you can donate them to a library, but frankly, probably less than 10% of your books are wanted by anyone but you.
I donate books to a nonprofit (Africa Library Project) that ships books to Africa. I collect mostly science and ‘how to’ books, and books on African history. They can afford to send containers. However, whenever I go to the warehouse, usually twice a month, there are stacks of boxes of books on pallets heading to recycling. Old computer books, religious books, books with broken bindings or too much underlining. Outdated history books. Sad, but at least they are getting recycled.
So now an Alabama legislator Tommy Tuberville (https://news.yahoo.com/sen-tommy-tuberville-former-college-155031916.html) is blocking the promotions of military personnel because the military allows abortions in military hospitals. He believes they should not be allowed due to the Hyde Amendment (passed in 1976….allowing abortions ONLY to save the life of the mother).
I have a few questions, and I hope you do, too. I hope you will copy this blog and paste it into an email to your legislators, and all the anti-choice people who believe—apparently because of their belief in the Judeo-Christian Bible, that abortion is murder.
Where in the Bible is abortion mentioned at all? How about miscarriages? I’ve read 3 Bibles so far, and can’t find any mention of it.
When does the soul enter the fetus? At conception? Well, if so, and you’re concerned….why allow any abortions at all? Why allow them at 6 weeks? Are those lesser souls?
Do you mourn for all the miscarried fetuses? How much time every day do you spend mourning?
If you are so concerned about life, and claim babies are innocent—why aren’t you fostering or adopting—or paying more to foster parents?
If the soul enters the fetus at conception, why would you allow abortion in the case or rape or incest? Are those souls more tainted?
& if yuu’re a different religion, and believe you’re not an actual baby—person===until you are born, you don’t respect this point of view, and defiantly defend your gobbly-gook.
None of their position makes sense. In some states, case law permits a rapist to ask for custody of the child once born (interesting—would the rapist be allowed to refuse custody if the child is born with defects?
I am shocked and dismayed journalists never ask the anti-abortion people (they are NOT ‘pro-life) any of these questions. They are respected for spouting gobbly gook.
Families. What can you say. I remember as a kid wondering why my family wasn’t like the families I saw on TV (in the 1960’s). They all got along. They all lived middle class lives. There was no conflict. My sister and I remember the ‘Leave It To Beaver’ episode where Beaver lost the money he had for a haircut and gave himself a haircut (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0630303/ ). Nobody did anything so outrageous that anyone needed to enlist the help of a mental health professional.
So, when issues started occurring in my own family, I wondered what went wrong.
I’ve read Augustyn Burroughs “Running With Scissors” twice and have also listened to the book on audio (which he reads). I had to: the story is so unbelievable: his mother moved in with her psychiatrist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_with_Scissors_(memoir) when she left her husband (Burrough’s father). Due to a lawsuit (how the shrink’s family came to recognize themselves and essentially—outed themselves) the book was repackaged as fiction. It’s still a good read, as are Burroughs other books.
This was a marriage made in hell. His parents met in college, and his father started out studying to be a minister. He lost his faith, but became a professor of philosophy. Along the way, their lives fell apart. The father developed psoriatic arthritis and was always bleeding and in pain, ultimately becoming an alcoholic, and his mother, an artist, seemed to be suffering depression, anxiety, and ADHD, possibly as a response to the dynamic in the marriage. Augustyn was caught in the middle. He writes very vividly of trying to get his father to interact with him and is rebuffed . Both parents needed help, but their relationship with their psychiatrist isn’t working. Augystyn’s father is self-centered, and cruel. His mother escapes to her own emotional world. Mother and son leave father several times, fearing father will kill them. Father allows 2 pets to die of neglect. His older brother, John Elder Robeson, left as a teenager.
The parents ultimately divorce, and Augystyn drops out of school and is adrift. He, too, becomes an alcoholic….but somehow, he gets a creative job at an advertising firm (his claim to fame is ‘Calgon—take me away…). He starts writing.
Being a Jewish girl who spent my early years in Skokie, I had to read this book. At times, when Pressman writes about her parents habits and idiosyncracies, you have to laugh. If this wasn’t my parents, it was a friend’s parents. My grandparents left Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Germany before the Holocaust, and became dispersed, but all left where they were born because it wasn’t safe for Jews. More than the story of Ann Frank—because this takes place in the United States, this should be on a required reading list. Pressman writes about how her family coped with being terrorized and then assimilating. They are culturally Jewish, but they, too , have lost faith. Pressman’s parents, particularly her mother, had the Holocaust on her mind every day. Obviously, PTSD, but back then, the syndrome was only used for combat veterans.
All things considered, her parents did ‘ok’. They raised seven daughters and lived a middle class life. Could you appreciate this if you hadn’t fled Nazi terror?
Both books are well written, and if you know someone who’s coping with family dynamics, I’d suggest both as good reads.
You know, the elephant in the room are the journalists who refuse to ask logical questions of: the “Pro-Life” (really, just anti-aboortion) activists.
Nobody ever asks how many children they have or will adopt or foster—yet these people believe they are saving lives. How is it a life saved to have a child rot in an orphanage? Have they never heard of the Romanian orphans, who get no social, physical. or emotional interaction because there are not enough volunteers? Why not volunteer?
Have they been denied adopting because they either want a a white infant, not a troublesome older child—-or is it a philosophical stance that they believe truly, that God tells them they are righteous & life begins at conception? Where in the Christian (or you can go back to the ‘Old’ Testament, too) does it say that abortion is murder? In fact, I’ve read several different bibles of the Hudeo-Christian type, & have never seen the phrase, “Life begins at conception.’ I have read who bore whom—but they were people after they were born.
& for those of us who are Sikh, Buddist, Zoarastian, Shinto, spiritual, etc—-why should we have to live with your philosophical strictures? How does my abortion affect you physically & mentally? By fighting the right to body autonomy, you may feel morally superior, but I don’t find you morally superior. Would YOU like the state to tell your doctor what kind of care to provide you? No?
Oh, I see, it’s about sex, and being as sinner, & women being punished for being naive & trusting men or not fighting rapists hard enough. right?
I’ve had Christians on the spectrum of belief tell me that either they believe ‘God’ wrote the Bible, or that it’s allegory, and everything in between—including the wording as translated into English.
I’m sure there are nuances, but really, we get the gist.
God singled out MEN whom he thought to be righteous and assigned them tasks to ‘save’ others—notably the Israelites. The Israelites (Jews) were made slaves in Egypt after the pharoah decided they became too great in numbers. We all know the story of how Moses was found in the bullrushes and the pharoah’s daughter raised him and used his actual biological mother as a nursemaid.
Moses was an overseer of the construction of at least one pyramid. He felt the workers—-slaves—were being mistreated, and his journey being guided by ‘God’ began. What is difficult to understand is that God visited a bunch of plagues on Egypt (to force the pharoah’s hand to let the Israelites—apparently the hardest working and most skilled subjects, emigrate. We have to assume those dreadful plagues: drought, locusts, boils, frogs. lice, flies, livestock pestilence, hail, darkness, water turning to blood, & slaying of the first born) ALSO affected the Israelites as well.
I’ve got questions. Were these plagues a year apart? Even though Moses told the pharoah that a plague was about to happen, did pharoah see the correlation between a divine power and these environmental responses? We don’t know.
Lets move on …So Moses finally gets to lead the Israelites out of Egypt…but—apparently—the night before they are to leave, God tells Moses to tell the Israelites to ask for the wealth (gold/ silver/jewelry) from their NEIGHBORS to take to the ‘promised land’. Never mind that at this point Moses doesn’t realize that they will be wandering for 40 years, which, at that time, was more than a generation—lets go back to wealth.
I am a Jew, and as I mentioned in a previous post, in my over 60 years of doing seders at Passover, reading the Hagaddah, singing or saying DAYENU—it was only this year that we thanked God for allowing the Israelites to bring WEALTH. We googled it—and there it was. I’ve now seen it in several versions of the Old Testament. So, that means that the Israelites were somewhat integrated into workers neighborhoods with their neighbors who were idolators.
Ok, let’s skip that question for now. God parts the sea, the Israelites escape, and God closes the sea on the pursuing Egyptians. The Israelites rejoice, and God asks them, “How can you rejoice when my children are dying?” I’ve only seen this in one version of the O,T.
This makes no sense, because HE could have held the Egyptians back & not allowed them to cross. But the bigger question is: God smote the people of Sodom and Gomorrah because of some evil people. Were the people or Sodom & Gomorrah more evil than the Egyptians? After all, they were not harassing Jews (nor could they have been, because the only Jew was Lot at that time, apparently…).
Ok, lets move on to …Leviticus, where we start getting ‘rules’—like, if a man sleeps with a slave girl promised to another man, but who has not been ransomed, or given her freedom, there must be due punishment. And when you enter the land and plant a fruit tree regard its fruit as forbidden for three years. Lets go on: Do not practice divination or sorcery, and DO NOT CUT THE HAIR ON THE SIDES OF YOUR HEAD OR CLIP THE EDGES OF YOUR BEARD…DO NOT CUT YOUR BODIES OR PUT TATTOO MARKS ON YOURSELVES…DO NOT DEGRADE YOUR DAUGHTER MAKING HER A PROSTITUTE (but selling her is ok, as long as you sell her to another Israelite..)… DO NOT LIE WITH A WOMAN DURING HER MONTHLY PERIOD….
Ok, let’s pause right here. Now, over 6ooo years late, we have fundamentalists who believe God wrote the Bible believing the storms that we call ‘acts of God’ are not at all the result of our disrespecting God’s earth and human.
I haven’t gotten to the New Testament yet, as I keep trying to understand a God who tells people to attack a town (where people are minding their own business) because they are evil—even the children. God tells Joshua to amass an army and do this.
It also seems that David’s sexual behavior is quite ok. It just seems that women aren’t worth much: they are to be used and traded by men. Tell me I’m wrong.
I live on the far north side of Chicago, in Rogers park. The advantages of my neighborhood are we have 4 rapid transit (“L”) stops, are close to Lake Michigan, and we are very diverse. Unfortunately, we also have a lot of vacant commercial space; storefronts.
These days, you can go online and find out what various storefronts—ranging from 425 square feet to 3500 square feet, will cost to rent per year. You are going to pay between $6700—15,000 per year, with an average of $10,000 per year. That will be slightly more than $800 a month. On top of that, garbage pick up , electricity, heat (maybe air conditioning), insurance (liability, inventory—even window insurance against breakage), and property taxes at about $7.50 per square foot.. You’ll need equipment, a budget for marketing, and money to pay employees (from your sales, of course).
Let’s say you are the only employee, and to pay your bills alone, you need to take home $150 per day. So, your overhead, per month has to be at least $4700. If you’re open 6 days a week, 24 days a month, that would be $195 per day. Can you do it? Will you have enough foot traffic? A client base?
Most likely, you’ll pay more. This is a ballpark. We have a lot of hair salons, and liquor stores, a couple of restaurants, and several bars. if the weather is decent, if we don’t have another epidemic, if you , the renter remain healthy, you aren’t getting rich, but you’re keeping your head above water.
Of course you have to come up with the capital for equipment, which might mean a loan, and that daily nut is not including paying for marketing. Who knows what that will cost? You may have to put up a website or keep your Facebook page current. This is doable.
So, why are over 30% of our storefronts vacant? Because the reality is that it probably isn’t doable here.
Our aldermen—-who vote on the laws and how our property taxes are spent, make between $115,000 and $145,000 a year…and can make more, Most have a side hustle The favorite side hustle aside from allowing people needing ‘something’ to contribute to their re-election campaign is….buying property, setting up a business entity, and renting to themselves. I tried Googleing this every which way, but what they are given for office overhead is not transparent. Let’s imagine it’s about $100,000—because they have employees, too.
Because I’ve challenged raises in my property taxes, and I’ve gotten an ‘longevity’ (living in my home over 10 years) & a senior citizens’ exemption, my property taxes are lower, but the average per unit (of living space)in my ward is about $5000 per year. You will be hard pressed to find residential property of any size that rents for under $1000 a month.
Since I don’t have accurate figures, these are only ballpark, but what got me thinking about all this was that a guy who was wrongfully convicted of a crime and was incarcerated for over 20 years got a payout of over $27 million dollars for his freedom being taken away. More recently—a few days ago—a guy charged with shooting a policeman, but never brought to trial–i kid you not, was released after 11 years in jail awaiting the trial. He served more time than he would have if convicted. Worse, evidence showed he was 3 miles from where the cop was shot: he pleaded to the crime because he was tortured (this is Chicago…). He’s getting $7 million.
In the 1st instance, the gist is that the police either lied, made up evidence, or withheld evidence, and a jury believed the police. it took the guy 20 years to find a lawyer to take his case, in the meantime, he was behind bars. In the 2nd, it took calling out the state’s attorney for the delay.
These are not an unusual cases. You read about them in the news all the time: the police lie/withhold evidence, or make it up, and get away with it.
Where does the city get the money to pay the wrongfully convicted? Take a guess.
We could make a real dent in this horrifying problem by telling the police right now, that if they were involved in wrongfully convicting someone, and ruining a life…to come forward right now, because if they don’t—-they’d lose their pensions.
Several decades ago, I was volunteering for Harold Washington, mayor of Chicago. I live on the north side, in a racially mixed neighborhood. Some people came up from the south side, and as we were walking around, taping up posters, one of the people, a black teenager (I’m white) asked me, “Do white people think all black people look the same like black people think all white people look the same?”
Of course, I laughed, but it’s really not that funny.
The victim of the rape, Alice Sebold, who wrote a best selling memoir about her experience, was led to believe, by the prosecutor, that even though she could not identify the rapist in a line-up (he wasn’t in the line-up and was never caught), they’d prosecute Broadwater. He opted for a bench trial, and the judge convicted him.
After 20 years, mostly due to the research done by writers who were working on turning this story into a movie, and finding he was wrongly convicted, he got out of prison. His life was destroyed by the system that begs for a conviction of anyone.
Rape is a horrible crime. But our judicial system is not like how it’s portrayed on TV. I’ve been a court advocate, and was shocked by how sloppily police collected evidence, how poor people had no chance of getting adequate representation, and then, how many cases are ultimately overturned when evidence is reviewed.
He did not do the crime although he did do the time: 24 years. I do not dispute that he deserved the settlement. Sure his lawyers got some…but this is also not the whole story: the city (my tax dollars) not only convicted the guy wrongfully, but defended the conviction The police who lied about evidence? Off the hook.
Now, you would think that people who are employed by governments—paid with our tax dollars—who do this should be liable: BEARING FALSE WITNESS—-& should be fired. If they are retired, they should lose their pensions—shouldn’t they?
So here’s the question; Would you do business with a known murderer?
I’m retired. I worked in the pet industry for over 50 years. I’ve worked for assholes who beat dogs into seizures when they got bitten (I quit). I’ve worked for veterinarians who either had no practice manager or had an incompetent manager. That meant dogs were sitting in their own shit, or were obviously under extreme stress—& there was nobody I could ask to manage the situation. I worked for at least 1 animal hospital that didn’t have an isolation area for contagious dogs—& put them in my grooming area, with healthy dogs. One place I worked told me to put groomed dogs in the kennel, & allowed their idiot staff to spray the clean dogs with water (“cleaning the runs”). Stupid. One, which employed a veterinarian who didn’t want a groomer, allowed a vet tech to shave dogs that had come in for grooming, so I wouldn’t be paid.
I’ve also worked at kennels with owners and managers who didn’t know anything about animal husbandry. They’d also put sick dogs in my grooming space. They’d squeeze dogs into cages that were too small (illegal, actually). One kennel ‘lost’ 3 dogs in less than a year. Dogs climbing out of the ‘covered’ runs (or digging out)…and gone…or escaping from pick -up. Seriously. Taking dogs over Independence Day, when there’d be fireworks and gunshots—-allowing owners to think their dogs wouldn’t be under terrifying stress.
I briefly worked for one guy (Pocket Puppies) who bought dogs from Amish farmers (puppy mills—& claiming they were home raised) to resell. I could not be a party to that,
I’ve worked for groomers who bred dogs and did no genetic testing (like Trump said—if you don’t test, you don’t find problems). Ultimately the puppy buyers would find out, but…so what?
I worked briefly for several pet stores that didn’t sell dogs, but would allow backyard breeders to post the puppies and kittens they bred. Or, would offer specials on animals, so would buy a bunch to resell, many would die, but that’s how it goes. I worked for a Pet Supplies Plus that was giving away Betta fish (in 2 cup glass bowls—the hope was of course the taker would buy a complete aquarium set-up). At the end of the promotion, about 50 live fish were flushed down the toilet.
I’ve worked for dog daycare businesses where staff were incompetent and not trained well, so blind dogs were left alone ion a pool area & could have drowned. Where they took dangerous dogs, and because the business owners didn’t know dogs, the rest of us had to deal with those dogs.
Sure, there are degrees of lack of integrity, but I found this really demoralizing. My last job was with a great kennel, run by dog people who really loved dogs and were extremely conscientious. Unfortunately, the owner had a terminal illness and the land was worth more than the business. A real shame. What I learned was that I wasn’t wrong about my feelings.
So now we have a sport, governed by a group of men in a nonprofit organization—the Professional Golfers Assoc, who decided the money was too good to pass up. Time will tell how many golfers say it’s not worth the money to work for a murderer. On paper, LIV us owned by the Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was implicated in the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
When I commented on Facebook, one of my Catholic ‘friends’ made excuses: the golfers don’t really have a say, they don’t control the PGA, many aren’t making a living.
So that’s where the issue comes down to personal integrity. I think the Christians will justify the fact that nobody’s perfect, they have to make a living, and they will ask Jesus to forgive them and go to heaven, even though they know who REALLY gets rich off their ‘labor’.
Me, Sikh and spiritual, don’t buy this reasoning. If I played golf, I’d still play, but I wouldn’t play in PGS/LIV events.
I never thought it would come to this, but it has.
A long time ago, before I was born, actually (1953 to give you context) a bunch of people, mostly white men, started deciding what they wanted children in public schools to learn. Aside from learning to read and write, and doing math and sometimes science, they wanted you to learn history. or, well, their view of history.
Facts are facts, but they decided that some facts made old white people look bad, so they didn’t want teachers to mention those historical facts.
When I learned what I learned, I took what my teachers taught me as real, and provable, with evidence. Why would they lie? Over the years I learned they left out a lot of historical facts. In many cases, history was taught in such a way as to obfuscate (make confusing) the truth. I now know that what a lot of adults believe, what they learned in school, isn’t true.
A benign ‘fact’ that we were all taught is that George Washington, the first president of the Unites States, chopped down his father’s cherry tree and admitted it. It’s immortalized in the Parson Weem’s painting. The point was that he didn’t lie to his father when he admitted chopping down the tree. It never happened. It’s part of American folklore now, like Paul Bunyan.
We teach ourselves that Colunbus discovered ‘America’, when actually, there’s evidence that the Vikings were on north American soil about 200 years before that, and there’s some evidence of west Africans in the Yucatan. We teach this as though it was a triumph of European curiosity and cleverness.
We don’t teach that the Europeans explorers were trying to expand the Christian empire, somewhat mimicking the Old Testament of taking land for God. They were proselytizing. We don’t teach how cruel these European explorers were, that they savagely killed the inhabitants (which they called Indians), and raped them and spread diseases, and enslaved many (in the Old Testament, it seems God believe slavery is ok—-at least for 6 years…).
Because they believed it was ok to proselytize (after all, they were convinced that they were doing God’s work), they disrespected the people who were on the land. We don’t realize how offensive it is to go to people (that you may depend on for sustenance), tell them what they believe is wrong, and what we believe is better than what they believe, and characterize them as savages. I’m not allowed to teach you about this.
I’m not allowed to teach you that at the same time this ‘exploration’ was going on, Europeans decided to buy or take slaves from Africa, because they were dark skinned, and you could easily tell who they were by the color of their skin. We taught ourselves for centuries that they had no languages, no cultures, lived in trees, and were also savages—and I was taught we did them a favor by enslaving them and bringing them to God—even though many of them already believe in one God. Many were Muslims. But that’s embarrassing to people of European descent. We can teach you about the 3/5 rule: that when doing a population census, people in the slave states wanted them counted as citizens—but not totally. So the compromise was counting them as 3/5 of a white person; That was American law.
I’m not allowed to teach you that our politicians (I mean legislators) always budget a lot of the tax money they collect from us, to over fund the military, whether they can use it or not. So, the military repackages the money and pays consultants who really may not know too much about what they are ‘advising’ on, and military hardware we do not need. This is why they claim there isn’t enough money for Medicare for all, subsidized housing, better infrastructure. We give not just a lot to the military, but, due to lobbyists—people who market ideas—we give foreign aid to dictators. Nobody eve asks if we’ve improved social indicators like maternal and child mortality, literacy, or communications infrastructure. We rely on the Gross Domestic Product: how much they export. So we’re really culpable (that means responsible) for many people being oppressed. We really don’t care about human rights or the rules of law. The old white men are still thinking they’d all go Communist if we didn’t give them money. In fact, China owns Africa, and will probably own most of the Unites States before i die…but I’m not supposed to teach you that.
In health class, we are allowed to teach the biology of reproduction, but we are not supposed to address any other questions you might have about your body. We can teach that you shouldn’t have sex before you are married, because you might get pregnant, but we are not allowed to teach you how to NOT get pregnant (contraception is what it’s called), or about sex practices that will keep you from getting pregnant. And if you are attracted to people of your own gender, that’s something you have to learn about outside of school.
Your parents apparently want us to teach you about what’s in the Judeo-Chrstian Bible, and I do hope, no matter what your religion, that you will read it and ask questions. I’ve read it and have a lot of questions. Apparently God told Moses and the Israelites that a lot of things were despicable, like women dressing as men, and men as women, and people having sex with members of the same sex, but he also said eating pork and shellfish were despicable, and if you guys don’t have side curls on your head, that’s despicable, If you don’t honor your parents and love your neighbors…but then God tells the Israelites to go to war against the people on land God wants to give them. God claims that they worship false idols. Have you ever been in a Catholic church and seen the idols? You know, depictions of the Virgin, and Jesus. Well, apparently they don’t count. As long as they aren’t animals, idols depicting saints are ok.
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that slavery is despicable. In fact, you can enslave people, but have to release them on the 7th year. Like I said, the Europeans thought they were doing the Africans a good deed by CIVILIZING them.
As you get older, and travel, yu will be exposed to ideas that are new, and different, and I hope your curiosity will lead you to question, but I’m sorry, you can’t question me,.
I recently read Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us. It’s a story about a woman who grew up with an abusive father. He dies, leaves her an inheritance, she opens a florists shop, and she meets a man ‘with issues’, marries him, he’s abusive, and she has to make a decision. That’s the gist.
I read the book because it was published several years ago, was featured on ‘Book Tok,” and became a best seller. In fact, all of Hoover’s books are now best sellers, partially because of BookTok and word of mouth.
I was out and picked up a student newspaper where a student reviewer gave the book a ‘Don’t bother to read’ review. She felt it wasn’t realistic. sShe says she read the book in four hours. Yes, the antagonist is a medical student with a brilliant career ahead of him. There are lots of books about abusers who are handsome and have good jobs and women who make excuses for the guy they love. But the fact that she couldn’t put the book down said a lot to me.
If you read a several hundred page book in four hours, it’s a compelling read—realistic or not. I’ve started to read so many books, gotten 20 pages in, and decided either the book is going nowhere, or it’s a waste of time. I’ve read two of Susan Choi’s books, and boy, she uses a lot of words to tell a story—whether believable or not. I don’t like books that I have to read a sentence two or three times to figure out what the writer is saying—but for many, that’s ‘literary fiction’. Like Murakani’s “Wind Up Bird Chronicle’. Did it really have to be that many words with that many tangents?
Nobody wants to read a book about the girls who allowed themselves to be picked up in a bar, or linked up with a friend-of-a-friend, who left them pregnant, and the girl and kid have to struggle. Our own lives have enough angst.
Last year, I reviewed “Inappropriate Men“, by Stacey Ballis (https://wordpress.com/post/disparateinterests.wordpress.com/4998). I’m sure you can still get it on Amazon. The main character, who describes herself as a fat girl, has a torrid affair with her father’s business partner who she knows won’t leave his wife, then a series of other inappropriate men who aren’t suitable long term partners for other reasons. I found this funny and accurate. I’m sure many women have dated men and at some point realized the relationship was going nowhere, they really weren’t that attracted to the guy, or were settling because they wanted to be married.
I picked up “One to Watch” by Kate Stayman-London partly because of the back cover blurb; Bea is a large size fashion blogger with a following, who is asked to be on a show based on The Bachelor. She’d hesitant for good reason, and of course, most of the men are dogs. If you live in the USA and haven’t seen The Bachelor, you’re living in a cave. All the girls they pick are always a size 6 or smaller, long haired, none wear glasses, and all are fashion forward. The men are all good looking and shallow. In any case, this book does have a happy ending, and it also addresses the issues most of us face when looking for a partner. I’d give this book to teenage girls.
I googled Barclay Square—a bloodline developed by Dale Miller who bred dogs for over 60 years . Some of her dogs’ pedigrees show up , but no photos of her dogs. I also Googled Blythewood, Joan Huber’s commercial kennel. Joan was accused of practicing veterinary medicine without a license and her dogs were confiscated by a government pound until the accusation was sorted out. Yes, she cropped her dogs’ ears. Her first husband was a veterinarian, and many breeders paid her to ‘do ears’ because she wouldn’t butcher them. Unfortunately, she had the audacity to do it in front of recently hired kennel help , girls who were out to get her because she did, indeed, breed pets as livestock. The difference was, she bred good dogs, had an excellent reputation among her fellow Miniature Schnauzer breeders, and would take a dog back if it didn’t work out. Everyone knew this.
Well, what got the breed really, in the end, is that they went from having coats like Ch. Helarry’s Dark Victory to having way too much undercoat, having a coat you could not ‘roll’, and being almost impossible to get into show coat for more than 10 weeks at a time, You don’t see Min. Schnauzers winning best in shows these days, Not because they aren’t good, but because too few fanciers can afford to campaign a dog, and again, the coat.
You hardly ever see a Rough Collie (“Lassie”) anymore. Besides shedding a lot, genetic issues and backyard breeders have done them in. St. Bernards? Well, how many people can afford to feed a dog that large? Plus, eye problems, genetic deafness, hip dysplasia. Most people who want a giant breed go for Great Danes (which also have so many genetic issues). Cocker Spaniels: eye, ear, skin, and other genetic health issues. Even the so-called ‘well-bred’ ones. The breeders are in denial. It’s no mystery how Cavalier King Charles Spaniels have become more popular.
Why aren’t purebred Poodles more popular? They wer the number 1 breed in the 1960s. Oh sure: paying for grooming. the people who use them to breed Doodles are liars and claim they don’t shed. Well, if you keep them shaved short enough, they probably don’t. But if you don’t want your Poodle to be in a traditional trim, TELL YOUR DOG GROOMER! I’m sure many people who buy Doodles would really rather have a Purebred Poodle, or Portuguese or Spanish Water Dog—-but the breeders of those breeds are pickier about who they sell to.
It’s expensive to raise good, healthy dogs, and the older hobby breeders are dying, Their kids want nothing to do with it. That means fewer dogs of pure brees, and smaller gene pools. If you don’t think that’s a problem… just wait.
The reason I have a degree in urban planning is that I got offered an assistantship to grad school because of my hands on experience with recycling, microbusiness, and community organizing. My undergraduate degree was no accident. I chose anthropology because (well, at the time I didn’t know I had Asperger’s) I wanted to know how humans made decisions. One of my grad school classmates also had an undergraduate degree in anthropology, and he told me he chose planning because he felt he could do a better job than what he had experienced around him.
I think a lot of planners really have a utopian vision. I was heavily influenced by what I learned about the Oneida community: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oneida_Community . it was a unique social experiment, and they supported themselves by manufacturing most of what they needed themselves—and by developing a silverware company which still exists. The commune dissolved for a variety of reasons.
I started thinking about this because Ojoko Okello, an urban planner from Kampala, Uganda, came to talk about the community he is helping to develop in Uganda, where his father was born: Okera City:https://www.okerecity.org/ Check out their website. they’ve done some amazing things in a very short period of time. Also, although the USA gives aid to Uganda…this community developed on their own & receives no aid, but is looking for investors.
https://www.projectredwood.org/zambian-childrens-fund/ i learned about ZCF just about when they started. An American woman managed to get foundation support for building a campus and school just north of Lusaka, for AIDS orphans. They slowly managed to develop income generating projects. Again, Zamia receives foreign aid from the USA, but ZCF gets none.
https://malawichildrensvillage.org/about-us/ This project was also started for AIDS orphans. A bunch of ‘do-gooder peace Corps Volunteers had ideas 9as we Americans do), but we asked the community what they wanted. They wanted to keep children with their extended families if possible, but they wanted help with an irrigation system, a school, digging wells, and a health center. They are just outside Mangochi on lake Malawi. It has not been smooth sailing for MCV. first AIDS, then so many environmental disasters, and COVID. yet for any child that graduates secondary school, there is assistance with college or starting businesses. They built a hospital/nursery for AIDS orphans. Malawi gets foreign aid from the USA, but none goes to MCV.
I’m sure there are other community based projects. If you’re going to the continent, bring world maps, first aid stuff, science education stuff…Google the country you’re visiting and see if there are any model villages. You can also contact Peace Corps in country (or Volunteers Overseas Service: https://www.vsointernational.org/ ) and possibly, volunteer, or assist (hey—Christian church members—an opportunity without proselytizing).
If you can’t go, but still want to ‘do something’:https://www.africanlibraryproject.org/ sends books and helps build libraries. Please don’t send your old trade paperbacks.They need science books, technical ‘how to’, medical books, nonfiction. They receive no government support.
I keep wondering where our aid goes. I know it goes to weapons for dictators and gets frittered away because USAID is dismal at accounting,. so another thing you can do if you really want to make a difference is ask your elected officials why nobody on their staffs can read a budget, and they keep voting to overfund out military AND ‘foreign aid’—& yet always argue about the debt s ceiling and the budget. Tell them then appear to not be very competent.
Essay: Forget ‘Critical Race Theory: It’s Time we Updated American History Curriculum
In Chicago, we had an election for mayor. We had a political machine for a very long time, and Lori Lightfoot broke the machine. It came down to a run-off, and she didn’t make the cut. I wonder if it was her lack of progress on police reform, on crime, or if it had something to do with her being a black, gay woman…or all three.
One guy who did make the cut was Paul Vallas. He was our superintendent of Chicago Public Schools over a decade ago. In fact, he championed private education: charter schools. They also have a mixed record in Chicago. He did nothing to improve tests scores or graduation rates, and when he was fired, he left town.
He continued to work in managing school districts, and his record did NOT improve anywhere. There is some speculation that he may not even live in Chicago (his wife doesn’t), but he was the white guy in the race. The challenger, Brandon Johnson, who won,was a school teacher, active in the teachers’ union, and had recently been serving on the county board.
Although both men consider themselves to be progressives, it’s clear: Vallas is more than a conservative when it comes to economics. He knows he is where he is due to support of the business community.
Vallas’ response to improving or updating curriculum, which has become synonymous with ‘Critical Race Theory’? He actually believes revising school curriculum to be inclusive and FACTUAL is a bad thing… because…” (it)further undermines the relationship of children to parents…for white parents, I mean, how are you going to discipline your child when your child comes home and has basically been told that their …parents have discriminated against others and they have somehow victimized another person’s race?” is what he said, and it’s on tape.
Disciplining children who’ve found out they were lied to? How does that work?
Vallas’ position is…. if we don’t address past legalized racism, it didn’t happen. There were no ‘white’ and ‘colored’ drinking fountains or bathrooms? People were not served in stores & restaurants because of their race? We didn’t have ‘separate but equal’? People aren’t racist?
I’m white. I remember being in high school in 1969, and reading in American Heritage magazine about the Yoruba of West Africa. I’ll never forget the moment the light bulb went on in my head. You mean…what they taught us about Africans having no languages or cultures was a lie? Being taught that the (white) Christians did the Africans a favor by enslaving them and bringing them Christianity was a good thing? That’s what we were taught.
There were so many lies back then: that women should not be given credit in their own names (let alone non-white people), the Viet Nam war was about fighting communism, marijuana use led to harder drugs.
Do white people really believe that if we don’t start teaching young kids real history, they’ll never discover it?
I was a teenager back then, so it’s hard to say if that discovery—that my parents were racists—made me disrespect them. I did learn to question everything I was told.
I don’t have one. Nor do I have a resume anymore. When I got my last job working for Rob Engelking at King’s Kennels in Riverwoods, Illinois, I knew that would be my last job. In fact, it was my dream job, for so many reasons. Logistically, I could get the 20 miles to the kennel in half the time it took me to get downtown, where the job I had before that (at K9 University) was. At King’s, I could park in the parking lot and not have to drive around looking for a place to park.
Then, the grooming room—in fact the whole kennel—was wonderful: safe, clean, and had every piece of equipment a dog groomer could want. More, the Engelkings had a reputation among people showing dogs. Certainly, we groomed a lot of pet dogs, but we had a high percentage of dogs being shown or retired from the ring, and of course, they were all well behaved. Also, Rob was the best boss ever. He knew dogs. He knew what we could do and what we couldn’t. He had a great sense of humor, and he respected me.
If you were to look at my resume, you’d laugh. This is the blurb I send out when I submit short stories to journals and they want a bio:
Robyn is a retired dog groomer who has titled dogs in performance and conformation. She also has placed in grooming contests. She didn’t go to college until she was 30, and took CLEP exams to avoid prerequisites. She has degreesin anthropology with concentrations in African & Indian studies, and a master’s in urban planning. She was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi. Most of her published writing has been nonfiction in pet industry magazines, though she has published fiction stories. Most recently her essay, “On the Water,” was included in the SCARS anthology for 2022. She has Asperger’s and sees the world from the perspective of a visitor from another planet.
I went to the New York School of Dog Grooming in Chicago in 1970, where I learned basic Poodle grooming five days a week. I then got several short term jobs until I graduated high school, the last one at Becker Animal Hospital in Northfield, assisting poodle groomer Mimi Colman. Then I moved to Milwaukee, took a short term job also grooming for a mom & pop until a friend saw an ad for a groomer way across town for Jo-Kor’s Klippette. Joan Fredericksen, the owner, was a member of the Waukesha Kennel Club, and through her, I met some amazing people, including Charlie Prager, the breeder of the Center Ridge Bedlingtons & inventor of the first portable dog grooming table and stand dryer. I learned to groom terriers so they didn’t look like Cocker Spaniels.
When Joan sold the business about two years later, I moved back to Chicago, in winter.I ultimately got a job assisting Jan Condurso at The Collar & Leash. Her parents raised Bedlingtons, Poodles, and Boxers. She learned to groom Bedlingtons from Jack Funk. I was there about two years making good money when we had the first oil embargo, and business slowed to almost nonexistant.
Then I got a job working for Jocelyn Slatin, who had Jamboree Airedales. I loved that job, but she also planned to move. About that time, I knew of fellow dog fanciers who had a business out in Schaumburg, Illinois, who wanted to sell their business. My parents lent me the money and I bought Reigning Cats & Dogs. I thought my husband and I would move out there, but that never worked out. He got into law school and we got divorced. I was very demoralized, and sold the business, and went to Arizona and worked for Jocelyn, who had moved to Prescott, Arizona. When I got back, I took a part time job grooming, but got hired as a Project Manager for Literacy Volunteers of Chicago, setting up ESL training sites. We were very successful, but I was a ‘VISTA VOLUNTEER’. I got insurance, but the pay was terrible, so I had to keep grooming dogs part time.
I spent several years as an independent contractor, going to a bunch of different shops, piecing jobs together. So many microbusinesses that the owners either sold or shut down. I shlepped out to Naperville (40 miles from home) several days a week for two years. worked as a dog trainer, training people to train their dogs, going from Zion up north to Flossmoor south, and west to Elgin. Lots of driving. Then, in 1985, at the age of 30, I went on an African safari, and it change my life.I quit the dog training job, went to college while I groomed dogs part-time, at Shear Comfort in Skokie, and for a while (until i couldn’t take the lax management & noise) Critter Cleaners out on Harlem. I also learned I had Asberger’s. Suddently, between anthropology & this diagnosis, my life made sense.
I was a research assistant for the two years I was in grad school, and then there were no jobs again. I took a job at the Velvet Bow in Hinsdale, but quickly got a Peace Corps assignment in Malawi, as a Town Planner. I returned, still no jobs. I took a job for Women’s Self-Employment Project when Connie Evans (a woman who had never owned a business) was the Executive Director. That was 1 of my worst jobs. Our program was based on the Grameen Bank model, which works in Bangladesh, where women are illiterate and not mobile. Not so much in Chicago, where you can borrow money, move a block away, and disappear. Connie really had no idea how we got women into our programs. I got Plantars Fascitis from ‘pounding the pavement’ looking for women who had business ideas. From the very start, I was lied to about how much I would be paid, and ultimately they wanted me to train my next boss. What an insult!I got a job with Grooming by Gerri which was great, but I was offered an opportunity for a job with….BENEFITS!!!
The Chicago Christian Industrial League had a resale store that grossed about $300 a day in quarters! The CFO wanted to know why we weren’t making more. He hired me to be a manager, even though the two people managing, Calvin Franklin & Sally Ross, knew what the problem was. Within a week, I could tell as well. Not to go into petty details—the organization’s land was worth more than their program, but from there, I worked for the Ark—a Jewish based social service agency where I was cheated out of health insurance due to lies and bad management. There was so much potential, but management was inept. I finally decided to return to grooming dogs.
I loved grooming dogs, but it’s so physically demanding. In 2000, I bought a business with the hope of ultimately buying a boarding kennel, but first, we had 9/11, and a big scandal with Arthur Andersen (which some of my clients worked for), and the Enron mess, and slowly, slowly, during the Dubya years, the economy got pretty bad and I could see the writing on the wall. I would have possibly stuck it out, but my core business was dogs that got groomed every week and every two weeks, and as those clients dogs’ died of old age, and the clients either lost jobs or their own clients. I just felt I had bought a job for myself. I tried finding a smaller space with less rent to move the business to, and I could not find a properly zoned building within five miles of my shop. I closed up and continued to work for other people.
I went back to work for Shear Comfort, now in Evanston. I took 2 weeks off to be a UN Volunteer in Bosnia & CY (the owner) practically had a fit. I worked for a PetCo, where I was really taken advantage of, and later for a Pet Supplies Plus. I also spent a very bad year on and off working for Jennifer Stavrianos at Pet Care Plus. That was almost surreal. Another business with so much potential owned by a woman who had never trained a dog and wouldn’t even bathe her own dogs.
I worked for a couple of animal hospitals that either had no practice manager, so nobody was in charge, or had a practice manager that didn’t care and I was put in either dangerous or no-win situations constantly (my ‘favorite’ was the year dog flu/kennel cough was rampant, and the veterinarians had no isolation kennels and put sick dogs in the grooming room).
I took a job with a business owned by a veterinary technician who promised to make the grooming area better and safer, and never did, and who trusted another groomer & didn’t realize that she didn’t have enough grooming clients for a viable business.
I was hoping things would work out at K9 University, as I really like Ruby Madrigal, but she also didn’t manage her own business and her staff didn’t know enough about dogs. The whole place was dangerous for so many reasons. They actually lost 3 dogs the year I was there—either during transport, or dogs that climbed out of kennels and ran away. They kept putting nonsocial dogs right outside the grooming area, stressing me and the grooming dogs with the barking.There was so much potential, but I just couldn’t do it anymore.
So, when a client told me that Rob was looking for a groomer, I called him. Then COVID, Also, we knew it would happen: he got an offer on the land, and the land was worth more than the kennel business…. due to life.
So now I’m retired. I’m not bored. I read, I write, and I irritate the scammers and unethical people selling baby animals on Craigslist. I collect books to send to schools in Africa, I travel, I train dogs. Even though I could hardly say I had a ‘career’, I planned well.
I was not raised in a religious household. We were more culturally Jewish, but I realized, as I got older, my parents didn’t inculcate us with the same beliefs that my Christian friends had been raised with. We kids might have been bad, but we were not going to Hell. Heaven wasn’t brought up, either.
What I learned, mostly from Sunday School is that God is all around us and sees everything. That’s pretty much what Sikh believe.
Then, my mother told me, “Jews don’t proselytize.”
What that means is, we don’t tell people what they believe is wrong, and that the only way they can get to Heaven is by believing (in Jesus) and asking Jesus to forgive our sins.
I inferred that sins were not following the 10 commandments. Sikhi believe that pride, anger, lust, greed, and attachment are ‘sins’. The virtues are: truth, compassion & patience, contentment, humility & self-control, love, wisdom, & courage are virtues. Nothing about not eating this or that, not anything, really, about wearing your hair a certain way (although Punjabi Sikhi believe God made us perfect & we should not cut our hair), nothing about telling others what they must do, nothing about what kinds of sex is allows…nothing about when life begins or ends. people really don’t know when life begins or ends.& since men and womena re equal—all people are equal….slavery is definitely not allowed.
But now we have a segment of Christians who believe they should enforce their rules. They are sure they are doing God’s work by keeping the rest of us in line. They are absolutely positive—even though they are not taking care of strangers’ children, that women who become pregnant accidentally or suffer a sad diagnosis should bear children, because those cells already have souls.
We know it isn’t about respecting life, but about control. & even though the United States of America is a secular country, there seems to be serious debate over this.
I am really baffled. It seems that most people—& since most people claim to be Christians, are opposed to what the conservative fundamentalists, who have no knowledge of science and certainly aren’t philosophers, and man who don’t even attend a church…that these people in control are not ‘really’ Christians. They aren’t tolerant of others beliefs.
First of all, if you weren’t raised in a Jewish family, this won’t make any sense to you. sorry. It’s a cultural thing. not so much about religion as tradition.
I got together with cousins for Passover. My family is scattered, not very emotionally close, either, but my sister and I get along well with these particular cousins. We generally don’t do 1st or 2nd night, partly because we really are geographically far apart and work during the day, so we get togethe on the 2st Saturday night.
We all remember our great (and in a few cases, great great) grandparents, Orthodox jews, who did everything ‘by the book’: they waited until Sundown, served Manischevitz wine (never grape juice in the 1960s), and reciteed all the prayers. We all used the Maxwell House Hagaddahs. ‘Dinner’ didn’t start until the 3rd cup of wine, Then, with a small salad, matzoh ball soup, and gefilte fish. By then, we had had so much matzoh, nobody cared what the main meal was (usually chicken with boiled vegetables.
K offered to host. She has two kids, and I have to say, as an aside, so any of this will make sense, her husband’s black, and her mother married for the 2nd time to a Christian. Her stepbrother, his wife and their two kids didn’t join us this year due to illness, but children are integral to the Seder service. The youngest is supposed to recite the 4 questions. I won’t get into minutae, You can look up the 4 Seder questions on Google. The reason we have a Seder is to inculcate our children into our religion.
In any case, K got new Hagaddahs: “30 minute Seder”. It’s the gist: abridged prayers, we were slaves in Egypt, h yadda yadda. We get to the part, after the plagues God visited upon the Egyptians (& you have to wonder why God would stretch out the Jews’ maltreatment), but there is a phrase that says we should thank God for his outstreteched hand and permitting us to bring wealth….
Wealth? What wealth? We were slaves!!!I was sure the hagaddah was written by goyim—this was the first time any of us heard about wealth! So K Googled it, and there were several cites:
If God had merely killed their firstborn, but not given us their wealth, it would have been enough for us. These words appear in the Dayyenu segment of the Passover Seder, and are usually sung with gusto by the participants.
As with several of the other stanzas in that passage, we should be exceedingly careful about accepting this statement at face value. A broad survey of the relevant biblical texts would indicate how crucial it was for the divine historical plan that the Israelites make their departure from Egypt with great wealth.
This detail was foretold to Abraham, and repeated to Moses at the outset of his career. On the eve of the exodus, the Hebrew slaves were given explicit instructions to ask their Egyptian neighbours for goods. The construction of the lavish sanctuary in the wilderness would have been incomprehensible without some explanation of how a ragtag band of freed slaves had come into possession of such immense amounts of gold, silver, textiles and precious stones.
The precise details of how the Israelites acquired the Egyptian wealth have proven problematic to Jewish interpreters and apologists. God instructs Moses Speak now in the ears of the people, and let every man borrow of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver and jewels of gold (Exodus 11:2). As translated here (according to the King James Bible), our ancestors were being told to participate in a divinely authorized scam. Although they knew that they would soon be fleeing from Egypt, and had no expectation of returning the valuables, they disingenuously approached their neighbours on the pretext that this was merely a temporary borrowing.
The moral difficulties inherent in this narrative were acutely evident to Jews throughout history, and hostile gentiles were quick to cite it as evidence for the Torah’s questionable ethical standards………
“I thought we only took matszoh!” My sister remarked.
Of course, discussion ensued (it always does…) and apparently God told the Jews to ask their neighbors for their wealth…no other explanation in the cites.
It got me wondering. Enough of the bible makes no sense. You hear fundamentalists citing that a man should not lie with a man—to make homosexuality a big sin—but in that same section of the Bible (Leviticus? Not sure, as it is a bit redundant), we should not eat shellfish, cloven hooved animals (pork, goat), men should wear payos (the side curls—really no explanation there), and men can sell their daughters to fellow countrymen. yes—sell their daughters.
I’ve read several Bibles, all probably written in English by Christians, and never is the weatlth thing mentioned in Exopdus. never.
Is it in the Talmud? The Talmud is a scroll, not abridged, but whatever, there are enough cites on the internet that I still wonder—were the Jews to trick or threaten their neighbors of the wealth they asked for? & then they weer supposed to give this wealth to God.
One relative surmised that the Jews were more indentured than slaves like we think of—like what the Christians did to black people. There is still slavery, but rarely are the slaves in chains unless they are part of a prison crew. Whatever—-it’s not explained. Another part of the Bible to question…and realize, the Bible is not about being good or fair.
Several years ago,Ii took in a Whippet (she came from Whippet Rescue & Placement: WRAP) to foster. I really didn’t want to keep her as I already had 2 dogs & she was extremely large. I believe she’s about 25″ at the withers, but…she bonded to me quickly and was housebroken. We tried placing her once, and she panicked, so I agreed to pay her adoption fee and kept her.
The story I got was that she came from a hoarding situation. The ‘rescue’ took in 19 dogs including 2 litters of puppies, and we in Chicago got most of them. Funny thing…they were all housebroken and leash trained. I had taken a male, but he started bullying my other dogs, so I returned y him and agree to take Delilah.
Delilah didn’t seem to have any bad habits, but I noticed she was very dog aggrressive on the street (sometime being tethered to a human via the leash will do that, no matter what the breed). She was also definitely looking for someone. She had been bonded to someone, and I don’t think she was given up willingly…so I am now skeptical about rescue from hoarders unless the person conveying the dogs was actually involved in ‘rescue’.
People on s the street always ask about Greyhounds, “Is she a rescue?” Since my other dogs are definitely Whippets, and did not go through rescue, I tell people the truth—& and people need to know this: Ethical breeders who love their dogs take them back. My male was returned to his breeder for chasing the cat, and my tiny bitch was returned at age 7 because he owner suffered a medical crisis. Delilah, the ‘Grippet (she’s so tall, I think she might be a Greyhound/Whippet mix) was ‘rescued.
I’ve been taking her to dog training for a couple of years, and it’s obvious, someone had worked with her. She knows how to do everything. She can do an ‘about turn’ and a ‘finish’—which can be complicated to teach.The problem is that she’s unreliable. She’s a totally different dog in class than she is in the neighborhood.
Sometimes dogs take a dislike to other dogs and you don’t know why. I had 1 whippet who hated arctic breeds/dog with manes, Some dogs don’t like black dogs. Whatever: Delilah is fixed on small dogs.
Many Greyhound rescues will not give a dog to a family that has smaller dogs or small animals because they will chase & kill. When you take a rescue, that’s the chance you take—but at least Greyhound rescues are honest.
I went on an overseas trip a few weeks ago,and my roommate agreed to take care of the dogs. My tiny old bitch adores him,. You should see how she looks at him. Delilah? Will take food from him and even sleep on him or come up to him to have her chin scratched, but she often goes into the yard and won’t return if he’s standing at the door.
So it came to pass after I had been gone almost a week that Delilah escaped from the yard. We now know how: she had watched up flip the latch on the gate and kept trying herself until she got it open. She was not running AWAY. She was looking for ME.
My roommate messaged me on FB messenger, and I told him whom to contact (Lost Dog Illinois, Pawboots Alert, 311/Chicago Animal Care & Control, and to post on FB). Of course, I was sick at heart. I’ve only lost a dog once before, about 20 years ago when we were in the park and he got hit by a bicycle and took off. He was found several hours later, scared and in the bushes, but I thought I’d go out of my mind. Here I was across the ocean, and I just had to stay calm. A few hours later, I got a message from another friend asking me if I knew Delilah was loose! Someone had seen her a mile away from where we live,took a photo of her, posted on Chicago Northside Greyhounds on Facebook, and my friend, just scrolling through saw her, recognized her, & walked over to my house to get my roommate after contacting the group and the person who had her. In less than 3 hours she was back at home.
I am forever grateful to the care and concern of my fellow sighthound lovers who got her and took her in. Social media is not a waste of time. We are getting dogs returned to their owners.
About 20 years ago, my roommate, a Japanese national, returned home to Osaka for a visit. He took Northwest Orient Airlines because it was 1 of the few that flew to his preferred airport. We live in Chicago, but the Northwest hub was Detroit, so he flew from Chicago to Detroit and on to Japan and had a nice visit. In the return,he had to fly back to Detroit.There, being an incoming international flight, he had to clear passport control/customs. What they do in a lot of countries is, if you don’t speak their language, they try English, and if there is still confusion, they pull you out & let the line proceed.
Not in America.
In America, there is no procedure if you don’t understand. My roommate was behind a Chinese couple who did not understand English. Several security people ‘tried’ to communicate with them, and held up the line. I don’t know what happened to the couple, but over 50 people missed their connecting flights. You have to understand this was not a ‘first time’ occurance. It’s an everyday thing.
So…. everyone had to be rebooked on a later flight. Northwest had other aggravating, stupid problems, and ultimately went out of business (merged with Delta in 2010) a few years later, but the problems persist .You would think the FAA would meet with the airlines to alleviate these aggravating glitches… I mean,we’re the ‘greatest country in the world.’ Wasn’t Trump going to ‘make America great again’ & fix this kind of thing?
Instead, we’re still taking off our shoes and are no safer, but there are all sorts of problems now that airlines are trying to economize on the backs of passengers rather than adjusting the overpay of executives.
I’ve traveled using several airlines: KLM (which would be good except they insist on serving ham & cheese sandwiches on flights where they know most passengers or Moslem, so most of the food gets trashed), Air France (real china), British Air, Emerates (real chine, great food, and they put you up overnight if you have a connecting flight).
Recently, I was booked on (via the tour company) SAS: Scandinavian Airlines. Leaving O’hare (Chicago) was a breeze. I went up to the counter, gave them my flight number & passport.Tthey scanned my passport & issued me a luggage tag (which was the reason I didn’t do email check-in: if you want to check a bag, you have to check in at the desk), went through security, very smooth.
SAS is austere. they give you NOTHING. Yeah, I got a meal. I got water. If you want a snack between meals, you have to bring it or pay. Even beverages. Icelandic Air is like that, too.
Copenhagen is the hub for SAS, and Denmark is not an EU country. Neither is Switzerland.my destination. So, you have to clear passport control before boarding your connecting flight, which is, of course, in another terminal a mile away. Well, at least the connecting flight knows you’re coming.
Had a nice trip in Swizerland, but my return flight back to the USAstarted in Milan. My flight to Copenhagen was at 11:20. I knew I had to be at the airport at least 2 hours early, which I was. In fact, at 8:00. But they don’t open for check-in until 9:00. Now the fun starts. They opened for check-in for BUSINESS CLASS ONLY. After they processed those people…even though a line had formed for coach, they closed the business check-in and left. The line got bigger. At 9:30, 1 person started checking in coach. confusion ensued. Why?
It used to be that if you booked airline flights for your family, you automatically got contiguous seats. Not no more! Now, for some reason, they scatter you all over the airplane. If you’ve traveled since COVID, you know that. You can ask for contiguous seats, but it depends on the airline.Many now charge for specific seat assignments. You want to sit next to your children? Too bad! You pay extra. So there was a lot of discussion with the check-in agent, holding up the line. Over 100 people in that line at 9:30 for the 11:20 flight.
At 10:00 we still had not moved. We moved 1 space at 10:15 still just 1 check-in agent. A woman who apparently was also booked on our flight asked the crowd, “Aren’t we supposed to be checked in 45 minutes before the flight?” (https://thepointsguy.com/guide/airport-boarding-guide/ ),
That was clearly not going to happen…but since it wasn’t going to happen, at 10:45…2 more check-in people magically appeared & started checking people in….& it gets better: they aren’t scanning your passport, but keying in information, taking even more time!
Then you run to TSA security to get your carry-on scanned. This is Italy! No taking off shoes. They might note even scan for liquids! (as an aside, about 15 years ago, I flew from Mumbai to Frankfort on Air India. We had an unscheduled layover in Ahmadabad for over 4 hours…got in late to Frankfort. Buy this time, the plane was trashed. They herded us off and put us all in a room to rescreen us and our carry-ons—even though we had been sealed in a plane. My return flight to Chicago was 24 hours late)..
Ok, now you run to your gate, which is, of course, all the way at the end of the airport. No worries. They are, apparently used to this.
It’s 90 minutes to Copenhagen. Plenty of time However, before you board a connecting flight, you have to go through passport control. There are signs, and some ropes, but it’s a bit confusing—especially if English is not your language.
So…went to passport control & was asked if I was carrying any fresh fruit or meat, had anyone given me any wrapped gifts or anything to carry, did I have any new electronic equipment…& now ready to board! Uh—not so fast! You’re going to America, so you have to be asked the same questions all over again about 20 feet away! I am not joking, & then they stamp your passport AGAIN. Then, you are spit out near a sign that says t he gate number, but the way it’s set up, you have to really look to make sure, as it is ‘combined’ with another gate. Still plenty of time. Over an hour, actually.
The flight to Chicago is full. Many people from many places are going to America. They start boarding the plane. Always business/1st class first, then, the rest. The 1 good thing is they call you by letter number. You know, on a plane, the seats are ABCDEF, so you know A & F are going to be window seats. That makes sense. What makes no sense is….the line is held up because some people didn’t go through passport control. You know this isn’t the 1st time this has happened, because the way the airport is configured. Gates are assigned to airlines by the airport. Instead of pulling these people out or having them go to a separate line (because they have to be asked all the bullshit questions all over again), they hold up the line while the gate agent keys in all the information. On this particular flight…over a dozen people missed passport control (or the followup). Insane.
Then, the icing on the cake is, we’re waiting for a flight from Oslo. If Milan is only a 90 minute flight to Copenhagen, why would the connection from Oslo take over an hour? You guessed it: not part of the EU, so they are at the other end of the airport, have to go through passport control plus the added step, and now we’re on our way to America.
Some European countries interest me more than others because in primary school in America in the 1960’s ALL the great painters were Europeans, and I come from a visually artistic family. I’ve always been a fan of surrealism. and had I the money, I’d return to Barcelona again and again.
We were taught that Europe was the center of the intellectual, philosophical, and cultural universe. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I started wondering, after learning bits of information, why we weren’t learning about Asia and Africa. For a good explanation, get a copy of Isabel Wilkerson’s book, “Caste.” But if we don’t teach ourselves what we know about others in other places, we tend to not think of those people as real, part of the global community. thus we tend to disrespect them.
That’s what being ‘woke’ and the controversy over Critical Race Theory boils down to. We created a systemic problem by denying that others have culture and history…. and worth.
Switzerland is known to be expensive. t is landlocked, its main exports are cheese, chocolate, and wine, & it is not part of the EU;
It’s easy to get around Switzerland on public transportation (something perfect for feeble people).
I had the cash, so now was the time, and Gate 1 offered a pretty good deal. Well, that was when I signed on, about a year ago. The company was /is still recovering from COVID, and while they used to partner somewhat with ministries of tourism and airlines to offer packages, that is not the case in all the trips they offer. Yet, I felt the deal was the best around.
Gate1 booked me on SAS—and I would not recommend them if prices are comparable and you have a choice of airlines. From Chicago (routed through Copenhagen), they were ok. They serve a meal, but you have to pay for smacks. Otherwise, you get water. Maybe coffee or tea.
Gate 1 seems to be pretty well run. There were 40 on our tour (1 family of 3 kids & parents, a woman with 2 adult daughters & a friend, & a group of 4 women in their 60’s who, apparently, had never traveled outside the USA) mostly older couples in the 60-80 range. These are the types of people who book tours. If you have a limited time frame, I think the Gate 1 tour is an excellent value.
We flew into Geneva. arriving late on Saturday (having left Chicago late Friday evening), and I got to see the UN building & the World Bank, and a few other historical sites. One of the 1st kings of Switzerland (which became an entity during the 1200s) was Brunswick, who died without an heir and left his fortune to the people of Geneva. They also have a huge church with a wall (the old city wall?) and a carved ‘history’ of church leaders. I’ve always thought of Switzerland as a Lutheran country, but it is still heavily Catholic in the west, near France (where people mostly speak French) & the south along the Alps (where Italian is the main language). Other ‘recognized official’ languages in Switzerland are Romansque (spoken in the east and dying out) and German. Depending on the canton (state) you live in, that’s the language your children are educated in, as ‘mother tongue’. There is also Lake Geneva. I had wanted to go on a boat to Montreux, but our guide told us we had to go into France for that (sort of complicated) and the boat is slow. Geneva is also the home of Nestle. Nestle invented powdered milk, It was a friend who suggested adding processed cocoa to the milk powder (Nestle’s Quik), and a brand was born. More on that. Also, in Geneva, in the retail areas, very much like Hong Kong, every other retail store is a jeweler selling watches.
It was unseasonably warm…but you see palm trees, and the climate is Mediterranean. I went to the grocery store for a salad and sandwich for dinner. This cost about $15— an actual dinner at a restaurant would have cost over $30.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locarno
From Geneva, we traveled to Bern, with a stop in Gruyere, known for cheese. We took a bus from Geneva going east. What you see is what you’d expect: mountains, green, dotted with chalets and cows. What I didn’t expect was a lack of snow. Skiing tourism has been a big business, and this year it wasn’t. Climate change. So we stopped in the tiny hamlet of Gruyere, which is in a fort with a castle, so quaint. Tourism is the main industry in this tiny enclave. Also, a Tibetan museum, the connection to Switzerland? The Dalai Lama owns a vineyard:https://waterfront-magazine.com/dalai-lamas-world-smallest-vineyard/ It was bequeathed to him in 1999 & has only 3 vines. I guess the other connection is mountains. The museum was closed when we were there, as was the museum of the macabre.
On to Bern, the capital of Switzerland. The old town is a UN world Heritage site because it is a pretty large old town and pretty much preserved. They have a glockenspiel, which is sort of a clock with moving figures to enact some history, so it is a tourist attraction. Lots of small stores and boutiques…& watch stores. Quaint beyond words. Outside of the ‘old town’, we stopped at a large rose garden with a scenic view, and we got to see more modern urban housing. It’s all apartments/condos. Why? Switzerland is very hilly, urban land is expensive, and this is how people live. No slums, no garbage, no noise. Einstein spent some time living in Bern.
Nadine, our guide, who travels between her home in Berlin and Switzerland, was telling us on the drive how expensive it is to get a driver’s license in Switzerland (2-4000 francs), and like parents in the USA save for college, in Switzerland, they save for their kid’s license. Then, on the written test, you choose 30 questions out of 1800 once it’s paid for, no retest. However….if you get traffic tickets, you get points off & may ultimately lose your license. The Swiss are very big on public transportation and bicycles.
From Bern, we traveled to Lucerne (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucerne), another charming city with a quaint old town and historic wood bridge that burned down (due to a tourist tossing a cigarette) & rebuilt.I was told there are 18,000 people in the town…& they have about 30 bus lines. Again, cute boutiques & it seems every other store is a watch (not jewelry—watch) store. I started wondering how all these quaint shops can stay in business. Does the ‘Chamber of Commerce’ have ‘land trusts’—where they own the real estate & control rents? Or, have these stores been freehold & in the same hands for decades?.
It seems there is a legend about a girl asking he father to carve a cow, and cows and bears are the tourist tchotchkes promoted. Also, as much as I love postcards, at $1.50–2, a bit much.
From Lucerne, I took a train to Kilchberg so I could tour the Lindt chocolate factory( https://www.lindt-home-of-chocolate.com/en/).They don’t actually take you through the factory—which is huge & modern, but they have a small museum exhibit which has photos of people in Ghana tending to plants, and a history section about the early creators of Chocolate, particularly Nestle (who invented powdered milk & at a colleague’s suggestion, added powdered cocoa and sugar: Quik!) & Callier. It seems the early chocolate manufacturers cooperated to some extent. Then there is a section on how it is actually made, and a section where you can taste the chocolates (dark, milk, per centages) & they give away wrapped pieces…& there is a store.It was very easy to get to. I asked the people at the train station who sold me the ticket where I had to transfer, and the factory is less than a mile from the train stop.
We spent much of the day going south, through Bellazona: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellinzona). You can read about it here. An American who married a Swiss man gave us a tour (the castle is a UN World Heritage site)—& it is really cold & windy up at the top.
We stopped in a town called Locarno: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locarno), a sort of resort town, very pretty. They have this odd “walk of fame” where allegedly famous people have put their handprints on ceramic tiles. I did recognize a few names, but most were German TV stars I’d never heard of. Then, on to Lugano: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugano); This is also a resort town. I went up in the funicular that runs on San Salvatore mountain. A bit expensive at $25, with an odd Catholic museum at the top. The museum also has a section on local geology, and the ‘treaty’ where both Switzerland and Italy agreed on a tunnel through the mountain. Very upscale town. Again, many watch & jewelry stores. I met some dog groomers who had a shop just down the street from the hotel. They weren’t too busy, but said they were looking for help.
Now, certainly the economy couldn’t possibly depend on commodities (chocolate & dairy) or retail sales. How did this country get to be so wealthy? It’s unfathomable that they would have such a great tax base even adding the writst watches with intrinsic value. Clearly, it’s the banking system.Investments.
So I learned a lot. Getting there is NOT ‘half the fun’. I have a few choice words for SAS– but that will be another blog entry.
In June, 1991, Jaycee Dugard was literally snatched off the street on the way to her school bus stop. She was 11-years-old. She was ‘tazed’ and loaded into a car by a convicted rapist (right: how was it this guy was out in the street, loose?) and kept for 18 years.
She was raped and sodomized. She bore the rapist two children. The rapist’s wife assisted him in concealing her.
Parole officers came to the house and saw her and the children (knowing he had no children) and didn’t question. They never did a thorough search of the property she was kept on—for the first year or so in chains, and with no access to plumbing.
Several times she later realized, she could have possibly gotten away, but she was so brainwashed and traumatized, she made no attempt. In fact, she was ‘protecting’ her captor by not talking to anyone outside or revealing her name, yet she was running a printing business for them. I found this baffling, as it got to the point where she was alone with her rapist’s wife and could have gotten away, but she feared the woman would then be tortured.
She documents all this in her book, and learning how to cope with what she experienced after she was ‘saved’. A group that helps missing and exploited children helped her recover and start her own foundation, where she counsels others.
Because of my interest in human trafficking, I read this t book. It may be out-of-print, but I’d be amazed if you couldn’t find it on Amazon. it’s a sad read, but well written. You wonder how anyone could cope with this kind of treatment. At first, her captor, Philip Garrido, blamed voices, and as he started studying the Bible, he said his urges were because of angels’ voices. He’s serving an over 400 year sentence now, but we really have to ask how anyone convicted with sexual assault gets out of jail without being castrated. obviously, hormonal rage is part of the problem.
Are you ‘woke’? Woke means AWARE that history can be celebrated or oppressed. That you understand that you may or may not be told about true history—depending on who’s doing the teaching and what their agenda is.
Make no mistake. The world continues to spin and things happen. It’s how or whether you learn about how things happen that is the issue.
Do you believe we were fighting communism in Viet Nam? You might want to Google “A Bright and Shining Lie.”
Do you know why the United States entered World War I? You might want to Google that, too.
Do you know the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’? Or that it wasn’t ever equal? Google it.
Do you believe that we—our United States Government—-kept our treaties with the Native Americans? Were you taught in school that the ‘Indians’ were primitive, had no governments or languages, and didn’t know how to farm or steward their land? Google Dee Brown’s book,”Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee.”
Were you taught that Africans had no language or cultures and if it wasn’t for White Europeans, they’d be living in trees like savages? Were you taught that the Egyptians were/are African? That Swahili culture—this written language and art, is over 1000 years old—and that it always was a mixed race culture?
Were you taught that Christians brought enlightenment and saved the world from eternal damnation?
Have you also been taught that there are only two genders, and they depend on the sex organs you were born with, and that hermaphrodites or ambiguous genitalia NEVER occurs in humans? Another thing to Google.
Have you been raised with the idea that unless you admit you’re a sinner and beg Jesus to forgive you, that you will rot in Hell?
Have you been taught that climate change either isn’t real, or there has always been climate change? & that the earth is NOT overpopulated and there is no such thing as population crash in humans?
I just read the most disturbing statistics, according to Harper’s Index.
*the % of U.S. voters who view climate change as the most important issue facing the country: 1%
the % of U.S. voters who believe environmental laws are with the cost: -23%
% of U.S. voters under 30 who believe climate change is important: 3%
There is not 1 religion that promotes small families—-zero population growth. No religion can if they are to keep going & supporting leaders who bamboozle us.
The average Afghan family has 8 children.
What about the Chinese and the Indians? Do they know? Do they care? If neither …. what good is trading with them & supporting their economies?
We are doing a terrible job of educating ourselves about environmental science and climate change.
I helped develop the first community based recycling station (for collecting household packaging waste) in 1983. That was 40 years ago. What percentage of American households participate in recycling? Google says 59%. but I know, because my tenants can’t manage to follow the simple rules of not allowing packaging with food waste into the bin—-less than 20% of that actually gets recycled.
It’s just a plastic drinking straw, a balloon, plastic fork, a highlighter pen. Why is it we are not insisting manufacturers tell us how to deal with all the items made of non-recyclable materials what to do with them—and charging them a tax if they say ‘landfill’ or ‘incinerate’?
So many politicians seem to really believe adding a tax will more seriously impact ‘the poor’. The poor who buy junk? Who have more kids than they can support? Why should the rest of us have to pay the ultimate environmental price so they won’t be inconvenienced? And—-what kind of excuse is that for disrespecting the environment we all live in?
When Al Gore produced “An Inconvenient Truth,” he sort of prophesied that weather patterns would change, and why—& yet, people are still being respected for saying God is punishing us for allowing people whose sexual practices we don’t like to live their lives. Amazing.
I’m old, so now , more and more, I’m finding friends expiring, or facing terminal illness.
My father died 2 years ago. He was 94, and, considering he had lived with diabetes the last 20 or so years of his life, and did not lose any body parts or go blined, he did ok.
What ‘they’ don’t tell you (& why gerontologists exist) is that no matter how well you take care of yourself, your body wears out. You start to have balance problems, and your bones become brittle. You may develop cataracts, or start having hearing issues (not that people are speaking too softly, tho that IS a problem, but tinnitus & distortion). You become more susceptable to viral diseases.
My father’s last 2 years were not good. He fell at the doctor’s office and broke his neck and femur.He never walked again. For a man who was a businessman, the boss, totally in charge of everything, this was huge, though he seemed to accept it with grace. He was already old.
Thankfully, seeing the writing on the wall, being realistic, he got his ‘affairs’ in order. My youngest sister, who had straightened out his life when my mother had died about 50 years before, had power of attorney.
The first thing she did—-after dealing with the (long Term Care) insurance comany, needing so much paperwork, was that she made sure she had my father’s will and a list of all his accounts. The 2nd thing was…she cut my brothe off. “The Bank of Dad is closed.”
By this time, my brother was 61, My father had, over the decades, discourage we three girls from buying the homes that we bought: the construction, the value, the neighborhoods. We girls defied our father and bought those homes on our own, anyways. In fact, when I bought my 1st home, if I hadn’t been married, I would have had to have gotten my father as a co-signer. No joke. that’s how it was. My brother? My father bought, in 4 decades, 4 places for my brother to live. He didn’t want my brother, with a DVM and an RPh, living under a bridge because he didn’t have the wherewithal to search for and buy his own place.
In any case, my father had a cemetary plot (next to my mother, who had died a bit over 40 years before of lung cancer, and whom my father kept telling us he would soon be with my mother in heaven….even though we Jews don’t have a tradition of expecting Heaven. We don’t know what happens to us when we die. That’s up to God…), had picked out a coffin he liked, and my stepmother had alerted her rabbi. Point of information: because this was during COVID, we had an online service (Zoom!) before the burial.
My father was not a computer user, so we didn’t have to figure out passwords. However, I had a friend whose mother had died suddenly, and she and her sibs were scrambling to try to figure out any and all password.
Being old myself, I try to keep an updated list of passwords, accounts, and a will, and if there is anything left over, where I want the money to go. I want to be cremated. No reason to use good land to store a body that in 10 years, nobody will understand who we were. & face it…the earth will be uninhabitable for most people by 2053.
When Kevin called the meeting about 3 weeks ago, there was always the possibility of a snowstorm. I had not attended the last club meeting, out in the western suburbs, because for some reason, they chose the time during rush hour, and the only way I could have gotten to the meeting, theoretically an hour away, would have been to leave at least 2 hours early. Then, the weather was windy and rainy.The problem is that our club members are scattered in about a 100 mile radius (I know, weird), and really, Zoom would be the practical way to do this—but some members believe people aren’t attentive on Zoom: they do other things.
So? You should be at any of our meetings. there’s always side conversation.
This meeting was particularly important.
As backstory to why I even care…. without ethical hobby breeders breeding dogs and doing the research to make sure they aren’t breeding crippled dogs, even mixed breed dogs would be having issues. In America, mixed breeds aren’t pariah dogs—they are mixes of purebreds. In fact, the irony is, most mixes and what we call ‘designer dogs’ are less healthy (in the 21st century) than purebreds….because pet owners don’t think they are breeders when they let their dogs breed.
I am a member of 4 dog clubs; kennel clubs. I AM NOT SHOWING A DOG. I became a member of Northshore Dog Training Club, a club over 70 years old, because it is a nonprofit club, and once you’re a member ($20 a year) you can do 6 week training sessions for $50 per session. You may or may not get a good trainer if you sign up with a business, like a pet store or dog daycare that offers training, but if you really want to get your dog under control, you’re not going to do it in 6 weeks. You have to keep training, More—in a club, you will be mentored by other trainers who take dog training seriously, and help you. You may be confusing your dog and not know it. With other dog trainers observing you, you, it helps. The last dog I titled I acquired as a 7-year-old adult who had been returned to her breeder. She was housebroken and could walk on a leash without pulling, sit for a cookie, and that was it. Since I had trained other dogs, I did not start her in basic obedience, I started her in Rally. Rally is a different type of training from obedience, and not many businesses offer rally training. In two years, I put 3 titles on this dog, and she and I learned to communicate.
I am a member of the Greater Chicago Whippet Club, but my dogs are either too large or too old to race. For those who believe racing is cruel—-you can’t make a dog run. Many people have gotten retired racing Greyhounds. The breeders have always given these dogs away, but the do-gooders who have no idea what they’re talking about think non running dogs are killed. They aren’t if they’re healthy. Greyhounds are delightful dogs….but I am digressing. My dogs are Whippets, and our racing is non-paramutuel—no betting allowed. We just race for points and prizes. None of our members are currently showing a dog in conformation or performance (obedience, rally. agility, barn hunt) and we have no breeders in our club. The breeders seem to believe we are a racing club only. Yet, because we are an AKC club, and we all love Whippets and support the breed, we ‘support’ the entry at certain shows by offering prizes.
At most dog shows, you only win an acetate ribbon in the classes. There are only big prizes, including cash awards, if your dog isn’t eliminated and goes on to group competition. So, we offer class prizes to support an entry. The whippet breeders in our area know all this, but they don’t join because they don’t want to attend 2 meeting a year. We also sponsor race practice, have run AKC FASTCAT (not even a competition, a certificate program) and refer people looking for whippets to those breeders and to WRAP: Whippet Rescue and Placement.
I am a member of the American Whippet Club—the ‘parent’ club. I’m a member to support the breed, get the newsletter, and get notices of shows….even though I am not showing a dog.
And—I am a member of Skokie Valley Kennel Club-–an all-breed club. I joined to be a member of an all breed club to support dog shows and because, when I joined, we offered ‘performance’ at our shows…but due to having to change our venue (long story, but renting a space for a day or 2 for $10,000 plus insurance….and not making money on parking—which is what a lot of clubs do—-), we had to come up with a different plan.
When you plan an AKC dog show (I’m sure this must be true for UKC as well), you have to have your dates, location,and judges panel approved by the AKC. We used to partner with another kennel club, and circumstances changed. We are looking for another club or clubs to partner with. Venues and insurance have gotten outrageously expensive. An added complication is that we can’t have a show on the same day as another club if they are within 200 miles of us (for performance, within 100 miles of our event).
I won’t digress about how the new International Kennel Club (not a club, but a business) did at their first show, but not being able to charge for parking, they decided to charge $25 to the public to get into the show. I was shocked, but they got a ‘gate’ of 12,000 by doing great publicity. They got feature coverage on both Fox News and CBS. Thus they grossed on spectators alone $300,000!
Knowing that a dog show in our (Chicago) area costs about $20,000 to ‘execute’ (we rent equipment from a dog show superintendent, pay for a dye for ribbons, buy other prizes for group and best-in-show, pay judges & for their hotels, and food, ads in publications and Facebook), and we have to give deposits before we make money, unless we charge vendors for space, and charge for reserved grooming spots (oh, yes— people with multiple entries want & insist on enough space to do grooming), usually we just break even. We are desperate to get specialty (breed) clubs to support our shows, but since our dates have moved (either the price of the venue went up or some other interest took out date for the venue), we are recalculating. We were all shocked that International KC did that well at the gate, but no matter. Some people can afford to take their kids to a dog show. What does a baseball, basketball, or football game cost for a family? We have to compare ourselves to that. Even though I would consider watching conformation BORING…what are we watching? Dogs standing around, then running around a ring…All breed dog shows are an opportunity to meet hobby breeders and fanciers and learn about our breeds. We even have a ‘Meet the Breeds’ area, where people sit with their dogs and the public can ask about our dogs without bumping into everyone.
And why dog shows? What’s amazing is that so many fanciers of various breeds could agree on standards of excellence for their breeds, sponsor competitions so independent judges can judge (& at specialties, even offer critiques), so when we buy a Whippet…it doesn’t look like a Pit bull or bull terrier. The fancy is dying. Our children are not interested in breeding dogs. We are amazed that people are able to sell Doodles and Pitskies and Schnoodles and Maltipoos—-and really the buyers have no idea what they are getting. The benefit of purebreds is, for the most part, predictability. Rarely does a purebred BRED BY HOBBY BREEDER WITH INTEGRITY, mature to be grossly over or undersize, or have an aberrant coat or temperament. Hobby breeders with integrity also do testing to make sure they dogs they breed don’t have genetic defects.
So, we needed a quorum to discus a change of show dates, a change in our by-laws, and a few other ‘bread-and-butter’ issues. For example, we pay $300 a month for a storage unit filled with junk, some of which we have to keep, and some we can get rid of. We need a judge selection committee, we need an event committee to deal with logistics, that kind of thing.
Because the club vice-president had to talk to the superintendent & officers of another club that was holding what we call a cluster of dogs shows at the Lake County (Illinois) fairgrounds, about three miles away, he chose a s restaurant for the meeting. The restaurant was ‘Mission BBQ’ (a chain, and the food was very good) which is in Gurnee Mills, not far from Great America ammusment park (closed in the winter, so in theory, traffic wasn’t a problem), & this venue is at Rt. 132 and Hunt Club Rd.
I am telling you this because I am going to tell you my route.
It started snowing early in the morning this Saturday. Our meeting was called for 5:00p,m, and our VP wanted us to meet at this dog show at about 3:00 after Best in Show (though I was told the show was still going on at 4:30). I didn’t go to the show because I’ve been to enough dog shows, and I didn’t want to pay for parking.
What I did was first, go to see my sister in Lake Forest. I took Sheridan Rd (start at Sheridan and Touhy if you’re looking at a map), took Sheridan to Tower, Tower over to Green Bay, Green Bay Rd north to Lake Cook (Highland Park), got on Rt. 41 north to Rt.60, west almost to US94 (Tristate Tollway: my sister lives in Conway Farms subdivision). I left around 1:30 and didn’t get to her house until just before 3. NONE OF THE ROADS WERE PLOWED AND IT WAS STILL SNOWING.
I discussed the best route to take to the restaurant with my brother-in-law, because I wasn’t sure where I could get Hunt Club Rd. If you go to Antioch, Hunt Club is just a mile from US94 but 10 miles (?) south, it is further west. BIL thought I would be ok taking St.Mary’s up to 137, go west to Rt. 21, northish to 132 and west to Hunt Club, then north, but the roads were so awful—none had been plowed: you couldn’t see the lanes and I made progress at about 25 mph. In good weather, this route would have taken maybe half an hour. It took me over an hour. I missed the left turn at 120 because it was snowing so badly, I couldn’t see the sign & get into the left turn lane, so went up to 132 and west, only a couple of miles, but again, you could not see the lanes. Everyone was driving very slowly. I could not get traction, and lights kept coming on in the dashboard indicating that I was skidding. Very scary.
I got to the restaurant at 4:45, and our group wasn’t there. I messaged Kevin to tell him that if I didn’t see anyone by 5:15, I was leaving, but at about 5:05, our treasurer arrived. In fact, the restaurant manager told me they had gotten a phone call in the morning that a group was coming, but whomever called didn’t leave their name or the size of the group.
People trickled in until about 5:30, and we ordered dinner. For ‘fast food’—it was really good. Most people chose bar-b-q, I had salmon that was incredible, The club pays for dinner.
We had 9 people—so I guess we had a quorum, and Kevin started the meeting. We discussed all of the above, and I mentioned changing the by-laws to allow people to give proxies…and adjourned at 8:00p.m and it was still snowing….and the roads had still not been cleared.
My route back was 132 to Rt.41…and I planned to get off 41 at Lake-Cook, but it took over an hour to get those 15 or so miles from 132 to Lake-Cook.
Rt.41 is a major highway. Thankfully, there was very little traffic, but the snow was at least 2 inches deep and there was ice under that. I pondered whether to put my hazard signal on, but when I saw a car in front of me poking along at 20mph, I did that, & others did along the way. It was stressful & scary. When I got down to Rt.60, I was thinking of going to my sister’s and spending the night, but I was halfway home, and only about 5 miles from Lake Cook.
I took Lake Cook to Green Bay, STILL not plowed, and at Park, went east to Sheridan. Park was plowed, and Sheridan was all the way back to my house, about 10 more miles. I got home just a few minutes before 10:00p.m.
Now, looking at all I wrote, I wonder why I was driving in a snowstorm. In about 20 years, the earth’s environment will be so devastated, most breeds won’t have a gene pool.
We knew it was going to come down like this. In spite of all evidence,the protester/ rioters telling the media they were at the Capitol on Jan.6,2021on Trump’s orders, to decertify or not allow the election to be s certified, because HE said the election was stolen, the GOP seems to think winning by any means necessary is winning.
I drafted the above statement 2 years ago, and now they have embraces George Santos.
First Mitch McConnelll says to wait until after the inauguration to impeach, and then he says it’s unconstitutional. Well, the Congress can still vote to revoke his benefits. Will they? Fat chance. He is not going away, and this has nothing to do with Conservative ‘values’—it’s all about immature, short-sighted greed. I thought I was the only one seeing this. These people even couch themselves in the cloak of Christianity, and there is no OTHER religion on earth that allows for this type of behavior: knowing what you re doing is unethical and dangerous for your community and the earth…and not caring.
Evan Osnos,in his sobering yet clearly factual New Yorker article ( https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/11/how-greenwich-republicans-learned-to-love-trump) shows us that these new conservatives only care about themselves and really don’t care if the world is better after they die. They don’t see any responsibility at all. How can these people profess to be Judeo-christians? Of course, the irony. They condemn religions, such as Sikh, Zoariaster, and Buddism because the the concept of God is so much easier to understand when nirvana comes as a result of your own behavior, or you rot in purgatory for ever.
As even bigger irony is they get so many less educated, very religious,more rural or smaller town dwelling supporters, leading them to believe that they have economic interests in common. They never lay out the choices. You gamble and win big, you deserve all the trappings, and if your circumstances don’t lend to working for this, hope ya win the lottery.
Amazingly, integrity is only important to those of us who are NOT Christians. The Christians who say they think integrity is important state that those others are not ‘real’ Christians. Oh yeah? so why do you band with them? Because you were raised that way and never learned to think for yourself? Or because it is politically expedient to be part of that culture (how often have I heard ‘work from within..’ as though that ever worked).
They’ve painted us as savages and heathens because we question their mumbo-jumbo. We have to keep pointing out to them when they get so insanely mad over abortions nobody is forcing on them, drag queens reading stories to kids, and a scripture translated by men with agendas—-that we don’t all believe the same thing, and they promote too many inconsistencies.
I was thinking of tweeting:’Humanitarian cirisis at our southern border caused by our arrogance’. Plenty of money for a military that wastes it, and the GOD fighting over a gavel & philosophy,
There was some controversy over Jeanine Cummins book “American Dirt” because she’s not Chicana. She says int he afterword of her novel that she asked a respected scholar, Norma Iglesias Prieto,whether she should write this, and was told, “…We need as many voices as we can get telling this story.”
The story is of how an educated, middle class woman suddenly becomes a refuggee fleeing for her life.
It’s not like I didn’t know. The late George Crile, who wrote “Charlie Wilson’s War’, touches on what we did in Central America, but I guess for the Christians among us, it’s not as compelling as a football player being almost killed on a sports field and being brought back to life.
Do you remember when you went to a shopping area, and ther ewere clothes stores, record stores, shoe stores, bakeries, groceries, butchers, green grocers, gift shops, hair salons…pet stores? Where did they all go?
Walmart. Target. COSCO….Even Home Depot now sells snacks. Where will it end?
The problem is clearly land rents; not just capitalists speculating on improved (infrastructure) land and bidding up the costs, but property taxes.
I live in Chicago. Our aldermen make more money than our state senators and state representatives, and what do they really do? Ade they returning value for what we pay?
It’s malfeasance, but since they vote on their own salaries and most people feel ther is a futility in voting, things have gotten so bad that if you do a business plan to open a store in a store front, you see that you can’t breakl even. You would have to do about $300 net per day if your monthly rent is $1500
Christians need have no integrity & do not have to be honest because they admit they’re imperfect, but all they need do is ask Jesus to forgive them & them can go to heaven. Apparently, being for eternity in a place that allows liars, bullies, arrogant assholes and other degenerates doesn’t bother them in the slightest. The GOP couldn’t agree on Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the (U.S) House of Representatives because he doesn’t spout enough stupidity. It’s a petty argument that makes them all look like idiots…but it doesn’t matter, does it? They voted to give more money to the military than the military asked for…meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis on our southern border which could be ameliorated by sending down people—military or otherwise—to process these humans, and give them food and shelter—-this these ‘Christians’ can not do. In fact,https://people.com/tv/todd-and-julie-chrisley-will-head-to-federal-prison-after-request-for-bail-denied/ Todd & Julie Chrisley were convicted of over a million dollae bank fraud & tax evasion. Their friends describe them as ‘people of faith’ you know what that faith is—because Buddists, Sikhi, and Jews don’t get forgiven…by ourselves or others.
.In case you haven’t been following the news, this guy won a congressional seat to represent part of New York. A small town newspaper started questioning who he was and where he got the money, but larger media sources didn’t pick up the story, and the small town newspaper didn’t have the means to continue an investigation.
This guy lied about his religion (claiming to be Jewish—then changed to ‘Jew—ish”), his family history, his education, and his work experience. But—since he’s Christian, Jesus will forgive him. He knows his fellow Republicans have! BTW—-Jews don’t forgive. You lie, you cheat, it’s all on you.
As an aside, we also have Joshua Mast, a marine captain and judge advocate—and profound Christian, who killed a bunch of people in Afghanistan, including a baby’s mother, claimed the orphan without looking for the family. That was a major problem in Afghanistan. I guess nobody told the army guys with weapons that they’re not all enemies—-but since they couldn’t tell the people on ‘our side’ (?) from the Taliban, a lot of innocent people were killed. Is it any wonder ‘we’ couldn’t win against the ragtag Taliban?
Afghan people found the baby’s family and placed the baby with cousins, who cherished her. Mast and his wife had 3 sons in the USA, and wanted a daughter, so lied to the baby’s family—whom they searched for after Joshua Mast returned to the USA—- about the ‘help’ they could provide in the USA for her medical care & when they got the child to the USA, claimed her relatives were terrorists to any and all. and they shouldn’t have her. This was reported by Rozina Ali in the Nov.20, 2022 issue of the New York Times magazine.https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/magazine/afghanistan-orphan-baby-l.html.
So, you see, who we are—as a nation—-whether you are Christian or not—-is a bunch of liars who will be self-serving by any means necessary. Of course, the Mast family claim the baby will have a better life in the USA. I’m positive she will…until she learns the circumstances. I guess they don’t think that far ahead. This is human trafficking, but the Masts have lawyers and it’s now in the courts for other Christians to decide.
Meanwhile, as a group, the Republicans want us all to follow their rules, and they believe life starts at conception, and YOU should not be allowed to make a decision yourself. That’s what we have now. Happy 2023!
Make election day a national holiday. We already have at least 2 weeks of early voting in Illinois, but s for some reason, people wait until the last minute. Is it worth making election day a national holiday? Will we get better turnout?
Should there a mandatory retirement age for politicians? As long as they believe it’s ok for companies to do age discrimination, shouldn’t it apply to all?
Hire and train volunteers to process immigrants & refugees. It couldn’t be that difficult. We have many Returned Peace Corps Volunteers who speak other languages, and there is such a backlog. Get the ones who have families in the USA to their families, screen the rest, and toss out the single men.
Time to enact windfall profit taxes on energy companies, They are the main cause now of inflation.
Change the FCC rules and allow media companies to turn down ads that run lies. OMG, what we heard from Darren Bailey who was running for governor of Illinois was outrageous, and he scared a lot of people.
Recently, in my neighborhood, a convicted felon who had served his time was picked up for both public drinking and public urination. Minor, right? But an asshole in the community. It’s not illegal to be an asshole, but then it turned out he was linked to another murder. Something’s going on when a man is so anti-social he just doesn’t give a shit.
Mandate environmental education starting in primary schools and start retraining teachers.
Quit fawning over missionaries in the media. They are racists, elitists, and full of chutzpah. What’s so great about going to another land, telling people what they believe is wrong, and bamboozling them to get them to believe in Jesus?
For every dollar approved for military foreign aid, a dollar should be set aside to assist handicapped kids ^ the homeless. the military would never miss money they never got & they waste so much!
No tax deductions for supporting religious institutions. If kids got raped by drag queens as often as they get raped or molested by ministers, we’d make churches illegal—& yet, kids are more often attacked by religious ministers than they are by drag queens.
If we’re not going to make assault weapons illegal, we have to decriminalize drugs. There would be fewer murders if punks weren’t fighting & killing over turf. I don’t think people should take addictive drugs, but clearly what we’re doing isn’t working.
Start holding physicians accountable for prescribing addictive drugs for pain when they don’t have weaning off plans.With all their education, shouldn’t they be responsible?
Quit funding rehab for drug addicts.Medical insurance should cover this for prescription drugs. It’s a just a respite for most. Nobody quits drugs because someone else tells them they must. If an addict isn’t ready, why should we pay for his vacation? I know from what I speak. My father bankrolled my brother’s addiction for over 40 years & at least 3 rehab stints. it’s a money maker for psychologists. None of them have a record that shows their treatments are effective.
I am very concerned about the number of people who impulsively get a non-shed dog with no clue as to how they are going to take care of it, or even if they can afford to own it!
I see people post on Craigslist that they are looking for a Shih Tzu (or another small long haired dog…or even a Bulldog), but they don’t have a fortune to spend.
I want to own a Scottish Deerhound, but you could not buy a pup for under $5000, and adults never go into rescue. There’s a lot of stuff I want but can’t afford. I guess Americans feel that because they want something, they should have it, and others should accommodate their wants.
Thus, I spend a lot of time showing people how to brush their dogs. I show them the proper brushing technique. I explain why dogs get matted. I show them my tools (various brushes & combs). I explain on how to to make the task easier, and explain that, at least for small dogs, it should not take more than 5 minutes a week. Even if they grow the coat as long as it will get naturally, it should not take 10 minutes. The Afghans take me about 1/2 hour. However….now that I know what I am doing, I have them come in every two to three weeks, and it usually takes me 90 minutes to bathe & brush out the dog.
I looked up videos on YouTube.
What I don’t like about this 1 is that he starts at the top. This is fine if you are brushing a dog wet, but I think it could be a bit confusing.
The groomer is using an Oster Rake. I use 1. It’s very good. In fact, the Top Performance rakes that PetEdge sells are cheaper & just as good. But Jun, the groomer, is not showing us how to line brush the dog & prevent it from becoming a holy mess in the first place!~
So, I am trying to find a videographer to help me make a video of how you actually line brush a dog, what tools you use, and why you do it the way I am showing you.
I never really had a bucket list, but from the time I was a very young child, I romanticized France. Who knows why? French Poodles? The Eiffel Tower? I have no idea. I’ve traveled to Africa 5 times, but didn’t get to France (except to change planes, when I was a U. N. volunteer in Bosnia) until about 4 years ago—just before COVID.
A good friend and I took advantage of a Gate 1 self-guided trip to Paris just before COVID. Hotel and airfare from New York was $799. We were in a Holiday inn just across from the Gard l’este train station, and took the Big Bus around and saw all the sites. My friend spent about 1/2 an hour in the Louvre (we got there late—after 6:p.m.), but we also go to the Musee d”Orsey (extremely crowded), Notre Dame (before it burned), l’Orangerie, and the Rodan museum. We got to ride the metro. I got to the top of the Eiffel Tower—and that sort of was on my ‘bucket list;—but even with a ‘skip the line’ ticket, it took over an hour to get to the front of the line, That’s how things are these days,
I wanted to see the south of France. A friend owned a garage in Nice, where she said that she wanted to retire, and I wanted to see Monaco, and this Gate 1 trip included that: Paris to Avignon on the high speed rail, and a bus tour along the coast.
There were 33 people on this tour. There were only 2 other singles besides me. A couple in their early 30’s, and another couple late 230’s. and everyone else over the age of 60—including several 85+
I wish we could have spent a bit more time in Paris, I probably could have gotten to the Louvre, but tickets are expensive and the wait to get in is long, Indeed, everything you want to see in Paris involves crowds & long lines. As it was, we took a bus tour that ended at Luxenbourg Gardens, and the guide gave us directions on how to get here & there,and back to the hotel. I could have taken a cab back to our hotel (a quaint place in the Latin Quarter, which would have been more quaint if we hadn’t been without water for 7 hours & had the elevator worked), but the park was right across the street from the metro stop, so I decided to take the metro.
Unfortunately, the direct route ended at a particular stop, and the information people told me to get back on and go around the long way—or—-go out of the Metro, “cross the bridge” & get on at another stop. This was confusing, I did go up, but there were several bridges and a lot of construction around them, so I wandered in several directions looking for another metro stop for over an hour. Finally, I went to a bus stop, which indicated 1 stop was at the Bastille, 2 stops from the hotel. When I asked some people waiting for the bus, they told me I could walk to the Bastille, and I knew that, but I was going 2 stops beyond. In the end, I DID walk to the Bastille—over a mile, in the rain, but got on and went back to the hotel.
Some people chose to go to Versailles. I didn’t. It’s overwhelmingly gaudy, and I was told, crowded. It was also an extra $100 or so.
Dinner was included at what was a typical French Bistro. Choices were limited. I don’t remember what the other options were for appetizers. I chose a shrimp cocktail, and for the main course, prawns, A prawn is larger than a shrimp, but what I got was more shrimp. It was fine. Some people got escargot (rubbery snails—not my thing) & some got frogs legs—-stringy greasy things. Dessert was ice cream with a caramel sauce.
The next day, we took the high speed rail to southern France. You go through beautiful countryside, and we got off near Avignon. From there, we went to the ‘Palace of the Popes’. This is a huge castle, built in the 1300s. The reason there were popes in France (Clement V moved the papacy there) was strife within the Catholic church. You have to realize that the popes were liars, cheaters, adulterers, had many illegitimate children, and were generally scoundrels. For the life of me, I can’t understand why people continue to be devotees of the Catholic church and all their bs rituals. …except that they believe they’re sinners, want to continue sinning, & want to or have to believe in heaven. No thanks, Not interested. Not for an extra $60 The town, also a major market of lavender products, is quaint and interesting. While walking around, I saw 2 Miniature Schnauzers, several French Bulldogs, an English Bulldog, a Bearded Collie, and several Lagotto Romagnolo (looks like a cockapoo, except purebred).
From Avignon, we rode to Nimes (the place where denim originated). Nimes is also historical. A lot of Roman ruins including an ampitheatre. We took a morning trip to view the old Roman aqueduct at Point du Gard.. It’s in a park, & is a UNESCO world heritage site.
We then drove back to Nimes. The hotel was fine, but the dinner—included—gave limited options. & how they set up a breakfast buffet—in the middle of a long hall, which was awkward, and lots of cake and pasties, but no cheese, and they didn’t know how to cook bacon or eggs, or coffee…
The next day, we drove through the beautiful French countryside, through olive groves & vineyards, and stayed in Arles. It was extremely windy. Very historical because van Gogh painted a lot there. It was interesting to be in the spots he had painted. We also got to see the mental hospital he had checked himself into. One has to keep in mind that mental illness was not understood in the late 1800s. Arles is a nice town, lots of boutiques, and of course you can get lots of lavender.
On the way to Nice, we stopped at what in America we’d call a truck stop. Posters of van Gogh paintings were displayed, but what really impressed me more than anything, they serve FOOD. Not plastic wrapped ‘God-knows-what’ or hot dogs that you’d find in America, who knows how long ago it was wrapped. They were making fresh pizza, baguette sandwiches, and pastries. Just awesome.
We drove through the city of Cannes. You know immediately that you don’t belong there. Lots of upscale condos, and they have a beach—a long beach.
We were supposed to stop in a town called Grasse to visit a perfumery, but instead went to Frangonard, a factory on an outcrop on the way to Monaco. Since I had been to a perfumery in Dubai, this was nothing new. They manufactured perfume, argon oil hair conditioner, cologne, and soap, I ended up buying a very expensive bar of rose scented soap (6 euro), but I have to say, after 2 weeks, the scent is still strong.
We backtracked to our hotel in Nice—-a really nice, charming city, especially the ‘old town’, but a ‘highlight’ should have been spending the evening at the casino in Monaco. BTW—Monte Carlo is a ‘neighborhood’ in Monaco. Not knowing what dinner would cost, and not feeling that spending $50+ on a surprise dinner would be worth it, I couldn’t go into the casino—but you can see in—& except for people dressing better (there’s a dress code), it looks like any other casino anywhere. The people who paid for dinner enjoyed it. A few of us walked around—-but there’s nothing open after 7:p.m. The town was setting up for a Formula 1 race, so —it seemed to me—there were a lot of teenagers milling around. Also, Monaco is built on a mountain. The sidewalks are either ceramic tile or marble, and I can imagine how treacherous they are when wet. In any case, lots of cars you never see: Lamborghinis, Maseratis, whatever. We returned to Nice around 10.
The next day, our guide took us through the old town and to the market. Charming, really. I ended up buying a boatload of fancy soap. I could have gone to St. Paul de Vence, but it was an additional $45, and I’d had enough walking around quaint.
it was a quick and lovely trip, and I’ve noticed that Gate 1 seems to have revised or totally changed this trip as offered.
I’ll return to my ‘regular’ blog subjects next week, but I see from my stats that many people come to this blog from what I’ve blogged about dogs. Those blogs get shared a lot. I have about 200 regular subscribers, but many of the posts have been shared hundreds of times.
I started blogging because I loved dogs enough to learn about them, but a guy (Dan London, out of business for years, & who thinks integrity is a character flaw—like Trump) tried to make my life hell because I refused to work for him—& give him credibility he didn’t deserve. Beware of dog businesses where they address how much their employees ‘love dogs‘ but have never trained a dog to off-leash reliability, have never brushed their own dog, and think ‘breeds’ don’t matter.
There is some confusion among alleged pet lovers: this is the 21st century. there are no ‘accidental’ breedings—just irresponsible pet owners who refuse to manage their pets’ fertility…& they seem to think that the rest of us who are responsible should bail them out. Sort of like people who feel children are a gift from God, but can’t take care of them, so we must morally take care of those kids.
That said, “I’m not a breeder, my dog just had puppies,” is not an excuse or explanation for NOT taking responsibility. If you can’t manage your pet’s fertility, your should be neutered. Yet, the ADOPT DON’T SHOP crowd blames breeders NOT causing the problem of surplus pets—-& tries to guilt the rest of us into solving a problem we haven’t caused. How is that working?
This is what breeders who love their dogs do:
First, when planning the breeding, they do all known genetic and health testing of the breeding dogs. Even when doing this, sometimes dogs are born with genetic defects. I have friends who breed Golden Retrievers, and they have at least 3 generations of dogs that are OFA (CERF) (that means the dogs have had their hips xrayed, fair, normal, or excellent), yet still, when their offspring pups are xrayed at 2 years of age, some have a form of hip dysplasia, It happens. Same with deafness (BAER tests) and Juvenile Cataracts (dogs developing cataracts before age 3). If you love dogs, you want to avoid breeding dogs that will be disabled.
Once the pups are born, they are raised in a normal ‘noisy’ environment, where they get to hear sounds of regular life. After all are accounted for, the breeder checks for cleft palates and missing toes. These problems are more common in toy breed dogs (including designer mixes) and bracheocephalics, and usually humanely euthanized.
Those breeders trying to guilt you into taking a puppy with a cleft palate (which would need surgery) are unethical.
Breeders who love their dogs and puppies will have the litter on an absorbent, nonslip surface. Many use washable pads to avoid paper waste. They will also have what may be described as ‘crib toys’: items hanging down for puppies to interact with. Good breeders want their puppies curious and stimulated.
When the weaning process starts, breeders start cutting toenails and ‘stacking’ puppies individually on a table. Breeders do this not just to get the dogs used to being picked up and handled, but to get the dog used to being groomed. We call this ‘training’ BEHAVIOR SHAPING. Also, if they breed bracheocephalic dogs—especially the coated ones (Shih Tzu, Affenpinschers, Brussels Griffons), they get the pup used to having their muzzle held while combing under the eyes. This is so important. If this isn’t done every day until the pup gets used to the grooming motions (the genetic reaction would be to flinch and move away, but this must be overcome), the groomers will not be able to do this without risking injury to the eyes, and the dog will have to be sedated for grooming.
Once the weaning process is underway or completed, breeders put collars on the puppies, and may have them drag a leash, or the breeder may take individual puppies around and coax them.
Once the pups have had their first shots (and wormed, if necessary), the pups can go to new homes, usually between the ages of 8 to 12 weeks. It’s important for puppies to learn to play and fight with their siblings. It’s a known fact that ‘singletons’ and dogs taken too young (under 8 weeks of age) often become unnaturally aggressive towards other dogs.
The breeder should ask you if you own or rent your home, and ask for proof. Animal shelters know one major reason they get dogs back is, “Landlord won’t allow.” Chicago Animal Care & Control—our open admissions CITY DOG POUND —-asks to see a signed lease and they call the landlord as well. I’m shocked at how many pet buyers never consider any of this. Many breeders will ask how long the puppy will be alone during the day, or what arrangements you’ve made for a dog walker. Some will suggest dog daycare. I discourage daycare for a puppy under 8 months old, Why? Most dog daycares are not run by people with ‘dog experience’ : that is—by people who’ve worked in kennels as well as trained dogs, & recognize dog behavior. Loving dogs is not enough. I’ve worked for several businesses that put young puppies with mature toy dogs, ‘because they’re all small’. What happens is that the older dogs bully the puppies. This also makes aggressive dogs.
The breeder will also suggest a crate and why crate training is so important (if your dog is sick or injured, it will be in a crate at the animal hospital—& the dog is always safer in the car in a crate)
If the breeder is selling coated dogs (shedders and nonshedders), she will show you how to brush the dog, and explain what grooming tools you will need and where to get them. I worked for an Afghan Hound breeder, the late Fredric Mark Alderman. He didn’t sell you a puppy if you had never had an Afghan until you spent an afternoon grooming dogs with him. He didn’t want to hear that you had no idea how long it took, or how often it needed to be done, or that you needed a grooming table and a stand dryer.
A breeder who loves their dogs will give you written feeding, grooming, and housebreaking instructions, as well as a pedigree. They will have you sign a contract that says that if you can’t keep the dog, you will return it to them. Keep in mind, everyone wants a puppy. As they mature, they go down in value, not up…unless your dog matures to be a show dog.
A responsible shelter or rescue would also give you care instructions.
This is the 21st century. It’s easy enough to get pet care information. However, it’s a free country. You don’t have to control your impulses or pocketbook. However, if you really are concerned about dogs ending up in shelters, don’t buy or take a puppy from a dog owner who tells you the litter was an accident. that’s not your problem.
This has been a not-so-great week due to poor planning as well as assumptions. I turned a $1800 ‘vacation’ into a $3000 one because I neglected to actually ask my roommate to stop working, take his headphones off, and listen to me. I had told him I was going out-of-the-country for about 10 days. I did this months ago—-before I went to Dubai. I said I’d be back for 3 weeks, then go to France. Trying to plan better, to make sure I could get a ride to the airport rather than getting up 3 hours early to take public transportation, I asked him if he could drive me to the airport next Saturday because I have to be there at 6:00 for an 8:00 flight.
He looked at my itinerary and vocalized (Wo!Wo!Wo!), because he will be away for 3 days near the end of my trip. He could not take care of my dog and would not bring her to the kennel. That meant I had to arrange for boarding.
This was last Friday night, and I did not sleep well. It’s Spring Break in my area, & I really feared all good kennels would be booked full. I Googled one close to the house. It’s run by someone who has an advanced degree in animal behavior, and two of my dog training friends work there. Unfortunately, the minimum charge is $65 a night ($85 during peal times!!!).
So I called Carriage Hill, in Glenview. This kennel is older than I am. It’s run by family, so everyone involved has come up working in the kennel and learning dog behavior, They show and hunt. It’s austere, I know Delilah will be stressed and unhappy, but she’ll be safe. My tenants can’t care for her, because she hides under the bed when they try to get her out, but she’ll also nip them if she’s out in the a yard and I’m not. This is the irony of training a dog: she knows all the exercises, and comes reliably when called, but that kind of thing doesn’t change a dog’s personality.
But I also had a kerfuffle with my uncle’s wife and my sister.
Over 20 years ago, I called the health department on my brother. My sister had sent her boyfriend to help my brother with some repairs. Eric, the BF, was working outside, but when he asked Scott (bro) to use the bathroom, he opened the door and strong ammonia came out that burned Eric’s eyes and throat (there was also garbage piled up), so he went down to the gas station.
When S (sister) called to tell me this, and that she was afraid she’ have to go in there & clean up dead animals, I said, “Give me his address, I’ll call the Health Department in his town.”
Now—-as an aside—which will make sense—-before the Health Department could arrange a visit, there was a small article in the Chicago Tribune, with a photo of men carrying cages, and the story was that they had raided a snake breeder (in Scott’s town). I called S, and she laughed and told me, “It was on the front page of the Daily Herald. At first, I thought it was Scott.” We laughed….that there could be 2 of them.
Was it none of my business? Here’s the thought that went through my head: If I wasn’t mentally right, and my relatives knew this, and I had accumulated more animals than I could care for, so that my place smelled so bad that friends were physically assaulted by the odor, which was also dangerous (ammonia) wouldn’t I want them to intervene and call the Health Department?
The Health Department came out, & Scott let them in and BRAGGED that he ran a reptile breeding business. He didn’t have to let them in. He was obviously in denial, and told S later that he was already in foreclosure, but he wasn’t even cited. The Health Department called his homeowner’s association, and they gave him a five day notice…which is when he went of Bank of Dad for help once again.
Some how, this got turned into me calling the police. & 20+ years later. Scott has forgiven me, & I should accept this—as though I was the wrong one. Nobody mentions five years ago, when he was so addicted he didn’t care that he had no electricity, heat, running water, or had a hole in his roof during a polar vortex when temperatures were going to 40 below zero. I had asked S if she had heard from Scott, because our 90-year-old father was in the hospital with both a broken femur and broken neck, and Scott couldn’t be found. Apparently his phone was cut off. As least that’s what S told me, I suggested she call the police in his town (a new town…he had moved twice since being foreclosed—-& may father had bought him a mobile home to live in…at least the 4th place my father had bought for my brother), to do a wellness check. They rang the doorbell, and when Scott answered, asked if he was alright, because his sister was worried. He said he’d call her.
2 weeks later—he still hadn’t called S, and I suggested she call the police and have him involuntarily committed. That’s what she did, and that’s what they did—to detox. She went to his mobile home and found it a disaster, with the hole in the roof, and many dead animals. She cleaned up as best as she could, Scott told her there was $30,000 in commemorative coins in the unit. She ultimately did find these while cleaning up. That’s another story.
So, by taking this horrible action of having S call the police and getting Scott into detox—-I saved his live. But that was none of my business.
When my father came to, and we three girls started visiting Dad (and Dad gave ‘power of attorney’ to R, my youngest sister), he asked about Scott: where is he? Because …. three daughters aren’t worth one son.
Although Scott has come a ways emotionally these past few years, being in rehab, he has no problem insulting and trying to manipulate us. but I’m forgiven and should accept that.
I don’t talk to him, but my uncle and his wife do when he calls (every Veterans Day) . They don’t come out and say how uncomfortable they are with all of us, but claim they don’t want to get involved in the DRAMA that is my siblings…when I responded to a text my aunt had sent me (in response to me asking when we could get together—- I’ve been trying for almost 2 years)— she suggested we have Passover at R’s house, and told me that R wanted to invite Scott. I didn’t believe it.
That’s not exactly how it went down. R did not want to invite Scott, but was ambivalent when my aunt said SHE would invite him, and if I didn’t want to come, oh, well…
So she did involve herself and didn’t care that I was uncomfortable. I started the drama when I called the police (no…it was the health department)….but I should not have made a moral decision as my brother’s well being was none of my business.
Other skeletons came out: my uncle doesn’t talk to his brother—not because he wouldn’t share in paying for my grandmother’s housing—but because he called my aunt a racial slur. This as though the uncle who married the Mexican woman never made a racial remark, like denigrating Schwartz’ (what Jews call black people) or anyone from India or the Middle East towelheads.
I’m not ‘religious’, but I try to follow a Sikh ethos. I made a moral choice and got abused for it. I feel very demoralized, but this will not change the dynamic Scott has set, that everyone believes is justified.
After thinking about all this, I decided I was too old to allow them all to affect my feelings and mental health. I apologized to my aunt. uncle, & R, told them my conscious was clear, and to arrange whatever they wanted. I’ll be back in 2 weeks, so we’ll see how that goes.
####
I got a wonderful review of “The Pleasure Seeker,” from Book Viral, which I will post upon my return from Europe.
I had the most aggravating experience with PACE (bus operators, part of the Metropolitan Transportation authority) upon returning from overseas to O’Hare. It is so far impossible to find out who does oversight.
Pace/Metra needs their board members to actually take their transportation or hire ‘secret shoppers’.1st—the employees at the stop (this is at the remote parking at O’hare in Chicago)where the Pace route ends) are very rude & not helpful at all. I can understand to a certain extent that you have to be at the ‘column #9’ (though there is no real signage indicating where to get the bus), but when I saw the bus in the driveway, I ran to it—-as they often ignore passengers. Driver would not let me on, she just pointed for me to go across the street. Drivers at O’hare should not be allowed to do that. Then, she took off with an EMPTY BUS.
2. I waited for another bus. Got on, Put my card on the card reader, & it said INSUFFICIENT FUNDS. You can’t pay cash—-at least she (another female bus driver) didn’t ask if I had cash. So I had to get off. U knew ther ewas enough money on the card. I had checked before leaving the country!
3. I went to the information desk. 2 Pace employees were jabbering, so I had to interrupt them. I asked if there was a VENTRA vending machine in the building, & the employee behind the information desk just said, “No,” & kept talking to the other. THERE ARE NO VENTRA VENDING MACHINES AT THE TERMINAL!!!!
4. So, I had to take the train back to the terminals. There are no VENTRA vending machines in the O’hare terminals! But at every terminal there are Jehovah’s Witnesses set up! Seriously. that should not be allowed. Maybe I should set up a stand next to them to promote atheism? What happened to separating church & state? Would you allow the Hare Krishna to do their thing?
5. Where to get the card refilled? You have to go down to the L station….in the lower level at the Blue Line Terminal—–where there are at least 5 vending machines. My choice was to get on the Blue Line & transfer downtown to Purple, then Red line, which I did, or shlep my bag up 2 flights of stairs & take the train back to the bus depot. So… I took a very crowded train.
Now, imagine you’re a visitor, and you want to go to Rogers Park, or Skokie, or Evanston—& information sends you to the light rail to remote parking to get a Pace Bus, but doesn’t tell you that you need a VENTRA card, so you can’t get on. Welcome to Chicago.
But worse!!!! I just checked my card balance online, and I have $8.25. Way more than enough. meaning the card reader in the bus is defective?
The city that works? I am more than angry. Their response:
Thank you for your message to Pace’s Customer Relations Department. Your message is being reviewed and, if a response was requested, you should receive a response within 7-10 business days.
In the future, for a faster and more efficient response, you can submit information directly into our Feedback Center. Entering your question or concern directly into that portal improves the process by prompting you to provide all the information Pace needs to investigate and respond to your issue. You can even add attachments through that method.
In my new book of contemporary fiction, The Pleasure Seeker” my main character, Dayal Singh, has married a woman from Dubai. Through the narrative of the book, he and his wife return at least once a year to visit her family, who are emigres from India. Near the end of the book, I have Dayal saying that he never liked Dubai because it’s a land out of science fiction: You never see people on the street. Not like Arusha (Tanzania), where people are always walking around and you have a good chance of greeting someone you know.
I got my initial impression of Dubai about eight years ago when I was there overnight. I had chosen Emirates Air from Chicago to Zambia, because their fare was comparative to United, and I have issues with United & their Starfleet Alliance. The nice thing about Emirates: since there are no direct flights to Lusaka from Chicago, they put me up over night, dinner and breakfast included, in Dubai.
8 years ago, the drive from the airport, at dusk, revealed only sand, sand for miles. I was able to take a tour of the town. It wasn’t a great tour, just an hour or so with another traveler like myself, but we went from the hotel to the Burj Khalifa (not in, but to the driveway) and back. They were just working on the monorail then, and it had 2 stops: the beginning and the end. There was no greenery.
Dubai has exploded in these past eight years. The sand for miles from the Airport? Now mostly warehouses and car dealerships, with other industrial related businesses. The Metro has several routes now, and beautiful stations. The central business district has quadrupled in size. You want to see architecturally significant tall buildings? They are in Dubai. The Dubai Mall,
When I got in to Dubai, it was overcast, but it was around 5 in the afternoon. In the morning, it was raining, It never rains in Dubai, and I had taken my umbrella out of my suitcase. Our guide, Faheem Abbas, was excellent. He explained that rain is so rare, they aren’t prepared for pools in the roadway & people get stuck. So, Radio & TV announce that people should work at home & schools are also closed.
But we had a big tour bus. Our 1st stop was the Dubai Mall so we could get to the top of the Burj Khalifa. The mall is huge, and filled with chain stores from the USA as well as boutiques with souvenirs. It’s almost overwhelming. There is also the skating rink , the ski slope, and an aquarium. In Chicago , we have the Hancock Center & the Willis (sears) tower ‘skydecks’, so I’ve been to the tops of tall buildings, Still, the view is impressive. I wish someone had given us a tour or explanation of the mall, and that we had a bit more time to spend, but we had to get to the skydeck, and thousands of people (I am not exaggerating) go up the every day. It’s not a huge deck, but you aren’t crowded in, either. When we got back, there was a break in the tour, and we reconvened for ‘orientation’ & to meet each other, Tho all were ‘American (at least green card holders), there were 2 Indian couples, an Indian woman & her friend (who came to Dubai from Indian), a Filipino couple, 2 Chinese couples, a Viet Namese family, a woman from the country of Georgia who had been in the USA 40 year, 2 black American couples, and me. Interesting mix.
Day 2, we went to Abu Dhabi to see the ‘grand mosque’. You travel past the water desalinization plant & the power plant. Yes, they use oil for fuel now, but are building a big solar field for the future. A rich Muslim guy built this gorgeous mosque, but it is a ‘demonstration’ mosque: a large marble plaza, and the marble building is inlaid with precious stone flowers like the Taj Majal. There are several large chandeliers with Swarowski crystals, and the larges prayer rug ever made. But…. it is no longer for prayers.
Under the mosque (actually, the parking lot…) is a huge shopping mall with a McDonald’s, a Tim Horton’s, and many candy and souvenir shops. You have to be dressed appropriately to enter the mosque, which you do from the underground mall. I thought I was ok, but the guards objected to the sheer sleeves of my blouse, so Faheem bought me fake sleeves. In any case, the building is beautiful and impressive. On the return, we stopped at what was supposed to be a ‘traditional’ village, but it was really a poorly marked museum of weaponry and coins. All the small buildings we tourist oriented & overpriced. We went into Dubai for lunch, which was ok. Then, we went to the Louvre Abu DAbi. We were given about 45 minutes, which is just about enough time if you race through it. I would have taken the ‘traditional village off the tour to spend more time at the Louvre.
Day 3 We drove to Al Sharjah, another emirate. Faheem explained that the Crown Prince of the town was very conservative & no alcohol or tobacco were available. We went past the mosque and we were supposed to drive through the American University campus, but for some reason we couldn’t go in, so we returned. Since the drive is long, Faheem explained that in a city of 10 million people, only 2 million are Emirati. The rest, including him, are ‘guest workers’. Years ago, most construction workers were from Bangla Desh. They are now recruited for the hospitality industry mostly from Malaysia, Philippines, & Eastern Europe. You must speak English, You are provided with housing, cramped tho it may be, and if you lose your job, you’re sent back. Balli Kaur Jaswal wrote a story involving Malaysian guest workers in Singapore called, “Now You See Us,” involving a character accused of murder. At the end, she has an essay on how these women are treated. In any case, you can not become an Emirati by marrying in. However, this is a capitalist country. You can buy property. It is freehold (meaning not on a 99 year lease).
Day 4 We drove to the metro to take it to Palms Jumeirah (see photo above). I wish I could have gotten a Metro map and gotten on to explore where it goes, but no time, We took the metro to the end of Palms. Palms was an idea eight years ago. It is totally sold out now. Mostly single family homes (starting at $5 million dollars) and some townhouses & the Atlantis Hotel. Pure opulence. From there , we visited 2 small museums, but all the gift shops sell the same tourist stuff made in China and India. Then, we went to the old Souk. On 1 side, it is ‘gold’ and all jewelry, the other side is spices. I guess if you come from a small town, all this would seem exotic, but I live 2 miles from an Indian/Middle Eastern shopping district. We can get all the fresh spices in Chicago. & gold? I don’t think so. I wanted to buy a bar of camel milk soap. The vendor stall owners wanted an equivalent of $8 a bar. They would not accept $4, so I didn’t buy soap. I later went to a local grocery store and found very extoic tumeric and ayervedic soap for under $1 a bar.No joke. In the evening, we took Toyota trucks with experienced drivers & drove in the dunes near Al Sharjah. Not real dunes. The desert is pretty flat with rolling hills. It was fun, but then we went the the Bedouin BarB Q—but it wasn’t a BarBQ. I was expecting meeting actual Bedouin families with kids—and maybe Salukis. It was not. The dinner wasn’t typical. It was ok: chicken in pita, salad, hummos, baklava that kind of thing, set up on a buffet, and they gave out coffee, soda, and water. They had a little entertainment: a guy twirling around like a dervish, and another juggling things with fire. They had women doing henna, so I got my hand hennaed. For $90 extra, I felt it was overpriced.
Day 5 Before I came to Dubai, I googled “Dubai Salukis” and found the BarkPark link, and arranged to meet Jan, the owner. A very interesting Scottish woman, she was recruited to work in Dubai, and liked the lifestyle. She married an emerati, had a son, divorced, went back to Scotland because her mother was dying, Her mother didn’t die, so Jan returned, and via her ex-husband’s connections, was able to lease the land to have her boarding and dog daycare business. We were on the same page on most things. She had a 16-year-old white Saluki from Hamad Alghanem ) known as ‘Mr.Saluki’). & I swear, the dog could step into any show ring in America and contend. She also had 2 rescues. She told me there were no more Bedouins in the area. and the Salukis we used for hunting by Muslims.
This was my last day. half our group had left for home. Back with Gate 1, we took the smaller bus to the Al Shadaya museum. We were only there about 1/2 hour, & many of us felt that 90 minutes would have been more appropriate, It was so interesting. They had 1 room devoted to how various perfumes are made, and a lovely multimedia show on the history of Dubai. We were taken from the to another shopping center , designed like an old souk, very pretty, but all touristy stuff. Then, Faheem brought us to the beach. He left us for 90 minutes, way too long. It’s very touristy, and I didn’t want to spend $$$$ on snacks.
We all thought the time would have been better spent at Al Shadaya.
I got to visit 3 emirates: AbuDhabi, Dubhai, and Al Sharjah. I got to meet a fellow Saluki lover, and maybe a day or 2 more would have been fun. I wish Gate 1 had given us maps of the city. As it was, this trip cost me under $1500, so if you can afford it, do it.
This is what a country looks like when the leaders are sophisticated & employ the best civil engineers and architects. It is a monarchy, not a democracy. There is no trash, no grafitti, no beggars, very little crime. You are a guest. You aren’t employed? You have to leave.
Published in 2021, the back of the book blurb & Amazon descriptions do a good job of telling us what the book is about: How stewardesses came to be in the commercial flight industry after WWII, and how PanAm stewardesses were impacted by the Viet Nam War. it also includes a great chapter on overcoming sexism and gaining respect.
Normally, this isn’t my type of read.It’s a bit cute, and the author dances around why we were in Viet Nam, but that’s not the story. the story is how many families of young women tried to dissuade them from choosing a career in the airline industry, mostly based on cultural images the airlines made popular.
I’m sure many women of the baby boom generation at least considered becoming a flight attendant. The big plus was the opportunity to see the world. Would I suggest this as a career now? Only to bilingual people, and people who enjoyed serving others. The book also has some good photos, so I’d say to any teenager, check this book out and don’t have illusions.
^^^I just returned from Dubai, and will post on that next week. I went to Dubai to see if my impressions of Dubai still held—& they do. Please check out “The Pleasure Seeker”
I live in Chicago, & for the past several months we’ve been getting an influx of refugees from Venezuela. The reason so many have been coming is that because we didn’t like their president (several presidents back) for his economic policies, our congress put economic sanctions on the country, and we destroyed their economy. The people coming from Venezuela are, for the most part, white, urban dwellers—and apparently either devoutly religious or culturally fatalistic. Why they don’t go to Columbia or any other Spanish speaking country is a mystery. They had to walk through several countries to get to the USA. Apparently Panama, Costa Rica, and even Mexico (I’m not suggesting either Honduras or Guatemala—also messed up royally by US foreign policy) wouldn’t do for any of these people. They have actually told volunteers they had no idea where they’d end up or what would happen, but apparently they are disappointed by the facilities they are being offered as ‘not adequate’. While I feel sorry for them (they are being bused up by DeSantis from Florida & Abbot from Texas)—& frankly—they’re right, the facilites are inadequate. We weren’t expecting them, and can’t take care of our own poor people——-the federal government has plenty of money for the military—bur dealing with the right now problem of unhoused, displaced people isn’t getting anyone’s attention…), an awful lot of these refugees are teenagers or in their early 20’s, already with at least 1 child—& pregnant to people they are not married to. They are complaining about not getting diapers for the babies….but how did they get them on their long trek?
I know: who am I to judge? I came from a culture that you don’t bear children until you can support them. It was considered a shame, an abomination. But these people have come from a culture who apparently believe using contraception is not God’s way, and the rest of us should take care of the children they bear and can’t care for.
How dare I? Bearing children is a right, right?
Well, on the opposite end of personal choice are that all male members of the South Carolina Supreme Court, which has decided to ban all abortions because the unborn (that would be people who don’t exist) have rights. & look at Alabama, where the old white guys—-not religion or philosophy majors, have decided eggs are children. They are without sin, so are more important than the rest of us who are actually breathing. The logic evades me. They’ve decided, due to philosophical or religious leanings, that if you get pregnant , if contraception failed, or you were raped , the unborn is more important and has more rights than the woman forced to carry that fetus. Decided by men who would never be in your position.
What a great country this is where a few men can decide what the rest of us should believe. This is, of course, a pretzel logic philosophy. It requires those of us who don’t believe you are born until you breath to abide by a law set by people who believe that God only takes you to Heaven if you are saved by his son, Jesus, and that all that stuff we learned in the old Testament is negated, but more, that they should decide what we should believe and adhere to.
When people bear children they can’t support, morally, the rest of us must—as they are real breathing people. But that (in theory) takes resources away from those who were born and planned, but are special needs and handicapped. How unselfish is that? I’d like to have music and art classes in our public schools, but we have to take care of the special needs kids who will always be a burden to society no matter if they are in school or not.
Meanwhile, I guess the logic is that you have rights until others who are more philosophical decide you don’t.
The first classical music I remember was Bernstein’s Fancy Free. I had several Bernstein records as a kid, bought after going to the movies to see “West Side Story.” Of course, my parents loved Bernstein, too. What was NOT to love? A Jewish guy changing classical music! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZPF5mPIpXU
While I thought Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro” was interesting, it clearly was a fictionalized and truncated biography. He didn’t exactly fall in love and marry Felicia quickly. In fact, his life was very complicated being a popular artist and bisexual.
I wondered if Humphrey Burton (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphrey_Burton), who wrote this tome (it’s 594 pages, of which 59 pages are notes and cites) would address this, and he did. How he met the lovers who became important in his life.
It seems like Bernstein either kept a diary or every letter he ever got or wrote, and of course, a list of all the music he conducted and where. He was apparently a Conservative Jew, but very must a supporter of Israel & the Israel Philharmonic. He guest conducted around the world, He also composed, but you’ll probably have to go to YouTube, as most recording were done on LP records (some may have been transferred to compact discs, but you’ll have to search.
If you’re a classical or American music lover, and want to read a real account of a life, this is it, Extremely well done.
It was published in 194, and may be out of print, but it is well worth seeking out.
^^^^
Yes, still shamelessly promoting my book of contemporary fiction. I’ve entered several romance book contests, as this book does contain a romance, but since it doesn’t follow the romance book ‘trope’, some won’t like it. In fact, if you believe the christian bible was written by God, YOU won’t like it.
I was going to do a book review, but last night I watched Dolly Parton’s Pet Gala on CBS, and, having worked with dogs (for almost 60 years…Yikes!), it was the train wreck I could not ignore, I guess I could go online & find out which idiots were responsible for producing this, but it doesn’t really matter. They weren’t dog lovers, that’s for sure! Dolly—& the entertainers who performed—- were marvelous. I liked the vignette she did on dogs trained to help the physically disabled (they were from Canine Companions for Independence, a well known nonprofit which supplies trained dogs for free to those who need them),
This show could have been so much better without the dog fashion show. You know, capitalism doesn’t exist to meet needs—-it creates ‘wants’. you see it, you want it.
I have owned sighthounds for over 40 years, and unless we have a measurable windchill, my Salukis and Whippets (& now, a lurcher who looks sorta like a Greyhound) go out without coats. They have never shivered. A sweater is a fashion statement, If they need coats (we fanciers tend to call them ‘blankets’—like racing dogs wear). we buy garments to protect them from the chill.
It was sad to see so many obviously stressed out dogs dressed up in glorified doll clothes. Clothes made of satin and lace, with embellishment doodads. All these ‘garments’ would need professional dry-cleaning—using poisonous chemicals….but who thinks of that? I know, I’m a curmudgeon. Chemicals? Seriously? Yes.
You could see by their expressions and body language that these were not ‘happy’ dogs that had confidence. Even the dogs ‘cuddled’ in the audience were overwhelmed. You could tell that (for the most part) these were not ‘show dogs’.
Why do I even mention showdogs? Because dogs that are used to being ‘shown’ are used to strange situations, smells, and noises. If you’ve never been to a dog show, go! The noise you’ll hear will be from blow dryers (I kid you not) being used by obsessive people grooming at the show. You won’t, for the most part, hear barking. It’s funny going to an obedience or other performance trial, seeing the rows of crates & dogs lining up to go into the ring…no noise.
I saw a Pumi (the ears gave the breed away), a Saluki (wearing a ridiculous outfit), what I thought was a Barbet (not wearing clothes, but brushed out, big, black, and wide, that I’m sure was being mistaken for a Doodle of some sort). I saw Asian Fusion trims on Maltese & Yorkies. None of these dogs looked like they were having a good time, In 1 segment when someone was reading, and all the dogs were on mats ( down/stays—in obedience talk), the Afghan got up and walked off the stage. The other dogs held their stays, but I’m sure the Afghan had had enough.
I’m sure most people thought all these dogs were cute, and might have learned something. They were entertained by humans, but it could have been so much better. A trainer could have done a bit on teaching off leash walking, or directing a dog to go away to a target. They could have shown barn hunt, water eetrieving, explained dock diving and scentwork. They could have done something on agility, and lure coursing, They could have given a grooming demonstration showing all the different brushes, combs, and what works on different types of coats! Sure, they can do it again—but will they insist on the dog fashion show?
I know, I’m not their market. Older teenagers and college girls are the ones buying dog dresses. I’m sure their are no college loans. They won’t be going out drinking instead of saving money for a home. Thinking about that is merely irritating. Thinking these women thought the dogs were having fun because their owners are into fashion or pseudo fashion? This is how things fall apart.
If you study anthropology, you learn that some actions people take are cultural and learned from other people in their culture. In some cultures, toddlers are allowed to pick up sharp knives and walk around with them. In some cultures, men believe their penises are disappearing into their bodies, and request wives to perform fellatio to prevent this. In some cultures children always sleep with their parents until they become teenagers. In Maasai (African) society, teenagers are circumcized and sent out to kill lions.
In America, since WWII, we’ve had a culture of teenage girls becoming anorexic, and more recently, for teenage boys not being able to handle a physical hormone surge with the accompanying anger, are compelled to kill others…with guns legally bought.
Did you, as a kid, ever do anything illegal that was also considered dangerous? We used to play in houses being constructed. We could have easily fallen through holes in the floor. I never shoplifted, but I had friends who did, got caught, and their parents were hauled into a hearing to let them know they had to pay. How about friends playing ball who broke windows. Parents were responsible for what their kids did.
Yes, of course the kisa are mentally ill. but when your outward behavior appears normal, and is dismissed as ‘boys will be boys’, it’s impossible to stop, especially since it’s so easy to get a gun. How ironic that you have to be 18 to buy cigarettes—and 21 in most states to buy alcohol….& your parents are considered irresponsible if they allow you to partake in alcohol and tobacco. But guns?
So I don’t understand the series of unfortunate events where Jennifer and James Crumbley were not automatically responsible for giving their teenage son Ethan a gun and refusing to believe , even when presented with evidence that he had obsessive thoughts of violence, that he was having emotional issues, & that there was at least a 50/50 chance he would use guns to kill.
I don’t understand why, when the school principal called the parents in to tell them they needed to take him home, that he was in crisis (and they didn’t), that the school didn’t call child protection, or whatever the agency would be.
And this went to trial. Oh, I guess it was deciding whether they were accessories to murders or to be charged with involuntary manslaughter. Oh, the nuances.
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