...Somalia....

This NY Times Pictorial was called to my attention by my 16 year old daughter. She was disturbed, but unfortunately, not surprised as she has become rather knowledgeable about Somalia. She was disturbed but she made herself look anyway....

These are disturbing...but how can we do nothing?

Are we a civilized world if we look the other way?

Are we decent human beings if we continue to focus only on our own troubles?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/02/world/africa/20110802_SOMALIA_GOBIG.html?ref=world#1

Huelga Now....

The true purpose of this forum can no longer be denied. Voice must be given to the growing thousands, hundreds of thousands, who are out of work -- who are actually working very hard, but who are out of pay.

I confess, here and now, I stand in those ranks. I try not to fall down in those ranks.

Piece by piece I am stripped away. My ability to pay for the infrastructure necessary for me to try to obtain paid work (e.g., insurance coverage, office space, computer usage to search for work, transit, etc., etc.) diminishes weekly.

My self esteem, energy, and will to keep up the fight are battered.

I know I am not alone, though most in my former "circle" cannot really relate. Do not understand that of course I seek any work I can find. Of course I would scrub toilets or shovel horse manure. Or hold my tongue...or look the other way....These nicks to our integrity happen...when we have mouths to feed....

I dream we will all take to the streets, sleep in tents on the most gorgeous boulevards...dream we all unite in Tel Aviv and across the world...have not given up the dream that there are enough resources to go around and that the greedy will give up a small piece in order that the masses might have enough to eat....

Dormancy and Blogging

(Weeks have multiplied. Winter clouds have given way to August fog. Days have been filled with struggles and happiness. Bliss and despair. Life....)

This morning I peruse the NYT. An article catches me. Law firms exporting their work to India. Work traditionally done by "grunt lawyers" here in the U.S., now done by a roomful of legal minds in India who get paid a fraction of the money previously paid to the "grunt lawyers" in the States. Those "grunt lawyers" -- in the States -- now seeking work at other firms, displacing others, on down the line. Until, at the end of that line, are those who now cannot find work. NAFTA as it applies to the legal field. (I think it is safe to say this concept is or will be applied in every field.)

If it is cheaper to get the work done by people out of country, "Let's do it!" With enthusiasm! More money for those entities that can afford to do it. These entities , (tech companies, law firms, manufacturers, etc.), with resources to hire cheaper workers in other countries, increase their profits and get larger, as they charge less for the services offered (based on cheaper production costs). The places that either choose not to take jobs away from neighbors in the next town or can't do so, might manage to survive. Or more likely, go under. One by one. Box stores eating up the family store. More jobs...gone....

Greed.

It is no longer about taking care of your country, your neighbor, your municipality (with the taxes for services). It is about making more money. Bigger cars. Fatter steaks. More boats. More plantings on the estate. No need to care about anyone else if your own place is secure.

I don't care about anyone else's greed. Well, that's not true. I do care about it. I find it rather repulsive. But in the long view, it is not up to me to judge. I do care, however, when greed means that there are no legal jobs for me because instead of forging a career and playing golf and striving for the ladder, I was also having children, and so my position falls far below "grunt lawyers." I do care because hundreds of thousands of attorneys and toilet scrubbers and gas station attendants and librarians and electricians and teachers and all of us are out of work.

And no one does a thing to stop to flow. The outflow. The trickle which has become a torrent....

Spring day in the middle of Winter

Mid-day sun chair toes
naked. Wind chime. Recess noise.
More sun. Breathe. Enjoy....

Eradicating Hatred with Nothing but Love and Hope....

Chills....First I Googled WBC and saw their schedule to protest at my kids' school today. With their messages of hate against "Jews" and "Gays"....Truly Revolting....But then I saw the weekly Torah Portion from school and it gave me chills to see hate transmuted into something lovely. So with thanks to the wonderful Roni, I re-print the following:

"If you were to walk into the JCHS lobby right now, the first thing you would notice is an oversized Fundraising Pledge Sheet hanging on the bulletin board with the heading "From Hate to Haiti." It is overflowing with the signatures of students, staff and parents pledging varying amounts of money - to be donated to the American Jewish World Services' Haitian Relief Services. When I think of this week's parsha, B'shalah, I smile at the image of Miriam, Aaron's prophetess sister, leading the women in song and dance. The Israelites have just survived a frantic chase by the Egyptians across the Sea of Reeds and are about to embark on a long, stressful journey. In the face of relentless persecution and an unknown future, it would be quite natural to react with anger or gloom. Instead, Miriam sings! She has the wisdom and courage to harness all of that anxious energy into a moment of goodwill. This week the JCHS community learned that a homophobic, Anti-Semitic group decided to picket outside our school to publicize their hateful messages. A group of thoughtful students chose to respond with a hugely successful fundraising campaign. On their own, these students have flipped a potentially negative experience into an occasion for generosity and joy. If Miriam were here, I have no doubt that she would break into song!"

Enjoy the Sunshine Whenever it Comes....

I'm always amazed, this time of year, when the sun shines brightly after five p.m. Like magic, the daylight hours lengthen and we are brought out of darkness. Today especially caught my attention. After days and days of gray skies and torrential rains, suddenly this afternoon brought blue, sunny skies, stretched east to west.

I rushed to get a load of laundry out of the washing machine and onto the clothes line. Happy to save the planet (a little) and my wallet (a little less) by forgoing the dryer. I was so inspired that after hanging the clothes in the bright, chilly, air, I took my lunch outside. It felt good.

And now, as the sun is lighting up the topmost edges of the bay's fog and clouds on its way down for the night, it pleases me immensely to see my laundry hanging on the line. At first I look out and experience quick panic: oh no, what if it rains tomorrow, before the clothes are dry. But then I immediately remember that last month it did rain on the laundry, clinging to the line. And when the rain stopped, the clothes dried again, and they were fine.

After the rain storm, everything is fine....

On Cleaning out "Things" with the New Year....

At 2 in the morning I heard my 19 year old son rustling through the cabinets. At first I thought he was fixing himself a snack but when I tripped downstairs without my glasses, I found him kneeling beside the cupboard, wrangling with open bags of chips and cereal boxes. Trying to make order out of the chaos. We had a good visit, while he helped make room in the refrigerator by eating leftover turkey enchiladas and I cleaned out the microwave.

Things had gotten a little tense and I almost lost it when I found the two recipe boxes and a neatly organized box of garden information that he'd stacked at my place on the dining room table (my portable office as it were).
First of all, I told him, Don't mess with my shit. Second of all, yes, I wish I had time to clean out and organize all this stuff....And third, well...third of all, I'm sad to think I used to have time for this....Time to clip and organize and time to garden and cook and...and even a garden where things could grow....

For two days the boxes sat. But it is, after all, New Year's, which always presents a good time for cleaning and clearing....I opened one of the recipe boxes. I had to ignore little thoughts that I should trash the whole of it because "who needs recipes since all of this stuff is available on the internet?" But I didn't trash them and slowly I started going through the neatly labeled categories: "Seafood," "Various Holiday Fare," "Roasted Marinated Vegetables" (why this would need its own category I can't quite explain), "Desserts," etc. Thirteen labeled categories and five un-labeled miscellaneous categories in all.

With the box open, I found twelve year old clippings from the S.F. Chronicle. I had forgotten that way back when I had subscribed to that paper instead of reading my news online....One section, (it must have been "Fruits"), had lots of recipes for Meyer lemons and apples. Oh yes, I silently recalled, I used to have a yard with a nice, squat lemon tree that produced gorgeous, smooth-skinned lemons ten months out of the year. And a big apple tree. I came across emails from friends I haven't seen in years, sending recipes back and forth. Invitations to come for chili. Mentions of birthday parties of our children. A couple recipes were from "Faz" who used to have a Persian restaurant in the City. There were posts from Joyce Maynard, whose online discussion group I used to visit and whose pie baking events I used to attend, giving advice on the pie crust (cherries from our tree) I was going to bake for my husband's birthday. (I'm no longer married and that cherry tree died a couple years after we moved from that house....) The box also yielded cards written by my mother, my sister, and my stepmother, sharing their recipes -- as if that would make me a good and comfortable cook....

As I drink my coffee on New Year's morning, I smile while I make my way through the boxes. Good thing I didn't throw them away without even cracking the lids....In actuality, the treasures buried within cannot be found on the internet. And besides, just yesterday I fantasized about making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies....Maybe today, the first day of the new year, will be the day I finally use my stepmother's recipe....