Less Is NOT More

I didn't believe it from the inanity of the Bauhaus and I refuse to consider it when it comes to my dying from lack of health care. And the solitary Finger of Praise goes to Cong. Dennis Kucinich this month. He, alone despite tremendous pressure from peers and corporations, stood up to say that compromise on disastrous legislation is not 'better than nothing'. The language punishing women in this bill is enough to make any so-called feminist livid with rage, that we are still being controlled by people who know nothing about the issues they so blithely legislate. Or as the wondrous Bill Moyers says, the Catholic Bishopric has no right to mandate abortion to Congress when they participate in the cover-up and promotion of pedophilia.

Thank you, Mr. Kucinich, for saying 'No' to giving yet more money to insurance by mandating that I purchase from those vultures that which I couldn't afford before. Thank you, for opposing the bigoted and biased ilk of Senator Stupak and his Christian Right horde. Thank you, for being brave and not caving in as all the rest have done. YOU are a Feminist, and I say that with all due admiration and respect.

International Women's Day

Celebrate the one day they allow us by learning what you can about CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. It's been precisely 200 years since brave women protested being locked into sewing, sweat shops in NYC. Because the cause was picked up by the Socialist Party, it was dismissed as anti-American. Can you say national health care reform, kiddies? Anyway, we are still barely one step from the cave, concerning our inalienable rights, and with a Congress still largely manned by aging, white Puritans, we are taking steps backward. (Thanks to the folks at godhatesprotestors for the excellent photo.)

The tragedy is that, because our own Country is loathe to sign this petition, committed countries have seen that as a reason to back out of providing women with the same protections men have always enjoyed. Our health care, our lack of attending to our poorest, our aging, our uneducated makes us no more than a Third World Country.

On a lighter note. the brave marchers in AL, marking the anniversary of Civil Rights' Bloody Sunday, have decided to form a Coffee Party in opposition to the Tea Baggers. It's too funny, but it's also the truest effort we've seen lately to speak candidly about Medicare for All, education for every child (No Child Left Behind has been anything but!), and the fact that we, of all countries, should acknowledge that there is no such thing as an illegal immigrant on these shores. If this Party is serious and comes to fruition, I will join it! Screw yer tea, Tories!

Yard Sale Bulimia Break

I think we've purged half a U-Haul truckload of accumulated crap that I've either gathered for art projects that I never made time for or packed across the country to 3 different states - because who gets rid of their own art? So, after working on this depletion for nearly a month and hauling the latest one into Goodwill, I took time off in the rare sunshine yesterday to weed and tidy up a yard full of fallen limbs. We've had some hellacious storms over this winter.

It felt so good to be digging in the soil again, reconfirming my theory that dandelions are sentient beings with uncanny intelligence. The ones who secrete themselves under the back leaves of the plants we human beans dub 'flowers' fascinate me the most. Many were gargantuan models, and they'd already put forth blooms that turn into 100 other plants when they get their parachutes. Sly bastards. It's a constant state of war between me and what naturally wants to be here. I know it's wrong, but I'm trying to sell a house and most folks don't consider dandelions landscaping. Except for my Father, who made horrible wine out of it - for medicinal purposes, of course. If it were up to me, I'd live in the middle of a wildflower field or a Japanese rock garden.

If you see me out there, muttering, "Saucers of beer . . .", it's only because the snails are already munching on tiny shoots of my Ligularia Dentata. Banzai! (No, not Bonsai; they're fine.)

An Irresistable Job

I've been retired due to disabilities for almost 8 years now, but sometimes an opportunity comes along that is just too outrageous to ignore. Since we're moving to CA anyway and someone has to think of the double $ house pricing there, I applied for a position as Grateful Dead Archivist at UC. I mean, come on, would there be anything more hilarious than that career path? Nothing else but the irony of having lived through that period, as well as being jazzed about archiving social history would make me re-enter the work force. I'm still laughing. If I get it, I'll chuckle all the way to the bank. The grant funds are outrageous, too.

If there's a weirder, open position in the entire Country, please let me know!

Continuing Obfuscation

I have little to say re: our govt.; all of them are being prime douchebags and the only thing of which I'm certain is that anything they actually do pass will not benefit me or anyone else in the lower economic quadrant. So, let's dwell on the good news. If you ever wanted to see that book in your head in print, now's the time. Lulu.com will send you the first copy free (+S&H), and don't worry about being geek enough to do the layouts. There site has excellent, user-friendly templates to assist your efforts. Also, sign-up has begun for Script Frenzy, which begins in April. Got a screenplay rattling around up there? Get off yer butts and create something.

Signs of Moving Forward

I may have mentioned that, when the Goddess is ready for me to change locations, 3 things occur (without fail in 37 instances): the town turns blue, vermin infest the crawlspace, and opportunities to ply my artistic/literary trades appear rapidly. There is no way to explain the first to anyone who hasn't experienced panic attacks or tunnel vision (often from drug reactions); the area simply appears to have a color cast, like the green before a tornado in IN. Hoosiers know what I mean. The second can involve anything from mating opossums infesting my FL house with fleas to the field mice I took care of last month (humanely, of course). But the third is the kicker every time.

I can labor for years trying to get my art or prose noticed by locals and try to earn that elusive income by them, only to find that just before the house sells, organizations and clients are clamoring for my creations. Certainly that feels good; it doesn't make it any easier to start over in a new place. I have to accept that the move is a 'done deal', destiny, karma, or whatever you want to call it, and this is simply a ruse of that b!#$ch, Hope. Or as the Tiwa and Tewa of Taos Pueblo say, "The Mountain is playing with you."

Still, it does my heart good that my favorite library loved my Woman's Day essay (see contest in this month's issue) enough for the director to quote it when he gives speeches and want copies of my books, as well. I love them back. For the rest of you, Precious Readers, lulu.com is allowing me to give another 10% off in Mar. on the latest, The Doll Machine (just type 'IDES' at checkout). It's up in both print and down-loadable e-format. Thank you all for your support. Shut up, Mountain.

March for Women in Herstory

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is. I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute."

Rebecca West (1892-1983)
"Mr. Chesterton in hysterics,"
The Clarion, November 14, 1913

March is designated National Woman's History Month, and one of the recurring projects is to 'write women back into history'. I was almost 50 and going back to school for a degree before I learned how women shaped our Country AND were largely left out of the reporting of having done so. It incensed me, as it does now. As we face new obstacles to control of our own bodies, like Utah's Legislature sending women to jail for miscarriages, or the health bill's containing Pro-Life language that only men can comprehend (fuzzy logic), it becomes ever more important for us to be vigilant re: the kind of world we want for our daughters. Clue: this isn't it.

Learn something you didn't know about courageous females this month. Look up Seneca Falls or The Women's Bible, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Shirley Chisholm and Ella Grasso would be good starts, or for someone living, Amy Goodman. We are awesome; we could be powerful; but, at the very least, we should never become complacent enough to think the job's done!