Year End (No politics or commentary on the state of the world, I promise)

Well, folks, another Christmas has come and gone and almost another year.  I am using this format to write what used to be an annual Christmas letter, which has gone the way of many things of that nature.  It is not that I will never write one again.  I probably will.  I love getting them, and this way is so much less interesting, really. So there's that...  This also will serve as my 1 year anniversary of "going down the rabbit hole" of retirement.  Wonderland and so forth.  Christmas was fun and as always, the food was mighty good.  My in laws, Suzanne and Max Lester were there in full spirit, all 91 years of them.  It is a joy and pleasure that they spent yet another Christmas with their family, all 12 of us here in Boise.  

Okay, so retirement.  It is all it is cracked up to be, in case you are wondering. I love not working.  As I have said before, here and elsewhere, I am ever grateful for my career and I am so glad I am no longer doing it.  I have left it happily and with great confidence to younger people, who I had the pleasure to supervise and mentor sometimes.  I wish all of you out there contemplating retirement the same feeling of gratitude for the work you have done and the wonderful feeling contentment that this last year has brought to me.  Those of you already retired, I only hope that it has been as great for you.  

So here is the past year in a nutshell, more or less.  At the end of January, I traveled out to Cape Cod to assist Steve's Aunt Kay to transition into assisted living.  She has landed in paradise as far as I could fathom.  It was a grand couple of weeks.  I'm telling you, I would move there in a heart beat.  Great place.  I highly recommend visiting assisted living places (I also visited several here while exploring care options for Suzanne and Max...they are still happily at home, however.). It kind of takes some of the scare out of the idea of maybe needing care myself some time in the future.  Most of the places I visited were very nice, very comfortable and many had fabulous food.  

Then some other things happened between February and June, which I can't quite recall right now. One thing I do seem to recall is that Steve and I attended the wedding of my nephew, Tom at the beginning of June.  He married a lovely young woman named Vanessa and they are happily ensconced in their lives and working as attorneys down in SoCA. At the end of June, I helped my good friend, Joan move to Missoula from Boise.  She decided to go to help care for her great granddaughter, June.  It was a bit of an adventure getting there.  I drove the U Haul truck (admittedly, a small one) while she followed behind me in her car with her two kitties and a bunch of stuff that wouldn't fit in the truck.  Missoula, it turns out, is the hip, young college town capitol of the world.  Really nice town.  Reconnected with an old friend of mine from my W.S.U. days.  

In the meantime, I started volunteering for the English Language Center, which is affiliated with the Idaho Office for Refugees.  I have been helping out in the beginning class.  This class has folks just off the boat (most of them, anyway).  Many of these students don't have literacy in their own language, so their challenge is great.  I have absolutely loved doing this.  I go a total of 4 hours a week.  I also started spending a couple of scheduled afternoons with Suzanne and Max, helping them out with a variety of issues.  I spend about 6 hours per week with them.  That has been so wonderful and fulfilling for me.  It has helped to keep me off the streets and aided them with different things.  It has been an absolute pleasure.  The other thing I have done is gone to a couple of classes at the Osher Institute, which is affiliated with B.S.U. It is a learning program for older people, a category that I apparently fit into.  I've taken classes on meditation and one on digital memoirs.  I found the latter to be very interesting and kind of compelling, although I bet I never get around to doing any kind of memoir, digital or otherwise.  One thing about these classes.  I look around at the other folks and think to myself, "Really?  Am I really as old as all these folks look to me?  Are they looking at me thinking the same?"  Nobody prepared me for this particular phenomenon.  Not identifying with one's  age group.  Never been an issue before.  

My Aunt Helen died in September. She was 95 and the last link to my parents.  She was my mom's sister.  I had been planning to get down there, but wasn't able to make it before she died.  In the process of her decline, which happened very quickly, I became acquainted by phone and cyberspace with the son (Jens) of her ex-husband.  Not a step son. He was born after Helen was divorced from his dad.  Anyway, that was a very interesting experience, to learn of how they became involved with one another (long story) and to witness his devotion to her to the end.  I helped out the best I could from afar, but Jens did all the hands on stuff. Anyway, by the time I was able to get there (Santa Rosa, CA) her ashes had been scattered in a tiny garden and that was that.  My brother and myself had a somewhat difficult relationship with Helen. So I was grateful for Jens and glad that Helen was loved and cared for by him.  It's always a good thing to witness kindness and compassion up close and personal.

Steve and I took a little vacation up to Wallowa Lake in September with my brother, Don and sister in law, Ruth, which was fabulous.  We stayed in a very nice house and it was splendid all the way around.  I went back with them to the Bay Area, (the time I had planned to be with Helen). I just did San Francisco and Bay Area things.  Saw my old VISTA friends, Pat and Bill.  Lovely reconnection with friends from a time in my life that I remember in sepia shades.  

Steve is planning to retire in March.  He is ending up his career as the manager of the Western Region of Idaho Water Resources.  It is quite hectic for him with lots of challenges at a place he has been working since 1986. I think he will be ending his career with a feeling of satisfaction as well.  It has been quite the journey. He was also elected to the Board of the local Co-op after a blistering campaign. He was on the board once before during a turbulent time in the life of the Boise Co-op. It is a bonanza for us, as we get as 15% discount on our purchases!!

Well, that's it, my peeps.  May all of us find 2015 to be a great and peaceful year.  I'll be continuing on with my normal tirade of Opinions You May or May Not Be Interested In. 

12/27/14  I forgot one thing::::my book loves for 2014.  Okay.  I am not a big reader of non fiction, but I really enjoyed Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts. Tells the story of the U.S. ambassador to Germany during Hitler's ascent.  Nasty story because of the topic, but very interesting and well written.  Then I loved two books by JK Rowling Casual Vacancy and then under her pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, Cuckoo's Calling. I also read a book by Isabel Allende called Ripper, a mystery set in San Francisco, which I enjoyed.  I am about to read All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, who lives right here in River City.  I know there were other books I enjoyed, but can't think of them now.  Thanks for a wonderful year of reading all you fabulous writers out there!

Christmas, 2014, minus me. You can note the expert photography skills of yours truly

Christmas, 2014, minus Ashley. Much better photo by Ashley

She Who Must Be Heard

I've been just a tiny bit discouraged lately, what with the events in Ferguson and having seen the documentary about Edward Snowdon just over the weekend. Not sure whether I should flip or fly.  Seems like our country may well collapse under the burden of its racism and a level of espionage and intrigue worthy of a LaCarre novel.  

Maybe some good could come of the unjust grand jury decision in Ferguson, amid the outrage and indifference.  Maybe we could wake up in white America and get that something in our program is just a little bit funky.  It is the legacy of slavery in this country that created the environment that allowed an unarmed black teenager to be shot and killed by a white police officer.  And something is terribly wrong that the police responded to the protests in the aftermath of the shooting with quasi military force. We can't change anything until we look at reality through a clear set of eyeballs.  As long as white people are convinced that we are living in a post racist world, the gross injustice and violence will continue. 

As for the Edward Snowdon thing: Jeez, don't ask me.  George Orwell may have imagined a world in which my stupid emails and phone calls and this blog could be of concern to the federal government, but who'da thunk it would come true.  I have visions of some NSA person saying, "Frank, she's posted another blog.  What a big mouth that woman has." Really, kids??? Just what the hell are we supposed to give up in pursuit of an increasingly elusive sense of "safety"?  

I say this:  Stand up. Speak up and don't ever stop. Write letters and emails. Show up. This democracy can only be take away from us if we allow it.  And white people: start by recognizing that you have privilege not afforded to others. Live in reality.  Painful as it is, it is far better than denial, excuses and bullshit.  

More Wow.

I've often had a very ambivalent feeling about Veteran's Day and felt guilty about it for years.  I worked with veteran's way back for a very brief period.  It was some of the best and most heartfelt work I did in my career and left me with an affinity for veteran's bordering on being kind of sappy. Yet I still had this very ambivalent feeling about Veteran's day.  Then I read this article that was posted on Facebook and previously in Bill Moyer's Journal.  It said what I had never been able to articulate for myself and here it is.  I just kept saying "Wow..." as I read.  I hope you do too.






On This Veteran's Day, You Can Save the Thank Yous 

The Movie, "Pride" and Other Lofty Thoughts

Okay, so I am a fair-weather Giants Fan.  So sue me.  This was taken at a game in September with the Padres that I attended with my brother, Don, just as they were sliding in to win the pennant and go on to the World Series. I love ATT park. It is a beautiful thing in a lovely location. But on to other matters:

So in the 90's some time, I was a member of the Idaho Society for Clinical Social Work.  The national organization with which the local group was affiliated had decided to venture into an experiment by aligning itself with Unions.  The idea was to become a professional guild and throw our lot in with unions in the hopes of expanding our influence and, in the bargain, gain some benefits for members.  Well, the experiment didn't work out, mostly because the benefit part didn't pan out as well as expected.  It was a big disappointment to me when the national group broke ties with the union.  Back then I thought of it as having the potential for great things, as it could have consolidated the profession of social work's influence nationally on issues of social justice. I went to a lot of local union meetings and attended a national meeting.  Anyway the film, "Pride" brought all that back for me.  The movie is the true story of an organization of gays and lesbians  in England who decided to support a Welsh group of striking miners in the mid 1980's.  The story showed how these disparate groups of people with seemingly nothing in common joined together for a common cause.  It's a beautiful story and I highly recommend that you see the movie.  Because it depicts how people didn't miss their chance to join together to get something done.  I don't see that happening today very often. But I dream of a world in which gay rights groups join together with women's groups who join together with people of color and unions and spiritual progressives and groups dedicated to ending hunger and on and on and on.  We have so much more in common than what our differences might be. We could truly change the planet.  Or at least greatly increase our collective compassion and caring for one another, which maybe means the same thing.

Wow!

Okay.  I just read something on Facebook that I must comment on.  I tried to comment but then it looked like it didn't take.  The posting was supposed to be a long diatribe by Bill Cosby about "being tired" everything,  from the government trying to take away his money and give it to people with "no work ethic" to how terrible Muslims are.  And a bunch of other nonsense in between. My comment was "I'll tell you what I'm tired of.  I'm tired of rich people who have had every benefit available from capitalism tell me how tired they are of everything. If Bill Cosby is so damn tired, why doesn't he go take a nap." I guess we have come a long way when rich black folk can talk out of their asses right along side of rich white folk.  This is what people suffered for during the civil rights era I guess.

My question is: When did we become a nation of people who like to blame everybody else for what is wrong with everything.  It's the people with "no work ethic", as if there is a whole class of people out there livin' off the government doing nothing.  In case you weren't looking Bill Cosby and others who think like him, welfare as we know it was pretty much eliminated during the Clinton era.  In Idaho you can get "welfare" but it's something like $250 per month and you have to practically kill yourself for the privilege of receiving it.  It's awful and degrading and anyone who is desperate enough to need it ought to damn well be able to get it without the likes the Bill Cosby's of the world ragging on them about it.  I know this because I made my living knowing it. If Bill or others are talking about people on disability having "no work ethic" then I invite them to live in some country where there is none and then write me a letter about it.  Another object of blame for Mr. Cosby was those nasty Muslims who are doing everything from being responsible for female genital mutilation to somehow making it so that Cosby doesn't have enough to live on in retirement, for chrissake.  If you are dumb enough to think that it is somehow written in the Quaran that females should undergo genital mutilation then I have a bridge I want to sell to you, too.  Genital mutilation has to do with culture, not religion. If we are going to blame Islam for every damn thing wrong in the world then we better not forget about Christianity which has not exactly been the bearer of all things Christlike over the many centuries, in case anyone is wondering.  Case in point: Pat Robertson telling the world  recently that we should not buy towels from Kenya because they carry AIDS.  This is the type of wisdom we have come to expect from so called Christian leadership.  (this was on Facebook, too.  Could be that my source is a little limited and crazy and if so, like Emily Littela, "Well, never mind".)

In summary, for God's Sake, get a grip and get to work making this a better world and quit blaming everybody else for every damn thing that is wrong.(unless, of course it is the stuff I agree with that needs to be blamed)  I have attempted to attach the link here to Cosby's statement.  If you are able to get to it, you will see that Bill is posing for his photo with a nasty looking beard.  I say, get a razor, Bill and quit embarrassing your wife.  

photo.php

Living in a Backward, Backwoods State for All My Adult Life!

With the exception of 2 years (1980-1982), I have lived in Idaho my whole adult life.  I have witnessed this state going politically from tolerable to bad to worse. From the days when Cecil Andrus was governor (a centrist almost left leaning Democrat) in the 70's to today's embarrassment of a governor, Butch Otter.  From the great Frank Church to the embarrassment of Jim Risch.  From Richard Stallings to Raul Labrador.  Help me, Jesus.  One could liken spending my adult years in Idaho to the frog in the boiling water, just didn't quite notice the changing political climate until it was too late. When I first came to Idaho in 1972, there was a man named Willie Ludlow who ran for Congress.  He was a lefty of the extreme kind.  Just my kind of political person.  I voted for Shirley Chishom in the '72 caucus right there in Pocatello, Idaho.  Anyway, it's a sad state of affairs when Idaho is kind of the barometer of the political climate of the rest of the country.  We have fallen just that low. 

 Anyway,  all that being said, today marks the first day when LBGT people can get married just like everyone else right here in River City.  And it is because of the courage and perseverance of a group of women who wanted the right to marry and went to court to make it happen.  It certainly didn't happen because the state suddenly found it's heart and it's misplaced sense of justice and good sense. Otter would have fought to the end of time if it wasn't for the fact that he needed to get busy on his millionth run for his office and being the stalwart defender of "traditional marriage" didn't turn out to be the political lynchpin he had hoped it to be.  No, it happened because four same sex couples made it happen. And because it is right.  So what that confirms for me is that when people band together, wondrous things can occur, even in the worst of political climates.  Those women inspire me. Although I do wish that making what is right happen didn't always take such courage and stamina and guts and fight.  We really will overcome someday.  

Reflections on 9/11/01

I guess like everyone, I remember every little thing about where I was and what I was doing on that fateful day.  I remember saying out loud, "The terrorists have already lost because those first responders are going up those stairs when everyone else in the buildings are running in terror to get down them."  God, I never felt prouder to be an American. Really. That day I hugged more strangers than I ever had before or since.  I sat down and cried on the steps of St. John's Cathedral in downtown Boise. I grabbed the hand of a young man and we sat and cried together.I remember thinking that maybe this country will unite in response to the horrific events of that day. And we did for a short time. But of course it didn't last.  And now I think our divisions are even worse than they were then.  The Beloved Community of Martin Luther King's dream seems more and more distant and beyond reach. And the world continues to be threatened by terrorism, maybe more so than then.  

So beyond remembering and honoring the sacrifices of that day, what else?  How do I really honor the people who were sacrificed by a bunch of lunatics bent on murder and destruction? Here's my thought on that: turn the words "remember" and "honor" into action verbs. For me that means doing what I can to uphold what is best about our country and our democracy in an age when the forces are great that want to turn our democracy into an oligarchy. What I want to support and uphold are the values that have to do with civil liberties, the protections of the Bill of Rights, our innate compassion and sense of fairness, our instincts toward inclusion rather than fearful exclusion. These are the values that have always glued us together and will prevail one day I hope. I think that often Americans are perceived as a bunch of spoiled, overly privileged, children by some people around the world and that becomes an exaggerated and distorted viewpoint of persons who join the ranks of terrorists. So my way of honoring and remembering will continue to be to uphold the best in us, the better angels of our natures as our beloved Lincoln once said during another fearful moment in our history.

   

What does one write about after confessing to being a racist?

Yes, this would be the question.  Everything else might seem kind of anti-climatic.  Well, in my view, if we white folks just admitted to the terrible reality of racism, we would all be better off and might actually get somewhere in combatting it.  Anyway...I see that guy who posts on Facebook, HONY (Humans of New York) is discovering the great big world out there outside of New York City in areas of conflict around the world. Today he writing about a former child soldier who has made his life into helping others avoid his fate:

http://www.humansofnewyork.com/

I had the distinct and unusual wondrous experience of working with refugees from around the world for the last 10 years of my career.  So I learned so much about what we Americans tend to be sheltered from of some of the terrible happenings in the world.  I am forever grateful for the lessons taught me by my former clients.  Listening to their stories put my trivial problems into the perspective to which they belonged.  Another wonderful site to learn about what is going on in the world of refugees is the UNHCR site (United Nations High Commission On Refugees):

http://www.unhcr.org

Photo by Steve Lester

I just read this on upworthy, which I get on Facebook.  Please take a look.  It is more about what is happening on our border with Mexico.  This whole drama has conveniently receded from the headlines and day to day conversation.  But refugees still suffer a perilous journey to get here.  See what you think:

http://www.upworthy.com/shocking-yes-preventable-most-certainly-cruel-you-bet?c=ufb1

Racism In America, Land of the Free

Turns out I am a racist

As much as I prefer to see myself as  wonderful, without any type of fault and all that hoo hah, like we all do, I must embrace (before I can cleanse myself) of my own racism.  The events in Ferguson, Missouri should force all whites in this country to face honestly the reality of white privilege and the legacy of slavery that we carry in our DNA.  It is the only way forward to a future where racism is eradicated from our culture. We cannot look at that cop in Ferguson and condemn him if we don't see the racist fueled fear, that caused him to kill an unarmed African American young man, in ourselves.  Whether that young man stole something from a store or not is irrelevant.  His story is for someone else's telling.  The story lies for me and for all whites in the moment that the white cop pulled the trigger.  The story lies in the crazy extreme overreaction by the police force to the protesters.  It was all fear fueled by racism.  So that leads me to have to admit, with shame and humility, that I don't know if I were in that police officer's place if I would have reacted the same or differently.  Because I know, without a doubt, that I carry all of that poison that is the legacy of slavery in this country in my blood and bones.  I know it as well as I know I am sitting here typing. I wish it were not that way, but it is. 

Let me tell you a story about myself that illustrates the point I am trying to make.  Only just a few years ago I was at the Boise airport.  I was looking to check my luggage and there was no one out in front to do it.  Well, I am looking around and out the front door comes this African American man.  I said, "Oh, are you the luggage check guy?"  Just as innocent as could be.  He just looked at me and said, "No, I'm not".  But he had the most hurt and sort of bewildered look on his face.  I didn't say anything, except,"oh, I'm sorry" or something like that. He walked on and I walked on in our own worlds. I was dumbfounded by that moment.  But I have not forgotten it and never will.  To me it was like the spontaneous unconscious expression almost projectile vomiting of the racism that I carry within me.   There was no excuse for what I did, period.  I was too humiliated to walk up to this man and say, Oh, Jesus, I am so sorry.  Please forgive me or something.  What I'm trying to say here, is if that could come out of me so spontaneously and with so little thought, what else is in there? I know someone out there is going to want to let me off the hook.  It might be someone of color who might want to tell me I'm being to hard on myself.  Or some white person who wants to tell me that "my ancestors weren't even here during slavery days".  But I don't want to be let off the hook and nor should any other white person in this country. It is a form of malignant collective denial that any white person in this country should be let off this particular hook.  And I'm not beating myself up either.  I am just acknowledging a truth. That is the truth that all of us here are poisoned by racism and we all must participate personally and publicly to eradicate this from our collective unconscious.  All.

 Photo by Steve, taken on Cape Cod

Goodbye to Robin Williams

In do hope that Robin Williams woke up in a place that looked like this, free of the pain that caused him to take his own life. I am somewhat concerned that his actions might model to others suffering with mental illness and addiction something like: "If someone like Robin Williams with all his material resources couldn't find some way to overcome his pain, other than by suicide, then what hope is there for me?" I'm not saying, either, that suicide is the worst thing that can ever happen. Living with intolerable psychic or physical pain or the terrible disease of addiction might be worse than suicide. I don't know. I do think, however, that trying to live with all that plus the burden of celebrity was maybe the one thing too much for Mr. Williams. People should not have to carry our collective projections of "happiness"and "importance" for us. Truthfully, if not being a celebrity might have saved his life, I would have gladly foregone the delight he brought to me and anyone who watched him perform. Maybe he would have just been your crazy funny neighbor, working in a bookstore, delighting all his customers. The world would have only been brighter in his little corner of it. Then maybe he could have continued on with healing into life instead of into death, to borrow a phrase from Stephen Levine. So to any reader out there or friend of a reader, keep on in your own little corner of the world. Let Mr. Williams' life be an example to you, not his death.

 

Livin' Without It

My Mojo went out to buy cigarettes and has not returned.

I thought I might find him in a monastery, might bring him back

Then when I found

The bastard  he was all

"Just wanted to, you know, chill out, baby"

So I slapped him across the face and:

I just walked. Said nothing, 

Just walked

Linda Lester

Thoughts about aging in community

This is a photo of the Potala in Lhasa taken by my husband, Steve.

Hi all, I just lost the post I was working on through my own apparently unending ignorance about how to do stuff on this blog.  Anyway, what I was talking about is that I have been thinking lately about the concept of Intentional Community especially as it relates to aging.  I have a long time interest in cohousing, which is a living environment that incorporates the concept of intentional community.  Basically the idea is that people come together who want to live in community.  Usually the dwellings are separate family type dwellings, either condo like or maybe town homes or even single family homes. Usually the communities are developed around a common interest or activity.  Some are developed around urban gardens, sustainable living or something like that.  I saw one in Portland that was developed around a shared interest in urban biking.  Like commuter bikers, that kind of thing.  Anyway, there are many different kinds and maybe hundreds of these communities in the U.S. and many more all over the world.  Scandinavian countries are kind of where this concept began, I think.  There are a number of these places that are for seniors. These ones are developed around the idea of people wanting to age together, care for others in that process and be cared for in return, with the idea that one would stay in the community as long as possible and maybe pass on in the community.  

Both Steve and I have dreamed about the  idea of joining together with friends of about the same age and living together as we continue to age.  The vicissitudes of timing, geographic considerations, etc. may make that dream kind of hard to realize. .  However, I don't think that the idea of joining an already existing senior cohousing community is that far off.  Here is a link, in case you might want to look more into the concept of cohousing:  http://www.cohousing.org

Here is one for senior cohousing:   http://www.elderspirit.net

Hello all: here is an update on the cut in funding for refugee programs related to the refugee crisis on the Mexican border.  It is written by Jan Reeves, who is the Director of the Idaho Office for Refugees.  It is only by the circumstance that there are fewer numbers of children crossing into the country from Central America that some of the funding is being restored.  As Jan notes here, it looks hopeful that the remainder of funding will be restored.  Wanted to let you all know who may wonder onto my blog site.  

Subject: Latest News on Refugee Funding Issues

Hello all,

Please forgive the multiple emails, but I want to be sure to get this information out as widely as possible.

Thanks so much to all of you who have advocated for restored refugee funding and who have supported refugees in our community and state for so many years. It is so encouraging to know that so many friends and colleagues can stand together in difficult times.  

The Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement has announced that because of reduced numbers of children crossing the border in July and increased efficiencies in processing them out of Federal care facilities, HHS has moved to restore $22.5 million of the $94 million that was reprogrammed and will continue to assess the situation in hopes of incrementally restoring the rest of the funding for this year (FY 2014). ORR is “very hopeful” that the full $94 million will be restored by the end of September.

Again, thank you all for your steadfast support and for the energy you have put into speaking up for the refugees in our community. We will continue to update you as the situation evolves. At this point, Congress has recessed for five weeks without completing work on the President’s supplemental request, but legislative action could resume in September.

Best regards,

Jan

Jan A. Reeves | Director

Idaho Office for Refugees | www.idahorefugees.org

Office  208-336-4222 | jreeves@idahorefugees.org

 

More On What is happening on our border

Congress "Acts" (crazy)

Okay, this is the latest I have come to understand.  So the House passes this  bill at the very last moment that is supposed to address the refugee crisis on our border.  It is done just for political showmanship so these persons who have been elected to do something can look good during their August recess.  Boehner was no desperate to get something done so he wouldn't look totally like a horses rear and at the same time trying to appease the tea partiers hands over the responsibility for writing the bill to the only person in the House who is dumber than him, Michelle Bachman.  So nothing is passed, because it can't go anywhere because of the recess, our heroes go home and get to boast that they did something while Obama did nothing and aren't we great.  And in the meantime, if nothing passes, things are rigged so that, if no bill is passed,  money that is meant for agencies that serve refugees throughout the country,  (people coming here because they have no choice, people from Congo, Bhutan, Iraq, Afghanistan, people who fled their countries under threat and danger), will be automatically taken to fund some unknown as of yet undefined "actions" on the border.  These will likely be more detention centers and more law enforcement.  The refugee agencies are looking at cuts as high as 46%!!!.  And in the meantime, the State Department, which is in charge off establishing the numbers of refugees allowed into the country has finally gotten it's numbers back up to pre-9/11 numbers.  The refugee agencies are being told that the numbers will stay up even if their funding is cut.  Who on Earth is running this country?   

We are living through some of the most cynical, nasty times that I can remember in my adult life.  The "center is not going to hold" if kind of foolishness prevails.  Write to your House members and let them know that they are elected to serve the people, respond to national problems and act like grown ups.  This may be far too much to ask, but ask we must.  

P.S. Please feel free to comment with any correction of information I have included in this post.  I have just talked to people in the know here and read what is available and listened to what I consider to be reliable sources of news.   

Random Thoughts

Well, friends and fellow travelers. I wonder who is reading this thing.  There must be an as yet undiscovered spot where I can see the number of people who have looked at it.  Thank the Lord I am not trying to earn money at this endeavor.  I have been thinking about a few little things this morning.  For instance, I used the following phrase to describe myself this morning in a journal entry: "I feel that I am warding off bats while trying to walk a tight rope across a giant vat of barracudas."  Auntie Mame, as portrayed by the great Rosalind Russell might say, "How very vivid.".  I also thought about the phrase, "Fear disguised as love."  Anyway these are my personal musings.  In the meantime,  over the weekend Steve and I saw Phillip Seymour Hoffman's last movie, "The Most Wanted Man", a John LeCarre' story.  It is really all about the idea that the truth is often hidden  in the gray areas of reality.  Reminded me that I am easily sold a bill of goods if I just listen to the surface of things, such as can be found on network news or mediocre newspapers.  That if I want to be a citizen of the planet, that I need to find a wide variety of ways to be informed about the goings on of humanity.  Then there's Phillip Seymour, himself.  What loss to the world of his gift to the terrible disease of addiction.  I hope he woke up in a place that looks sort of like the picture above.  "Needle and the damage done, the little part of it in everyone". Neil Young got that one right.   Til next time....

And Another Damn Thing... re: Otter's crazy letter

I've included a link here that is admittedly from Huffington Post, a progressive mouthpiece if there ever was one.  But it does a little better job of spreading the blame around for how the mess with child refugees coming into the country came about than Otter's allegation that it is all the fault of the Obama Administration.  Let us strive to be halfway informed citizens so that we can properly participate in what is supposed to be the greatest democracy on the planet.  At least that is what we tell ourselves...What do you think?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/refugee-crisis-border_n_5596125.html?ncid=fcbklnkushpmg00000010

You have got to be kidding, Gov. Otter!!

Okay my friends.  So today I wake up and start to peruse my email only to find to a blog with a link to a letter sent by our beloved Butch Otter to federal authorities re: his enlightened views on the humanitarian crisis on our border with Mexico.  I have enclosed it in this post for your edification.  I immediately sent an email to Otter protesting his nastiness.  I invite you to do the same, no matter where you live on the planet.  You know, it is not as if the situation isn't bad and complicated enough without hillbilly, backwoods nincompoops firing off letters about how Idaho isn't going to be "actively involved in addressing the humanitarian crisis the federal government has created."  There's team playing for you.  What kind of government official makes a statement that he or his state is not going to help to solve a national or international problem?  No sir, count Idaho out of that equation.  Let's use the misfortune of children as another opportunity to denigrate the President of the United States. He names Obama by name as the one responsible for all our immigration problems.  (well technically he does say "the Obama administration"). If it wasn't for the fact that we had the audacity as voting Americans to go and elect a black person as president, not once but twice, for goodness sake, all this wouldn't be happening.  That's the real message under the the message.  Sane persons out there, and I know you are there, make your voices heard! Stand up for your country lest it be taken over by a bunch of true nut cases.


http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2014/jul/23/otter-fires-letter-feds-saying-idaho-wont-take-any-immigrant-kids-captured-southern-border/

More on citizenship/refugees/evil and all kinds of stuff

This whole thing about how we treat our refugees really comes home to roost when we look at the way children arriving here as refugees from Central America are being greeted.  I have included a link today that was sent to me via Moveon.org from other concerned people.  I included the whole message as I couldn't figure out how to insert just the link.  Sometimes we all feel overwhelmed by the evil perpetrated by our government or by individuals.  This link provides a way to make a modest contribution to a solution and sanity.  

Dear MoveOn member,

Thousands of children fleeing violence from their home countries have come to the United States—sometimes traveling long distances without their parents—seeking refuge. This humanitarian crisis has overwhelmed the existing support the United States provides for children who have been victimized by violence.

These children—some just barely older than toddlers—are crowded into temporary shelters, detention centers, and even facilities on military bases.

United States immigration law guarantees all children from certain Central American countries due process, including an asylum hearing in front of an immigration judge. These hearings are crucial to protecting refugee children. Sending some of these kids back could be, in the words of Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, "to send them back to certain death."¹

During the hearings, an immigration judge hears from each child and determines if that child is eligible for refugee status or humanitarian protection. But these children aren't guaranteed legal representation when they face the court and could find themselves alone in the hearing that will determine the rest of their lives.

That's why we're coming together as a MoveOn community to raise funds for Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), an organization dedicated to providing legal support to children. We'll give every penny of your contribution to KIND. 

Can you chip in to make sure these refugee children get the legal counsel and representation they need?

Yes, I can contribute $20 to help a child seeking refuge from violence receive legal support. 

Since 2012, the number of children seeking refuge in the United States has soared from three Central American countries: Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Stories of the violence these children are fleeing are chilling. This region, known as the Northern Triangle, has some of the highest murder rates in the world, and children may come to the United States having witnessed family members and friends hurt, raped, or killed in rampant outbreaks of gang violence.²

For many of these children, what happens during these immigration hearings could be the difference between life or death. No child should be forced to appear in court alone.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reports that nearly two-thirds of the children and families from Central America may be eligible for humanitarian protection under international guidelines³—but we are treating them like criminals. 

Can you contribute $20 to make sure these children have legal representation when they appear before an immigration judge?

MoveOn members across the country have stepped up before to provide support for those impacted by major humanitarian crisis. When Hurricane Sandy left thousands without power, food, and shelter, MoveOn members opened their homes to help. And MoveOn members helped provide temporary housing for more than 30,000 people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.

By making a contribution now, you can help again, and make sure children looking to the United States for protection from deadly violence receive the chance they are legally guaranteed to share their stories and plead their cases.

Thanks for all you do.

–Anna, Stephen, Matt, Maria, and the rest of the team 

Sources:

1. "O'Malley: U.S. shouldn't send immigrant children back to 'certain death,'" CNN, July 11, 2014

http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=299998&id=98878-22123988-FR%3D34Vx&t=4

2. "Why are so many minors fleeing Central America for the U.S. border?" KSHB, July 16, 2014 
 http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=299999&id=98878-22123988-FR%3D34Vx&t=6

3. "Children on the Run," United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees, March 12, 2014 
 http://www.moveon.org/r/?r=300000&id=98878-22123988-FR%3D34Vx&t=8 

Want to support our work? MoveOn Civic Action is entirely funded by our 8 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

A conversation I had last night with some young friends caused me to reflect this morning on the nature of evil.  They were talking about some, likely, sociopath with grand schemes. The world looks on in horror in the aftermath of the passenger jet shot out of the sky, it would appear, by a bunch of drunken "rebels" in Ukraine. Evil shows up in so many different forms.   From the sociopath in our midst with the grand schemes to the violence perpetrated upon the innocent. To the darkness in our own hearts.  Makes me think of Yeats poem, "The Second Coming".

"...The best lack all conviction, while the worst 
Are full of passionate intensity."

He wrote that poem, I believe about World War I. 

"... And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?"

The conversation last night caused me to reflect on my own brush with evil in the form of a charismatic charlaton I met back in the 70's.  He was this incrediably good looking man who came up here from California to train a bunch of young naive people working in what was then the substance abuse program through the state Department of Health and Welfare.  It was the days of "est" training and all that new age nonsense.  He said he had been a trainer for it and we were all wowed by his cliches and bullshit.  Eventually he relocated to Idaho and became a bigwig in the Department of Health and Welfare until it was learned that he had lied about his credentials and experience and was subsequently fired.  He was one of these terribly seductive people, able to gather a following.  I would have gladly followed him right off the end of the Earth, if it hadn't been for the fact that Steve and I had to move out of Boise for Steve to continue school at the University of Idaho.  In the ensuing years, I learned more about this guy's shenanigans and subsequent downfall.  The evil for me was that I was tempted to give myself away and follow his lead into who knows where.  I was so willing to ignore myself and my own deepest instincts.  That was a form of evil rearing it's ugly head in my own psyche.  My Jungian training and therapy causes me to ask myself the question, "What aspect of myself is the charlaton or the crazy drunken rebels?" Jung wrote that it is the task of this age to find the unity of darkness and light within us.  To resist projecting evil onto something out there.  In my best moments, I believe that.   What do you think?  

More on posting comments: 

It looks like to me that once you comment with either Anonymous or with an URL (Facebook time line address), you don't have to do it a second time.  Carry on!

Hi all,  I deleted a post on citizenship issues, as I got some feedback that it might have been violating confidentiality.  While I didn't agree with the concern, best to err on the side of caution.  Here's what the post was about:  I was present to support a friend on his third try for citizenship and he made it.  I was pleased to be present for such a hard earned prize.  Having worked with refugees for the last 10 years of my career, I know first hand that obtaining citizenship is a milestone for many on the long and arduous journey to safety.  It takes a long time and people have to jump through many hoops.  One of the hoops is the requirement to learn English well enough to take a citizenship test that includes questions about our form of government and geography and all that hoo hah.  I think it is an unreasonable requirement, given that the majority of Americans do not know a language other than English and that many of us don't know who the fricking  vice president of the United States is.  Did any of you see video posted on Facebook about this guy who went around to random people, born and educated here, and asked some of the questions from the citizenship test?  It was embarrassing and amazing to say the very least.  Americans are amazingly stupid I am sorry to say.  Bless our hearts.  Then in the meantime, we have vigilantes down on the border with Mexico waving the flag, while trying to block buses bringing mostly women and children into the country.  This is a humanitarian crisis and this is how ordinary Americans are responding.  We are turning refugees away at the border, or trying to.  At the same time, thank the Lord for the people down there who are protesting the protesters and trying to present a different face to the children on the buses.  It's all just one step too close to the crazy ass crackers in the South yelling racial epitaphs at children trying to integrate schools in Little Rock.  What the hell is the matter with white people anyway? My cousin in law is going down to help the refugees for a few days later in the summer.  Thank God for her and for others just like her.  We don't hear much about these folks.  But they are there, always have been I think and hope.  Always will be and eventually the good guys usually win.  But foolish ignorance is always trying to rear it's god awful head.  Sane persons must be vigilant about that reality.  

How to comment on this blog

Okay.  If you have found me, you may have found that it is very complicated or nearly impossible to comment.  Here are two options:

1. When you get to the bottom of the blog entry and to the comment place, click on it.  You will see a drop down menu.  Click on that then you can do one of two things: choose the URL/name one.  In that case it will ask for your name then a URL address.  If you have Facebook, you can put in your Facebook URL address which can be found by going to your timeline page on your Facebook site.  If you look in the address bar you will see www.facebook.com/______That is your Facebook URL address.  You type that in the URL address place and then you will be signed up to be able to comment.

2. The other way to do it is to choose Anonymous and then you are in as Anonymous,  If you choose that one, please tell me who you are unless you want to leave a snarky comment.  Other than that the only thing I can think of it to go out and get a PhD in physics and figure it out for me.  Smooth sailing and more later.

Hello again.  I have been told that yesterday people were not able to comment.  I have attempted to correct that.  Please let me know if you try to comment but can't.  Okay here is my thought for the day.  This is a poem that became one of my favorites several years ago.  I have shared it previously, but wanted to in this format.  The poem was shared with a group of women I was a part of led by a woman, Josephine Jones, a writer and wonder, who now lives in Colorado.  Anyway, the poem was the beginning of a writing group called the Heroine's Journey.  Here it is and I hope I am not violating some copyright or other type of law that will land me in jail without any gingerbread...

House of Changes by Jeni Couzyn

My body is a wide house

A commune

Of bickering women, hearing

their own breathing

denying each other.

Nearest the door

ready in her black leather

is Vulnerable. She lives in the hall

her face painted with care

her black boots reaching her crotch

her black hair shining

her skin milky and soft as butter.

If you should ring the doorbell

she would answer

and a wound would open across her eyes

as she touched your hand.

On the stairs, glossy and determined

is Mindful. She's the boss, handing out

Punishments and rations and examination

papers with precise

justice.  She keeps her perceptions in a huge

album under her arm

her debts in the garden with the weedkill

friends in card-index

on the windowsill of the sitting room

and a tape-recording of the world

on earphones

which she plays to herself over and over

assessing her life

writing summaries.

In the kitchen is Commendable.

The only lady in the house who

dresses in florals

she is always busy, always doing something

for someone she had a lot of friends. Her hands are quick and

cunning as blackbirds her pantry is stuffed with loaves and fishes

she knows the times of trains

and mends fuses and makes 

a lot of noise with the vacuum cleaner.

In her linen cupboard, newly-ironed and neatly

folded, she keeps her resentments like

wedding presents-each week

takes them out for counting not to

lose any but would never think of

using any being a lady.

Upstairs in a white room is

my favorite. She is Equivocal

has no flesh on her bones

that are changeable as yarrow stalks.

She hears her green plants talking

watches the bad dreams under the world

unfolding

spends her days and night

arranging her symbols

never sleeps

never eats hamburgers

never lets anyone into her room

never asks for anything.

In the basement is Harmful.

She is the keeper of weapons

the watchdog. Keeps intruders at bay

but the others keep her

locked up in the daytime and when she escapes

she comes out screaming

smoke streaming from her nostrils

flames on her tongue

razor blades for fingernails

skewers for eyes.

I am Imminent

live out in the street

watching them. I lodge myself in other people's

heads with a sleeping bag

strapped to my back.

One day I'll perhaps get to like them enough

those rough, truthful women

to move in.  One by one

I'm making friends with them all

unobstrusively, slow and steady

slow and steady

And so it begins....

Hello from Wonderland.  I have decided after reading the wonderful novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that I would start a blog.  That book is Americanah and I recommend it to anyone even vaguely interested in just about anything.  From how someone from another country views the U.S. to the journey of love to race issues in the U.S.  She is a wonderful writer.  In the book she writes a blog all about her observations about the U.S., particularly observations about African Americans and people immigrating from Africa.  It's beautiful and it inspired me to start a blog.  See, I sometimes get kind of carried away writing way too long posts on Facebook, because I get fired up about one thing or another and feel compelled to write.  I have many opinions about many things.  And since I have fallen down the rabbit hole of retirement, I now have more time to do it. So today I start.  Just wanted to get going with the thing.  More to come I hope.  Here I am in my dotage: