Ok, I'm like any other mom, I enjoy my kids, it is great to have them around for two weeks. I've had a kick out of listening to their banter, watch them play games, engage them in stories while we baked cookies, and of course, watching their delight with their presents. Yet, to a point, enough is enough.
Take my teenage son, for example. He managed to sleep most of the first week of Christmas break, thus escape cleaning up, despite my threats and occasionally hits with a wooden spoon to rouse his sleeping form from the sofa. All this while my husband managed to be with his best friend and best man at our wedding until well after midnight on Christmas Eve. I wanted to be gracious since his friend's cousin is very ill. Yet, when he sauntered in and it was close to 2am, I had already been up cooking, baking, and prepping for the equivalent of two days. I was not in a happy mood.
Then there are my two beautiful daughters. Between their screaming and excitement, they have brought me to the brink of frazled nerves. First their is the older daughter who received the much-asked-for Monopoly game. We actually did a package of a lot of family games. This seven-year-old has mastered the art of the nag and has asked, almost non-stop, to play Monopoly. If anyone has ever played with a budding reader and a first-grader still learning to count the big dollars, it is an occasion that calls for lots of sleep and lots of caffeine. It took two days for the game to finally commense today, the pieces are still all over the dining room table.
Her calls for play come on the heals of me taking my laptop back to be repaired. This calls for a vanilla latte. It was a few days before Christmas Eve and I decided to just chill out with the kids on the family room sofa. I snuggled up with them under warm blankets and brought my laptop in do so some work. Well, the sofa is at an angle, the little daughter - newly minted five-year-old, decided she needs some of that dreded fruit punch soda my husband bought in honor of Christmas break. The seven-year-old was a bouncy bean. Need I describe more?
Laptop in my lap, seven-year-old bounced over the back of the sofa, five-year-old's sofa spills all over the keyboard, laptop stops typing! There I was in the middle of an article and my keyboards were red like the Christmas lights.
We tried to clean it up, even sprayed a little organic cleaner on the laptop, still, no typing. I could use the mouse and surf the net but typing an email or article was a lost cause. Then I got the bright idea to blow dry it. I even got the brigher idea to have my fourteen-year-old son do it. He simultaneously melted and blew off the ALT key, still the keyboard wouldn't work.
I took it to Circuit City. It is still under warranty, the thing is only three months old. Then he told me he would look into it and if they can't fix it, send it off the Hewlett Packard. He warned me it would be almost February before they look at it and get it back to me. Then the dreaded warning, "if it is liquid damage in the circuit board, it could cost anywhere from $300 to the price of a new laptop." I deflated like a balloon and dreaded the moment I decided to hang out with the kids.
My drive home had me at war with myself over if I should scold them even more or just let it go. I decided to just let it go...for now. It is still Christmas Break and I'm sure there will be more spills, just next time, I won't try to veg out with them and write in the family room. January 5th anyone?
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008
Last Day of Finals
My youngest son and middle child just walked out the door with his red & black backpack, that cost me $40 in the middle-of-the-semester, secured firmly on his back. The padded shoulder straps and back padded panel assure me that he will not have muscle fatigue carrying his books to school on THE LAST DAY OF FINALS.
I can sip my morning French Press with a sigh of relief and hope for better days to come.
My son is a freshman in high school. He is fourteen years old. Enough said right there. It has been one arduous journey through first semester and today is THE LAST DAY OF FINALS!!!!! I feel like doing the Snoopy happy dance.
This is the brilliant but scatterbrained son whose first backpack came to a tragic end under the weight of disorganization. It just wouldn't zip up anymore so I made a trek to Target to the luggage section to find him as close to the top-of-the-line, make-it-through-high-school back pack I could find. I wanted to make sure he entered finals week fully prepared.
I graduated in 1982. It has been a long time since I had to sit in a room of my teenage peers to remember everything I learned for 4 1/2 months. Yet, I felt like I was returning there with all my emails and scheduling of his study time and reviews of his work. And watching him struggle under the weight of seven classes.
It is going to be a great Christmas break. I won't write any emails to teachers or remind him to practice his French or worry about him losing that $125 calculator for Physics and Geometry. I can sleep in without waking him up at 6 o'clock-in-the-morning or making sure he eats a good breakfast and drinks his chocolate soy milk and flax seed mixture. It will be glorious. Yes, TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF FINALS and this freshman mom survived it all!
I can sip my morning French Press with a sigh of relief and hope for better days to come.
My son is a freshman in high school. He is fourteen years old. Enough said right there. It has been one arduous journey through first semester and today is THE LAST DAY OF FINALS!!!!! I feel like doing the Snoopy happy dance.
This is the brilliant but scatterbrained son whose first backpack came to a tragic end under the weight of disorganization. It just wouldn't zip up anymore so I made a trek to Target to the luggage section to find him as close to the top-of-the-line, make-it-through-high-school back pack I could find. I wanted to make sure he entered finals week fully prepared.
I graduated in 1982. It has been a long time since I had to sit in a room of my teenage peers to remember everything I learned for 4 1/2 months. Yet, I felt like I was returning there with all my emails and scheduling of his study time and reviews of his work. And watching him struggle under the weight of seven classes.
It is going to be a great Christmas break. I won't write any emails to teachers or remind him to practice his French or worry about him losing that $125 calculator for Physics and Geometry. I can sleep in without waking him up at 6 o'clock-in-the-morning or making sure he eats a good breakfast and drinks his chocolate soy milk and flax seed mixture. It will be glorious. Yes, TODAY IS THE LAST DAY OF FINALS and this freshman mom survived it all!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Exactly What I Was Thinking
So I was thinking about the plummeting demise of our economy and the mean-spiritedness of the Republicans. See, they want the UAW destroyed, they want the American middle class destroyed and they want a return to the feudal "lords and ladies of the manor" of the 15th Century when the first settlers were kicked out of England and landed here. I have always believed the problem with white American greed ties directly to the history of England. They want to be little kings and queens, hence the obsession with British royalty. I believe this obsession is why big is never big enough, why we have the Madoff scandal, why Blago just can't seem to get enough, why we are in this economic crisis in the first place.
So the Republicans want to make the average worker pay for the mismanagement and excess of the CEOS. They want the worker, the ones that actually do the building, to give up salary, benefits, cost of living, etc. to be in line with the subsidized southern non-unionized factories that manufacture foreign cars.
They are not making the CEOs take salary cuts. They didn't demand the Wall Street employees take salary cuts. They just took the blank-check bailout while trying to hold the Congress, the election, and the country hostage. And the didn't get enough, so they are at it again.
Read this article by Harold Meyerson from the Washington Post. I agree, it is exactly what I was thinking. This goes deeper than the auto manufacturers didn't do the job right, it goes directly to greed. They won't be satisfied until the country has bread lines and indentured servants.
So the Republicans want to make the average worker pay for the mismanagement and excess of the CEOS. They want the worker, the ones that actually do the building, to give up salary, benefits, cost of living, etc. to be in line with the subsidized southern non-unionized factories that manufacture foreign cars.
They are not making the CEOs take salary cuts. They didn't demand the Wall Street employees take salary cuts. They just took the blank-check bailout while trying to hold the Congress, the election, and the country hostage. And the didn't get enough, so they are at it again.
Read this article by Harold Meyerson from the Washington Post. I agree, it is exactly what I was thinking. This goes deeper than the auto manufacturers didn't do the job right, it goes directly to greed. They won't be satisfied until the country has bread lines and indentured servants.
In 1949, a pamphlet was published that argued that the American auto industry should pursue a different direction. Titled "A Small Car Named Desire," the pamphlet suggested that Detroit not put all its bets on bigness, that a substantial share of American consumers would welcome smaller cars that cost less and burned fuel more efficiently.
The pamphlet's author was the research department of the United Auto Workers.
By the standards of the postwar UAW, there was nothing exceptional about "A Small Car Named Desire." In its glory days, under the leadership of Walter Reuther, the UAW was the most farsighted institution -- not just the most farsighted union -- in America. "We are the architects of America's future," Reuther told the delegates at the union's 1947 convention, where his supporters won control of what was already the nation's leading union.
Even before he became UAW president, Reuther and a team of brilliant lieutenants would drive the Big Three's top executives crazy by producing a steady stream of proposals for management. In the immediate aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Reuther, then head of the union's General Motors division, came up with a detailed plan for converting auto plants to defense factories more quickly than the industry's leaders did. At the end of the war, he led a strike at GM with a set of demands that included putting union and public representatives on GM's board.
That proved to be a bridge too far. Instead, by the early 1950s, the UAW had secured a number of contractual innovations -- annual cost-of-living adjustments, for instance -- that set a pattern for the rest of American industry and created the broadly shared prosperity enjoyed by the nation in the 30 years after World War II.
The architects did not stop there. During the Reuther years, the UAW also used its resources to incubate every up-and-coming liberal movement in America. It was the UAW that funded the great 1963 March on Washington and provided the first serious financial backing for César Chávez's fledgling farm workers union. The union took a lively interest in the birth of a student movement in the early '60s, providing its conference center in Port Huron, Mich., to a group called Students for a Democratic Society when the group wanted to draft and debate its manifesto. Later that decade, the union provided resources to help the National Organization for Women get off the ground and helped fund the first Earth Day. And for decades after Reuther's death in a 1970 plane crash, the UAW was among the foremost advocates of national health care -- a policy that, had it been enacted, would have saved the Big Three tens of billions of dollars in health insurance expenses, but which the Big Three themselves were until recently too ideologically hidebound to support.
Narrow? Parochial? The UAW not only built the American middle class but helped engender every movement at the center of American liberalism today -- which is one reason that conservatives have always held the union in particular disdain.
Over the past several weeks, it has become clear that the Republican right hates the UAW so much that it would prefer to plunge the nation into a depression rather than craft a bridge loan that doesn't single out the auto industry's unionized workers for punishment. (As manufacturing consultant Michael Wessel pointed out, no Republican demanded that Big Three executives have their pay permanently reduced to the relatively spartan levels of Japanese auto executives' pay.) Today, setting the terms of that loan has become the final task of the Bush presidency, which puts the auto workers in the unenviable position of depending, if not on the kindness of strangers, then on the impartiality of the most partisan president of modern times.
Republicans complain that labor costs at the Big Three are out of line with those at the non-union transplant factories in the South, factories that Southern governors have subsidized with billions of taxpayer dollars. But the UAW has already agreed to concessions bringing its members' wages to near-Southern levels, and labor costs already comprise less than 10 percent of the cost of a new car. (On Wall Street, employee compensation at the seven largest financial firms in 2007 constituted 60 percent of the firms' expenses, yet reducing overall employee compensation wasn't an issue in the financial bailout.)
In a narrow sense, what the Republicans are proposing would gut the benefits of roughly a million retirees. In a broad sense, they want to destroy the institution that did more than any other to raise American living standards, and they want to do it by using the power of government to lower American living standards -- in the middle of the most severe recession since the 1930s. The auto workers deserve better, and so does the nation they did so much to build.
Check out what John Paul Rossi's essay and Jason Paz's essay have to say about this topic. Class warfare anyone?
Friday, December 12, 2008
Auto Industry, The Republicans, And a Slap in the Face
As if I couldn't get any angrier at the Bush Administration and the Republicans, they just made me fuming mad. And I'm not even in the auto industry, other than Michigan being the home state of my dad's family. I don't know anyone, that I can think of in the auto industry, although there is a plant in nearby Fenton.
Yesterday the Senate failed to pass a bailout for the Big Three. Now, don't get me wrong, I was just as mad as anyone by the CEOs of Ford, Chrysler, and GM flying separate corporate jets to Washington DC to ask for this help. That was just a very dumb PR move. They needed me on their staff then to tell them to get their behinds in a fuel-efficient mini van with all three of them taking turns driving, stack all their luggage in the back, and get a double room in the Hilton. They could flip coins to see who would get the let out sofa, the other two would each get a bed. That is how you show your business is in trouble and you need help. And they probably should've worn off-the-rack Jos.A. Bank suits and loafers from JCPenney or something. So I get being mad about how disconnected CEOs are from their companies and even that they have responsibility for it. The $1-per-year paycheck for them sounds right. What I don't get is the plain mean-spiritedness of the United States Senate.
This country, big business, Republicans have always had a problem with unionized workers. Why else is Wal*Mart able to provide near slave-wages to their workers with impunity? The book, The Grapes of Wrath, was in part about the big corporate farms coming against the poor farm workers who wanted to unionize. Take it further back to before we were a country, racism was codified into law to keep the Africans and the poor white indentured servants from joining together against the greedy landowners. There is something powerful that happens when people come together and none of it necessarily benefits the bank accounts of the rich and powerful. That is the problem with the Republicans.
And these Republicans that are yelling the loudest against the excesses of the big three? They are actually in bed with foreign auto manufacturers who located their plants in the south. The plants that are foreign owned and subsidized by their Japanese governments. The plants that do not have unions. The plants that do not provide the same benefits. They are all in the south and 18 more are reported to be opening down there, so these Republican senators have their own interests at heart.
They want to hang the entire bailout on the hardworking auto workers. Never mind that these are American companies. Aren't Republicans the same ones, at least the "white, working class" Republicans, singing the tunes of buying American? Then why cut the living wages of the UAW? Just because they are a union? And the UAW according to the compilation of morning papers over at Slate, reportedly are willing to accept the demands for lower wages in 2011 when the current contract expires. Not good enough for these Grinches-who-stole-wages. They want them to take a paycut now.
Where was their same anger at the Merrill Lynchs, Bear Stears, AIGs? They got a blank check bailout and their corporate executives used the bailout money to give bonuses. No big argument from these same Republicans. That is because most of these Wall Street companies are Republican.
The Democratic majority won't be in session until January. The CEOs report their companies won't make it until then. They could probably stop production for the holidays. The CEOs can infuse the company with their own money. The President could do something that would let him go out on a high note for the average Joe-the-autoworker. He could make Henry Paulson carve out a little nugget of the $350B bailout he received, it's not all gone yet.
I think what is happening is that the Republican Senators are bitter and angry that their party lost two major elections, that the country is moving on from their brand of politics. They have become irrelevant and instead of playing nice on the playground, they want to take their balls and go home.
The problem is that some Americans won't have a home to go to. Michigan is already in a recession, this failure could sink them even lower to a depression.
Yes, the automakers need to learn from their Japanese counterparts and come up with a more fuel-efficient car. They need to do a lot of things, but right now, they and the Senate need to honor an American industry and keep it alive. The future depends on it, I hope they catch the holiday spirit and give the gift that is needed. We'll see.
Yesterday the Senate failed to pass a bailout for the Big Three. Now, don't get me wrong, I was just as mad as anyone by the CEOs of Ford, Chrysler, and GM flying separate corporate jets to Washington DC to ask for this help. That was just a very dumb PR move. They needed me on their staff then to tell them to get their behinds in a fuel-efficient mini van with all three of them taking turns driving, stack all their luggage in the back, and get a double room in the Hilton. They could flip coins to see who would get the let out sofa, the other two would each get a bed. That is how you show your business is in trouble and you need help. And they probably should've worn off-the-rack Jos.A. Bank suits and loafers from JCPenney or something. So I get being mad about how disconnected CEOs are from their companies and even that they have responsibility for it. The $1-per-year paycheck for them sounds right. What I don't get is the plain mean-spiritedness of the United States Senate.
This country, big business, Republicans have always had a problem with unionized workers. Why else is Wal*Mart able to provide near slave-wages to their workers with impunity? The book, The Grapes of Wrath, was in part about the big corporate farms coming against the poor farm workers who wanted to unionize. Take it further back to before we were a country, racism was codified into law to keep the Africans and the poor white indentured servants from joining together against the greedy landowners. There is something powerful that happens when people come together and none of it necessarily benefits the bank accounts of the rich and powerful. That is the problem with the Republicans.
And these Republicans that are yelling the loudest against the excesses of the big three? They are actually in bed with foreign auto manufacturers who located their plants in the south. The plants that are foreign owned and subsidized by their Japanese governments. The plants that do not have unions. The plants that do not provide the same benefits. They are all in the south and 18 more are reported to be opening down there, so these Republican senators have their own interests at heart.
They want to hang the entire bailout on the hardworking auto workers. Never mind that these are American companies. Aren't Republicans the same ones, at least the "white, working class" Republicans, singing the tunes of buying American? Then why cut the living wages of the UAW? Just because they are a union? And the UAW according to the compilation of morning papers over at Slate, reportedly are willing to accept the demands for lower wages in 2011 when the current contract expires. Not good enough for these Grinches-who-stole-wages. They want them to take a paycut now.
Where was their same anger at the Merrill Lynchs, Bear Stears, AIGs? They got a blank check bailout and their corporate executives used the bailout money to give bonuses. No big argument from these same Republicans. That is because most of these Wall Street companies are Republican.
The Democratic majority won't be in session until January. The CEOs report their companies won't make it until then. They could probably stop production for the holidays. The CEOs can infuse the company with their own money. The President could do something that would let him go out on a high note for the average Joe-the-autoworker. He could make Henry Paulson carve out a little nugget of the $350B bailout he received, it's not all gone yet.
I think what is happening is that the Republican Senators are bitter and angry that their party lost two major elections, that the country is moving on from their brand of politics. They have become irrelevant and instead of playing nice on the playground, they want to take their balls and go home.
The problem is that some Americans won't have a home to go to. Michigan is already in a recession, this failure could sink them even lower to a depression.
Yes, the automakers need to learn from their Japanese counterparts and come up with a more fuel-efficient car. They need to do a lot of things, but right now, they and the Senate need to honor an American industry and keep it alive. The future depends on it, I hope they catch the holiday spirit and give the gift that is needed. We'll see.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Skipping Christmas
The other day I told my husband there was really nothing I needed for Christmas. Oh, I have wants, we all tend to have those things we want, but even then, there is nothing I am really salivating over this year.
I thought about skipping Christmas. Much like Luther and Nora Krank in John Grisham's book of the same name. Except there isn't a proposed Caribbean cruise in my future. The idea of skipping the entire commercial aspects of what is really a spiritual, family time, still intrigues me.
My mind gets overwhelmed with the Sunday paper filled to overflowing with more and more discounts. I can't turn on the television without an ad promising peace and joy if I just bought one item or another. My marketing background has made me jaded when it comes to these messages and I pride myself on not falling for them. Yet, I thought about what would happen if we just skipped the whole thing and maybe made gifts.
The children have never been materialistic. They have received nice gifts and we almost always do a family gift. We also send out Christmas cards and bless someone less fortunate. This year we gave two gift to two different Ange Tree children and made a contribute to Little Wishes through my Obama community organizer friends. I told the children we wouldn't have a big Christmas this year. They didn't seem fazed.
I decided they had too many toys last year and have thought that all year whenever I go to my daughters' bedroom. Their collection of stuffed animals, dolls of every size and shape, more doll clothes than a mall, and all the books has taken over every available space. There isn't room if I wanted to add anything else. Now, they are so blessed.
When I told my husband I didn't know if I wanted to do the whole Christmas shopping thing, he said it would be fine. That made me smile because before we dated, he didn't spend any money on the holidays and instead spent the time reflecting and serving at a food pantry. I guess marriage and children sent us to the Malls and the toy section of Target. Yet, we have always blessed others. I think it is the blessing others that had me thinking this year with the economy in the state of disarray.
Many families will not only miss opening a gift on Christmas morning, some will be homeless because of the unending foreclosures, others will skip a big meal because of the incessant job losses, and others will have an empty chair because of the forever war in Iraq.
I wonder if I just feel jaded. Sure, I want more books than I can read and really want a Wii for the family, but it is not something I need. I need my family, my health, food, the clothes I have, and love. Those are needs. I will spend time at my cousin's house and attending events. We will make memories that last much longer than a trinket in a box. Perhaps the rest of the country will skip Christmas and get back to the real meaning of the holiday season.
I thought about skipping Christmas. Much like Luther and Nora Krank in John Grisham's book of the same name. Except there isn't a proposed Caribbean cruise in my future. The idea of skipping the entire commercial aspects of what is really a spiritual, family time, still intrigues me.
My mind gets overwhelmed with the Sunday paper filled to overflowing with more and more discounts. I can't turn on the television without an ad promising peace and joy if I just bought one item or another. My marketing background has made me jaded when it comes to these messages and I pride myself on not falling for them. Yet, I thought about what would happen if we just skipped the whole thing and maybe made gifts.
The children have never been materialistic. They have received nice gifts and we almost always do a family gift. We also send out Christmas cards and bless someone less fortunate. This year we gave two gift to two different Ange Tree children and made a contribute to Little Wishes through my Obama community organizer friends. I told the children we wouldn't have a big Christmas this year. They didn't seem fazed.
I decided they had too many toys last year and have thought that all year whenever I go to my daughters' bedroom. Their collection of stuffed animals, dolls of every size and shape, more doll clothes than a mall, and all the books has taken over every available space. There isn't room if I wanted to add anything else. Now, they are so blessed.
When I told my husband I didn't know if I wanted to do the whole Christmas shopping thing, he said it would be fine. That made me smile because before we dated, he didn't spend any money on the holidays and instead spent the time reflecting and serving at a food pantry. I guess marriage and children sent us to the Malls and the toy section of Target. Yet, we have always blessed others. I think it is the blessing others that had me thinking this year with the economy in the state of disarray.
Many families will not only miss opening a gift on Christmas morning, some will be homeless because of the unending foreclosures, others will skip a big meal because of the incessant job losses, and others will have an empty chair because of the forever war in Iraq.
I wonder if I just feel jaded. Sure, I want more books than I can read and really want a Wii for the family, but it is not something I need. I need my family, my health, food, the clothes I have, and love. Those are needs. I will spend time at my cousin's house and attending events. We will make memories that last much longer than a trinket in a box. Perhaps the rest of the country will skip Christmas and get back to the real meaning of the holiday season.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Just Books
I found a lovely new bookstore in Webster Groves, Mo. It is called Pudd'N'Head Books and is owned by an attorney-turned-entrepreneur named Nikki. She came home from Brooklyn and has set up shop in the Old Orchard area of this quaint little town.
The bookstore and I met each other through a tiny little ad placed in our local paper, The Webster-Kirkwood Times. I was intrigued because like my coffee, I love independent bookstores.
My youngest daughter and I made a trek out there one cold afternoon just before Thanksgiving. I was pleasantly surprised to see just what I wanted. There were books, books, and more books. Not a magazine or journal or newspaper in sight! She has a great kids section and even a cozy seating area. She captured my heart when, tucked behind the generous counter, is a mini coffee bar! She makes a mean mocha and even named a drink after my daughter Keziah who requested caramel in her hot apple cider. The non-caffeine drinkers can be happy with her loose tea selections and since she is open until 9pm, she sometimes features wine or beer tastings.
The location of Webster University gives her much fodder for book and event tie-ins. It seems as if St. Louis is really into the arts of any form and bringing in speakers. She expertly keeps up with local speaking events and if there is a book tied to it, the book will be in the store.
Just in time for the holidays, she is featuring letters to Santa. That is perfect for book lovers like me who relish the touch and feel of a brand new experience. On my wish list is Toni Morrison's new novel, A Mercy. There is something magical about actually receiving a book instead of a gift card so Nikki allows one to come in, fill out a wish-list and mail it. She keeps everyone's name and even gives out hint-cards to gently prod those who just don't know what to get the book lover for the holidays. I love it.
I think the best thing about this store that has made me an early and fast loyal customer is the service. That is something that has been missing in retail. I hate the malls and all the big stores with their fake smiles. I like it that Frank at Kaldi's knows my preference for the French Press pot and that I like steamed milk. I love it that they put together a fruit and veggie kiddy meal for my allergic daughter and don't charge me more. My favorite baker, Reine of SweetArt, does authentic, bake-from-scratch cakes that make my mouth water. She recently did a special request from my newly minted five-year old. No boring flip books here! I love entrepreneurs. I love it that Nikki recently took my email order for my son in the Navy and even offered to split the shipping cost with me as a thank you for my business. The very fact that I email her and she emails back is one of the reasons she will have my business, even with the monster-sized Barnes & Noble that just opened in West County Mall.
Books and I are best friends. I'm currently reading a fun one, Espresso Shot by Cleo Coyle, and a serious one, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. On my reading list for 2009? The Polished Hoe by Austin Clarke, Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas, Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due, Coming Unglued by Rebecca Seitz, Race Matters by Cornel West, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and A Mercy by Toni Morrison.
When I think about innovation and what will get this country out-of-recession, I don't think about the greedy, compulsive CEOs who want $10MM bonuses despite destroying their companies, I think about the Reine's, Frank's, and Nikki's of this country. There is hope, and I will find mine eating a cupcake, sipping a latte, and reading a book.
The bookstore and I met each other through a tiny little ad placed in our local paper, The Webster-Kirkwood Times. I was intrigued because like my coffee, I love independent bookstores.
My youngest daughter and I made a trek out there one cold afternoon just before Thanksgiving. I was pleasantly surprised to see just what I wanted. There were books, books, and more books. Not a magazine or journal or newspaper in sight! She has a great kids section and even a cozy seating area. She captured my heart when, tucked behind the generous counter, is a mini coffee bar! She makes a mean mocha and even named a drink after my daughter Keziah who requested caramel in her hot apple cider. The non-caffeine drinkers can be happy with her loose tea selections and since she is open until 9pm, she sometimes features wine or beer tastings.
The location of Webster University gives her much fodder for book and event tie-ins. It seems as if St. Louis is really into the arts of any form and bringing in speakers. She expertly keeps up with local speaking events and if there is a book tied to it, the book will be in the store.
Just in time for the holidays, she is featuring letters to Santa. That is perfect for book lovers like me who relish the touch and feel of a brand new experience. On my wish list is Toni Morrison's new novel, A Mercy. There is something magical about actually receiving a book instead of a gift card so Nikki allows one to come in, fill out a wish-list and mail it. She keeps everyone's name and even gives out hint-cards to gently prod those who just don't know what to get the book lover for the holidays. I love it.
I think the best thing about this store that has made me an early and fast loyal customer is the service. That is something that has been missing in retail. I hate the malls and all the big stores with their fake smiles. I like it that Frank at Kaldi's knows my preference for the French Press pot and that I like steamed milk. I love it that they put together a fruit and veggie kiddy meal for my allergic daughter and don't charge me more. My favorite baker, Reine of SweetArt, does authentic, bake-from-scratch cakes that make my mouth water. She recently did a special request from my newly minted five-year old. No boring flip books here! I love entrepreneurs. I love it that Nikki recently took my email order for my son in the Navy and even offered to split the shipping cost with me as a thank you for my business. The very fact that I email her and she emails back is one of the reasons she will have my business, even with the monster-sized Barnes & Noble that just opened in West County Mall.
Books and I are best friends. I'm currently reading a fun one, Espresso Shot by Cleo Coyle, and a serious one, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. On my reading list for 2009? The Polished Hoe by Austin Clarke, Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas, Joplin's Ghost by Tananarive Due, Coming Unglued by Rebecca Seitz, Race Matters by Cornel West, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith, Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and A Mercy by Toni Morrison.
When I think about innovation and what will get this country out-of-recession, I don't think about the greedy, compulsive CEOs who want $10MM bonuses despite destroying their companies, I think about the Reine's, Frank's, and Nikki's of this country. There is hope, and I will find mine eating a cupcake, sipping a latte, and reading a book.
Monday, December 8, 2008
"Mommy, Can I Lay In Your Bed?"
My teenage son is sick.
He became ill last night with the nasty part of the flu/cold virus circulating around faster than the dollar bills in the deep discounts current retail market. This is the face-in-the-bucket sick that has left this normally hyper, chipper, talkative, bubbly teenager looking more like a limp biscuit. He could only take a couple sips of water and moan something of a response.
He is missing school most of this week.
I woke him up from his illness-induced-sleep to move from this sofa to take a shower. He moaned as I helped him up the stairs. I thought he'd be okay when he rallied around 3pm to move from the loneliness of his bed to the comfortable noise of the family room. His sisters could've put lipstick or wigs on him and he wouldn't have noticed.
Once I tip-toe walked with him and gingerly climbed the stairs, teenage modesty took over and he assured me he could shower himself. After a few minutes and me putting fresh sheets on his bed, he stuck his head out the bathroom door, "mommy, can I just lay in your bed?"
I told him it would be fine, after all, last night he crawled into bed with his mom and dad. I smiled to myself, even teenagers need the comfort of their mom when they are sick. Glad I could be at home to nurture him.
He became ill last night with the nasty part of the flu/cold virus circulating around faster than the dollar bills in the deep discounts current retail market. This is the face-in-the-bucket sick that has left this normally hyper, chipper, talkative, bubbly teenager looking more like a limp biscuit. He could only take a couple sips of water and moan something of a response.
He is missing school most of this week.
I woke him up from his illness-induced-sleep to move from this sofa to take a shower. He moaned as I helped him up the stairs. I thought he'd be okay when he rallied around 3pm to move from the loneliness of his bed to the comfortable noise of the family room. His sisters could've put lipstick or wigs on him and he wouldn't have noticed.
Once I tip-toe walked with him and gingerly climbed the stairs, teenage modesty took over and he assured me he could shower himself. After a few minutes and me putting fresh sheets on his bed, he stuck his head out the bathroom door, "mommy, can I just lay in your bed?"
I told him it would be fine, after all, last night he crawled into bed with his mom and dad. I smiled to myself, even teenagers need the comfort of their mom when they are sick. Glad I could be at home to nurture him.
Time Out for Corporate Greed
My reaction to the sit-in factory workers in Chicago is "right on."
My reaction to President-elect Obama's statement of support of those same factory workers is "I'm so proud I campaigned for you! I'm so proud you put the walk in the talk!"
I believe we are headed for a serious economic situation and an equally unprecedented rising up of previously complacent Americans.
I've watched in horror and dismay at all the financial powerhouses crumbling followed by the auto industry flying in on a corporate jet with their hat-in-hand for a bailout. This is at the same time as I recently learned a mom of a freshman at my son's high school was laid off back in October. Even as I co-organize a group of St. Louis County Obama Supporters to give to local food pantries, the Merrill Lynch CEO, Mr. Thain, is demanding a $10 MILLION bonus for destroying the company. His rationale, "it would've been worse." Give me a break.
Tell that to the people, middle class people, who are lining up to receive bags of groceries from the food banks they used to support. Tell that to the over 2 million Americans out-of-work. The 6.7% unemployment figure is misleading because it doesn't include the part-timers who can't get full-time work and the many at-home-moms with school-aged kids who want to work but can't. What about the bonus or bailout for them?
I'm immensely supportive and proud that President-elect Obama didn't mince words or hesitate to give his support and approval of the camped-in workers. They are not asking for a bonus or handout, they are asking for the vacation and severance pay THEY EARNED and they deserve! They are the real heroes of America.
I expect to see a peaceful rising up of more such workers, perhaps in my backyard of Fenton, MO with the recent layoff announcements. Even the companies that are doing this because their profit is less than expected so they are sending out pink-slips as holiday presents. When will greed be crumbled? I believe now.
So does Rob Kall over at OpEd News. He is equally proud and concurs. This was a most progressive statement by President-elect Obama.
This may be a Merry Christmas after all. Corporate America be on notice, we are watching and we are responding. Greed has no place in the new paradigm.
My reaction to President-elect Obama's statement of support of those same factory workers is "I'm so proud I campaigned for you! I'm so proud you put the walk in the talk!"
I believe we are headed for a serious economic situation and an equally unprecedented rising up of previously complacent Americans.
I've watched in horror and dismay at all the financial powerhouses crumbling followed by the auto industry flying in on a corporate jet with their hat-in-hand for a bailout. This is at the same time as I recently learned a mom of a freshman at my son's high school was laid off back in October. Even as I co-organize a group of St. Louis County Obama Supporters to give to local food pantries, the Merrill Lynch CEO, Mr. Thain, is demanding a $10 MILLION bonus for destroying the company. His rationale, "it would've been worse." Give me a break.
Tell that to the people, middle class people, who are lining up to receive bags of groceries from the food banks they used to support. Tell that to the over 2 million Americans out-of-work. The 6.7% unemployment figure is misleading because it doesn't include the part-timers who can't get full-time work and the many at-home-moms with school-aged kids who want to work but can't. What about the bonus or bailout for them?
I'm immensely supportive and proud that President-elect Obama didn't mince words or hesitate to give his support and approval of the camped-in workers. They are not asking for a bonus or handout, they are asking for the vacation and severance pay THEY EARNED and they deserve! They are the real heroes of America.
I expect to see a peaceful rising up of more such workers, perhaps in my backyard of Fenton, MO with the recent layoff announcements. Even the companies that are doing this because their profit is less than expected so they are sending out pink-slips as holiday presents. When will greed be crumbled? I believe now.
So does Rob Kall over at OpEd News. He is equally proud and concurs. This was a most progressive statement by President-elect Obama.
This may be a Merry Christmas after all. Corporate America be on notice, we are watching and we are responding. Greed has no place in the new paradigm.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Winter Cold
What is it about winter illness that makes one want to just cuddle up under a warm blanket, sip a vanilla soy latte (me) or herbal tea or hot chocolate and then shut out the rest of the world?
And what makes the winter cold more gross than the summer cold? Do the flu viruses and cold viruses just watch for that first frost to descend like gang-busters on unsuspecting victims? Are they quiet partners and shareholders of all the orange juice, Kleenex, and Vicks Vapor Rub companies? Do they have a lock on the Mrs. Meyers Lavender Cleaners, Viva papertowels, and O'Cello sponges?
My family is sick. From the top to the bottom. The only one spared the sniffles, sneezes, and spasmodic coughs have been Joshua and Keziah. Maybe there is a special fortitude in the youngest son and the youngest daughter. He is at school today and she is dancing while I am surrounded by my linebacker-sized husband who became ill late last night, and my first-grade daughter home for a second day from school.
I thought this morning that perhaps I am a reverse sexist. I don't believe in men being sick. There, I've been outed. I think, like Michelle Robinson Obama's dad, that there was a strength in the men of a prior generation. My dad was like a door with his 6'4" frame. He was always constantly in pain and never missed a day of work, even while in a head-to-stomach cast from a neck operation. He was in bed working on projects and telephoning his office. Sometimes I think he was the pioneer of telecommuting! Daddy also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and a mini-pharmacy set of pills he had to take daily. He had to get up early in the morning and often endure long road trips despite mind-numbing pain. This was my example growing up.
Imagine my attitude this morning, yes, attitude, when I woke up to find my husband half comatose on the living room sofa. There was a glass of water and a bucket next to him, I didn't want to know what was waiting in the downstairs bathroom.
I donned plastic gloves, grabbed paper towels, sponges, and cleaners. I scrubbed down the bathrooms, took a shower, made him some bath water and went downstairs to prepare rice. He and the first-grade daughter caught the ugly side of the cold virus. I just had the sneezes, the voice like a frog, and the accompanying chills, none of the mountain-shaking science experiments they had.
The day will proceed with him at home alternately sipping water, eating rice,and entertaining the girls. I'm sure he will be on the mend tomorrow. And I will bring him tea. I repent of my sexist ways, I guess men can get sick also and could use a little tenderness.
And what makes the winter cold more gross than the summer cold? Do the flu viruses and cold viruses just watch for that first frost to descend like gang-busters on unsuspecting victims? Are they quiet partners and shareholders of all the orange juice, Kleenex, and Vicks Vapor Rub companies? Do they have a lock on the Mrs. Meyers Lavender Cleaners, Viva papertowels, and O'Cello sponges?
My family is sick. From the top to the bottom. The only one spared the sniffles, sneezes, and spasmodic coughs have been Joshua and Keziah. Maybe there is a special fortitude in the youngest son and the youngest daughter. He is at school today and she is dancing while I am surrounded by my linebacker-sized husband who became ill late last night, and my first-grade daughter home for a second day from school.
I thought this morning that perhaps I am a reverse sexist. I don't believe in men being sick. There, I've been outed. I think, like Michelle Robinson Obama's dad, that there was a strength in the men of a prior generation. My dad was like a door with his 6'4" frame. He was always constantly in pain and never missed a day of work, even while in a head-to-stomach cast from a neck operation. He was in bed working on projects and telephoning his office. Sometimes I think he was the pioneer of telecommuting! Daddy also suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and a mini-pharmacy set of pills he had to take daily. He had to get up early in the morning and often endure long road trips despite mind-numbing pain. This was my example growing up.
Imagine my attitude this morning, yes, attitude, when I woke up to find my husband half comatose on the living room sofa. There was a glass of water and a bucket next to him, I didn't want to know what was waiting in the downstairs bathroom.
I donned plastic gloves, grabbed paper towels, sponges, and cleaners. I scrubbed down the bathrooms, took a shower, made him some bath water and went downstairs to prepare rice. He and the first-grade daughter caught the ugly side of the cold virus. I just had the sneezes, the voice like a frog, and the accompanying chills, none of the mountain-shaking science experiments they had.
The day will proceed with him at home alternately sipping water, eating rice,and entertaining the girls. I'm sure he will be on the mend tomorrow. And I will bring him tea. I repent of my sexist ways, I guess men can get sick also and could use a little tenderness.
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