Thursday, June 28, 2012
One of 17! Great Day in America!
Breaking news just came in that The Affordable Health Care Act has been upheld by the SCOTUS! Chief Justice Roberts was the swing vote! Finally, finally, finally, they did what was right for the American People.
My daughter is one of 17 million children in America who would be affected if her FIVE preexisting conditions prevented her from having health care, she would be dead, frankly, without access to health care.
My son who suffered nerve damage as a victim of a gunshot and attempted murder is affected. He was be and now stay on our insurance up to age 26. He has been able to have his physical therapy that moved him from a walker to being able to walk again.
My entire family has access to preventive care.
I am tremendously happy. Yes, it is a victory for President Obama, but is really is a victory for the American people. Health care is a right, access is huge. I am preparing right now to take my daughter to the doctor for a previously scheduled appointment, it is just so sweet that it is today that the ACA has been upheld.
My daughter is one of 17 and today truly is a great day in America.
My daughter is one of 17 million children in America who would be affected if her FIVE preexisting conditions prevented her from having health care, she would be dead, frankly, without access to health care.
My son who suffered nerve damage as a victim of a gunshot and attempted murder is affected. He was be and now stay on our insurance up to age 26. He has been able to have his physical therapy that moved him from a walker to being able to walk again.
My entire family has access to preventive care.
I am tremendously happy. Yes, it is a victory for President Obama, but is really is a victory for the American people. Health care is a right, access is huge. I am preparing right now to take my daughter to the doctor for a previously scheduled appointment, it is just so sweet that it is today that the ACA has been upheld.
My daughter is one of 17 and today truly is a great day in America.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Today, The Students Won
I was driving this evening and heard the NPR news report that the President of UVA-Charlottsville had been restored after an essential hostile ouster by the Board of Visitors, lead by a first-term visitor,Helen Dragas, who is a real estate mogul. None of the Board of Visitors have degrees or backgrounds in higher education, they wanted to push Teresa Sullivan, the first female president, to a more corporate and "profitable" structure that favored online classes and elimination of classical liberal arts education. I, like many who value education were outraged at her ouster and the audacity of another move by the lack-of-transparency corporate-elite to take over the nation.
The little people prevailed and of course the Board of Visitors were surrounding her as she spoke to a crowd of students, faculty, and administrators who protested against her discharge. It made me think of the power of the people who rally together to stand strong in the face of tyranny. The move by the board was not to benefit the students and regardless of what one thinks of the tenure system, the faculty are the meat-on-the-bone of any good institution. The faculty are also not the ones driving up education costs, that would be in other departments not directly benefiting the students.
The entire fiasco reminded me of what has gone wrong in our country over the past thirty years. I hold my MBA from the University of Iowa so I value the place of free markets and a level playing field, the opportunity to have a dream and create a business, to make it profitable, and to enjoy the success. What I do not like is the profit at all costs move that has taken place. When I was in school, there was a group of us who fought for sustainable business and responsibility to our stakeholders, not just those fortunate enough to purchase stock in our company. I took the MBA Oath to signal my ethics and my stance on a global responsibility of business leaders and business owners. This seemed to escape the Board of Visitors who were only seeking to fill the coffers of the for-profit, less-costly online education companies that are traded on Wall Street.
There are some things that should be held in high esteem, highly valued, like a good education.
UVA is one of the nation's oldest institutions of higher learning. I may have issues with Thomas Jefferson and his slave holding/slave manipulation of Sally Hemmings and fathering a group of mixed-race people during the founding of our nation, however, I do believe he left something tangible with UVA and the place of higher thinking. I believe in education, it opens doors for critical thinking and discourse, something that can only come by getting up, grabbing the books or tablet and pen, and trudging across campus to sit in a lecture hall with a professor who broadens the discussion beyond the text book, where real learning happens. That can not happen online. The value of that is more than the profit motive.
Today is a good day for the little people, the educators, and the students of not only UVA but the nation's colleges and universities. Yes, they are more costly than when I first set foot on a campus in the late 80s. Yes, there are overpaid administrators, a heavy reliance on adjunct (I am one!), and marketing of the football team and basketball playoffs over the romance languages and sociology majors. Yes, the students of today have a harder time finding employment. All these things are true and why I advocate for a free or less costly college experience, BUT in spite of this, I believe today was a good day for the President of UVA. It is what we want college students to do, to think, to act, and to speak up.
The little people prevailed and of course the Board of Visitors were surrounding her as she spoke to a crowd of students, faculty, and administrators who protested against her discharge. It made me think of the power of the people who rally together to stand strong in the face of tyranny. The move by the board was not to benefit the students and regardless of what one thinks of the tenure system, the faculty are the meat-on-the-bone of any good institution. The faculty are also not the ones driving up education costs, that would be in other departments not directly benefiting the students.
The entire fiasco reminded me of what has gone wrong in our country over the past thirty years. I hold my MBA from the University of Iowa so I value the place of free markets and a level playing field, the opportunity to have a dream and create a business, to make it profitable, and to enjoy the success. What I do not like is the profit at all costs move that has taken place. When I was in school, there was a group of us who fought for sustainable business and responsibility to our stakeholders, not just those fortunate enough to purchase stock in our company. I took the MBA Oath to signal my ethics and my stance on a global responsibility of business leaders and business owners. This seemed to escape the Board of Visitors who were only seeking to fill the coffers of the for-profit, less-costly online education companies that are traded on Wall Street.
There are some things that should be held in high esteem, highly valued, like a good education.
UVA is one of the nation's oldest institutions of higher learning. I may have issues with Thomas Jefferson and his slave holding/slave manipulation of Sally Hemmings and fathering a group of mixed-race people during the founding of our nation, however, I do believe he left something tangible with UVA and the place of higher thinking. I believe in education, it opens doors for critical thinking and discourse, something that can only come by getting up, grabbing the books or tablet and pen, and trudging across campus to sit in a lecture hall with a professor who broadens the discussion beyond the text book, where real learning happens. That can not happen online. The value of that is more than the profit motive.
Today is a good day for the little people, the educators, and the students of not only UVA but the nation's colleges and universities. Yes, they are more costly than when I first set foot on a campus in the late 80s. Yes, there are overpaid administrators, a heavy reliance on adjunct (I am one!), and marketing of the football team and basketball playoffs over the romance languages and sociology majors. Yes, the students of today have a harder time finding employment. All these things are true and why I advocate for a free or less costly college experience, BUT in spite of this, I believe today was a good day for the President of UVA. It is what we want college students to do, to think, to act, and to speak up.
Friday, June 22, 2012
What Happened to Gen X?
What happened to Gen X and frankly, late Baby Boomers?
Why are we, this generation that came of age in the 1980s, just so plain mean?
stay
I wonder if we have been jilted, scared, and over stimulated the last 30+ years.
It has been 30 years since I graduated high school, 32 years since Reagan's policies changed civility in public discourse. What is it with these late 40s, early 50s men who are poised to ruin generations. Some things need to go back.
Case in point, the extreme bullying of the 68 year old grandmother on the bus yesterday by a bunch of middle school kids. I would have been punished beyond the ability to sit down if I even thought to say those things to an elder. I never would have and my classmates never would have either. We grew up in a time of yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am, and calling adults by their last name, and staying in a child's place - outside on our bikes!
Another is the complete and utter destruction of our economy by a bunch of bully boomer men who just refuse to believe that we, the post Civil Rights generation, would actually elect a black president. That we could move forward as a nation for health care reform and rights, quality education for ALL citizens, and equality of marriage for all people, you would think that we learned something from the bloody marches, intimidation, and strife of the 1960s.
I wonder if this generation has become too comfortable? Do we blame the mothers who went to work when the corporate doors were open wide (and frankly, when white women were the biggest beneficiary of affirmative action programs) and garages went from one car to two to three? Do we blame 9-11 that shook us to the core and still scares us that we have handed over our civil liberties when the ones we need to fear are at a bank on Wall Street? Do we truly believe that the uber wealthy will trickle down their wealth while at the same time they want to cut the minimum wage to $4.25 for teens? What happened?
When I close my eyes and think back over the last 30 years, I pine for the simple joy of summer bike riding, swimming, coming home to grown ups at home, daddy home at 5pm, and the knowledge that school would start and all of us would be challenged to be our best, that we were more alike than different. When adults were respected and children were raised with values that meant more than empty religious utterances to score political points.
I have listened to a generation who overspent on credit cards, purchased homes that would fit the entire block when I was growing up, and scared beyond measure. I'm tired, perhaps I am living my age, but I am tired of parents being friends with their kids and not raising them. I'm tired of politicians pitting poor urban dwellers against poor rural dwellers with their threats of closing prisons (for profit ones in downstate Illinois), the charges that if only we elected the right party, unemployment would go down when the ones who could create the jobs are sitting there like fat cats with record breaking profits and CEO salaries, tired of the attacks against school teachers, and frankly all public employees who ensure our trash is picked up, fire fighters can put out a fire and rescue a cat, and the high quality education that drives the high property taxes in my neighborhood, enough, just enough. I am tired of the men in my vagina (and not my husband) who want to legislate everything related to female health but not create jobs and not be fair in pay. What happened to these guys?
There is a glimmer of hope. I am noticing more and more people of all colors and ethnic groups waking up from a collective sleep. They realize they believed a lie about the trickle down, the fearmongering of one group against the other, and the corporation-as-person was not to their benefit. Wealth has been destroyed, more so for black and latino households, an entire generation of college kids are graduating with debt that forces them to put off starting life for a decade or more. I'm noticing more and more people speaking up and out against the attacks against women, the working poor, blacks, and latinos. There is a glimmer of hope. Perhaps the rest of the Gen X, late Boomers (born in the 1960s) are the ones to make a change and fix what's wrong before it's too late.
Why are we, this generation that came of age in the 1980s, just so plain mean?
stay
I wonder if we have been jilted, scared, and over stimulated the last 30+ years.
It has been 30 years since I graduated high school, 32 years since Reagan's policies changed civility in public discourse. What is it with these late 40s, early 50s men who are poised to ruin generations. Some things need to go back.
Case in point, the extreme bullying of the 68 year old grandmother on the bus yesterday by a bunch of middle school kids. I would have been punished beyond the ability to sit down if I even thought to say those things to an elder. I never would have and my classmates never would have either. We grew up in a time of yes sir, no sir, yes ma'am, no ma'am, and calling adults by their last name, and staying in a child's place - outside on our bikes!
Another is the complete and utter destruction of our economy by a bunch of bully boomer men who just refuse to believe that we, the post Civil Rights generation, would actually elect a black president. That we could move forward as a nation for health care reform and rights, quality education for ALL citizens, and equality of marriage for all people, you would think that we learned something from the bloody marches, intimidation, and strife of the 1960s.
I wonder if this generation has become too comfortable? Do we blame the mothers who went to work when the corporate doors were open wide (and frankly, when white women were the biggest beneficiary of affirmative action programs) and garages went from one car to two to three? Do we blame 9-11 that shook us to the core and still scares us that we have handed over our civil liberties when the ones we need to fear are at a bank on Wall Street? Do we truly believe that the uber wealthy will trickle down their wealth while at the same time they want to cut the minimum wage to $4.25 for teens? What happened?
When I close my eyes and think back over the last 30 years, I pine for the simple joy of summer bike riding, swimming, coming home to grown ups at home, daddy home at 5pm, and the knowledge that school would start and all of us would be challenged to be our best, that we were more alike than different. When adults were respected and children were raised with values that meant more than empty religious utterances to score political points.
I have listened to a generation who overspent on credit cards, purchased homes that would fit the entire block when I was growing up, and scared beyond measure. I'm tired, perhaps I am living my age, but I am tired of parents being friends with their kids and not raising them. I'm tired of politicians pitting poor urban dwellers against poor rural dwellers with their threats of closing prisons (for profit ones in downstate Illinois), the charges that if only we elected the right party, unemployment would go down when the ones who could create the jobs are sitting there like fat cats with record breaking profits and CEO salaries, tired of the attacks against school teachers, and frankly all public employees who ensure our trash is picked up, fire fighters can put out a fire and rescue a cat, and the high quality education that drives the high property taxes in my neighborhood, enough, just enough. I am tired of the men in my vagina (and not my husband) who want to legislate everything related to female health but not create jobs and not be fair in pay. What happened to these guys?
There is a glimmer of hope. I am noticing more and more people of all colors and ethnic groups waking up from a collective sleep. They realize they believed a lie about the trickle down, the fearmongering of one group against the other, and the corporation-as-person was not to their benefit. Wealth has been destroyed, more so for black and latino households, an entire generation of college kids are graduating with debt that forces them to put off starting life for a decade or more. I'm noticing more and more people speaking up and out against the attacks against women, the working poor, blacks, and latinos. There is a glimmer of hope. Perhaps the rest of the Gen X, late Boomers (born in the 1960s) are the ones to make a change and fix what's wrong before it's too late.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
New York Sophistication, DC Simplicity & Style
One of the biggest aspects of our trip out East was my
daughter’s budding fashion sense and chance to do her own shopping in New York.
Watching her as she dressed every day in the “ensembles” she
packed for our ten-day-vacation gave me a glimpse of her sense of individuality
and what looks good on her, very mature for only being a pre-teen. She had a keen awareness of what she wanted
to add to her wardrobe and what pair of colorful jeans would be the perfect
addition.
I kept thinking about the fashion magazines, runway books,
and what they try to market as NYC style.
I can tell you that it is very different from reality. Take Times Square, Manhattan, Central Park,
Harlem, Little Italy, Chinatown, Soho, Chelsea for example. I saw lots of simple skirts, jeans, t-shirts,
and flats.
NYC is a town where walking
is the order of the day, up and down city streets, on and off subways, from
women headed to work on Wall Street to the students headed to NYU, everyone had
a simple sophistication with their sheath dresses, slim skirts, tucked in
blouse, and flats or jeans and a simple t-shirt. The people were thoughtful, no one looked
sloppy, but I could tell that it was effortless, much like my daughter’s innate
ability to put together something simple yet sophisticated.
DC was pretty much the same thing. We stayed in DuPont Circle, not far from
Georgetown University, Embassy Row, and lots of Washington Interns. I would say the style had a bit of
simplicity, skirts with simple flats or soft heel sandals. The styles in both places, especially DC, was
made for walking so lots of messenger bag cases slung over shoulders for men
and women.
I noticed that in DC there were more women in simple summer
dresses and skirts, perhaps paying homage to the southern spirit of the city
and the easy walking style. It was
comfortable and not stuff, assured, classy, perhaps a lot like First Lady
Michelle Obama who now calls DC her home.
We had a chance to pop over to 5th Avenue, undoubtedly
the Manhattan Maven’s shopping venues.
We ventured upstairs to the haute couture floor in Sax and my husband
showed me a simple shirt that was priced at $4500! Nothing magical about the styling, it was a
summer skirt with eyelets, perhaps it was because it was on designer row, name
one, they all had their own little “room” in Sax. There was a socialite shopping and a
decidedly gay man styling the mannequin, it seemed to take him forever, and his
outfit was fabulous from the skinny jeans, fitted jacket, and huge flower on
his label and enormous glasses – he was probably the only one I saw in what the
magazines dub NYC fashions!
Shopping along Georgetown, Capitol Hill/Barracks Row, and
DuPont Circle/Connecticut Avenue was more my style. There were eclectic shops, vintage resale
shops (made me think that Mrs. Obama popped into one of these), and independent
stores from accessories to simple dresses featuring local designers, vintage resale, and unique items.
All-in-all, I would say that given the high cost-of-living,
small living quarters, walking lifestyle, and fast pace of both NYC and DC, the
style was more one of ease, versatility, and comfort. I did not see any of the frumpy Midwestern
“mom jeans”, gym shoes (except for the runners on Connecticut Avenue on
Saturday morning), and shapeless t-shirts.
My daughter definitely felt at home with her high top converse, peace
scarf, “business” jacket, and slim jeans as she swagged down avenue after
avenue.
We ventured into neighborhoods and where real people lived,
off the tourist path, and had a real sense of the history of the rowhouses (DC)
and brownstones (NYC) and in both places, felt right at home…NYC sophistication
coupled with DC simplicity and style...individualistic, unique, creative, alive...just like the energy of these great American cities!
Friday, June 15, 2012
Travels of Cupcakes, Coffee, and Books
I am absolutely convinced that excellent coffee, mouthwatering ice cream or gelatto, moist and flavorful cupcakes, and stimulating literary collections are the work of truly passionate people.
My trip from St. Louis took me through several states. I did not stop for coffee in Illinois but did in Indianapolis, Indiana and it was a wonderful little non-profit that my GPS/places app directed me find. It was worth the exit off I-70.
I did not have excellent coffee again until NYC and we were somewhere in Soho. It was an iced coffee that tickled my taste buds then.
NYC has great coffee on almost every corner in every borough, which made me wonder why anyone would settle for that burnt stuff peddled by Starbucks. Anyway, I found what became my little haven, a spot called Caffe' Bene on Times Square. This was a great hide-out for breakfast (wonderful waffles) and for the caramel hazelnut latte.
I really wanted to coffee drink my way through Manhattan and love that my husband tried to find the Dominican coffee in Washington Heights. We went one street too far and ended up in Jewish neighborhood - no coffee but great challah bread at the bakery just off the corner.
Washington DC is equally as pleasurable as a coffee hub and place for passionate, creative, innovative, and brave independent store owners.
The hotel has Coffee Bean & Tea - very good and I was surprised to see this California staple here. If this place ends up being a chain...Starbucks definitely has some competition!
My morning respite was the hotel coffee shop, however, being the coffee queen that I am, I had to have a real good cup.
We ventured to Capitol Hill and I had the best cup of Guatemalan coffee ever, it was so good that I have to go back and buy some beans to bring home. My mouth was doing a happy dance.
My love affair with coffee has been satisfied these past few days.
Now, on to my books.
Hue-Man was my mecca in Harlem! I felt so empowered to be surrounded by this staple of black books. The kids and I sat and skimmed through multiple volumes while enjoying a Caribbean made fruit smoothie. I definitely loaded up my luggage with some great volumes.
We popped into Fairy Godmother book and toystore in Capitol Hill. The girls were in their little slice of literary heaven in this rowhouse store just around the corner from Pennsylvania avenue and in the "neighborhood" part of DC. It would be a spot for us to hang out if we lived here because Le Quotien was two doors down (excellent Blondie on fresh baked toasted bread) and a great coffee shop (that I can't think of the name!) was next door.
DC has been an interesting book venture. I finally ventured into Krammerbooks - famous in DuPont Circle. It has a cafe' that was really crowded. I liked the stacks and stacks and the international flavor.
Down the street is Books-a-Million...at home, that is a Sunday stop for us, but not something I wanted to do in DC! I did pop in for an inexpensive Italian soda while I looked out at the fountain on the Circle.
Finally found Second Story books. Quaint on P Street, a bit away from the commercial and near the residential side of the circle. Talk about used and rare books in a crowded little space. I didn't find the jazz books I was hunting for (Father's Day is Sunday, after all),but they did have a great representative of books across genres. I found my next black female literature volume!
One of the things I do when I travel is check out the local neighborhoods, off the beaten path, and out of the tourist areas. I also do not do chains and try my hardest to eat local foods. It is my little bit of economic recovery! I also meet great people and have wonderful delights, a lot of the store owners are very friendly to visitors and appreciate the business, they know they are competing against the Starbuck's and Barnes & Nobles of the world.
Next trip? Montgomery and Chicago.
My trip from St. Louis took me through several states. I did not stop for coffee in Illinois but did in Indianapolis, Indiana and it was a wonderful little non-profit that my GPS/places app directed me find. It was worth the exit off I-70.
I did not have excellent coffee again until NYC and we were somewhere in Soho. It was an iced coffee that tickled my taste buds then.
NYC has great coffee on almost every corner in every borough, which made me wonder why anyone would settle for that burnt stuff peddled by Starbucks. Anyway, I found what became my little haven, a spot called Caffe' Bene on Times Square. This was a great hide-out for breakfast (wonderful waffles) and for the caramel hazelnut latte.
I really wanted to coffee drink my way through Manhattan and love that my husband tried to find the Dominican coffee in Washington Heights. We went one street too far and ended up in Jewish neighborhood - no coffee but great challah bread at the bakery just off the corner.
Washington DC is equally as pleasurable as a coffee hub and place for passionate, creative, innovative, and brave independent store owners.
The hotel has Coffee Bean & Tea - very good and I was surprised to see this California staple here. If this place ends up being a chain...Starbucks definitely has some competition!
My morning respite was the hotel coffee shop, however, being the coffee queen that I am, I had to have a real good cup.
We ventured to Capitol Hill and I had the best cup of Guatemalan coffee ever, it was so good that I have to go back and buy some beans to bring home. My mouth was doing a happy dance.
My love affair with coffee has been satisfied these past few days.
Now, on to my books.
Hue-Man was my mecca in Harlem! I felt so empowered to be surrounded by this staple of black books. The kids and I sat and skimmed through multiple volumes while enjoying a Caribbean made fruit smoothie. I definitely loaded up my luggage with some great volumes.
We popped into Fairy Godmother book and toystore in Capitol Hill. The girls were in their little slice of literary heaven in this rowhouse store just around the corner from Pennsylvania avenue and in the "neighborhood" part of DC. It would be a spot for us to hang out if we lived here because Le Quotien was two doors down (excellent Blondie on fresh baked toasted bread) and a great coffee shop (that I can't think of the name!) was next door.
DC has been an interesting book venture. I finally ventured into Krammerbooks - famous in DuPont Circle. It has a cafe' that was really crowded. I liked the stacks and stacks and the international flavor.
Down the street is Books-a-Million...at home, that is a Sunday stop for us, but not something I wanted to do in DC! I did pop in for an inexpensive Italian soda while I looked out at the fountain on the Circle.
Finally found Second Story books. Quaint on P Street, a bit away from the commercial and near the residential side of the circle. Talk about used and rare books in a crowded little space. I didn't find the jazz books I was hunting for (Father's Day is Sunday, after all),but they did have a great representative of books across genres. I found my next black female literature volume!
One of the things I do when I travel is check out the local neighborhoods, off the beaten path, and out of the tourist areas. I also do not do chains and try my hardest to eat local foods. It is my little bit of economic recovery! I also meet great people and have wonderful delights, a lot of the store owners are very friendly to visitors and appreciate the business, they know they are competing against the Starbuck's and Barnes & Nobles of the world.
Next trip? Montgomery and Chicago.
Friday, June 8, 2012
Are We Awake Yet?
I have always found it curious that the “haves” of this
country think they are so much better than the “have nots” simply by accident
of birth.
Today, I took my daughter to her violin camp (see, even that
makes me one of those bourgeois blacks!) and decided after a pit stop at the
county library to pop over to Plaza Frontenac for a moment to relax, after all,
why drive all the way back home. Walking
through the polished brass doors and getting my complimentary coffee at the
concierge desk, it hit me, all of this consumerism is to have a badge, a
purpose, a raison d'être.
It is all so hollow, stuff for the landfill, decidedly American, a way to show that I have, look at me, I am worthy because I am wearing…name a designer!
I’m sitting
here on a designer leather contemporary sofa with my laptop on a granite table
surrounded by MAC, Kate Spade, Juicy Couture, and Talbots. What have we done to ourselves?
It is all so hollow, stuff for the landfill, decidedly American, a way to show that I have, look at me, I am worthy because I am wearing…name a designer!
I’m sitting
here on a designer leather contemporary sofa with my laptop on a granite table
surrounded by MAC, Kate Spade, Juicy Couture, and Talbots. What have we done to ourselves?
The questions reach beyond race even and cut to the issues
of class. The Lords and Ladies of the
Manor in Europe (remember the teen queen, Marie Antoinette who soothed her
aching heart because her husband refused to sleep with her? She was the epitome of shopping the hurt away
and indulging in exquisite shoes, clothes, and designer desserts to fill a
longing of soul. Or even more recently, the televised and world wide
extravagant celebrations for the Queen of England’s Jubilee. The Monarchy sent one of the royal princes
around to all the colonies to spread a little royal happiness to the
“subjects.”) have left an indelible mark of constant wanting upon the
collective American soul that has taken such a bruising, we do not know who we
are anymore.
I am speaking of the American community at large. I do not “shop till I drop” because I realize
the emptiness and futility in it – and because those so-called “designer”
brands could care less about me – a middle aged, educated, black SAHM. But still, the American psyche, is still convinced that once we were told to "just go shopping, go to Disneyland" after our collective hearts screamed for our mothers a decade ago, we found that it did not get better, we are worse off then we were then we met the bogey man...and he is us.
A decade of an unpaid-for-war, a decade of shopping, a decade of lost opportunities, a decade of joblessness, homelessness, lawlessness...perhaps we think the only thing we can control is what we wear, the credit card, debit card, cash plopped down on one of those gleaming black counters to signal that we are here, that we deserve that $4 piece of chocolate from Bissinger's...our collective pacifier.
But, just like we learned in 2007 and still in 2012...the bill will come due, a reminder that we are not awake yet from this nightmare...where is 1994?
When will we wake up? The collective we? The we that knows that nothing will “trickle down” from that thirty-year-lie except empty promises, corporate control, and more debt. The we that is tired of the billions and billions spent on political ads to grab more and more power at the expense of the huddled masses. Tired of the all-out-assault against the man in the highest office in the land simply because some of the us in this collective we think that someone who looks like him should not be there, take back "our" America...and go shopping in those exclusive stores, those shiny places who never meant to sell to the masses and people in the wrong zip code.
Has the alarm clock shaken it's shrill warning yet? That loud, penetrating, incessant, iritating whine that demands attention? When will the collective we wake up and
remind ourselves that we overthrew the British government because we,
Americans, did not want to be ruled, controlled, and manipulated by the moneyed
few, the very designer rags that say we must wear $500 jeans to go with that $200 shirt and $265 shoes? We are what we wear, right? Not what we read or think about, none of the degrees, or friends, or anything matters except the runway question of "who are you wearing?"
A decade of an unpaid-for-war, a decade of shopping, a decade of lost opportunities, a decade of joblessness, homelessness, lawlessness...perhaps we think the only thing we can control is what we wear, the credit card, debit card, cash plopped down on one of those gleaming black counters to signal that we are here, that we deserve that $4 piece of chocolate from Bissinger's...our collective pacifier.But, just like we learned in 2007 and still in 2012...the bill will come due, a reminder that we are not awake yet from this nightmare...where is 1994?
When will we wake up? The collective we? The we that knows that nothing will “trickle down” from that thirty-year-lie except empty promises, corporate control, and more debt. The we that is tired of the billions and billions spent on political ads to grab more and more power at the expense of the huddled masses. Tired of the all-out-assault against the man in the highest office in the land simply because some of the us in this collective we think that someone who looks like him should not be there, take back "our" America...and go shopping in those exclusive stores, those shiny places who never meant to sell to the masses and people in the wrong zip code.
Sitting here, surrounded by such extravagance, ladies in
what they think is couture, a virtual marketing textbook of brands, I wonder if
it will ever happen.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Remember The Excitement
Remember summer vacation?
That Christmas-meets-birthday-meets-end-of-school-excitement?
My kids are having their dose of that right now planning our semi-cross-country drive to New York.
Each kid has a different assignment - shopping, cultural, must-sees. The two youngest are really getting into it...and getting an early dose of New York prices!
It is funny to watch their eyes light up when they journey through the five boroughs (on google, of course) and find out all the fun things to do as kids. Each of them is taking their job seriously. We will see what they produce.
I did have to exercise parental veto and tell my daughter, "Uh, no, we will NOT be shopping at Bergdorff Goodman!"
Big Apple...here we come!
That Christmas-meets-birthday-meets-end-of-school-excitement?
My kids are having their dose of that right now planning our semi-cross-country drive to New York.
Each kid has a different assignment - shopping, cultural, must-sees. The two youngest are really getting into it...and getting an early dose of New York prices!
It is funny to watch their eyes light up when they journey through the five boroughs (on google, of course) and find out all the fun things to do as kids. Each of them is taking their job seriously. We will see what they produce.
I did have to exercise parental veto and tell my daughter, "Uh, no, we will NOT be shopping at Bergdorff Goodman!"
Big Apple...here we come!
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