Very distressed to hear about the distress in New Orleans. Adam is awaiting word on our friend, John Burris, the Lucky Dog vendor. I think Burris is currently our only remaining NO connection. Sheila has not been in touch lately, but I think she is still there, and Hobby the rose vendor disappeared some time ago.
It is breaking into mainstream news that flooding from Lake Pontchartrain and the status of the levees had been overlooked. I certainly hope the media picks up the decision Bush made to divert funding from maintenance of the levees, and the lack of additional Guardsmen available.
George W. Bush--fighting hurricanes over there so we don't have to fight them here.
31 August 2005
30 August 2005
Roof Trouble
As big as Katrina was, apparently we were only on the very edge. At least the rain allowed us to test whether we had fixed our chimney. It tends to leak, nothing very damaging yet, but once I noticed a pool of water around the hearth. The fireplace is essentially useless anyway. When I moved in I piled some bad paperback novels and right-wing literature in there, topped off with a bio of W as a conversation piece.
I had been led to believe that Rob knew how to fix it, so we finally obtained a ladder a few weeks ago. Once I got up there, Rob denied that the landlord had ever given him specific directions on what to do. Apparently they had attempted to cover it by putting some bricks along the corners, and then placing a paving stone from the yard as a cover. Propping it up on the bricks, however, still allowed rain in on the sides, since rain rarely comes down straight. We had nothing available to cover the whole chimney.
Allen came over Friday and we decided to wrap some heavy trash bags around it. They are tied on with rope and weighted down with the paving stone. We thought we would have a hurricane to test it, but we got enough rain to know that it seems to be working. It looks pretty asinine if your eyes happen to stray up there, but I doubt anyone will notice. Neighbourhood Associations do not tend to form in the student ghetto.
I had been led to believe that Rob knew how to fix it, so we finally obtained a ladder a few weeks ago. Once I got up there, Rob denied that the landlord had ever given him specific directions on what to do. Apparently they had attempted to cover it by putting some bricks along the corners, and then placing a paving stone from the yard as a cover. Propping it up on the bricks, however, still allowed rain in on the sides, since rain rarely comes down straight. We had nothing available to cover the whole chimney.
Allen came over Friday and we decided to wrap some heavy trash bags around it. They are tied on with rope and weighted down with the paving stone. We thought we would have a hurricane to test it, but we got enough rain to know that it seems to be working. It looks pretty asinine if your eyes happen to stray up there, but I doubt anyone will notice. Neighbourhood Associations do not tend to form in the student ghetto.
19 August 2005
Granny Weatherwax
Random quotes from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series, featuring Granny Weatherwax--
Witches are not by nature gregarious, at least with other witches, and they certainly don't have leaders. Granny Weatherwax was the most highly regarded of the leaders they didn't have.
She had never mastered the talent for apologizing, but she appreciated it in other people.
...there was possibly something complimentary in the way Granny Weatherwax resolutely refused to consider other people's problems. It implied that, in her considerable opinion, they were quite capable of sorting them out by themselves.
Witches Abroad
....Granny Weatherwax, who had walked nightly without fear in the bandit-haunted forests of the mountains all her life in the certain knowledge that the darkness held nothing more terrible than she was.
Granny Weatherwax disapproved of magic for domestic purposes, but she was annoyed. She also wanted her tea. She threw a couple of logs into the fireplace and glared at them until they burst into flame out of sheer embarrassment
....Granny Weatherwax, who thought that female emancipation was a woman's complaint that shouldn't be discussed in front of men.
'Baths is unhygienic,' Granny declared. 'You know I've never agreed with baths. Sittin' around in your own dirt like that.'
'You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it is just a cage...'
Lords and Ladies
'Blessings be upon this house,' said Granny Weatherwax. In much the same tone of voice have people said, 'Eat hot lead, Kincaid.'
The first elf reached her, hauled her up by her shoulder, and got a doubled-handed, bony-knuckled punch in an area that Nanny Ogg would be surprised that Esme Weatherwax even knew about.
'.......you stupid man!'
'I do happen to be king, you know,' said Verence reproachfully.
'You stupid king, your majesty.'
'Thank you.'
Maskerade
Of course Granny Weatherwax made a great play of her independence and self-reliance. But the point about that kind of stuff was that you needed someone around to be proudly independent and self-reliant at. People who didn't need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn't need people.
Next thing it'd be cackling and gibbering and luring children into the oven. And it wasn't as if she even liked children.
'Shall I do madam's feet?' said the manicurist. She stared at Granny's boot and wondered if it might be necessary to use a hammer.
Carpe Jugulum
I've never caught her actually waiting for a dramatic moment, not in all the, well, things we've been involved in. I mean, if it was you or me, we'd been hanging around in the hall or something, but she just walks in and it's the right time.--Magrat
'Mistress Weatherwax, you are a natural disputant.'
'No I ain't.'
'Granny? But she is as moral as--'
'Oh, yes she is. But that's because she's got Granny Weatherwax glaring over her shoulder the whole time.'
Wyrd Sisters
"'Tis not right, a woman going into such places by herself," Granny nodded. She thoroughly approved of such sentiments so long as there was, of course, no suggestion that they applied to her.Witches are not by nature gregarious, at least with other witches, and they certainly don't have leaders. Granny Weatherwax was the most highly regarded of the leaders they didn't have.
She had never mastered the talent for apologizing, but she appreciated it in other people.
...there was possibly something complimentary in the way Granny Weatherwax resolutely refused to consider other people's problems. It implied that, in her considerable opinion, they were quite capable of sorting them out by themselves.
Witches Abroad
....Granny Weatherwax, who had walked nightly without fear in the bandit-haunted forests of the mountains all her life in the certain knowledge that the darkness held nothing more terrible than she was.
Granny Weatherwax disapproved of magic for domestic purposes, but she was annoyed. She also wanted her tea. She threw a couple of logs into the fireplace and glared at them until they burst into flame out of sheer embarrassment
....Granny Weatherwax, who thought that female emancipation was a woman's complaint that shouldn't be discussed in front of men.
'Baths is unhygienic,' Granny declared. 'You know I've never agreed with baths. Sittin' around in your own dirt like that.'
'You can't go around building a better world for people. Only people can build a better world for people. Otherwise it is just a cage...'
Lords and Ladies
'Blessings be upon this house,' said Granny Weatherwax. In much the same tone of voice have people said, 'Eat hot lead, Kincaid.'
The first elf reached her, hauled her up by her shoulder, and got a doubled-handed, bony-knuckled punch in an area that Nanny Ogg would be surprised that Esme Weatherwax even knew about.
'.......you stupid man!'
'I do happen to be king, you know,' said Verence reproachfully.
'You stupid king, your majesty.'
'Thank you.'
Maskerade
Of course Granny Weatherwax made a great play of her independence and self-reliance. But the point about that kind of stuff was that you needed someone around to be proudly independent and self-reliant at. People who didn't need people needed people around to know that they were the kind of people who didn't need people.
Next thing it'd be cackling and gibbering and luring children into the oven. And it wasn't as if she even liked children.
'Shall I do madam's feet?' said the manicurist. She stared at Granny's boot and wondered if it might be necessary to use a hammer.
Carpe Jugulum
I've never caught her actually waiting for a dramatic moment, not in all the, well, things we've been involved in. I mean, if it was you or me, we'd been hanging around in the hall or something, but she just walks in and it's the right time.--Magrat
'Mistress Weatherwax, you are a natural disputant.'
'No I ain't.'
'Granny? But she is as moral as--'
'Oh, yes she is. But that's because she's got Granny Weatherwax glaring over her shoulder the whole time.'
08 August 2005
Anne Holt
Allen and I had lunch on Saturday with Anne Holt. Anne was the original cranky old lady during our campus organizing days. She was an agitator for Graduate Student rights and pestered Student Government persistently until the COGS (Congress of Graduate Students) was established (my first bill in the Student Senate). She then went on pestering until COGS got a $250,000 budget written into our constitution.
Ten years later and she has not slowed down a bit. She moved in with her boyfriend some time ago (scandalous lives these senior citizens lead!), and is now writing western novels full time. She took a part-time job recently to pay for the last few hours of school, as she will be receiving her PhD in September. We are hoping to see her around more often. We had lunch at the Center at Adrians' cafe and she got a tour of the whole works. Anne met the director of the Civil Rights museum and they had a long discussion on the convict leasing program, then had another long talk with a judicial reform activist. Allen is trying to get her involved in grant writing for the Center, and hopefully she will have time. Anne has a lot going on for someone who must be in her late 60's by now.
www.ahholt.com
Ten years later and she has not slowed down a bit. She moved in with her boyfriend some time ago (scandalous lives these senior citizens lead!), and is now writing western novels full time. She took a part-time job recently to pay for the last few hours of school, as she will be receiving her PhD in September. We are hoping to see her around more often. We had lunch at the Center at Adrians' cafe and she got a tour of the whole works. Anne met the director of the Civil Rights museum and they had a long discussion on the convict leasing program, then had another long talk with a judicial reform activist. Allen is trying to get her involved in grant writing for the Center, and hopefully she will have time. Anne has a lot going on for someone who must be in her late 60's by now.
www.ahholt.com
10 July 2005
05 July 2005
25 June 2005
Early Memories-Arizona and Montana
For lack of anything interesting to post, I thought I'd put to use some old family photos I had scanned and reflect on some early memories.
I was born in Tucson, Arizona at Davis-Monthan AFB. I only have vague memories of Arizona, and they all pretty much look like this:
These were the hills across from our apartment, and on the back of the picture my Dad wrote that this was his first climb.
Here are my parents in 1968, shortly after their wedding and newly arrived in Tucson.
My Dad was an Air Force mechanic who had been training at Sheppard AFB when he met my mother at a Pioneer restaurant in Wichita Falls. She was a waitress there and also worked at a day care center.
They had not been married long before Dad went overseas to Korea and Vietnam, and he was largely absent until the time we moved to Montana. Mom spent a lot of time back at my grandfather's dairy ranch in Windthorst.
My grandfather retired and sold the old farmhouse in 1975, so my memories are only slightly less vague. It was built in 1913 by my great-grandfather, Lukas Zihlman, according to his own design. This house was quite possibly responsible for my interest in history, being a tangible link with a sense of place and family. It was home to three generations of our family, and I was one of the last children to grow up there.
Same as it ever was . . .
. . . same as it ever was!
My Dad was assigned to a rescue unit in Great Falls, Montana when I was four, and we stayed there for five years. Our first home was crummy looking trailer in Black Eagle. I remember very little about it. I considered all the other houses on the street to be mansions because they had two or three stories, but I now realize they were just typical frame-vernacular buildings. I can't find a picture of the actual trailer, but this picture was taken in the front yard after one of Dad's fishing trips.
I was born in Tucson, Arizona at Davis-Monthan AFB. I only have vague memories of Arizona, and they all pretty much look like this:
These were the hills across from our apartment, and on the back of the picture my Dad wrote that this was his first climb.
Here are my parents in 1968, shortly after their wedding and newly arrived in Tucson.
My Dad was an Air Force mechanic who had been training at Sheppard AFB when he met my mother at a Pioneer restaurant in Wichita Falls. She was a waitress there and also worked at a day care center.
They had not been married long before Dad went overseas to Korea and Vietnam, and he was largely absent until the time we moved to Montana. Mom spent a lot of time back at my grandfather's dairy ranch in Windthorst.
My grandfather retired and sold the old farmhouse in 1975, so my memories are only slightly less vague. It was built in 1913 by my great-grandfather, Lukas Zihlman, according to his own design. This house was quite possibly responsible for my interest in history, being a tangible link with a sense of place and family. It was home to three generations of our family, and I was one of the last children to grow up there.
Same as it ever was . . .
. . . same as it ever was!
My Dad was assigned to a rescue unit in Great Falls, Montana when I was four, and we stayed there for five years. Our first home was crummy looking trailer in Black Eagle. I remember very little about it. I considered all the other houses on the street to be mansions because they had two or three stories, but I now realize they were just typical frame-vernacular buildings. I can't find a picture of the actual trailer, but this picture was taken in the front yard after one of Dad's fishing trips.
To the right of us lived on old lady who bought coloured bread, and in all this time she is the only one I have ever heard of who did that. On the left was the entire Little Bear tribe, a group of thirty Indians crammed into a three story house. I was never allowed to associate with them because Dad suspected they stole his tool chest.
Later we moved to a better trailer at the Missouri Meadows Trailer Park, located right next to the Missouri River, so every year we were chased out by the flood. When I think of home in Montana, this is the place that comes to mind. Probably because we stayed put for two whole years, but also because this is where I started school and this is where I met my first friend. The friend was Robert Phelps, who was a Jehovah's Witness, so I developed an aversion to religion at an early age. The school was Mountain View Elementary, which I attended from kindergarten to 2nd grade. Mountain View was pretty modern for 1974, red-brick buildings, brightly coloured plastic chairs, and most importantly, a mountain view.
Ramblings to be continued at random
Ramblings to be continued at random
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