What's That You Say, Mrs. Robinson?

What have you done for the good of the group today?

Stardate March 17, 2020

Captain's Log:    COVID-19 Shelter-In-Place Day 1

I've always wanted to do that. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash

Information and insights into the virus itself is available everywhere. I don't need to document that here as well. Google it (this is a note to my future self more than anything).

Waking up this morning in a bizzarro world. The entire Bay Area is in a shelter in place situation. How people react to this new reality is a social experiment providing insights into ourselves and each other if we pay attention. 

I'm paying attention. 

Leading up to this we've seen a hoarding and stockpiling mentality that is a bit troublesome. It highlights those who center around fear. The "OMG if I don't have massive amounts of this thing I'm not going to be able to get it later and I might die" kind of fear. I'm not making fun of people who think and feel this way. I'm observing it and if any judgement is rendered it is one of sadness. I'm sorry you feel that. I'm sorry that for some reason you are so afraid and have so little faith in your neighbors, community, and society that you think you will be alone and unable to survive. 

That is not the world I want to live in. And it's a world that I refuse to live in. If, in fact, this turns out to be the apocalypse and people with guns come bursting through the door to steal what I have and I don't survive, then so be it. You can have that world. Adios. I've seen this mentality pop up in memes recently and it doesn't scare me. It truly breaks my heart.

The opposite reactions are also happening and thankfully, they are the more abundant right now. Or maybe the people I have chosen to connect with as my community are inherently more compassion oriented. The Ubuntu people. 

I am, because we are.

I see people offering to help each other. Our realtor up in Washington has put out repeated offers to run errands, do grocery shopping and deliver to people who can't get out to do things like that. Another friend has offered free coaching sessions, using her incredible talents to help people work through how to manage. A local therapist offering the services of her group of counselors, at little or no cost, to help people who need professional mental health assistance and bins of food in the waiting room if you need that kind of help also. Neighbors asking each other as we pass by on our walks "How are you doing? Do you need anything?"

The father of a dear friend of ours used to ask his family and friends each day "What have you done for the good of the group today?" Let me repeat that:

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR THE GOOD OF THE GROUP TODAY?"

Define "group" however you like. Your household. Your extended family. Your neighborhood. Your town. Your co-workers. Your country. Your world.

Now, more than ever, asking this question and seeking to answer it in meaningful ways is critical to our ability thrive. The what you've done may be big, it may be small. And I'll offer this: doing things for other people out of the kindness of your heart is good for YOU. There is all kinds of science that shows that doing things for other people increases our own happiness and sense of well-being. I've experienced this first hand when I've felt particularly sad and blue. One tiny little gesture of kindness toward another really does lift your spirits. 

This is the world I choose to live in. The one I choose to create. 

Won't you be my neighbor?

 

 

The Coke Ad and Why I Love the USA

Outraged by the Coke ad during the Superbowl?

You bet I was. Not because of the ad itself but because of the reaction it got.

It showed the US and Americans from coast to coast, border to border. It very accurately depicted people of all colors, religions, and cultures singing America the Beautiful in several different languages. That IS America.

What shocked me was the immediate reaction it got. "What? That's not America!" and "What's with all of the different languages, we speak English here" and even "That's bullshit."

Have we completely forgotten why and how the US was formed? Have we completely abandoned all of the principals on which this nation was founded?

From the poem by Emma Lazarus which adorns our beloved Statue of Liberty:

"From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

"Glows world-wide welcome" doesn't mean "Come on over but only if you speak English or plan to learn it right away. Oh and by the way, you have to stop doing all of those things that remind you of where you came from. Stop speaking your language and stop wearing clothing that represents other countries or religions.  No more quinceanaras or Chinese New Year celebrations. Unless you want to have a St. Patrick's Day parade. That's OK because it is based on white, Christian, English speaking traditions."

The poem was written in 1883, well after our country was founded, but it exemplifies the spirit of the day. Why do we think that it should be different today? What are we so afraid of?

There is, of course an economic impact of immigration, legal or otherwise. But that's not what sparked the reaction to the ad. The reactions were based on what people heard and saw in the moment. Why does an America with many cultures, colors, languages, sexual orientation and religions frighten people so?

And let's be clear. Negative reactions to differences are based in fear. Fear of what is not understood. Fear that if you are different it must mean you are automatically either better or worse than the other.

Nobody is better or worse than anyone else based on culture, color etc. It is our actions that differentiate us from one another. Period.

I, for one, loved the ad. It made me proud to be an American. It made me visualize how diverse and eclectic and culturally rich we are.

It reminded me of the Coke ad from the '70's that sang about "I'd like to buy the world a Coke" only it showed that you don't even have to tavel outside of the US to "buy the world a Coke" because the world is right here. THIS is the America that I want to live in and that I'm glad that my children have grown up in and that I want my grandchildren to enjoy and be proud of. This nation that holds so much wealth of diversity is exactly why I'm proud to say that I'm an American and damn it, I loved that ad.

Non-campaign speeches

Thanks to my husband for the links, these are must watch videos! A nice break during the campaign...They are both very funny (IMHO).

via videosift.com

Talking out of both sides of their arse...

With all due respect, I know that Democrats do this too sometimes...but this is current and either VERY funny or VERY scary, depending on how you look at it.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/J8uGenNjOAI&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/J8uGenNjOAI&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Why we love Tim McGraw

This is probably one of the most blogged about videos right now, especially with the female blogosphere, but I'm going to do it anyway...Props to momlogic for posting it...

If you haven't seen it yet, apparently at a recent concert, Tim McGraw saw an overly aggressive male fan attacked a female fan in the audience near the stage. He calls for security, but then he and his stage hands reach down into the audience to pluck the dude out of the audience. He was handed over to the police shortly thereafter. Nicely done, Tim. Can I get a yeehaaaww! Oh, and he's pretty cute, too.

Gas Prices. WTF?

  Gas Prices. WTF? 
  Originally uploaded by kristiewells

I had to share this when I saw it on Kristie Wells' flickr stream. It made me laugh through the tears.

Now, I don't want to hear any comments from Twinga, my German friend who reminds me how much they are paying for gas there whenever I get to belly aching about US gas prices.

Just let us wallow in our pain. Everything is relative, my dear, and these prices are relatively GINORMOUS.

When I bought my Jetta 7 years ago, I could pretty much fill it up with $20. The last time I filled up it was $53! Premium gas is going for about $4.50 at my local gas station.

I think I'll start taking the train when my son's school year is over and I don't have to drive him to school in the morning.

Sheesh.

Getting Ready for Oscar

I find myself with a lot time on my hands this weekend.

Husband is in Washington this week visiting his family and going to a conference, so I'm single-mom'in it. There is a big storm headed our way, so I ran out to Blockbuster this morning and rented Michael Clayton, American Gangster and Hairspray. Earlier this week I took the boys to see Juno and a I watched The Hours last night (for about the 4th time). I could hibernate and watch movies for days.

I loved Juno by the way. Cute, quirky, insightful. Ellen Page ROCKS! I'd love to hang out with her. And boy did Jason Bateman grow up nicely. I remember him when he was a young heart throb, although I never thought he was very cute then.

I think I'll do some scrapbooking this weekend also. Maybe I'll post some photos of my pages.

I know you'll be anxiously awaiting those!

Bobblehead bouncing from the earthquake just now!

  Bobblehead bouncing from the earthquake just now! 
  Originally uploaded by orangeexposure

You may or may not have heard by now. We had a minor quake in the Bay Area this fine Tuesday evening. The night before Halloween. I was finishing up cooking dinner for the kids. My son was on the couch watching the Warrior's home opener and boom!

It was his first quake (in 16 years, can you believe it?). Well, the first one he has actually felt anyway. He said, "Oh! Earthquake" and I wasn't sure but then I looked at my wine glass, next to the wine bottle and all of the California vino was sloshing at the same time in the same way, so sure enough!

Thank goodness it was just a wee one.

We already HAVE $3 gas!!!

This is the lead-in to a story on CNN Money today:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- With oil prices setting records over $90 a barrel and $100 looking ever more likely, experts say there's a good chance drivers will see $3 gasoline before the end of the year.

Ya know what REALLY sucks about this story? Here in California (most of it, anyway), we haven't had anything BUT $3 gas for almost a year now! The headline for this story confused me at first because it was telling me that something that I already had would be here soon. Then I realized, Ah, yes, they are talking to the rest of the country who has had $2 something gas all along. Joke's on me.

What this translates into is most likely that here in sunny California (ok, don't hate us, it is 70+ degrees and sunny here right now) we will be faced with $4 gas! AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! And all of this as we bring 2 new drivers into the family. Son #1 is already wishing we had bought him a geeky Hybrid instead of the cool Jeep he got. He said to me just the other day, "Mom, gas just isn't affordable!" He's right. Especially since he also just got a girlfriend (CHA CHING!). Son #2 only has **gasp** 1 more year before he is eligible to get his driver's permit.

How do people who have to drive 1/2 hour to get to  minimum wage jobs afford gas? Pretty soon, the price of gas will surpass what these poor folks (I mean that literally and figuratively) make in an hour! Don't laugh. IT COULD HAPPEN!

Thanks, George

I hate to sound ornery at a time like this (the SoCal fires), but I thought that some the reactions (as posted on a SD area blog) to the announcement that W is coming to SoCal in a couple of days were so telling of our current political state:

• Ugh! Like he is going to do anything productive? Maybe he'll fly a banner up in the skies proclaiming "Mission Accomplished".

• After 9/11 and Katrina, he is completing the tri-fecta.

• Maybe George can show the potential evacuees how to use a mountain bike to escape on-coming fires.

• maybe liberals would stop bashing bush if he did something worth noting that wasn't idiotic or corrupt.

Some folks made an interesting point that "us liberals" would be just as pissed if he said he wasn't coming. Not sure that's true, but other than drawing national attention to the crisis, what good does it do? It's not like seeing what has happened first hand will make him do anything different about it. Why take up the resources?

Emergency needs for fire victims

I have a dear friend who has been evacuated (along with her husband, 2 children and a dog) from her home in Chula Vista because of the Harris fire. I have been keeping close tabs on what can be done for all of the people who are currently displaced by the fire. There is a great blog called San Diego County Fires 2007 that is keeping people posted with all kinds of information.

If you would like to help out right now, here is an idea:

Donations of toiletries, food and bedding are needed to help fire evacuees.

Those wishing to help can drop these items at the Community Resource Center, 650 Second St. in Encinitas from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Most needed items are: toothpaste, toothbrushes and mouthwash; non-perishable food, such as canned goods, breakfast bars, juice boxes and bottled water; blankets, towels and pillows.

For information, call: (760) 753-1156.

The address again is:

Community Resource Center
650 Second St.,
Encinitas, CA 92024

If you are in the area, you can just drop stuff by. I am going to my local discount store today to get a bunch of stuff, pack it up in a box and send it ASAP. I know I can do this because of my dear friend Grace to did this on a massive scale with Hurricane Katrina victims.

Does it matter?

With all of the hubub around J.K. Rowling's confirmation/announcement that Dumbledore is in fact gay, I find myself wondering why Dumbledore must have a sexual orientation? Is it an important part of his character's development? I don't think so since most people, including me, never really felt a need to wonder who he had been shacking up with all of these years.

Or did you? What do you think? I'm really curious...and wondering why (other than for publicity purposes) Ms. Rowling felt compelled to give Dumbledore a sexual identity that would cause a stir.

I have to admit that when I first heard the news, my reaction was "Oh. COOL! I never knew. Did I miss some signs somewhere? Should I go back and watch the movies over again looking for the clues?"

And that's when it hit me that this is probably just a publicity stunt. And then I couldn't help but feel that this is just an exploitation of the gay community. But who am I to say. I wonder what the gay community is saying about this.

As I read some of the reports, what is being said are things like this:

"By dubbing someone so respected, so talented and so kind, as someone who just happens to be also homosexual, she's reinforcing the idea that a person's gayness is not something of which they should be ashamed." - Melissa Anelli, Webmaster of the fan site http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org

What do you think?

What's wrong with us?

My 14 year old chuckled last night as he came across a website where he could order a t-shirt that said "I'm already smarter than George Bush" or "If you can read this, you are not The President." He thinks that this kind of humor is especially funny, and while I'm proud that he considers things likee knowing who our President and Vice President are and how to locate Iraq, England and Australia (among others) on a map ask basic knowledge for a 14 year old, I am equally as devastated when I see things like this:

Good lord. This girl couldn't find Europe on a map if her life depended on it. Now, I know, Miss USA is not an intelligence test, but I thought that by now they would at least have certain standards on IQ. Alas, no. They don't. I'm embarrassed as an American, a woman and a parent that we let people like this out in the world. I'm sure she is a very nice young woman. But really....good lord.

Props to The Evil HR Lady for this one. Thanks. I think.

Once again, we are more alike than different

Yet another data point to prove that people all over the world are more alike than different, even especially kids:

"ABUJA, Nigeria - Nigerian schoolchildren who received laptops from a U.S. aid organization have used them to explore pornographic sites on the Internet, the official News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported Thursday.

NAN said its reporter had seen pornographic images stored on several of the children’s laptops.

“Efforts to promote learning with laptops in a primary school in Abuja have gone awry as the pupils freely browse adult sites with explicit sexual materials,” NAN said.

A representative of the One Laptop Per Child aid group was quoted as saying that the computers, part of a pilot scheme, would now be fitted with filters."

SHHHHHHHH

Click Here

Sameness

It has been troubling me, recently that there is so much divisiveness in the world. We fight over differences in religious beliefs and political ideologies; we hate and fear each other because of differences in race, class, sexual orientation, and culture; we isolate ourselves into pockets of perceived sameness.

STOP IT!

Now, I'm not a world traveler. I have only ever been outside of the US once (and that was to Tijuana, so that doesn't even really count). But what I see in people is that we are all SOOOOOO much the same. We want to live in a safe environment, we want to be connected to our communities (however that may be defined), we want our children to live happy and productive lives, we want to eat, sleep and go about our day to day lives with a sense of health and security and meaning. Some want to have the ability (freedom) to believe and worship in our own way, and the others want to be able to not believe and not worship in peace. We don't want to live in fear.

We all need to eat. We all need to shit. We are not that all that different.

Today, a colleague and friend of mine pointed me to a short video that brilliantly illustrates this very fact. It is from the perspective of women, but it is clear that it can be applied across the genders. Please watch it and see what you think. I personally think that so many of our world's problems could be solved if we could all just get a handle on how ALIKE we all are. Maybe my being born in the summer of love (1967) gives me a propensity towards hippyness and thinking of the like.

So sue me.

There are people somewhere (everywhere) all over the world who love their children unconditionally, who desire to provide a good, safe, healthy life for their families, who enjoy dancing and eating, who love having a warm and comfortable place to sleep at night, who enjoy shopping for fresh vegetables at a market, who can't wait to have a few moments to read something of interest, who cry when a loved one passes, and who want to make the world a better place. And those people look, sound and live very differently than I do. They eat different food and dress differently. But really, they are the same as I.

They are just like you, too.

Cocktails to Fight Cancer!

This is it.

The news I've been waiting for

All of those Mai Tai's and other fruity cocktails are going to keep me from an early grave. According to a recent article in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, the ethanol found in rum, vodka and tequila (among other spirits) has been found to enhance the effectiveness of the cancer and heart disease fighting antioxidant nutrients found in fruits such as strawberries and blueberries. Read more about it here.

So let the strawberry margaritas flow, baby!

There is a God.

Thank God

For this.

Now it's time for Phil to go.

The New Chicken Little

I'm so way behind on my Idol viewing...I went to dinner last night with a business contact and tonight I'm hosting my book group, so I haven't watched the American Idol performances, and by the time book group is done, I'll have to race through TiVo to watch them before I can watch the results show (also TiVo'd).

Now, America, PLEASE don't put me through another week of torture by putting Sanjaya through to next week. It was bad enough that you prolonged my agony with Chicken Little last year!

Don't make me cry...again....

And if you comment...don't spoil it for me! I may not know who got kicked off yet!

This one's for you, Bud!

Larry "Bud" Melman passed recently. If you are 40ish, you'll remember Bud from the David Letterman spots where he did wacky things. I specifically remember him handing out hot, moist towels in the bus station at the Port Authority of NY to the weary commuters and singing "I Got You Babe" with Sonny Bono. He had such an innocence about him and was such a good sport. And let's face it, when you are PLOWED in college, watching the Letterman Show just BEFORE you actually go out for the evening (at 11:00pm), there is just nothing better than watching the exploits of Larry "Bud" Melman. Although I haven't seen his escapades in quite a many years, I still morn his passing.

Larry, I salute you. You brought me joy and laughter, and really, what better compliment can you give a guy?

Check this out!