POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

Flash! Post racial “healer” has little effect on race relations in US.

Or, to be more accurate, little effect on the expectation that race realtions will improve. But how can that be!  It might have something to do with his handling of L'affair Gates/Crowley, but the beer summit was supposd to have swept that under the rug.  Perhaps it is rooted in the chorus of RAAAAAAAACIST!  accusations gratuitously coming from the usual race peddlers and directed at any who oppose his legislative agenda is a factor; or maybe General Holder calling us a nation of cowards for not incessantly engaging in conversations about it-even though we are supposed to be a "color blind" society.  Who knows, but it's safe to say that just like many of the other expectations surrounding Obama's election, are just not panning out.  Seems to me to be a harbinger of increasing buyers remorse...

I'll bet the sea levels won't recede either!

Rocketman

Sue, The Grouper – World’s First Grouper Cam

Our brother Tim is all about "not quite right" - and this proves it. See St. Paul Fish Company's Grouper, Sue, live in action here: Grouper Cam - Sue the Grouper at St. Paul Fish Company.

While Tim's business is all about wholesaling and retailing the freshest seafood on the planet, and certainly in Milwaukee, WI, his love is web technology... but his approach is more futuristic than most - peering into the future of web as it relates to business, Tim is convinced the value is in voyeurism - that is, live feed cameras - that allow website visitors to window shop from home.

I tend to agree. Other than posting directions, menus, phone numbers, pricing, newbies want to see for themselves.

Very cool - oh, and btw, Sue is getting her own Facebook account in the near future. What other Grouper deserves such accolades? None.

A cool review of St. Paul Fish Company from OnMilwaukee.com

Enoch_Root

AKA. Bobby Donn Brubaker (the most popular man in Mesa, AZ), the Umbrella of Terror, Jack Ketch.

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Star-Spangled Hate

Once again, a few recent news stories caught my eye because of what they had in common (sadly, this time it isn't boobs).

First, there is this story---the one about the gym owner in Marblehead, MA who decided to hang a large American flag from the rafters, offending some customers.

From about a week and a half ago comes another "the flag is offensive" story from Oregon, brought to you by the apartment managers who told their residents to rid themselves of any flying of the red, white and blue or face eviction. Because, you know, it might offend a "diverse community".

There is also the big DNC video contest story that's being debated on every news program at the moment.

This is something that's been bothering me for a long time, as an actual question. Why is it so "cool" to hate the American flag? Seriously. What is so offensive and disgusting and controversial about this particular symbol of our country, especially to people of my generation?

I'm not talking about flag-feelings around the time of Vietnam, I'm not asking why everyone isn't equally patriotic. I'm aware you can be patriotic without displaying the flag. I am simply wondering why the mere sight of the Star Spangled Banner seems to cause such vomitous emotions from some when placed in a gym, an apartment window, or on your car. And I'm wondering why it seems to go so in and out of style.

I remember the days and months immediately following 9/11. The flag was everywhere. Where it had been absent before, it suddenly sprouted in triplicate. United We Stand.  Never Forget. Sales skyrocketed. Every single retailer had their own version of flag paraphernalia. Cars often sported two or three bumper stickers in addition to one of these. Four days after 9/11, I embarked on a nationwide tour with San Francisco Opera, traveling to and performing a full production in about 40 cities, big and small. After starting on the west coast and working our way east, we finally rolled into the New York City area in late October, 2001. At the time I was a resident of San Francisco and hadn't visited NYC for about a year. I was utterly blown away by the new demeanor on the street. It felt completely different. Everyone was watching out for each other. And the FLAGS! I remember walking around East Harlem and looking up at a massive apartment building, every single window showing some form of star-spangledness. It was unbelievable.

So, I guess all of that flag love wore off around 2003, right? When G.W. Bush went from Hero to Satan and we were (along with Michelle Obama) no longer proud of our country? Is that when it was? I wish there had been a memo or something. Or a Flag-Awareness Level. I just remember that's when all the anti-war, anti-US sentiments were beginning to really heat up, but maybe it was just because I was in San Francisco? I wouldn't have been able to tell you if the building in Spanish Harlem was still proudly bearing its flags.

Fast forward to 2007. I was working for a well-known summer opera festival in Cooperstown, NY. The chorus members for the five productions were made up of Resident Artists (professional singers) and semi-pro local singers, mostly affectionately nicknamed "Townies." One of the local chorus members was a handsome, clean-cut guy around 22. He had been participating in the Townie Chorus for a few years, was really good, and super nice. He worked several blue-collar jobs to keep himself in a modest state school, where he was studying to be a singer. I noticed after a few rehearsals, some of the pro singers (many of whom were my close friends and colleagues) started snickering about this guy. "Have you seen his TRUCK? Ohmagaw how RIDICULOUS! I'm so EMBARRASSED for him! What a hick." This young man drove a giant white Chevy Silverado, and it was tricked out. I mean, it was the ultimate expression of American Patriotism. There was a giant, I don't know, decal? of some kind along the whole back window of a bald eagle flying through billowing waves of Old Glory. He had tiny blue and red lights around the entire (sorry, I don't know how to properly describe the vocab of vehicle pimpage) perimeter/base of the truck. There were multiple flag/support the troops stickers, 9/11 yellow ribbons, and his plates were framed with prideful American statements. I was pretty damn impressed by this dude's truck. Sure, it's not something I'd do to my car, but that's just me. I still thought it was awesome. Sometimes I'd notice him getting into his truck after rehearsal, trying to get away quickly, and looking uncharacteristically upset. He knew the "city" kids were making fun of him. He had also heard people make fun of it when they didn't know who it belonged to. I felt so terrible for him, and embarrassed by my asshole friends. I remember finding him one day specifically to tell him how incredible I thought his truck was. I told him, kind of in code, that I was one of whatever he was, and he was far braver than any of us. He proceeded to tearfully tell me his older brother had died serving in Iraq a few years ago, and that had been his brother's beloved truck. He decorated it in his memory, did every single thing with love, and in the only way he knew how. I think about all the bratty, snotty, ungrateful city singers who never knew that sweet guy's story. They just loved making fun of his silly flags. So offensive, you know. Only hicks like dumb things like American flags. Meanwhile, people in a gym in Marblehead, Mass. are complaining about that offensive symbol. People, in a gym, sweating upon the very ground where "unsurpassed contributions to the American Revolution and Civil War" were made.

Dahlhalla

Dahlhalla is a professional troublemaker and classical musician living in New York City. Schooled in Seattle (with Liz Mair), and college-d in San Francisco (where she played with the Grateful Dead once, no joke). She truly lives the plots of several telenovellas on a daily basis. Yeah. Just ask any anonymous blogger you know. Currently dating her way through the former Bush Administration, Dahlhalla is gathering enough material to hopefully post more than once every other month. But until then…OMG SHOES.

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Coyote Ugly

So, I read this. Then I read it again. I keep reading it. There's so much to say about it, I don't even know what to say about it.

First, it's awful. I sincerely feel bad for the girl and her family. No one wants death by coyote. I'm not even joking, I'm being perfectly serious. What happened was horrible.

Before I get going, I want to say that the coyote did not "mistake her for a deer." I've spent a lot of time hunting wishing for a way to be "mistaken for a deer" or "mistaken for an elk." Coyotes have a pretty awesome sense of smell. People do not smell like deer.  People smell like people.

So...what is the lesson here? To not walk alone in coyote-infested forests? Blame Canada?

I think one lesson is about appearing weak. I like this one because it works not just with coyotes, but with other animals, men, and babies. I used to sell beer, which is a male-dominated industry, and from the very beginning I knew I had to demand respect. Appearing weak or waif-like would just get me trampled on. Sure, people thought I was a bitch at first, but once they knew I was a competent bitch, we could develop a rapport and I didn't have to be such a hardass and we ended up liking each other for the most part.  This may sound ridiculous but that's really how it went down. I got to watch my replacement in action and she fell back on the "I'm a silly girl, but I'm so cute, gotta love me" routine. That worked for about...two seconds. Then all the men thought she was, well, a silly girl and treated her accordingly. So then she flipped and tried to bring out the bitch routine and all that accomplished is now everyone thinks she's a silly bitch. You can start a bitch and then use your feminine wiles, but not the other way around. Machiavellian business lessons learned from coyotes.

Though I should note that feminine wiles don't work on coyotes.

The other lesson is about wildlife management. Before I tackled this topic, I wanted my dad's opinion. He was a lot calmer about the whole story than I was. I said, "It's just hard for me to imagine. All the coyotes I see are running away from me." He simply said, "That's because here, they'd get shot. There, no one can shoot them and they know it." This is a pretty common theme and you see it with protected predators everywhere: cougars in California (mountain lions, not older women), grizzlies in Montana, wolves in Wyoming, criminals in New York...

I'm just kidding about that last one. Kind of.

Falahime

Falahime Blah blah blah, Wyoming, blah blah, massage therapist, details cars, used to sell beer, blah blah, hunts big game. That’s about all there is to me; I’m pretty simple.

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