There are a lot of programs for kids to get involved in, and some of those require effort on the part of the student to pay for. These days program costs are substantial, and kids are sent out to solicit.
I watch the march of the children across parking lots, driveways, streets, homes and businesses, asking for money. The community only has so much and it’s often a struggle for a limited income family or small business to decide where or who to support.
In my experience, the Gray-New Gloucester community is generous and individually, most people want to contribute. We just can’t give to everyone, and that means choices, with some hopeful kid getting a yes and another getting a no. One fundraising effort I really like is the Family Nights at the High School- the fundraising kids set up an evening of monitored activities, parents leave off their children for a modest fee, so they can go out together or just have a few hours to themselves. A good time is had by all. Another fundraising activity I like are the car washes and bake sales: something tangible is offered and given which I believe helps the kids understand the effort that goes into trade, business, and producing a product or service. It’s also hard work, which never hurt anybody.
Another reason I like those kind of activities is that the fundraising benefits a large group. That’s often my standard for deciding whom to help. An entire sports lineup? Sure, I’ll advertise in the hockey book. The whole Odyssey of the Mind team? I’m there. Windham Center Stage Theatre, where every child who tries out gets a part? I’d give you my last dime.
The programs I have a problem with donating to are the ones that benefit one student. Much is being made of Jennifer Rubinstein’s “creativity” in sneaking a bunch of plastic flamingoes on lawns in dead of night and then taking them down for a fee, which raises money for her individual trip to Australia in the People to People Program. Plus, for an additional "insurance fee," she will promise not to do it to you again. The Tony Soprano School of Fundraising.
Trespassing, vandalism, and extortion are poor lessons to teach and worse examples to set. I’d rather my kids worked for a day in the sun cleaning cars. That’s a healthier lesson. Or go from business to business asking for a donation, they learn how hard it is to sell their product and they learn how to be respectful to business owners. I worry: have we become so inured to what’s right that we praise trespassing, vandalism, extortion, and avoidance of hard work? Right off the bat I’m turned off by Jennifer’s sneaky approach.
In the “People to People” program from what I understand, the kids are supposed to be little diplomats for their country, region, town, for two weeks in a host family’s home somewhere on the other side of the world; without a whole lot of bring-back to the community that sponsored the traveler. It costs $5,000. This sounds to me like Jennifer gets a very expensive vacation.
Between the trespassing onto private property and the extortion involved, and the fact that $5,000 of community-raised money benefits only one child, I say good luck to you little Jennifer, but I don’t think that the chosen fundraising method teaches anything valuable and in fact sets a poor example for others. Have a nice trip, but I’ll donate to where it benefits a wider range of children who are engaged in healthier activities that make me proud, not cringe.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
Magazines/Ephemera. Part 1
I love to scrounge. I love ephemera. When those two loves collide it’s grand.
The library has a bin for people to donate their magazines. I like to look through them for reading purposes and also cutting up for collages. One day there was a magazine I’d never heard of: “The Outsider,” a ‘publication of Intuit, the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.’ I picked up Architectural Digest, National Geographic (Volume 202! Did you know the Geo was that old? I didn’t) , and Nature Conservancy. Those are good for collages because there are a lot of photos.
Another magazine I’d never heard of was called “Southern Seasons.” Brand new at Volume 1, Number 1, it promised updates on the “Social Scene” and “The Spirit of the South.”
Just as unfamiliar to me was ‘onearth’ magazine, spelled that way in all small letters, but that one has been going for 27 years. The recent issue’s headline was “Exclusive: Can Arnold [Schwartzenegger] keep his cool?”
I also threw Smithsonian, Audubon, Blue Ridge Country into the collage pile. I’ll read Blue Ridge before cutting it up and mark nice places to visit. I’m only an hour from the mountains and I’m trying to familiarize myself with nice places to visit. When spring comes I’ll be motorin’.
Surprise! A Playboy was halfway down the pile. Which I thought was an unusual magazine to donate to a library.
I try to pick a variety of magazines for collage. I gravitate to the nature magazines but if I only pick those up then all my collages look the same. So I threw a Wired and Linux World into the mix. The magazines I picked up were worth $40 so you can see the issue of buying them for cutting up. Thanks magazine donors, they will be well used! Also in the pile was some pretty neat ephemera. More on that next post.
The library has a bin for people to donate their magazines. I like to look through them for reading purposes and also cutting up for collages. One day there was a magazine I’d never heard of: “The Outsider,” a ‘publication of Intuit, the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.’ I picked up Architectural Digest, National Geographic (Volume 202! Did you know the Geo was that old? I didn’t) , and Nature Conservancy. Those are good for collages because there are a lot of photos.
Another magazine I’d never heard of was called “Southern Seasons.” Brand new at Volume 1, Number 1, it promised updates on the “Social Scene” and “The Spirit of the South.”
Just as unfamiliar to me was ‘onearth’ magazine, spelled that way in all small letters, but that one has been going for 27 years. The recent issue’s headline was “Exclusive: Can Arnold [Schwartzenegger] keep his cool?”
I also threw Smithsonian, Audubon, Blue Ridge Country into the collage pile. I’ll read Blue Ridge before cutting it up and mark nice places to visit. I’m only an hour from the mountains and I’m trying to familiarize myself with nice places to visit. When spring comes I’ll be motorin’.
Surprise! A Playboy was halfway down the pile. Which I thought was an unusual magazine to donate to a library.
I try to pick a variety of magazines for collage. I gravitate to the nature magazines but if I only pick those up then all my collages look the same. So I threw a Wired and Linux World into the mix. The magazines I picked up were worth $40 so you can see the issue of buying them for cutting up. Thanks magazine donors, they will be well used! Also in the pile was some pretty neat ephemera. More on that next post.
Friday, November 24, 2006
Black Friday adventure
My friend Jen read online of Best Buy's super sale, Toshiba laptops for $250. Those particular laptops usually go for $600 to $1,000. Jen wanted to go shopping this morning, and I agreed to go with her. Skeptical of the long Black Friday lines I keep hearing so much about, I reluctantly agreed. I haven’t Christmas shopped in a store for over ten years, preferring to buy online and send the gifts automatically. But the $250 top-quality laptop was definitely a draw.
Jen thought that because we live in a small market that the lines probably would not be bad.
We stopped for coffee at 4:30 a tiny all night gas station. There were five customers, ALL headed to Best Buy. We laughed together, one guy, with gauge earrings in his ears, said his mom told him at midnight he had to go. Shaking his head, he goes, "'I told her Jeez, Ma, you couldn't have told me earlier??' I got 2 hours’ sleep." His friend was after the Toshiba laptop, too. We wished each other luck and later passed each other on the highway. He was a good son to do that for his mom.
I have never seen anything like it: a massive line around the store's perimeter, parking lot full, cops on standby, porta-potties lined up, and about 500 people milling around. Many had camped there overnight. One couple had been in line for 12 hours. 12 hours ago we were just sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.
Jen wanted to get in line and stay. The Best Buy employees were walking around announcing the Toshiba laptops and desktop computers were sold out (limited quantity, you had to get there early to get a ticket to have any hope at all) and once I heard that I lost interest. Jen wanted to stay and see what else they had for sale. I wasn’t enamored of fighting 500 people so I said let's go and Jen was OK with that.
As we wandered back to the car, we chatted with people in line. We saw the gauge earring guys, they were in line at the end. One guy we talked to in the middle of the line said that four years ago he arrived at 4:30 and was first, last year he got there at midnight and was at the back…this year he arrived a day ahead and camped out. “It’s getting earlier and earlier, he said.” The cops, one male and one female, were standing near the front of the line.
I asked the policeman (a big, tall strapping man in uniform and boots) “How long have they been lining up for?”
He stared down, scratched his chin. “Since Monday.”
“Really!?”
“Nah.” Cracking up, he said, “I dunno since when, ask the first guy in line.”
I asked, “Have there been fights?”
“Nah. Mostly we watch. And take bets on who’s gonna make it.”
We drove back. I was in bed again by 6:30...the only upside to my one-time Black Friday adventure were the 55 degree temps, the clear constellations revolving over the pasture, a bright Milky Way, and the bunny rabbits hopping around the yard when I got up at 4 a.m.. Come to think of it, not a bad tradeoff after all.
Did you do the Black Friday thing?
Jen thought that because we live in a small market that the lines probably would not be bad.
We stopped for coffee at 4:30 a tiny all night gas station. There were five customers, ALL headed to Best Buy. We laughed together, one guy, with gauge earrings in his ears, said his mom told him at midnight he had to go. Shaking his head, he goes, "'I told her Jeez, Ma, you couldn't have told me earlier??' I got 2 hours’ sleep." His friend was after the Toshiba laptop, too. We wished each other luck and later passed each other on the highway. He was a good son to do that for his mom.
I have never seen anything like it: a massive line around the store's perimeter, parking lot full, cops on standby, porta-potties lined up, and about 500 people milling around. Many had camped there overnight. One couple had been in line for 12 hours. 12 hours ago we were just sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner.
Jen wanted to get in line and stay. The Best Buy employees were walking around announcing the Toshiba laptops and desktop computers were sold out (limited quantity, you had to get there early to get a ticket to have any hope at all) and once I heard that I lost interest. Jen wanted to stay and see what else they had for sale. I wasn’t enamored of fighting 500 people so I said let's go and Jen was OK with that.
As we wandered back to the car, we chatted with people in line. We saw the gauge earring guys, they were in line at the end. One guy we talked to in the middle of the line said that four years ago he arrived at 4:30 and was first, last year he got there at midnight and was at the back…this year he arrived a day ahead and camped out. “It’s getting earlier and earlier, he said.” The cops, one male and one female, were standing near the front of the line.
I asked the policeman (a big, tall strapping man in uniform and boots) “How long have they been lining up for?”
He stared down, scratched his chin. “Since Monday.”
“Really!?”
“Nah.” Cracking up, he said, “I dunno since when, ask the first guy in line.”
I asked, “Have there been fights?”
“Nah. Mostly we watch. And take bets on who’s gonna make it.”
We drove back. I was in bed again by 6:30...the only upside to my one-time Black Friday adventure were the 55 degree temps, the clear constellations revolving over the pasture, a bright Milky Way, and the bunny rabbits hopping around the yard when I got up at 4 a.m.. Come to think of it, not a bad tradeoff after all.
Did you do the Black Friday thing?
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Yard art
Funny, mailboxes as yard art. They're outstanding in their field. har har.
I was driving home yesterday and I looked up a road I had not explored before. This house was a few feet in, and I saw the mailboxes with no obvious driveway to get to them. What?? I turned around for a better look. I realized they were art, and when I saw the diving doggies, I laughed and snapped this photo. Isn't it a cute array?
Monday, November 20, 2006
Country supper-City supper
I had a busy Sunday. I was invited to a church supper located on the country corner. I was also invited to a birthday party at one of the nicer Italian restaurants in the city. The church supper was at 5:30 and the birthday supper in the city was at 7. I decided to go to both.
Wanting to meet some of my near neighbors, I arrived at 5:30 to find the Fellowship Hall full to the brim. The church supper was held in the fellowship room of the local Baptist church, and tables were laden with country fare such as chicken barbecue, mac and cheese, jello, and lots of pies. There was the ever- famous Green Bean casserole too, for which I was inordinately grateful. Since watching about a billion commercials touting a steaming dish of it where the tree can't resist either and comes in to scoop some right through the window, I have been tasting it ever since, and now here it was! I could satisfy my craving, and the bonus was it was made with fresh local beans. I had a slice of turkey and some green bean casserole, sweet tea and jello.
The kids were running around the 70's linoleum floors, long folding banquet tables hosted folks of all ages. I sat near the gal who works on the farm where I live, she introduced me to her grandmother, a lovely and stately lady of local note. Dinner was friendly; mostly they tried to understand my soft voice over the echoing kids' chat and through my heavy New England accent. It was nice to meet my neighbors and I had a good time.
Beth was turning 40 and no shrinking violet she, invited 20 of her closest friends and reserved four tables at the fancy Italian restaurant. We ordered chardonnay, bruschetta, pasta with pesto, and the talk was also friendly, among folks who have known each other for many years but were welcoming to the newcomers (me). Beth, being the character that she is, decided to slice the cake and serve it while waiting for our appetizers. Cake first! I like this crowd.
Country or city, green bean casserole or pesto pasta, the food is good and the people are friendly and interesting. I'm thankful for nice people, invitations, and handshakes that mean it.
Wanting to meet some of my near neighbors, I arrived at 5:30 to find the Fellowship Hall full to the brim. The church supper was held in the fellowship room of the local Baptist church, and tables were laden with country fare such as chicken barbecue, mac and cheese, jello, and lots of pies. There was the ever- famous Green Bean casserole too, for which I was inordinately grateful. Since watching about a billion commercials touting a steaming dish of it where the tree can't resist either and comes in to scoop some right through the window, I have been tasting it ever since, and now here it was! I could satisfy my craving, and the bonus was it was made with fresh local beans. I had a slice of turkey and some green bean casserole, sweet tea and jello.
The kids were running around the 70's linoleum floors, long folding banquet tables hosted folks of all ages. I sat near the gal who works on the farm where I live, she introduced me to her grandmother, a lovely and stately lady of local note. Dinner was friendly; mostly they tried to understand my soft voice over the echoing kids' chat and through my heavy New England accent. It was nice to meet my neighbors and I had a good time.
Beth was turning 40 and no shrinking violet she, invited 20 of her closest friends and reserved four tables at the fancy Italian restaurant. We ordered chardonnay, bruschetta, pasta with pesto, and the talk was also friendly, among folks who have known each other for many years but were welcoming to the newcomers (me). Beth, being the character that she is, decided to slice the cake and serve it while waiting for our appetizers. Cake first! I like this crowd.
Country or city, green bean casserole or pesto pasta, the food is good and the people are friendly and interesting. I'm thankful for nice people, invitations, and handshakes that mean it.
Friday, November 17, 2006
Elizabeth’s Excellent Adventure
Having had a few weeks of exclusively rural life, settling in and making friends, learning where things are, yesterday I decided to make a foray into the city. I like to pot around, window shop, snack on some item that you can’t get in the country, like cappuccino, or quiche.
For so long I worked 18 hour days, worked 7 days a week, worked days and nights, waking and sleeping, that the thought of a matinee on a weekday was as remote as petting an Antarctic penguin. Now that I have time, I decided to be decadent and go. I downloaded Mapquest directions to the movie theater and armed with purpose and directions, I struck off.
It doesn’t take long to get from my apartment to the city, only half an hour. I parked on a street very much like any street in the Old Port in Portland, lined with small bars, restaurants, funky jewelry stores and art shops. Walking slowly up and down is a pleasure when it’s 55 degrees with a light breeze and strong sun. I ordered a green herbal tea and a quiche at a locally owned café, and sat down to read the latest edition of the alternative newspaper.
The gal who served me the quiche was absolutely stunning, a dead ringer for a cross between a nineteen year old Jacqueline Bouvier and National Velvet’s Elizabeth Taylor. The place was filled with a mixture of college kids and professors. Twenty-somethings at the next table discussed whether the girl should break up. A Chinese student hunched over his laptop. A bespeckled tweedy professor read over student papers. It was a nice atmosphere.
The movie theater had stadium seats and being the aforementioned decadent weekday matinee, only had about a dozen people in the audience. The movie was “Borat” and the dozen people, including me, laughed, gasped, and generally acted just like you see in the movie previews. It's a wild ride of a movie.
I know the decadence won’t last. My time is inexorably filling in. I’ll either pick up more part time jobs, like the one I have now as writer’s assistant, or I’ll find something full time. Soon enough, the idea of a weekday matinee will again become a far-flung exotic idea, remote as Tibet. But I’ll always have Borat.
For so long I worked 18 hour days, worked 7 days a week, worked days and nights, waking and sleeping, that the thought of a matinee on a weekday was as remote as petting an Antarctic penguin. Now that I have time, I decided to be decadent and go. I downloaded Mapquest directions to the movie theater and armed with purpose and directions, I struck off.
It doesn’t take long to get from my apartment to the city, only half an hour. I parked on a street very much like any street in the Old Port in Portland, lined with small bars, restaurants, funky jewelry stores and art shops. Walking slowly up and down is a pleasure when it’s 55 degrees with a light breeze and strong sun. I ordered a green herbal tea and a quiche at a locally owned café, and sat down to read the latest edition of the alternative newspaper.
The gal who served me the quiche was absolutely stunning, a dead ringer for a cross between a nineteen year old Jacqueline Bouvier and National Velvet’s Elizabeth Taylor. The place was filled with a mixture of college kids and professors. Twenty-somethings at the next table discussed whether the girl should break up. A Chinese student hunched over his laptop. A bespeckled tweedy professor read over student papers. It was a nice atmosphere.
The movie theater had stadium seats and being the aforementioned decadent weekday matinee, only had about a dozen people in the audience. The movie was “Borat” and the dozen people, including me, laughed, gasped, and generally acted just like you see in the movie previews. It's a wild ride of a movie.
I know the decadence won’t last. My time is inexorably filling in. I’ll either pick up more part time jobs, like the one I have now as writer’s assistant, or I’ll find something full time. Soon enough, the idea of a weekday matinee will again become a far-flung exotic idea, remote as Tibet. But I’ll always have Borat.
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Leaping joyfully
New lives aren’t hard to come by. They’re just scary to start.
I’ve been here six weeks now, and things are beginning to take shape. The first two of weeks were disorienting, because I only knew one couple. The geography, territory, culture, and routines were all foreign. Uprooting myself and propelling my worldly belongings to an entirely new place more than a thousand miles away was harrowing, but in a personal choice, ‘I asked for this’ kind of way.
But by now I’ve picked up two part time jobs. One of them is helping a published author. She is working on a new book so it is very exciting for me to see the New York publishing world from the inside. The rest of my free time I’m devoting to my art and my own writing, so I’m happy about that.
My social calendar is filling. Thursday I ended up at Huddle House for dinner with half a dozen people, Saturday, attend an art show and had dinner with friends, and Sunday, movies with other friends. We ran into a neighbor farmer and got an invitation to come over during lambing season. I cannot wait to see the baby lambs!
I’ve signed up for the Rec. Department’s calligraphy class. I developed my artist pages online with the Altered Book Society, of which I have become a member. I’m writing a regular column in the newspaper, and having my photos published too.
After six weeks, public things are starting to get familiar. The tellers say hello by name. I know about the hairdresser’s son the football player, who is in the playoffs this weekend. The bookstore lady and I chat over coffee. Private things are getting familiar too, my cat is relaxed enough to take naps on top of the bed instead of under the covers, the pony recognizes me and trots next to my car when I come up the driveway.
I love sayings, quips, proverbs. I think about them a lot when I read them or see them on a sign or billboard. There’s one that I particularly love. When facing something big, or deciding about a life change, remember, “Leap, and the net will appear.”
It really does.
I’ve been here six weeks now, and things are beginning to take shape. The first two of weeks were disorienting, because I only knew one couple. The geography, territory, culture, and routines were all foreign. Uprooting myself and propelling my worldly belongings to an entirely new place more than a thousand miles away was harrowing, but in a personal choice, ‘I asked for this’ kind of way.
But by now I’ve picked up two part time jobs. One of them is helping a published author. She is working on a new book so it is very exciting for me to see the New York publishing world from the inside. The rest of my free time I’m devoting to my art and my own writing, so I’m happy about that.
My social calendar is filling. Thursday I ended up at Huddle House for dinner with half a dozen people, Saturday, attend an art show and had dinner with friends, and Sunday, movies with other friends. We ran into a neighbor farmer and got an invitation to come over during lambing season. I cannot wait to see the baby lambs!
I’ve signed up for the Rec. Department’s calligraphy class. I developed my artist pages online with the Altered Book Society, of which I have become a member. I’m writing a regular column in the newspaper, and having my photos published too.
After six weeks, public things are starting to get familiar. The tellers say hello by name. I know about the hairdresser’s son the football player, who is in the playoffs this weekend. The bookstore lady and I chat over coffee. Private things are getting familiar too, my cat is relaxed enough to take naps on top of the bed instead of under the covers, the pony recognizes me and trots next to my car when I come up the driveway.
I love sayings, quips, proverbs. I think about them a lot when I read them or see them on a sign or billboard. There’s one that I particularly love. When facing something big, or deciding about a life change, remember, “Leap, and the net will appear.”
It really does.
Saturday, November 11, 2006
Congratulations Gray News
In April, when Ray Clark wrote in the Gray News “Some Gray News advertisers have received telephone calls suggesting that another newspaper has purchased The Gray News. There is no truth to this story. The Gray News has not been purchased, is not discussing being purchased and is not for sale,” I knew the opposite was true. I spoke with Gray News new owner Donato Corsetti in June, and he told me he had been negotiating with the Gray News, and it was going slow.
This week, Mr. Clark shared the results of that negotiation, and it seems the paper has been absorbed into the Windham business man’s chain of newspapers, along with the Windham Independent and New Gloucester News.
My goal was to found and build The Monument into something saleable within 5-6 years and then sell it to an independent company. The idea was to offer the people of the town of Gray some solid journalism and then berth the paper with a stable company.
Though it was always my goal to sell the paper, when the time came it was still a very hard and emotional moment. So to the Gray News Board of Directors: I can’t imagine the heartache surrounding your decision, and I extend deep compassion for you in your time of loss and new beginning, and congratulations, too.
Congratulations, Gray News, as well, you have a new life ahead of you. The people of the Town of Gray have a wealth of journalistic opportunity, two newspapers now adhering to the main tenet of journalism: citizens come first.
And to Mr. Corsetti, the Gray News’s new owner, from one savvy Italian to another, may the best paper win.
This week, Mr. Clark shared the results of that negotiation, and it seems the paper has been absorbed into the Windham business man’s chain of newspapers, along with the Windham Independent and New Gloucester News.
My goal was to found and build The Monument into something saleable within 5-6 years and then sell it to an independent company. The idea was to offer the people of the town of Gray some solid journalism and then berth the paper with a stable company.
Though it was always my goal to sell the paper, when the time came it was still a very hard and emotional moment. So to the Gray News Board of Directors: I can’t imagine the heartache surrounding your decision, and I extend deep compassion for you in your time of loss and new beginning, and congratulations, too.
Congratulations, Gray News, as well, you have a new life ahead of you. The people of the Town of Gray have a wealth of journalistic opportunity, two newspapers now adhering to the main tenet of journalism: citizens come first.
And to Mr. Corsetti, the Gray News’s new owner, from one savvy Italian to another, may the best paper win.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Politely running from the tornado
Politeness reins here. Saying hello and goodbye, waving to the other lone car on the road, calling people ma’am and sir, Miss and Mr. I'm 'Miss Beth.' I like it. There is usually some truth to stereotypes, and Northerners’ chilliness and Southern hospitality do have more than their grains of accuracy, I am discovering.
I’ve been extolling the virtues of southern weather. This morning I awoke to a bit of frost on the ground, yet I’d slept without the heat on and my window half open all night and the inside temp was still 64. It’ll be astoundingly beautiful here until May and then it will be hot hot hot. And humid.
But the area suffers from its share of severe weather too. In Maine we get snow, nor-easters, blizzards. In Georgia we get hurricanes. Being next to Florida and the undulating petrie dish of hurricane spawning weather known as the Gulf, by the time it reaches us, the storm has become pounding rains, extremely high winds, and often, tornadoes.
Apparently, there was a pretty bad one spawned by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 that touched down in town. The Librarian gave a talk this week to the Rotary about the improvements to the facility, partly initiated because of the damage the Ivan-tornado had done.
The funny part of her anecdote is that the 11 patrons and staff inside the building all followed the tornado plan to the letter. More than the letter. Since the bathrooms were the most interior rooms, they knew to rush there. But they did make sure that the men went into the men’s room and women went to the women’s. No one wanted to be caught in the wrong room.
Politeness during a tornado. Now that’s strength of character.
I’ve been extolling the virtues of southern weather. This morning I awoke to a bit of frost on the ground, yet I’d slept without the heat on and my window half open all night and the inside temp was still 64. It’ll be astoundingly beautiful here until May and then it will be hot hot hot. And humid.
But the area suffers from its share of severe weather too. In Maine we get snow, nor-easters, blizzards. In Georgia we get hurricanes. Being next to Florida and the undulating petrie dish of hurricane spawning weather known as the Gulf, by the time it reaches us, the storm has become pounding rains, extremely high winds, and often, tornadoes.
Apparently, there was a pretty bad one spawned by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 that touched down in town. The Librarian gave a talk this week to the Rotary about the improvements to the facility, partly initiated because of the damage the Ivan-tornado had done.
The funny part of her anecdote is that the 11 patrons and staff inside the building all followed the tornado plan to the letter. More than the letter. Since the bathrooms were the most interior rooms, they knew to rush there. But they did make sure that the men went into the men’s room and women went to the women’s. No one wanted to be caught in the wrong room.
Politeness during a tornado. Now that’s strength of character.
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Voting day!
I wish I was there to vote YES to the Gray charter referendum which, if passed, will allow voters to vote on the town budget at the polls, like we do on the school budget.
I had forgotten how much there is to learn when you move to a new town. I’ve had just a few weeks to get up to speed on the election issues, the candidates, even where the polling place is. And there are a lot of candidates, with a different system of government than the council-charter-manager system I had become so very familiar with in Gray.
My car is getting an alternator today but when I pick it up this afternoon then I will go vote. Carless, yesterday I spent the day at home, doing art, reading, watching my beloved satellite TV. As much as a tv fan as I am I have become opposite feeling about ads. The Discovery Channel and Hallmark Channel seem to have even more than their share of ads, and that’s saying a lot. Monday night, watching Discovery’s “The Fight for Rome” Caesar’d be gearing up for the big fight with Pompey and then there’d be a Depends commercial. Sort of breaks the momentum, if you ask me.
They should make an ad like this:
“Did the Ionic Breeze blow the hair off your Chia Pet? Call Joe Bornstein.”
I had forgotten how much there is to learn when you move to a new town. I’ve had just a few weeks to get up to speed on the election issues, the candidates, even where the polling place is. And there are a lot of candidates, with a different system of government than the council-charter-manager system I had become so very familiar with in Gray.
My car is getting an alternator today but when I pick it up this afternoon then I will go vote. Carless, yesterday I spent the day at home, doing art, reading, watching my beloved satellite TV. As much as a tv fan as I am I have become opposite feeling about ads. The Discovery Channel and Hallmark Channel seem to have even more than their share of ads, and that’s saying a lot. Monday night, watching Discovery’s “The Fight for Rome” Caesar’d be gearing up for the big fight with Pompey and then there’d be a Depends commercial. Sort of breaks the momentum, if you ask me.
They should make an ad like this:
“Did the Ionic Breeze blow the hair off your Chia Pet? Call Joe Bornstein.”
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