Welcome to Dr. Ni's Notes & Nibbles--11, a gathering place of news, notes, words and wisdom bulldozing its way into your workday.
The Fairmount Arts Council is once again holding the Fairmount Arts Crawl on Sunday, April 27th from 2 to 6pm. Rev. Massey and I will be performing our work promptly at 2 p.m. at the Poetry Corner this year.
Rain venue: The London next door: 23rd & Fairmount
The Fairmount Arts Crawl is a community open house – where the entire Fairmount district becomes a showplace for local art and music, displayed and performed on the streets and in restaurants, bars, cafes, and other local businesses--all with an open door policy for the day.
The Arts Crawl is a day of indoor window shopping -- your chance to hear quality local music, to see local poets reading their work, and to appreciate the art that is being made in our neighborhood every day – all the while getting to know the businesses that encourage the arts in our neighborhood.
There is no entrance fee for the Arts Crawl and there's plenty of parking in the neighborhood – So come over and spend the day in the friendliest and most beautiful neighborhood in Philadelphia.
For more information:
Sandi Pierantozzi
Neighborhood Potters
2034 Fairmount Avenue
studio: 215-763-8439
home: 215-763-8439
www.neighborhoodpotters.com
Don't miss my good friend and sci-fi author par excellance Greg Frost:
On Friday April 25th, Philadelphia Fantastic will present author Gregory Frost reading from and signing copies of his latest novel, SHADOWBRIDGE (Del Rey Books).
What the critics are saying: Publisher's Weekly calls it "a sparkling gem of mythic invention and wonder." Booklist in a starred review says, "Leodora's journey is filled with the brilliant details of Frost's masterful world building." In Locus Magazine, Gary K. Wolfe sums it up: "For all its painterly beauty, Shadowbridge is a tough-minded novel that confronts some disturbing issues...Frost could be on his way toward a masterpiece." And Jay Tomio at Fantasy Bookspot says it's "one of the best reads of the year and this is just the beginning." What he means is, the second half of the story, LORD TOPHET, will debut in July.
Come find out what they're all raving about.
Gregory Frost at Philadelphia Fantastic
Friday, April 25th
7:30 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Center City
18th & Walnut Street (Rittenhouse Square)
3rd Floor
Dr. Ni is now in ArtellaLand! Artella is a wonderfully artistic site encouraging those of us who write to draw and those of us who draw to write. The colors are lush and the writing is profound. Dr. Ni has won second place in two poetry contests here and is proud to announce that she now has books in THE SHOPPES OF ARTELLA. Her products can be found using this URL: http://www.artellaland.com/NiamaWilliams.html
I am also listed in the Shoppes Artist Directory: http://www.artellaland.com/shop/index.php?main_page=page&id=83
Thank you Marney, Artella Founder, and all of the hardworking Artella staff, particularly Ms. Lori Minick. My page was up in no time flat, and all of the information was accurately displayed (except for my own mistakes!). If you are even thinking about becoming a budding artist, ArtellaLand is the place for you!
In fact …….
date Wed, Apr 16, 2008 at 8:32 AM
subject Fw: Shoppes Co-Op Program Updates
Dear Dr. Ni ~
Thank you for signing up for the new Artella Shoppes Artist Co-Op Program! As part of the SAMI Program (Shoppes Artist Marketing Initiative) I wanted to let you know about the following dates when you'll be featured in various locations in and around Artella Land:
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 16 - One of your products will be featured in the new "Shoppes Smoothie" section in the "LinkLatte" newsletter, which is sent to Artella Members and also is published in the Artella Daily Muse.
THURSDAY, APRIL 17 - You will be the featured artist in the pages of The Artella Daily Muse (www.artelladailymuse.com)
SATURDAY, APRIL 19 - One of your products will be featured on the Artella Cafe Gallery page
SUNDAY, APRIL 20 - One of your products will be featured on the Artella Cafe Forums page
MONDAY, APRIL 21 - You will be featured on the home page of the Artella Cafe (www.artellacafe.com)
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23 - One of your products will be featured throughout the inner pages of The Artella Daily Muse (www.artelladailymuse.com)
SATURDAY, APRIL 26 - One of your products will be featured on the Artella Cafe Downloads page
MONDAY, APRIL 28 - One of your products will be featured on the Artella Cafe Blog page
We will continue to notify you when we will be featuring you and your work in the future!
If you have any questions about your work in The Shoppes of Artella, please write us at [email protected].
It's great to have you with us!
Lori Minick
Creativi-tea Connoisseur
[email protected]
http://www.artellaland.com
A word to the wise about Senator John McCain from Eli Pariser of MoveOn.org:
For all the coverage of Senator John McCain's background, there are some important things you won't learn about him from the TV networks. His carefully crafted positive image relies on people not knowing this stuff—and you might be surprised by some of it.
10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):
1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1
2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2
3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3
4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4
5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5
6. He's one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6
7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he's too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He's erratic. He's hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7
8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than any of the other presidential candidates.8
9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9
10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a 0—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10
John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be. Please help get the word out—forward this email to your personal network. And if you want us to keep you posted on MoveOn's work to get the truth out about John McCain, sign up here:
http://pol.moveon.org/mccaintruth/?id=12407-8955499-myuaKR&t=232
Thank you for all you do.
–Eli, Justin, Noah, Laura, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team
Saturday, April 5th, 2008
(For the sources of the footnoted references above please go to moveon.org; I did not want the newsletter to be excessively lengthy)
Would that every dictator or totalitarian knew this:
The best way to be more free is to grant more freedom to others. -----Carlo Dossi, author and diplomat (1849-1910)
A video no one voting age should miss, especially if you care about public education: South Brooklyn high school students impressed by Obama: http://my.barackobama.com/yestheycan
Alice Walker on Barack Obama (how wonderful it is to again print something by Auntie Alice, "Auntie" because her writing has made her so near and dear to my heart [all emphases mine]) ……:
TheRoot.com
March 27, 2008
I HAVE COME home from a long stay in Mexico to find – because of the presidential campaign, and especially because of the Obama/Clinton race for the Democratic nomination - a new country existing alongside the old. On any given day we, collectively, become the Goddess of the Three Directions and can look back into the past, look at ourselves just where we are, and take a glance, as well, into the future. It is a space with which I am familiar.
When I was born in 1944 my parents lived on a middle Georgia plantation that was owned by a white distant relative, Miss May Montgomery. (During my childhood it was necessary to address all white girls as "Miss" when they reached the age of twelve.) She would never admit to this relationship, of course, except to mock it. Told by my parents that several of their children would not eat chicken skin she responded that of course they would not. No Montgomerys would.
My parents and older siblings did everything imaginable for Miss May. They planted and raised her cotton and corn, fed and killed and processed her cattle and hogs, painted her house, patched her roof, ran her dairy, and, among countless other duties and responsibilities my father was her chauffeur, taking her anywhere she wanted to go at any hour of the day or night. She lived in a large white house with green shutters and a green, luxuriant lawn: not quite as large as Tara of Gone With the Wind fame, but in the same style.
We lived in a shack without electricity or running water, under a rusty tin roof that let in wind and rain. Miss May went to school as a girl. The school my parents and their neighbors built for us was burned to the ground by local racists who wanted to keep ignorant their competitors in tenant farming. During the Depression, desperate to feed his hardworking family, my father asked for a raise from ten dollars a month to twelve. Miss May responded that she would not pay that amount to a white man and she certainly wouldn't pay it to a n****r. That before she'd pay a n****r that much money she'd milk the dairy cows herself.
When I look back, this is part of what I see. I see the school bus carrying white children, boys and girls, right past me, and my brothers, as we trudge on foot five miles to school. Later, I see my parents struggling to build a school out of discarded army barracks while white students, girls and boys, enjoy a building made of brick. We had no books; we inherited the cast off books that "Jane" and "Dick" had previously used in the all-white school that we were not, as black children, permitted to enter.
The year I turned fifty, one of my relatives told me she had started reading my books for children in the library in my home town. I had had no idea – so kept from black people it had been – that such a place existed. To this day knowing my presence was not wanted in the public library when I was a child I am highly uncomfortable in libraries and will rarely, unless I am there to help build, repair, refurbish or raise money to keep them open, enter their doors.
When I joined the freedom movement in Mississippi in my early twenties it was to come to the aid of sharecroppers, like my parents, who had been thrown off the land they'd always known, the plantations, because they attempted to exercise their "democratic" right to vote. I wish I could say white women treated me and other black people a lot better than the men did, but I cannot. It seemed to me then and it seems to me now that white women have copied, all too often, the behavior of their fathers and their brothers, and in the South, especially in Mississippi, and before that, when I worked to register voters in Georgia, the broken bottles thrown at my head were gender free.
I made my first white women friends in college; they were women who loved me and were loyal to our friendship, but I understood, as they did, that they were white women and that whiteness mattered. That, for instance, at Sarah Lawrence, where I was speedily inducted into the Board of Trustees practically as soon as I graduated, I made my way to the campus for meetings by train, subway and foot, while the other trustees, women and men, all white, made their way by limo. Because, in our country, with its painful history of unspeakable inequality, this is part of what whiteness means. I loved my school for trying to make me feel I mattered to it, but because of my relative poverty I knew I could not.
I am a supporter of Obama because I believe he is the right person to lead the country at this time. He offers a rare opportunity for the country and the world to start over, and to do better. It is a deep sadness to me that many of my feminist white women friends cannot see him. Cannot see what he carries in his being. Cannot hear the fresh choices toward Movement he offers. That they can believe that millions of Americans –black, white, yellow, red and brown - choose Obama over Clinton only because he is a man, and black, feels tragic to me.
When I have supported white people, men and women, it was because I thought them the best possible people to do whatever the job required. Nothing else would have occurred to me. If Obama were in any sense mediocre, he would be forgotten by now. He is, in fact, a remarkable human being, not perfect but humanly stunning, like King was and like Mandela is. We look at him, as we looked at them, and are glad to be of our species. He is the change America has been trying desperately and for centuries to hide, ignore, kill. The change America must have if we are to convince the rest of the world that we care about people other than our (white) selves.
True to my inner Goddess of the Three Directions however, this does not mean I agree with everything Obama stands for. We differ on important points probably because I am older than he is, I am a woman and person of three colors, (African, Native American, European), I was born and raised in the American South, and when I look at the earth's people, after sixty-four years of life, there is not one person I wish to see suffer, no matter what they have done to me or to anyone else; though I understand quite well the place of suffering, often, in human growth.
I want a grown-up attitude toward Cuba, for instance, a country and a people I love; I want an end to the embargo that has harmed my friends and their children, children who, when I visit Cuba, trustingly turn their faces up for me to kiss. I agree with a teacher of mine, Howard Zinn, that war is as objectionable as cannibalism and slavery; it is beyond obsolete as a means of improving life. I want an end to the on-going war immediately and I want the soldiers to be encouraged to destroy their weapons and to drive themselves out of Iraq.
I want the Israeli government to be made accountable for its behavior towards the Palestinians, and I want the people of the United States to cease acting like they don't understand what is going on. All colonization, all occupation, all repression basically looks the same, whoever is doing it. Here our heads cannot remain stuck in the sand; our future depends of our ability to study, to learn, to understand what is in the records and what is before our eyes. But most of all I want someone with the self-confidence to talk to anyone, "enemy" or "friend," and this Obama has shown he can do. It is difficult to understand how one could vote for a person who is afraid to sit and talk to another human being. When you vote you are making someone a proxy for yourself; they are to speak when, and in places, you cannot. But if they find talking to someone else, who looks just like them, human, impossible, then what good is your vote?
It is hard to relate what it feels like to see Mrs. Clinton (I wish she felt self-assured enough to use her own name) referred to as "a woman" while Barack Obama is always referred to as "a black man." One would think she is just any woman, colorless, race-less, past-less, but she is not. She carries all the history of white womanhood in America in her person; it would be a miracle if we, and the world, did not react to this fact. How dishonest it is, to attempt to make her innocent of her racial inheritance.
I can easily imagine Obama sitting down and talking, person to person, with any leader, woman, man, child or common person, in the world, with no baggage of past servitude or race supremacy to mar their talks. I cannot see the same scenario with Mrs. Clinton who would drag into Twenty-First Century American leadership the same image of white privilege and distance from the reality of others' lives that has so marred our country's contacts with the rest of the world.
And yes, I would adore having a woman president of the United States. My choice would be Representative Barbara Lee, who alone voted in Congress five years ago not to make war on Iraq. That to me is leadership, morality, and courage; if she had been white I would have cheered just as hard. But she is not running for the highest office in the land, Mrs. Clinton is. And because Mrs. Clinton is a woman and because she may be very good at what she does, many people, including some younger women in my own family, originally favored her over Obama. I understand this, almost. It is because, in my own nieces' case, there is little memory, apparently, of the foundational inequities that still plague people of color and poor whites in this country. Why, even though our family has been here longer than most North American families – and only partly due to the fact that we have Native American genes – we very recently, in my lifetime, secured the right to vote, and only after numbers of people suffered and died for it.
When I offered the word "Womanism" many years ago, it was to give us a tool to use, as feminist women of color, in times like these. These are the moments we can see clearly, and must honor devotedly, our singular path as women of color in the United States. We are not white women and this truth has been ground into us for centuries, often in brutal ways. But neither are we inclined to follow a black person, man or woman, unless they demonstrate considerable courage, intelligence, compassion and substance. I am delighted that so many women of color support Barack Obama -and genuinely proud of the many young and old white women and men who do.
Imagine, if he wins the presidency we will have not one but three black women in the White House; one tall, two somewhat shorter; none of them carrying the washing in and out of the back door. The bottom line for most of us is: With whom do we have a better chance of surviving the madness and fear we are presently enduring, and with whom do we wish to set off on a journey of new possibility? In other words, as the Hopi elders would say: Who do we want in the boat with us as we head for the rapids? Who is likely to know how best to share the meager garden produce and water? We are advised by the Hopi elders to celebrate this time, whatever its adversities.
We have come a long way, Sisters, and we are up to the challenges of our time. One of which is to build alliances based not on race, ethnicity, color, nationality, sexual preference or gender, but on Truth. Celebrate our journey. Enjoy the miracle we are witnessing. Do not stress over its outcome. Even if Obama becomes president, our country is in such ruin it may well be beyond his power to lead us toward rehabilitation. If he is elected however, we must, individually and collectively, as citizens of the planet, insist on helping him do the best job that can be done; more, we must insist that he demand this of us. It is a blessing that our mothers taught us not to fear hard work. Know, as the Hopi elders declare: The river has its destination. And remember, as poet June Jordan and Sweet Honey in the Rock never tired of telling us: We are the ones we have been waiting for.
Namaste;
And with all my love,
Alice Walker
Cazul
Northern California
First Day of Spring
(From a recent issue of Metamorphosis ezine): Tibet - Support the Dalai Lama
I just signed an urgent petition calling on the Chinese government to respect human rights in Tibet and engage in meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. This is really important, and I thought you might want to participate...
After nearly 50 years of Chinese rule, the Tibetans are sending out a global cry for change. But violence is spreading across Tibet and neighbouring regions, and the Chinese regime is right now considering a choice between increasing brutality or dialogue, that could determine the future of Tibet and China.
China is a sprawling, diverse country with much brutality in its past, so it has good reasons to be concerned about stability - some of Tibet's rioters killed innocent people. But President Hu must recognize that the greatest danger to Chinese stability and development today comes from hardliners who advocate escalating repression, not from those Tibetans seeking dialogue and reform.
We can affect this historic choice. China does care about its international reputation. Its economy is totally dependent on "Made in China" exports that we all buy, and it is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a celebration of a new China that is a respected world power.
President Hu needs to hear that 'Brand China' and the Olympics can succeed only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an avalanche of global people power to get his attention. Click below to join me and sign a petition to President Hu calling for restraint in Tibet and dialogue with the Dalai Lama -- and tell absolutely everyone you can right away. The petition is organized by Avaaz, and they are urgently aiming to reach 1 million signatures to deliver directly to Chinese officials: Add Your Signature Here
Whether or not you choose to sign the petition, please then visit our Meditation Experience: What is Love? Listen and watch the video in a calm and quiet space, and clearly identify that quality of Love at the core of your being - for it is your essential self, your true nature, in abundance... and then love the people of Tibet and the people of China, unconditionally, and embrace them together warmly in your arms, in your heart...
The Tibetan people have suffered quietly for decades. It is finally their moment to speak--we must help them be heard. Thank you so much for your help!
Peter Shepherd (editor of Metamorphosis)
P.S. Please forward this email to all your friends who you feel may be interested to participate, to help in this small but significant way to make the world a better place for ourselves and children to live in.
P.P.S. Already I have received some criticism for my involvement in this. I know little of the politics involved and who exactly is right and wrong, but I do know that the solution to conflict is dialogue and love - not tanks and torture. Surely the ancient Tibetan culture has a right to exist peacefully. Though I view from far away, this issue is close to my heart because having been interested in Buddhism since childhood and been inspired by several of the Dalai Lamas' books, I want to support his compassionate approach. His message at this time is as much for the Tibetan people as for the Chinese.
Note: Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.
Families with children needed in Wisconsin ….
from Jess Moss <[email protected]>
date Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 8:36 PM
Greetings Friends and Relations,
Today I've decided to reach out to pretty much everyone I know, though email, which I haven't done in a long time. For some, this is a regular update, and for others, it's a "Wow, I thought she fell off the planet years ago..." type of update. Where I live, we're searching for a particular group of people, but, an update and explanation is needed first, so here it goes:
The update:
Up here in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, (it's way up there - near the southern tip of Lake Superior) the cozy white blanket of snow over the Earth keeps getting replenished by one after another of these Spring snow storms. I believe I may be in line for a lesson in patience. When the warmth melts the snow and uncovers the wet ground in patches here and there, for a couple of days, another snow cloud repairs the brown holes with new patches of white. The tug-and-pull is fully on.
Under these signs, sugar bush camp (where we go and collect sap, then boil it down to make maple syrup) was set up early during a cold-night, warm-day spell (the only time it will run) which quickly turned to a week of solid storms. Eventually, the sap started flowing in earnest and we boiled down gallons and gallons of sap into roughly two gallons of syrup. Then more storms blew in, which truly bewildered all the newly arrived and emerged creatures, and now the sap is flowing again. Who says our moods and whims are not modeled after Nature herself? I am running around in PAC boots, taking long, long walks.
If you couldn't tell already, I live in the woods. Well, most of the time. I've just spent about 6 months living in a yurt, and I am on the run again, seemingly in harmony with the nomads and migratory creatures of the earth. Since everything is melting and then freezing, I'm reluctant to set up something outside and then wake up in a puddle. So, I'm staying with the families (4 parents, 3 separate ones, 3 kids). Which brings me to the general point of this email:
So, out here where I live is at an Outdoor School. It is a place where we are all focused on living closer to the earth, in a very simple way, reconnecting. We have a number of different programs going on, and my role here is as the editor to the guide/founder/director of the school. He writes a lot. I edit a lot. We're working on 5-7 different full-length books right now and 2 other major projects. I also do a lot of other stuff, as this is an intentional community, including co-parenting of 3 beautiful boys. This leads me closer to the subject at hand...
Right now, we are revving up the energy to bring a couple more families to complement our budding children's culture. We would love to have more families here, more children here, and I personally would love that as well. After being here for a year and a half, and watching our children's culture emerge, I am extremely passionate about it. Children's Culture? Huh? Well, it's a long story, but the basic motto is: kids need other kids. I know that almost none of you have children right now, however, we're all of that age when we're thinking about it, or, some of us are. Or some of us know people who are. Anyway, please take a look at our invitational web page about the children's culture:
http://teachingdrum.org/childrensculture.html
and, I'd be grateful if you would forward it to families with children that might have an interest in checking out the possibility of being here. Of course, for other info about what we're doing here, www.teachindrum.org is where it's at. Or, call me: 715 - 546 - 2944. I know I don't keep in touch very well most of the time, though you are all in my heart. That's what these occasions are for, I suppose.
My Gratitude and rich transition time wishes,
Jess
A snippet from my life or this issue's essay designed to strengthen the soul and embolden the spirit …..
INDIE CHANNELS
Niama Leslie Williams, Ph.D.
Copyright April 2008
1,492 words
I sat down here, originally, to write a letter of praise and thanks to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who will be gracing St. Joseph's University this coming Sunday and speaking to a chapel full of a devoted public. Yet when I picked up my pen to prepare words to precede "Schlindler's List," a poem of separation and Maafa and angst, I found things took a different turn and I spoke instead of Africans and those in America committed to helping our brethren, those committed to stopping the pain and amplifying the beauty of our ancestral brothers and sisters.
And so I turn to you, devoted readers of my humble newsletter, whom I hope to encourage with my tales of a life working now because it has been turned whole cloth over to service, to obedience to God. I want most what He wants of and for me; I know that He chooses best when it comes to decisions though, still a frustrated human, I can be testy when our timetables don't mesh!
I am learning that turning one's life over to God means many things, including something T. Harv Eker mentioned in his Wealth File #10 today. He discussed, briefly, the ability to receive. That many times we are not rich because we do not receive well. I realized that he was right because I too am having to learn that turning one's life, sincerely and with no expectation, over to God means that God will give you gifts, will grant you blessings, blessings you have yet to even vocalize simply because He delights in His children.
I am a great lover of cinema, my earliest and most precious memories of my mother are of me lying full length on the couch at home in the living room, my head in her lap, her feet on the coffee table, a cup of black coffee either in her hand or nearby on the side table, both of us devotedly watching one of her favorite films: The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, The Uninvited, Wuthering Heights (the one with Laurence Olivier of course), Jane Eyre (with Orson Welles), Casablanca. Black and white films still have a certain charm for me, and I have avoided TCM and American Movie Channel of late because now that the reality of her death and passing have sunken in, I do not touch my grief with too many things that remind me of her. I fear an afternoon of Casablanca right now might kill me.
My love of cinema has not died however. I stopped going to the movies when ticket prices went up to $10 and Wesley Snipes made a film that was ninety minutes long. My mother and I regularly scoped the L.A. Times for double features and we thought $3 was a lot back then. Two full-length films and popcorn and real characters involved in real human drama--so much to talk about and critique afterwards, over the next few days, weeks, months. So much of our relationship was a common delight in analysis and brain power, using our intellect to derive and discern, to read people, read characters, understand people and characters' real motivations. In later years before her death we did not watch Entertainment Tonight or any of the other gossip shows; we cared about the artistry of celebrities, not their personal lives. Longtime residents of Los Angeles we knew instinctively that what actors really wanted was something they could no longer buy: privacy, time alone in public, in public places. The price of celebrity for some of them too high and too uncomfortable a surprise.
As more and more of what Hollywood produced became vehicles for special effects, we turned to independent films under the guidance of my much more clued-in cousin. She enjoyed adopted daughter status with my mother and idol status with me, younger than her by about seven years. She always seemed to know which new independent film was worth seeing, and which would be suited to our tastes. Thus when I finally consented to paying for TV, an outrage I fought until the year 2000, I wanted the independent film channels more so than the premium ones: Sundance, Flix, Indie and IFC. There was one golden period from about 2004-2006 when I had them all, but then graduation from doctoral institution and then no work for 18 months and then loss of apartment and then homelessness.
A friend took me in, but he was a retiree barely making it himself, and so cable was a minor luxury that we had because the Comcast triple play made the Internet and phone we needed cheaper. We are both writers, he and I, and the web is essential to all that I do as well as what I do for him. I live on the Internet; he lives on the phone. We had basic cable and that was about it though he had invested in a small Philips high definition TV for his mother's delight.
We eventually moved his mother out because she was no longer good for his psyche or his health, and were cruising along quite happily with basic and that was it til I began to think, on the rare occasion when I flipped channels and it was the writers' strike so there were no new episodes of Criminal Intent or SVU or Numb3rs and the free movies offered pretty much sucked or I'd seen them. On rare occasions I began to long, just for a moment, for my indie channels.
One night, as I sleepily tried to watch SVU until bedtime, a Comcast person called and said we had not paid our bill. I was overtired and my tone showed it. "Let me get you the confirmation number," I tersely contested as I rose to find the bills file. I'd just squeezed out payment earlier that Tuesday and I was not about to hear that the payment had not been recorded. There were too many things we hadn't been able to pay; I wasn't going to hear any noise from the cable company.
Halfway to the bedroom I realized I was hearing that special beep that means someone has hung up the line. "No she didn't hang up on me," I swore, outraged double. I hobbled back to the living room to collapse into the recliner and call Comcast one more time. Was I ever going to have a lot to say. Fortunately, honey-voiced baritone Aaron came on the line and assured me that all was right with our account; the payment was indeed on file. I hung up, contented, and turned back to the screen.
Moments later the screen went black. "Not Authorized" it said, please call the company for more info. My blood began to boil. That witch! I thought.
Lucia to the rescue. I was stomp down angry now, and unafraid to show it. Lucia soothed and consoled and I understooded me into a version of calm I did not think possible for an SVU watcher who had worked a full day on two and a half hours of sleep. Turn off the box, she said; wait thirty seconds, turn it back on again.
I cussed; I fussed; it didn't work.
Let me send a signal, she said.
Didn't work.
Let me send a stronger signal, she said.
Didn't work.
Let me get my supervisor to look over your record; he might see something I missed.
I grumbled, grimaced and complied.
Thirty minutes passed with the wonderful Lucia checking in with me every so often. "I've got it," she finally said after the half hour. "The person who called you initially? Well, she tried to upgrade your service, she really tried to do something good, but she used the wrong code and that cut off your basic cable. Now I've got to work with my supervisor to see if we can fix it."
"Uh huh," I said.
"Yeah," she said; "she really did try to do something good."
"Uh, huh. So I should remove that hex from her head then."
Lucia laughed, a bell-like tinkling sound in a deep Black woman's voice.
"Yea," she said; "I think you should."
We both laughed then and she asked if she could call me back when she had straightened it out instead of having me wait forever on the line. I readily agreed, knowing by now that if Israel and Palestine needed a negotiator we should probably send Lucia and her supervisor.
She did call back. She not only solved the problem, but cut $10 off our monthly bill. Oh, and my indie channels? She made sure the new package had all four of them, no extra charge.
I hadn't even prayed out loud. The indie channels just a passing wish, never once vocalized.
My roommate, the imminent Reverend, says God hears the deepest desires of our hearts.
I thought I was a believer before. Now I am for sure.
###
And, of course, you know I would not leave you without levity! The jokes section for this issue begins with …..
On their way to get married a young Catholic couple is involved in a fatal car accident. The couple finds themselves sitting outside the Pearly Gates waiting for St. Peter to return. While waiting, they begin to wonder: Could we possibly get married in Heaven? When St. Peter showed up they asked him. St. Peter says, "I don't know. This is the first time anyone has asked. Let me go find out" and he leaves.
The couple sat and waited and waited. Two months passed and the couple is still waiting. As they waited, they discussed that if they were allowed to get married in Heaven, what was the eternal aspect of it all. "What if it doesn't work?" they wondered, "Are we stuck together FOREVER?"
After yet another month, St. Peter finally returns, looking somewhat bedraggled. "Yes," he informs the couple, "you CAN get married in Heaven."
"Great!" said the couple, "But we were just wondering, what if things don't work out? Could we also get a divorce in Heaven?" St. Peter, red-faced with anger, slams his clipboard onto the ground. What's wrong?" asked the frightened couple.
"OH, COME ON!" St. Peter shouts, "It took me three months to find a priest up here! Do you have ANY idea how long it will take me to find a LAWYER?"
Subject: Today's BRILLIANT 5 minute Management Course
Lesson 1: A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands Bob, the next-door neighbour. Before she says a word, Bob says, I'll give you $800 to drop that towel. After thinking for a moment the woman drops her towel and stands naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and leaves. The woman wraps back up in the towel and goes back upstairs. When she gets to the bathroom, her husband asks, Who was that? It was Bob the next-door neighbour, she replies. Great, the husband says, did he say anything about the $800 he owes me?
Moral of the story: If you share critical information with your colleagues and stakeholders, you will be better positioned to prevent avoidable exposure.
Lesson 2: A priest offered a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident. After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg. The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129." The priest removed his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg again. The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129." The priest apologized, "Sorry sister, but the flesh is weak." Arriving at the convent, the nun sighed heavily and went on her way. On his arrival at the church, the priest rushed to look up Psalm 129. It said, "Go forth and seek, further up, you will find glory."
Moral of the story: Know your job, if you are not well informed in your field, you might miss a great opportunity.
Lesson 3: A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, I'll give each of you just one wish. Me first, Me first, says the admin clerk. I want to be in the Bahamas, driving a speedboat, without a care in the world. Puff! She's gone. Me next, Me next, says the sales rep. I want to be in Hawaii, relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life. Puff He's gone. OK, you're up, the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, I want those two back in the office after lunch.
Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say.
Lesson 4: An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, Can I also sit like you and do nothing. The eagle answered Sure, why not. So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.
Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up.
For those of you who are sick of getting e-mails that tell you to forward it to at least X number of people in the next 15 minutes so that wonderful things and miracles will happen, or there will be serious consequences, enjoy this. It is hilarious (and it's ABOUT TIME someone did this!)!!!!
http://info.org.il/irrelevant/may02-smilepop-soapbox4.swf
--
Dr. Niama L. Williams
Norristown, PA
http://www.blowingupbarriers.com
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