Are we stupid?

Gosh. I am afraid that the answer is YES. Let's not forget who our president is. Collectively we elected the village idiot. And don't give me that crap about how he didn't really win. If he is sitting in the oval office, he "won."

But still, one has to feel some HOPE as re Barack Obama and wonder if John McCain's Hail Mary VEEP choice is really a subtle way of telling us women that he thinks we are stupid.

While on one hand, I am guessing that the Governor of Alaska is smart and hardworking, I have to wonder why she seems even remotely fit to be our number two? Sure McCain could live to be 110. Stranger things have happened. But what if the guy has a killer heart attack in 2009 and all of a sudden this outpost governer is running our country? Scary.

Clearly she was chosen to capture the disgruntled Hillary vote." Which makes me think that McCain thinks we women are stupid. If the idea is to get a woman on the ballot, what is wrong with Condi? Okay, DUH. We all know what is wrong with Condi. Whatever blood Bush doesn't have on his hands, McCain has on his hands, and Condi thought up the whole scheme. But still, let's face it, Condi has "experience." I am not exactly sure who they are, but there have to be other right wing women who are in politics who would be a more appropriate choice than Sarah Palin.

In other news, her husband is damn cute. In my grand fantasy life, he will dress like Michael Phelps at the convention when he gives his speech about how serving his wife and changing his kid's diapers is what matters to him most.

CarolynFloraBarcelona

OMG. Flora and I have seen the new Woody Allen movie and we are ready to pull up our stakes and head to Spain. OMG! Have I said that yet? This newest Woody Allen movie is so much fun and all if could make us think was - why not just move to Barcelona?

We see a need for a greater infrastructure for cyclists there. As soon as the right job comes up, we are headed to Europe.

I love Michelle Part II

I refuse to desecrate our fabulous heroine by talking about today's big news (um, McCain's VEEP choice of a mega Mom from Alaska) but I am sorry to say that I can't quite find a good enough picture of the magenta ensemble that the Obama family wore at the convention last night. Sorry about that.

Those stupid ironic columns framing Barack (which I do agree were ill advised) are WAY old news. Couldja believe how perfectly blended the Obama family outfits were? Michelle has on a rockin magenta floral dress. The girls are NOT wearing matching dresses, they are wearing dresses that blend beautifully. So tastefully done Michelle! And, then, as the piece de resistance, our future president is wearing a dark suit and a MAGENTA and pale pink striped tie. OMG does it get any better than this?

If anyone cares, I think fireworks are stupid.

What's not to love?

So is everyone as crazy in love with Michelle Obama as I am?

She is just SO fabulous! And do you LOVE her hair and amazing fashion sense?

GO Maria Pinto!

http://www.mariapinto.com/press.html

Let me rip off Stella Foster from the Sun Times because she said it like I was thinking it:

MICHELLE OBAMA'S SPEECH at the DNC convention was phenomenal and her outfit and hair style was perfect. She is described as the "Black Jackie O" on the Internet . . . as in the late first lady Jackie Kennedy. I say she is the black Michelle Obama . . . no more . . . no less. And to the women readers asking who did Michelle's hair because they loved it: Top hairstylist Johnny Wright, a former Chicagoan now living in Los Angeles, flew to Denver to coif the potential first lady. Wright has been doing Michelle's hair for about a year. So, now you know.

I remember Meleia

It has been over three years since Kimberly's lovely daughter, Meleia Starbuck-Willis, was murdered in Berkeley.

I still find it hard to believe.

What I remember about Meleia is how she looked at you deeply as if she could see into all of your insides. I felt like she did this so that she got to see all of you, not just what you looked like on the outside.

Soon after Meleia was murdered, Katrina swamped New Orleans. And then came the Kashmir earthquake: Government estimate 79,000 dead. My co-worker Nadia lost many members of her extended family.

So when I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in late October, 2005, it just didn't seem so bad.

Still doesn't.

Cougar in Chief

I am actually watching the Democratic Convention this week. It does seem to me to be a (dare I say) historic event. I just can't believe how many women I have seen speak this week. I also can't believe how many prominent African Americans have been profiled. When I was watching Hillary Clinton speak I felt sort of amazed that a woman came that close to being the President. Truly this is something that I am not used to. Then I started thinking about Michele Bachelet, the President of Chile, and how cool it is that SHE got the top job there.



I started thinking that twenty years from now women leaders may not be that big of a deal. But how will they handle the fame and pressure? If Hillary were to be elected, would she be a dumbass like her husband, John Edwards and countless others and have sex with some young stud whose adoration she can't resist?

Probably not. But it is kind of fun to think about. What about that 3am phone call that totally stresses out Madam President and she has to work round the clock for several days until she is so seriously sleep deprived that she is in a stupor? Suddenly a very cute, very young, very sensitive male intern with a serious puppy dog crush offers to get her yet another diet coke... all of a sudden they are making out in the war room and it is all captured on some other intern's cell phone and on youtube before they can even get all of their clothes off.

Oh my.

A similarly fun subject is whether or not Condi and George will officially hook up after he leaves the White House. Again, probably not. She has to reinvent herself somehow so that she can be our first African Woman Presidential contender in 2016 or something like that. For whatever reason, I really like the idea that Condi and George really truly love each other and whenever they get time alone all they talk about is what soulmates they are.



As this post comes to an end I wonder if it is a good idea for me to be watching so much of the convention.

Hippest trip in America

A fixture from my childhood is the show "Soul Train." It was on every Saturday in the afternoon and I used to watch it. I was not a devotee - nor was anyone else in the family, but the dancing and the funkified outfits (this WAS the seventies if you don't know) provided great entertainment. Another reason I watched it was because kids talked about it at school. As I write this, I realize that even to this day I will watch something because I know others will be talking about it. I am not sure if that means that I am a blind follower or if I know how to connect to others. Possibly some combination of both. Anyway, kids at school would talk about the dancers, the music guests, and of course Don Cornelius, so that is how I ended up watching Soul Train on Saturdays.

The first week that I lived here in Chicago was beyond surreal. I just could not believe that I had actually moved. Every day was more amazing to me than the previous one. I think what shocked me the most was how familiar everything was. The thick green grass. The friendly neighbors. The bar on the corner with the "Old Style" sign. Everything was new but I had seen it all before.

So, my first Saturday in Chicago I popped onto the couch to watch a bit of TV. I turned on the TV and started flipping channels. Next thing you know I was watching "Soul Train." I cannot tell you what a mindblow this was. I started really questioning my sanity and wondering if I was in some super realistic-seeming dream. How could Soul Train still be on TV?

The more I watched the more I realized that it was a re-run. I figured it out by studying Don's hair (jehri curls) the outfits (big shoulder pads) and perhaps the way they danced. I forget who the guest was, but I remember thinking that he was kind of an 80's guy too.

Oh my. Since that time I have happened upon the TV on other Saturdays and seen another golden oldie rerun of Soul Train. So much fun.

"...We wish you love, peace... and SOUL!"

Flora and I miss Mary & Harry

That is Mary helping me out, of course. Mary and Harry are so cool. I miss them both.

Maybe I should not look at pictures of my old agave plants. I miss them. They are probably still on the patio of 410 Sheridan but I no longer see them every day. What fabulous plants. Agave do not grow well in Chicago. Plenty of Agave bars (aka places to drink expensive tequila in mass quantities) but not those big massive desert dwellers that I adore.

Oh well. I still have Flora the Beagle. And I can call Mary any time.

Fuzzy Deiss is my brother

I just love this song that my brother wrote and bass slapped onto YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30ZCdVjuLgk

The Obama Family on Cute Overload?

CuteOverload.com should put the Obamas on their site. Everyone in that family is so dang cute!

Meanwhile, I think it might be boring to be dinner guests at their house. I bet they talk about policy a lot, and probably are not as big into the kind of BS tall tales that I like to tell.

Meanwhile, I wonder, am I so proud to be an American? I suppose so. But thank god I am not a politician so I do not have to give these quasi jingoistic speeches.

I vote, I pay my taxes, and I will serve jury duty if they ever call me up. Is that enough?

A diggety dog, a lawnmower, and a tree that litters

That Flora loves to dig. Not sure what she was after but she nearly made it to China. Too bad that I hauled her in so that we could go to sleep.

See that red lawnmower? It nearly got bulldozed. Right before the wrecking ball swung, I got it from the people who now own 250 Palo Alto Avenue. It had belonged to Ken and Amanda and now they have it up in Olema.

The tree that litters? Just trying to be clever. But so much junk comes off of that tree. Ask Nick who probably still has a car sitting under it that he plans to sell some day. The car gets decent mileage. He should sell it before Labor Day.

This post should have been made in May or June but just getting to it now. RIP 250 Palo Alto Avenue as it was.

This is what I currently look like.

Blasting through the past

I have been living in Chicago for almost three months and I am still shocked and awed by my decision to come back to the Midwest. Thankfully I am very, very happy that I made this move. But it still seems like a surrealistic pillow and I have moments where I wonder if I am really and truly living in Chicago, Illinois.

Meanwhile, I am blown away by how cool it is here. I love how friendly midwesterners are (even in the "big city") and how green and lush the grass is. There are so many things I had totally forgotten about that now cheer my days: The almighty brat, the luscious polish hot dog, the thick armed greek that sells you this stuff. I just love it.

Alice Waters, you can kiss my butt. That woman had the nerve to come to the Green City Market a few Saturdays ago and hock her cookbooks with one hand while holding her nose with the other. I have a memory like a steel trap for people who dis midwesterners and little Miss Chez Panisse has pierced my ear drums in the past with her little rants about how all we eat is iceberg lettuce and Kaukauna cheese.

First of all, where do you think we got that iceberg lettuce? From California you dumbass. And don't knock Kaukauna cheese until you have tried the port wine variety. That stuff is hella tasty. Anyway, what bugs me most about Ms. Waters is that she has felt terrifically comfortable making sweeping generalizations about my people when she never had the privilege to meet my Mother.

Did you ever hear of Polly Helmke? Well, she was so into her vegetable garden and fruit trees that she even had a cold frame in the backyard so that we could have fresh lettuce way into the winter. And how about that crappy tree in the dog run that she scoured for every last piece of peach so that she could can each edible morsel providing us with nice fruit after dinner in January?

And in the 70s' while Alice Waters was perfecting the art of gouging all those rich denizens of the Berkeley hills with pan braised arugula, my Mom was in Michigan fighting metastatic cancer, raising three kids, working full time, AND laboring over a monstrous vegetable garden that provided us with the freshest of vegetable laden dinners and preserving what could not be consumed for winter.

And if my Mom had bothered to open a restaurant so that everyone could eat so well, I guarantee you that she would not have a charged an arm and a leg nor would she have insulted other people from other regions that she really did not know that much about.

Okay, screedy, snarky rant over. But that one has been stewing in me for a long time.

Back to happy Chicago talk. Another good thing is that Flora the Beagle likes it here too. We have made many dog and people friends in our environs. The cats are not so crazy about us. The bunny rabbits wish that Flora would mind her own business, and the squirrels agree. I have only seen one chipmunk since I have been here and Flora has seen none. Boy are those little suckers cute. I don't think I saw any chipmunks the entire time I lived in California but that doesn't mean that aren't living large on some almond or walnut farm.

OMG. I have finally started writing in my blog. Let's see when I get to it next. Peace out.