Talking back to Palin about Disability

I was really irked by Palin's self serving speech about being a friend of "children with special needs' in a year when we have had to fight to have the Americans with Disabilites Act renewed intact. As a person with a disability and occasional activist in the Disability Rights Movement I wanted to write something in answer to her speech. Like what if her child with Downs Syndrome-such individuals known for their even tempers and ability to learn- had a much more severe disability, one that needed hourly care, suctioning and tube feeding and injections and no communication skills. What would she and her husband-because he's a part-of this be doing?

So I was reading the disability studies blog from Temple University and found my reply and thanks to the kind blogger at Temple:

Some notes about this passage in your speech last night:

"And children with special needs inspire a very, very special love. To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters. I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House."

1. We're not friends. We may have some things in common--motherhood, kid with a chromosomal diagnosis, age give or take a coupla years, race, messy dark hair, glasses, check check check--but we've never had a coffee together, or watched each other's kids, or worked on an art project together. And I don't see any of that happening in the future, either. So cut the "you've got a friend" line. I grew up in a state where that sentiment was on every license plate, and it means nothing when used in such a wholesale, consequence-free way. Worse, it devalues the real worth and work of friendship. I like and need friends. You're just not one of them.

(BTW, I also bristle at agency literature using words like "partner"--uh, no. Unless you're willing to take a 3am shift whenever kids are sick, you're not my partner in this.)

2. I don't think "very, very special love" qualifies as a policy. My kid doesn't need your "special love." He needs to have his rights recognized and protected; he needs the appropriate school education the law says he's entitled to; he needs accessibility to make living in the community a reality instead of a goal, and not just when he's a kid, but his whole life. I expect a vision with policy specifics. Hey, there's one!

3. Unless you started being a disability advocate long before your youngest son was born in April of this year, you're not in any position to use the term "advocate" for yourself. It's presumptuous to claim otherwise. You're still learning. Keep learning. Gotta say, I'm glad there were no reporters writing down my every word when my son was four months old--I'm sure anything I might have said about disability back then would have been a bundle of contradictions and confusion, because I didn't have near enough experience to speak otherwise on the subject. (And I'm still learning every single day, after thirteen years.) Presenting yourself as the stereotypical "kn0w-it-all mom" who is (rightly) dreaded by many in the disability world is not doing the rest of us parents any favors, so please rethink that pose.

4. Truth is, I was never going to vote for your ticket anyway, no matter who the VP choice was. But you're sure making me more secure than ever about that position.

Yea!

A Vulnerable Friday Five

Vulnerability Friday 5

Sally said:
It seems almost crass to post a Friday 5 after Mary-Beth's last post and prayer request for our dear Gannet Girl and her family. So I hope that folk will take this in the spirit with which it is offered; that of continuing prayer and concern tempered by the knowledge that we are called both to weep and to rejoice with our communities.

I have recently been reading a book entitled Jesus wept, it is all about vulnerability in leadership. The authors speak of how Jesus shared his earthly frustrations and vulnerabilities with a select group of people. To some he was the charismatic leader and teacher, to others words of wisdom were opened and explained and some frustrations shared, to his "inner circle of friends: Peter, James and John, he was most fully himself, and in all of these things he was open to God.

So I bring you this weeks Friday 5:

1. Is vulnerability something that comes easily to you, or are you a private person?
I am such a private person and very much an introvert. Opening up to other people is a process learned overy many years of therapy and then the work that I have chosen-counterintuitive to my nature.

Another thing, depression is something that I have had to fight at times. When I feel myself getting too vulnerable if sometimes feels like I'm slipping into depression...

2.How important is it to keep up a professional persona in work/ ministry?
It's very important to keep a professional persona at work. When I let the personal get through, it's through humor-the mask that has served me well for years. I work with the client/consumers who are my counselors problems, so I have to maintain professionalism in the face of others vulnerability and other behaviors sometimes too bizarre to mention-like this week. Don't ask...

3. Masks, a form of self protection discuss...
Ok, literally speaking and not in the Jungian sense, you heard it before, I worked in the theatre for a number of years, in college then after. I tried the acting part-but never could remember my lines. I did theatre design. But- I  also did puppetry and live puppets where the human dons a puppet like costume and then I could act. My mask.

4. Who knows you warts and all?
First my therapist, as she knew me before BL and saw me through some pretty difficult times. Then Beloved, who is my mate for life and does see me now warts and all.

5. Share a book, a prayer, a piece of music, a poem or a person that touches the deep place in your soul, and calls you to be who you are most authentically.
The work of artist Louise Nevelson. to be posted later when I'm home. And, of course, BL

Who IS Sarah Palin-And Why won't she stay in Alaska?

I found this on the Washington Post comment board and have posted it exactly as I found it. I was looking for a list of the books that she wanted to have banned from the local library, by far the most alarming thing I have heard about her! 

Amazing Letter From a Local Wasillian Who Knows Sarah Palin Well.

From: http://www.washingtonindependent.com/3671/the-reform-candidate
Submitted by Michael Wrightson on Sept 1, 2008

A note to all by {the Author}

Dear friends,

So many people have asked me about what I know about Sarah Palin in the
last 2 days that I decided to write something up . . .

Basically, Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have only 2 things in
common: their gender and their good looks.

[ This was already posted on Washington Independent comments area,
with a controllable hotmail account, and was obviously meant by the
author to be read. ]

Thanks,

Anne

ABOUT SARAH PALIN

I am a resident of Wasilla, Alaska. I have known Sarah since 1992.
Everyone here knows Sarah, so it is nothing special to say we are on a
first-name basis. Our children have attended the same schools. Her
father was my child’s favorite substitute teacher. I also am on a
first name basis with her parents and mother-in-law. I attended more
City Council meetings during her administration than about 99% of the
residents of the city.

She is enormously popular; in every way she’s like the most popular
girl in middle school. Even men who think she is a poor choice and
won’t vote for her can’t quit smiling when talking about her because
she is a “babe”.

It is astonishing and almost scary how well she can keep a secret. She
kept her most recent pregnancy a secret from her children and parents
for seven months.

She is “pro-life”. She recently gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby.
There is no cover-up involved, here; Trig is her baby.

She is energetic and hardworking. She regularly worked out at the gym.

She is savvy. She doesn’t take positions; she just “puts things out
there” and if they prove to be popular, then she takes credit.

Her husband works a union job on the North Slope for BP and is a
champion snowmobile racer. Todd Palin’s kind of job is highly
sought-after because of the schedule and high pay. He arranges his
work schedule so he can fish for salmon in Bristol Bay for a month or
so in summer, but by no stretch of the imagination is fishing their
major source of income. Nor has her life-style ever been anything
like that of native Alaskans.

Sarah and her whole family are avid hunters.

She’s smart.

Her experience is as mayor of a city with a population of about 5,000
(at the time), and less than 2 years as governor of a state with about
670,000 residents.

During her mayoral administration most of the actual work of running
this small city was turned over to an administrator. She had been
pushed to hire this administrator by party power-brokers after she had
gotten herself into some trouble over precipitous firings which had
given rise to a recall campaign.

Sarah campaigned in Wasilla as a “fiscal conservative”. During her 6
years as Mayor, she increased general government expenditures by over
33%. During those same 6 years the amount of taxes collected by the
City increased by 38%. This was during a period of low inflation
(1996-2002). She reduced progressive property taxes and increased a
regressive sales tax which taxed even food. The tax cuts that she
promoted benefited large corporate property owners way more than they
benefited residents.

The huge increases in tax revenues during her mayoral administration
weren’t enough to fund everything on her wish list though, borrowed
money was needed, too. She inherited a city with zero debt, but left it
with indebtedness of over $22 million. What did Mayor Palin encourage
the voters to borrow money for? Was it the infrastructure that she said
she supported? The sewage treatment plant that the city lacked? or a
new library? No. $1m for a park. $15m-plus for construction of a
multi-use sports complex which she rushed through to build on a piece
of property that the City didn’t even have clear title to, that was
still in litigation 7 yrs later–to the delight of the lawyers
involved! The sports complex itself is a nice addition to the
community but a huge money pit, not the profit-generator she claimed it
would be. She also supported bonds for $5.5m for road projects that
could have been done in 5-7 yrs without any borrowing.

While Mayor, City Hall was extensively remodeled and her office
redecorated more than once.

These are small numbers, but Wasilla is a very small city.

As an oil producer, the high price of oil has created a budget surplus
in Alaska. Rather than invest this surplus in technology that will
make us energy independent and increase efficiency, as Governor she
proposed distribution of this surplus to every individual in the state.

In this time of record state revenues and budget surpluses, she
recommended that the state borrow/bond for road projects, even while
she proposed distribution of surplus state revenues: spend today’s
surplus, borrow for needs.

She’s not very tolerant of divergent opinions or open to outside ideas
or compromise. As Mayor, she fought ideas that weren’t generated by
her or her staff. Ideas weren’t evaluated on their merits, but on the
basis of who proposed them.

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected
City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from
the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents
rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin’s
attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew
her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the
Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

Sarah complained about the “old boy’s club” when she first ran for
Mayor, so what did she bring Wasilla? A new set of “old boys”. Palin
fired most of the experienced staff she inherited. At the City and as
Governor she hired or elevated new, inexperienced, obscure people,
creating a staff totally dependent on her for their jobs and eternally
grateful and fiercely loyal–loyal to the point of abusing their power
to further her personal agenda, as she has acknowledged happened in the
case of pressuring the State’s top cop (see below).

As Mayor, Sarah fired Wasilla’s Police Chief because he “intimidated”
her, she told the press. As Governor, her recent firing of Alaska’s top
cop has the ring of familiarity about it. He served at her pleasure
and she had every legal right to fire him, but it’s pretty clear that
an important factor in her decision to fire him was because he wouldn’t
fire her sister’s ex-husband, a State Trooper. Under investigation
for abuse of power, she has had to admit that more than 2 dozen
contacts were made between her staff and family to the person that she
later fired, pressuring him to fire her ex-brother-in-law. She tried to
replace the man she fired with a man who she knew had been reprimanded
for sexual harassment; when this caused a public furor, she withdrew
her support.

She has bitten the hand of every person who extended theirs to her in
help. The City Council person who personally escorted her around town
introducing her to voters when she first ran for Wasilla City Council
became one of her first targets when she was later elected Mayor. She
abruptly fired her loyal City Administrator; even people who didn’t
like the guy were stunned by this ruthlessness.

Fear of retribution has kept all of these people from saying anything
publicly about her.

When then-Governor Murkowski was handing out political plums, Sarah got
the best, Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission: one
of the few jobs not in Juneau and one of the best paid. She had no
background in oil & gas issues. Within months of scoring this great
job which paid $122,400/yr, she was complaining in the press about the
high salary. I was told that she hated that job: the commute, the
structured hours, the work. Sarah became aware that a member of this
Commission (who was also the State Chair of the Republican Party)
engaged in unethical behavior on the job. In a gutsy move which some
undoubtedly cautioned her could be political suicide, Sarah solved all
her problems in one fell swoop: got out of the job she hated and
garnered gobs of media attention as the patron saint of ethics and as a
gutsy fighter against the “old boys’ club” when she dramatically quit,
exposing this man’s ethics violations (for which he was fined).

As Mayor, she had her hand stuck out as far as anyone for pork from
Senator Ted Stevens. Lately, she has castigated his pork-barrel
politics and publicly humiliated him. She only opposed the “bridge to
nowhere” after it became clear that it would be unwise not to.

As Governor, she gave the Legislature no direction and budget
guidelines, then made a big grandstand display of line-item vetoing
projects, calling them pork. Public outcry and further legislative
action restored most of these projects–which had been vetoed simply
because she was not aware of their importance–but with the unobservant
she had gained a reputation as “anti-pork”.

She is solidly Republican: no political maverick. The State party
leaders hate her because she has bit them in the back and humiliated
them. Other members of the party object to her self-description as a
fiscal conservative.

Around Wasilla there are people who went to high school with Sarah.
They call her “Sarah Barracuda” because of her unbridled ambition and
predatory ruthlessness. Before she became so powerful, very ugly
stories circulated around town about shenanigans she pulled to be made
point guard on the high school basketball team. When Sarah’s
mother-in-law, a highly respected member of the community and
experienced manager, ran for Mayor, Sarah refused to endorse her.

As Governor, she stepped outside of the box and put together of package
of legislation known as “AGIA” that forced the oil companies to march
to the beat of her drum.

Like most Alaskans, she favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge. She has questioned if the loss of sea ice is linked to
global warming. She campaigned “as a private citizen” against a state
initiaitive that would have either a) protected salmon streams from
pollution from mines, or b) tied up in the courts all mining in the
state (depending on who you listen to). She has pushed the State’s
lawsuit against the Dept. of the Interior’s decision to list polar
bears as threatened species.

McCain is the oldest person to ever run for President; Sarah will be a
heartbeat away from being President.

There has to be literally millions of Americans who are more
knowledgeable and experienced than she.

However, there’s a lot of people who have underestimated her and are
regretting it.

CLAIM VS FACT
•“Hockey mom”: true for a few years
•“PTA mom”: true years ago when her first-born was in elementary
school, not since
•“NRA supporter”: absolutely true
•social conservative: mixed. Opposes gay marriage, BUT vetoed a bill
that would have denied benefits to employees in same-sex relationships
(said she did this because it was unconsitutional).
•pro-creationism: mixed. Supports it, BUT did nothing as Governor to
promote it.
•“Pro-life”: mixed. Knowingly gave birth to a Down’s syndrome baby
BUT declined to call a special legislative session on some pro-life
legislation
•“Experienced”: Some high schools have more students than Wasilla has
residents. Many cities have more residents than the state of Alaska.
No legislative experience other than City Council. Little hands-on
supervisory or managerial experience; needed help of a city
administrator to run town of about 5,000.
•political maverick: not at all
•gutsy: absolutely!
•open & transparent: ??? Good at keeping secrets. Not good at
explaining actions.
•has a developed philosophy of public policy: no
•”a Greenie”: no. Turned Wasilla into a wasteland of big box stores
and disconnected parking lots. Is pro-drilling off-shore and in ANWR.
•fiscal conservative: not by my definition!
•pro-infrastructure: No. Promoted a sports complex and park in a city
without a sewage treatment plant or storm drainage system. Built
streets to early 20th century standards.
•pro-tax relief: Lowered taxes for businesses, increased tax burden on
residents
•pro-small government: No. Oversaw greatest expansion of city
government in Wasilla’s history.
•pro-labor/pro-union. No. Just because her husband works union
doesn’t make her pro-labor. I have seen nothing to support any claim
that she is pro-labor/pro-union.

WHY AM I WRITING THIS?

First, I have long believed in the importance of being an informed
voter. I am a voter registrar. For 10 years I put on student voting
programs in the schools. If you google my name (Anne Kilkenny +
Alaska), you will find references to my participation in local
government, education, and PTA/parent organizations.

Secondly, I’ve always operated in the belief that “Bad things happen
when good people stay silent”. Few people know as much as I do because
few have gone to as many City Council meetings.

Third, I am just a housewife. I don’t have a job she can bump me out
of. I don’t belong to any organization that she can hurt. But, I am no
fool; she is immensely popular here, and it is likely that this will
cost me somehow in the future: that’s life.

Fourth, she has hated me since back in 1996, when I was one of the 100
or so people who rallied to support the City Librarian against Sarah’s
attempt at censorship.

Fifth, I looked around and realized that everybody else was afraid to
say anything because they were somehow vulnerable.

CAVEATS
I am not a statistician. I developed the numbers for the increase in
spending & taxation 2 years ago (when Palin was running for Governor)
from information supplied to me by the Finance Director of the City of
Wasilla, and I can’t recall exactly what I adjusted for: did I adjust
for inflation? for population increases? Right now, it is impossible
for a private person to get any info out of City Hall–they are
swamped. So I can’t verify my numbers.

You may have noticed that there are various numbers circulating for the
population of Wasilla, ranging from my “about 5,000″, up to 9,000. The
day Palin’s selection was announced a city official told me that the
current population is about 7,000. The official 2000 census count was
5,460. I have used about 5,000 because Palin was Mayor from 1996 to
2002, and the city was growing rapidly in the mid-90’s.

Friday Five-Labor Day

1. Tell us about the worst job you ever had.
Just for the sheer meanness of the boss, it would have to be the first job I had, and kept for 3+ years in NYC. It was for a store planning company-menswear stores-interior design and it really launched a career, but the owner was really a mean man. He paid me 100. per week to start, no benefits, no health insurance, no sick days, no nothing. And for all of those years he never got my first name right. Of course I had to call him Mr. Did I mention that he would spit on the indoor/outdoor carpeting of the drafting room of this elegant office?

2. Tell us about the best job you ever had.
That would be Jack Lenor Larsen Inc. The man and the company were icons in the design industry. Google him!

3. Tell us what you would do if you could do absolutely anything (employment related) with no financial or other restrictions.
I would set up a private therapy practice.

4. Did you get a break from labor this summer? If so, what was it and if not, what are you gonna do about it?
This summer was relatives, relatives, relatives. Now we need a break! No plans, yet.

5. What will change regarding your work as summer morphs into fall? Are you anticipating or dreading?
We're now in the midst of our our state end fiscal year which is important to demonstrate that we are actually getting people with disabilities jobs. So that we get more funding for the next year. Busy!

Bonus question: For the gals who are mothers, do you have an interesting story about labor and delivery (LOL)? If you are a guy pal, not a mom, or you choose not to answer the above, is there a song, a book, a play, that says "workplace" to you?
Dolly singing 9-5, or Working Girl-the movie. 

Sad News-Del Martin is gone

08-27) 14:57 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Lesbian rights pioneer Del Martin, whose trailblazing activism spanned more than five decades, most recently in the battle for same-sex marriage, died Wednesday, just two months after she made history again by wedding her longtime partner in San Francisco City Hall.

Ms. Martin, an author and organizer, died at UCSF Hospice after a long period of declining health. She was 87 and was admitted to the hospital nearly two weeks ago with a broken arm.

Ms. Martin's crusading began in 1955, during an era in America known more for social conformity than for rebellion, when she co-founded a lesbian social-turned-political organization, Daughters of Bilitis, named after a 19th century book of lesbian love poetry.

This year, on June 16, she and her partner of 55 years, Phyllis Lyon, were legally wed. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom officiated. Theirs was among the first same-sex nuptials in California.

"Her last act of activism was her most personal - marrying the love of her life," said Kate Kendell, a longtime friend of the couple and executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights."

While I was still in college and living at home, I kept a post office box to receive the Daughters of Bilitis Newsletter. I am forever grateful to Del Martin and Phillis Lyons for helping a lost teenager in a small Ohio town to discover her true nature.

Maybe I'll Go Back in Time and Join the Newman Club

From the National Catholic Reporter: "Cardinal John Henry Newman The Catholic church’s attempt to exhume and quietly move the body of Cardinal John Henry Newman has run into controversy, with some saying Newman’s dying wishes are being ignored.

Church officials plan to move Newman’s remains from a grave in a small cemetery in the English town of Rednal to the Oratory church in the city of Birmingham where it will be transferred to a marble sarcophagus and can be venerated by pilgrims.

Newman wrote in his will that he wanted to be buried in the same grave as his longtime friend and spiritual companion, Fr. Ambrose St. John, whom Newman describes as the one great love of his life.

Newman was an Anglican priest who led the Oxford movement in the 1830s to draw Anglicans to their Catholic roots. He converted to Catholicism at the age of 44 after a succession of clashes with Anglican bishops made him a virtual outcast from the Church of England. He died in 1890.

Church officials say the Vatican Congregation for Saints’ Causes wants Newman’s body to be moved into a setting that befits his status as a potential saint. His beatification is expected to be announced later this year.

But British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell has described the removal “an act of religious desecration and moral vandalism.”

In an interview with Ecumenical News International, Tatchell said, “Newman repeatedly made it clear that he wanted to be buried next to his life-long partner, Ambrose St John. No one gave the pope permission to defy Newman’s wishes.

“The re-burial has only one aim in mind: to cover up Newman’s homosexuality and to disavow his love for another man. It is an act of shameless dishonesty and personal betrayal by the gay-hating Catholic Church,” Tatchell said.

Ambrose St. JohnWhether Newman and St. John’s relationship was an actively sexual one has never been clear, but it was indisputably intimate.

After St John’s death in 1875, Newman wrote: “I have ever thought no bereavement was equal to that of a husband’s or wife’s, but I feel it difficult to believe that any can be greater, or anyone’s sorrow greater than mine.”

St. John was also an Anglican priest who converted to Catholicism and joined Newman at the Oratory in Birmingham. (The Oratory of Saint Philip Neri is a congregation of Catholic priests and lay-brothers who live together in a community bound together by no formal vows but only with the bond of charity. Newman founded the Oratory in Birmingham in 1848.)

Their burial in the same grave was Newman’s emphatic wish, expressed in a note he wrote July 23, 1876, to Fr. William Neville, his literary executor. The note reads: “I wish, with all my heart, to be buried in Fr. Ambrose St. John’s grave – and I give this my last, my imperative will.”

It is the same note in which he dictates what would become his motto: Ex umbris et imaginibus in veritatem (from shadows and images into truth).

The depth of Newman’s and St. John’s relationship is detailed in scholarly work on “loving coupledom,” titled The Friend by Allen Bray (University of Chicago Press, 2003). The Friend was named book of the year in 2004 by History Today, and received an Award for Excellence from the American Academy of Religion.

One chapter of The Friend focuses on Newman and St. John. In it, Bray, a gay rights activist and respected British historian, explores the published works as well as memoirs, sermon notes and journals of Newman and his contemporaries. With this he reveals the intensity of Newman’s feelings for St. John.

Newman was overwhelmed with grief at St. John’s death. He wrote: “This is the greatest affliction I have had in my life” and later: “a day does not pass without my having violent bursts of crying and they weaken me, I dread them.”

Newman dedicated his Apologia to St. John:

Bray concludes of Newman and St. John: “Their bond was spiritual. … Their love was not the less intense for being spiritual. Perhaps it was the more so.”

Burial with St. John was not Newman’s only wish, according to Bray. He found in one of Newman’s manuscripts a sketch of a grave site that shows “a-s-j” buried below him and “e” and “jospeh” on either side. At the actual site in Rednal, Newman’s casket rests on St. John’s and between Edward Caswall and Joseph Gordon, two men who joined Newman’s Oratory in its earliest days. All preceded him in death.

Bray then tells this story:

“Newman’s room in the Oratory at Brimingham [is] exactly as Newman left it when he died in 1890. At the far side of the room is the altar where Newman (as a cardinal) said Mass, with the pictures of friends that he would remember at his Mass on the wall beside the altar. There one can see the pictures of Joseph Gordon, Ambrose St. John and Edward Caswall. These were as he put it, ‘The three who from the first threw in their lot with me, from the moment they could do so.’ “

Church Times, a London-based Anglican newspaper, is conducting an online poll, asking the question: “Should Cardinal Newman’s remains be moved?” As this story was being posted the Church Times‘ poll was running 22 percent in favor of moving the body and 78 percent against.

You can vote in the poll here: http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/question.asp?id=61972 [1].

Friday Five: When is the Fourth Friday not the Last Friday?

Songbird said:  "It's Friday afternoon, Eastern Time, and this is your faithful Songbird with a calendar-related Friday Five. Due to some confusion with our dates, I'm stepping in today, although I am usually here only on the 5th Friday, when there is such a thing.

Here are five things to ponder about dates. I hope you'll play!"

1) Datebooks--how do you keep track of your appointments? Electronically? On paper? Month at a glance? Week at a glance?
I usually keep a paper datebook, a PDA which has just been replaced by an Iphone, and various other calendars. I'm a wee bit neurotic about time, being on time, being there, not missing important appointments etc.

2) When was the last time you forgot an important date?
Probably about two years ago when I missed an appointment with my therapist, and WHAT did THAT mean?

3) When was the last time you went OUT on a date?
According to BL, not recently enough. Maybe tomorrow or Sunday

4) Name one accessory or item of clothing you love even though it is dated.
My numerous pairs of black trousers, though they're never out of date in NY/

5) Dates--the fruit--can't live with 'em? Or can't live without 'em?
I like them especially in cookies. My mother used to stuff them with cream cheese or nuts. Yum

Road Trip- My Aunt's 90th Birthday!

We're going to Girard and Warren, Ohio for my Aunt Julia's 90th  birthday (code name Juliefest90) this Saturday. We're expecting 64 guests so far. See the article to be posted in the local newspapers:

" Julia Yezzo Pollock Weddell, a woman who spent her life bringing joy to those around her, will celebrate her 90th birthday Saturday, August 16, 2008. Always the first person to lend a helping hand or offer a sympathetic ear, her family is delighted to be holding a party in her honor on August 16 in the Youngstown area.
Born in 1918, Julia worked most of her life in the grocery business, beginning at age 2 when she helped put sugar in bags and eggs in boxes (ed. note my first job was putting those eggs-fresh from the chicken, in the boxes) in her family's store. At 15, she learned to drive so that she could deliver groceries in the store's truck. Later, her family closed their store and she went to work in an area supermarket where she made fruit baskets during the holiday season.
She met her first husband at her sister's music lessons, and they enjoyed life together, quickly becoming godparents to many children of their family and friends, and having a daughter of their own. Sadly, her husband died young, but this didn't keep Julia down. She went on to build her own house, re-marry, enjoy lots of time with family and friends (including her granddaughter), and travel to other countries. She currently resides in Columbus, Ohio with her niece where she enjoys each and every day to its fullest. Even at 90, she is still energetic, friendly, and always willing to help others." written by her grandchild and my godchild.

She was always and still is like a second mother to me and I'm lucky I still have her. She insisted on walking me down the aisle at my religious wedding to BL.

Friday Five

Presbyterian Gal posted "It’s August. An oppressively hot and humid month where many of us live.

I remember the Al Pacino movie though not much about the plot. Just that it was very, very hot. And he had giant sweat stains on his shirt. (ed note: It was "Dog Day Afternoon" and he was robbing something to pay for a sex change for his lover)
As I pass through this year’s dog days in my felon ridden neighborhood (OK, just two housefuls. But isn’t that enough?), I am trying to focus on the blessings apparent around me, past and present, that I might not notice, necessarily. In that spirit, this week’s Friday Five goes thusly:"

1. What is your sweetest summer memory from childhood? Did it involve watermelon or hand cranked ice cream? Or perhaps a teen summer romance. Which stands out for you?
My sweetest summer memories (and saddest) involve the outdoor summers growing up in Ohio. We had a big yard that was my grandparents and where my parents build a house and my aunt and uncle had a house . There were several gardens and an Orchard, an outdoor fireplace to cook and big grape arbor, a giant swing my uncle built, a basketball hoop, a voleyball court, and lots of lawn. We were always outside playing, cooking, eating, picking fruit! It was lovely.

2. Describe your all time favorite piece of summer clothing. The one thing you could put on in the summer that would seem to insure a cooler, more excellent day.
Well, I did wear a two piece Jantzen swim suit from the time I was 16 till I lost the top, around the time I was 35 or so. I loved that navy suit with the swimming girl on the leg and the white piping...

3. What summer food fills your mouth with delight and whose flavor stays happily with you long after eaten?
Corn, watermelon, tomatoes, basil, and ice cream-that was easy.

4. Tell us about the summer vacation or holiday that holds your dearest memory.
Probably a trip to Italy I several years ago, although it took place in March!

5. Have you had any experience(s) this summer that has drawn you closer to God or perhaps shown you His wonder in a new way?
I'm still looking for this. As a child I prayed and prayed, obsessively one might say, that my father would stop drinking and my parents would stop fighting, and my prayers went unanswered. Sigh. Every day, in the subway, I pass people with red baseball caps and red aprons who accost me with flyers, saying prayer works. It always takes me back to the prayers of my childhood.

Bonus question: When it is really hot, humid and uncomfortable, what do you do to refresh and renew body and spirit?
A nice cold shower, followed by a nap. Or a swim in my lovely pool on 42nd St.

Up coming Retreat in the NY,PA,OH and all point near area

KIRKRIDGE RETREAT AND STUDY CENTER
2495 Fox Gap Road, Bangor, PA 18013-6028, 610-588-1793 . Fax: 610-588-8510
www. kirkridge.org
KIRKRIDGE
RETREAT AND STUDY CENTER
Sisterly Conversations: For Lesbian, Bisexual, Transwomen and Allies
VIRGINIA MOLLENKOTT
September 5-7, 2008 Fri 6:30 dinner thru Sun lunch
Program $150 + Room/Board $175
Current Issues for Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transwomen of Faith and our Allies. Sisterly
Coversations 2008 will focus on TRANSCENDING DAMAGE FROM CHURCH, FAMILY, AND SOCIETY. Activities include
• a presentation/small groups on what forgive- ness/transcendence mean and do not mean from a biblical perspective
• panel discussions/smallgroups on
--the role of communities in our healing
--developing relationships that help transcend early damage
--spiritual practices that support sexual and bodily healing
• talent-sharing, partying, dancing, singing together.
• screening of For The Bible Tells Me So, an award-winning film about families of faith who support their GLBT members
Music by Penny Gnesen and Sue Fulton, directors of the famed a capella group OLYMPIA’S DAUGHTERS.
Coordination and worship led by The Rev. Lillian Porter.
Virginia Mollenkott is a transgender lesbian Christian who is also a mother, grandmother,and author of 12 books, including the newly revised and expanded Omnigender (2007) and Sensuous Spirituality (forthcoming, 2008). She has been speaking and/or leading workshops at Kirkridge for over 35 years.
For more information check out her web site at
www.virginiarameymollenkott.com