Uncategorized Archives - Page 36 of 1210

Cat caused chaos

One man’s ceiling is another man’s floor

For about 15 minutes, there was bedlam in my house on Sunday, May 26. The cat caused chaos. Of course, it was Midnight.

My daughter was about to take a shower. Midnight had become fixated on the tub, trying to get water from the faucet. I will acknowledge that at least one person in our household, frequently finding him in the tub, would gently turn on the water. After all, he seemed to enjoy drinking the water that way. Moreover, it was a way to clean his grody feet, especially his rear paws.

But when she wanted to shower, she later said she couldn’t get him to leave. He CAN be onery. So he stayed. Afterward, she texted me, noting that he peed on the floor and a couple of pieces of her clothes.

At the time she was leaving the bathroom, my wife had come home from a visit to her mother’s. So, simultaneously, my daughter is asking me to clean the upstairs bathroom floor AND my wife is calling me, quite insistently, to come downstairs. Plus I was scheduled to talk to my sisters on ZOOM in about five minutes.

There was water in the downstairs bathroom, leaking from the ceiling. When my daughter washed her clothes in the upstairs sink, water got into the hole that stopped the sink from overflowing. The water, I discovered, didn’t have anywhere to go except into the cabinet below and, subsequently, the downstairs bathroom ceiling.

The ceiling dripped for a couple of days, but much of the water was absorbed by the now-sagging ceiling tiles above the downstairs toilet. Ah, another home repair to deal with. When you’re the homeowner, you can’t call the landlord.

Reciprocity

Here’s something dumb that the blogger did more recently (May 30). My CDs are in a library file cabinet I bought from the Albany Public Library when they were renovating a few years ago.

For no good reason, the lowest three drawers were open. There was clutter in front of them, but still. I opened the second drawer from the top and the file cabinet, with about 2,000 CDs, started tipping over.

I called to my wife, “Help me!” She thought it involved the cats; we’d been away for two days. Then I screamed, “HELP! ME!!” as I leaned into the cabinet. She closed the upper drawer, then one of the lower ones.

If it had crashed, I feared it would put a hole in the floor. That goes in the category of things I’ll never do again.

Freedom Summer? Oh, please

Pride month

The Washington Post (behind a paywall) notes: “As part of what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is calling ‘Freedom Summer,’ his Transportation Department has told cities across the state that if they want to light up their bridges at night, they can only use the colors red, white and blue.”

Yeah, I know it’s symbolic, and all that. Still, to dub an anachronistic policy after the activism of 1964 means, to quote Inigo Montoya in the movie The Princess Bride, “I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Sixty years ago, people traveled through Mississippi to register Black voters who had been thwarted from voting because of punitive laws and fear of retribution. Volunteers also established Freedom Schools, libraries, and community centers for the Black community in small towns.

(One of those volunteers was David Kabat, whose sister Julie – who I know – wrote about him and the movement in Love Letter From A Pig, which she talked about before a performance of Three Mothers.)

“The[Florida] order — which was shared by Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue on social media recently — means that bridges across the state that normally illuminate in colorful arrays of light to mark holidays or awareness events won’t be able to use any other colors from May 27 through Sept. 2.”

During the 1964 summer, scores of people were arrested, some beaten. Black churches, businesses, and homes were bombed or burned, and several folks were murdered.

“‘As Floridians prepare for Freedom Summer, Florida’s bridges will follow suit, illuminating in red, white, and blue from Memorial Day through Labor Day!’ Perdue wrote on X. ‘Thanks to the leadership of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida continues to be the freest state in the nation.'”

The sound you hear is me gagging

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar notes in his Substack column: “It is clear that DeSantis especially wants to target the LGBTQ+ community by denying them the ability to display Pride colors during the Pride month of June. But his ban also affects other light displays during the summer: orange for National Gun Awareness Month; yellow for Women’s Equality Day; and red, black, and green for Juneteenth.”

I looked for articles that showed what I’ve already seen: a concerted effort to roll back gains by LGBTIQ+ folks, and a palpable fear in the community. Many are from 2023.

GLAAD: “Each of the previous two years—2022 and 2021—were record-setting years for anti-LGBTQ legislation, and the public rhetoric around these issues has increased since then.”

SPLC: “A central theme of anti-LGBTQ organizing and ideology is the opposition to LGBTQ rights or support of homophobia, heterosexism and/or cisnormativity often expressed through demonizing rhetoric and grounded in harmful pseudoscience that portrays LGBTQ people as threats to children, society and often public health.”

The Trevor Project: “75% of LGBTQ youth say that both anti-LGBTQ hate crimes and threats of violence against LGBTQ spaces often give them stress or anxiety.”

Homeland Security(!): “To protect against these increasing threats, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with support from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has launched the LGBTQI+ Community Safety Partnership.”

Vigilance

From UN Women in May 2024: “State and non-state actors in many countries are attempting to roll back hard-won progress and further entrench stigma, endangering the rights and lives of LGBTIQ+ people. These movements use hateful propaganda and disinformation to target and attempt to delegitimize people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and sex characteristics. ”

As in other civil rights arenas, fighting against bigotry is arguably more important now than ever. Also true: you think you’ve won the day, only to find out that you still have to fight the battle that you thought had already been litigated.

Meh. It’s exhausting. And necessary, unfortunately.

Sunday Stealing: if you like art

the new orange

Another Sunday Stealing.

1. If you like art, who is your favourite artist and why?

I love seeing art. The Clark Art Museum and MASS MoCA are just two venues not so far away. That reminds me that last week I wrote about the Nell Stokes exhibit at the Albany Institute of History and Art being cut short. It is now scheduled to end on December 31, 2024, as initially promised. This is good because I had not had a chance to see it.

I think Rodin sculptures are sexy as all get out and much more so in person than in photos. Speaking of photos, I’d go with Dorothea Lange. As for painters, there are too many to name.

2. If you were able to learn any three skills or talents instantly and with success, what would they be?

Computer repair, typing, and square dancing.

3. If you were to live in Ancient Times, where – in what country – would you want to live in?

Nigeria, probably because I have ancestors there.

4. What is something you’re embarrassed to admit to liking? Whether it be a guilty pleasure show, or unusual hobby, etc.

I’ve given up on guilty pleasures. I mean, I used to collect comic books. I still have comics-related books and Hess trucks.

Worst job

5. What is the worst job you’ve ever had?

I worked in a box factory, but that was only two weeks. Empire Blue Cross was pretty terrible but it was only 13 months. Possibly my last job because it was so often disappointing; it wasn’t terrible all of the time, but most of the last four years were awful, and there were periods before that.

6. What is something that you wanted to do as a child that you would still like to do now?

Be a trial lawyer. I was a sucker for Perry Mason, Judd for the Defense, The Bold Ones: The Lawyers, et al.

7. What do you hate being judged for more than anything else?

Appearance. It seems so shallow.

8. What is your life’s mission?

To make people’s lives suck less.

9. If everyone walked around wearing warning labels, what would yours say?

I have a very long fuse, but I will likely scream at you if I tell you I’m reaching my limit, yet you keep pushing it.

10. At what age did you first feel like you were an adult?

I think it’ll be next year. Or the year after that.

Speak up

11. When did you not speak up, but wish you had?

I actually talked to someone about this in May 2024. In my last job, the organization was taken over for a couple of years around the turn of the millennium by a corrupt yet idiotic political hack named Felix, who eventually was indicted and went to jail for a time.

I was in charge of a committee tasked to hire someone to be a business advisor, which was all done by the book. Then one of the committee members, who I’ll call Holly, said we had to select someone else as well, a person who had not gone through the vetting process. I said I wouldn’t sign off on it, so SHE did.

I didn’t think complaining up the chain would have mattered – the chancellor’s wife worked for Felix. But maybe I should have found a mid-level bureaucrat to complain to, who might have been more isolated from the chain of command. Still, I was so taken aback by Holly’s action that I didn’t remember the name of the mystery candidate, though maybe the bureaucrats could have found the person by their work start date. But the political corruption was so bad at the time that nothing would likely have happened.

12. What is something that makes your skin crawl?

Bad liars. Orange is the new orange.

13. What was the last thing to give you butterflies in your stomach?

Doing a book review.

14. What’s your favorite type of media to work with? (Paint, clay, pens, etc.)

I’m not an artist. But I used to love Play-Doh.

15. What question do you hate answering?

I might have said talking about racism. But one of the comments to a recent post reminded me that people are at different places in their awareness of the phenomenon.

#1 hits of 1954: rock and roll is coming

The voice of Tony the Tiger

Here are the #1 hits of 1954. Even though I was an infant when these came out, some of them are familiar because they got heavily played on oldies stations.

Sidebar: one of the rare times I REALLY feel old is when I hear music of the 1990s described as “oldies.”

All of these songs were gold records except This Ole House. There are 65 weeks of #1 songs because of competing Billboard charts.

Little Things Mean A Lot – Kitty Kallen (Decca), nine weeks at #1

Sh-Boom – The Crew Cuts (Mercury), nine weeks at #1. The Crew Cuts was a white Canadian group. From A Century of Pop Music by Joel Whitburn: Sh-Boom was originally “a song by the R&B group The Chords.” The Chords’ version (Cat) went to #5 pop and #2 for two weeks RB that year. “The subsequent influx of R&B songs covered by white artists such as Pat Boone and Gale Storm introduced R&B to the mass audience and left white teens hungry for more.” I’ve heard both versions.

Wanted – Perry Como with Hugo Winterhalter’s orchestra and chorus (RCA Victor), eight weeks at #1

Oh! My Papa (O Mein Papa) – Eddie Fisher with Hugo Winterhalter’s orchestra and chorus (RCA Victor), eight weeks at #1. I remember this song, which I found schmaltzy.

Make Love To Me! – Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and his orchestra (Columbia), seven weeks at #1

Mr. Sandman – The Chordettes (Cadence), seven weeks at #1. The “yes?” is spoken by Archie Bleyer, Cadence’s founder and the orchestra leader on the recording. It’s a song I already linked to this year. A Reddit post says it’s “the best unintentionally creepy song,” which I’m not feeling.

George Clooney’s aunt

Hey There – Rosemary Clooney with Buddy Cole and his orchestra (Columbia), six weeks at #1. The song is from the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. I remember that first line after the intro.

Secret Love– Doris Day with the orchestra conducted by Ray Heindorf (Columbia), four weeks at #1. From the Warner Brothers picture, Calamity Jane, in which she starred. The IMDb states she recorded the song in one take.

This Ole House – Rosemary Clooney with Buddy Cole and his orchestra (Columbia), three weeks at #1. I always liked this song, especially the featured bass vocals by the wonderful Thurl Ravenscroft.

I Need You Now – Eddie Fisher with Hugo Winterhalter’s orchestra (RCA Victor), three weeks at #1

Three Coins In The Fountain – Four Aces featuring Al Alberts (Decca), one week at #1. Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn wrote the title song from the 20th Century film.

Inspiration porn

pigeonholing the disabled

I learned a new phrase this week: inspiration porn. The Wikipedia entry describes it as “the portrayal of people with disabilities (or other uncommon life circumstances) as being inspirational to able-bodied people (or other common reference group), on the basis of their life circumstances.”

As is my habit, I watched CBS Sunday Morning this week. There was an interview with Emmy-award-winning performer Kyra Sedgwick, who is currently performing in the Off-Broadway comedy “All of Me” written by Laura Winters. “Sedgwick plays the mother of a young disabled woman who is romantically involved with a disabled man. “

“Correspondent Mo Rocca talks with Sedgwick about the play… and with actors Madison Ferris and Danny J. Gomez who say they like the play for not indulging in what’s been called ‘inspiration porn.'”

Ferris and Gomez both have disabling conditions. “Look at this disabled kid who scored the basket, and everyone picks him up, and it’s like He’s so inspirational!” Or “they have a special skill that NO ONE ELSE CAN DO.”

Also, John Green, interviewed on NOCD, discusses how a lifetime of OCD inspired his novel Turtles All The Way Down. He talks about how the disease is either romanticized as something that gives you secret superpowers or freakish.

How did I miss this?

I’m late to the discussion. Back in 2014, the year she died, Stella Young gave a TEDxSydney talk called “Inspiration porn and the objectification of disability.” The Disability Rights Advocate is attributed with coining the term in 2012.

From here: “The statement ‘the only disability in life is a bad attitude’ puts the responsibility for our oppression squarely at the feet, prosthetic or otherwise, of people with disabilities. It’s victim blaming. It says that we have complete control of the way disability impacts our lives. To that, I have one thing to say. Get stuffed.”

Bugging me

Certain stories in the media have made me uncomfortable for quite a while. I thought I was being a misanthrope. “Perhaps you’ve been scrolling on social media when you come across a short article or video about how a disabled teenager was invited to prom, how ‘bravely’ a disabled person participated in a sport or a job, or how a group of friends got together to do something charitable for a disabled person.

“In their shortest form, they might appear as memes of a disabled person doing an activity with some inspirational quote, or asking ‘What’s your excuse?” — an implied ‘If this person can do it, what’s your excuse for not being able to do it too?'”

NBC Nightly News loves these stories, especially on Saturdays. One in particular I found particularly unsettling. A teen, an assistant on the football team, got to suit up for one game, the last one in his senior year. The opposition made half-hearted efforts to tackle him – talk about taking a dive! – before he scored! The teen and his parent were thrilled, and the news anchor was happy. I found it cringeworthy and patronizing. This does not suggest that the gesture was not offered with good intentions.

Here’s a list of inspiration porn from qi creative.

I have seen remarkable stories, that I don’t believe fall in the category. When Chris Nikicc became the first person with Down’s syndrome EVER to run all the major marathons, I was impressed. Maybe it’s because running all of the big marathons is remarkable in its own right.

The line between inspiration and inspiration porn may seem fuzzy. Read from some of the links and I believe it will make more sense.