Latest Entries »

Freshly. Made. Bed.

Filed under: Art & Literature, Being Mom, Food!, Love, Musicness, Politics, Time Management, Uncategorized — Leave a comment
April 2, 2013

It’s really my favorite thing in the world. Tonight, I listened to punk rock & the rain & wrote in my journal. All in my freshly. made. bed.

❤

I also had this conversation with Cole:

Me (taking a picture of my food): I’m blogging again, which means every moment of my life is way more interesting than it actually is.

Cole: yeah, that’s pretty much blogging on a nutshell.

Image

And read several items on the internet through the day:

Time Budgeting: https://medium.com/products-i-wish-existed/4f631ebb9b80 (I’ve written about this very topic here: http://choredork.blogspot.com/ and probably other places I cannot currently find. I’ll probably write more about it in the coming weeks, as I’m earnestly looking for someone(s) to help create the product that Ev is wishing existed.)

Watching Justin Timberlake and Jimmy Fallon do Barry and Andy Gibb, and cracking the fuck up: http://youtu.be/E7c44rtpzPg

Dreaming about a positive outcome for this lawsuit against the EPA being brought by beekeepers, environmentalists, and consumer groups.

Looking at pictures of yesterday’s Tent City Action taken by John Jack Anderson of the Chronicle.

Finally putting some information up on the Education Never Ends Facebook page.

Reliving Nick Cave.

Reading this article comparing Online learning to University, which I will probably opine about later, when I’ve set up the Education Never Ends blog. (Also, really guys? MOOCS of Hazard?)

…and the day began with a confirmed appointment with a mentor at SCORE.

Which really just proves that the following also applies to jobs:

Image

❤

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

Habit-Forming

Filed under: Uncategorized — Leave a comment
April 1, 2013

I figure the best time to “start blogging again” ™ is April Fool’s Day. That way, if I don’t ACTUALLY “start blogging again” I can play it off like it was some big April Fool’s joke.

In actuality (or maybe not, depending on whether this is an April Fool’s Joke) I would really like to start blogging again (for realsies – no quotesies) and it seems like the first of the month is a good time to start. Or the first day of my actual unemployment (after the severance pay is gone). Or the first day I’ve vowed to actually Do Something(s) Useful on a daily basis, therefore keeping a blog to document the Something(s) Useful I have done on a daily basis…

You get the picture.

I figure I’ll start easy, like old times, by just talking about what I did on a given day. A day in the life of an unemployed single mother. Maybe I’ll throw some pictures in for good measure. And, perhaps this act of reporting out will motivate me to continue to find interesting things to do on a regular basis and keep my ass out of depression mode and in inspiration mode.

So, today. What did I do today?

First there was Cole, who returned from his weekend with his father early in the morning. We read a bit of Penpal, which is getting quite suspenseful (I swear the author is becoming a better writer as the book progresses.)

I’ve been trying to spend as much time out on my front porch as possible now that I am free from the encumbrance of a morning rush. Today, I made myself a bagel and a cup of yesterday’s coffee and sat out reading Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich while I ate. After which, I went out for a walk, listening to music and writing poetry in my head.

I’m doing a sort of experimental project with voice recognition software. What I’ll do is walk around dictating lines of poetry that pop into my head, and not looking at how it’s translated  into text until much later, after I’ve forgotten what I actually said. Sometimes it’s much better than I ever could have imagined. Sometimes it’s a nonsensical jumble of words. At this point, I’m so averse to writing actual poetry that I would want to claim credit for that I’m happy to take whatever I can get. Perhaps I’ll share some one day. Today, all I got was:

“I am a irrepressible you are implacable but replaceable”

I walked for about an hour or so – enough to sweat and get a little pink – and then I made my way down to the pop-up tent city protest that was taking place just east of downtown. I hung out there for a bit, holding a sign and scheming with the Occupy Austin co-conspirators about stuff.

I’ve been avoiding a lot of social contact over the past few weeks. Avoiding talking things over with friends and acquaintances. I have some ideas for projects that I’m pretty excited about, and because I haven’t shared them, arm-wavingly, with other people, I have been slowly losing steam about getting them started and losing interest. This blog was actually something I schemed to help reverse that trend, although some of my ideas aren’t appropriate for discussion here because they’re private and I don’t want to share them until they are more fully developed. I’m glad I took time out today to talk to people who were able to offer feedback and enthusiasm for some of the plans I am hoping to hatch over the next few months, especially since some of them have plans of their own that I think would be compatible with mine. 🙂

ImageAt any rate, the pop-up tent city action was small, loosely organized, but so wonderful. I honestly can’t express enough about how thankful I am for the work that Occupy Austin and all of its loosely associated factions are doing. Yes, it’s chaotic and frequently disorganized. Yes, there are times when I feel like we don’t have focus. Yes, there’s all manner of other critical things one can say about the group and the individual actions, but the thing that still floors me is that we are a group of people who never ever would have met each other in any other context – some homeless, some housed, some jobless, some employed, with varying degrees of wealth and different cultures – working together to try to make a better world.Image

Sometimes that means standing on a street corner in front of a couple of pitched tents that say “The Shelters are Full” with signs proclaiming “400 beds, 10,000 homeless people” and “open up the buildings.” Sometimes that means organizing a show with a band from Oakland. And sometimes these individual actions seem meaningless, and maybe sometimes they are to some, but they mean a fuck of a lot to me. I’m proud of all of the people who take time out of their lives to organize actions, and so glad I now have the opportunity to support those actions more.

Image

I was out for a couple of hours before I started to get a little sunburned, and figured I should head home to fix dinner for the kiddos. Cooking is one of those other luxuries that I now have time for since I am unemployed. I used to spend Sunday cooking meals for the week, which worked out pretty well, but always made my weekend feel really short. Now I can just cook meals any old time. We’ve been trying to save money on groceries by shopping from a strict pantry list, with only minor deviations, so my challenge is always to find something that utilizes ingredients from that list. It’s been a fun challenge. Today, after winding down for a little while with Wendell Berry’s essay “The Body and the Earth” from _The Art of the Commonplace_,  I made Chickpea Salad with cous cous and steamed broccoli. It was pretty good, though it would have been better if I had made it in the morning and allowed all of the ingredients to have a party together in the fridge and become more marinatedy. Still, it was a nice healthy-ish meal, the kids didn’t complain, and it was super easy to make.

Image

After we ate, I ran out to Occupy Austin General Assembly at the Texas State Capitol. It’s been a very occupy-ish day today. There were only about 6 or 7 people there total, but we somehow managed to draw 4-5 DPS officers to us, which was annoying.

Image

Plans are being made to have a Mayday picnic with teach-ins and other activities, and I’m really excited that I have time to help organize. If you are reading this and you have a skill that you want to share, feel free to let me know. I’m going to be in charge of the teach-ins and skill shares. Aside from potlucks, that’s really my favorite thing to do.

General Assembly was short and informal. We talked about teach-in topics and technology and various things. I made an announcement someone asked me to make about an upcoming event, and the Occupy Austin End Homelessness representative announced their weekly meetings, and then it was over. The DPS agents who were standing around the whole time came down to make sure we didn’t have any contraband (i.e. CHALK – or something equally nefarious like water pistols!) and we all went our separate ways.

So, now here I am. Sunburned but full of excitement and plans. Bursting at the seams, it seems. Ready to close the book on today and get ready for tomorrow’s adventures.

❤

P.S. I almost forgot I am going to end each day’s blog with a list of links that I’ve run across throughout the day and squirreled away at various places around the internet. A link dump, is what the kids used to call it, but that would just make everyone around here guffaw, so I won’t call it that:

Declaration of the Eviction-Free Zone

Ongoing Tech Problems Can Make You Feel Pranked

Announcing SXSWUni

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Comment

…

Filed under: Art & Literature, Being Mom, Love, Musicness — 1 Comment
November 4, 2012

How many blog posts start out with “I’m suffering from a severe case of writer’s block.” It’s like the modern day equivalent of a zinesters “Sorry this issue is late.” But it’s true in my case. I’ve been in denial that my lack of online presence has anything to do with internal factors, instead blaming it on the externals of Being Busy and Having Other Obligations.

If I’m honest, I’m not too busy. Creativity is a priority for me, so taking time to write should be part of that busy-ness. Yet, I find myself avoiding writing, both publicly and privately, even though I’m in serious need of an outlet.

Things here at the house are good, in spite of the overarching stress of an impending, potentially disruptive event. Both children are making progress towards their individual goals, and I’m doing my best to balance the needs of all of our family members with the resources available to each individual family member. I have plans in my head of perhaps traveling to New Orleans in December or January to visit a friend and get away from all of this…stuff.

In other words, we’re surviving. Sometimes thriving, sometimes not. Surviving You, Always…

Success, and Failure…

I am working on trusting myself. Assessing the damage. I’d like to assume I am bulletproof, but I am not. The other day, I surprised myself by bursting into tears, an act which used to occur far more frequently. Is it that I feel less, or that I’m better at suppressing? Has honesty become a commodity too precious for me to spare?

There’s a part of me that wants to hide…become anonymous. But there’s another part of me that says I am anonymous. If I don’t actively seek to share, no one will know I said it, and that’s fine. Those who seek me out will get what they seek.

In general, everything is fine. I’ve been playing the Sims a lot lately, attempting to exercise/exorcise my need to control by controlling my little e-families. I turned to Monk one day and said “My SIM doesn’t complain about his schoolwork.” Yes, I realize it’s ridiculous, but you do what you can. This world is a very strange place to live. This time is a very strange increment.

The writing prompt from WordPress is to write a letter to yourself at 14. I feel like I’m trying to do that in raising my children the way I am attempting to raise them. My letter would say this:

Dear L (or M…or C)…

Stop working so hard to be perfect.

None of the things you think matter matters nearly as much as you thought. And the things you think do not matter? Turns out those don’t really matter much, either.

Listen to the tao. Don’t just hear…absorb.

Be open to experiences, but maintain your distance from them. Remain critical, in a hopeful way. Trust your instincts, but please learn to differentiate instinct from fear.

Listen to punk rock.

Listen to folk rock.

Listen to the anarchists.

Read zines. Learn about community. Don’t forget, but if you do forget – you will be reminded, so don’t worry.

Don’t worry.

Live freely.

Love openly. Err on the side of kindness. It really fucking hurts to trust. I know. But trust anyway. Stay in touch with loved ones. Pay attention. STOP WORRYING. It really is true that within the margin of error and certain parameters, everything really does turn out ok. But don’t forget those who dwell outside of those parameters for whom things do not turn out ok. When taking risks, consider them, as well as yourself. Don’t confuse luck for skill. Don’t mistake circumstance for predestiny. Give more credit than you accept. Worry is negative goal setting. DON’T GET INVOLVED IN RELATIONSHIPS UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND FULLY WHAT YOU ARE GETTING YOURSELF INTO. It’s not selfish to conserve your own energy, provided you don’t make promises you can’t keep while preserving that energy. Be nice to your mama.

❤ Really think about what means the most to you & don’t let anyone interrupt or destroy those things.

And be thankful for what you’ve got…

Comment

Why I homeschool

Filed under: Uncategorized — 1 Comment
September 3, 2012

I made the choice to homeschool my children early on in my career as a parent. In fact, my affinity for alternative education pre-dated even the idea that I might one day have children. As a young adult contemplating a college education, at one point I decided that I might want to go to school to become a teacher. An older friend of mine who had children that he homeschooled advised against that, and pointed me in the direction of John Holt, the man who many consider to be the grandfather of the modern homeschooling movement.

At that point in my life, the thought of having children was so nonexistent it was not even an abstract thought – it was a non-thought. However, I read some of the works of John Holt, as well as Summerhill, by A.S. Neil, and framed the principles of homeschooling and freeschooling in the context of my own life.

Growing up, I was the youngest in a family of 7 children. Either due to exhaustion, trust in me, or faith in the universe, my mother was a very hands-off parent. Most of the time, I was left to my own devices. I don’t remember there being a lot of rules in my house, and as I got older, I was the only one among my friends who had no curfew and who never got “grounded.” I also had a lot of freedom to do things like travel with friends and stay home from school. I took advantage of these freedoms in very positive ways. I would ask my mom to call me in to school so I could spend the day reading, for instance. Or, as I got older and started doing zines, I would stay home to write letters. Sometimes, I would be at school, and I would get the urge to walk around and write poems, so I would ask my mom to call the office and say I had a doctor’s appointment, and I would walk home and stop occasionally to transcribe the random thoughts that freedom allowed to percolate in my brain.

My mom took a chance by allowing me to have this freedom, and I feel like she made the right choice. Because I was allowed to make choices and do things that my friends weren’t allowed to do, I was extra careful to earn that responsibility retroactively. I did well in school, didn’t get into trouble, stayed away from drugs and drinking, and used my freedom to explore things that I found interesting and productive. As a result, I feel like I was better educated outside of my public school experience than I was inside. I will always be thankful to my mother for giving me the opportunity to explore my world without fear and with few limits. As a result of the freedom I was given, I have made some out-of-the-ordinary choices about what paths to take in life, and I have not had many regrets.

This is one of the main reasons I homeschool my own children, and why I am conscious of what I allow/disallow in their lives. I feel that as long as they are responsible with their freedom, exploring their world, and staying on top of the academics that will help them achieve their long-term goals (when they get around to figuring out what those are) they have the right to their freedom, as well as the responsibilities that come with it. And, as their parent, I should have the right to allow them to pursue that freedom, as well as the responsibility to ensure it is not to their detriment.

Comment

A Look into the Causes of Poverty in the U.S.

Filed under: Uncategorized — Leave a comment
August 15, 2012

See on Scoop.it – Community Technology

“Are more and more people in the western world dropping off the radar and becoming the invisible poor or is the opposite happening?  We recently heard that an astounding 46 million Americans are officially below the poverty line (That’s $23,050/year for a family of four according to the official sources).  That number really caught our eye and as such we decided to do a little more digging to help put some more facts and figures around it.  Above is a nice visualization of the results we came up with.”

See on www.paydayloan.co.uk

Comment

#chalkupy #a9 #oatx #occupyaustin

Filed under: Art & Literature, Being Mom, Politics, Uncategorized — Leave a comment
August 9, 2012

This is just ridiculous, guys. Will you please wake the fuck up? They are arresting people all over the country today. FOR WRITING IN CHALK ON SIDEWALKS. Are you ready to admit that this is a nationwide coordinated effort to silence all dissent yet? Because I’m getting kind of tired of having to witness this crap and trying to convince you all that this is ACTUALLY happening. In our country.Image

Today, children and adults alike engaged in some very innocent play by drawing and writing in the sidewalk with chalk. We were expressing our right to free speech and assembly in a playful, impermanent way. The same way children have been expressing their rights to assemble and play for decades.The state troopers were gathered across the street, and an undercover agent (I shit you not) was parked across the street, watching us with binoculars. (I TOTALLY SHIT YOU NOT!)Image

We had enough time to do a significant amount of chalking before the 10 or so state troopers gathered up like they do. Sort of like a copflock. A murder of cops? At any rate, they huddled up, and soon approached en masse upon the 10 or so of us who were chalking and documenting the chalking.

Handcuffs out, they targeted two people: The guy with the mask, and the woman with the “Peaceful Streets” t-shirt on. Cuffed them, as we protested and questioned whether they even had jurisdiction where we were. The site was specifically chosen because it is public property and NOT on the capitol grounds. Maude knows we don’t want to have any more run-ins with officer “Can’t tell the difference between a neon green squirt gun and a real gun, so I can’t guarantee I won’t shoot your ass if you have a squirt gun out in my vicinity.”Image

That would be Officer Cummings, by the way. He was Officer Annoyingpants at the J4 celebration. Constantly interrupting our peaceful teach-ins to remind us that they were watching us and they wouldn’t let us get away with such nefarious things as Having Signs With Political Messages On Them, Drawing Flowers With Chalk, or Engaging in a Playful Water Fight On a Hot Summer Day, or Pitching a Symbolic Tent That Symbolizes Our Right to Fair Housing And Equal Consideration In Our Political Process, Regardless Of How Much Or Little Money We Have. He was the instigator-in-chief at this event, as well. I’m embarrassed for him. I asked him whether he plans to tell his children that he arrested people for drawing in chalk on the sidewalk today. I believe he’s the officer who told the children present that they were committing a crime and that chalk is destruction of property. I’m sure that seed will sprout into a healthy distrust of the police when those kiddos realize (if they didn’t already) that CHALK washes off and destroys NOTHING. (How hard is it to be a parent these days, when police officers do so many morally inappropriate things. How can anyone expect me to teach my highly skeptical children that they should obey laws because they are legitimate, and then have a police officer cite a law that is so completely illegitimate? Officer: You put me in an incredibly difficult place as a parent. I’m kind of used to being in that place, unfortunately, as I do my best to navigate the roles of activist parent, activist, parent, active parent, parent activist…while also attempting to do my best to allow my children the sovereignty to form their own ideas, even if that means their ideas often conflict with mine. Which is something I’m being asked to do a lot lately.

At any rate, after the two criminally mischievous ones were hauled away, Officer Cummings came across the street to shoot photos of our heinous crimes. (Remember, we are still talking about chalk, here.) Afterwards, he REACHED FOR HIS GUN as a random pedestrian made the mistake of running across the street without realizing that Officer Cummings is that trigger-happy dude who, as I said above, can not distinguish a plastic squirt gun from a real gun, a piece of chalk from an instrument of Criminal Mischief (class B, because I guess they had to justify having so many officers out for NON-PERMANENT CHALK THAT CAN BE WASHED AWAY WITH A BUCKET OF WATER.) and a guy trying to catch the light from a DANGEROUS PERSON ARMED WITH CHALK WHO MUST BE ELIMINATED. I am seriously concerned about Officer Cummings. Actually, I am seriously concerned that any member of our police force would choose to reach for a gun as a first response to any sort of pedestrian encounter without any solid eImagevidence or clue that said pedestrian, or anyone else in the vicinity, has any propensity to violence whatsoever.ImageIt’s a scary fucking world we live in where people can just be engaging in a harmless, fun, creative activity – A form of protest, but an entirely non-threatening, non-violent one – and can just be hauled away in handcuffs without any warning. I really thought I had seen it all when it comes to ridiculous police response for benign non-offenses. Apparently, I had not. I came away from our action today feeling yet more radicalized and at the same time more frightened of the erosion of my rights and the rights of all of us. It was sobering.

And like I came around to feeling about the arrest at J4, I very much feel like Audrey and Corey are superheroes for being arrested. They weren’t expecting it. None of us were. I mean, who actually expects to be arrested for chalking? We’ve all done it millions of times. The moment it becomes a crime is when it stops being “innocent” child’s play and starts becoming OUR CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.
Image

As a parent, I know that kids can draw their own conclusions about that.
Comment

Criminal Mischief…

Filed under: Art & Literature, Politics — 1 Comment
July 15, 2012

For those who have not been informed, we are living in a completely ridiculous period in history where the police have nothing better to do with their time than harass individuals finding creative ways of expressing themselves in an increasingly frustrating and repressive world. You might call it alarmist to say that we live in a police state. Perhaps, comparatively speaking, it IS alarmist. However, in my opinion, when banksters and financiers can tank our economic system with barely any legal repercussions, when slumlords and property owners can force vulnerable people to live in unsafe conditions because they fear the only other option is to live on the streets, and when our own city makes homelessness illegal without providing adequate alternatives for those who are unable to afford housing AND THE POLICE INSTEAD TARGET AND HARASS PEOPLE WHO ARE PEACEFULLY ATTEMPTING TO REDRESS AND DEVISE ALTERNATIVES TO THESE POINTS, EXPRESS THEMSELVES CREATIVELY, AND SUPPORT THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING DISPROPORTIONATELY WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE CURRENT SYSTEM…I think it’s pretty fair to say something has gone horribly awry.

So often, I sit down to write a blog post such as this, and I’m so frustrated and angry with all I have seen that I don’t even know where to begin. Or end. Today, I will begin and end with chalk.

Veteran Chalking

An IVAW veteran chalks it up on the grounds of the capitol

On Wednesday, July 4th, 2012, a group of activists from across the state of Texas gathered on the lawn of the Texas State Capitol to participate in a day-long “occupation” that included food, education, rallying, and marching. As I was leaving to pick up some folks coming in from Houston, I noticed the Iraq Veterans Against the War folks drawing some beautiful chalk pieces on the sidewalk near the space they had staked out for their day’s activities.

For those who aren’t familiar with IVAW, my experiences with them have always left me with respect and admiration for the work they do. Right now, their main campaign is a Operation Recovery, and they do a lot of work with healing using art and relationship-building to support soldiers who are dealing with the mental health issues related to combat, as well as the stigma surrounding those issues that prevent them from seeking help. I felt so honored to have them among us on the 4th, and was glad they were creating a comfortable space to promote their activities and educate the public.

IVAW chalk drawing of flower power

When I returned, the beautiful chalk drawings were complete, and people were relaxing and enjoying a very peaceful day. The teach-ins were not yet in full swing, so people were talking, eating, doing bodywork, and reaching out to the general public as they passed by. All of these activities, including the actual creation of the chalk drawings, were observed closely by the dozen or so state troopers who were stationed around the grounds and apparently had nothing better to do than devise reasons to threaten to arrest the sleepy, yet productive crowd of people, who numbered between 50-250 at various points throughout the day.

I snapped some photos of the drawings as we walked by. By the time I reached our info table about 5 minutes later, we heard the police were threatening to detain the artists. We walked back to witness officers insisting the chalk must be immediately washed away, or the people responsible would be charged with “Criminal Mischief.” The IVAW attempted to reason with the officers that they were merely enjoying a holiday by creating artwork to engage passersby, but the troopers insisted the drawings be immediately cleaned up. IVAW complied, but it wasn’t the last we heard from troopers that day. (Video: Texas State Troopers confront IVAW about chalk drawings)

In Los Angeles, the LAPD have arrested at least 12 people in the last 6 weeks for chalking. Occupy LA decided to protest these ridiculous arrests by handing out sidewalk chalk at a monthly Art Walk and encouraging people to express their rights to free speech. LAPD responded with arrests, officers in riot gear escalated the situation, people (most of them not actually protesters) were threatened and shot at with “less lethal” weapons, and chaos ensued. Because of chalk. In this report, an officer admits that police presence is escalated during the Art Walk anyway. There were apparently 80 police on the scene per usual, which I feel is already a questionable use of our resources. Why are our cities so insistent on monitoring peaceful gatherings of people? Do fights and dangerous situations regularly break out at art events and assemblies? I’ve been to dozens and dozens of protests, and the only time I’ve felt the need for a greater than (already overblown) police presence is when the police themselves begin to cause confusion and chaos.

Dear LAPD: When Chalk is a crime, only criminals will play hopscotch

I heard about the events of the LA Chalk Riot while I was on my walk late Thursday evening. I felt so frustrated and helpless about the situation that I came home and wrote a message in chalk that I tweeted out in hopes that LAPD would see it – or that at least it would provide people with a bit of anger/comedy therapy. Some of my friends in Occupy Austin were also angry, so we decided a quick chalk solidarity action was warranted. We gathered on Friday under threat of rain and chalkupyed three local banks, with messages about economic and social justice, as well creating an LAPD crime scene – chalk outlines of fallen artists with crushed chalk in their hands.

Chase Bank: Quit Playing Games With Our Money

It’s a small retaliation for the large challenges we continue to face, but it at least temporarily relieved my sense of frustration and helplessness. Passersby were largely positive. Some had heard of the events in L.A. the night before, and were horrified by the actions of LAPD. Sometimes doing SOMETHING is better than doing nothing. Especially when that something releases good creative energy among like-minded comrades, and educates the public, as well.

❤ Chalk the World. ❤

Washed up…

No More War for Profit

Comment

A change in schedule…

Filed under: Being Mom, Nerdgasm, Time Management, Work — Leave a comment
June 10, 2012

For the first time in many, many, MANY years, I am being asked to work a “normal” schedule at work. Up until now, my schedule has been pretty much Monday-Thursday and Saturday, and broken up over the course of 24 hours. Since the program I manage is an evening program, and we sometimes have activities on Saturdays, I imagine I might still have occasional strangeness in my schedule…but the idea of working within the hours of 8ish and 6ish Monday-Friday is vaguely comforting to me right now. Novel ordinariness in my life.

This change is causing me to re-evaluate my task management system that I’ve been using, where I just randomly choose areas to work on during periods that I’m not working. It seems the kids and I will now be able to work within a much more predictable framework. So I’m planning to spend some time reorganizing our daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms so they are less like unsyncopated jazz and more like, well, it will probably be more like straight-ahead three-chord punk rock – because I don’t think our lives will ever not be chaotic at the very least.

Right now, my planning system involves 7 focus areas:

Work

Kids

Community

Art & Education (I might consider splitting these up)

Friends

Fitness

Household or Housework

I try to spend at least an hour on each of these areas every day, but it doesn’t always work out – especially since work takes up a huge chunk of my day. What I might try to do is block out time on the weekend for larger household, kid, and art projects, and just sustain the rest of the week. Off the top of my head, my schedule might look something like this:

Monday

Work (8)

Kids (2)

Community (2)

Fitness (1)

Household (1)

Art/Education (1)

Tuesday

Work (8)

Kids (2)

Fitness (1)

Community (1)

Friends (2)

Wednesday

Work (8)

Kids (2)

Fitness (1)

Community (2)

Household (1)

Thursday

Work (8)

Kids (1)

Fitness (1)

Friends (2)

Art/Education (1)

Community (1)

Household (1)

Friday

Work (8)

Kids (2)

Fitness (1)

Friends (2)

Art/Education (1)

Household (1)

Saturday

Kids (3)

Household (3)

Community (4)

Friends (4)

Fitness (1)

Art/Education (1)

Sunday

Kids (4)

Household (4)

Friends (4)

Art/Education (2)

Fitness (1)

Of course, if I economize, and make the kids or my friends do housework and/or exercise and/or art/educational projects with me…that will leave me more time to lock myself in my room and be all by myself. 🙂

I’ll probably break this down even further and be more specific in the coming weeks. Because I’m nerdy that way.

Comment

City Council Citizen Communication re: election turnout and Chase Bank

Filed under: Politics — 1 Comment
May 24, 2012

Dear members of Austin City Council,

First of all, I’d like to congratulate candidate for place 5, John Duffy, who, running openly as an anarchist, without spending any money, got 6% of the vote for that place. Secondly, Considering the voter turnout in this city was around 10%, I question the legitimacy of this body. However, since it’s the only body we have, and since the issue I’d like to address is a decision that was made, unchallenged by any of you, by Marc Ott, who is an unelected city manager…I’ll proceed.

About 8 months ago, Occupy Austin began the process of proposing to this body that we divest from Bank of America, one of the big 3 banks, and move to local banks and credit unions that can be more easily held accountable and are more likely to invest in our local community. With all of the “Keep Austin Weird” and “Keep Austin Local” rhetoric that gets tossed around casually in these chambers, we figured that was a no-brainer, and was the LEAST controversial thing we could request of the city.

3 months ago, in the wake of the ill-conceived and overzealous eviction of the brave 24/7 Occupy protesters, in which who knows how much money was spent to call in a militarized police force, including TANKS to intimidate with the hope of arresting hooligans like me – a single working mother of two young children, and my brothers and sisters of all stripes, including the anarchist who ran for city council, the city passed that resolution. We were thankful for the nod, but were soon to realize it was largely symbolic.

Which, indeed, it was, as a little over a month ago the city did, in fact, choose to divest from Bank of America…and put our money, instead, into Chase Bank.
We were told smaller banks and credit unions were too risky. That they couldn’t comply with the guidelines set forth by the city. That they weren’t equipped to handle our money. That they didn’t provide the kind of security and service one of the big 3 banks could.

Well, councilmembers…how do you like Chase now? Two weeks ago, JP Morgan chase made a bad bet and lost 2 billion dollars in one day. The total losses on that bad bet have since grown to 7 billion, with some estimates bringing the total hit to the bank to 20 billion, due to dropping stock prices.

Is that REALLY where you want to put our money? Once again, I find myself ashamed of the bad choices this body has made, or has allowed to be made by Marc Ott (unelected! City manager.) You have given the hard-earned money of this city’s residents to the biggest gambling operation in the world.

To put that loss into perspective, here are some things 7 billion dollars could have bought instead:

Enough food to feed 822,271 families of 4 for a full year.
350,000 power wheelchairs
39,000 foreclosed homes
The salaries of 160,230 high school teachers
368 years of JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon’s $19 Millon salary (not including his $4 Million in bonuses)
233 tiles the alleged & totally overblown cost of the Occupy movement nationwide
201 miles of high-speed rail
The annual salary of 318,181 Chase Bank Tellers, who are only paid, on average, $22,000 per year
In home care for a year for 500,000 elderly and/or people with disabilities
10,294 miles of bus transit
1 million kilowatts of solar energy (1000 megawatts
Affordable housing for 47,000 families
Birth Control for 2,333,333 women
23 days of the war in Afghanistan
…I could go on and on…

By the way, since we’re talking about numbers…
1. We are the people
2. We are united
3. The occupation is not leaving.

Expect us.

Comment

On Voting

Filed under: Politics — Leave a comment
April 29, 2012

I’ve been having an ongoing discussion with a friend about a candidate he thinks I should vote for. While I disagree with many of this candidate’s stances on certain issues, and agree with him on some other issues, I find myself defaulting to the argument that, really, whether this candidate wins the presidency or not (and it’s highly unlikely that he will) it really won’t matter. Ultimately, I’ve come to believe that voting doesn’t matter.

Trust me. I want to believe. And I know you do, too. And I certainly won’t attempt to dissuade you from voting. But ever since I voted for Ralph Nader. Twice. And had to endure the endless accusations that my vote for the candidate I sincerely felt most aligned with was a complete and utter waste and, essentially, a sabotage of all things American…I’ve been somewhat disillusioned. If voting on principle is a subversive act, doesn’t that make voting itself subversive?

I’ve always been of the opinion that voting is only part of the equation. That once politicians are voted into office, it’s our duty to hold them accountable for the promises they have made. However, what actually happens is that politicians get into office and are only accountable to the corporations that fund their next campaign. And while certainly in recent times, with the Citizens United ruling, the effects of a corporate stranglehold on our political process has become more visible, we really can’t pretend that this hasn’t been the standard all along. We are the complacent cowards, and religion is no longer the opiate of the masses – consumerism is.

And, to some extent, voting is. Which is why I felt a not-so-vague discomfort today at the Texas War On Women rally, as women from all over the state gathered to celebrate our power, and attempt to rev up a “movement” that has long since died. Every. Single. Speaker. urged the crowd of 1500 or so to vote! vote! vote! and countless canvassers roamed the crowd to beg support for one candidate or other who honest to god would then themselves vote! vote! vote! for women to regain the rights that have been slowly usurped by those who wish for us to remain enslaved by our reproductive organs.

I wanted to SCREAM – VOTING WON’T SAVE YOUR UTERUS! But by the time I had figured out why I was not feeling energized by such a large and vocal crowd, people were already dispersing for home, having fulfilled their quota of political activism by gathering in front of the capitol for two hours, listening to speeches, signing a dozen or so petitions, and listening to watered-down pop tunes that vaguely expressed the power of women in a not-too-terribly scary or offensive manner.

Thankfully, there were 30 or 40 of us in the crowd who were equally disenchanted with the whole thing and actually wanted to bring our concerns to the street. We all met out in front of those vaunted metal gates and took the streets, our voices but a shadow of the thousands who cheered for voting and asking for permission to change things. I know it’s not ladylike to be angry, but I was pissed. What’s the point of enfranchisement when we are all so disenfranchised? Our energy is so easily funneled into the institution of elections, where we are forced to choose the lesser of two evils and hope to Hell our consumer demographic is compelling enough for the corporations to invest in the legislation we desire. FUCK THAT SHIT! FUCK IT. Ladies, I don’t vote with my uterus – I FIGHT with it, and my feet and my fists and my heart and my soul and my MOTHERFUCKING BRAIN as I work with my brothers and sisters to create a new system within the old system.

Voting is a tool used by the ruling class to pacify us. To make us feel like we can make a difference with minimal effort and thought. Which is why there were no riot cops out today. There was no excessive amount of police patrolling the Capitol. They understood it was all ok, because we were playing by the rules of those in power. We were safely aligned with the system today. We weren’t challenging things. We were abiding by their rules in their space so they could say “Look – you had your freedom. We allowed you to gather and speak, because you used the language we want you to use.”

Never in the 6 months since I became actively involved in the occupy movement have I more fully understood the power of actually occupying space without asking permission, without inviting politicians, and without what is commonly referred to as a “list of demands” but is actually code for “a candidate to vote for, or an issue we can beg our elected officials to support.” And never have I been more thankful for the small but devoted group who straggled into the streets after the rally and shouted echoed, familiar refrains as we marched to our home at City Hall – where we gathered to practice real, participatory democracy in which every one of us has a voice, and every decision presents a real choice.

Tags:
Comment