Some Things Friday for September 16, 2011

Some Things I Love:

1. It's beginning to feel a little like fall. If it hadn't been so darn hot this summer, I would have been sad to see it go. But if I have to let go of summer to experience a little cooler weather, so be it. Of course, that doesn't mean when temperatures drop below freezing I'll take it like a trooper. Oh no. Not me. Not a chance.

2. The mildew smell coming from our master bathroom tub became quite obvious over a year ago. At first I thought I wasn't washing the shower curtain and liner often enough, but even after I washed it, I would walk in the bathroom and still smell mildew. And it only got worse over time, getting so bad that I'd have to set the plug in the drain when we weren't showering because we could smell the horrible odor in the bedroom. I tried Drano at least twice. It didn't help. I tried another foaming drain cleaner. Nothing. I ordered a gallon tub of some sort of enzyme that I religiously poured down the drain every night for six weeks with zero results. Bleach. Nada. I even poured a whole bottle of liquid laundry soap down the drain. A waste of good laundry soap. I thought for sure we were going to have to call a plumber and he would wind up telling us we'd have to dig up the front yard because tree roots were growing into our sewer lines (that's what happened to our neighbor). Instead of calling a plumber, I scoured the internet for more ideas and came across a Q & A on a "Green" site which recommended the following: Pour 1 cup of baking soda down the drain, followed by 1/2 cup of white vinegar and allow the mixture to work for at least thirty minutes. Then pour a gallon of boiling water down the drain. I thought, Are you serious? 50₵ worth of common household products is going to take care of it? I was, to say the very least, skeptical. Well, it worked. No more nasty smell. None. I love it!

3. This afternoon I will put one last coat of paint on the first of four Adirondack chairs that Tom bought me for my birthday at least 2 years ago and that have been resting in the attic ever since. This first one is purple ~ maybe more lavender-ish. The next three are green, yellow and salmon... all very beachy colors... for when I someday, before my life is over, finally move to Florida.

4. I am working hard to compile a family cookbook of my late mother-in-law's recipes. I'm enjoying it, although it's frustrating at the same time because she didn't write just one recipe for anything. She wrote two, or three or four or more. Yesterday, I came across a recipe for a pastry that she had cut from a newspaper. My mother-in-law noted at the top of the article that her mother used to make the pastries when she was a child, so I entered the recipe into the book. When I finished, I picked up the next item in the stack of recipes I was working with, an envelope containing 6 more handwritten recipes, all completely different, for the very same pastry I had just copied to the book. That was my mother-in-law ☺.

5. Elizabeth Warren is running for Congress! Yay!

Some Things I Hate: I only have one thing this week...

You know, I'm sick of people ~ mostly Republicans ~ denying there is any racism in their party. That's just BS. I live in the south. I see racism every single day. All I have to do is read the comments to the articles in the online version of our local newspaper, the Log Cabin Democrat, to be assaulted by some of the most hateful, disgusting, racist language I've ever heard in my life, mostly directed at our President, but not always. Muslims, Hispanics, Buddhists, atheists...no one is immune from their hatred. And I'm still always shocked. And those commenters flat out deny their racism.

I've been trying really hard to get a grasp on what is happening in this country, particularly all of this religious and racial hatred that is spewed, not only in the south but all across America, on a daily basis. What's surprising to me is that so many in the media and in both political parties act like it's not happening at all. It's like the whole country is in denial. Am I seeing things that aren't really there?

I've heard pundits say, with a straight face, that there isn't an upsurge of racism, but when was the last time prior to the 2008 election you saw a photo of a President, or even a candidate for President, depicted with white face? I cannot EVER remember a time. Now these images are everywhere.

There's a person on Twitter, @Russia1130 who is probably one of the most despicable racists I've ever encountered. I will not repeat any of the things he's written. His account has been locked, but people have retweeted some of his stuff to expose him in order to get him removed from Twitter. I won't even post a link for you to read some of what he's written because you would need a shower afterward.

I follow about 300 people on Twitter, mostly political reporters and progressive activists, one of whom (a person of color) received a racist tweet from @Russia1130 and retweeted the message asking for help to get this guy blocked. The message was vulgar and racist and used the "n" word, but what was even more shocking was @Russia1130's avatar: a photo of President Obama with a noose around his neck.

Houston, we have a problem and if we don't deal with it - head on - NOW - I fear our country will revert back to the pre-Civil Rights Act days of George Wallace or Orville Faubus. I am dead serious.

Joe Miller was a Republican candidate for Congress in Alaska and a tea party darling (Lisa Murkowski won with a historical write-in vote). As reported by The Mudflats, during his campaign Miller hired a militia-style private security firm backed by a business called The Drop Zone. This poster was taped in the front window of The Drop Zone:

TPM confirmed that Virginia Beach Republican Party chair Dave Bartholomew resigned after it was revealed that he forwarded a racist email comparing African Americans to dogs.

Bill O'Reilly has ranted on The View that "Muslims attacked us on 9/11."

Then there are the more subtle racist practices. WalMart practices corporate racism by how they design parts of their stores. I took the following photos in my local WalMart store on August 2, 2011, just a little over a month ago.

In the book and magazine aisle at WalMart, there are two very distinct sections. You would think that books would be simply categorized as fiction and non-fiction. You would think that, but you'd be wrong. You are in WalMart afterall. The book section is divided into black and white...as in people.

There is a section for white readers, who WalMart apparently assumes have no interest in reading anything written by or about an African-American..... only white authors, white subjects, white people on the covers...



Look closely. Everyone depicted is white. White cowboys...


White athletes and books about the bible (was Jesus white?)...all in the white section.


Terry McMillan, the highly educated, best selling American author (Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, The Interruption of Everything, just to name three) is not included in the white section, with other noted best selling authors. If you want to read her books, you'll need to go to black section. Black authors, black subjects, black people on the covers of those books...


All black authors and books with photos of black people on the cover are relegated to the black section...


How can we possibly address racism honestly if we are still blatantly separating blacks and whites and accepting it? Folks, we unequivocally have a problem with racism in this country.


Some Things I Just Don't Get: I only have a couple of things...

1. I've spent an inordinate amount of time on Pinterest where people "pin" photos of things they love, want to buy, want to cook, want to eat and places they want to go. You name the category, someone on Pinterest has a board filled with photos of those specific items. I have 16 boards of pinned photos, but by far my most extensive board has to do with food. Unless you've been living in a cave, do not watch any cooking shows and have absolutely no interest in looking at pretty photos of prepared food, you know that the current trend is 'food prepared and served in a jar.' Desserts like cakes, pies and layered trifles or parfaits; or main dishes like meat pot pies, individual servings of casseroles, even salads, are all served proudly in an ordinary, sometimes considered quaint, WalMart canning jar. This morning I saw a recipe for some sort of lobster dish in a jar. Now it's gone too far. I agree with Emily Luchetti's article, Why I Hate Desserts In Jars, but I would like to take it one step further. Stop. Serving. Food. In. Jars. Period. Jars are for storing leftovers, pickles and jam. Anything else, please give me a plate or bowl. Thank you.

2. A couple of nights ago during the 2nd Republican debate sponsored by the Tea Party, audience members cheered and hooted and hollered in agreement with Ron Paul that an uninsured, comatose patient should be allowed to die without medical intervention. Yep. Those hooting and hollering were so-called patriotic Americans. However, these were the very same people who warned that the passage of the Affordable Care Act ~ "Obamacare" ~ would create death panels. Okay.... Apparently the Tea Party doesn't need any stinking death panels. They just want doctors, hospitals and other care givers to merely take a hands off approach...period. You don't have insurance so you don't deserve to live. What country am I living in again??