Herman Goering Said What?

"Of course the people don't want pay cuts. But after all, it's the leaders of the University who determine budgets, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether they think they work for a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the employees can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they might be laid off, and denounce the union leaders for lack of intelligence, and exposing the employees to certain layoffs." More...

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No, They Are NOT Opposites

I don't really want to write about this but I will. A few weeks ago, the marquee at the Rio Theater on Seabright listed both "Vagina Monologues" and "Puppetry of the Penis." Har-dee-har-har. More...

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Skyclad for Peace Art

Naked Peace, Santa Cruz Style. Short story in the Metro.

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Mona Lisa's Smile

This is the AAAS press release of a story that is on the wires today. More...

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You say Tomato, I say "Please and Thank You"

Apparently, if you are a man hoping to live as a woman, you have to learn how to speak as women speak. Scroll down to the part about "vocabulary."

You can notice the difference in the way men and women will order at the speaker of a drive-through fast food restaurant. A man will say, "I want a Big Mac.", whereas a woman will say, "I'd like a salad, please."

Well, that is true for me. I would never order food with the verb "want." How rude.

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Death in Springtime

Our plums are in full blossom, and the sights and smells of our garden are as they were when my mother-in-law was dying here. I just finished How We Die by Sherwin Nueland. I hadn't intended to read it in this season; I've been wanting to read it for a while, but it arrived from the library on exactly the right day. Nuland is a writer and a surgeon of great heart, and this book is a wonderful comfort to the curious and afraid. More...

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Lesbian Felons

In the same issue of the UK gay news, we read that a lesbian has been jailed for slashing her girlfriend's lover across the face, AND, that a 40-year-old lesbian has been jailed for having an affair with a teenager. The first woman says she held the knife up, but didin't meet to cut anyone, and the second woman says that the girl has a crush on her, but nothing sexual has happened.
More...

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Lesbian Has-Been

I don't know quite what to think about Pat Califia these days, but I think you should read this.

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Talk to Your Co-Workers About Your Union

A speech by Larry Cohen, Executive Vice-President of CWA to AFL-CIA Organizing Summit

We need to make our minutes count. We don?t have hours for talking about how we can be stronger together and what, in fact, we can do together and think about doing differently as we leave here. I?m going to break this into three parts. I?m going to talk about the notion of a public campaign about collective bargaining as a public good. I?m going to talk about our members leading that fight. And I?m going to talk about shutting down the NLRB. Three things. More...

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A Lovely of Lindas

There are three people named "Linda" who work in the basement of Kerr Hall. We are all over 40 years old. I have never met anyone younger than me with my name. "Linda" was the most popular girl's name in the U.S. in 1950, 1951, and 1952, but five years later it was the 63th most popular name, and by 2001 it was the 335th which is not as unpopular is Lois, at 600 and something, but it might as well be. There are 59 women who are named Linda who also have computer accounts at UCSC.

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Grief and Anger

"Most anger is grief," I heard myself saying. "Grief about the loss of what you thought you had, what you thought you could count on, loss of what you expected."

Where did that come from? More...

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Small Victories

We won't be reading about this in the paper, but the City Transportation Commission approved the conversion of our corner from a two-way to a four-way stop. This is big news. I've been working on organizing the neighbors and threading this issue through the bureaucracy that is the traffic department for about four years. More...

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My Lesbian History

Monday I drove up to San Francisco to visit my sister. We were hungry when I got to her apartment in Bernal Heights so we ate lunch at a cafe on the other side of Holly Park. Holly Park actually has what I think is California native holly growing in it. We had lunch, and I re-found a treasure. More...

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Peace is Popular

This is the Sentinal story about the Santa Cruz's peace march on Saturday. My favorite placard was hanging from a dog: "Another pregnant bitch for peace."

As the story noted, the diversity of the crowd was wonderful to see.

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Live Radio

I discovered that my favorite (and everyone's favorite) radio programs are available on the internet anytime I want: This American Life and Prairie Home Companion . Today I organized my taxes while listening to Ira Glass's lazy elocution and amazing writing. More...

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Gateway of Lies

In another AlterNet story, Mitch Earleywine draws on his experience teaching psychology to come to a not-surprising theory about the marijuana and its reputation as a gateway drug. More...

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Are Women Peaceful?

An excellent AlterNet story by Liza Featherstone revisits the debate over the question: are women more peaceful than men because we can be mothers? She gives a brief overview of various feminist responses to the war in Iraq.

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A Word for Them

Workplace Bullies.

I had heard the phrase, but previously felt only sympathy for the targets, not empathy. That UK site above is very deep and rich. A US site is Work Doctor.

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Role Model

1971, Fresno California, Morris E. Dailey Elementary, the fifth-grade math classroom. I am sent to the back of the room to finish my problem sets with two other kids, while the teacher is busy with the rest of the class. We are slightly ahead of them in our studies. Naturally, we finish our problem sets, and start fooling around. One of us has a watch with a second hand. How long can you hold your breath? How long can YOU hold your breath? "I can beat that." Research ensues. Keep perfectly still and you can surpass a minute. Closing your eyes can add 20 to 30 seconds to your best time.

Today, I learned that holding your breath is a sport and that the champion is a woman. I might have had a whole different attitude in PE had I known I could compete in this.

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Art Pencils

Japanese pencil carving.

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Minutes

Every quarter or so, the UCSC Chancellor, MRC "Marcy" Greenwood holds a staff forum. She usually makes a little presentation, and then opens the floor up to questions.

These are my notes, annotated with further details, such as the cost of the consultancy of "AVCOR." More...

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Blogging

If I don't get to write in this blog everyday, I get feeling all congested with ideas.

I upgraded my OS, and the blog was down for a while because I have to make tweaks in the webserver everytime I let Apple touch my computer.

I've been busy with the Professionals campaign too.

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Pain

Our dog Joey had to have nine teeth extracted today. It's pretty sad to see someone you love in pain and not be able to explain why.

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Another Battle I Have Not the Resources to Wage

The University is talking about their plan for "faculty and staff" housing again. Inclusion Area D is the name of the location on the meadow. While the University's Long Range Development plan says that this area could be used for housing, the Implementation Program for the LRDP, clearly states

Minimize and place a low priority on development on Area D and restrict its use to a non-housing, university-related facility.

But this matters not to current campus planners. When I pointed this out to a PPC planner, I was told that the LRDPIP was simply a guideline, not the LRDP itself. The reporter's statement that this site was designated for housing in 1988 is quoting the LRDP, not the later Implementation plan, of 1991. More...

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Snapshot

The Mercury News is running a series this week on how the dot.crash has left four generations of workers. I saw my own version of this series month when I read 130 job applications for one position. I really don't want to get laided off now. I remember wondering if I was a chump for staying at the university while my co-workers went off and doubled their salaries. Some of them are still happy and making a living. Some of them aren't. Some of them got lucky and came back to our department.

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Well, We Didn't Stop; We Were Stopped

The reason why I bought a newspaper in Orcutt or where ever that was is because when we left Santa Barbara, we knew that we had to stop for gas because I used a full tank driving to Irvine. . That knowledge wasn't as important as knowing we needed to find coffee, and pastries too, and then go back to the house we stayed at because someone left a red bag full of bathroom items.

So we ran out of gas in Orcutt. And while we were pushin but not actually moving the car up the last ten feet of a little hill with the hope that a gas station would be on the other side, a woman in an SUV pulled up behind us and offered to push. We accepted, and coasted into the gas station like royalty.

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Yes, It IS Rocket Science

Driving back from Santa Barbara today, we stopped in a town today, I think it was "Orcutt" near San Luis and bought the local paper, the Santa Maria Times. On the front page was interesting story about how when the rocket scientists at Vandenburg and probably everywhere else retire, their papers get tossed in the trash, and their knowledge is never heard from again. The retired scientists are starting a library in Lompoc. This is newsworthy because on of these scientists says that there WAS a way to inspect the shuttle while it was in space to see if it were damaged, but no one asked them.

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Outwitting Contractors by Bill Adler, Jr.

We want to remodel our bathroom, and put in a tub like this. I really hope the process is worth it in the end. Outwitting Contractors is one of the scariest books I've read. I already knew that most bathroom remodelers are cheats, because I was housemates with one once. And I already knew that I needed to get personal recommendations from people for general contractors. But that is all I knew. More...

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Road Trip

Got a call from D. today, and we're taking a surprise roadtrip to southern california. I'll take notes, but not posting for a few days.

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Another "Only in Santa Cruz"

We get a new mail carrier every few years because--I hear--that our neighborhood is tough on carriers, and with enough senority, they can move on to another. But over in the Yacht Harbor, they get to have their mail carrier for twenty-three years, and he is a transvestite. How cool is that? More...

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Solar Tech without Tears

Here's something you hardly ever see anymore. Solar Energy International teaches workshops in the installation of photovoltaic systems. They recently held a class in Santa Cruz, but not for just anybody. More...

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Jury Duty II

I had to stay there all day, but Assistant District Attorney Christine Maguire dismissed me at her first chance. One never knows why. It's a relief to not be in that court world anymore.

The drive-by happened on May 27, 2000. The first story appeared on the front page the next day. Later in the month, there was another story about the Salvadoran community in Lower Ocean.

I'd rather not think about it anymore.

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Passing the Baton

Detroit News columnist Deb Price wrote an obiturary for Mary Dunlap, an attorney who argued the "Gay Olympic Games" case before the Supreme Court. Although we lost the case, the world was a very different place for lesbians in 1986, and Dunlap was the first out lesbian to argue a case at the Supreme Court. More...

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Jury Duty

I spent the day in court, but wasn't called up yet to serve on a triple-triple murder trial. Three defendants, three victims, in a drive-by shooting that happened a few blocks from our house. I'm not going to link to any of the stories about it, in case I get called, which I doubt. The odd thing is a guy from my work is in the pool as well, and he's up in the box already, but not sworn in yet. He really wants to serve. So would I, actually. It would be nice to get away from work until all this stuff dies down, and since they've taken my projects away from me, heh. I get paid the same. More...

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Annotated Huck Finn

I'm not reading this yet, but I found it remaindered at Logos today for $12.98. A beautiful edition of Huckleberry Finn, annotated by Michael Patrick Hearn. Huck Finn is one of my favorite books and I am amazed that one of the earliest novels written in the American language is also the best book about the exact reason why our nation has never become what it could have been: Slavery. It is so serious and so political and so revolutionary and yet makes you laugh out loud in every chapter. I can't wait to get to it, but I have a few in line ahead of it already. (It retailed for $39.95; try to find your own copy, this is the edition to keep.)

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Student Residential Co-Op Burns

The other night, K. remarked that it seemed like we were hearing a lot of sirens. A few hours later she received a call from someone at work who told her that Ceasar Chavez Student Co-Op on Beach Hill was burning. More...

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"These are not philosopher kings we're talking about"

Everybody's reading the Hunter S. Thompson interview in Salon and you should too, for the language, if not the analysis, which we already have done ourselves.

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No Bugs Were Harmed in the Creation of This Jewelry

Everybody has fun creating something and thinks, "Hey, I could make these and sell them, and quit my day job!" Some people actually get to to do it. Kathy and Ben Stout sell caddisfly jewelry. And I want some.

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Hated It

Beyond Ellen has a favorable review of Treading Water. Where the reviewer found it well-written, well-acted, and of "high quality production," we found it simply unwatchable and switched it off. We won't watch just any movie about troubled lesbians and their sick families, even though other people have said "the sex scenes are great." They aren't.

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Lou Harrison in Two Voices

Nice Rosewood: Today's paper brought the news of the passing of Lou Harrison. It was great to read his obituary.
Evil Rosewood: I always knew him as the oldest gay man in the country, but there was so much more to him than that. More...

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ooo, what big muscles you have

The new dryer was delivered today. The side gate was two inches too narrow, so although we offered to open the back gate so they could drive the truck into the yard, the three delivery men LIFTED THE DRYER OVER THE FENCE. There is something to be said for the kinds of freedom brute force affords. Sometimes.

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Inside Job

When I moved to San Francisco for a year in 1984, I discovered a magazine called "Processed World" written by the people who worked in the financial district. I worked in the financial district too, as a temporary secretary. Oh Wow! It still exists! More on that later. More...

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Who Wants War, Anyway?

UNTE this issue includes a great essay which explores "Why we love war." Answer: because the myths of war give us what we need. Sadly, after the war, the mythological benefits never seem to be what was promised. The essay is accompanied by a sidebar comparing how we think when we're not at war, and how we think during a war: In peacetime, we think that people are pretty much the same around the world; in war, the enemy is quite different from us. The article isn't on the web, but you can buy it for $3. I have this theory about war. I think that we're the humans that were left after we and our dogs ate all the other kinds of humans.

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Landmarker

The 95-year old plans of Antoni Gaudi for a New York City tower are the best yet. Anything else is just another bank. When did all the architects have their souls removed? Which reminds me, I need to read Tom Wolfe's book on Bauhaus.

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It's True If It Makes You Laugh

So the kidnapped girl story of yesterday turns out to be the girl with an imagination story today. I bought it completely. More...

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Not Just Groundhog Day

Today is the wiccan holiday of Brigit, and yesterday I found our first iris, one of the dark purple ones that grow near the back fence. The smell of the iris is singularly sweet, and the first day each year that I can smell it always seems earlier than the last.

More...

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