Conversations over Dinner

It really quite amusing. It’s like one long Saturday Night Live skit.

I’m talking, of course, about the way members of the media are falling all over themselves today, looking for the biggest story.

We’ve had the television news on all day because of hurricane Gustav. Jake’s daughter had to evacuate her New Orleans area home. We know she is safe, but we want to keep on top of the situation.

What a big day for news! Hurricane Gustav has the reporters performing their usual stand out in the rain and let the wind blow routine. Then it’s over the the republican convention to see if there is any breaking news there. This just in: Palin’s 17 year-old daughter is pregnant. Breaking news: the levee will let go at any moment. Hmmm… did Palin illegally fire her ex brother-in-law? Who is Palin again? Over to Obama, who says that we need to leave Palin’s family out of it. Back over to you… how’s that levee holding out? Over to the talking heads, debating the Palin issue(s) and how we really shouldn’t be talking about it. Let’s take a look back at Katrina…

Surely one of these stories will bust wide open any minute! We’ll have to turn off the news soon, or my head just might explode.

All aboard the self-esteem express! Carson Kressley is at it again.

Back for a second season of Lifetime Television’s How to Look Good Naked, Mr. Kressley works overtime trying to convince us that “how you carry yourself means more than having a perfect body.”

This is no ordinary makeover show. Here we are more concerned with fixing our perspective than fixing our bodies. It is about bridging the gap between what we think we see when we look in the mirror, and the reality before us.

Continue…

This weekend Mandy and I traveled some hours to visit the home of my mother who is going to celebrate her 80th birthday this week. There was a big family party planned and everyone was looking forward to seeing each other. We were just ready to leave the house when the phone rang. It was my brother. “So, you’ve heard about Mom, right?,” he half-said…

Read Happy Birthday, Mom by Jake

I’m thinking about a friend tonight. Well, not a friend exactly. More of an acquaintance. Well, not an acquaintance exactly. You see, we’ve never met.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be sitting here, thinking about someone I’ve only known online, I would have told you that you had me pegged wrong. I’m more practical than that. More careful, more tentative. It’s just not my nature. A year ago, I hadn’t yet made my entrance into the blogosphere.

It was last August when Jake and I started Conversations Over Dinner, as a fun way to pass the time. Then on to MS Maze, The Health Central Network and In The Trenches Productions in a matter of months. Before I knew what hit me I was forging “friendships” with people online, people I would never meet.

Multiple sclerosis is one reason. Reading other MS related blogs helped me to deal with the things I thought were unique to me. I started to leave comments on other blogs and people began leaving comments on mine. By reading about their experiences, my own life was enriched.

I have a fantastic working relationship with the good folks over at The Health Central Network, but we will, in all likelihood, never meet. It all comes down to emails and phone calls.

Over at In The Trenches Productions, a group of women is working hard to reach out to women over the age of 40, and to keep them present and accounted for in the media. I admire what they do. My contact there is Debbie Zipp. I’ve never met her, never spoken to her on the phone. We’ve exchanged some wonderful emails, divulging a few tidbits of ourselves here and there, and I can only say that I genuinely like her.

I have a handful of online buddies out there that I’ve come to care about. I read about their struggles and their triumphs, and I wish them well. They do the same for me. It’s a strange new world, indeed.

So back to that “friend” I was thinking about. She’s had a harrowing couple of days, lost in airline hell. She has MS and I know, all too well, that she is very, very uncomfortable and longing for home. Hang in there, Sunshine!

I just watched an episode of Clean House that showcased the “messiest home in America.” Now that my stomach has stopped churning, I hope that this couple manages to get psychological attention soon. More than clutter run amok, their home was a filthy health hazard.

I take a firm “no clutter” stance. Unlike many people who experience a rush when purchasing new items and bringing them into the house, I get a huge rush whenever I can fill a trash bag and get it out of the house. I love elbow room. I love seeing the tops of tables and sitting on clean furniture. I adore hidden storage.

It’s not that I have no emotional attachment to inanimate objects but, for the most part, I manage to hold memories in my heart. If you have too many possessions, there comes a point when they own you rather than the other way around.

After the shocking experience of watching this show, I can look around my home and breath a sigh of relief.

Hi. My name is Mandy, and I am white. I mean VERY white. I was born this way and there’s nothing I can do to change that.

Oh, I have tried over the years. I tried sunbathing, but only succeeded in getting sunburn. Sometimes I freckle, but I never, ever tan. One spring I gave in to peer pressure and did the tanning booth thing. I didn’t really tan, but the blinding whiteness was toned down a bit. I still can’t believe what they charge for tanning booth time! Really, I’m not that vain. I tried the self-tanning lotions, but only managed to turn orange and blotchy.

So, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am white. I’m no longer interested in risking my health for the sake of a “healthy look.” My skin may be white, but it is healthy skin.

It seems to be socially acceptable for friends, acquaintances, and even strangers to comment on my paleness. Some people take a strange delight in comparing my pale skin to their own darker tone, as if they’ve won a contest of some sort. Good for them. I, however, have accepted my skin just the way it is. Let’s just say I have a creamy complexion, or skin like porcelain. Yeah, that sounds pretty good.

Hi. My name is Mandy, and I have skin like porcelain.

I write for a blog titled ‘Women Over 40 Rock!’” Whenever I say those words I force myself to stay quiet and observe the listener’s reaction. Invariably I get a look showing a lack of appreciation and am told that it sounds like it MUST be one of those anti-male, “feminazi” sites where bitter women do little more than complain about their lives and about men. Nothing could be further from the truth. Continue…

In the 60’s and early 70’s, I sported a hippie wanna-be look. In retrospect, the look was a bit clownish. Afterwards, during the 80’s, I wore – in public, mind you — tight leggings with an oversized shirt. Even today I cringe when I view photographs of my hairstyles from the early 90’s. What was I thinking?

Like many women over forty, I carry with me a fair amount of baggage from my past. Much of what constitutes this baggage is far from amusing.

Read article on “Women Over 40 Rock!”

How important is the internet for people with multiple sclerosis, and why has this method of information gathering, which did not exist until the recent past, become so important? Continue…

You are about to be let in on the best kept secret. So, kick back for a few moments, pour that glass of wine, and spend some time with kindred spirits. Continue…

I didn’t know that everyone who runs for public office is supposed to be perfect in mind, thought, and deed. No only are they supposed to be so now, but they are supposed to have been that way every single day of their past. At least, that’s how it seems if you watch how the press went after NY’s new governor, David Paterson.

It seems that Gov. Paterson had an affair. OK, more than one. It seems that his wife did likewise. They had… what shall we call it… a fidelity crisis brought on by other problems within their marriage. My response to that is simply, ‘OK, thanks, but it’s really none of my business.’ Nor, dear reader, is it any of yours. Nor, dear horribly misguided press corps, is it any of YOURS.

Watching David Paterson handle this pack of wolves has made me smile, perhaps for the first time in quite awhile concerning the antics and goings-on of politicians. The Governor came clean because, as he put it, “I don’t want to be blackmailed.”

Good for you, Governor. Good for you. You’re my new hero.

Technorati Tags: America

The news and the blogs are abuzz with the Reverend Wright’s ‘fiery’ remarks to his congregation. Remarks that some deride as racist.. remarks that some insist must color [no pun intended] the world viewpoints of both Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle.

I have a few remarks of my own… and a question or two of you, dear reader.

Have you actually taken the time to read the Reverend’s remarks? Not just watch the snippets thrown at you by mass media, but the words themselves. Not the ‘fiery’ delivery of a skilled orator who knows how to rile up his congregation, but the words themselves.

Here are some as printed in today’s Washington Post. Let’s play a game. Let’s see if we can be honest with ourselves and make a decision as to whether or not what the Reverend says is true.

Here goes:

#1: “We [the USA] bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye…. America’s chicken’s are coming home to roost.” — Sermon, September 2001

First off, I don’t know about you, but I’m always curious as to what was actually said in the space that’s left out and simply referred to as ‘….’. But leaving that aside, what about the remark itself. True — or False.

I say that it’s mostly TRUE. We DID bomb those cities and we have nuked a LOT more people than those who died in NY and the Pentagon. No disputing that, no matter how you feel about the USA. Fact is, after all, fact.

I would take some exception to the part about us not having batted an eye at those deaths. America, when it does evil, does have a conscience. Maybe not our leaders so much, as evidenced by our sitting President, but certainly the people themselves do.

As for American’s ‘chickens coming home to roost,’ I would have to say, by and by, that this too is, regrettably, true.

#2: “We [African Americans] are descendants of Africa, not England…. We have a culture that is African in origin — not European. The Bible we preach from came from a culture that was not English or European.” — from the 2005 book, “Blow the Trumpet in Zion”

This one goes to the Reverend. Jesus was not a European. Neither were the Apostles. The New Testament does not have it’s roots in European culture. It is much more African… Mediterranean… in its roots.

That said, I guess this one is: TRUE.

#3: “The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no; God damn America! That’s in the Bible for killing innocent people.” — Sermon, 2003

Obviously, I would have no first-hand knowledge as to whether or not the government gives drugs to the black community. That’s been alleged for years. I would, however, ask the Reverend to be a bit more specific on this charge. Perhaps it’s something that should be investigated. As for building bigger prisons, I guess that’s true. There are a lot of folk in prison these days. The Reverend did, however, most probably make a mistake when he said ‘God damn America!’ Some of you may agree with him. Others may not. There are many things that America has done for which it should be damned… and is, obviously, damned by many throughout the world. As for whether God will damn America, I guess that’s up to God to decide.

Evaluation of this remark: May be TRUE. May be FALSE. I don’t know, but I’d sure like to find out, wouldn’t you?

#4: “Racism is how this country was founded and how this country is still run.” — Sermon, 2006, delivered at Howard University

Sorry folks, but America is as racist as they come. That, unfortunately, was true in the days when it was first founded and, for the most part, is still true today. I’d have to agree with the Reverend on this one.

#5: “Hillary is married to Bill, and Bill has been good to us. No, he ain’t. Bill did us just like he did Monica Lewinsky.”. — Sermon, January 2008

Once again, I’d like to have heard a little bit more. I always thought that Bill Clinton was a strong supporter of the African American community. Perhaps Bill Clinton has done things that have offended that community. If anyone has any input here, it would be appreciated.

I’d put this remark in the UNDECIDED category. Regardless, I wouldn’t exactly classify this remark as anti-American.

I’m going to take a stab at figuring out what’s going on here? I’m thinking that the Republican Party’s incredibly efficient Public Relations machine has decided that the best way to get John McCain elected is to give white America a reason to FEAR Obama. Going after remarks made by Obama’s reverend, then implying that white America should FEAR Obama — that years of listening to this rhetoric must have made some impression on him — is simply the Republican’s way of trying to turn Democrats away from Obama and, knowing that they won’t vote for McCain, instead get them to endorse Hillary Clinton.

The Republicans know that McCain will beat Clinton. They FEAR what might happen if McCain is forced to go head-to-head with Obama.

I say we give the Republicans reason to fear.

Technorati Tags: America, Bush, fear, Hillary, Obama, president, society, terrorism, war

I received an email from Tim Kerr, Campaign Director at SaveTheInternet.com, this morning. In it he makes some very disturbing allegations against Comcast, one of the world’s largest internet providers. It seems there are hearings taking place at the FCC in Boston right now and that Comcast has actually paid people to take up seats so that others who are truly interested in the outcome of the hearings are kept out of the room. Many of these paid seat squatters don’t even know or understand the purpose of the hearings.

Here in the US we take for granted the availability of the Internet and our ability to use it unhampered. We consider it a right of sorts. Well, if Comcast and some of the other Internet giants have their way, this will stop. The Internet will become, like much of the US, a place where money talks. The rest of you will get the leftover crumbs.

Have you seen the story that was published in USA Today about Robert Kosilek? He’s a murderer. Killed his own wife back in 1990. Tried, Convicted, and Sentenced. Doing time — life — in Massachusetts.

Well, Robert has decided that he should be a Roberta. That’s right… Robert says he’s a man living in a woman’s body and that since he’s incarcerated the state must pay for a sex change operation. OK, that’s bad enough. Nice try, Robert. A rational person would, I think, nod kindly at Robert(a), remind him that he’s in prison and that he was convicted of murder, and tell him that he’s just going to have to go through live peeing upright. Sorry, no snip-snip for you.

But that isn’t what’s happened. You see, Robert(a) isn’t the real story here. He may, in fact, actually be a tragic fellow. He may be telling the truth. After all, why not? No, the real story here is that Robert(a) has managed to sue the state in Federal Court in an effort to get them to pay for the $20,000 operation. In response, the Federal Government has, to date, paid expert witnesses more than $52,000 to testify that Robert(a) doesn’t need the operation.

Read that again. Then get mad.