Not a whole lot to report here. Pat is in Veracruz, after spending two weeks in Oaxaca mostly working on his Spanish at a school there. He seemed to like the home-stay with a single mom who prepared a nice breakfast and afternoon comida for him every day. Tomorrow he heads for Puebla for the last two days, then home Friday. I'm roasting a turkey a day late - spending thursday at a potluck with the folks at the local Shambhala Buddhist Center.
Variety of events this evening...gallery opening reception, transgender potluck, and lecture on nutritional labeling at the library. Fort Collins has a surprisingly large Transgender community, and they were kind enought to host an event that included 'friends and family', which I guess includes me.
I was reviewing some discussion of the economy today, and I ran across a link to an hour-long video of Elizabeth Warren lecturing in early 2007 at Cal Berkeley. Her topic was the decline and precariousness of the middle class in the U.S.
Ms. Warren is a scholar of bankruptcy law, one of the country's most astute observers of the economics of the middle class, a Harvard Law professor, and in service at this time monitoring some of the hare-brained schemes of our Treasury and Federal Reserve for Congress.
The take-away from this video - a generation ago, there was a single wage earner in the typical Mom/Dad/two-kid household. Today, there are two wage earners, and yet after all the fixed costs (housing, health insurance, child care, transportation) of maintaining a middle-class life, they have substantially LESS from their combined earnings than did the 30-years ago single-earner household.
This kind of thing is the eventual source of big social and political trouble. Especially when coupled with the growing perception that legislators and the executive branch are in cahoots with the big Wall Street and corporate interests, at the expense of main-street types.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Mona makes a point with her fork...
The past weekend was brightened by a visit from Mona, who had to come down from Wyoming to do a few errands and was further motivated by a big dance recital I found at the University. She had mentioned before how much she thought she would enjoy this sort of thing, and I was happy to find a gift for her recent birthday.
As I suspected, I ended up squirming some of the time, and making pointless value judgments about the choice of some of these kids to spend fifty to a hundred thousand of Mom and Dad's hard earned dollars obtaining an education that culminated in feigning snowflakes or other forms of pretentious flitting about in avant-garde dance garb or classic tutus. Ah well, I am equally critical of all of the arts these days, including my own painting efforts. And as Mona pointed out those students no doubt have hedged their career bets with accounting and electrical engineering credentials. Sorry Mona - I enjoyed your enjoyment of it and should'a kept my opinions to myself.
We went the next morning to a Shambhala Buddhist Center event that ended with a potluck, for which I baked a nice big banana bread that proved to be well received. And following that event we stopped by the university again for some acting recitals a couple of seniors were delivering to their peers, mentors, and whoever stopped by. Some nice pieces, but wow, what a lot of potty-mouth. I've noticed before that they often choose for their minor productions those pieces with the most shocking and offensive language, and often harsh violence. I'm guessing that this is supposed to demonstrate their sophistication and newly adult status, but it really just reveals to me that they haven't any real message to convey - so far.
Last night, we stayed up (too late) and watched a mesmerizing and very impressive documentary (Unmistaken Child) on the search for a reincanate Rinpoche (Buddhist Precious One) by the devoted disciple of the recently deceased Lama Konchog, a world-renowned Tibetan master. Worth watching even if you have no interest in Buddhist doctrine or practices, for the awesome scenery and exquisite filmmaking.
Thursday, November 05, 2009
I couldn't resist. If you love dogs, how could you not smile. You could say she is being exploited, but she sure looks happy to me...
Monday, November 02, 2009
Today is November 2nd, All Saints Day - in Mexico Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. We invite the spirits of those loved ones who have departed to revisit us, so we can enjoy each others company and they can find comfort in some of the familiar things from their time near us.
We keep this little altar for Aunt Alice up on the wall in our kitchen all the time. Today though, I put a cookie there and made some tea for her favored cup, and lit a candle for her.
I also put the little shrine for Lucky Dog out in the kitchen with a treat for her.
I wish I had the makings of a shrine for my mom and dad - Kool and Camel cigarettes, some scotch and jug wine...I have books for mom, and for Dad I have some work momentos, and photos for them both. I think I'll just light a candle for them both by favorite photos for this year.
One is supposed to also have marigolds (the scent is said to attract their spirits close) but in this harsh climate no Marigolds are to be found.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Last night we went to the Greyrock co-housing for their annual Halloween chili cook-off. Wow, around twenty pots of vegetarian and meat chilis, and lots of nice sides. I made a double batch of cornbread to take. It was fun.
Pat is leaning in from the right side.
We went to a men's group coffee social in Loveland today, and as we were leaving Pat noticed a museum across the street was having a show with altars, inspired by the Dia de los Muertos of Mexico (November 2, all saints day).
It was a great show, and as luck would have it the artist was there and we attended a lecture which she illustrated with many slides from Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, and Oaxaca. Just the thing to prime Pat for his trip to Oaxaca at the end of next week!
After the lecture, we had a look around the rest of the museum, which includes local history exhibits. There was a big section that illustrated the local sugar beet agricultural and refining industies, and we can only surmise from the scene below (click to enlarge) that the lab of the refinery may have been staffed by transgender folks.
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