Did you know March was National Craft Month? It's Okay, I've been busy too.
March was also National Women's History Month. I confess I am to some degree with Morgan Freeman on this one: He said all american history is black history, or vice versa, or black american history was american history, something like that. Yes, I know he wasn't talking about women exactly but it seems to me all-encompassing histories should encompass well, all. That being said, I am not sure I would mind if they started limiting white man history to just one month.
National Quilt Month I did know. It started as a day & blew out into a month. I know how that goes. I celebrated National Quilt Month by... I don't remember what I did the exact day, but given my usual quilt-celebrations I am sure there was something appropriate.
& of course, National Kidney Month is not to be missed. I would give Employee Spirit Month a wide berth, though.
All kinds of produce: bell peppers & broccoli, & on thru the alphabet to National Frozen Food Month. I guess they thought they would get it all over at once; March is also National Nutrition Month.
Adopt a Rescue Guinea Pig Month, no I am not kidding. Also umbrellas, which I can kind of see, & kites, whose month runs from the end of March until the beginning of May. It's like National Kite Month caught some air & being on a string, it was able to run out a bit further than the usual month does.
The list goes on&on, so let's end with: Expanding Girls' Horizons in Science & Engineering Math Month.
As for me I did quilt, I did not adopt a guinea pig; I ate broccoli & avoided bell peppers; did absolutely nothing to improve employee spirit & watched A expand all kinds of science for women...& men. Even the white ones.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
What would Anita do?
As we s*l*o*w*l*y come up on the end of Florida's gay adoption ban (& yes, I do consider this one of the silver linings of our tanked economy; it is hard to justify spending $100,000s defending a policy that is just not going to to stand up at the next judicial tier no matter how moral you might think it is), I thought it would be a good time to take a little look at today's birthday girl: Anita Bryant.
Anita's parents divorced when she was quite small, & Anita was sent to live with her maternal grandparents. I don't know if it was a happy childhood, but it looks like a successful one: she began her musical career with their encouragement, she graduated high school, was crowned Miss Oklahoma 1958 & made it to the final four in the Miss America Pageant. Shortly after this she made the Billboard charts with one of my favorite songs (although I do prefer the Beatles version & even better Miss Peggy Lee; what can I say, I just love The Music Man). She also got a college scholarship but I cannot see that she attended or graduated (it can be hard to find this information about those pre-Google days in the time I am prepared to look for it, which is almost none). In 1960 she married a Miami disc jockey & they had four children...& twenty years together.
All that time Anita was singing, wedding, birthing, she was also preaching, kinda. I confess "preacher" is a lot like "imam" to me. Anyone with the inclination seems able to break into the biz; I am very unclear as to the qualifications (although I am fairly certain the position does NOT come with health insurance). Anyway, Ms. Bryant declared a fatwa on anything she saw as a threat to her vision of family.
One of her early targets was......divorce. & then she got one. Let me go on record as saying I am a HUGE fan of divorce. As A says, divorce means all those people who cannot stand the sight of each other can get away without killing each other. Neither of us has ever been divorced...so far (I also say the same thing about rape; I haven't been...so far).
Which means I really am happy for Anita's divorce. If she would go through with it despite the disapproval of some of her followers, she must have really needed it. What is damn shame is she never stopped to think if she was wrong about this, what else might she have been wrong about? Because it was her group that reversed local laws protecting homosexuals in Miami & went on to inspire (& bankroll) similar movements across the country. & while her movement had a far reaching impact, it also reached around & impacted her. The divorce, yes, but her wholesome spokesperson career was over. It turns out homosexuals drink as much orange juice as anyone & homo-phobes won't buy orange juice just because Anita Bryant is on the poster, especially a divorced Anita Bryant. & a handful (her description) of protesters getting coverage outside of her other venues helped the invitations to those venues dry up.
So she picked herself up, dusted herself off (after a flirtation with prescription drug abuse) & looked for a niche within her niche (divorced, jonesing homo-phobes!) & opened a theater where those who wanted to could hear her sing & minister. Alas, her flock was only getting smaller, as evidenced by the extremely low attendance at her performances, until finally even the most devoted were completely cashed out & broke & then Anita left town...to rise again-again.
More recently Anita Bryant was singing the national anthem at the 2011 Oklahoma Gubernatorial Inaugural Ball. Which brings us to what would Anita do? From here, it looks like she would count on almost everything old being new again & what isn't old/new being overlooked. What it seems she won't be doing is considering there might be more to the human condition than forgiveness for only the transgression she has made. Happy Birthday Anita. You remain for me a shining example of how a bright & pretty cover can disguise a shallow, spiteful story....but only for so long.
Credit: Free images from acobox.com
Anita's parents divorced when she was quite small, & Anita was sent to live with her maternal grandparents. I don't know if it was a happy childhood, but it looks like a successful one: she began her musical career with their encouragement, she graduated high school, was crowned Miss Oklahoma 1958 & made it to the final four in the Miss America Pageant. Shortly after this she made the Billboard charts with one of my favorite songs (although I do prefer the Beatles version & even better Miss Peggy Lee; what can I say, I just love The Music Man). She also got a college scholarship but I cannot see that she attended or graduated (it can be hard to find this information about those pre-Google days in the time I am prepared to look for it, which is almost none). In 1960 she married a Miami disc jockey & they had four children...& twenty years together.
All that time Anita was singing, wedding, birthing, she was also preaching, kinda. I confess "preacher" is a lot like "imam" to me. Anyone with the inclination seems able to break into the biz; I am very unclear as to the qualifications (although I am fairly certain the position does NOT come with health insurance). Anyway, Ms. Bryant declared a fatwa on anything she saw as a threat to her vision of family.
One of her early targets was......divorce. & then she got one. Let me go on record as saying I am a HUGE fan of divorce. As A says, divorce means all those people who cannot stand the sight of each other can get away without killing each other. Neither of us has ever been divorced...so far (I also say the same thing about rape; I haven't been...so far).
Which means I really am happy for Anita's divorce. If she would go through with it despite the disapproval of some of her followers, she must have really needed it. What is damn shame is she never stopped to think if she was wrong about this, what else might she have been wrong about? Because it was her group that reversed local laws protecting homosexuals in Miami & went on to inspire (& bankroll) similar movements across the country. & while her movement had a far reaching impact, it also reached around & impacted her. The divorce, yes, but her wholesome spokesperson career was over. It turns out homosexuals drink as much orange juice as anyone & homo-phobes won't buy orange juice just because Anita Bryant is on the poster, especially a divorced Anita Bryant. & a handful (her description) of protesters getting coverage outside of her other venues helped the invitations to those venues dry up.
So she picked herself up, dusted herself off (after a flirtation with prescription drug abuse) & looked for a niche within her niche (divorced, jonesing homo-phobes!) & opened a theater where those who wanted to could hear her sing & minister. Alas, her flock was only getting smaller, as evidenced by the extremely low attendance at her performances, until finally even the most devoted were completely cashed out & broke & then Anita left town...to rise again-again.
More recently Anita Bryant was singing the national anthem at the 2011 Oklahoma Gubernatorial Inaugural Ball. Which brings us to what would Anita do? From here, it looks like she would count on almost everything old being new again & what isn't old/new being overlooked. What it seems she won't be doing is considering there might be more to the human condition than forgiveness for only the transgression she has made. Happy Birthday Anita. You remain for me a shining example of how a bright & pretty cover can disguise a shallow, spiteful story....but only for so long.Credit: Free images from acobox.com
Fire: a centennial
There has been a lot of buzz about the evilness of unions, & I will even grant you that union-might has been damaging to some parts of our lives, but I think it also worth looking at why unions happened & why most of us are glad they existed, even if we sometimes wish they would go away now. Today seemed like a good day; it is the 100th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.
To highlight, on March 25th 1911 a fire broke out on the 8th floor of the Asch Building just east of Washington Square Park in Manhattan. People on the tenth floor could be (& were) contacted by telephone, but there was no fire alarm in the building & the warning the building was on fire came on foot, with the fire itself. Ultimately 146 people died (the last six victims were only officially identified February 2011) & 70+ were injured. Most of the victims were young immigrant women, still the people generally hired to do the same work in the garment industry today whether it happens here in the US or overseas.
The reason(s) for the high death toll are straightforward:
-access to exits (& entrances for firemen) was blocked either by clutter, opened inward, or might have been actually locked. I think it is worth noting that while locking what we now know of as "fire doors" (largely because of this fire by-the-by) is & was a code violation, I myself have worked in two places that did it routinely; the supervisors could see no other way to keep the riff-raff they hired from sneaking out for a quick cigarette or stealing or whatever. This practice, obviously still around, was as-good-as standard at the time of the fire.
-fire company ladders did not reach above the sixth floor (this was more an available materials versus laws of physics thing than a failure, exactly) & the fire escape bottomed at the second floor. It could have brought people within range of the ladders, but it collapsed under the weight of people trying to leave the building & was neglected & perhaps damaged before the fire ever broke out. More than 60 people died in the fire escape collapse or jumping from windows into inadequate life nets which tore under the impact. Again the laws of physics were at play; the nets could have handled people jumping from lower heights.
-the fire company was quickly on-site, but again, because of the sixth floor limit on the ladders, the blocked doors, & other more grisly reasons, they could not reach the fire. Police lines were erected to prevent people from rushing into the building while it burned.
-most of the victims' first language was not english, nor was any other single language spoken by a clear majority of factory employees; it would have been impossible to communicate anything to this panicked crowd, even if there was a way to communicate with them, which there mostly wasn't. Nevertheless, no emergency plan was in place: employees had never been instructed on how to respond to a fire, how to get out safely, no fire drills were ever conducted (nor were they required by law).
The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company were tried & acquitted for manslaughter; they later agreed to pay $75 to the families of 23 victims who brought suit against them. It is worth noting both men were in the building with members of their family when the fire broke out & survived by evacuating to the roof with a number of others. There was a lot of press at the time about their greed, but they were very much men of their time & the conditions of their factory were typical, despite a recent catastrophic fire in a Newark factory. Making these men out to be monsters keeps us from examining our own potential failures.
Less than a year later, sweeping changes were already being drafted to upgrade building codes, their regulation & enforcement. The ILGWU (International Ladies Garments Workers Union) already existed & had called a successful strike the previous year; working conditions were among their grievances. Following the fire, the ILGWU became one of the most powerful organizations in the United States. Another less-clear result was the rise of the suffragist movement. It is certainly not a fluke that the people who suffered most in these working conditions had no political voice.
As for the Fire's centennial, there are events planned at the building site as well as other places around the country, but maybe the best way to honor the day is to remember when you look at those people sitting in protest in state houses & other public spaces, maybe what they want is not a free-ride for life or even no-charge-to-them Viagra. Maybe what they want are the same ordinary protections you would want in their place.
To highlight, on March 25th 1911 a fire broke out on the 8th floor of the Asch Building just east of Washington Square Park in Manhattan. People on the tenth floor could be (& were) contacted by telephone, but there was no fire alarm in the building & the warning the building was on fire came on foot, with the fire itself. Ultimately 146 people died (the last six victims were only officially identified February 2011) & 70+ were injured. Most of the victims were young immigrant women, still the people generally hired to do the same work in the garment industry today whether it happens here in the US or overseas.
The reason(s) for the high death toll are straightforward:
-access to exits (& entrances for firemen) was blocked either by clutter, opened inward, or might have been actually locked. I think it is worth noting that while locking what we now know of as "fire doors" (largely because of this fire by-the-by) is & was a code violation, I myself have worked in two places that did it routinely; the supervisors could see no other way to keep the riff-raff they hired from sneaking out for a quick cigarette or stealing or whatever. This practice, obviously still around, was as-good-as standard at the time of the fire.
-fire company ladders did not reach above the sixth floor (this was more an available materials versus laws of physics thing than a failure, exactly) & the fire escape bottomed at the second floor. It could have brought people within range of the ladders, but it collapsed under the weight of people trying to leave the building & was neglected & perhaps damaged before the fire ever broke out. More than 60 people died in the fire escape collapse or jumping from windows into inadequate life nets which tore under the impact. Again the laws of physics were at play; the nets could have handled people jumping from lower heights.
-the fire company was quickly on-site, but again, because of the sixth floor limit on the ladders, the blocked doors, & other more grisly reasons, they could not reach the fire. Police lines were erected to prevent people from rushing into the building while it burned.
-most of the victims' first language was not english, nor was any other single language spoken by a clear majority of factory employees; it would have been impossible to communicate anything to this panicked crowd, even if there was a way to communicate with them, which there mostly wasn't. Nevertheless, no emergency plan was in place: employees had never been instructed on how to respond to a fire, how to get out safely, no fire drills were ever conducted (nor were they required by law).
The owners of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company were tried & acquitted for manslaughter; they later agreed to pay $75 to the families of 23 victims who brought suit against them. It is worth noting both men were in the building with members of their family when the fire broke out & survived by evacuating to the roof with a number of others. There was a lot of press at the time about their greed, but they were very much men of their time & the conditions of their factory were typical, despite a recent catastrophic fire in a Newark factory. Making these men out to be monsters keeps us from examining our own potential failures.
Less than a year later, sweeping changes were already being drafted to upgrade building codes, their regulation & enforcement. The ILGWU (International Ladies Garments Workers Union) already existed & had called a successful strike the previous year; working conditions were among their grievances. Following the fire, the ILGWU became one of the most powerful organizations in the United States. Another less-clear result was the rise of the suffragist movement. It is certainly not a fluke that the people who suffered most in these working conditions had no political voice.
As for the Fire's centennial, there are events planned at the building site as well as other places around the country, but maybe the best way to honor the day is to remember when you look at those people sitting in protest in state houses & other public spaces, maybe what they want is not a free-ride for life or even no-charge-to-them Viagra. Maybe what they want are the same ordinary protections you would want in their place.
Monday, March 21, 2011
More on red
I have already blogged about the March Block Lotto block, so I will spare you except: it is red, I didn't have much red & then once I bought some red I figured I may as well use what I had selvage-to-selvage set & made four sets of most. As I was doing this, I remembered C****** really likes red & black (she really likes light blue & black, too; I guess it would be more accurate to say she likes black & other colors) & so I thought I would toss a few black & white blocks in there.
By the time I was done, one set of red&white will go to the block lotto winner(s), which still leaves me holding more red&white blocks, almost of them triplets & much more than I could ever use, especially after I had thrown in the black&white blocks I made soooo....
I thought about this post on the Block Lotto blog. To be brief, she collects 8.5" unfinished/8" finished red&white blocks & makes quilt for leukemia patients (& you can read more here). I had actually already thought I would send her whatever I had left after I was done with the first part, but I had not yet thought thru the whole C****** likes red&black thing either, so I have more left over than if I just used the spare red&whites.
Off these go, to France as it happens, altho' I am guessing they won't necessarily stay there.
By the time I was done, one set of red&white will go to the block lotto winner(s), which still leaves me holding more red&white blocks, almost of them triplets & much more than I could ever use, especially after I had thrown in the black&white blocks I made soooo....
I thought about this post on the Block Lotto blog. To be brief, she collects 8.5" unfinished/8" finished red&white blocks & makes quilt for leukemia patients (& you can read more here). I had actually already thought I would send her whatever I had left after I was done with the first part, but I had not yet thought thru the whole C****** likes red&black thing either, so I have more left over than if I just used the spare red&whites.
Off these go, to France as it happens, altho' I am guessing they won't necessarily stay there.
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Baldrick & green beverages
For today a saint that is not a saint. Was never even a person, actually (or if there was a person named Baldrick, no one ever attempted to canonize him as far as I can tell). & does not have an actual day. Saint Baldrick celebrants aim for sometime around Saint Patrick's Day, usually a week-end day just to be convenient.
How to observe a saint's day that never had a saint? Why shaving your head of course. Well, actually, having it shaved. I know I said to do this around Saint Patrick's Day, but celebrants are usually stone-cold-sober when they participate.
A few years ago at a Saint Baldrick's Day event, my sister had her head shaved by a clown -an actual clown- while an accordion was played in the background. Then same clown painted flower/flames/not sure what they were really on her face. My brother says this is one of the rings Dante neglected. I'm not sure I disagree. I like accordion music (I still have my old Gerard Blanchard albums for when the apocalypse erases all your new-fangled digital music), but clowns make me nervous. Clowns with clippers, well, I just don't need that kind of anxiety.
At this point, if you are still reading, you are asking "Why?" I have no idea why clowns & accordions & facepainting, but the shaving is a fundraiser for research into childhood cancers. I have a vague idea that they gather the hair for cancer wigs, but I might be wrong about that. It is entirely possible the shaving is incidental. Well, not entirely, money is raised by getting sponsors much like a walk-a-thon only nobody has to walk anywhere & the proof of accomplishment is right there for all to see.
That's all I've got really. No history to plumb...or embellish. The patron saint of barbers has actually already been covered in this blog & believe me, I was as surprised as anyone when I looked it up. I could find no patron of clowns or circus performers, but I will keep looking. As for accordion players or manufacturers nada, although if you google "accordian saint", Saint Paul, MN comes up a lot.
How to observe a saint's day that never had a saint? Why shaving your head of course. Well, actually, having it shaved. I know I said to do this around Saint Patrick's Day, but celebrants are usually stone-cold-sober when they participate.
A few years ago at a Saint Baldrick's Day event, my sister had her head shaved by a clown -an actual clown- while an accordion was played in the background. Then same clown painted flower/flames/not sure what they were really on her face. My brother says this is one of the rings Dante neglected. I'm not sure I disagree. I like accordion music (I still have my old Gerard Blanchard albums for when the apocalypse erases all your new-fangled digital music), but clowns make me nervous. Clowns with clippers, well, I just don't need that kind of anxiety.
At this point, if you are still reading, you are asking "Why?" I have no idea why clowns & accordions & facepainting, but the shaving is a fundraiser for research into childhood cancers. I have a vague idea that they gather the hair for cancer wigs, but I might be wrong about that. It is entirely possible the shaving is incidental. Well, not entirely, money is raised by getting sponsors much like a walk-a-thon only nobody has to walk anywhere & the proof of accomplishment is right there for all to see.
That's all I've got really. No history to plumb...or embellish. The patron saint of barbers has actually already been covered in this blog & believe me, I was as surprised as anyone when I looked it up. I could find no patron of clowns or circus performers, but I will keep looking. As for accordion players or manufacturers nada, although if you google "accordian saint", Saint Paul, MN comes up a lot.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)