Sensory Overload

gratia plena ~

~ because any two people in love are simply living a life of grace, and their personal decision to make their love and commitment public is a blessed event, and because who are we to tell anyone whom he or she may love and cherish until death do them part, and who are we to say 'No' when they ask for the State's or the Church's blessing . . . . .

The very talented John Raymond Barker, aka Jerby, produced this video ~ and I am very honored he included several of the photos I took of the Oakland June 17th weddings.  [It's better in high-quality [mp4].]

And if you live in California, you really don't have to think twice about voting no on Prop. 8, right?

sensory overload

1 am ~ feeling the full effects of the recent events, stresses, thoughts, mile-long and unfinished to-do lists, all amidst this Depression2.0 and crumbling financial institutions (hopefully my creditors will go out of business!).

In honor of my unfinished to-do list, I can only think in bullets right now.  Current sensory overload contributors, in no particular order, although #1 is the most worrisome:

• Received short email from my little brother Rudy Monday afternoon.  He also is so busy it was mostly a forwarded message, confirming his next assignment.  Six to 12 months in Afghanistan; and he ships out Thursday afternoon, from Dallas.  He was in D.C. when he received the email, had to be in Austin the next day, Fort Hood Wednesday morning, and Dallas Wednesday afternoon.  I freak out and call him; explain that this is not the way to handle his current family crisis.  He points out that Iraq (he spent a year in Baghdad '06-'07) was/is 10x safer than Afghanistan.  Yes, I know.  He was hoping for the "easiest" of the assignments: Djibouti.  Now that's Arrona-style; make the crisis better by doing something harder.  I dropped everything at work to book a flight to Dallas.  
• Last-minute flights half-way across the country are not cheap, not even affordable.  Ruby, my savior, gave me one of her Southwest credits, which eased the pain on my bank account, which has worries of its own anyway since it's at WaMu. 
• I will be out of the office for 3 days; my boss pointed out all of the policy issues piling up on my desk.
• Realizing I have at least three Ordinances to research and draft by December.
• Attending the Mayor's Budget Conference.  Five-day shutdown between Christmas and New Year's, without pay.  Bah humbug.  Sorry mami, no "Channel" for you this Christmas.
• Not only do we get Christmas without pay, but no cost of living increase, either.
• Which would be ok (PBJ sandwiches are pretty tasty) if the salt in the wounds isn't a City Hall shut-down every other Friday, or, a 20% pay-cut.  On top of no Christmas.  On top of no COLA.  I figure I will have to start paying City Hall just to show up and work.
• Realizing I only have a few months left before Everything Changes,  if it changes, before I leave City Hall, leave Oakland; existential suicide someone called it.
• Getting an email from my Afghanistan research guy in L.A., saying, "Will we get to see your brother when we're there?" 
• Realizing it's 1 am and there is ajax all over my bathtub.  I have to clean; it was embarrassing.  But I will be out of town you point out.  Yes, but neighbors will be in and out, checking in on Bill and I will be mortified if they see this mess.  It's my thing; move on.
• Three jobs.  Working until 2 am every night.
• Taking work, from all 3 jobs, with me on the trip.
• Realizing it's 1 am and my laundry is still downstairs.  Still need to pack.  Oy.
• Getting my laundry and realizing it's still damp.  Wondering if that cute skirt will dry by 6 am.

But the Good News:

• Realizing I have three Ordinances to draft by December ~ at least I will leave a little bit more of a pseudo-legacy, for better or worse.  But it does feel amazing to have your name attached to a law.  Nerd-alert.
• After the family time in Dallas, I will drive to Austin to finally meet up with La Ruby.  I can't wait, can't wait.  Her name is my birthstone and it shows.  She is wonderful.
• The new lens for my camera.  Beyond my "photo" abilities but hopefully I will learn.
• New eye glasses.  I found the frames by accident at the "Sundry Store" across the street for $5.99!  Then just had my optician add the lenses.  Similar frames, from Sean John and Versace and Revlon (!), cost $150 to $200 at the optical place.  Cheap Frugal is Fun.
• My mom's kooky, adorable phone calls.  I spoke with her last Sunday; they were on DAY 8 of no water and no electricity due to Hurricane Ike.  She sounded so happy because she told me about the milanesa *deliciosa* she had cooked the night before, with arroz y frijoles y una salsitia buenísima, híjole ~ all by the tiny glow of a little lamp. attached to a generator she was hoping would not burn out  Thank goodness they have a gas stove.  She explained how she has just been staying indoors eating.  "Ay!" she explained, "I have to get back on my eating plan.......Ay, pero mari, que riquísima la milanesa...luego, luego paro de comer."  I asked her what they do without water.  She laughed and explained that when my dad needs to go to the bathroom he says, "Voy al baño ~ I go outside."  She laughed and said "Es funny."  I love that.  Here are some other Arrona-ismos we have:
  • Ay, eso es bad manners!
  • Que dumb.
  • Que nice.
  • Estoy aquí watcheando el Tiger Woods.  [My dad loves Tiger Woods.]
    
• She explained the back yard was still filled with the downed trees, the downed fence, and tree-limb chaos.  Then she opened the door and said, "Oye, oye ~ los pajaritos. Que lindos verdad?  Cada día me cantan a esta hora."  Even with no water, no electricity, a mess to clean up, and tenants to help with hurricane repairs, she was waxing poetic about the song birds outside, that sing to her every day at that hour.  How does she do it?
• Now going to sleep, about 1/2 an hour early.  Beauty sleep much needed.
• Having this song stuck in my head for many months, and Lovin' Kanye with the lovely Estelle, who sings like she just woke up from a nap:

How rude and selfish of me ~ and how are you doing?

Hurricane Ike ~ and a drop of Houston Humor

President Eisenhower was born in Texas, and now his namesake Hurricane is heading straight for my Lone Star State, expected to hit my hometown of Houston, around 2 am Saturday.

My brother, his wife, and toddler, are in the evacuation zone so they are packing up, to drive further inland and to higher ground: my parents' house.  My brother told me, "We'll bring a few gas generators and movies, and make a nice weekend out of it!"  He is clearly the "glass is half-full" representative in the family. 

We often use humor in our family to get through stressful situations.  Hurricanes are no joke ~ even if your home can withstand the 80-120 mph winds, as you huddle inside in total darkness, plywood boards providing a thin layer of safety against shattering glass ~ they whip up tornadoes, deadly storm surges at the coastline, and flash flooding.  Every time my parent's house has flooded, they watch from upstairs, candles and flashlights in hand, waiting for the storm to pass.  A few days later, the sun is out, the lights are back on, you step outside and avoid the snakes that have washed up into your yard, and you begin the clean-up ~ my parents always joke that it's as good a time as any to remodel.

But, watching the news, I begin to worry because this one is pretty massive ~ and they predict it will only strengthen before landfall.  So, I call my mom to check in.

I ask her how the emergency prep is going.  She sounds so calm, as if she is fitting in the hurricane between breakfast and dinner.  My dad is out getting the generator and the windows have been boarded up.  She will wait for my brother and his family.  I ask her if she has plenty of food and if she knows what she will cook before the lights go out.  "Oh yes ~ but they're vegetarians ~ can you believe it?!"  In Spanish it was much, much funnier.  Then she mumbled, "Yo no tengo tantos vegetales."  She's right, aside from green bell peppers for chiles rellenos,  there are rarely many vegetables in the house (except for all the canned ones in the pantry).  Did you know that before I moved to California, I had never seen fresh eggplant, or an artichoke, or fresh green beans?! ~ But that is another story.... 

So, I asked mami what vegetarian dish she planned to prepare.  "Chicken Salad." . . . . . 

Yes, in Texas, "vegetarian" simply means you don't eat blood-read meat ~ this is nearly a sin in Texas!  She added, though, that she will make her delicious ensalada de papa and arroz.  "But what else will they eat?!" I ask.  Then I add, "how about scrambled eggs?"  ~ "Ai, si!  Con weeneetos!"  ~ Yes, she means eggs with little weenies, I mean sausages.  Love.  Her.

I ask her if she can make her famous entomatadas or simply cheese enchiladas, but she says she doesn't have the ingredients.  So, I tell her to hurry up and get out to Food Town! 

"But the stores are empty!" she explains.  "I can't even find bread!  I'm going to have to buy wheat bread!"  Love.  Her.  And it was funnier in Spanish.

So, I will call them throughout the weekend to see how they are holding up ~ with the family lockdown and the hurricane!

Now I will go home to light a candle for Texas, my family, and friends, and to reminisce about my Wonder Bread childhood. ~ :)

 

P.S. ~ I just found out that my brother's family started eating chicken last month, so everything will be A-OK ! ~ :-)

Give the Butterflies a Break

From today's edition of The World:

It's about 180 miles as the crow flies...the purple crow butterfly, that is.  One hundred and eighty miles is the length of the annual migration of purple crow butterflies through Taiwan.  The purple crow butterfly has a much shorter trip than its migrating North American relative, the monarch butterfly; still, it's not an easy journey.  The purple crow butterflies fly along busy roads where they can get sucked into traffic.  So, Taiwanese authorities have taken to closing parts of the highway to give the butterflies a break.

Caroline Gluck reports from National Freeway No. 3, "the front line in the battle to try to protect the butterflies."  This is the second year running that the National Freeway authorities have taken measures to try to protect the butterflies from  being crushed or killed by traffic as they make their annual migration from southern Taiwan to the north where they go to lay their eggs.  The measures are costing around 83,000 U.S. dollars, but the Director General of the Taiwan area National Freeway Bureau says it is money well spent, for this special creature.

When the number of purple crow butterflies reaches more than 500 per minute, authorities will close a section about one mile long along the outer lane of the freeway.  They will also set up 13-foot safety nets, fencing in part of the outer lane to encourage the butterflies to fly high above the traffic.  And, hundreds of new trees have been planted along the highway to serve as butterfly rest areas.

When Ms. Gluck traveled to a farm about 12 miles from the highway, thousands of the butterflies were taking nectar in the woods, gathering strength before they continue on their long journey.  The purple crow butterflies are highly sensitive to cloudy or cool temperatures; they won't move on until the weather conditions are just right.

Someone once told me, through a random thought, que la belleza aparece sin avisar.  Thank you Taiwan, for protecting your mari-posas.  San Francisco knows this is important too, especially in Yerba Buena Gardens:

If you know me, you'll understand this post.  But even if you don't, please remember to protect your personal butterflies~ that person who makes you feel butterflies in your soul ~ whomever and wherever they may be ~

And on that note, I give you these notes ~ an ode to maripositas everywhere ~ the sexy, the scandalous, and the sweet ~

Mariposa en Havana ~ Si*Sé

Mariposa Tracionera ~ Maná

Mariposita ~ Alberto Marino

Ë Ë Ë Ë

Sometimes Pulling The Plug is the Best Way to Get Re-Energized

The Internet's first personal blogger, Justin Hall, who was an online diarist and Web logger before the word "blog" even existed, has pulled the plug on his blog, after 11 years.  He offered his readers an explanation in the form of a very raw, personal video, which you can see, here.  Justin is based out of Oakland ~ I hope I bump into him some day ~ maybe I already have and he blogged about the experience but I just don't know it, and we missed out on actual human interaction and instead a facsimile of our exchange exists only in cyber-space ~ and damn wouldn't that be a shame?  Kudos to Justin who is signing off, albeit maybe just temporarily, because (among other reasons) he wants to spend quality time with his girl.  A guy who ditches his blog for you?  Now he's a catch!  Same goes for Oso who is taking time off from the blog to enjoy moving in with his sweetie, as they set up house in Mexico. 

The full article about Justin is here, but I found this excerpt particularly poignant:

While thousands of people start and stop blogs every day, Hall's presence on the Internet has been a constant. If he can't keep his faith in the connective powers of online communication, who can?

In a style reminiscent of the films "The Blair Witch Project" and  "Tarnation," Hall speaks directly into the camera. He is visibly upset, crying at several points.

"What if intimacy happens in quiet moments?" he said. "I think the Web makes me not alone and I feed it my intimacies, and the Web is my constant connection to something larger than myself ... but what if something you do, something you practice like religion as a dialogue with the divine, drives people away from you?"

Hall's dramatic statement fits the scale of his endeavor. He was one of the most committed advocates for the bonding powers of interactive, Web-based writings. But now, his sudden expression of doubt over the Internet's ability to foster intimacy marks a huge change in attitude from the one expressed in work over the past decade and shows that his philosophy may be evolving with the medium in which he works.

You don't want to be like this Runaway Star, now do you?

Ah geez, if THIS isn't a metaphor for our cosmic, intertwined lives, I don't know what is ~ an excerpt from the article in today's San Francisco Chronicle:

A lonely young star has been discovered fleeing from the Milky Way galaxy at the most fantastic speeds ever seen, and Harvard astronomers say it is doomed to wander throughout the universe for the rest of its life.

"We've never before seen a star moving fast enough to escape the confines of our galaxy," said astrophysicist Warren Brown, its co-discoverer. "We're tempted to call it the outcast star."

Already the star is nearing the outskirts of the Milky Way, Brown said. It probably has been flying on its present course from the galactic center for less than 80 million years. In another 80 million years, it could be entirely clear of the Milky Way and hurtling out into the vast and endless reaches of intergalactic space, he said.

Runaway stars are not uncommon in our galaxy, Brown said in an interview Thursday, but this one is moving at more than 1.5 million mph -- faster than the "escape velocity" of the entire galaxy, and many times faster than the speed the Apollo astronauts needed to exceed Earth's escape velocity of 25,000 mph to reach the moon.

The stellar outcast, Brown believes, had a companion once. The two -- together known as a binary star -- were rotating around each other, linked together like a couple twirling in a high-speed waltz. The two stars, in turn, were speeding together around the massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy in an orbit about 1.5 billion miles out -- "which, cosmically speaking, is a pretty close pass," he said.

The black hole's immensely powerful gravity drew one of the stars closer, while the speed of the other star -- both around its companion and around the black hole -- flung it away, like a rock from a slingshot. As the outcast sped off, the black hole gripped the other star ever tighter and forced it into a closer orbit.

As for the outcast star's companion that was left behind, Hills said it was probably now flying in a closer and closer orbit around the black hole at the Milky Way's center. Eventually, he said, the black hole's immense gravity probably will tear that orphan star apart "and swallow it."

"American Girl" ~ Que Va?

Man, talk about stereotyping ~ even our dolls have to flee their "dangerous" city communities to pursue the American Dream in the 'burbs!  Check out the new Mexican "American Girl" doll (story below).  I agree with Alejandra L. Ibanez, quoted in the story ~ leaving our communities (ai, and for the suburbs no less) should not be the watermark for improving our lives ~ improving the communities we already live in...that should be the mark.(!)  Below the story, you should check out the thoughtful comment posted by my good friend Ginger ~ who is my eyes, ears, and brilliant mind in Chicago, where she has lived for many years as a single woman, a kick-ass mom, and now a kick-ass attorney.  Now, on to the story, from YahooNews:

CHICAGO - Some residents of Chicago's largely Hispanic Pilsen section are upset over a new doll in the popular American Girl series because her storyline says the Mexican-American  youngster and her family left the "dangerous" neighborhood for a better life in the suburbs.

Many in the West Side neighborhood say the characterization is insulting and inaccurate.

"It's very offensive and it's really a slap in the face to the hardworking people of the Pilsen community," said Alvaro R. Obregon, who lives near where the doll, Marisol, supposedly lived before setting out for suburban Des Plaines.

According to the biography that accompanies the doll, which was introduced just after Christmas, she is the daughter of a transit worker and an accountant. One day her mother tells Marisol the family is leaving their apartment for a house in the suburbs.

The old neighborhood "was no place for me to grow up," the doll's story says. "It was dangerous, and there was no place for me to play."

American Girl officials said that they never intended to insult the community.

"Our feeling is that when people read the book in its entirety, I think they'll see the picture that we painted of Marisol in the book is from a very warm, lively and very close-knit community," American Girl spokeswoman Stephanie Spanos said Wednesday.

Spanos added that the "dangerous" comment was a reference to traffic in the big city and that Marisol's parents moved to Des Plaines because they wanted a house and a yard for their daughter to play in. {Sidebar: The fact that American Girl believes its own explanation only serves to highlight the fact that general statements and assumptions like theirs are based on inherent prejudices and stereotyping ~ people of color primarily comprise our city communities, it is a fact that suburbs are primarily white; and so to make blanket statements about a Mexican girl leaving "her dangerous neighborhood" for the safety and opportunity of the suburbs, without taking into consideration the inherently offensive nature of the statement, not to mention the effect, well...poor marketing is the least of American Girl's problems.}

Police spokesman Pat Camden said Pilsen's crime level is pretty typical for Chicago. "Crime there is not the highest and it's not the lowest," he said.

Although crime was down 6 percent last year in Pilsen, the neighborhood still grapples with gang violence and high dropout rates.

"It's a community that doesn't give up and doesn't run from its problems," said Obregon, who works with the community group The Resurrection Project. "It's a community of faith, of hardworking people, and that's why when this comes out I'm sort of taken aback."

Pilsen has long been a port of entry for immigrants in Chicago. From the early 1900s until about 30 years ago, mostly Eastern Europeans lived in the area. Now it is one of the biggest Mexican communities in the United States. In the summer it is known for its outdoor Catholic Mass and festivals that fill the streets with the smell of tamales and the sound of mariachi bands.

American Girl dolls were introduced in 1986. The dolls, which have become a must-have for many girls, also feature other ethnic characters, including a Hispanic girl living in colonial New Mexico, a black girl during the Civil War and an American Indian girl.

Alejandra L. Ibanez, executive director of the community group Pilsen Alliance, said American Girl missed an opportunity.

"I wish that they would not have had Marisol leave her community so that little girls like Marisol living in the inner city can be proud of their neighborhood and not have the perception that they must leave the neighborhood so that they can do better for themselves," Ibanez said.

___

On the Net: http://www.americangirl.com

Tsunami ~ Before & After Satellite Photos

Thanks to my office-mate, "The Fall," for the link to these startling images ~ a series of 14 satellite "before" and "after" images of various areas hit by the tsunami.  Also, the South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Blog has been updated in case you can still donate or still need information.  Here are two of the images from the satellite link:

Tsunami Relief Blog

Thanks to Changing Places for the link to the Tsunami Relief Blog.  The blog provides helpline and online information for help in locating missing persons in the various countries, contact information and web links for donations, and even information for Spanish readers, as well as a wealth of other links and resources.  The quickness with which bloggers put this together is amazing. Thank God for people who are this organized and committed to providing information and help. 

Meanwhile, um, our President is on vacation. And I just found out that, by August 2003, Dubya had spent 27% of his presidency on vacation . . .I wonder what the percentage is these days . . .Well, real leaders cut short their vacation, and offer personal input (let's call it, "leadership") as quickly as possible ~~ say, like, for example, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who cut short his vacation and returned to work in Berlin to address the tsunami crisis, or former President Bill Clinton, who appears to be the predominant U.S. voice speaking about the disaster in Britain, in an interview he gave to the BBC.  Dubya, on the other hand, took three days to "emerge from his vacation" on Wednesday to give this short statement on Sunday's tsunami disaster ~ note at the end of the transcript how G.W.B. tells reporters:

I'm sorry to disrupt your day, but I felt like it was important to talk about what is going to be one of the major natural disasters in world history. And it's important for the world to know that our government is focused and will continue to respond to help those who suffer.

Now That's Job Security

The big digital news these days is Google's ambitious plan to digitize the collections of five top libraries: Stanford, Harvard, Oxford, the University of Michigan, and the New York Public Library. The project eventually will allow any Internet user anywhere in the world to search inside millions of volumes, seeing the pages exactly as they appeared in the originals, complete with illustrations, charts and photos.  Now, I myself much prefer the actual feel of a book when reading and I doubt I will ever give in to reading digitized versions of books ~ I stare at a computer screen all day at work, why do it when I want to relax and read?  But, the searchable aspect of the project is a big-deal and I can see the advantage to searching books online.

Anyway, Stanford has 8 million volumes, Michigan has 7 million, the other three libraries will participate only with a limited part of their collections.  The job of scanning the books, for now, will remain low-tech: human operators will stand at the scanner, turning the pages of each book.  An operator can get through about 50 books in a workday. At that rate, with, say, 20 people working every single day of the year, digitizing 7 million volumes would take 19 years!

So, if the pink slips still loom at my current job, I should apply at Google; I wonder if the job comes with dental.  ~ I can't afford the stock, so I may as well work for 'em.  ~ :)