The Way the Crow Flies

Just finished reading this book by Ann Marie MacDonald. I picked this book out of the stacks at the Book House in Dinkytown having heard nothing about it. It packs a wallop.

I felt as if the author was almost cruel in her persistence of portraying an abuser who suffered no consequences. And then I looked up the book on the internets, and discovered this was based on a true story. Just like reality, the abusers of the 1960s get away with it. An innocent boy was convicted of murder, while the true culprits survived and kept their secrets.

MacDonald's story weaves this ugly reality of child abuse into the ugly reality of the Cold War and the brain drain of Nazi scientists to the west. There are moments of amazing beauty in her ability to portray the confusing view of the world that we have as children who have learned about evil long before we are capable of handling the consequences.

There is also a convincing portrayal of a reality most people miss. Children who suffer abuse spend a lot of effort protecting their parents from the facts of their own lives. This comes through loud and clear in this novel. Even when the heroine, Madeline, tries to tell the truth about her life to her beloved father, you can see the tremendous effort it takes. Our parents are taught that the tragedies we experience are their fault. How convenient for society at large to be pin the blame on parents rather than focus on the sickness among us

This book affected me. I honestly don't know whether I would recommend this book to other readers. It needs a trigger warning. I wish I had known when I began the book that this was based on a true story. I would have been able to forgive the author for putting me through such pain and heartache.

Crazy Kitty


Crazy Kitty

For the second time and two weeks, Jinx the Cat has fallen through the screens on our front porch and plopped herself into the dreaded "Outside". Tonight, we didn't realize this until around 6 pm and went wandering through the neighborhood looking for the misplaced feline. She was eventually found, cowering among the lillies of the field that grow behind our garage. I pulled her out, but had to cover her eyes to get her from her hiding place back into the house. Outside was just too skerry!

What in the world is with this kitty? Why is she ripping through the screen windows in my front porch? Your advice is greatly appreciated!

Crazy Kitty

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Scary!

Another flyer

Event at the book store:

Too busy to post anything substantial, so enjoy

Antiwar flyer

Anti-foreclosure flyer

Flyer against foreclosure

Fundraiser this weekend at Mayday Books

Happy Mother's Day!

Drove a couple hours to visit and take my mother out to lunch. Got a phone call wishing me a happy mother's day from my daughter. All is right with the world!

Picnic flyer in Spanish

Spanish version for distribution at the Mayday Immigrant Rights march:

Backside of the Truckers Strike flyer

We decided to add some introductory information to the back side of the Truckers Strike Picnic flyer for this weekend's Mayday march:

One Day in July

First draft of flyer for the street festival we're planning:

Flyer I made for Afghanistan event

Flyer I made for a fundraiser

Images from last Saturday's protest

Thanks to Kim DeFranco on Facebook!









Article from the Twin Cities Daily Planet:

Foreclosed home auction draws protesters, bargain-hunters

BY MADELEINE BARAN, TC DAILY PLANET. March 29, 2009

Local activists protested the auction of hundreds of foreclosed homes at the Minneapolis Convention Center on March 28.

The Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout organized the protest to demand that the state impose a two-year moratorium on all foreclosures, including rental properties.

About thirty protesters gathered on the sidewalk outside the convention center, chanting, “Banks got bailed out! People got thrown out! Stop foreclosures now!” The group, organized by the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout, held signs and gave short speeches in the cold, sunny weather.

“All of these homes that are being auctioned off today represent families who have been evicted and might be facing homelessness,” protester Steff Yorek said. “People’s lives are being auctioned off in there.”

The sale, held by the Real Estate Disposition Corporation (REDC), had an element of spectacle, as one foreclosed home after another went up for bid in a crowded convention room. An auctioneer stood in the front of the room, rapidly barking out prices. Most homes were sold in less than two minutes. The bidding for a three-bedroom St. Paul home previously valued at $65,000 started at just $500. Less than a minute later, it was sold for $32,500.

“You open your mouth, you might get it,” bidder Calvin Boquist said. “If you don’t you won’t.” Boquist, 53, came to the auction to buy a home for his twenty-year-old son Brandon. They hope to spend less than $35,000 on a small foreclosed home in Avon, Minnesota, close to St. John’s University where Brandon attends college.

Bidders walked past the protest quickly, but many drivers honked their horns to show support. “I understand why people see this as an opportunity,” coalition member Alan Dale said. The banks and the government, not the individual buyers, are the source of the problem, he said.

The proposed two-year foreclosure moratorium is part of a larger “People’s Bailout” bill introduced at the state legislature in January. The bill, which also includes job creation programs and a temporary halt to the five-year limit on receiving welfare benefits, has struggled to make it out of committee. But portions of the bill may pass as parts of other bills, supporters said.

Protesters said that the current economic crisis could prove worse than the Great Depression. And, as many were quick to point out, Minnesota’s Governor Floyd Olson issued an executive order temporarily halting foreclosures in 1933.

Madeleine Baran is a freelance journalist, specializing in labor and poverty issues. Her articles have appeared in The New York Daily News, Dollars & Sense, Clamor, The New Standard, and other publications.

Soulless employment

This past week, I heard a young man explain to a group of 75 community members that his job, stocking shelves with food at a local grocery store, was soul-numbing in the extreme.

And I had a huge disconnect. Because when he said that his job was stocking shelves at a local grocery store, I thought to myself, "Wow, he's doing something concrete that makes a difference in the lives of working class people." And I thought to myself, "That must be awesome, to know that the job one does contributes to one's fellow human being."

To hear this young man say that providing food to another human being is the epitome of soul depletion: well, you know, slap my up one side of the head and down another.

I live in a world that chooses to not respect individuals who contribute to the lives of other workers.

I live in a world where a man who provide the basics of live can tell himself he is doing nothing important.

Damn. That's fucked up.

Work Party

Tonight a bunch of us got together at Mayday Books to put together the posters we will pass out at tomorrow's protest against the foreclosure auction. I received the highest of praise in leftyland when Mickey told me my signs looked even better than Worker's World signs. Wow!

We re-engineered about 50 old signs from the anti-RNC rallies and stapled out new signs onto them. I sarcastically stated that with 56 signs, we probably would have twice as many signs as protesters tomorrow. I hope I am proved wrong on that.

Signs for Saturday's protest

Please feel free to steal these graphics and add your own group's name to fight against this abomination!