excerpt: Decency Rules & Reg's Manual

• If it looks like a duck,
• talks like a duck,
• walks like a duck,
• does "it" like a duck,
• votes Green Party,
• likes Jon Stewart,
• buys free-range eggs,
• is child-less by choice,
• and uses a push mower,
• it's a duck

• and it must be reported.

from Decency Rules And Regulations Manual, p.139: The Department of Homeland Decency. Three Rivers Press. New York. Copyright 2006, 2008 by Frank Fuller and Sara Fuller.

www.homelanddecency.com

Strike May Begin Friday at Providence College

I've just learned from the facebook group, Support The Hurley Employees For A Fair Contract, that there will likely be a strike as of Friday February 1..

Donations of food (canned) and funds can be dropped off at the Feinstein Institute Office on the Fourth Floor of the Feinstein Center.

In the interest of supporting the workers / not crossing picket lines, faculty members are planning on holding classes in off-campus settings (incl. homes). More spaces are needed. I think I'm too far from campus...

I have been a guest speaker for a few years on the Providence College Campus for Adjunct Faculty member, Ms. Deoshore Haig. We'll be speaking soon about these events/tensions...

The Providence College students have been remarkable in their spirit, organization and comprehension. It is an honor to associate with them and with Custodial workers.

Update 1/31/08: The strike is planned for February 1-3, Parents' Weekend. Here's more: http://www.ridemocrats.org/blog/2008/01/30/pc-janitors-ready-to-strike/

a summer poem by Grace Paley for a cold day

Here


Here I am in the garden laughing
an old woman with heavy breasts
and a nicely mapped face

how did this happen
well that's who I wanted to be

at last a woman
in the old style sitting
stout thighs apart under
a big skirt grandchild sliding
on off my lap a pleasant
summer perspiration

that's my old man across the yard
he's talking to the meter reader
he's telling him the world's sad story
how electricity is oil or uranium
and so forth I tell my grandson
run over to your grandpa ask him
to sit beside me for a minute I
am suddenly exhausted by my desire
to kiss his sweet explaining lips.


Grace Paley

Nomi's blog Gratitude list for January 28, 2008

This is only the first of an ongoing ritual...

Alan C., Bugzita, Celia(Yom Huledet Sameach!), democommie [TM,TM, TM], Eileen S.,[ri12], Fox Point Library, General J.C. Chr., Harold Rogovin, Isaac S H, Johanna(Nana), Kyle P., LailaL., Matt K., Ninjanurse, Outside The Window, Paul Lynde, QLTESS, Rosenbergs (Ethel & Julius), Sue Hastings, Tom Kalinowski, Uncle W., V. I Warshawski, Yhasser Martin Aich Romero ( te extran~o), Zarums (mishugeh & cousins, children, kindred).

&&&&&&&&&&

From Ralph Waldo Emerson :


Give All To Love

Give all to love:
Obey thy heart;
Estate, good fame,
Plans, credit and the muse;
Nothing refuse.

"Bush nudges Egypt on democracy"

Hmmm....???

The title of this brief post is a headline from a recent edition of The Providence Journal. The article is sindicated from the Los Angeles Times.

This brings up the remark Mahatma Gandhi made in response to a question about his opinion of "Western Civilization".

" I think it would be a good idea."

Serendipitous meeting with RI's Rep. Langevin on Jan. 21. 2008

By sheer luck, I bumped into my congressman eating lunch with a group of suspiciously young looking people ( indeed, I learned they were all affiliated with RI's Institute for Study & Practice of Nonviolence...http://www.nonviolenceinstitute.org/) and when the group disbanded, he graciously spent a few minutes with me.

Despite my plan to focus on CPL. Ciara Durkin (see link below) and Jamie Leigh Jones, a few other issues surfaced before he left the diner.

My son was patiently playing with his new gadget.

Jim Langevin had apparently heard Jamie Leigh's testimony before Congress, and made appropriate sympathetic noises.

He had not heard of Ciara.

Massachusetts and Rhode Island are kissing cousins in a geographic sense. Mr. Langevin told one of the people with him to find out which congressional district the Durkin family lives in. I was pleased. I will be following up more formally with his office.

...Because Providence College Janitors are Part of Our Beloved Community

When: Tuesday, January 22, 2008....3:00pm -- 5:00 pm

What: Rally to Support Providence College (PC) Janitors

Where: Main Entrance Gates, 549 River Ave., Providence, RI

Who: Students of all ages ( and not limited to PC!). Barring illness, I will be there!

Why: Description is below:



"This nonviolent rally will take place in remembrance of Martin Luther King, Jr., whose speeches and public demonstrations remind us of the possibility of a peaceful, brotherly society and the creation of a beloved community."

"This rally will call on the Providence College administration to use its voice in the current negotiations between janitors and their contracting company, Hurley of America...."

Help for the Grammatically challenged !

I am challenged in this area. By no means am I suggesting that this was an issue for Marsha, Grace or Harold.

Then again, maybe....

http://www.apostropheabuse.com/

If the link doesn't work, please let me know. Thanks.

TGIF

What Grace Paley, Harold Rogovin & Marsha Z. West Have In Common (Part I)

I write in haste as I plan to attend a noon Board meeting of the Providence Public/Private Library, and it is already 10:55 AM. They are still claiming that eliminating the 7 Child Life Specialists is the only answer. I will post more on this soon.

Marsha Z. West and Harold Rogovin and Grace Paley were 3 people who died in 2007. I doubt that they ever met each other. It is true that they all lived in New York City at various times. Harold and Grace may have been close in number of years lived.

They were all artists. Marsha: a dancer, actor, director, dramatug, and much more. Harold: a metal smith, jeweler, sculptor...Grace: a poet, writer of fiction, baker of pies...

Harold was the man who first introduced me to the history of Sacco and Vanzetti. We lived in the same apartment building in New York City ( on West 111th Street) for years. His family became my family.

Marsha, I first encountered through her acting at Rites & Reason Theater which is part of the Africana Studies Department at BrownU. I was blessed to act under her direction in the play, "The Candlemakers of Kletsk"[Angela Thurston] in 2005.

Grace, I met only once in Vermont, and I will save that story. Her activism and literature first touched me when I was about 12 or 13 ( maybe younger).

These three people inspire me...It is 11:07AM....

A Puzzle

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Today both the Newbery and Caldecott Medals were announced, and no, my Mom won neither ( she writes children's books, for those of my readers who are not relatives!).

The winner of the Caldecott Medal is Brian Selznick's historical novel which with large illustrations of great detail and depth. I adore this book.

Here's the link for the American Library Association / Caldecott Medal page.

http://www.ala.org/ala/alsc/awardsscholarships/literaryawds/caldecottmedal/caldecottmedal.htm

Thank you for your patience with my inability to post even a small photo or image. I am making progress. Once I was a confirmed luddite.

Abir Aramin's Garden -- A Safe Place To Grow

I've just learned of a Palestinian/Israeli peace group or Israeli/Palestinian group that hasn't been around that long...

Abir Aramin was 10 years old when she was killed by Israeli soldiers last January.

Her father and several other people founded this group, Combatants for Peace, http://www.combatantsforpeace.org/

If you visit the site, and click on the "Projects" button, there's more about the garden.

Met Fan Votes Jim Rice into Baseball's Hall of Fame

In my Baseball dreams , I vote Jim Rice into the Hall of Fame.

" a legal immigrant from Puerto Rico" !!??

This morning I heard the above phrase during a news report from a local radio station.

My understanding is that Puerto Rico has been an occupied colony of the U.S. for many years, and therefore Puerto Ricans in any part of this land are not "immigrants".

Unless transplanted New Yorkers (such as myself) are "immigrants", too.

Is it possible to re-post this? I want folks to read the wonderful commentary sent on 4/29...

"...porque silencio es mortal." -------"...because silence is mortal."

Thanks to Jilly Dybka's Poetry Hut Blog[http://www.poetryhut.com/wordpress/], I've learned about this bilingual site:

http://www.poesiadiaria.com.ar/