More Feminist Than You

Republicans love a Work-A-Holic! Great for the bottom line. That's really why Palin was chosen.....and her Girl Parts really sticks it to Hillary...this is the Repubs big FU...to her.
What's more hard-working than a Mother with a Job outside the home? A migrant worker? A prisoner on the chain gang?

When you have children you have a choice, mostly. Stay home, mostly, and actually raise your own children. Or, work part-time and farm out the parenting to a (you hope) lovely and wonderful person who can be as good as you are at least for the time you are working or whatever. Or, work full-time and farm out 75% of parenting.
Let's complicate the matter even more. A special needs child. OK. 2 special needs children.
One infant with Downs and one pregnant teenager.
Say what you will, and it will all be said, one child is hard enough, 5 is a small baseball team.

So.....Repubs love to seduce you and guilt you with the image of the Perfect Mother....Stay At Home and raise children.....OH WAIT !!!!
That may or may not be the Repubs current image of the Perfect Mother anymore. The Perfect Mother works ! It's good for the economy because a working mother needs pantyhose, a working wardrobe, Starbucks, lunches out, and lots and lots of Guilt purchases for the children a working mother never gets to see often enough.
I have 3 kids. I know a lot about working and juggling.
I also worked all my life.....I'm working class. I only finished my degree at age 51 !

So...as a working mother, I put my family's needs before my own. I did not think about my own self-interest much, I certainly didn't think my employers needs came before my kids. Employers hate that!
I breast-fed. Oh sure you can pump and juggle, but at the end of the day, working full time with a breast-feeding infant is just short of crazy.
What she gonna do? Stump and Pump?

I became self-employed mostly because it was best for my family.
What choices does Sarah Palin have? Surely she isn't really raising her own children. Someone else is doing that. And that may be alright. But, it is a physical fact. She isn't doing much mothering.
Oh sure, I've heard it all. Quality over quantity is the buzz phrase right?
Deep down, most mothers know that's a lie.
There's a reason why women have these dilemmas. Estrogen. The Human Condition. We are made this way by selection, because the children who receive the most attention from their parents are the children who do best in life.
We don't ask how will Obama parent and run the country.....He's already got his priorities in order. He has a parent who will step in for all the essential parenting needed while he is saving the world from hard-working Repubs. Sarah Palin has a husband who clearly hasn't been around much. And doing what kind of parenting? He seems great at making the babies....not so much on actually raising the babies.

Money can "buy" a lot of things. They can make working mothers feel better about the fact they aren't raising their children. Someone else is. Maybe this is best for the kids....after all.

So, Sarah Palin is the New Perfect Mother. She has a lot of Kids. She has works full time. She is a pro-life Repub. She works at least 2 jobs. She's a she. She's Perfect....and now you will be held to this higher standard.
It isn't good enough anymore to be a mom. Now it's "normal" to have a job too. Another job, too.
Hurrah!!! Feminists Win!!! the social revolution.

And it's pretty funny now to see the Repubs go All Feminist after years of Ms.-Hating....Phyllis Schlafly anyone? Hardly anyone told women to get barefoot and pregnant more often than Phyllis, while she had 6 children and a law degree and a full-time career!! Talk about hypocrisy!!

But let's chat about a Pregnant Teenager.
Surely, Palin is a failure there! It is never a good idea for a teenager to get pregnant. Please click here and read an article that I'd have written, but for the fact I really do Have to work.....and I have no time to do all the research that backs up my/her argument.
And my position is that if you really care about your daughters and sons, you will not let them get pregnant too soon. A pregnant teenager is an admission of failure in the parenting department. It sentences a girl and often a young man to a lifetime of poverty and diminished dreams. And that hurts us all.
Someone who can't even pull off great parenting with money to play with, is a terrible example of parenting. It's not Ooopps!
But even this will "play" to those families that have had to endure a pregnant teenager. Kinda sad and funny, how such a human failure is now somehow magically qualified to be the Leader of the Free World!
The messiest part of the Palin family saga is that the poor teenager will have to play out her life in the public arena.
Even if Bristol wanted to get an abortion, how could she now? If she wanted to give the baby up for adoption, how can she? She is her mother's pawn. Bristol has to do what's best for her mother. Bristol doesn't get to make her own decision. What does Bristol want? We'll never really know.

Here in Pierce County, pregnancy rates for 15-17 yr. olds is on a downward trend.
It simply is a fact that, "...unintended pregnancy is associated with a number of detrimental risks and poor health outcomes......greater risk of infant mortality, and increased risk of the child being abused or neglected....."
If Palin was a competent mother and a competent manager she would decline the offer of Veep.
She already has a job or 5 or 6 or 7 !
Enough! Why is stretching a family past its limits a Good Thing? Is it good for the economy? A cancer cell and a pro-development capitalist have the same ideology. Growth for growth's sake.
But like I said, Repubs love a hard worker. Even if we all have to suffer for it.

Swim !!

Busy busy busy...went to Portland....Stadium Hi 20th Reunion...this weekend...OMG!!!!
January will be in town....along with Julie Fey...and Alison....and Diana.....and Brian Naubert...Barbie Bartolatz,ooo, and more so many more.....

Why our mayor.....Bill is a Tiger !!! grrrr.....


Brian Naubert.....Ruston Mire....
Many bands formed from Stadium grads of 1988.



Hot cha cha... Now on ebay.....or one in the shop in Tacoma.....

Rockabilly PIN UP !
Sailor style....with braid and buttons..snappy cute vintage 50s cherry red swimsuit is made of cotton, rubber and acetate.
Built in bra, boning and pleats on the front. It has a halter strap of white cord and hooks in a loop on the top. In a small to medium....bust 34" - 37" or so.
OR.........

The delightful DeWeese designs!

Sheer green voile is embroidered all over with white daisies with yellow centers. On the elastic straps, around the neckline it's covered in big fabric embroidered daisies!
Labeled a vintage size 16 - 38.
Stretches between:
Bust -38" - 42"

A Gay Disco or 2 or 3

This has been going thru my head and now I want to put it in yours.....
I'm sorry...



And for dinner music last night.....I went to The Mix myspace page to check my new pals who get what I like in life ! fun, chattin', music and drink !!
It was fun to listen to their playlist.....since I was home and not there.....
And thanks MIX ! for putting me under Kelly on your Friends roll........I always wanna be under Kelly forever and always......SHOES !

And just in the last few days, I've been thinking again about Steve.....he had an amazing presence in Tacoma....the different kinds of people he knew from the bottom to the top ......income and education-wise......
But I learned much from him, and while I won't do some rotten things he did !!
I do appreciate that he Had a home on the side of the road, And was a friend to Man....
which is pretty darn Jesus freak, for a Jew.......

Nurse Out in the Park ...Alert Bunney !!

Alert Muri !! Alert Bush !! Alert Lee !!
A Proclamation from the Pierce County Council.....
Far far worse than.....Gays Out In the Park......
omg ! Check this out !!
Sexual orientation is again stirring up controversy for the Pierce County Council. This time, the debate centers on a proposed proclamation supporting Nurse Out in the Park, a celebration of the South Sound’s breastfeeding community Thursday in Tacoma.

Proclamations – in which government leaders go on record to support an event or group – rarely face opposition. Elected officials approve dozens every year. It usually takes about five minutes to rubber-stamp the mostly ceremonial items.

But that wasn’t the case this week, when a majority of the Pierce County Council rejected adding the Nurse Out in the Park proclamation to its meeting agenda, thus preventing it from coming to a vote. The amendment failed 4-3 on Tuesday, with Chairman Terry Lee and council members Shawn Bunney, Dick Muri and Roger Bush casting the “no” votes. They’re all Republicans.

The rejection by Pierce County leaders – who last year voted 4-3 to extend health benefits to domestic partners of county employees – caught council members Calvin Goings and Tim Farrell by surprise. They, along with Councilwoman Barbara Gelman, voted to amend the agenda. All are Democrats.

Goings and Farrell blasted their counterparts. As a Pierce County elected leader who is gay, and therefore has no ability to breed himself, Farrell was approached by event organizers to add the proclamation to the agenda.

“I’m embarrassed,” Goings said. “This is a sad, low day for the County Council, that we wouldn’t give you a chance to celebrate who you are and stand against discrimination of breastfeeding at all locations.”

But Lee said the proclamation was presented shortly before the meeting. County leaders have an internal policy not to vote on such late items, he said, because they don’t have time to study what they’re proclaiming and there’s no input from the public.

Lee said the backlash is an attempt by some county leaders to play politics during an election year. Goings and Bunney are squaring off for county executive. “I think it’s unfair because, if you want to be accurate, we should have had that proclamation a week beforehand,” Lee said.

The inaction sparked calls of discrimination from breastfeeding and baby groups throughout the South Sound.

“I find it difficult to understand what the downside is to acknowledging the humanity and dignity of the
local lactation community", said consultant- Debbie Knox, IBCLC.

--30-

Boobs Boobs Boobs Boobs....
no not the boobs on the County Council......
Bunney, Muri, Bush and Lee.....
(gee kinda sounds like Emerson, Lake and Palmer.....er not really)
naked boobs in the Park!!
A Public Park !!
Where the children play......
omg !!
Children might see naked boobs......
O....
that's the point.

yes, folks this is Comedy, tho this picture is very disturbing...... You know how I feel about toddler dolls and polyfil.

Happy Birthday Andy. Tacoma hated you.

80 years old !
Oh My, what a jumpstart Tacoma woulda had waaaaay back in the early 80s if they'd chosen Andy Warhol.....
That stupid ass decision to put triangles on the Dome delayed T Town's renaissance by decades, my friends.

I think it's sad/tragic that Tacoma rejected one of the most amazing artists of all time....

Sometimes you need someone who is coloring outside the lines.
Whether you like it or not.
I still can't believe I live in a town that hated Andy Warhol !!
People woulda come from all over the world to see it!
Instead the "leadership" of Tacoma had to wait.....
and wait...
and wait........
for The Glass Museum......
and expensive taxpayer subsidized Condos.....


semi-repeating a previous blog:


This:

Not This:

So Tacoma if you want art, REAL ART, you are so on your own.
Do not look to the City for anything that is real.
The City of Tacoma and the phony arbiters of art (snicker) HATE YOU .

Shoes Shoes Shoes

How I get from shoes to Midcentury Modern to downtown parking and Urban Design........(vodka is involved)
Mark and I have an obsession with shoes. Why? I'm not sure. We pretended to be middle class and we went to TGIFriday's and The Mall looking for bona fide tennis shoes for Mark because he is teaching John to play tennis.

TGIF's is decorated in a 1970s era flea market junk on the walls motif....flip through some old Better Homes and Gardens and look for the Faux-Funky Granola decorating of the faux-hip of America's Decade of Last Gasp.

We had a waiter at TGIF's who had a Sleeve Tattoo!!!!!! wwweeeeeeeee!! Yes, the Tattooed Ones are getting jobs in the most uptight places now....Way To Go youngsters!

(as a side note.....since my tat is on display because it's Summer....I'm getting tons of compliments. It's Sailor Jerry so it's a beaut, and the artist was Adam Craven of Electric Rose in Oly. I went there because my youngest daughter Annie, the mother of Ruby, told me he was fab, since that's where Annie got a tattoo.) My next one will be done by the wonderment that is Polly...Dreamer's Chant....coming soon to an upper arm near you!!



Back to our adventure in Middle Class world....The reason we had to have a drink and a snack before going to The Mall......is because it takes alcohol for us to brave The Mall..

Tho Tacoma's mall is a delight for its Mid Century Design !!!!!
It's a dreadful depressing place full of failed American dreams of commerce and excitement. It's everything Mark and I despise about America. We wish we could have gone to the Cascade Room at the Bon Marche.....alas, there is no more cocktail lounges in the malls of Tacoma..... back in the good old days, they understood, Americans needed a drink to shop the mall. There were trying to mimic Downtown. A bar or 2 on every block. From the links just above: Jason said: ...Tacoma's "Cascade Room" with outdoor dining courtyard with more lights-in-rocks and a George Tsutakawa fountain. I'll miss them all dearly...

The Mall, built in 1964, ruined downtown. Then of course, downtown turned into a sleazy war zone. But those days are over because the city and the state has encouraged development downtown. Huzzzah !
For years I tried to move downtown.....every time I saw a space that was affordable (ie..the same rent as a comparable 3 bedroom house)..the landlord went all Straight Laced about people breaking zoning laws!!! yes, it was and is still quite illegal to live downtown unless you pay a lot of money or are willing to get Official Approval.

Since I'm not willing to lie to my landlord....it is Where I live after all.....I went for years without living downtown.....'course I live in the outskirts of dt now....I'm pretty darn happy.
Now if we could just get "affordable" housing downtown.....and we can, but developers don't want to be caught dead doing anything that remotely resembles socialism...they didn't spend all those thousands to get their MBA's for nuttin'!!

If they wanted to do social work after getting a Higher Education, they'd have gone to Evergreen.....

As we approached the back door of the Macy's/Mall entrance we walked over to the fenced in area where the patio of the restaurant used to be, a fellow walked out. Mark asked him what the restaurant is now.....Fellow replied: worker's lunchroom and storage. You haven't been here in a decade I take it! That place closed down a long time ago.
Oh dear! yes, we knew that, I type, as I sneak a peek at my vintage front-strike Bon Marche matches that list all their restaurants in the stores in Washington.
Poke your head in the fenced in area sometime and check out the fountain, and the sweet little slice of paradise that was.

This is what drives me to dislike many of the changes in Tacoma. But I do like living downtown, so welcome condo dwellers! And welcome, cafes, bars and restaurants, oh, and shopping establishments, and arts and entertainment.

Which brings me to my other rant for the day......I got a parking ticket for parking in front of my shop on Broadway. Some days I have to drive since I have to bring fresh merchandise in. But we can only park for an hour !!! In the middle of the day !!!!
Yes ! That made sense when there were 3 places to shop on Antique Row. But now there is so much to do that one cannot do it all in One Frigging Hour !!
My bitch is that : First they invite you downtown, then they make you leave!!! Any wonder that so many businesses don't do well.....unless alcohol is involved?!?!

If you work downtown and only need to bring an iPod, a bottle of Dasani and a box of breath mints, for the love of the Baby Jesus, take public transportation!!
Because workers drive into downtown for no good reason, the city has punished all drivers by limiting us to a measly one HOUR ! Some of us have real lives that require real work, real physical labor, such as involved in running a retail shop.....
Shoppers mostly need their car to pack it full of stuff they buy from the few, tho rapidly expanding, merchants downtown......
It's definitely time for the city get smart about this. I understand they want to force everyone into public trans, and that's good ! BUT, not everything that goes on downtown now is about working in a tall building. It was , for a long time, especially since The Mall ruined downtown Tacoma. But times change. They've changed again. It's time for the city to stop punishing shoppers, but maintain their enforcement of office workers who park on the street, or chain park.
This is my argument I'll be making in Muni Court on November 14, 2008, at 9 am. TGIF !!!!!

I Got Your Urban Village Right here......

as the wealthy and young displace the diversity of the urban core, inevitably, the urban core shall become as bland as the strip mall/suburbs....
In an article in The New Republic, Trading Places by Alan Ehrenhalt,
The demographic inversion of the American city.
Post Date Wednesday, August 13, 2008.........
the amazing shift of the poor and colored out of the cities, and the influx of wealthy young and white into the cities.....makes American cities resemble what urban planners have taxed us to do.....that is.....what Jane wanted us to do....

"We are not witnessing the abandonment of the suburbs or a movement of millions of people back to the city all at once. But we are living at a moment in which the massive outward migration of the affluent that characterized the second half of the twentieth century is coming to an end. For several decades now, cities in the United States have wished for a "24/7" downtown, a place where people live as well as work, and keep the streets busy, interesting, and safe at all times of day. This is what urbanist Jane Jacobs preached in the 1960s, and it has long since become the accepted goal of urban planners."

except I doubt the Utopian Nirvana of intelligent and lively and diverse and artistic and soul-uplifting will really happen.....because if there is one thing that the wealthy want it is.....nothing much but everything clean and sanitized.....and you love Julie Anderson because she doesn't like anyone or anything that isn't clean and white/wealthy.....(Asians are honorary white people)

from the comment section of this online article :
"As an artist who grew up in manhattan in the 50's and still manages to live there I am astonished as to how wrong headed and self congratulatory this article is. What made New York as culturally rich as it was, was that it was possible to live in manhattan if you were poor. It was also possible to partake fully in the culture of NY because the cost was not prohibitive. It is what made NY a magnet for artists of all kinds. This is no longer the case. There are no longer cheap spaces for artists and musicians. A kind of economic pacification has taken place, and the result is the economically well off stare at each other in upscale restaurants and the city is on the way to becoming a cultural vacant lot."
That is, of course, my fear. As a creative artistic person, I don't get my inspiration from condos or the dwellers therein....nor do I get inspiration from the "urban" dweller....I get what I need from it all....the mountains, the sky, the tall buildings, the people...all of them blend into a mix that is part magic, part serendipity, part sanity, part crazy. It's UNPLANNED.

"Much of what Jacobs loved and wrote about will not reappear: The era of the mom-and-pop grocer, the shoemaker, and the candy store has ended for good. We live in a big-box, big-chain century. But I think the youthful urban elites of the twenty-first-century are looking in some sense for the things Jacobs valued, whether they have heard of her or not. They are drawn to the densely packed urban life that they saw on television and found vastly more interesting than the cul-de-sac world they grew up in."

well, Goodness won't prevail if this happens:

from the Biz Buzz article about KWA buying the share of The Olympus Hotel downtown:

"Pritchard told the council committee her association would conduct a thorough review of each tenant's credit and rental histories, inspect each unit and interview tenants to determine which ones can stay and which ones will be evicted.

"If we have to terminate some tenants, there’s a process for that," she said."

Termination for not being white and wealthy. I don't like the sound of that!