what’s life like in your town?

…either figuratively, literally, or both.

do you live rural, urban, suburban?  is ‘your town’ full of boarded up commercial buildings; have thrift stores sprung up in lots of formerly mom-and-pop stores?  has your town been gentrified and the poor people forced to ‘relocate’ (creative destruction)?

what’s your local ecosystem like?  do you have access to healthy water or do you have to buy it, non-toxic soil, and common lands?  if you’re at least semi-rural, have you seen any monarchs (an indicator species) or swallowtail butterflies this year or last? have other insect species been far fewer than in the recent past (bugpocalypse)? what is the current state of climate chaos in your town?  are you living in smoke from the plethora of wildland fires in the west?  if you’re in a drought, what intensity level are you in?

do you have a garden?  do you have skills for moderate self-reliance when the next batch of shit hits the fan (i.e., home repair, electrical repairs, sewing, light carpentry, food preserving, etc.)?  have you made community with those around you and share & trade aid among yourselves?  have you always been thrifty, as in: how many times do you wash your silver foil?

Are there fracking operations afoot nearby?  Does your area get sprayed for mosquito control, and if so, can you opt out?  if you’re in an agricultural area, do you get ‘accidentally’ bombed by glyphosates like RoundUp?  are the wells and aquifers, if any, in your area drying up and toxic?

if you rent and aren’t under rent control, has the rent increased almost beyond affordability?  I’ll assume, maybe incorrectly, that most of you have actual grocery stores to shop in (as opposed to many inner-city food ghettoes)?  are there summer farmers markets?

do you have access to ‘affordable’ health insurance if you want it?  are you on medicare, and if so, do you like it and the costs of its extra plans?  do you even go to doctors?  (I don’t, will never again). are you and your spouse/partner if any, healthy enough?   what sort of psycho-spiritual state/s are you evidencing?

are you financially okay, or is the wolf constantly at the door?  are you, as the saying goes, one medical emergency away from bankruptcy or having to hit the streets?  are you on the street, or couch-surfing with friends or relatives? do you have any of your adult children or grandchirren  living with you?

do you need to (ahem) ‘partake’ of what’s left of the social safety net?  Is your neighborhood mixed race or homogenous?

Mr. wd and I are on a very low fixed income (SS: see the negative effects of the IRS ‘paperwork reduction act’, ptui) for the most part, save for when Mr. wd at age 70 can pick up work as a master finish carpenter, so the wolfs’ almost always at the door.  I’d had to ‘retire’ from 30 great years of body/soul work my k-nees k-rapped out from Amazon-woman over-work, causing our savings to plummet.  When appliances and our old car or truck or ancient tractor go belly-up: OMG.  We live in the Four Corners in Bumfuck County (h/t Edward Abbey), CO east of Mesa Verde National Park, in the shadow of the La Plata Mountains.

We hand-built a 12-sided hogan in the late ‘70s on 20 aces that we’ve paid off, and are tryin’ like hell to hang onto it, partially to have something to leave our kids.  For that matter, thinking of leaving this golden oxygen-rich hill on which we’ve planted a couple hundred trees and shrubs on which critters of all kinds find refuge for some plastic-fantastic drywall ‘affordable housing’…well, never mind.

We’re healthy in general enough save for the fact I’m otherly-abled, as they say so politically correctly.  Mr. wd finds himself of needing cataract surgery, so had to buy some extra Medicare plan to cover it.  He got fined for every year he hadn’t bought the plan initially, too, and pays up the wazoo (for us) for it every month; he’ll be eligible soon for the surgery.

We use spices as medicines in food, and a local natural foods store allows us to buy bulk foods and spices at cost+ when we order through the store, bless the new owner’s heart.  As we tithe a hella lot of food into the community, the savings sincerely help that effort.

We’d had to give up our big veggie garden some time back, but have a wee one out the backdoor of the unfinished basement, and a greenhouse to start seedlings.  We grow flowers and herbs galore, plus a few veggies, tomatoes, and prize-winning cannabis.  So life’s good, except when it ain’t, and we do remember to say prayers of thanks every night before sleep for all that we have, knowing how little others have.

tell your stories as you will, excepting maybe your sex lives too very graphically, grin.

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

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WoodsDweller's picture

I'm out west of Pleasant View. So life in my town is the same as yours.
The smoke was wicked yesterday, it looked like a thick coastal fog when I drove into town. I was up for two hours in the night drinking water to try to wash the smoke out of my throat.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

divineorder's picture

@WoodsDweller and I are coughing down here in Santa Fe?

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

WoodsDweller's picture

@divineorder
Are three any fires nearby? There isn't a breath of wind stirring here, hasn't been for days, so it's just building up. Mostly it's been stinging my eyes. I was sneezing a bit today.

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"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." -- Albert Bartlett
"A species that is hurtling toward extinction has no business promoting slow incremental change." -- Caitlin Johnstone

wendy davis's picture

@divineorder

i'd linked to the noaa satellite smoke images in the western US, although it hasn't been updated for today. but when you're curious about fires, bingle 'active fire mapping' and the map will show you locations, the name of the fire, and the size if you hover your cursor over a number on the map (keys are below, as well). the venado fire in northern NM is 3582 acres, you'd have to bingle for the percentage contained. a few smalleer ones, as well.

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divineorder's picture

@wendy davis

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A truth of the nuclear age/climate change: we can no longer have endless war and survive on this planet. Oh sh*t.

wendy davis's picture

@WoodsDweller

of course i remember you live in pleaasant view, and helped us 'occupy mancos' for a bit. i may not remember if we'd been able to name the many families we knew north if zetroc, they all blur together in both our minds.

but a friend and i had picked (then canned) bushels of (then) dryland peaches back in the day, and i had boatloads of salt-of-the-earth clients up north: duncans, lancasters?, whites?, wilsons, oh, i forget the names.

i'll add that occupying mancos was simply...awesome, in that so many folks stopped to actually talk to us; we listened, then did our best to respond. most left nodding their heads. formidable!

on morning edit: no, we're a mile or so south of town in webber canyon. oh, and i remembered the olivers, perhaps in pleasant view as well. an dagnabbit, i remembered the mama's name when i woke up, and of course have already...forgotten it. bert! eureka! it came back; i forget what her hubbie's name had been.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

Mostly high priced apartments and strip malls so military rackets like Northrup Grumann can fly workers in from other states. All there is to do is shop and eat. Yet there aren't any decent jobs anywhere. The few that do exist want a drivers' license and a bachelor's degree before they'll even consider looking at your resume.

Gotta love the former Space Coast of Flawer'Duh.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

wendy davis's picture

@The Aspie Corner

in my mind’s eye; are you near Canaveral, i mean kennedy, i mean tWump?

but as molly ivin’s used to say: “the bidness of amerika... is bidness”. and makes of war implements are...the biggest bidness.

odd on the DL and degree requirements; guess the folks you know aren't applying to be walmart or factory workers, wherein a degree disqualifies one as 'likely uppity, likely a union fomentor'.

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The Aspie Corner's picture

@wendy davis The only saving grace about where I live is that I can drive a golf cart legally without a drivers' license. It's a nice enough area but there just aren't any opportunities unless you're really into service industry work.

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Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.

Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.

wendy davis's picture

@The Aspie Corner

"In 2009, Forbes ranked the area 18th out of 100 Metropolitan Statistical Areas and first out of 8 metros in Florida for affordable housing, and short commute times, among others."

ah, well, what a difference a few 'defense' contracts can make...over a decade.

cool on the no-license-required for drivin' a golf cart out and about. i need to score a license soon just to prove i'm the 'real ME' to get stuff notarized. i keep tellin' em: "you can see i'm me sittin' right here!" (they scowl nicely at me.)

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gulfgal98's picture

in western NC mountains. Our town still has a real downtown and a very lively weekly farmer's market in our downtown. Life somewhat bypassed this town due to a lack of accessibility. The interstate went far enough to the east to not affect us, thankfully.

At one time, this town had some polluting industries which have long since disappeared. Our air is clean as is our water. Our main sources of revenue in this town are what could be considered clean industries. And our population is older than the norm.

We have no garden due to the numerous trees that shade our yard, most of which are not on our property. We are within walking distance of both the downtown and the grocery store. Both of us are over 65 and are in good health with a few very minor exceptions, but all of that can spin on a dime. Overall, we are in good shape for current conditions, but are definitely not self-sustainable if the apocalypse comes.

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Do I hear the sound of guillotines being constructed?

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." ~ President John F. Kennedy

wendy davis's picture

@gulfgal98

i sincerely hope that continues, and how kinda fun to hear that given highways and all...you escaped the mainstream (shall i say?) devolution. thanks for sharing.

on morning edit: "Overall, we are in good shape for current conditions, but are definitely not self-sustainable if the apocalypse comes."

none of us are, including drinkable water an how that would go, and i'd forgotten to ask folks if they belong to food coops, and might have room to store bags of legumes, spices, and oils, then trade and aid inter-communally in a crunch. but when the next crunch, our stored things won't last long, will they? we have a lot, but then we came to this mormon-settled valley and kinda took to the 'store enough for three years' or something. hard habit to break, lol. i used to can 700 bottles of stuff every year, egad.

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Granma's picture

In a double wide mobile home in a mobile park. I have a large yard which desperately needs landscaping work. My front porch faces an apartment complex. Many of my neighbors are Latino. People are struggling. One of my neighbors got behind on space rent,had to sell their house. They bought a small motor home to live in and have disappeared, sadly.
Most of my neighbors in the park and in apartments are working people or seniors.

It has been very hot and we had a lot of smoke from wildfires in southern Oregon for a couple of days. It hasn't rained for weeks. I'm not sure if it is officially drought yet. My trees think so.

I'm on straight Medicare, not one of the "Medicare plans". My medical bills after Medicare pays are a challenge, as are my prescription co-pays for 2 medications that should have had generics years ago.

It takes a long time to make friends with neighbors, in my experience. I do have friends among them now and we do help each other.

I drive out into semi-rural area often and I don't remember the last time I got bugs on my windshield. That used to be common and expected in the areas I drive through and to.

My next door neighbor has a thriving garden and mason bees. She says they are pollinators but have no stinger. I saw a young boy rescue some sort of bee in the swimming pool last week. His sister was upset at sight of the bee he was holding, but he explained to his mom he was saving it from drowning and gently put it on the concrete beside the pool. It looked like the bee shook itself off and flew away.

I used to sew, still have a machine. I'm thinking of doing some sewing this winter. I used to make all my bread, and can do it again if I need to. I haven't had much luck growing vegetables here, but will try again next year in a different part of the yard.

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Steven D's picture

@Granma and who knows how bad it will be when it’s over. I suspect very few human beings will survive if any.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

wendy davis's picture

@Granma

and i understand you several plights. but i will admit that after parenting two adopted infants, one first american, one black/azteca, i found much more in common with the few people of color in our town, even though most mezzo-americans wanted to be thought of as ‘assimilated whites’.

how heart-piercing to hear about your neighbors who’d been forced to sell their house, and i applaud you for making community in such ‘separating’ circumstances. i hope you can earn some money sewing soon to tide you over. heh, today was three-loaves-of-bread day for me, aside from making a giant pot of sopa seca, mexican dry soup.

dunno mason bees, but it seems they’re not victims of colony collapse then?

i love you totally on spec, grandma, and i’ll try to remember to DM you soon, okay?

a song for you, with my love:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WJ1cf3nrLE]

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dance you monster's picture

@Granma

They're native to North America, unlike honeybees, so they are better evolved for North American plants -- better pollinators than honeybees (by far, maybe as much as a factor of ten), and they'll only sting if you try to squeeze the life out of them, and who does that? They are solitary, having no colonies to collapse. Colony collapse of honeybees is of course a serious and I'd say criminal tragedy, but plants in North America were pollinated just fine for hundreds of thousands of years before honeybees were brought over from Europe.

What's life like here?

I'm in the Philly 'burbs, less than a mile from the city line and 15 minutes by train to Center City. My town, historically Quaker and now majority African-American, is rather well-known locally as one that turned our county Blue in the 1990s -- activists here were exported to turn other regional communities Blue as well, so the Republican PTB in Harrisburg gerrymandered us into Philly for a spell, but that's reversed now. Our town is reasonably if modestly civilized and verdant, with a good farmer's market on Saturdays.

My life is very modest, but my needs are modest, too.

Son and I also have some woodland acres upstate, outside the fracking areas, with Monarchs, deer, bears, and much, much more -- where we are ramping up a food forest, orchards (despite the deer), and small permaculture/native plants nursery. The woods are cooler than Philly (which is a low bar to clear), with more rain. Not far enough north for what's coming in fifty years, but we'll survive until then to plan another move farther north when the Son is ready.

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wendy davis's picture

@dance you monster

of your and Son’s edeavors! upstate (poconos?) i tried a map, never mind. but i hear ya on deer; we have to fence everything, phooey on the ‘deer won’t eat these crops, and once the fruit and other trees are large enough to defencify: the bucks scrape the velvet of their antlers, the bears won’t be satisfied w/ fruit shake to the ground, oh no: they have to climb the trees, breaking wrist-sized+ branches off in search of the just right fruit. wonder about The Fall, though (smile)

cool on living in a black neighborhood; i’d almost asked about the local po-po, etc, and here’s hoping that folks under oppression really can be siblings under the skin.

interesting stuff on the mason bees, and the honeybees as well. i’m not able to identify some of the bee visitors here, but i sure was glad when some finally returned. i did spend a couple seasons in the garden photographing them, though, and many of the café’s banners feature them, moths and butterlflies. the bee friends with flaming red-orange fuzzy butts tickle me witless.

“...reasonably if modestly civilized and verdant' sure did make me smile.

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Steven D's picture

We sure don’t. My family. Not when our out of pocket expenses last 5 years have averaged over $28k per year.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

wendy davis's picture

@Steven D

how horrid! do 'they' put you on a payment schedule or something? got to ask though: is this via obamadontcare?

i was thinking of john trudell's 'rich man's war' talking poetry: 'it didn't have to be this way...except that WE were this way.' instead, meanwhile...we wait:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZaYEniPaJg]

best to you,
wd

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Steven D's picture

We have decent water being on Great Lakes region, but no bees, higher rents, fewer good we’ll paying jobs, etc. Schools at least are good. Though we pay for it in taxes. Having Cuomo as Governor is no picnic.

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"You can't just leave those who created the problem in charge of the solution."---Tyree Scott

RuralLiberal's picture

of northern Minnesota. This is definitely an area of "haves and have nots"!

For many local people, things here are tough. The nearest "big" town has a population of 3,100. The closest town to us has population of 470. In our small town the post office was lucky to survive the big cuts a few years back, but is only open Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 11:30. We have a bar, (of course!!), an antique shop, and two gas station/convenience stores. Believe it or not, our VFW went out of business. A year ago, a "Dollar General" store came to town, and seems to be thriving.

Transportation in areas like this is a problem. The nearest hospital is 23 miles away, the nearest medical clinic is 15 miles away, grocery store is 15 miles away, and most jobs are at least 20 miles away. I drive 31 miles one-way to get to my job, and that is not at all unusual. I am lucky, since I'm a teacher the pay is decent for this area. The only well-paying jobs are at the school, the hospital, or the county. Many people in the tiny towns here don't have a car or don't have a license, so they can't get to the bigger towns for a decent job. The upside, I guess, is that rents are cheap. You can get a small apartment, small house, or mobile home starting at $350-400 per month for rent.

In the winter, though, heating is very expensive. Areas like ours do not have natural gas, so most heat with liquid propane which is REALLY expensive! In recent winters, a 500 gallon tank fill-up is around $600-$800. Depending on how energy-efficient your home is, you'll need 2-5 fill-ups per winter. Those fill-ups do not come in the form of a monthly bill, my friends...that's a lump sum due. It can be difficult for many.

Health care here is a problem for many. Many local jobs do not provide health care as a benefit. Much of our population receives "MinnesotaCare", (medical assistance), but not all who need it qualify for it. I have health insurance through my job, but it is horrible. We have a $6,000 per year deductible, per person. We have never hit the deductible, so 100% of our health care costs are out of pocket.

Our area is amazingly beautiful. We are in the heart of Minnesota's lakes and forests area -- definitely "God's Country". Because of the natural beauty here, we have some people who are much better off financially. The people with huge, beautiful lake homes and quaint lake cabins are mainly seasonal folks. Many of them are retirees, who come and spend the summer here and then head to FL or AZ during the winter months. The other members of the wealthier demographic are people from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area. They come up on weekends during the summer and enjoy their cabins and lake homes. The population here is much smaller during the winter months than during the summer months. Many businesses are "summer only".

I feel like I sound resentful or angry about things in my area, and I don't want to give that impression. We love it here! The natural beauty, peace and quiet, and good people make it worth it. Also, there's virtually NO traffic, (other than Memorial Day and July 4th!). It is not always easy here, but that's true of anywhere nowdays. I do wish that everyone here could have a job that pays a living wage. That would transform this area!

The wildlife, birds, and insects seem to be largely the same as they've been historically. There has been an onslaught of wild turkeys in recent years, which is kind of weird. They did not used to be common here. Turkeys are suddenly everywhere!! And we seem to have far fewer ruffled grouse than in the past. We had a cougar in our pasture two winters ago, which our horses DID NOT LIKE!! That was kind of an oddity -- happens only every 4-5 years or so. We also get bobcats, timber wolves, countless deer, small critters, and birds.

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"Stand Up! Keep Fighting!" - Paul Wellstone

wendy davis's picture

@RuralLiberal

morning, but for tonight two things: you blew me outta the water w/ your wellstone quote, and no, you don't sound bitter, just acknowledging what a class based scenic and recreational
area you live in.

more anon, and tonight's lullaby, mr. wd's favorite playing for change, and i understand why:

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyX82K7CgoE]

on morning edit:

cripes on your out-of-pocket medical expenses; what wretched horrors are insurance companies! and what a cavalcade of critters! and you have horses? we don’t any longer, nor do we board horses any longer; too many have died, we just say No now fearing the worst would happen again. a couple even got struck by lightning, and i’ve come to believe some rock at this end of menefee mountin must be a lightning-catcher, as horses have even been struck on the eastern side of this north end of the mountain.

cougars? oh, my; one screamed here years ago, and the sound sincerely raised goosebumps all over me. heh, we used to go deep into this canyon and up the other mountain to the west...hunting for them. one of our friends had been in a grotto w/ a spring, and he took a photo of a print that was as large as his hand; whooosh.

now what we would have done...had we discovered one...hell, we dinnae even have pepper spray w/ us. were we secretly depending on our charm, karma, and good looks defending us from being...lunch? actually, come to think of it, a female MV park rangerette got et by one down there, but that was after were were such essential idiots.

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RuralLiberal's picture

@wendy davis

cougars? oh, my; one screamed here years ago, and the sound sincerely raised goosebumps all over me. heh, we used to go deep into this canyon and up the other mountain to the west...hunting for them. one of our friends had been in a grotto w/ a spring, and he took a photo of a print that was as large as his hand; whooosh.

Yes, if you're nearby when a cougar screams, your blood runs cold. It is quite a sound! The one that came through here took down a big deer out in the pasture, and fed on it for several days. The tracks in the snow were the size of a large man's hand. We caught a couple of glimpses, but he made himself scarce during daylight hours. After his fresh kill was pretty much eaten, he moved on. While he was around, we kept the horses in the small paddock up by the house and the barn. They were safe, but really upset by the cougar's presence.

We also have huge packs of coyotes that move around our area. Around 10:00 PM or so, they start in yipping and yelling. Again, that sound is really something to hear!

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"Stand Up! Keep Fighting!" - Paul Wellstone

wendy davis's picture

@RuralLiberal

have finely-tuned genetic memories of the scents and creams of the (here we call them) mountain lions, wouldn't you?

now we have coyotes, but over the years the packs seem to have gotten smaller. they only rarely come very close to the house, as they seem to be interested in making lunch out of the pocket gophers in one hay field. the weirdest visitor we've had was a marmot, whistle pig, which are mostly common to scree fields in the high mountains. dunno how the little feller got here. i got a carp photo of him, and missed the shot in which he was standing on his hind quarters with his two front legs up in the air. rats.

the foxes, red and grey (they really do climb trees) were hunted out for fun and profit decades ago, but have returned; that really tickles me witless.

it's so fine you're enjoyin' life in the lakes district, and get to hear horses whicker every day, nuzzle their noses and all.

gotta stick this in, as in 'at least we don't live in phoenix!'

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snoopydawg's picture

. Ogden is surrounded by mountains on 3 sides and the western ones are on the other side of the Great Salt lake which provides amazing sunsets. I can be hiking in the mountains in less than 10 minutes depending on traffic. The weather isn't too bad. We have the 4 seasons and each one has its good and bad sides. The best way to enjoy winter is to take part in it. I grew up downhill skiing, but now I either cross country ski or snowshoe. People who don't do anything during the winter complain about it. The other seasons also have their good and bad sides, but spring and fall are my favorites. This summer has been hotter than normal and our air has been horrible because of the smoke that gets trapped in the valley. During winter smog and inversions make our air the worst in the country, but I can drive up the mountain and I'm in sunny skies.

Ogden used to have a thriving downtown until the malls were built outside of the city, but about a decade ago the downtown area has been rebuilt. Ogden used to be a huge rail town and the street by the rail station was called "red light alley" because of the brothels on it. This area has been revitalized with yuppie shops, restaurants and other unique businesses.

Nope. No self reliant skills or a garden. No need since I can't eat veggies anymore. Okay. I can juice them, but people don't realize that it's the act of chewing that makes eating enjoyable.

The wolf has moved in with me and we are both wondering how much longer we will be living here. But that's why gawd made shoulders, right? And crosses.

I am on Medicaid for now and I have no complaints with the quality of doctors I see or facilities for tests and procedures. I think that Medicaid is what we should strive for, not MFA with the huge donut hole for prescriptions. Just raise the reimbursement rates a bit for doctors and hospitals and woola. Happy people.

My body could have less problems and I'd enjoy life a bit better, but I have always considered myself lucky to be alive to experience the aches and pains. Things can always get worse. And usually when I say that they do ..... oh well. Say-la-vive right?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

but for now i wanted to see if you want to do anything with these. the police state one is chillingly honest, a jennifer robinson interview, and

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1025158288877473793

“Ecuador announces US will open a military base -- only not called a base but a "Security Cooperation Office". Ecuador claims to be rotating US forces quickly which avoids Ecuador's constitutional ban on permanent foreign military personnel on its soil"

https://twitter.com/BBCNewsnight/status/1025144032786178048

https://twitter.com/thejuicemedia/status/1024928971022991360

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

and i'm sorry about your teeth, but given taste is a matter of taste buds and aroma, even mashing/blending cooked veggies taste good, and provide necessary nutrients. useful in soups and as pasta sauces, even.

thanks for the further info on ogden. charming, but yeah, i used to have a section on our bookshelves on the darker side of the LDS cult, proving my bias. i will give them credit w/ 'taking care of their own community', though (smile).

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wendy davis's picture

@snoopydawg

pretty cool altogether. the gentrification? prolly not. and it’s nice you have such quick access to treks either on foot or on x-country skis. thing is, even if you can’t want to garden, you could always store dried things like bags of legumes, dried shrooms, oils, #1 lb bags of spices, etc., if you can buy from a local food coop, then trade for other things.

we used to juice boatloads of beets and carrots, then later read that one has to *chew* the juice to unlock all the goodies from the cellulose. dunno if it’s so, but it does make some sense. can’t chew steamed or skillet caramelized veggies, either? if not, ay yi yi. or roasted peppers, sweet, mini, or chiles/poblanos? my default cuisine is mexican/puerto rican, and sometimes if feels as though i spend a third of my waking time peeling roasted chiles. come to think of it, those work for thai dishes, too.

glad medicaid works well for you; states have to opt in to the federal program, yes? and some refuse to?

lol to 'things could always get worse'.

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snoopydawg's picture

@wendy davis @

around Union Station and 25th street or Red Night Alley. And a few blocks north there's a minor league ballpark for the Ogden Raptors and a movie complex and other normal type shops so people don't have to drive to the area where the big box stores and eateries are. The traffic in that area is horrific.

IMG_2440.JPG

Union Station which is a huge building and the history of trains and other historical events are well represented.

During the summer 25th street hosts a Saturday farmers market and there's monthly art festivals and a few times the city closes the street off for concerts. It really a unique experience even without those events.

I don't know if the Golden Spike story is popular outside of Utah, but it was the spike used for the transcontinental railroad was completed.

May 10, 1869: Golden Spike Links Nation by Rail

1869: Four years after the Civil War, the United States is joined from coast to coast by a transcontinental railroad, as a ceremonial final spike is driven at Promontory Summit, Utah. Travel time from Atlantic to Pacific will soon fall from as much as six months, down to one week.

As for eating steamed veggies they have to be soft enough for my tongue to mash them up. And that takes out most of the nutrients and the taste. I learned an embarrassing fact when I had to start wearing a device in my mouth (very long story.) My dentist told me not to eat raw veggies or steak for a week or so, but my friends had plans to fly to SLC to eat at a popular historical restaurant and I didn't want to ruin everyone's plans so I went. Out came the veggie platter and I tried biting off a piece of carrot. Nope. So I broke it off and popped it into my mouth thinking that it'd soften up. It didn't. The steak tasted incredible, but I couldn't chew it either so .....

Utah didn't expand the Medicaid program because it was associated with Obama. But it's going to be available for about 16,000 people who have addiction problems or just got out of prison. I'm on because I'm disabled. Utah is one of the reddest states and the only democrats that gets elected here are powerless to do anything. The Mormon church is headquartered here as you probably know and nothing gets passed without their say so. Most of the people in government are Mormon, but SLC has a lesbian mayor. Even though I wasn't raised Mormon I had its values. I realized that when I moved to California. Cool wake up call. Mormonism by osmosis. Smile This is one thing I'd change about this state. Other than that I enjoy living here. Oh. I'd also replace the GSL with an ocean.

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

snoopydawg's picture

@snoopydawg

The Oldest Town In Utah That Everyone Should Visit At Least Once

Find out more about your city on this website.

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dervish's picture

I met her at the after-party following the Nader rally in Tampa in 2000. Great people!

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"Obama promised transparency, but Assange is the one who brought it."

wendy davis's picture

@dervish

she seems to be a genuine peach and one of amerika's best storytellers. she'll be tonight's sign-off lullaby as well.

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Lookout's picture

I live on lookout mt. It is covered with a beautiful and diverse forest system...more species of trees than all of Europe. The river runs on top of the mt (which is really an 80 mile long plateau).

We garden, collect rain water, use the sun to heat our home. The mt is home to 20 or more summer camps. One of them started a farm to raise food for the camp and to sell in the community. Pasture raised pigs, chickens (and eggs), and beef is sold by them one day a week in the summer. It has made a big impact on the community bringing in these young farmers who are paid a salary plus profit sharing. For Alabama it is a fairly open minded community.

That said, this is trump country. I often make the comment people here say all the wrong things, but tend to do the right things. By that I mean they blow their Trump-it, but will stop and help you if you have car trouble or a flat tire. You can leave the keys in your car...especially if you drive ones like ours which are more than old enough to vote. Our two nearby towns have different characters, Mentone AL is mainly a summer tourist town. Menlo GA has a family owned glove factory which keeps it afloat. There is still a large denim mill surviving in nearby Trion GA which provides many with jobs.

We built our own home here over 3 decades ago....a pole house. We feel lucky to be here, to have good health, to be retired teachers with a pension, to have the joy of music in our lives and community. In fact we often play "Our Town" at our Friday night session.

So we live our dream...but as an old friend once told us - there's a lot of work in a dream. It didn't just happen.

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

wendy davis's picture

@Lookout

but i'd first thought you were atop lookout mountain, golden, colorado. oddly, i'd had to look up 'pole houses'; looks like there are any number of varieties. our hogan is post-and beam which with 12 sides required compound cuts on almost every sawn board inside later, and scribes to cut trim. every tool we bought during the process made me want to back and re-do some things, but life just gets away from one, doesn't it?

cool to hear you're still pickin' and strummin;, too. i finally moved my guitar downstairs (a very long and not-very interesting story), as did mr. wd w/ his bass and amp.

this is rather adorable; lookout mountain, alabammy (i downsized it with JtC's magic downsizer:

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Mark from Queens's picture

Though I immediately realize there's so many aspects to it, which could easily turn this into a full blown essay for me.

First off though, let me just say a belated thanks for the essay on the R/D alliance in support of expanded police power. I started a new weekly residency gig out of town. And with stay-at-home Dad duties 5 days a week/12 hours a day, I barely have time to do anything I would like to do, such as comment in your excellent essays.

Sickening, especially the so-called "Progressive Caucus," made up of some black and brown folks who should know better. But then again, once in office (or suddenly in any position of power and privilege), it seems empathy with one's roots goes out the window for political expediency. Like your boys, I have a boy who could pass for brown. I've had to come to terms over the past many years with my #whiteprivilege. Lot of it came from listening, and then empathizing, with those whose stories we don't often hear. Reading everything from Frederick Douglass to to WEB Dubois to James Baldwin to Maya Angelou to Cornel West and more. Participating in lots of #BlackLivesMatter actions humbled and inspired me too.

What interests me most about your said topic here is there's always great potential to coalesce a movement from the shared recognition therein of people's struggles, along with offering ways of fighting back and/or offering advice on how to survive in this ongoing slog of economic and civic downturn. It's the closest I guess we're going to come to a retreat of sorts (which I still want to try to make happen, or at least a weekend meetup somewhere).

I have scores of notes and half-written essays on observations of the changing landscape and friends' predicaments of living in NYC today. During the past two decades there's been a dizzying transformation that I think has happened to a larger extent all over the world, but perhaps glaringly noticeable in the bustling metropolis of the World's City, where at times we live elbow to elbow. When I think of the monstrous wealth, greed and avarice here - in this city that revolves around the relatively small island of Manhattan (which is maybe three miles wide x 14 miles long from Battery Park to Inwood), I often think that if only the Oppressed denizens of this Rat Race would realize just how close in proximity we live to the residences of some of the world's richest economic terrorists, maybe a few massive demonstrations encircling their urban palaces could, if not make them sweat a bit, at least help with the 99% getting a better look at one another and to begin building some strength in new-found solidarity. Where's Emma when you need her (both Goldman and Thompson)?

As a lifelong denizen of NYC and its satellite suburbs I have to say it's getting harder and harder to justify living in this area. Overpriced living in every way. But it's the old lure that keeps one here, perhaps for life. For me paramount is the diversity, the cultural potpourri, the markets, the chance meeting of so many interesting and wonderful people. Plus playing music I can get decent-paying gigs here and in the surrounding area. I'm lucky to have found a place right across the street from a big sprawling park along the river. Whenever we start looking to move out or a little bit away for some more space and less density we always come back to how beautiful the park and locale here is.

Another of the things I love most about being here is what we've created in terms of community, inspired by Occupy. After the DHS, FBI, the NYPD thugs and Mayor Antionette did a middle-of-the-night Khmer Rogue-style wiping out of any existence of one of the grandest protest movements in American History, we obstinately sought to funnel that energy into meeting some of our neighbors. Just put up some posters saying "hey, we're the local Occupy; come to our meeting." We did some protests actions and had regular meetings.

But the most lasting result has been discovering like-minded folks right in our midst who have become close and dear friends. I daresay that we have created for all involved a solid network of folks who wouldn't hesitate to give mutual aid to one another when the shit hits the fan. Beautiful, intelligent, empathetic, fun folks who have buoyed each other through these times. I believe I can count on these folks, and they know I'm there for them without a doubt.

As for the food and healthcare system, those are other topics of which I'm very interested (will look at your spice link) and would like to ruminate another time.

But I'm looking at building blocks scattered all over the floor in front of me as I type sitting Indian style on the baby mat. Best regards to you all.

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"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

wendy davis's picture

@Mark from Queens

and first, you’re welcome and thanks for being agog, aghast, and agape at the not-so-progressive’ caucus, but that term has become meaningless by now, hasn’t it? i like glen ford’s ‘black mis-leadership’ when it fits. oddly the senate, as far as i know, hasn’t passed their version, but likely will closer to midterms, as a third of the sitting senators are up for re-election, or so i’ve read. as far as ‘once elected’, most become tools of the status quo and worse, and even black police zip on the state with their uniforms, thus: black cops beatin’ the shit out of black and brown citizens who ‘fail to obey’, even if they cannot do so. ach, the images are flooding back...shake it off, wd.

and good on ya’ for listening and studying and seeing our #white privilege.

i may take the time to write up the shiny newly-minted NDAA2019 uni-party not-so-funny joke, we’ll see.

yeah, you have your life pretty accounted-for don’t you? so your music gigs are on the weekends, then? solo or group gigs? and what do you play, and are you a vocalist, too? that’s the only reason i taught myself to strum, as in: so i could sing! did a couple years professionally on weekends, but my partner, oh, was she a great guitarist. still is, in fact (smile).

but oh, my, you’re in one of the bellies of the beast: manhattan. fascinating narrative, mark, and thank you for it, an i love the ‘occupying urban palaces’, but ooof, would y’all get some heavy ass-kickin’s, no? there’d have to be massive numbers involved. and white...wouldn’t matter a whit. but are their palaces gated? (obviously i hadn’t watched the film, but might see if we can get it thru inter-liberry loan.) if so, they might be able to metaphorically yell down: “let them eat cake!”

but well said on the possibilities of local sharing & aid as movemental politics under privation; dayum, i wish i’d ever been to The City, you describe the multi-culturalism so beautifully. and the final days of zucotti park must have been too devastating, the beatings, the arrests, but also...dumping that brilliant library into trash bins.

love to your babbies (okay, you can keep a li'l bit for yourself and wife/partner),
wd

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magiamma's picture

We have ~10K students living in town now. One bedroom with access to kitchen and bathroom runs ~1K. Right? There are lots of homeless folks here bc the weather is good. We have a wonderful local homeless advocate that has been working on this for ~20 years now locally. One of his projects was to dig through the trash bins to see what the homeless were throwing out and discovered a lot of used underwear. So he got donations and went out and bought a bunch and now gives them to the homeless in the camps. His last project was to build lockers for the homeless and this has been changing lives bc people don't have to drag their shit with them. He has been in the trenches with these folks, literally, for years.

We (SC4 Bernie) worked hard and got a city measure for rent control on the ballot. Statewide (CA) there is the repeal of Costa Hawkins as well as a bunch of other towns that also have rent control measure thanks to Tenants Together. Love these guys. They start their organizing meetings with an invitation for all landlords to leave the room.
http://www.tenantstogether.org/member-organizations-0

We have now endorsed the following Measures on the November 6 Ballot:
Proposition 1: Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act (Statewide Ballot Measure)
Summary: This bond act will provide $4 billion in funding for affordable housing programs for low-income families, people with disabilities or experiencing homelessness, military veterans, farmworkers, and first-time homeowners.
Santa Cruz County Housing Bond (Local Measure not yet on the ballot)
Summary: A bond measure to generate more affordable housing in Santa Cruz County for the benefit of lower-income and homeless residents is expected to be placed on the ballot by the County Board of Supervisors as a result of collaborative work among several affordable housing organizations. Source: affordablehousing-now.org
Santa Cruz City Rent Control and Tenant Protection Act (Local Ballot Measure) (This ballot measure was endorsed by Santa Cruz for Bernie members on November 13, 2017.)
Summary: This measure is a three-part stabilization and protection plan for the City of Santa Cruz. If passed by City voters, it will:
Limit yearly rent increases to the cost of living (consumer price index). Rent control would apply to multi-unit properties built before 1995, and extend to essentially all rental housing if the Costa-Hawkins law is repealed: Initiate just cause for eviction to end arbitrary displacement of tenants. Establish an autonomous elected and rent board that will make sure this law is upheld and will handle disputes and appeals by landlords and tenants.
Source: movementforhousingjustice.org
Proposition 10: Local Rent Control Initiative to Repeal the Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act (Statewide Ballot Measure)
(This ballot measure was endorsed by Santa Cruz for Bernie members on March 24, 2018.)
Summary: Costa Hawkins is a state law passed in 1995 that ties the hands of grassroots efforts to enact comprehensive rental ordinances in California cities. The two main provisions in the law are: It prevents cities from establishing rent control or capping rent on single family homes or units constructed after 1995. It preserves a landlord's right to raise the rent to market rate on a unit once a tenant moves out. If voters repeal the Costa Hawkins law, it would allow local rent control ordinances to cover essentially all rental units in their jurisdictions.

Still the same as it always was. We are always and more and more up against the money both here and from the Silicon Valley, whose developers see this a the future Silicon Beach. FTS.

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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wendy davis's picture

@magiamma

for all landlords to leave the room.’ gotta love that! but zounds, y'all are doing gawd's work (so to speak) there. good luck w/ all the ballot initiatives. Q: is the $4 billion adequate? how far does it have to get spread?

SC4bernie is damned straight active; wish i liked and trusted the bern more. nice website. three things: is magiamma your name or some allusion i'm not familiar with. i keep meaning to email you to ask if you'd like me build a diary (with your total input, of course) to feature your fascinating and brilliant art work and cross-post it here. three: like steven b, i think climate change is completely baked in by now, as in the Sixth Extinction. better luck next time to this once beautiful big blue-green planet. the disappearing species countdown has long begun; what greedy, short-sighted, wasteful fools we've been. who's next is the only remaining question (past the poor folks once living on coastlines around the planet, of course.

her julie gold cover:

[video:https://youtu.be/PlbxEE1Hvrg]

best heart to you,
wd

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magiamma's picture

@wendy davis
that work together. Mostly, exccept when we don't, er when people's egos get in the way. But we plow forward either because of or in spite of. Smile No idea about the 4B. May be other funds that will be accessed if it passes.

Yeah, we may be baked, as it were. But can't hurt to try... Never say never, because you never can tell.

amma is mother is Sanskrit and Mother Superior in archaic english. Liked the sound of the 'ah' mostly and the idea of the great mother / gaia.

Sure to the diary. Do not have photos of most recent work. More depressing but it sure feels good to do it. Because FTS. Smile

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

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wendy davis's picture

@magiamma

i'll email soonish, and we can work toward it as we're able. glad you're up for it. sorry to hear no new photos, is it too late? but yeah, when i was arranging male cannabis branches a neighbor had culled in vases, i thought how incidental sanders might be to the coalition by now.

well, still..$4 billion ain't chickenfeed in itself.

thanks for explaining 'amma', i have heard that, but you must mean 'magi' is 'mother superior' (jumped the gun)? so with a soft G as in 'magic'?

i guess my Q is 'try how'? by now. locally, absolutely, as in stopping fracking, pipelines, etc. i just saw cassiodorus has a climate change diary up.

on edit: about the lockers: that's brilliant. my homie and friend of the café jason, under different iterations, recently: 'j of 9 in oly' is homeless in olympia in a tent city, and is forced to carry everything he has of value w/ him when he leaves his tent. it's been robbed several times already. oh ad i also forgot this from the santa cruz wiki: note the heading:

Crime and public safety:

Santa Cruz consistently suffers the highest property crime rates per capita for medium and large-sized cities in the state of California, in addition to some of the highest violent crime rates in the state of California for medium and large-sized cities. Additionally, Santa Cruz suffers some of the highest rates of homelessness in the US, with 9,041 estimated homeless in Santa Cruz county in 2011, approximately 3.5% of the total county population.[61] with over 52% of homeless experiencing some form of mental illness, including clinical depression or PTSD and over 26% suffering unspecified mental illness. Additionally, 38% of homeless surveyed in Santa Cruz county in 2011 experienced drug and/or alcohol dependency. In recent years, citizen groups such as Take Back Santa Cruz, established in 2009, have lobbied city government and officials to address this public safety crisis that has gathered national attention.

In 1973, with the discovery of four bodies in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, then District Attorney Peter Chang mumbled a comment about "Murderville, USA." It was picked up by a reporter and went to wire service as "Murder Capital of the World."

sounds pretty sympathetic to the homeless, eh? criminals! that said, j of 9 says a lot of them are tweakers and a bit on the deranged side.

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wendy davis's picture

thanks for the illuminating discussion.
my days usually begin at 4:30 a.m., so i'm knackered early, tonight even earlier.

tonight's lullaby is also iris dement, the lyrics are here and include:

‘Living in the wasteland of the free
where the poor have now become the enemy
Let's blame our troubles on the weak ones
Sounds like some kind of Hitler remedy
Living in the wasteland of the free

While we sit gloating in our greatness
justice is sinking to the bottom of the sea
Living in the wasteland of the free...'

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYqDpL0YCvI]

dream well, sleep well if you're able,
wd

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