Wait! My Friends Need To Suck On Those Frogs!
1. Elemental – A few months ago, I took it upon myself to start a quest. While most of the television my daughter, Hero, watches is decent, I wanted her to move from the pre-k/kindergarten-centered shows to something with more substance as opposed to just pure and basic teaching. However, this proved difficult as the programming for smarter 5/6 year-olds enters a barren desert of sorts. See, Hero is easily bored with most programming unless it is, first, witty, and, secondly, action-rooted. Hence, my quest was born. An answer to the burning question was quickly found, though, thankfully. It lied within the show, Avatar: The Last Airbender. I’d known about the show for some time and was not sure exactly what it was about, but thought that it might be cool. The only turn-off was that it was anime-styled but produced by Nickelodeon. I had my doubts. Tonight, though, we’re about to watch the series finale and we’re all hooked. Not only is the show an excellent representation of animation, the storyline, while meant for kids, is replete with depth, symbolism, and undiluted intelligence. It’s nice to see a kid-centered series not take kids for granted and challenge them on many levels – moral, philosophical, religious – without boiling the topics down to microcosms of idiocy (Anyone ever heard of Veggie Tales?). If you haven’t checked Avatar out, DO IT. It’s utterly engrossing.
2. Dope – It’s been interesting to follow this year’s Tour de France. The mountain stages were particularly intense. Ah, but the specter of performance-enhancing drugs reared its ugly head again when Italian cyclist (and winner of two of the mountain stages), Riccardo Ricco, tested positive for the junk. However questionable and controversial the testing is, Ricco really blew it for team Saunier Duval. You can be sure that after a spate of wins from Mark Cavendish of team Columbia (who may be bowing out…), he’s under the microscope, too.
3. Even NPR Does Wrong – My beloved Bryant Park Project has received the axe from NPR heads, sparking a war between young hipsters and old…er…hipsters? The oldsters apparently hated the format while the young folks (of which I DO consider myself at the tender age of 36, thank you) loved it. But, apparently, operating costs ran too high and listenership did not. Fare thee well, BPP. We loved you while it lasted. The show’s last week is this upcoming week. Get you some!
4. Say No To Unions! – Not really. I might update the longer part of this story later…
5. Skin Deep Kids – WHAT?!?! – guaranteed best-seller in North County San Diego. Thanks to Bitch Magazine for the heads-up.
Obviously, I wrote a larger entry for the unions topic. However, because of the inflammatory nature of it and the risk of losing what job I DO have to pay for the cost-of-living here, I was asked to take it down. It may get posted again in a more veiled attempt….who knows?
asked to take it down?! geez, you could just SAY kim made me take it down! :P
the gist- our store is a good place to work (i swear, it is!)… it has a lot going for it- they say they “respect diversity”, from all i see, they seriously mean it. when we all had the major inconvenience of being evacuated, they helped out evacuated team members (yeah, i know that very phrase “team members” is a bit too “business speak” but eh, i let it go) financially, which was totally unexpected. there is a lot of opportunity for advancement as far as i can see, including financial aid for higher education… buuuuuuuuuuut our company is um, not exactly a fan of unions. & they want us all to know it. this fact has sparked A LOT of discussion at work, & amongst co-workers, & i find the discussion itself totally fascinating.
i think we’re both pretty openly pro-union people. but i’m happy w/ the way things are run at work. & though i always prefer to patronize unionized workplaces, we’re Costco loyalists as well, & if we can reconcile that, well… that & the foreign car we’re driving which doesn’t support any of our Detroit friends in a literal or figurative way… obviously ideals don’t always win out, or maybe they’re just not one-size-fits-all ideals?
what bothers me the most is how nervous the idea of being “out” as someone who is a union sympathizer makes me feel. i feel like our lives here are so precarious, i am terrified of the slightest thing being thrown off balance, because we are barely hanging on as it is… we can’t afford ANY negative consequences in our financial lives. so can we afford to have a discussion in public that might upset our employer?! (“if you can’t afford the broken nose/ then how can you afford the fight?”) & i sound totally paranoid, as usual…
“If you can’t afford the broken nose / Then how can you afford the fight?”
I always took that lyrics meaning differently. I was assuming Leo meant, “How can you fight against something when it’s holding you down?” In brief, you must change your situation (or, in the case of the song, eliminate your addictions) to create positive change (before you can “fight”).
Randy, maybe it’s my lack of health care for the last three years, but i have always interpreted that lyric totally literally, as relating to Maslow’s hierarchy or something… just in terms of, if you’re barely getting by, you don’t have room to rock the boat. If the first comes & goes & how we will wind up w/ all of the money for our rent is still a precarious issue, lord knows if something in the apartment were to stop working, i wouldn’t complain about it. & people who are grateful for their sweatshop jobs do not complain… & people w/ illegal status are said to be at far greater risk to be victims of crime, & then not report that crime, & of course workplace exploitation…
nope, i’m gonna stake my bet on definitely literal. financial means = power.