I'm a pretty direct person. I don't always say what's on my mind, but I express it anyway - my face is often a point of comment and humor for my co-workers who chide me for my lackluster poker performances in the boardroom. I don't try too hard to hide my feelings. I think a big reason is because I know that if I don't put myself out there, I won't know what's on the other side. It could be love. It could be a lot of love. And honestly, it usually is.

I started and titled this post with the intention of talking about my newly found all-knowing perspective on my home. I've done so much work to un-clutter and classify all the boxes and piles and forgotten bins lately that I now look around and know where nearly all of my things are and what is, indeed, in THAT box. But, per usual, the bigger, broader view is what I'm most interested in and turn to in my writing. Knowing where my passport, social security card, and birth certificate are helps me relax another part of myself that is then stronger for the knowing - strong enough to venture into the unknown territory of my old music box - the piles of mixed tapes from old lovers, ripped versions of my dad's classic rock collection, and more.

In a similar way, delving into the murky waters of a long-brewing hurt with a close friend and coming out on the other side knowing where I am in her heart, and her in mine, leaves a part of my heart stronger, more open. It is that added strength and openness that helps me to be more open to love all around me, to seek out connection in unfamiliar and vulnerable ways. Namely for me, right now, dating!

It's a big mirror, isn't it? A big disco ball spinning reflecting the same thing over and over and giving us a beautiful, mesmerizing display of light. Maybe that will be my new favorite quote for a while, "Life is like a disco ball."

Because day-to-day classroom teaching is dirty work - I mean this literally; I was in contact with 150 public school students with varying degrees of personal hygiene a day, so sometimes I came home feeling like I'd been at the train station all day - I had a lot of work clothes that were serviceable, but not particularly flattering. In fact, I didn't want to wear my favorite clothes to work because I was bound to come home with overhead marker on my sleeve and chalk dust in my hair. (This is no joke, I often referred to public school teachers as the ditch diggers of academia: lots and lots of hard, repetitive, under-appreciated work.) Also I was prone to procrastinating the ironing... suffice to say that I had enough dress shirts and outfits to get me through a month - easy.

So I filled two large shopping bags (mall size large) with clothes and posted them on freecycle as "Assorted Woman's Clothes Size 6-8." Within an hour I had a perky reply from somebody who'd just started a new office job and needed office clothes. I called her, we talked, I asked if she was a size 6 and she said she was. I got off the phone and decided to go through my closet again, even more deeply weeding out clothes.

I got rid of silk dresses, a wool ralph lauren skirt, ann taylor slacks, a silk suit (purple?!), and countless dress shirts.

I halved the clothes in my closet and it felt great.

Shortly thereafter, the woman who wanted my clothes arrived at my door. I gaped.

There was no way this smiling blond was going to fit into my clothes. She was a size 10 if that.

But what could I do? The point was to empty my closet after all. So as I turned to pick up the bags I swiftly grabbed a pale blue-green linen blouse that for sure wouldn't fit her and tossed it back over my dining room chair, completed the turn, and handed her the bags with a fake grin plastered to my face. Enjoy them, I said. It was the only thing I could think to do under the circumstances.

Even more unbelievable? Several hours later she emailed to thank me and to say, Everything fits great!

How do I make that little steam symbol that always appears over Lucy's head in the Peanuts comic strip?

I have to keep my eye on the prize though - there's room in the closet! Plenty of space for Chad now. And really, when's the next time I'm going to need a pair of lined wool pinstrip dress pants?

We hope you'll drop by often to see what's new, check out our newsletters and events.  We'd love to hear about your organizational struggles and successes--and anything new and wonderful you've learned about!

Benson said that all the ethics code SEIU needed was already contained in the Ten Commandments, and less flippantly and more to the point that the real issue in SEIU was a bureaucratic system of organization that has created an atmosphere of authoritarianism that "obviously" spawns corruption. The remedy is more union democracy, backed by a public review board capable of overruling decisions of the president and executive board in circumstances in which the democratic rights of union members "could" be endangered.

Paff opined that the national union should have "long ago" known about Tyrone Freeman's corrupt spending habits in Los Angeles, and acted earlier. Both Paff and Benson also expressed the concern that Pres. Stern was using the corruptions scandals to "give himself cover" for the political effort to suppress internal political opposition led by United Health Care Workers West and its president Sal Rosselli.

Many will agree with these concerns expressed by Benson and Paff, who deserve great credit for their long-standing contributions to building union democracy. But in this case I wonder whether the AUD and TDU are in fact choosing the most effective path to pursue greater union democracy within SEIU. Stern responded to their criticisms by repeating the offer to "seek opinions from a diverse group of people, including those who do not always agree with us, so that we can make the best decisions for our rank-and-file members." (There is a concept of "guided democracy" lurking in that phrase, but one that reflects how decisions are actually made in large organizations).

What don't we accept Andy Stern's offer by express our opinions in an open and constructive way? Let's do it in the spirit of giving this process a genuine test. As a person who spent 15 years of his life building SEIU, and knowing many others no longer associated with SEIU who do not believe that SEIU has already passed over to the "dark side, I propose that we regard the idea of creating an Ethics Commission for the SEIU as a "half full" and not a "half empty" glass. I will start with a few historical observations from my own experience within SEIU.

1. There has always been tensions within SEIU between rank-and-file members, officers and local and national staff. When these were resolved creatively, the organization grew and prospered. When they were not dealt with properly, locals imploded. Some of the resulting realignments worked well for members, others did not.

2. Within less than a generation, SEIU grew from a small and relatively stagnant collection of building service locals ruled by feudal lords to a large, diverse and dynamic organization. Many of the "feudal lords" were eventually removed from office through trusteeships because of nepotism, corruption and/or general incompetence. Some, not all, of these trusteeships resulted in better and more representative local leadership. Trusteeship also became a tool for merging and amalgamating smaller locals into larger organizations, presumed to be more effective or efficient. (I acted as a Deputy Trustee in this capacity in the late 1980s).

3. Rapid SEIU growth came partially through merging and accreting previously existing organizations, especially in the public sector, bringing their own strengths and weaknesses. Dynamic organizing campaigns in the health sector and Justice for Janitors brought many new members from the most vulnerable groups in society. Some recent membership growth has come from controversial neutrality deals with large service sector employers.

4. This rapid membership growth and organizational restructuring is associated with many internal tensions and problems within SEIU. Local members and officers who were comfortable with more routine styles of representation were alienated and demoralized as decision-making became more bureaucratic and centralized, and resources were shifted to organizing.

5. While organizers and externally hired technical staff have long had influence in SEIU (whether or not they were eventually elected to officer positions), it seems that the process of senior staff influence accelerated in the last decade. (I have no direct experience to draw on here). Precisely because of the rapid growth and organizational reshuffling, even a greatly enlarged cadre of people working for the national union in one capacity or another seems over-stretched (When I joined SEIU in 1974 the national staff was some twoscore in size, and even organizers were formally hired at the local level to break the union formed by the national organizers). There seems to be little doubt that as a result persons of limited talent and character have been promoted rapidly and moved about the country to fill local and regional positions like trusteeships deemed vital to the national leadership.

Based on my understanding of SEIU, serious cases of personal financial corruption such as those alleged in California are still more rare than they were as late as the 1980s. The broom wielded by Andy Stern and others at national level to weed out corrupt and incompetent local leaders was fairly thorough. Such matters can be dealt with through normal channels. The real problems are institutional and structural. Given the history and current practices of SEIU, how can members of SEIU's administrative cadre (whether formally working out of DC or at the local or state level) be held accountable for their actions? The temptations of organizational power are enormous and intoxicating. This is particularly true when serving a large dynamic organization with a great mission can seem to justify ruthless and self-aggrandizing behavior. This is especially dangerous in a trusteeship setting. After all members' "democratic rights" have been suspended for the duration. Or following a forced "merger" when the normal rules of elections are suspended.

So I come back to the "terms of reference" for the ethics commission. Rejiggling and re-specifying rules against self-serving financial dealings, nepotism, and other forms of personal corruption is a useful exercise. Making sure the rules apply not only to locals but to national officers and staff is essential. Oversight by independent outsiders instills greater confidence, etc.

But a union's code of ethics must go beyond this to be useful and credible. Accountability goes over and beyond keeping the union's treasury out of your own pockets. It must include a responsibility to create an institutional atmosphere in which the differing views of members of such a diverse union as the SEIU can be reflected in its organizational practice.

Which beings me to my final point. I have carefully read the indictment against UHW-W's leadership which presents the case for trusteeship. This is not a case of financial corruption like the others. There can be differing opinions about the legal correctness of the way that the local leadership tried to protect financial assets it felt essential for defense against the imposition of a trusteeship, but its motivation was transparent and not corrupt. It seems to me just a little too clever for national SEIU to base its case for trusteeship on the very measures the local leadership took to try to defend itself. And I am a bit uncomfortable with Stephen Lerner being one of the auditors appointed to oversee financial transactions, a month after he informed all of us that the national SEIU leadership had absolutely no intention to invoke trusteeship on UHW-W.

I firmly believe that by establishing an ethics commission with broadly conceived "terms of reference," SEIU could restore its credibility as an agent of reform. For this reason I urge national SEIU leadership to try to reach a political settlement with UHW-W not based on the threat of trusteeship. Conmingling a political step against UHW-W with cleaning up corruption within SEIU will itself corrupt and spoil the credibility of the whole ethics process.

Paul Garver worked as an organizer, field representative and staff director from 1974 to 1989 for SEIU Local 585 in Pittsburgh. He is semi-retired from the International Union of Foodworkers (IUF), where he coordinated global trade union organizing in the food and drink sectors.

An Open Letter to Sarah Palin from a Community Organizer

Sarah Palin, I'd like to introduce you to a woman named Jo Ann Gibson Robinson, who passed away in 1992. Based upon your recent comments about community organizers, I'm certain you've never heard of her. Most people haven't, and most people don't know a whole lot about the principles and history of organizing. But unlike you, most people don't go out of their way to disparage a group who has done so much to make this country great.

I don't pretend to believe that you wrote the speech; I presume you were being a loyal soldier and reading whatever your speechwriters felt would rile up your base. But because you spoke the words, they are now yours to defend, and one line in particular is indefensible: "I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a 'community organizer,' except that you have actual responsibilities." Rhetorically, it was cute—a zinger that drew laughs. But politics shouldn't just be about scoring points.

Keep your line about organizers in mind as I tell you about Robinson. Like you, she was an accomplished woman; unlike you, she was a community organizer and not a professional politician. In the 1950s, she was a teacher of English at Alabama State College in Montgomery and the President of the Women's Political Council (WPC), a local group dedicated to organizing for equal rights for African Americans.

Along with registering people to vote, a pressing concern of the WPC was the segregation of Montgomery's buses, which forced Blacks to sit in the back. In 1954, Robinson wrote a letter to Montgomery Mayor W. A. Gale, who in your determination had "actual" responsibilities. The letter threatened a boycott if the racist seating arrangement was not abolished. The Mayor paid no attention. Unfortunately, this is a frequent occurrence: politicians often worry more about money and political survival than social justice. Luckily, that's where we organizers come in.

A year and a half of community organizing later—with the WPC now 300 members strong—Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat. Robinson and the WPC wasted no time, working through the night to produce thousands of copies of a boycott notice, which began: "Another Negro woman has been arrested and thrown in jail because she refused to get up out of her seat for a white person to sit down…We are, therefore, asking every Negro to stay off the buses Monday in protest of the arrest and trial."

Did you know it was a group of women organizers who called the Montgomery Bus Boycott, which heralded the beginning of the Civil Rights Movement and introduced Martin Luther King Jr. to the national stage? Did you know that every mass movement for social justice—from establishing the 8-hour day to gaining female suffrage—was made possible by the struggles of thousands of unknown people? They didn't do this for votes, or because their handlers told them it was expedient. They took great risks for no monetary gain—often, in fact, risked losing their livelihood, if not their very lives—because some people are called by a higher responsibility. It has to do with justice and ending oppression, not with vote getting and political maneuvering.

Although you are ignorant about organizing, in one way you have done the country a national service: you have made community organizing a newsworthy topic. You see, organizers like Robinson don't make the news, because they don't brag about their accomplishments. They work behind the scenes, listening to concerns instead of making speeches. They develop leaders who engage in campaigns that force politicians to respond. When we win—and we win a lot—the politicians who have changed their stance then get to boast about laws that they either initially fought or did nothing to support. That's fine with us. Let politicians do what they do best, and take responsibility for good news.

But please don't be fooled. Read some history from the bottom up. Learn a bit about the Jo Ann Gibson Robinson's of the United States before you insult them. As you embark on your new journey, you might find that they have a lot to teach about this country you claim to so dearly love.

-

Gabriel Thompson is the author of Calling All Radicals: How Grassroots Organizers Can Help Save Our Democracy, which chronicles the years he spent organizing in Central Brooklyn with the Pratt Area Community Council.

Yeah! Bring it on. More defenses of my vocation, community organizing:

Ezra Klein, American Prospect:

"Community organizer isn't being used to describe a job but a background. Obama organized poor black people. Helped channel their anger and grievances and anxieties. That's change you can fear."

Time's Joe Klein:

So here is what Giuliani and Palin didn't know: Obama was working for a group of churches that were concerned about their parishioners, many of whom had been laid off when the steel mills closed on the south side of Chicago. They hired Obama to help those stunned people recover and get the services they needed--job training, help with housing and so forth--from the local government. It was, dare I say it, the Lord's work--the sort of mission Jesus preached (as opposed to the war in Iraq, which Palin described as a "task from God.")

Christopher Hayes, The Nation:

But one of the (many) attacks Palin leveled last night was part of a broader GOP push against Obama's years as a community organizer. I even heard Newt Gingrich on Fox the other day claiming that Obama was "wandering around the south side." You know, like a homeless person, or something. I suppose it's not surprising that Republican politicians aren't enthused about community organizers since often they're the ones who are getting their ass kicked by them.

Adam Serwer, American Prospect:

Community organizers aren't just those rabble-rousers who help keep people from getting evicted or protest police brutality -- they're basically the ordinary people across the political spectrum who to try hold government accountable to its citizens. Mocking that really shows how much contempt the party has for ordinary people. Republicans look down their noses at alleged "elites" while directing their anger at community organizers, who actually live and work among the people politicians only pay attention to when they're looking for votes.

Micah Sifry, TechPresident:

An old friend of mine, Janice Fine, is a veteran community organizer, and she uses the following role-play when she teaches other organizers how to organize. She pulls a person from the audience and then starts pushing them aggressively, while asking the person and the audience, "What do you do when you're being pushed around by a bully? What do you do? Huh?" Sooner or later someone answers, "You get your friends to help fight back." And a few people walk up to help push Janice back. That's what's happening now. Sarah Palin's elevation first generated a big response for McCain, but the Republican attacks on the heart of Obama's campaign -- community organizing -- is going to foster a huge response. I predict Obama will raise $10 million online today and tomorrow.
Welcome to the Thunderdome.

UPDATE: The NYTimes Caucus blog is reporting that Obama has already raised $8 million and is on track to raise $10M by tonight. With 130,000 people kicking in, that's about $61 per donation, on average.

United Peace Relief Detroit has put out a call to action:  

We will be meeting in front of Freedom Hill at 3:30p. McCain begins his speech at 5:00p. Bring signs: NO WAR, For Obama, whatever you have, wear pink for CODE PINK, blue for Obama. Be loud, be peaceful, let them know that the protests at the RNC represent what we feel across the country!

Freedom HIll is in Sterling Heights, MI on Metro Parkway (16 Mile), just east of Schoenner.

Anyone who needs a ride from Detroit can contact UPR Detroit: uprdetroit@yahoo.com, Jean Wilson 313-377-4203.  

Thanks to Al Z.'s comment on my prior post, you can see Barack's comment on the flak given to community organizing at a public appearance yesterday in York, PA. I also received an e-mail from the campaign with the following statement:

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies. And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning. Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.

Here's another spirited defense of community organizing from John Atlas, Board chair of the National Housing Institute on their weblog Rooflines:

The genius in America does not lie with our mayors, small town or big city, but with our community organizers who teach us collaborative problem-solving, shore up our core religious and governmental institutions, and make sure laws designed to end discrimination, like the Community Reinvestment Act, are enforced by government regulators.

Finally, here is a weblog created by organizers in New York City--Community Organizers Fight Back. The opening post has drawn over 300 comments already.

I was excited when this campaign started about the publicity that Obama's experience as a community organizer would bring to our relatively obscure profession. Little did I imagine that it would be the Republicans bringing us the publicity.

Fight On! Now I've got to go help an elderly couple sign up for Home Energy Assistance Program benefits and give them information on how we are working to make home energy more affordable--the beginnings of a tough campaign.

Taking a moment to organize your closet for your maternity clothes can make it less frustrating for you.

Confusion happens gradually. Your wearing your regular clothing and gradually, you slip on this or that and it simply won't do for you. Meanwhile, you've picked up a pair of maternity jeans here, borrowed an outfit there and found a thing or two in your closet you can still wear. As you've added items to your closet, they have probably been slipped into your regular wardrobe. As you tried things on that didn't fit, you probably stuck it right back in the closet - unless you had a fit and threw it on the floor. If so, that was justified and you are forgiven!

Take a moment to get organized for these special months.  Go in your closet. Gather any clothes that are on the floor and either return them to hangers or toss them in the hamper. After all, you might not wear them for months.

Now go through your clothing. Simply pull out the items that you can possibly wear and the ones you can definitely wear. Put them to the front or to one side of your closet. Push your regular clothing off to one end.

Now sort that clothing into dresses, slacks, tops, skirts and so forth.  When you buy or borrow more maternity clothing, keep it in this section. As the baby grows, what you can still fit into will change. As you put on something you thought you could wear, but find out you can't, move it to the end of your regular clothing. Once the baby is born, and you begin to shrink, these will be the first things you can reach for.

As you are preparing the nursery, add an organizing item to your closet. Place a plastic tub or a box in the floor of your closet. Label it maternity clothing. After the baby is born, and your size changes, you can gradually add the too-big clothing to the box. This will keep the items from getting mixed in your regular wardrobe. Not only that, it will be in order as your largest maternity items will end up on the bottom and your smaller maternity items will be on the tip.

Once you no longer need any of your maternity items, either store the box in the attic, share it with a friend or haul it to a consignment shop. No matter what your choice, it is organizing made simple. With a new baby, you won't want to be tearing your entire closet apart.

Photo credit: Pregnant woman with hands on belly: Copyright iofoto@fotolia.com

These predate the GOP's attacks but still worth seeing.

What indeed is a community organizer?

I don't think we'll ever see Palin working in East Palo Alto.

The Yellow Bike Project in Austin.

Superstar Community Organizer -  Majora Carter - Speaking at TED on her work greening the South Bronx, the neighborhood where she grew up.

Resurrection of the Willie Mae's Scotchouse, after the big flood.

Murderball!

And of course, the guy who's trying to organize the American community Barack Hussein Obama.
If you are not happy with the way the GOP has chosen to attack the best people in our neighborhoods, schools and cities...please DONATE TODAY!

Tell the nasties at the GOP, you're done with the same old stuff. If you don't have money or a job - or even if you do... sign up to help make calls, talk to people - get a taste of community organizing yourself. Go to the site now. The campaign makes it easy as pie to get involved - and to organize your community.

Once you start it's hard to stop. Not only is it the right thing to do, it feels amazing to connect your life with the lives of people around you to make the changes you all want and need to see. All you need to be is open and willing to help. THIS is what Obama is talking about when he says "be the change you want to see in the world." That's how Gandhi put it - and you know how much responsibility he handled.

And what's this business about "We are the ones we've been waiting for." I don't know why those in the Grand OLD Party have such a hard time understanding that concept. It seems to jibe pretty well with that whole 'responsibility' thing, you flap your jaws about all the time. Then again, I've noticed these GOP speech writers don't use language like normal people.

They turn good things to salt, and poison into profit.

You know what Miss Tubman said:

If you hear the dogs, keep going.

If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.

If they're shouting after you, keep going.

Don't ever stop. Keep going.

If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Even in the darkest of moments, ordinary Americans have found the faith to keep going.

Thanks for the reminder Hilary. And thanks for organizing those 18 million cracks!

And Rudy... I can't find a community in NYC that liked ya, sure as hell not the firemen.

What would you know about community organizing in the first place?

Not a damn thing.

And Sarah, just because you ain't gettin' paid, doesn't mean you don't have any 'responsibility.'

After I graduated from UC Berkeley I spent four years teaching adults with disabilities how to use technology. My guess is you would have slashed that program, like you did in your state.

Like someone in a video above said,

Jesus was a community organizer, Pontius Pilate, George W. Bush and Sarah Palin are governors.

And don't get it twisted. Barack never compared himself to Jesus.

You just stepped in a giant national moose pie of your own making. As YOU said being the Mayor of Wasilla population 5000+ voted in by about 600 people - It's not rocket science.

]]> http://wholesomehome.wordpress.com/?p=39 Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:56:57 +0000 jaw123456 http://wholesomehome.wordpress.com/?p=39 The Schoolhouse Planner: Making a Plan for School and Home

This planner truly has it all! If you are looking for tools to assist you in organizing your home and school, while keeping all your family's important information in one, organized, easy-to-use planner, this is the tool for you! This great resource includes every tool imaginable by way of forms and lists, calendars, personal information and the like. Each month offers a month at a glance calendar, along with great recipes, schooling and parenting ideas and articles. The many lists of famous composers, artists and other historical figures are sure to spark ideas for creativity.  I am always looking for ways to reduce clutter, and create systems that work. I am impressed by the types and amounts of forms included in this resource.  This will make record keeping simple, and keep families feeling organized throughout the year.

The first purse is the I Bag found at http://www.theibag.com.  There are a variety of styles but on the whole they are very casual.  The idea with these bags is that they have lots of internal pockets and some also have a number of external pockets, so there is a place for everything, and everything should be in its place when you need it.  No more fumbling around the deep dark abyss of your purse trying to locate your keys or cell phone.

Another more expensive option is the Butler Bag found at http://butlerbag.com.  This bag is small and very stylish but with all of the internal dividers you can easily keep everything neat and tidy and very easy to find.  A few fellow professional organizers have commented that they would never go back to a regular purse again.  It is definitely a splurge for some but maybe worth it if can alleviate the stress of not being able to find things.

The next item to help keep us all organized is the Pouchee found at http://shop.pouchee.com.  This is an insert for your own purse that has pockets for cell phones, sunglasses, coins, credit cards and internal dividers to keep other items more neatly organized.  The best feature of this item is that it is designed to hold all of the essentials so that when you want to change out a purse all you have to do is pull the Pouchee out and place into your new purse.

My own personal solution to the disorganized purse is a bit of a combination of the above choices.  I always buy purses that have several separated sections including little internal or external pockets for cell phone and glasses.  My solution for keeping things tidy within each section of my purse is to group like items together into small zipper bags.  For example, my lipstick, breath mints and the like are together in one small bag; my pens and small notebook in another.  My cell phone and business cards each have a pocket within the purse itself.   My wallet has its own section of the purse.   The small zipper bags are also a great solution for those women who just can't give up the large sac like purses in which everything just ends up at the bottom of the bag buried by the rest.  If you remember to designate a zipper bag for each category of items you will always know which bag to grab when you need a Band-Aid for that blister or a nail file for the broken nail!

Maria White is a professional organizer with ENUFF WITH THE STUFF in the Ashburn, Virginia area.  To contact Maria you can email her at maria@enuffwiththestuff.com

Me on the other hand, well, I am still learning when it comes to the planning. I don't have a system yet and I'm beginning to think I need to find one!

I spent this morning locating all the bits of pieces of paper that have notes scrawled on them about Ayden, and in fact Branwen as well - as the stories flow on from each other, the notes are kind of relevant to both the first and second novel in that a lot of what I build up for the second novel will have to be taken into consideration when I eventually get to do a rewrite of Branwen.

So far it mostly consists of a bunch of questions I asked myself about the plot in the first novel - the questions that bugged me, that I could see as plot holes, that needed to be answered before I could really push on. The answers still mostly stand, and the ones that remain not quite answered are things that I know can get sorted out in the writing of the story - something often comes up, little epiphanies which seem so obvious when you come to them.

I have my list of characters, the type of creature they are, the names of their races, but very little other details - I did introduce them before I stopped working on this, so I think a good thing to do over the next few days will be to sit down and make some more detailed character sketches: important because most of these have a voice, a POV which will be used and I need to be able to slip inside their heads. Well, that's certainly not hard for some of them, lol *realizes how much she's looking forward to getting into the actual writing*.

So what else needs planning? I want to do some work on the back story, the history of the place and the peoples as it's important to the current quest, to the motivations of the individuals - to making sure that I am not heading down the wrong path.

And then a timeline I guess, and potentially a map so that I know where the journey is taking them, where their paths will cross, that kind of fun stuff.

So, when I say it all like that, it seems like there is a lot of work to do. I guess I could spend the next week doing just this and that would be a good thing - potentially I could get into the actual writing after that, an exciting thought.

I'll be transferring my notes from paper to word document, which seems like the smartest idea - while i love sheets of paper, love making notes on them and using them for working stuff out, I am very prone to misplacing things, and I don't want this stuff to go missing.

If anyone has any wonderful ideas for organizing notes/planning for novels feel free to share them, I am open to suggestions. All else failing there will be little folders for characters/history/whatever else.

It is a very good point.

Suffice it to say, I find it the epitome of irony that Palin, feted as a true conservative leader within the GOP -- the party that touts individual responsibility and small government -- lambasts community organizers with a straight face. You know, the people who *don't* rely on taxpayer dollars for the work they do, if they get paid at all? The people who act on their own individual initiative to effect change in their communities, without expecting any sort of hand-out?

I'm going to use this space to recognize the accomplishments of anyone who ever has and continues to put in the time, energy and passion to empower others in their community to realize something better than their current environment. Consider this an open invitation to recognize, thank & pay tribute to those who are in the field, in the neighborhoods, in the churches, in the schools, in the advocacy organizations, who are educating, training, empowering, and leading. To start things off, check out Jay Smooth's commentary at about 1:15 in the clip below.   Jay Smooth on the RNC, Hating & Community Organizers (thanks to Feministing for publicizing)Thanks to...

Look -- I would argue that doing work in the community to try to create jobs, to bring people together, to rejuvenate communities that have fallen on hard times, to set up job training programs in areas that had been hard-hit when the steel plants close, that is relevant only in understanding where I'm coming from. Who I believe in. Who I am fighting for, and why I'm in this race.

The question I have for them is -- why would that kind of work be ridiculous? Who are they fighting for? What are they advocating for? Do they think that the lives of those folks who are struggling each and every day, that working with them to try to improve their lives is somehow not relevant to the Presidency? I think that as part of problem, may be why they are out of touch and do not get it, because they haven't spent a lot of time working on behalf of those folks.

Video shortly.

Update: Here's the vid:

So here is what Giuliani and Palin didn't know: Obama was working for a group of churches that were concerned about their parishioners, many of whom had been laid off when the steel mills closed on the south side of Chicago. They hired Obama to help those stunned people recover and get the services they needed--job training, help with housing and so forth--from the local government. It was, dare I say it, the Lord's work--the sort of mission Jesus preached (as opposed to the war in Iraq, which Palin described as a "task from God.")

This is what Palin and Giuliani were mocking. They were making fun of a young man's decision "to serve a cause greater than himself," in the words of John McCain. They were, therefore, mocking one of their candidate's favorite messages. Obama served the poor for three years, then went to law school. To describe this service--the first thing he did out of college, the sort of service every college-educated American should perform, in some form or other--as anything other than noble is cheap and tawdry and cynical in the extreme.

When Giuliani sneered about community organizers on the "South side" of Chicago, it's pretty clear what he's saying: Barack Obama spent his time rabble-rousing among black people. It's no different then when the RNC called him a "street organizer." It's fairly clear what they're trying to evoke. No reason anyone should help them mask it. A community organizer can be a PTA member or a Christian Coalition lieutenant. But that's really not what Palin and Giuliani are getting at. Obama organized poor black people. That's change you can fear.

I also have a hunch that Palin and Giuliani's attacks on community organizers are also going to fire up a very important constituency on Obama's behalf. A new Facebook group called "We are all community organizers" got launched last night, and its membership have been growing rapidly. The danger in stirring up this particular nest is that community organizers are network hubs, and while not all of them are involved in electoral work (often their jobs prevent direct partisan activity), this direct attack on their dignity may well push many of them into taking leaves of absence and going to work to help Obama.

The Obama campaign's own email response was also interesting, in this respect. David Plouffe wrote:

I wasn't planning on sending you something tonight. But if you saw what I saw from the Republican convention, you know that it demands a response.

I saw John McCain's attack squad of negative, cynical politicians. They lied about Barack Obama and Joe Biden, and they attacked you for being a part of this campaign.

But worst of all -- and this deserves to be noted -- they insulted the very idea that ordinary people have a role to play in our political process.

You know that despite what John McCain and his attack squad say, everyday people have the power to build something extraordinary when we come together. Make a donation of $5 or more right now to remind them.

Both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin specifically mocked Barack's experience as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago more than two decades ago, where he worked with people who had lost jobs and been left behind when the local steel plants closed.

Let's clarify something for them right now.

Community organizing is how ordinary people respond to out-of-touch politicians and their failed policies. [Emphasis in original]

And it's no surprise that, after eight years of George Bush, millions of people have found that by coming together in their local communities they can change the course of history. That promise is what our campaign has been about from the beginning.

Throughout our history, ordinary people have made good on America's promise by organizing for change from the bottom up. Community organizing is the foundation of the civil rights movement, the women's suffrage movement, labor rights, and the 40-hour workweek. And it's happening today in church basements and community centers and living rooms across America.

Meanwhile, we still haven't gotten a single idea during the entire Republican convention about the economy and how to lift a middle class so harmed by the Bush-McCain policies.

Etc. You get the idea. An old friend of mine, Janice Fine, is a veteran community organizer, and she uses the following role-play when she teaches other organizers how to organize. She pulls a person from the audience and then starts pushing them aggressively, while asking the person and the audience, "What do you do when you're being pushed around by a bully? What do you do? Huh?" Sooner or later someone answers, "You get your friends to help fight back." And a few people walk up to help push Janice back.

That's what's happening now. Sarah Palin's elevation first generated a big response for McCain, but the Republican attacks on the heart of Obama's campaign -- community organizing -- is going to foster a huge response. I predict Obama will raise $10 million online today and tomorrow.

Welcome to the Thunderdome.

Welcome indeed.

Thousands of SEIU members are expected in San Jose this Saturday, Sept. 6, to protest spreading corruption—and Andy Stern’s latest grab for control over  SEIU’s third largest local (which has helped blow the whistle on scandalous behavior elsewhere in the union).

The rally is being organized by United Healthcare Workers (UHW) and allied dissidents in SEIU Member Activists for Reform Today (SMART).  Both are reacting to their national president’s scheduling of a Sept. 22-23 hearing to remove the elected officers of 150,000-member UHW, including its leader Sal Rosselli, and replace them with Stern appointees from Washington, D.C.

An SEIU activist for 25-years and now the union’s top reformer, Rosselli describes Stern’s latest move as “an act of desperation and retaliation,” designed to divert attention from serious problems in other locals.

Stern picked a bad time for his latest UHW take-over bid. His own skills as a union CEO and talent scout are now in question. In August alone, three close followers—all just appointed or promoted to big-paying jobs in key locals or at SEIU headquarters—have been forced to step down due to mishandled funds. Among those being investigated are Tyrone Freeman from Los Angeles, president of SEIU’s second- largest local union; Annelle Grajeda, chair of its California state council; and Rickman Jackson, a Michigan local leader involved in the widely-condemned disruption of the Labor Notes conference in Michigan last April by four bus-loads of SEIU staffers and stewards. (See “Purple Punch-Out in Dearborn,” Counter-Punch, April 15, 2008.)

Thanks to Stern’s personal patronage, these three all serve on the Executive Board of the 2 million-member union. At SEIU’s riot cop-protected convention in Puerto Rico (See “San Juan Showdown,” Counter-Punch, June 3, 2008), Freeman, Jackson, and Grajeda were among the 60-odd staffers and local officials hand-picked by Stern in June to be part of his administration slate. All were then chosen, in rubber-stamp fashion, by the assembled delegates. Less than three months later, Freeman—who controlled Local 6434 while serving as an SEIU Vice-President—is now the subject of a criminal investigation of racketeering and embezzlement and a related Congressional inquiry by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee.

As Paul Pringle of the L.A. Times has reported in a stunning investigative series, the U.S. Department of Labor is probing  “payments of hundreds of thousands of dollars by the union and a related charity to firms owned by relatives of Freeman and expenditures of similar sums on a golf tournament, restaurants such as Morton’s steakhouse, and entertainment companies.” (Associated Press estimates the total amount misspent to be $1 million.) Freeman is a 38-year old former SEIU staffer from Georgia, whose 160,000 members in California earn $9 an hour as home care workers. He initially responded to The Times’ revelations in memorable fashion. “Every expenditure has been in the context of fighting poverty,” he told Pringle—apparently even his $10,000 tab at the Grand Havana Room, a Beverly Hills cigar bar known for its Hollywood clientele.  Within a week of that interview, Freeman took leave of his job—“for the duration of the investigation”--but is still collecting his $213,000 salary (quite a bulwark against poverty), while a Stern-installed trustee runs the local.

Double-(or Triple?) Dipping

Going down in Freeman’s wake was Rickman Jackson, his former chief of staff at Local 6434, who is now on  “voluntary leave” as well. Jackson moved from California to Detroit three years ago, becoming president of 50,000-member SEIU Healthcare Michigan last August. (That local’s many low-income members include home care workers like David Smith, who collapsed and died after the dust-up at Labor Notes in April—an event he was bussed to, under Jackson’s direction, for the alleged purpose of protesting “union-busting.”)

Jackson has run afoul of records showing that, despite his move to Michigan and Stern-backed political ascendancy in a new local there, he continued to collect $178,000 in salary and benefits from his alma mater in LA. (Plus, Pringle reports, he got another “$18,000 from SEIU national headquarters for consulting work.”) There’s also the little matter of Jackson’s home address in California being listed as the site of a Freeman-run “Long Term Care Housing Corporation” that’s now being investigated too; that entity, according to Pringle, “was founded in 2004 as a non-profit but was not granted an IRS tax exemption and had been suspended at one time from doing business in California for failing to file tax returns.”

Last but not least, over Labor Day weekend, Pringle reported a third investigation-related “voluntary leave.” With Stern’s backing, Annelle Grajeda became head of SEIU’s California State Council earlier this year after Rosselli was forced out of that position. She now has stepped down from the Council and two other union jobs over accusations that she permitted double (or triple?)-dipping by her ex-boyfriend.  Grajeda is a former local union staff director, who has never been directly elected by the rank-and-file to any SEIU office. Yet her loyalty to Stern was rewarded in San Juan just three months ago—in the form of  new $200,000 a year paycheck as one of six SEIU international Executive Vice-Presidents. Her ex-boyfriend, Alejandro Stephens, is accused of remaining on the payroll of Los Angeles County, while collecting “tens of thousands of dollars” from various SEIU entities—including the state council headed by Grajeda, Grajeda’s own 75,000-member local, and the international union.

SEIU is now trying to recover some of the money paid to  Stephens—in belated response to a formal complaint filed by SMART member Arturo Diaz, who is also a county worker. Diaz called the multiple pay-outs a “betrayal of the public trust and malfeasance.” He and other members of Local 721 want to know what role Grajeda might have played in enriching Stephens. Says Diaz: “I think he’s totally taken advantage of the membership.”

Trusteeship vs Dismemberment

In late March,  the embattled members of UHW were rallying, by the hundreds, in their Oakland union hall—and calling for Stern’s ouster.  (See “Purple Uprising in Oakland,” Counter-Punch, April 3, 2008)  At that time, the SEIU President had just sent his first letter to UHW laying the groundwork for removal of its elected leaders on bogus charges. However, that politically-motivated missive was quickly followed by the PR fiasco of SEIU’s failed invasion of the Labor Notes conference in Michigan, where SEIU rival Rose Ann DeMoro from the California Nurses Association was scheduled to speak. And, then on May Day, the always image-conscious Stern opened his New York Times to find a highly unusual “letter of concern” addressed to him from 100 labor-oriented intellectuals around the country, including Frances Fox-Piven, Adolph Reed, Robin D. G. Kelley, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Mike Davis. This half-page ad warned that “putting UHW under trusteeship would send a very troubling message and be viewed, by many, as a sign that internal democracy is not valued or tolerated within SEIU.”

But the powerful (and always persistent) SEIU president was not deterred for long. Stern quickly moved to Plan B, which called for dismemberment of UHW.  If SEIU had to tolerate a dissident like Rosselli--for awhile longer--his local was at least going to be much smaller. (And, despite the International union’s on-going campaign of legal harassment and disruption, UHW has continued to grow through new organizing.) So, at the San Juan convention in June, Stern rammed through a “jurisdictional change” paving the way for 60,000 home care and nursing home employees to be moved from UHW to Tyrone Freeman’s local.

Very few UHW long-term care union activists —overwhelmingly women of color--have ever been fans of Tyrone. He’s viewed as a glib con artist and weak negotiator--far less aggressive than Rosselli in upholding SEIU contract standards. In balloting conducted by UHW last winter, the affected members voted by a large margin to stay put. But, this being SEIU, what the members wanted didn’t matter in Washington. Stern went right ahead with a two-day “jurisdictional hearing”—held, in mid-July, in Manhattan Beach, California. There, more than 5,000 UHW members laid siege to the hotel where the hearing was held, protesting any decision by the Stern-appointed hearing officer that would tear their local apart and, according to UHW, “doom healthcare workers in California to years of substandard contracts and a weakened voice in patient care.”

Internal foes of dismemberment were backed by outsiders who share that UHW concern. Both fear that Stern wants to revive an industry-wide “organizing rights” deal with nursing home operators that compromised SEIU’s ability to engage in patient advocacy, while, at the same time, didn’t deliver promised improvements in pay, benefits, and workloads for union members. In a July 9 open letter, UC-San Francisco sociologist and nursing professor Charlene Harringon, a top researcher on nursing home financing , applauded a different kind of contract, negotiated recently by UHW with Mariner Health Care facilities in northern California. That agreement, she contends, “empowers caregivers to stand up for their residents” and “shows there is a better path to improve nursing home quality.” According to Harrington, SEIU’s attempt to push UHW out of long-term care lobbying and bargaining “may have serious negative consequences for nursing home residents and quality care.”

By mid-August--thanks to Tyronegate--Stern's attempted downsizing of UHW was looking pretty indefensible (although all parties are still awaiting a decision from former UAW lawyer Leonard Page—a friend of SEIU General Counsel Judy Scott --who conducted the controversial hearing in Manhattan Beach.) How could anyone now justify the transfer of so many UHW members, against their wishes, to a local they didn’t want to be in even before it was exposed as corrupt and had to be put under trusteeship?

From Justice For Janitors to Injustice For UHW

Unfortunately, the ever-agile Stern just shifted back to his original plan—putting UHW in trusteeship! On August 25, SEIU headquarters issued a press release giving notice of a Sept. 22-23 “trusteeship hearing to address fraud charges” against UHW. The “fraudulent” acts cited are mainly the very reasonable steps UHW has taken—with full knowledge of its elected leadership--to protect itself, legally and organizationally, from any abuse of Stern’s trusteeship powers. In the release, Stern declares that he’s now “committed to leading a reform movement in labor.” (He followed that up with a Sept. 2 leak to the New York Times about SEIU’s imminent creation of a “high-level ethics commission.”) Nevertheless, Stern’s primary goal is still to crush the reform movement that already exists in his own union, via a purge of Rosselli, plus all UHW senior staff and elected officers. Snuffed out along with them would be the local’s valuable website  (www.seiuvoice.org), which has rallied SEIU dissidents around the country—before, during, and since the union’s Puerto Rico convention.

Laying the groundwork for this “nuclear option”—and providing “left-cover” for his boss (as usual)—is none other than Stephen Lerner. Lerner is the much-heralded SEIU organizer and executive board member responsible for the union’s “Justice for Janitors” campaigns. Like Stern, he’s also no slouch at double-talk. Just a month ago, in an on-line exchange posted at MRZine, Lerner scoffed at the “myth that UHW has been threatened with trusteeship.” He reassured progressive readers that  “this simply isn’t true, no matter how often repeated” and claimed that such “misinformation” is just a “distraction” from the “vibrant, open honest debate” that needs to go on about how labor can secure what he calls “Justice for All.”  Standing in the way of that goal is “ ‘Left Business Unionism,’ or maybe more appropriately, ‘Neo-Business Unionism.’” According to Lerner, this previously unidentified species is exemplified by UHW—which clings to “a business union model” and focuses too much “on servicing and defending remaining islands of unionization (ie local union interests).” In addition, UHW has apparently also been guilty of indulging in “left rhetoric about militant struggle, better contracts…and greater local autonomy.”

Lerner’s “discourse,” as the academics call it, would be laughable—given how factually challenged it is--if it were not for one real fact. On August 25, Stern named Lerner and three other officials to act as his “Personal Representatives and Monitors” of UHW activity.  So last week, instead of being down in L.A.—where he could have been helping to secure justice for home care workers (whose treasury has been pilfered by Tyrone)—Lerner was part of a lawyer-assisted crew of  Stern “monitors” hovering about UHW. All are now busily engaged in peppering Rosselli’s local with burdensome “information requests” about every conceivable aspect of its daily operations, particularly those related to the local's legal defense against Stern. Of course, nothing in this intentionally disruptive intervention assists UHW members in any way, particularly those out on strike or in difficult contract negotiations; rather, it’s designed to impede “normal” union functioning, while manufacturing further justification for a full-blown take-over that would (with UHW added) leave the vast majority of California’s 700,000 members with un-elected leadership.

How do we know what life is like on the front-lines of UHW—in the middle of the local’s multi-front war for survival? Well, in the interests of full disclosure, the authors must note that we both have daughters working as UHW reps. So we hear a lot about the added stress and frustration of doing day-to-day trade union work under such trying conditions. One of our young staffers reports that she’s been aiding nursing home members whose bosses have become increasingly recalcitrant in bargaining. Unlike Mariner, some UHW employers clearly hope that, by dragging their feet now, they’ll be able to negotiate more favorable terms later on. Outfits like Kindred Healthcare would much prefer to deal with friendlier faces from Local 6434--if UHW members ever end up there--or with any Stern appointees who gain control of UHW.

Plain Old Business Unionism

How did a national union culture, long touted as one of  labor’s most dynamic and progressive, engender such a mess? How did it produce a Tryone Freeman and the kind of press coverage he’s been getting lately (which hurts all unions, not just SEIU)? In Pringle’s LA Times reporting, this “rising star in local labor circles” is depicted--accurately, by all accounts (except Freeman’s own)--as a free-spending  21^st century SEIU version of Jackie Presser, the biggest Teamster boodler of the 1970s and 80s.  As other observers have noted, there’s a steady drift, in too many SEIU’ locals, toward Presser’s brand of plain old “business unionism.” First, SEIU operatives—at the Labor Notes conference last Spring—resort to the same kind of thuggish behavior once common in the Teamsters during the Presser era. Now, like purple shades of Jackie, SEIU leaders collect inflated salaries, tolerate executive board double-dipping, and ignore nepotism and casual looting of local treasuries—until membership or media whistle-blowing forces them to announce a “clean-up.”

One of Freeman’s early mentors--who asked not to be identified--had this explanation of Tyrone’s rise and fall (as well as the career trajectory of similar Stern proteges): “These are folks who did not earn their status, they were handed it—and that leads to a dependence on who handed it to you. The union’s leadership bench is actually very shallow today…A person’s talent and skill and upward mobility now seem to be in inverse proportion in SEIU.”

If loyalty to Stern, rather than competence or honesty, is what leads to rapid career advancement—and that would appear to be the case--there may be two, three, many Tyrones in the union’s future. That’s because scores of Stern-installed leaders now preside over huge, consolidated locals with few structures for membership accountability or control; many have gotten where they are today via initial appointment rather than through membership election. Many have never worked a day in their life as an SEIU member but their local by-laws have been rigged to insure that they will not ever be easily replaced by anyone from the rank-and-file.

In Local 6434, for example, a worker who wanted to run against Freeman as president is required, within a mere three weeks, to collect and submit the nominating signatures of  4,800 fellow dues-payers! That would be an unheard of hurdle, even in a local with members employed in traditional workplaces. In a union of home-based workers--who may not run into five other members in an entire month--it’s a guarantee of “presidency for life.” Along with its criminal investigation of Freeman’s spending, the Labor Department is also in the process of invalidating this  nomination requirement and forcing a fair election.

Legal work in that Local 6434 election challenge was done by Arthur Fox, who is also assisting UHW. He got his start as a union democracy lawyer in the 1970s, as founder of the Professional Drivers Council, a truck drivers’ group that later merged with TDU—Teamsters for a Democratic Union. We also worked with many of the same Teamster dissidents during that period—brave members of PROD, TDU, and a rank-and-file caucus within United Parcel Service called UPSurge.  What’s striking to us about the situation in SEIU today is how much the lessons of union democracy struggles during the 1970s have suddenly become relevant again.

Learning Lessons of Past Reformers

To their credit, UHW organizers have been doing their best to brush up on this subject. Among the fifty workshops and training sessions being offered this weekend at a rank-and-file leadership development conference in San Jose is one entitled “Reform Movements Through History.”  UHW stewards (and invited guests from other SEIU locals) will be grappling with the following questions: “What kind of role are we, as union leaders, playing in today’s SEIU reform movement? What kind of union are we building if there is no member involvement?” Stewards at the conference are urged to “come learn about the history of the labor movement and discuss lessons we can use in today’s struggle…”

Asked recently about this new focus of UHW staff training and member education, Vice-President John Borsos explained: “One challenge we face is creating a culture of solidarity in non-traditional worksites, where there may not be the traditional kind of union consciousness. So we have tried to be very conscious about instilling a sense of history and institutional culture. We want to demonstrate that what we are doing has been done before. We want people to realize there are precedents for it—in SEIU and other unions. I think our struggle with SEIU has made UHW more democratic…”

That internal union battle has certainly made some SEIU rank-and-filers a lot angrier with their top officers than they used to be. Last weekend, for example, Bay Area hospital worker Maya Morris, a leader of SMART, was part of a delegation of 35 UHW activists who dogged Stern and his second-in-command, Anna Berger, at every stop on their “Take Back Labor Day” tour of the mid-west. At this series of post-DNC press events—designed to highlight the need for labor law reform--a busload of  SEIU dissidents from California was not a particularly welcome sight, because of their  broader conception of “workers rights.”

At a rally for passage of the Employee Free Choice Act, held in St. Louis last Friday, SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Burger gave a big speech “about the right of workers to have a voice on the job and  form a union without having to face intimidation from their employer,” reports UHW member Lisa Tomasian

But, as Tomasian notes, Burger “didn’t talk about whether SEIU members deserve a voice in their own union.”  After the rally, Burger gave Tomasian the brush-off, so later in the day, in Iowa City, the UHW steward cornered Stern. She handed the SEIU president a video of the July protest in Manhattan Beach where “members opposed SEIU’s attempt to force us out of our local and into another.”  Tomasian also invited Stern to the UHW educational conference and rally in San Jose this weekend. “He was non-committal,” she says, “and referred me to an assistant.”

Finally, in Wisconsin, the whole California delegation confronted Stern, backing him into a tense hour-long meeting at a local union hall. There, SMART protestors challenged him to a public debate about the current direction of the union. Stern  refused to answer any UHW trusteeship-related questions, citing advice from his lawyers. Given recent developments in SEIU—and the rising tide of rank-and-file discontent—such questions are not going away. As will be obvious this Saturday in San Jose, there are just too many SEIU members now determined to “take back” their own union, one way or another.

(Cal Winslow is a labor historian, labor educator, Fellow in Environmental Politics, UC Berkeley, and Director of the Mendocino Institute. Steve Early served for three decades as a national union staffer for the Communications Workers of America and is currently writing a book about the role of Sixties’ radicals in labor. Both are contributors to Rebel Rank-and-File, a forthcoming collection of essays, from Verso Press, on insurgent workers’ movements in the 1970s. Their email addresses are, respectively, cwinslow@mcn.org and Lsupport@aol.com.)

But this kind of hits me where I live, since my dad is a community organizer, so lemme spell this out: the difference between a community organizer and a politician is that a community organizer can't tell anyone what to do. They have to listen. So they can't order books banned from a library to indulge their own religious sensibilities. They can't fire someone because they didn't follow orders to fire an estranged family member. They can't ram through a $15 million dollar sports complex that leaves their local town groaning underneath the debt. Unlike politicians, they don't have any power other than the power of people who want to see something changed.

Decades ago, before the ADA and a raft of other legislation, schools had essentially no requirements to provide decent education for special needs children. Then a movement of parents, engaging in - gasp - community organizing changed that. And they continue to fight day in and day out for educational equity for children like Sarah Palin's.

Too bad Sarah Palin just spit in their faces.

You can customize your survival box based on your specific needs.  To personalize your kit purchase a couple of paint pens.   You can really get creative with the design.   If you are thinking about Christmas (it is after all only 4 months away), these car survial kits are perfect for that family member or friend that has everything.

Moving into a larger place felt like a large luxurious stretch with the added bonus of lots of (initially) empty space. I felt like I just unpacked my stuff and it disappeared. There was plenty of storage and little need to sort through old memory boxes.

Whereas moving into a smaller place requires lots of hard decisions and face-to-face confrontations with OBJECTS. It's a struggle. But don't get me wrong - I like it!

We got rid of lots of furniture (sofas, desks, TVs) before we left the old place. We have continued passing along old toys and winnowing books, but we are barely fitting into our new place. Take for instance, our new closet. Chad and I went from a walk-in closet and an additional closet (shoes and dresses) to a single regular wall closet. Poor guy, the clothes are packed so tightly that he can't find his favorite shirts. And he's already down to just a few feet of closet rod, having packed and stored his winter clothes in the garage.

Living squished up against your possessions is no fun, so, I've resolved: We WILL fit comfortably in this (very cute) new place.

That means I'm rolling up my sleeves. I've gotten rid of the clothes I don't wear anymore, but I think now even the clothes I wear sometimes may have to go out the door. It's going to be a tough love hierarchy; if I don't LOVE it, I'm losing it.

Back to posting on criagslist and freecycle. And Salvation Army drop-offs.

Does anybody need some work clothes? I'll be getting rid of some dress shirts this week, since I won't be working in an office or classroom anytime soon.

My goal is to have as much done as possible by next Wednesday, when I host the bunco group for the first time ever. Twelve women getting rowdy and rolling dice. Can't wait!

   This is our flower girl...she was practicing :)