So, my friend sent me a picture of this costume because she thought, given my recent urban wildlife challenge40andoverblog.com/?p=1085, I might consider this for Halloween.
I surprised J and K by being awake at 9AM [my sloth is legendary notwithstanding having a 7 year-old alarm clock who loves to jump on me at all hours of the early morning and then my beloved gets up with him. Do I have a charmed life or what?]
Unfortunately it is overcast, so at the crack of 10:10AM we all venture to the beach to beat the rain. J and I start to run along the beach and she runs fast [remember she is 21 years YOUNGER than I] and I am keeping up. [I am not letting a whippersnapper whipped me at running.] I am stiff from exercising the last few days [but, of course, I don’t stretch because even though I have a body of a 45 year-old, I have the attitude of a 2 year-old]. At some point, K wanted to stop!! I wasn’t even gasping yet!! We walked and talked. We ran back (sort of) and just in time, because it was starting to rain. My partner and son had gotten in some time in the ocean. AND I had kicked a 21 year-old’s butt in running.
A good morning notwithstanding the rain.
My sister emailed to make sure we weren’t in the ocean. I didn’t want to tell her that I kept swimming out even though the life guards were calling everyone in, because I wanted to body surf the big waves. The lifeguard had to save me. Sister, if you are reading, you deserved to read this and have a moment of fear. OF COURSE, we didn’t swim in rough water.
J and K came up to spend two days with us at the beach. [J baby-sat for our son all through her college and post-college years. She became family almost immediately (so let’s not discuss that she went to law school against my better advice) and K is her partner who is also family.]
They arrived after an epic 5 hour trip. So we went immediately to the beach (we can walk through an established path along a coastal reserve), then my partner and I hopped over to the IGA [which was rehabilitated from the UGH, see prior blog entry] to buy provisions.
We got back asap and I began preparing the grill. [Ok, let’s have a moment about this: I am a city girl through and through. I know nothing about barbeque’ing. I am now grilling for a suburban girl and a country girl. I am a little scared. They like their steaks well done. I only know two settings — medium rare and burnt like shoe leather.]
The steaks turned out to everyone’s liking (or so they said) and the table was full of food and family. K and I decided to go for a run at the crack of 10AM. [I sounded brave and sure, but she IS 21 years younger than I.] Our son was so well-mannered that he offered to share his stash of creamsicles with J and K. We were proud. There were other kinds of ice cream [we ARE on vacation, after all] so we all had our full.
and life was good.
Nooooooo. She didn’t really. Yesssss? Nooooooo.
A representative from Kansas, Lynn Jenkins (R) used the phrase “Great White Hope” when referring to existing and future leadership talent within the Republican party. And Obama got skewered for saying the Cambridge police acted stupidly?
She says she wasn’t thinking about a white contender against Obama in 2012 [I accept that she wasn’t thinking; but I wondered when she exercises her gray matter]. Also, various Republicans said no offense was meant. How nice for them to say. Charming, really.
Rep. Jenkins, one of 535 who review and pass laws affecting our land, did not know the back story on the unfortunate turn of phrase. Except you don’t have to know any back story to know that it can’t be a good phrase. [That is, if one uses one’s gray matter.]
Let’s sound it out together: Great [not bad so far] White [anyone have a plausible reason for this word other than racial reference?] Hope [as in champion]. Let’s parse it: White Hope. Hmmmm. A champion for whites as opposed to . . . other races?
To review, history books are not necessary to the implications of the statement. But I bet no one intended any offense. Rep. Jenkins and others like her [Herr Glenn “Gestapo” Beck, par exemple] truly are afraid of losing their status as the majority and governing race in America. And they are voicing it. And then, they fear they may face discrimination [retribution?] for their elitism and excusivity and want all of the programs against which they fought so hard when they had the power.
They see an end to THEIR society of whites-only country clubs, privilege and access to power (and not all whites are allowed, so if you have bad dental work, live in a trailer park and wear a sheet on occasion, you don’t belong either).
So these people are really hoping for a great WHITE hope. And, in case you are wondering, yes they’ve inbred so much that someone who can stay idiotic things can still become a Congresswoman.
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From the Associated Press —
OTTAWA, Kan. – A Kansas congresswoman says a recent comment about fellow Republicans seeking a “great white hope” was not a reference to someone who could challenge President Barack Obama‘s political agenda.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins said Thursday that she was making a comment about GOP leaders in the U.S. House. She says she was trying to reassure Republicans that there are bright leaders there.
But Jenkins says she apologizes if anyone was offended by her remarks at the Aug. 19. forum.
She says she was unaware of any negative connotation to the phrase.
The phrase stems from the early 1900s when there was a campaign to find a white boxer who could defeat heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson, who was black.
A spokesman says White House officials will give Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A freshman Republican congresswoman apologized Thursday for telling a gathering in her district that the GOPwas still searching for a “great white hope” to stop President Barack Obama’s political agenda.
Rep. Lynn Jenkins used the phrase during an Aug. 19 forum as she discussed the Republican Party‘s future and tried to reassure members that the GOP has promising young leaders. Someone in the crowd recorded video of the event in Hiawatha, about 65 miles northeast of Topeka, and gave it to the Kansas Democratic Party.
“She apologizes if her words have offended anyone,” Jenkins spokeswoman Mary Geiger told The Associated Press. “That was not the intent in any way, shape or form.”
At an event at University of Kansas in Lawrence, Jenkins denied she was speaking in racial terms and said she meant only that the GOP needs “a bright light.”
“I was unaware of any negative connotation, and if I offended anybody, obviously, I apologize,” Jenkins told the Lawrence Journal-World.
At the Hiawatha event, Jenkins was discussing the GOP’s future, with Democrats in control of Congress and Obama elected the nation’s first black president, in response to an audience question. Jenkins is white, as are three House colleagues she mentioned as future party leaders: Eric Cantor of Virginia; Kevin McCarthyof California and Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.
“Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope,” Jenkins said last week. “I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington.”
The Democratic National Committee in Washington declined to comment Thursday.
“I saw that report,” White House spokesmanBill Burton said at a briefing on Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, where Obama is vacationing. “I also saw that her spokesperson backpeddaled and said that was a poor choice of words. We obviously give congressman Jenkins the benefit of the doubt.”
The National Republican Campaign Committee in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for a comment.
Jenkins was not available for comment Thursday morning, but she was to hold an afternoon town hall meeting in Ottawa, about 55 miles southwest of the Kansas City metropolitan area.
The phrase “great white hope” often is associated with pre-civil rights-era racism and is widely believed to have entered usage in the U.S. when boxer Jack Johnson, who was black, captured the heavyweight title in the early 20th century. Many whites reacted to Johnson’s achievement by trying to find white fighters — or a “great white hope” — who could beat him. The boxer’s story inspired a play, then a movie, with that title, both starring James Earl Jones.
Geiger said she doubts Jenkins was aware of the phrase’s connection to the play about Johnson. Geiger said she’s never heard Jenkins use it before.
She said Jenkins simply was discussing how the GOP has faced challenges in recent years but has talented young leaders, adding, “That’s what she was saying, that was it, nothing more, nothing less.”
Tyler Longpine, a spokesman for the Kansas Democratic Party, called Jenkins’ comment “a poor choice of words” but said he doesn’t think it was anything more than that.
He said a Democratic Party supporter shot the video at Jenkins’ forum in Hiawatha and shared it with the state party.
“The thing that kind of strikes me was the partisan tone of it all,” Longpine said. “If she’d stick to talking about policy rather than politics, she could have kept her foot out of her mouth.”
Jenkins, 46, won the 2nd Congressional District seat for eastern Kansas last year by ousting Democratic incumbent Nancy Boyda. She previously served two terms as state treasurer and four years in the Kansas Legislature.
A little work crept in early on vacation day no. 5. Still we made it to the beach for a swim in the c-c-c-c-old ocean water. We took our son for a swim and then it was time for him to rest and play with sand toys while my partner, addicted to e-books, read on her iPod and I busily answered emails. We got out of the water even though he wanted to stay in — chattering teeth and all — and he did as we asked. My partner and I were marveling at this when, I guess in an effort to exert his humanity, he whined angrily that he was both hungry and wanted to go back into the water. Pausing not to react to the whining, I was so strangely elated. Well not so strange and no so elated exactly, but I was happy that my son was like every other kid his age in this regard. Because early in his life, people whispered about the possibility of his being On The Spectrum [as in aut . . . . . ism].
The gift of normality can never be over-rated in our house.
I have been reading that many wonder whether such a flawed person could have been re-elected so many times in the age of the 24-hour news REcycle.
Sen. Kennedy was human and so he is flawed. He was born into wealth and into the closest thing this nation has to an aristocracy. He lost his brothers by violence, two of them by assassination. The dreams and hopes of a mourning nation broke his shoulders. He also is responsible for the death of a young woman and possibly two passengers on a private plane. He was the adult at a drinking party where a rape occurred. He had affairs and abused alcohol.
Mickey’s Cartage Company picked up the gross garbage from the prior renters and added a second dumpster. Throughout our travels today, we kept seeing a Mickey’s Cartage Company truck on the road. We wondered whether someone was just driving our garbage around because there was no room left at the landfill.
We had a lazy morning. My partner read on the porch and our son played games, read and watched a little TV. I zoned out. Then we set out for my partner’s dad’s beach house in East Hampton where her sister and nephew live for now. I snuck out to go to the gym and work on the sagging around my long-ago arm muscles. Here’s the fab thing about the Hamptons: the prices are unconscionable regardless of the quality of the services. $30 for an underground gym with old equipment and no amenities. You just have to pretend it is in pesos and pretend it is a good deal.
Feeling guilty for leaving my partner and sister-in-law to contend with two 7 year-olds who, when together, feel like ten deranged alien beings, I drove back to the house. The noise level was deafening. The two moms were beleaguered and trying to create order around the pool. I jumped into service (literally) by jumping into the pool, which is freezing cold because it never occurred to my father-in-law to get a heating device. It is refreshing only in August when you are in the sun; otherwise, it is a little like falling into an ice-fishing hole.
Having kids around a pool is one of the most nerve-wracking experiences I can imagine. Danger to life, limb and brain development is everywhere. Might as well toss a 7 year-old the keys to the car.
The boys were intent on having a sleepover, even though this was an afternoon playdate. The last sleepover was a misnomer. It was a shriek-a-thon and finally ended when my son came into the livingroom and asked to sleep with us because he was really tired. Of course, he doesn’t remember that insanity.
My son needed to sulk over dashed hopes of a sleepover tonight. Then, he wanted to go back to the City. No more vacation. He NEVER gets to do anything HE wants (dude, we’ve had 3 hair-raising playdates with your cousin within 4 days).
How do all kids know how to sulk this way? It is part of the human genome in which I have the most interest. I don’t care what makes his eyes blue or gives him a slightly weird looking big toenail. I want to know why all kids whine exactly the same way and say the exact same things when they don’t get what they want. Then we could replace those chemicals in the genome with Stepford Wives-like chemicals (a boon to the pharma companies) and, presto-magico, we would never have to fantasize about separate vacations from our children.
Schlepping from Montauk to East Hampton and back again, with all of that traffic and all those lunatic drivers in their fast cars is exhausting. So, my understanding partner told me to take a nap (it was either sleep in bed or lie on the floor moaning, “woe is I”), so really I didn’t give her a choice.
We grilled, we ate, I am blogging. My beloved, our terrific son (even with the whining) and I are together, chilling out listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
Much to my relief, the news reports do not paint a saintly portrait of Ted Kennedy.
Sen. Kennedy was an effective legislator and a champion of causes important to those not born into wealth. He was a complicated man from a complicated family. He lost three brothers violently. First, Joe in the carnage of WWII, followed by John and Bobby by assassination. He drank. He left a woman, Mary Jo Kopechne, to die in the water when he drove his car off a bridge. His personal life seemed out of control, until the 1990s.
People are complicated. When they die, they don’t shed the complexity. Their deaths force us to contemplate the messy wholes that don’t fit well into eulogies.
Elie Wiesel once said that only a victim can forgive his tormentor. He is right. We can laud Sen. Kennedy for all he did to make our nation a more perfect union, but only the Kopechnes can tell us whether on balance his good deeds outweighed his failings.
For me, I hope he rests in peace.
Today, my horoscope says I am having a low career energy day today. That’s ok because I am on vacation. Unless the office calls. In which case, I will also have a bad vacation day.
When I was in Hebrew School, we were taught a song that starts, in new age, non-gender-specific translation, “Oh G-d, my G-d, I pray that these things never end: the sand and the sea, the rush of the water, the crash of the heavens and the prayers of all.”
The song is, in essence, a prayer for humanity to pray, a prayer for the basic elements, a prayer for the majesty and healing of the world.
It is the beginning of the month of Elul, which culminates in the Jewish Days of Awe, during which Jews repent and atone for sins. This leads to introspection (one hopes) about the gulf between who we are and who we want to be. That introspection is supposed to help one re-set one’s internal compass, toward righteousness and good. The annual gut-check, and if you are really not so righteous, a sucker punch to the gut (or groin).
I am not religious. Really. But tradition is important because it ties me to those generations who came here and struggled so I could have advantages, opportunities and the life I lead. I stand on their shoulders and my generation’s prosperity fueled their dreams and they stood tall with pride. Tradition also ties me to the generations that will follow mine. From generation to generation.
My grandfather renounced religion (it was the original Kumbaya Age: the Age of Socialism and communal living) and preached free love (he was ahead of his time — free love idled until the 1960s) but got married and never missed religious ritual built around the family. So Passover, Bar or Bat Mitzvahs were important, but non-family self-inflicted synagogue time? Hmmmm. Not so much.
But whether or not one is a deist, taking the time to think about life and mistakes, and things to do better, can’t be bad. The problem I have is that people can off-load responsibility on some sort of fatalistic rationalization based on the existence of G-d. Judaism doesn’t really afford that off-loading option but lots of Jews don’t seem to acknowledge that.
With all these caveats, there is something mystical about starting the month leading into the Days of Awe enjoying and marveling at the sand and the sea, the rush of the water, and the crash of the heavens (a little too much crashing, if you ask me, but rarely does anyone ask me). Maybe prayer isn’t so bad, as long as the responsibility to make the prayers come true rests with us singularly and as a human collective.
Maybe I believe in G-d, somehow, some way. The only compelling argument I heard for the existence of G-d was from an orthodox Jew with a nihilist edge (and not an insignificant case of depression). He said, “could everything be so screwed up by accident?” Can’t argue with that.