Author: Heather Meadows

As you may recall, I met former mayoral candidate Helen Blocker-Adams a few months ago and thought she was very cool. She came in third in the election; the two leaders, Deke Copenhaver and interim mayor Willie Mays, are having a runoff next week. Blocker-Adams ended up endorsing Copenhaver, which I thought made sense given that their campaigns and platforms were similar.

However, there seems to be quite a bit of backlash over her endorsement of the white candidate! From the Augusta Chronicle (reg. required):

There have been the people who look the other way when she walks into a room. Some roll their eyes when they encounter her. But being called a traitor to her race is what has caught the former mayoral candidate most by surprise.

[…]

But, she said, her campaign was never about race.

“I won’t say that I’m surprised, probably disappointed that you got a group of people of color, people who look like me, who are not broad-minded enough to think that why does race have to be a factor in everything,” she said. “That’s not how I was brought up.”

The recipient of her endorsement, Mr. Copenhaver, said he is aware of the flak Mrs. Blocker-Adams is catching, and he, too, is disappointed.

“I would tell you that I’m more disappointed than surprised,” said Mr. Copenhaver, a political newcomer like Mrs. Blocker-Adams, who received 25 percent of the votes Nov. 8. “And I think Helen is a courageous woman for endorsing me, but the time I’ve spent out there throughout the community, I think the vast majority of people – that’s not black people or white people, it’s just the people of this community – are really ready to move past the racial politics that we’ve seen in the past.”

Are they?

Another bit of criticism that stings Mrs. Blocker-Adams is the belief by some that The Augusta Chronicle endorsed her to split the black vote and ensure that Mr. Mays wouldn’t win outright, thereby allowing one of the two white candidates, Mr. Copenhaver or former Augusta Commissioner Tommy Boyles, to be part of a runoff.

“Whether there’s a conspiracy on why the endorsement was for me versus someone else, I really honestly, sincerely believe that The Chronicle was sincere in why they endorsed Helen Blocker-Adams,” she said, pointing out that she announced her intentions to run for mayor May 19, a couple of months before Mr. Mays declared.

Michael Ryan, the newspaper’s editorial page editor, said The Chronicle had no hidden agenda in endorsing Mrs. Blocker-Adams.

“It’s a sad statement about race relations – and the grip that the race hustlers have on some people in Augusta – when The Chronicle can’t endorse a black female for mayor without there being some perceived underlying motive,” he said. “That’s the height of both cynicism and racism. Not to mention the fact that it sells Mrs. Blocker-Adams short to suggest that we’ve got to have some motive other than her qualifications in order to endorse her. Plus, we felt strongly that she had the most potential among all the candidates to unite Augusta across racial lines.”

I would have liked to have seen Blocker-Adams in office, but I think Copenhaver is a good choice, too. (Of course, right now I live in Columbia County, so I can’t vote in that election anyway.)

(Side note: Isn’t it cute that Blocker-Adams and Copenhaver both said they weren’t surprised, but disappointed? Do you think they got together to plan their reactions beforehand? ;>)

Here’s a site with some great gifts for those in need. Where else will you find products such as “PLANT A QUARTER ACRE SWAMP”, “CLEAR 10 SQUARE METRES OF MINEFIELD” or “ESTABLISH A BEEKEEPING CO-OPERATIVE”? A lot of these are highly affordable.

I found this site via BoingBoing, which linked to Good Gifts’ “Swords into Ploughshares” products:

Peace is paying dividends in Sierra Leone. The same civil war that depleted the country of tools and work is now providing ample raw material for recovery: weapons. Enterprising blacksmiths and metal workers convert them into farm implements so that a Kalashnikov becomes hoes and axe heads and a rocket launcher transforms into pickaxes, sickles and even school bells.

You can buy them a Kalashnikov, a rocket launcher, a small armored vehicle, or a tank. (The picture on that page is great!)

Here’s what you get if you give a Good Gift:

As well as a warm glow, you will get a silver-coloured keepsake card (to send or keep) bearing a light-hearted description of the gift. If you are buying for a more sombre occasion let us know and we’ll send a more appropriate card.

This organization sounds pretty neat.

I remembered today that I used to own The Giving Tree. It’s another Shel Silverstein, but instead of a collection of poems, it’s a story. I used to read it every time I went to Grandma’s house. One year, shortly before I moved away from Kentucky, my uncle Steve gave me my very own copy.

Even when I was a child, I knew the book was about motherhood.

Did you know that uzumaki means “vortex”?

And there are some famous whirlpools called Naruto.

So it seems pretty obvious that Uzumaki Naruto was meant for the rasengan, eh?

I won’t name names, but somebody‘s been pretty darn happy lately, and we curmudgeons simply won’t stand for it!

Fortunately, an answer to this dilemma lies in science.

The powerful emotions that bowl over new lovers are triggered by a molecule known as nerve growth factor (NGF), according to Pavia University researchers.

The Italian scientists found far higher levels of NGF in the blood of 58 people who had recently fallen madly in love than in that of a group of singles and people in long-term relationships.

But after a year with the same lover, the quantity of the ‘love molecule’ in their blood had fallen to the same level as that of the other groups.

Thank goodness!

;)

I’ve noticed in my life that I’m the type to get irritated with situations. Rather than saying “Isn’t this great?” or even “I’m comfortable,” I seem to just get dissatisfied. On the one hand, not being content with the status quo implies that I might be successful at something someday, but a question I’ve been asking myself recently is: will I ever be happy if all I do is constantly think about how things could be better?

The Sydney Morning Herald has a piece entitled “Behind the Masks“, featuring two geisha from a geisha house in Tokyo and discussing the modern life of geisha. (Via Japundit.)

In practice, the arts of the geisha tradition – the dances, the music of the banjo-like shamisen, the shrill singing, the light-hearted games, the serving of food and drink, the way of the kimono and the complex manners – are done as a devotion to Japanese-ness that is nigh on a religious rite.

In Japan geisha are regarded as keepers of important cultural rituals, not as elaborately tricked-up bar girls.

“The practice is hard and very exhausting,” says Noriye, smoothing her kimono as she lowers herself into kneeling position on the hard matting. As her guests succumb to numbness and rearrange their limbs into more comfortable positions, Noriye holds still.

I found this particularly interesting:

Noriye’s hope is that Memoirs of a Geisha, the movie that is having its world premiere in Tokyo on Tuesday, will inspire international interest and respect. Foreigners, who she sees now about twice a month, might be more inclined to engage a geisha because of it, she thinks. “I’ve heard that the geisha of Kyoto are not happy at all with the movie,” she says shaking her head at the lost opportunity to promote one of the most recognisably Japanese of icons.

According to the article, the geisha business is slowing down. While the Kyoto geisha seem unhappy with the book/movie–due to the controversy? the revelation of their secrets?–the Tokyo geisha apparently believe they’re good for business.

I just read an interesting piece in the Appalachian News-Express about Kentucky’s identity.

From across the country they come, Civil War buffs drawn by a towering monument that marks the birthplace of Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

Many of the same people who ride the elevator up the 351-foot-tall spire at Fairview also will visit a quaint one-room log home about 100 miles away near Hodgenville, a replica of the cabin where Abraham Lincoln was born.

Having supplied native sons as presidents and soldiers to both the Union and Confederacy, Kentucky remains very much a state divided, wrestling with its regional identity perhaps more than any other.

It all comes back to the Civil War, when Kentucky was a slave state that didn’t secede and was officially neutral. The symbols of that straddling are all around, with 72 Confederate memorials in Kentucky and just two to Union soldiers. And to this day, whether people consider themselves Southerners or not depends on whom you ask.

I knew Lincoln was born in Kentucky, but I didn’t realize Jefferson Davis was, too. Kinda funny.

Where are you from, and do you consider yourself Northerner or Southerner?

I always thought of myself as a mix. My dad seemed like a Southerner to me, and my mom a Northerner, so I just figured I got the good qualities of both. ;>

I happened to see these on some random girl’s MySpace profile (by the way, here’s my MySpace), and I thought, hey, let me try that! So, I did:

They need more options for glasses.

I have to say that I didn’t enjoy the trip to Charleston as much as I’d hoped.

On Wednesday we spent a few hours in the morning packing up the camper, and then about two and a half hours driving to Charleston. We got there, resolved the reservation issue, parked, and spent awhile unpacking. Then we watched Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, and Sean and I got online, and Cheryl made pork chops (I tried to help but that kitchen is tiny), and that was pretty much the extent of our first day.

On Thanksgiving we got up reasonably early, had some cereal, and headed to downtown Charleston. Once Reid decided where he wanted to park (quite a feat), we walked around looking at buildings and shops. The first real sight was the church of which Cheryl and Reid have a painting in their dining room.

After that, we had lunch at a cool Irish pub/grill called Tommy Condon’s (and you know what I originally thought it said).

We saw some neat stuff in an open-air market, reminiscent of the one in Savannah. I tried some pralines at a candy shop. We walked down a long pier that extended into the bay.

And I got some decent architectural shots. This one’s my favorite:

As evening approached, we headed back to the truck. I got a neat picture of a brick building; Sean said, “Why are you taking a picture of the garbage?” Because it looked neat I tell you! (I also got a shot of the other side of the building.)

Back at the camper, we set about fixing and eating Thanksgiving dinner, after which we watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Sean and I stayed up a little too late on the Internet after that.

Yesterday was pretty much a waste of a day. Cheryl and Reid let Sean and me sleep in for far too long. We finally got up at 11:45. Sluggishly, we took our showers, only to discover that Cheryl and Reid hadn’t taken their showers yet either…so with all the preparation and waiting for the hot water tank to refill, we didn’t actually leave the camper until 4:30 pm.

Absolutely ridiculous.

I’ll admit to some fault for not setting an alarm, but they could have, you know, at least gone ahead and showered. And why didn’t they ask us “Do you really want to sleep in this long?” instead of just assuming?

Bah.

Anyway, we left at 4:30, and this time we headed to Folly Beach.

It was really beautiful with the sunset and all, and I didn’t mind the freezing cold (though Cheryl certainly did!). We walked out across the sand and looked around and took pictures. Sufficiently chilled, we piled back in the truck and drove around the island a little, looking at the houses. Then we headed back to the camper, where we ate hotdogs and watched Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones (and I noticed some story tie-ins with the third movie that I hadn’t before).

And that was our whole day.

Only two days of exploring, one of which almost totally wasted.

Today we got up around 8 am, did not take showers (much to my chagrin; my hair always looks terrible when I don’t wash it in the morning), packed everything up, and left. On the way home in the car (thank goodness we took our own vehicle), I ended up bitching quite a bit to Sean, and finally I just burst into tears. He told me it wasn’t worth crying over, and I suppose it really wasn’t, but I think I needed an emotional release after everything I’ve been through recently. It had been a long time since I’d felt comfortable enough to cry.

Yes, I was frustrated about going to a beautiful city and hardly seeing any of it, about not having enough time to do the things I wanted to do, about none of my suggestions being even considered, about sleeping in a very small and uncomfortable bed in an extraordinarily chilly camper, and about being guilt-tripped into quasi-agreeing to go on the same trip again in two years (Thanksgiving being with my family next year). But I think it was a “last straw” scenario. (I also think that living with the in-laws is starting to wear pretty thin.)

But I have the best husband in the world, and he listened to me complain and rubbed my leg and neck and held my hand while I cried in the car, and then got me a nice meatball sub for lunch. When we got home we took a shower together and napped together and made love and I started to feel human again.

I’m not sure what we’ll do when Thanksgiving 2007 rolls around. Cheryl is pretty set on going to Charleston every year (perhaps for the rest of her life!). So if we end up going, we may get ourselves a hotel room to avoid some of the problems of this trip.

Regardless, I hope someday I get to take some real time and see more of Charleston.

It seems like everywhere I go in the United States, people refer to the larger region in what are likely hyperbolic claims, such as “Lowest prices in the CSRA!” I find these region names fascinating.

Back home, it was “Central Kentucky” or “the Bluegrass“, which is the central (and northern) part of Kentucky. (The other regions in Kentucky are Knobs, Pennyroyal, Jackson Purchase, Eastern Coal Fields, and Western Coal Fields. We learn all this stuff in fourth grade and then promptly forget it.)

In Augusta, it’s “the CSRA”, which stands for Central Savannah River Area (region 7 on the state government’s map).

And here in Charleston, it’s “the Lowcountry” (a name which has its roots in history).

What is it where you live?

You are White Chocolate

You have a strong feminine side with a good bit of innocence thrown in. Whether your girlish ways are an act or not, men like to take care of you. You are an understated beauty, and your power is often underestimated!

You are Flat Sandals

Casual yet flirty You look great in a simple top and jeans Your look is approchable and cute!

Those are kind of ugly :/ But I do have some nice black flat sandals someone gave me…

I finally know what real friendship is.

(This will probably make no sense to anyone.)

Sunshine has a terrible story on her blog today.

My mom’s cousin M , (she is a doctor) went to her job in Al-mahmoodeya hospital , then after few hours , she heard a very loud explosion , it was a bomb car exploded in the hospital , my grandma called her to see how is she doing , did she got hurt or not ? she said …
“I was in the delivery room when one of my patient’s just gave birth to a nice healthy baby , then I heard a very loud explosion , & things falling on me , I tried to go out to see what is going on in the hospital, I was covered with blood & I saw horrible views , dead bodies , even some of my friends died” … she said “the national guards were like angels they helped me & saved my life”…
it was a miracle that she is a life , anyway , Dr. M said that our brave national guards helped her to go out from the hospital , because they had to close some of the hospital’s loop-holes , they were expecting another bomb-car ..in her way-out she saw her patient dead (the new mother) …
& that all because the Americans soldiers were in the hospital giving the children toys !!
50 Iraqis died & 4 Americans , that what I heard in the news …