Reach for the brass ring...

We generally use that phrase to mean go for the goal, or strive for success. But did you know it originated with carousels? Riders on brass ring carousels can reach up once a rotation to grab a ring from a ring holder (like this dragon). If they are lucky it will be the brass ring for a free ride.

There were once thousands of carousels in the U.S.  but now that number down to only hundreds nationwide. Only a handful of those are brass ring carousels and one of them is in Missoula, Montana. While visiting my nephew there recently, we got a great chance to get a behind the scenes looks. We were disappointed to find out that they were closed, but the staff saw my nephew peering through the window and let us in anyway. The were doing repairs to the carousel animals and in the process of carving news ones. It was very cool for a 9 year old to see. 

They showed us their designs and how the build the hollow wooden box to card the main bodies of the creatures. If they weren't hollow they would be far too heavy to be on a carousel. Then they hand paint them. It can take quite awhile to finish one. Some of the new carousel animals are replacements for the Missoula carousel, others get shipped to various places around the country.

We also got a chance to wander around the carousel itself and get a better look at all the animals and the inner workings. 

Here's my nephew in front of his favorite.

If you are ever in Missoula, definitely check out the carousel (except on Tuesdays). It is a treasure.

Why I'm against SOPA/PIPA

This may be a little behind the ball as it now looks like both SOPA and PIPA, the internet copyright protection bills hanging out in the Senate and House, are dead in the water. With all the outrage over this legislation the past few months have had a chance to read numerous arguments against them. Here's a good one published recently by Forbes. Most revolve around the infringement of free speech, and essentially boil down to an understanding that any website, like Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, etc., could be effectively shut down if they are perceived to have any connection, i.e. links, to unauthorized copyrighted materials. The major fears are the loss of access to information, and the possibility that if a site simply contained content that someone didn't like it could be shut down under the context of copyright infringement. And while these are incredibly valid arguments that I agree with fully, one piece has been majorly missing from my reading (though I did come across this blog piece will writing).


The websites that are on the potential chopping block are ones that provide platforms and distribution for millions of creative people worldwide. Plenty of these people are sharing their mostly uncopyrighted, generally unoffensive, hardly contentious talents and getting some recognition. In fact, there is whole alternative to copyrighting set up to foster this group of people, the Creative Commons, whose "vision is nothing less than realizing the full potential of the Internet — universal access to research and education, full participation in culture — to drive a new era of development, growth, and productivity." What will happen to this culture and community of extrordinarily creative people out there, when access to platforms and distribution is limited to those with massive amounts of money, a record deal, or a hollywood agent? (I can't imagine a major label allowing one of their artist to put a "cc" on their work.) What will our lives be like without knowing the voices, ideas, creations of all those people who would be unheard if not for their access to websites like YouTube?


While this might be a bit overstated and dramatic, it's worth remembering that before the revelation of today's internet, these people where relegated to the local underground waiting to be discovered by a hollywood agent. And I realize that in the miasma of an overwhelming amount of content many of these people are still waiting to be discovered, at least it is there, available to us when ever we might happen to stumble upon it. They are waiting to be discovered by us, not by the former gate keepers who are still grasping at the power they once had.

Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Etc.

Keeping Wall Street Occupied... and More!

I just discovered this video via social networking. I think this guy is brilliant, but I don't think he's grasped the entire scope of his idea.

For those of you who can't or don't want to watch the video, he is suggesting that people take the return envelopes that come in the junk-mail credit card offers and send them back to the banks... minus the credit card applications. He says this is an opportunity to both keep Wall Street occupied and open a dialogue with big banks (he sends notes asking the clerks who open the envelopes to join unions, I suggest "Helping you help us"), with the happy side effect of running up the banks' postage tabs with the USPS. The banks pay for postage on every envelope sent back to them. The deal they have worked out is .25 per, but the heavier the envelope, the more they pay. The big payoff of this action however, he says, is that the more of these the bank gets the more they'll have to spend time figuring out how to deal with it, and the less time they'll have to screw people.

But I see far more benefits.

In recent years, the USPS has been struggling, losing a massive amount of revenue and falling extremely behind on its bills. There are a number of reasons for these troubles, which include decisions that made the post office less competitive with private carriers. To try to save the USPS, one of our last truly public services, postage rates continue to be raised and the president has decided to cut back its services even further. But what it really needs is more revenue.

I look at this action as a tax on the big banks. The government isn't likely to start making them pay taxes any time soon, but we the people can take matters into our own hands. Look at this action of sending mail on the banks' bill like making them pay a tax (or give back some of that bailout money). Better yet, this tax doesn't have to go through government channels where more than half of it is likely end up funding a war overseas. This money goes straight to a public service.

And here's where it gets even better: JOB CREATION!

The rich, which definitely includes the big banks, say they need lots of breaks because they are job creators. Well, we can make them follow through on that statement. When the USPS starts getting more funding, they can reinstate its weekend hours and more people to fill those hours. But those aren't the only jobs this action can potentially create. The gentleman of this video suggest putting heavier items like wood shims and roof shingles in the envelopes to make them heavier.* Adding these things is probably enough to create a need for more postal inspectors. (Get your job applications ready.) These envelopes are probably going to seem pretty suspicious and need to go through additional screening. Fortunately, because of the banks, they will likely have the extra revenue to cover the extra staff they'll probably need to do that. My hopes are not up for the banks themselves hiring more clerks to deal with the increase in incoming mail. But who knows, maybe with enough of these credit envelopes mailed back, they'll have no choice.

So instead of filling up your recycle bin with those credit card offers, send them back! They wouldn't have given you the return envelope if they didn't want to you to return it.

*Plastic could also be added, but avoid any thing dangerous, like things that are sharp and likely to poke through the envelopes. We want to help the USPS workers, not hurt them. Also, it's probably a bad idea to mail anything that comes across as threatening.

Economic thoughts

An extremely low median wage, the mounting costs of higher education, and the destruction of the middle class are all part of why the American Dream is dead. For a majority of people working hard is not a guarantee of upward mobility let alone raising a family in the modest, comfortable surroundings that inhabited so much of the postwar 1950's landscape of optimism.  And if you still think that pulling yourself up by the bootstrap - that great Hortaio Algers myth - is still possible: it never was. The only way to get ahead in the US is through the help of others with influence, and if you are not already wealthy, chances are you're not getting that help any time soon. The other option is white collar crime. 

Several years ago,  I wrote an email to someone in reaction to their complaining about the homeless to explain how this system works: "you cannot just leave the poor to themselves, expecting them to die off because of their condition (not being able to afford healthcare, living in violence, poor diets, living in low rent districts surrounded by the highest levels of pollution and toxins), saving the elite from the burden of having to deal with the situation, because as long as there is a culture of 'more' there will always be people with less. And as long as we are part of that culture of 'more,' expecting larger profit margins every year and aspiring to the level of the elite, we are complicit in the poverty of those at the bottom." In the midst of the Occupy Wall Street movement I think it is even more relevant to consider. 

Barbara Ehrenreich talks cogently about the homeless in her article "How Homelessness Became an Occupy Wall Street Issue." She says, "to be homeless in America is to live like a fugitive. The destitute are our own native-born “illegals,” facing prohibitions on the most basic activities of survival. They are not supposed to soil public space with their urine, their feces, or their exhausted bodies. Nor are they supposed to spoil the landscape with their unusual wardrobe choices or body odors. They are, in fact, supposed to die, and preferably to do so without leaving a corpse for the dwindling public sector to transport, process, and burn."

This is something that ought to scare us all. Because as the rich in this country strive for even more riches, they drive more of us into this state. As Ehrenreich says, "It’s where we’re all eventually headed -- the 99%, or at least the 70%, of us, every debt-loaded college grad, out-of-work school teacher, and impoverished senior -- unless this revolution succeeds." And a revolution, as I see it, means overthrowing our system that promotes wealth of 1% at the cost of impoverishing the rest of us. It also means no longer sympathizing with and rationalizing the behavior of the extremely wealthy because we aspire to one day be like them if we work hard enough, because we won't (check out "Don’t EVEN Get Me Started, Mythical Bootstraps College Student").

To quote, but not name a friend, "Leave the millionaires of the private sector alone, most of them worked hard to get where they are (this is NOT France in 1789!) and deserve their rewards. " I ask do their rewards include screwing the rest of us? And does that mean the rest of us haven't worked as hard (I think of those working two or three jobs -- if they are available -- at minimum wage)? Maybe we should all just go eat some cake and drink champagne.

Notes from my journal.

Last month I went to check out what I thought was a financial literacy workshop for women who work in the anganwaris, India's government sponsored childcare centers. Financial literacy can be an important tool in developing a sustainable lifestyle, and I was interested to see how the organizers went about providing that tool. When I arrived at the conference hall full of working women, fanning themselves in the heat while a few fans on the ceiling stirred the heavy, humid air. What I found was the "Seminar on Investor Awareness," co-sponsored by the National Stock Exchange of India, and a roomful of rightly skeptical women. Here's my thoughts at the time:

As the world crumbles under the ashes of the stock exchanges, here I sit in a seminar for financial literacy, which is basically "learn to invest your hard earned wages in the stock market for future financial security." Sure, they say, securities are risky, but the almighty market has other options to help you on the path to financial success. Give and the market will give back. The secret is learning which investment is right for you. A rather illusive lesson it seems to me. 

The question on the power point projected on the wall says "Do we save? Or do we invest?" The women all laugh out loud. "We don't get paid enough to save... or invest." Everything these women and their families earn goes to the basic necessities of everyday living. 

The speaker replies, "look at the broader picture." She goes on, if you have extra money (lol) you save it for your children's education, marriages, etc. But when you simply save, inflation (a big problem in India) keeps those savings from growing with any significance. Investing, she says, give far bigger returns. "We need to ensure more returns than the rate of inflation." Also, investments will continue to give returns post retirement.  

For these women the speaker suggests buying gold. She says they already buy gold in the form of jewelry. But jewelers can reduce the value of the gold by skimming. Buy gold in units she says and it will take care of your future. 

In the midst of all this the power goes out, bringing both the power point slide show and the whirring of the fans to a complete halt. Yet the speaker goes on giving her speech, while the room grows hotter and sweat starts to drip from the brows of the audience. The people on stage are slightly sparred by the bringing of cold water.

I did not stay long after this, deciding not to deal with the intemperate environment. But in spite of, or maybe because of the heat the irony of the situation was not lost on me. What odder juxtaposition of events could there be: talking of money and investing in gold, while a basic utility is not functioning. My companion turned to me as we left and said if that had been a roomful of actual investors with money no one would even think of putting them in those conditions.

On it like a sonnet..

I wrote this in response to a friends Facebook status update, but I think it's kinda fun, so I'm posting it here too.


For this poetic form, it knows no bounds,
when put to use to reach your soul.
It can chase the moment like the hounds
with these words smelt for the goal.

When you do first grab the pen
and scribble this rhyme to advocate,
whether to describe a goose or a wren,
you'll comprehend at any rate.

In it's very simple scheme
of sing song and harmony,
the very best do but glean
how this art gives bountifully.

If you always remember the sonnet,
you cannot help but to always be on it.

It's been a whirlwind couple of weeks since I arrived in the north of India.  I've been spending time assimilating what it means to be in a developing country... one with more than a billion people.  I've learned that a fast growing population and an even faster growing wealth disparity, along with an social support system and infrastructure that is struggling to keep up leaves a lot of cracks to fall through. The community, it seems, is aware of the cracks and is trying to fill them, but there are also those who are trying to fill their own pockets under the guise of filling in cracks. Reminds me of home. More soon.

The best laid plans...

Two months into my freelance writing adventure and I haven't managed to keep good on my promise to myself to update this blog regularily. Instead I have been babysitting and reading excellent books (yes, I've been writing too). Just finished reading "A Traitor To Memory" by one of my favorite authors, Elizabeth George.  It's a not quite classic murder mystery following the efforts of Inspector Lynley and his partner Barbara Havers as they try to track down a murderous driver. The case centers around a violin prodigy and a toddler's murder twenty years ago. Not everything in the book is written in chronological order, but in a way this serves to try your memory and put you in the same frame of mind as Gideon, the violin prodigy. I enjoyed the fact that I was guessing who done it right along with Lynley and Havers as new facts come to light, memories are discovered, and stories are discovered to be false. The ending was disturbing and left me with more questions, but I think that is the point. I can't say much more without giving too much away. If you are a mystery fan like me, pick up some Elizabeth George.

Nuclear Plumes 'R' Us

The nuclear disaster in Japan has all but disappeared from the mainstream news, but in case you were wondering: yes, the it is still a serious disaster.  More than two months after the reactors began melting down at the Fukushima Plant, workers are still facing lethal levels of radiation in order to regain control.  However, it's not just the workers and those who live near by who are affected by the disaster (though their exposure is by far the most devastating).  My mom sent me this wonderful link of a forecast map showing a huge nuclear radiation clouds over most of the US and Canada. The wonderful thing about about these clouds is that they are made up of actual radio active particles of Cesium and Iodine. While these particles can be blocked more easily than radioactive waves (alpha particles can be stopped by paper, beta by aluminum), if ingested or inhaled these particles can cause massive cell damage.  The longer the plant in Japan continues to spew these radioactive particles into our air, the greater each of our chances of coming into contact with more of them. Accumulative effects anyone? Something to think about.

Second Week in Montana

After quiting my job and leaving California, I headed out to Montana to spend some quality time with my sister and her family.  I've now spent two weeks in the wonderful town of Missoula.  I haven't gotten out and about much, but here are my observations so far:

• It's pretty. It really is. The city is surrounded by snow topped mountains, and everything below the snow line is green and lush looking.
• Cars stop for pedestrians. This may not be a big deal for some people.  But I've spent the last however many years dodging cars in the crosswalk.  I was pleasantly surprised the other day when, while I was waiting at a corner with no crosswalk, cars in both directions stopped and waiting patiently for me to cross. It's a plus for this city.
• People are polite and clean up after themselves for the most part.  At the coffee shop today, the drink handed to the girl in front of me splashed a little on the counter. She ran and got a napkin to wipe it up, while the employee was busy working on another drink.  Also, every public bathroom I have been in so far has been decently clean: another sign of consideration.
• For a smallish town, they have culture. I've learned that Missoula is home to several great film festivals. This weekend I volunteered for a few hours at the International Wildlife Film Festival. They had films from around the world, and top experts in wildlife and film came to participate in panels.

On the downside, road planning was done by crazy people. There is actually a three-way road junction that the locals call "malfunction." Otherwise, so far so good. I would recommend stopping for visit if you are passing through Montana anytime soon.

Yet another new beginning...

So... I decided that the news business was full of people I don't really want to be around, doing things I don't really want to take part in. That's not to say that there aren't good people trying there best to uphold journalistic standards and maintain integrity.  I really like those people.  I also decided that I don't agree with the idea of "paying your dues" when that means you are overworked, underpaid, and mistreated.

Today officially marks the start of my adventures in freelancing, whatever that may entail: writing inane content for info websites, pulling out my camcorder, or even actual journalism. As part of this adventure, I am including this recently neglected blog, as well as a new video blog I have under construction (I'll have the link when it's ready).   I think "oscopy," however, may die.  I will endeavor to update these sites several times a week.  I am posting about this 'cause, now I actually have to do it! 

True Grit

I have yet to see the remake of "True Grit," in fact, I still need to see the original. But seeing both has moved up towards the top of my must do list after reading Frank Rich's review in the New York Times, "The One-Eyed Man Is King."

This review reminds me of the of the story of "Sullivan's Travels," another must see movie, and the idea that movies don't always need to change the world through replaying our harsh reality in stark contrast. Most of us already experience that reality everyday. We go to the movies to escape into a different one.

"For a weary mainstream 1969 audience, and not just a reactionary one, the restoration of order in 'True Grit,' inevitably to be followed by Rooster’s ride off into the sunset, was a heartening two-hour escape from the near-civil-war raging beyond the theater’s walls," says Frank Rich of the original.

"No one should have been surprised that those looking for another America once again have been finding it in 'True Grit,'" he says of the remake.

New Job; New Insights

So about five months ago I started a new job as a News Producer at a small market T.V. station. And boy has it been eye opening. I'm still pulling together all my tendrils of thought on it, but one thing has been really interesting is that my old school texts are starting to have whole new meaning.  In particular, I started re-reading On Television by Pierre Bourdieu, and he is right on when it comes to T.V. journalists.  I'll write more when Ive put together a more cohesive and comprehendible thesis about my current situation.  All I can say right now is, it's madness.

Read this!

Check out Bootstrapping Priorities over at "this ain't livin'." It's a well written way of saying what I've been trying to tell people for years... screw Horatio Algers. This very American concept is especially important to reevaluate now with so many more people not being able to pull themselves up by their bootstrap.

I grew up with pediatricians for parents which means I don't get as grossed out as I should by talking about bodily functions over the dinner table. It also means I can trust the recommendations I get for good layperson medical-type books.  These are two books my mother is recommending:

When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection, by Gabor Mate

In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction, also by Gabor Mate

(Thanks Mom, I'm guessing you think the stress-disease one is especially pertinent to my situation.)

This story from the AFP on the US ranking in quality of motherhood says more about the state of our nation then so many other indexes.  Should we really be called a developed nation if we can't take care of mothers and children? Apparently we rank among the poorer countries of the world.

Return From India

I just returned from India this weekend after a 2 week visit.  This first week was spent with the Cheema family celebrating Sukha's wedding.  It was amazing and colorful.  Sukha was a beautiful bride.  The second week was spent in the state of Kerala.  I went with boona to the city of Cochin which was a Portuguese fort once upon a time.  We found a tuk-tuk (3 wheel vehicle) driver who gave a us a whirlwind tour of the place, full of history, teeming with local commerce and production, and containing more churches, temples mosques, etc. per square foot then I've seen anywhere else.  It was fascinating to talk to the locals about religion and politics in their community.  As far as religion, you can find just about everything there... minus the strife and conflict you find between all these religions elsewhere.  The philosophy seems to be live and let live.  Politics is in a whole other realm.  The people don't seem to fight over politics, but there is certainly a healthy amount of debate, as can be seen from the posters, graffiti and any tuk-tuk driver you ask (at least the ones we asked). The current political climate and history, seem to me fairly unique.  It is a very poor place, yet it has one of the highest literacy rates in the world and everyone has access to health care   And the communist party is currently running the state government...by popular vote.  The people I met there were extremely friendly, jovial, and genuinely seemed to enjoy life.  They were educated, and although they did not all speak English well, I did not find it too difficult to communicate.  Beyond all of this Kerala is also a tropical paradise with sandy beaches and palm trees. We also spent a few days at Cherai swimming in the Arabian sea. Sigh... I hope I get to go back again sometime soon. If I get around to it, I will post video from the trip on Oscopy. (below: Cherai beach at sunset)

Christmas Eve Thoughts

I have been negligent once again in my blogging. I promised to write about my trip to Africa, which I will still do, but many things have distracted me (namely dealing with crazy people). One thing I have taken to doing that has sequestered my time is sewing and other crafts. For Christmas gifts this year I decided to give all hand made gifts. No money going to large corporations this year. They've already taken too much of my money. It would be nice if everyone could give handmade gifts, but it is hard to find the time. Instead, we work too hard for not enough money and then go home and spend time with some form of media. Oh well, happy holidays everyone!

I haven't been that great about posting regularly recently, but now I have a good excuse. I'm heading to Zambia for the next couple of weeks and am leaving my computer behind. I will be sure to write a few posts about my trip when I return.