Turning Two: Three Picks for Three Ms

The ms simultaneously post (through the miracle of technology and the unbenownst hosting graciousness of Downtown Flying Star wireless):

A little thinner this year in post number and frequency, maybe, but still very much here and kicking, the m-pyre girls are celebrating their second anniversary!

Last year's celebrating m-pyre series was such a hit, we've resurrected the format to bring you our favorite of each other's posts during the last year.


Marjorie says:
It's really hard to choose my three favorite posts written by Maggie and Mikaela. How could I do that when they've written so many compelling and wonderful blogs this year? So rather than view these posts in that light, just think of them as the tip of the iceberg, skimming over the surface to show the variety and depth of my blogging friends.

In Global Terror and Global Communication, we have classic Mikaela, breaking down the meaning of language for us. It encapsulates her ability to make broad ranging connections, that are sharp as a tack, funny and a tad bit quirky… just like her.

Then there's Mikaela's sarcasm...some times it's really overt. You have to really know her to pick up her more subtle moments, but they are always really good. In What Bush Will Be Remembered For: Unbelievable Hypocrisy she gives us one of her many great Bush rants. She's really good at those, especially the ones that point out just what an idiot he is.

Since I can only pick three...it was a no-brainer to just go right to Mikaela's most recent post. Ok, I cop to it, this is my favorite Mikaela post of the year. In Reclaiming the Power to Speak through Action Mikaela is in top form. It brings together her rants, her ability to connect lots of different commentaries and events, her odes to friends...all into a little nugget that she takes and dives head first with into pure philosophy and questioning. So Mikaela...beautiful!

Don't let me leave out Maggie in my admiration of pure sarcasm. It doesn't get much better than this post prostrating herself (not) at the feet of self-righteous Republicans: God help the sports fan.

I always like it when people point out structure, how nothing exists in a bubble. In Watching Paris, we watch ourselves, Maggie does a great job pointing out the post-industrial stress and reactionary tendencies we share with our first world counterparts…even those pesky French.

Despite what I said above, this post by Maggie is one of my favorite of the year: in Natalee Holloway and the whore/saint dichotomy, Maggie gets right to the point. We are neither whores nor saints. Rather, we're human beings who are sexual and in many cases great parents to children. What woman doesn't struggle with this issue?

Mikaela says:
Each time these venerable ladies post something, I'm glad yet again that every brain is different. I love these ladies, yes, but I also love learning from them! I feel so blessed to be counted among their friends, and absolutely honored to share a blog with them. So, in no particular order, here are my favorites from the 2 ms in the last year.

Watch out when Maggie gets angry. She's smart, articulate, and DAMN – when she's on, she's on, as demonstrated in this loving tribute to Michael Brown: My Name is Michael Brown and I Am a Piece of Shit.

Maggie is also the best at setting a context by which to understand current events, as evidenced in this post linking today's political relationship with the media: "We will not walk in fear, one of another."

Ironically, I look to Maggie for two contradictory things, which in my mind testifies to Maggie's true strength of understanding her surroundings wherever she is: 1) local politics and events and 2) national politics.

As for Marjorie, her nuance and deep thinking is always helpful to me. Whether she's taking on implications of immigration policy, as in Children Born Here Belong Here, or the real issue in the debate about Supporting Our Troops.

I can always trust Marjorie to open my eyes to labor issues, as with NYC transit workers are right on.

Maggie says:
Picking out only three favorite posts for these girls is tough… but I’m up for the challenge, if only because it gives me a good excuse to sit here at Flying Star drinking tea and reading a year’s worth of goodness. It’s never a struggle to pick out good things from these two; the struggle is in narrowing them down.

For me, Marjorie’s writing is pure substance. Her analysis of issues manages to be sweeping and intimate all at once, coming from the left but never accepting any easy answers or talking-points in her directives. In 12 Dead Miners: Who’s Responsible?, Marjorie reminds us of the deadly, human price of capitalism and questions the quick-fix hearings pols were offering as the answer. With May Day is all about solidarity… let’s show some in Albuquerque, she gets to the heart of global labor struggles and shows the real passion that guides her thinking and her work. And finally, with BLOG-IN: the FREE MARKET is in The House!!, we get to see Marjorie at her wry, sarcastic best (Marjorie’s humor doesn’t come out online very much, but when it does, I’m her biggest fan).

What’s so interesting about Mikaela as a blogger is that her posts are mirrors into the questions she’s constantly asking of herself: how do we balance commitments, demonstrate our values, and celebrate each other’s differences? We're lucky we get to sit in on her thinking process. In America & Iran: Why moderates fail and fanatics rise to power, Mikaela is her endlessly thoughtful self, struggling with questions of identity and examining how they play out in the political system she feels so disconnected from. As much as Mikaela resists wonkiness, she reveals in War on Women why writing about politics and gender is something no m-pyre girl should shy away from. My favorite Mikaela post of our second year, though, is Cultural Up-beat, where she continues to explore the interplay of culture, space, and expression, three issues near and dear to Mikaela's heart.

Reclaiming the Power to Speak through Action

Mikaela entones:
There’s been a lot of speculative talk for the past 6 years about why the Democrats have been unable to

1) connect with the people who agree with fundamental values they share

2) talk assertively and compellingly about the out and out failures of the Republicans and specifically this administration and

3) talk compellingly and assertively about even their own values.

Why can’t we claim any ground? Despite everything that’s happening – the Republican-dominated country seeming to collapse around us – why can Democrats not gain traction on any single issue?

(Think: Foley…nothing. Executive signing statements…nothing. Getting rid of habeas corpus for enemy combatants – whatever they are – nothing. Disastrous war in Iraq…nothing. North Korea missile launch… nothing. War in Lebanon… nothing. And on and on and on.)

Lately, the difference between conservative and liberal has shown up for some viewers of Gene Grant’s local talkshow, The Line, on KNME. Always prone to reductionism, the conservative pundits are witty, concise, and colorful. Made for TV, you might say. The liberals? Gray. Gray gray gray. Always talking context, always complicating things, always loathe to reduce any intricate problem to a 5-second sound bite. Devastating for TV, if more intellectually honest.

My sister, an ardent Democrat, and quite the firebrand herself, has taken to listening to debates in political races across the country. She’ll yell at the Democratic candidate –“Answer the Question! Answer the *&%#@%^ question!” Then she’ll send an e-mail to the Democratic Party with points of instruction on how to do better. How many of us have this dedication and follow-through?

I myself have been hiding this political season. I’m so overwhelmed with all that’s wrong, all that’s seeming to slide downhill, all the power accruing to that idiot’s office and his lying, cheating party’s coffers, that I’m rendered speechless and despondent. Really.

Ever since reading the pragmatist philosopher William James, who famously said there’s no such thing as Truth, only consequences of ideas, I’ve been passionate about finding the meaning in things. True or false, doesn’t matter. What’s the consequence of one idea or the other gaining a foothold in the popular imagination? That’s at the heart of political rhetoric. How do you communicate the consequence of one policy over another? One candidate over another?

Media has lost the ability to answer that question, and the heart even to try. They keep trying to tell us the facts and forget about telling us about the consequences. That’s one reason I’m so drawn to editorialists and bloggers these days. Maybe that’s why most of us get more information from churches and humorists than we do from the news.

Never one for organized religion, I’ve found myself getting mighty nervous since the last Presidential elections, when the “moral values” that voters so proclaimed as their big issue was equated with the Christian right. We rarely hear about the vast number of churches who believe in kindness, treating neighbors as yourselves (even when gay, even when a different faith, even when poor), and generally supporting community in all its messy diversity. I would hazard a guess and say these kind of inclusive churches outnumbers the fear-and-hate-mongering churches, yet they’ve somehow lost control of the microphone to get their message out there. Lost ground. Lost traction. Pick your metaphor.

Yet for me, these days, when I want to understand what’s happening, not just despair, I’m turning more and more to speeches – okay, okay – sermons from educated religious leaders who aren’t afraid to take on what’s happening and go one step further – find sources for hope.

The Universalist Unitarians have a website dedicated to their work with the UN, and as part of that partnership, they sponsor a yearly competition for best sermon on Peace. They’re pretty great. No bumper stickers. No pithy reductionist logic. But real meaning.

One tells the story of a soldier from the Korean war on his deathbed years later. He had disobeyed his commander’s foolish and deadly order to stage a surprise attack. Under threat of punishment, he carried out the order and lost most of his men. Here’s what he told his minister Rebecca Parker:

“I saw the truth. Back there in Korea, I was right to have questioned my commanding officer. I was right to feel the order should be disobeyed. And when I broke down because my buddies died, I was right to cry. This is my manhood,” he said, tapping a rhythm with his hands upon his chest. “That I can feel. That I can care. That I can grieve. That I can love. That I hate war. That I had the courage to question. That I was willing not to obey. I'm not afraid to die now, because I know what love is. I know where God is.” Hands again, pressing against his own flesh.

“This is what I wanted you to hear from me before I die. It is important for you to know this. You are a preacher. Tell my story. People need to know what I'm telling you. You need to know what I'm telling you.”

I will remember this story when I hear of more and more soldiers – even officers – refusing to serve in Iraq. I will remember when so many come home, traumatized physically and mentally by what they have seen and probably will see for the rest of their lives in their nightmares. In our collectively dreamed unconscious.

The sermon recasts Bush’s war in Iraq in the light of Abraham Lincoln’s agonized declaration of war against citizens of his own country.

There is in warfare an arrogance of power that is destructive of people and nations. Candidate Bush spoke of humility in foreign policy; but it is collective arrogance that moves us now – our Manifest Destiny in the world – our new policy of pre-emptive warfare – our withdrawal from international treaties – our Lone Ranger policing of the world. His dramatic landing in full battle regalia on an aircraft carrier deck to the cheers of the sailors while proclaiming the war to be essentially over struck me as unrestrained hubris. His “bring ‘em on” bravado in response to the assaults on our troops indicates to me he has imbibed the elixir of war.

I contrasted this hubris with the case of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War as he was besieged by clergy delegations from both North and South, both claiming to know God’s will in the matter at hand. Said Lincoln, “I am the only one who doesn’t know it.” That statement reveals a proper humility now lacking.

Clearly, war is a force that gives many meaning. It does bring out our need for a transcendent goal; our capacity to sacrifice; to invest ourselves in a cause beyond ourselves. It does all these things, and it is therefore the most dangerous of all human behaviors.

Psychologist William James, early in the 20th century, called for a “moral equivalent for war.” Recognizing the self-sacrifice that often marks warfare, he wondered why we cannot commit ourselves as human beings with equal zeal to the cause of peace and justice. I wonder too. While we continue to pursue war and rebuild Iraq, our schools starve for funds, our poverty increases while the rich get richer, our health care system deteriorates and becomes unaffordable for tens of millions, our environment suffers, and we find ourselves in a national malaise.

Where is the zeal, the passion, the determination to build the Beloved Community – to wage war on poverty? Where is that same zeal, passion and determination to pursue peace as that with which our nation’s leaders and many of our fellow citizens pursue war?

Yet that same sermon, somewhat stark and heavy and complex with storytelling, ends with a prayer for peace, excerpted here:

We take courage from those who take on the problems of our age,

And live with ultimate hope, despite the discouragement every day seems to heap upon us.

It is good to be together in troubled times, as in good times.

We know there is nothing to do but go on.

When the injured have been treated;

When the dead have been buried;

When the rubble is cleared away;

When the anger has been vented;

When the horror has been processed;

The work of the world continues:

To heal the sick; To comfort the afflicted; To rebuild the cities;

To restore our zest for living and loving;

To seek justice and peace in an imperfect world.

Another sermon extols Lincoln for turning the war against the South’s succession – a big enough cause for war at that time – into a war about freedom. Claiming the moral ground. Bush thought it would work for him, but he forgot to look at the consequence of his idea. When it involves killing civilians, invading a country that doesn’t want us, spending money we need at home, opening up the world to our secret prisons, invading our culture with a morality of torture and fear, the claim of freedom and democracy – at the point of a gun – ceases to be true and becomes just the impetus for horrible, deadly consequences.

Can Democrats go Bush one better and reclaim the moral ground of this war for … justice? For the lives of working people in America? For the dying civilians in Iraq?

Can liberal religions reclaim their right to assert moral values of tolerance, charity, and loving kindness?

It exhausts me to think about it, but what are the consequences of the opposite coming true? Our silence today is tomorrow’s guilt.

Let us remember what the California congresswoman said in the debate about voting to authorize war in Iraq, just before she became one of the few to vote against granting the President this awesome and deadly power:

“As we act, let us not become the evil we deplore.”

We cannot be silent; let our actions toward justice, equity, and tolerance speak louder than their increasingly hollow words.

And here we come close to our answer. Why can't Democrats speak? Because they're not ready to act. To clean up their own houses. To stop throwing stones and instead pick up the pieces of their own shattered promises. Want to end political corruption? Start separating corporate interests from government policy. Wanna avoid Abramoff scandalls? Throw the lobbyists out of the temple... I mean Congress.

Until Democrats are willing to divorce from the party all that they've intentionally or unintentionally picked up from the Republicans -- namely, corporate financing -- they'll never convince anyone -- themselves or voters -- that to vote Democratic is to vote for an equitable distribution of resources and opportunity in a diverse country based on the fundamental worth of every individual (equality of all, remember?). But it should be. We all know it. Voting time is coming. Will we act?

Victory for the Little Guy

Mikaela gloats:
Wal-Mart was found guilty of violating Pennsylvania labor laws in a class action suit.

Game of dominoes, anyone?

An m-pyre Birthday...

marjorie says...

Hard to believe, but m-pyre is turning 2 Years Old!

That's right...this Sunday marks the second year that we've been chatting with one another for all the world to see. Look for our reflections in the coming days and feel free to send us your own...we'd love to hear from all of you!

Volcano Vista va-voom

Maggie says:
I don't understand the fuss over the new Far West Mesa high school name, Volcano Vista High. Wasn't everyone just complaining that local high schools "are sorely in need of zippy nicknames"?

Volcano Vista is fun and just sounds cool... much better than than the proposed "Northwest High." Ho-hum.

But forget "the Heat" as a mascot. I say bring on the "molten lava."

Cable Guy fans? Anyone?

No?

Vote whenever/wherever, but VOTE!

Maggie says:
Today's the day that Bernalillo County voters can begin to vote. Now personally, I'm a day-of kind of gal. I love the energy, the excitement, and the anticipation of Election Day... it's a ritual that makes me happy, tailor-made for my optimistic sensibilities.

But for lots of folks, early works better. So, you can vote now at the County Clerk's office, starting on October 21 at Early Voting sites around town, or at the polls with me on the 7th. Can't decide which day's right for you? Maybe this will help:

Vote NOW on the 6th floor of the City/County Building if:

• You'll be out of town or too busy to vote on the 7th and want to get it over with
  
• You just love visiting the County Clerk's office
• You're really, really excited about voting Halliburton Heather out of office NOW
  

Vote starting October 21 at various locations if:

• It's easier for you to vote while running errands than it is to take a special trip
• You're in the mood to visit one of Albuquerque's many and varied strip mall shopping centers
• You plan on getting that obnoxious "I'm not voting for Wilson or Madrid" friend drunk enough to see the light and vote Democratic... but need to get their vote cast before they sober up.

Vote on November 7 if:

• You're single and think voting is sexy
  
• You want to write nerdy blog posts on the 7th about the mood in the air, accompanied by cheesy voting pictures
• You still don't know who to vote for (what is wrong with you, anyway?)
• You're planning on making a day of it: a full morning of reading election coverage, an afternoon of voting and scoping out the voting vibe around town, a dinner with political friends anticipating the returns, and a party that night built around "refresh" buttons on your computer, local TV coverage, and cable for the national races

PS: What ever happened to those fun "I voted" stickers, anyway? Does anyone give them out anymore? I love those things!

Woodward's lost legacy

Maggie says:

Amidst the hyperventilating coverage of Bob Woodward’s new book State of Denial – a “detailed and inside story of a war-torn White House” – lies progressive emptiness in the wake of this "indictment" of the president. While I recognize that progress is made every time someone decides that this war and this administration are just plain wrong, the backstory here is so stomach-turning I can’t even feign delight.

Bob Woodward’s legacy, of course, comes as one-half of the Nixon-busting duo at the heart of the Watergate scandal. But Robert Redford portrayal or not, let’s make no mistake about what State of Denial is and isn’t. It’s not a one-man exposé of the seedy conspiracies and dirty corruption behind the push for war in Iraq. It’s not a tome produced in the name of effecting positive change. It is an example of the establishment shifting its opinion on the Bush administration and the “war on terror.” And while an establishment symbol making that shift does have value, this is no time for a victory lap.

After all, too much has been lost to get to this point. And that loss is exactly the problem with State of Denial: that in the years Woodward watched and waited in the West Wing, he published two best-sellers proclaiming the righteousness of Bush’s war, stood by as hundreds of thousands civilians and soldiers were killed overseas, watched a presidential election go by him, and only now, after much of mainstream media has decided Bush is down for the count, is ready to announce the bombshell news that this administration is dishonest with the American people.

To quote Arianna Huffington: “Welcome to 2002, Mr. Woodward.”

The truth is, Woodward lost his muckraker status long ago. His recent odes to machismo – Plan of Attack and Bush at War – solidified his sell-out, insider status. Now more known for his limp passivity on cable TV than for groundbreaking journalism or insight of any kind, Woodward is a product, but not a heart and a brain. Unless Woodward denounces his last two books – and then donates all the proceeds to peace-making organizations – his credibility is worthless.

Reeking of ego, the audacity of Woodward’s book is his assumption that there are no conclusions until he announces them. The thing is, we’ve all moved on with our conclusions; they came long ago. In a time when we can’t trust that newspapers will really tell us “all the news that’s fit to print,” we’ve gone outside of the mainstream for information, analysis, and perspective. We have to. Yet Woodward still believes he’s someone worth listening to. The name that will sell millions, yet say nothing at all…

Woodward’s betrayal isn’t just to American soldiers, to Iraqi civilians, and to voters who honestly believed Bush in his call for war. Woodward is actively betraying his own legacy, one of the richest that modern history has to offer. "Woodward and Bernstein" were about unrelenting demand for the truth, for government accountability, for the power of information, and for the right of everyday people to know and to decide for themselves. All of that is further lost with "exposés" like this one.

By forging a modern identity as a man who craves access more than truth, high-profile status more than credibility, and obliqueness more than assertion, the biggest "State of Denial" at work is actually Woodward’s own.

Technorati tag: bob woodward, state of denial

THC a treatment for Alzheimer's...Dude!

marjorie says...

I keep forgetting to mention the new findings that the main compound in Marijuana, THC, has been shown too block the formation of brain-clogging Alzheimer's plaques better than current Alzheimer's drugs.

The irony of this particular development has had me smiling for almost a week.

Its time that we stop making the millions of marijuana smokers in this country into criminals. Its a benign activity that has health benefits for the sickest people and we need to stop driving people underground.

Happy What Day?

marjorie says...

What kind of Happy should I give m-pyre readers today?

Happy Columbus Day? no…somehow I don’t think that will work.
Happy Genocide Day?
Happy Slavery Day?

Sorry to rain on the parade, but the holiday itself is so ridiculous that it has to be said. This holiday epitomizes the type of celebration we see in history, where conquering nations celebrate their subjugation of other people. If anyone hadn’t noticed…in the modern era we don’t do those things anymore…it’s pretty well established on the international stage that people have the right to govern themselves. So why do we celebrate a man who symbolizes the beginning of a massive rape, enslavement, pillage and destroy campaign against the native people of the Americas? That’s what it was of course. It was not the discovery of a “new world” without any people already living in it.

Ok, I overstated myself…we *do* do those things today…we just do them differently. So in some ways our celebration of Columbus is just being honest…

(Speaking of the “New World”…did any of you see that movie that just came out? They should have just called it “Pocohontas”…that’s what it was about. It was sheer Hollywood drivel too…completely romanticized mythology about Pocohontas and her two English lovers, who were of course…Very Good Men. bleck!)

Now that we’ve covered that, let’s think for a sec about the current world we live in…the outcome of that very first European arrival...

Here we have a news article chronicling the increase of homelessness among seniors in this country. Between 1990 and 2003, the homeless population above the age of 50 increased from 11% to 30%. That’s a huge leap. This article describes the health problems that seniors on the street experience…for instance, it's ridiculous to expect a person with diabetes to be able to follow a proper diet when living on the street.

Upon describing the increase, this gem of an observation is made: “That has implications for governments, which may find housing the chronically homeless is cheaper than treating the health problems exacerbated by aging on the streets.”

It never fails I’ve found…when discussing social problems, the author invariably resorts to a cost-benefit analysis early on as a way to persuade the reader that we must increase public expenditures for poor people. Of course it’s true. But I always come away thinking that the Moral Issue should have top billing…

The article does go on and quote medical professionals from a moral standpoint. For one, an internist, Margot Kushel, at a San Francisco hospital says this: “"It's heartbreaking, not to mention immoral, to discharge a debilitated 60-year-old with heart failure to the street, knowing they would be exposed to all the elements. We can perfect our medical treatments as much as we can, but it's not addressing the problem."

No Margot, it isn’t addressing the problem. But in the capitalist world we live in don’t expect the problem to be solved until the public at large realizes that it costs less to provide a roof over the heads of everyone.

And what does that say about us? Well, I think it means we're well trained. I don’t think this capitalist mentality is part and parcel of “human nature”…I think its learned, from constant rote repetition…so much so that we don’t even think about it...

It was HAHDcore

Maggie survived...
...barely. Being a bridesmaid for a rock-star couple like Nancy and Dennis is tough on your energy... not to mention your liver. As proof, here's my list:

You know you've been part of a rock-star wedding weekend when:

• The rehearsal dinner is two nights before the wedding - instead of the night before - because the groom has a gig on Friday
  
• At said rehearsal dinner, the mother of the groom urges everyone to drink it up on her dime
  
• On the night before the wedding, the wedding party goes to see the groom's band The Larkin Brigade play at TT the Bear's in Central Square
  
• Burlesque dancers entertained us in between acts at the show
  
• On the wedding day, champagne starts flowing at 10 a.m.
• The raucous "party bus" to the reception featured loud chanting in rhyme while pounding the roof of the bus
• The wedding photos were taken in a South Boston alley. For real.
• The reception was '80s-themed: '80s band in black with white ties, band-themed tables, and not one bad song
• The groom sat in on drums with the band
• We were kicked out of the reception after we drank our allotted amount and someone smuggled cases of beer in from the outside
• There was a planned after-party in Dorchester... one reception was simply not enough
• We were kicked out of the after-party, too (Don't ask)
  

Off to Boston

Maggie says:
I'm off for a long weekend in Boston to be a bridesmaid and a city-lover. I lived in Boston for six years before I moved to New Mexico, and I miss so many things about that city. Besides a weekend chock full of fun wedding festivities, I plan on:

• Walking (everywhere)
  
• Shopping (in my long-lost favorite stores)
  
• Eating (while smelling the ocean in the air)
• Drinking (of course)
• Eating some more (while smelling garlic in the air)
• Riding transit (I love the T!)
• Reminiscing (feels like forever ago)
• Reading (eat your heart out, Journal)
  
• And um... NOT going to any playoff games

See you next week, Duke City!

Pajama Party: Next 3 Weekends

Mikaela re-posts, courtesy Q-staff:

The Boys are Back. Thing 1. Thing 2. Troublemakers all: Your favorite and mine.

The one... (okay two) ... the only...

The Pajama Men

IMPROVVISO

Improv at its finest

Holy smokes! The Pajama Men (known to their mothers as Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez) are back in Albuquerque for three short weeks to bring a completely improvised show to Q-staff Theatre: IMPROVVISO! The thrilling tight rope of split second character switches and multiple story lines! Woven together by the critically acclaimed Pajama Men as they invite you to engage in some of the most unusual and hilarious physical comedy ever staged. Over the past seven years Allen and Chavez have extensively toured North America and Europe, and recently were presented by Second City at Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre, marking the first collaboration between the two venerable organizations. Now’s your chance to see them do it all, on the spot, right in front of your eyes; comedy magic, only without all the ta-da’s!

But wait, there’s more! The boys will hold a workshop open to anyone who wants to learn about devising comedy, improvisation, and the Pajama Man process of creating a show. Come see what they’ve been teaching at Second City without buying the plane ticket to Chicago!

“Whip-smart and able to turn on the thinnest of dimes, Allen and Chavez are improvisers’ improvisers. Actors’ actors. Comedians’ comedians.”

- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“Watching Shenoah Allen and Mark Chavez perform (in their PJs) is like watching your weirdest dreams melting together and bubbling on stage. Half the time, even they don't seem to know what's going to happen next….we can confidently guarantee this will be one of the funniest things you'll ever see. Queues for tickets will be huge.” - Alan Hindle, The Globe and Mail

The Pajama Men: IMPROVVISO

3 Weekends ONLY!!!

Weekend 1: Friday, Sat. Oct. 6 & 7, 9 p.m.
Weekend 2: Thurs, Fri, Sat. Oct. 12-14, 9 p.m.
Weekend 3: Thurs, Fri, Sat. Oct. 19-21, 9 p.m.

Q-Staff Theatre 4819 Central Ave (across from Highland Theatre)

Reservations: (505) 255-2182 (a good idea, as these guys pack the house)

Tickets $15, $12 for students and seniors

Not news for us?

Maggie says:
(Thanks to Counterspin for the tip-off.)

In a move I can only hope is understood by the masses, Newsweek is running two different magazine covers around the world this week. That's not at all uncommon, but the content of the cover stories this time around is cause for concern. Let's take a look:


On the left is the cover appearing in Europe, Latin American, and Asia. The cover story, "Losing Afghanistan," describes the "harsh truth" of Afghanistan, a place given up for lost by a superpower more focused on "fighting terror" in some other place instead.

"One year ago we couldn't have had such a meeting at midnight," says [Taliban fighter] Sabir, who is in his mid-40s and looks forward to living out his life as an anti-American jihadist. "Now we gather in broad daylight. The people know we are returning to power."

The problem, according to the article, is not enough manpower or direction.

In the countryside over the past year, Taliban guerrillas have filled a power vacuum that had been created by the relatively light NATO and U.S. military footprint of some 40,000 soldiers, and by the weakness of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's administration.

Meanwhile in the U.S., subscribers and (most importantly, in this case) checkout line customers are titallated by Annie Leibovitz, a talented photographer who touches us with her tales of celebrity.

"I talked with Angelina [Jolie] before the shoot," says Leibovitz, who's famous for her preparation. "She felt like she was coming back from having the baby and she felt very sexy and ready to go."

Which is the most important story here? Sure, celebrity infotainment regularly trumps hard news for its sex appeal. But the hard-hitting headline "Losing Afghanistan" is something that Middle America needs to see. And let's make no mistake: most of them won't see it unless it's splashed across the cover of a magazine.

Magazine covers speak to us for a reason. They tell us what's most important, most pressing, most exciting. A photographer playing with her kids doesn't exactly match up to a reminder of what we've done in a country that we have no intention of "fixing."

While the rest of the world gets the real story, Americans get fluff. As if we're not the ones who most need to face the repercussions of our actions. What makes the rest of the world more likely to hear this than us? And how can that dichotomy ever change if magazines like Newsweek don't start telling us the same news they tell the rest of the world, just as loudly?

Sushi time

Maggie says:
My oft-mentioned pal Saleem has a charming video on his blog that is likely to:
A) Inspire cravings for sushi
B) Spark wonder and appreciation for other cultures
C) Cause confusion as to how suburban North Carolina could possibly produce someone like Saleem*
D) All of the above

Watch "Sushi Time" featuring Saleem: friendly narrator and Apex High's "Best Personality" back in the day.

*Not a dig. The old high school crowd always wonders this. Not to mention how "The Peak of Good Living" produced the rest of us, too.

Sunday, happy Sunday

Maggie says:
Today is absolutely bursting with all kinds of goodness. Slow Sunday goodness, wagon-full-of-puppies goodness. These days are many things: there is feeling amazingly alive, there is smiling just because, there is glorious sun outside, there is fun art to check out, and there are politics, good-news politics!

It's about damn time, isn't it?

The Journal poll that has everyone all abuzz tells us that Wilson and Madrid are in a dead heat at 44%, with just over a month left to go. Our never-eager-to-give-progressives-any-hope Journal reluctantly admits: "Madrid's holding on— and Wilson's not gaining. That's good for a challenger in an environment where incumbents, and incumbent Republicans, are at risk," according to UNM political science professor Lonna Atkeson.

Getting to a tie hasn't been easy. Horrible prices have been paid for voters to reach their limits with the Republican war machine and its cycle of lies, corruption, and moral decay. This race represents a lot of hard work locally, a lot of money from a lot of folks, and a lot of voter frustration with the horrendous direction our country has been taken. On the ground in Albuquerque, in Montana farmtowns, in the political weathervane state of Ohio, in the hills of Tennessee... folks are calling out for change. It's there for the taking, if we can just sprint hard enough to grab hold of it.

Speaking of sprinting, there are a lot of tired Madrid campaign staffers sleepwalking around town these days. They're working hard for us, so let's try and help them out when we can:

Get a sign. I love the parts of town right now blanketed in those black, white, and red signs. Is your front yard feeling lonely?

Donate. It's too nice outside to buy a new coat anyway.

Drink. That's right, I said drink. I'll be in Boston next week for (yet another) wedding, but if I were in town, there's only one place I'd be on Thursday night: the Young Professionals for Patricia Madrid gathering at St. Clair. So go in my absence, raise a glass to... goodness, and make sure to take a friend with you, too.

And wait! There's more!

There's also national goodness in the air. Three important Senate races are also trending Democratic: Harold Ford is now running even or ahead, depending on the poll, in Tennessee; Sherrod Brown has tied up in Ohio; and Jon Tester is now ahead by seven percentage points in Montana!

What's all that squabbling I hear? Oh, right: it's all the chickens coming home to roost. Here, there, everywhere.

Bring on November.