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WHAT I AM WILLING TO DO, WON’T YOU, TOO?
This is my commitment: I will send this letter to anyone in the public eye who chooses to use any derogatory phrase when referring to any minority. I have been aware of the pain that this type of rhetoric causes from the time I first saw fire hoses used upon civil rights workers in the 50s. Will you please join me in this pledge and recognize that the time and the cost spent for this is action is minimal when you look at how every small action against hate of any kind is a victory! I will edit this as necessary to address the specifics of this type of hateful behavior.
This particular letter is being sent to : Gordon Beckham and DSean Jackson.
Dear ——
I am taking this time to write to you about your recent homophobic remarks. Unfortunately, this is occurring far too often with the athletes that the youth of the United States admire. I am certain that if you look around your family, your friends, and your teammates you will find a gay or Lesbian person there. As certain as I am that there is at least one such person there, I am also certain that you would never want hateful slurs to be directed to them.
In view of these facts, I am hoping that in the future you will only make positive statements when referring to this segment of our society. I don’t think that name calling or bullying was ever anything your mother wanted you to do with your fame. As a mother and a grandmother I am hoping that you would take the time to apologize for these remarks and apologize to your mother and your fans for having used them.
Thank you for your attention to this critical matter. I wish you a long and healthy career and hope that you never suffer from the unkind words of others.
Sincerely,
ONE OF THE FIRST EXPERIENCES IN THE NORTHLAND
Who would ever have expected that a simple change in the pronunciation of a word could bring about such confusion. After moving to Minnesota over 35+ years ago, my first trip through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan would surprise the hell out of me. There were signs saying “PASTIES IN FIVE MILES,” ‘GET YOUR PASTIES IN THREE MILES,’ and ‘YOU CAN’T BEAT OUR PASTIES.”
I moved here from Los Angeles, I knew what pasties were since I had, upon occasion, used them myself. Little did I know that the UP was the producer of such dancing accoutrements.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered they were simply a pocket pie filled with meat and vegetables. I should have known. It turns out that Michigan has more statues of Mary in a Bathtub than any other state in the union.
(By the way, the state motto of Michigan is: “If you want to see a nice peninsula, just look around.” It sounds classier in French.)
THINGS HALF STARTED AND THINGS HALF DONE
Today I thought I was going to go to the grocery store by myself. Ha ha! With my more giant than usual right food, it was going to require some extra special maneuvering. Ha ha! Stretching my right leg over to the passenger side of the car so that I could drive with my left foot. I don’t think there is a yoga pose that would have prepared me for that task. So, it appears that I will have to hunt down a chauffeur for tomorrow’s trip. That will give me time to hone my list into a OCD map for efficiency.
So, what will I do instead. Oh, my side of the bed is still waiting for some tender loving care. Big foot or not, this is a truly daunting task! It requires moving books that I haven’t touched in months but will want to read immediately upon storing them away. I thought my nook color was going to help with this problem. That is why I have over 200 books to read on the nook and have only brought home a limited number of books since then. Limited, my ass! Limited by only the number I can stack and blend into the others to justify my behavior as non-hoarding. Stay tune for the before and after of this exciting project.
FOOD, MY FAVORITE MEAL! AND THANKS, TERRI!
There are only a limited number of things one can do when one’s foot is broken. With me being the “one” it precludes doing anything outside requiring more than a trip to the mailbox. So, for some reason, I thought going grocery shopping was a good idea. Called my friend Terri, bribed her with a promise of lunch and we were on our way.
I had never been to Valentini’s before and so that was where we headed. On London Road with a nice view of the lake and air conditioned for the one day it hits 80º in our naturally air conditioned city. I had been craving Peppers and Sausage for a while and had, in fact, pulled up a recipe for it online. And there it was, lunch menu, half order, take me away! It was absolutely wonderful. I tried not to sound like Sally in When Harry Met Sally as I fed myself bite after bite of pure heaven. Simply made with sweet Italian sausage, red, green, and yellow peppers, olive oil, garlic, pesto and fresh basil it was the best Italian food I have had since I last ate in the North End of Boston.
I managed to save some for dinner tonight since Terri had tipped me off to the deserts. A beautiful lemon cake topped the meal off perfectly. I had planned on saving some of that, also. While waiting for the check, however, I ended up finishing it off. As I raved to the server how good it all was, she recognized me for what I am, a complete food junkie, and pointed out that Cold Stone Creamery had Lemon Poppy Seed Ice Cream available now.
That was the end of grocery shopping. Recognizing that I was too stuffed to go anywhere that had aisles and that there was sufficient food in the house to make it through until Monday, we hit Cold Stone and headed home. After all I had to clean the refrigerator and figure out food to make it to Monday and plop down and moan about how I ate too much. Really, I can’t recommend this place enough!
I LIED
Okay, I lied. When I said I just wished I could be home all the time I was wrong. I really meant I wished I could stay home all the time and not be limited to bed rest. The highlight of my days now include hobbling to the bathroom, hobbling to the kitchen and best of all, taking a shower. Never have I wanted to clean house so badly. Or go to the grocery store. Or, or, or.
Be careful what you ask for or just be a bit more specific!
I BROKE MY FOOT–CRAP!
What a exciting week for My Right Foot I (hereafter referred to as MRF.) I started Monday off with the first day of my two in a row off. That meant get as much done on Monday as I possible could so that I could spend Tuesday being a slob, also known as lying around, reading, surfing the web, generally doing nothing, in other words. What’s that line? “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.” Robert Burns jumped up and bit me in the ass.
First part of the day was spent shopping. Oh, joy. Best Buy, SuperOne, Target and finally, Office Max. For all of you that know me, I was ready to explode. At Office Max smiled and asked, “Are you having a nice day?” Now I work retail, I say all the things I’m supposed to say and at that moment I turned into the worst customer I could ever have. “It’s going to be great once I get home, I am suffering from retail overload and am ready to explode from exposure to flourescent lights.” Charming, I’m sure. He stumbled through the rest of the transaction and I heard a visible sigh of relief as the doors closed behind me.
Home again, home again jiggity jig. That always runs through my mind as I pull into the driveway, pop the van open, unload the groceries and start on the in home chores. In the middle of putting the groceries away, I decided to do a load of laundry so that I would be doing two things at once. Oh, and as long as I was in the basement I could clean the catbox. Joy, oh, joy. Karma for rudeness I realized. I grabbed the trash bags and headed down the stairs. Okay, I started down the stairs at a full rush. Eager to clean that cat box? No, not really, just fast is the only speed I know.
Wait, I also know STOP. And I came to a full one when my left foot went out from under me and my right foot bent a full 180° in the WRONG direction. I tried to “cow-person up” and hobbled over to the cat box and immediately knew that changing it wasn’t an option. So, I threw in a load of laundry, limped upstairs, then looked at my foot and went, oops, maybe I should get this x-rayed. Yep, it’s broke and it sure has slowed me down. As in “immobilized” me. So, here I am, sharing the news and letting you know that I have heard that lemon bars help heal bones, oh, and white chocolate raspberry cheese cake, and I don’t want to forget the ever healing properties of chocolate.
ADDENDUM: FOR THOSE CONCERNED WITH MY SHOPPING AT TARGET: I ONLY SHOP THERE WHEN THEY HAVE WHAT IS CALLED A “LOSS LEADER.” THAT IS SOMETHING THAT THEY SELL FOR LESS THAN WHAT THEY PAID FOR IT AND USE IT TO LURE PEOPLE INTO THE STORE TO SPEND EXTRA $$$ ON IMPULSE. I ONLY PURCHASE THE LOSS LEADER, THEREBY COSTING THEM MONEY AND USE MY DEBIT CARD TO PAY SO THEY HAVE TO ALSO PAY THE FEES. I FEEL BETTER NOW!
WHATEVER WAS I THINKING? 