Sen. Kerry Town Hall - come as soon as you can Wednesday, September 2, 2009 7:30pm-9:00pm

Sen. Kerry Town Hall

Join Senator John Kerry and discuss the issues at an open Town Hall in Somerville, MA. The seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis, so arrive early to make sure you get in! Somerville Town Hall Wednesday, September 2, 2009 7:30pm-9:00pm Somerville High School Auditorium 81 Highland Ave Somerville MA The right wing whack jobs have dominated the news - Isn't it time we went out and showed some unity and pushed for real reform? Filled the void of Teddy K ?

In the words of Mother Jones " Don't mourn, Organize!"

With that in mind, will join us at Somerville High?

Meet at Somerville HIgh @ 5PM or as soon as you can get there? Bring your dinner or eat before you come - it will be a long night . Also please bring some signs - I am sure you can think of some good words, If not you can riff on these...

• HONK! if you want REAL health care reform
• Single payer yes ! Mass model? No!
  
• Managed care "kills grannies" every day
• We want Sen. Kerry's health plan!
• My Other Car is a Health Insurance Payment
• My Car Has Better Insurance Than I Do
• My Death Panel is an HMO
• Hate "Socialism"? Repeal Medicare Today!
• Sanctity of Life should not end at Birth! Support Healthcare Reform!
• WWJD: Who Would Jesus Deny? (Healthcare Reform Now!)
• My single prayer is single payer
• The Public GOPtion: Don't Get Sick
• GOP: Rest Uninsured America
• It8 0s OK..Congress Has GREAT Insurance
• Before Jesus healed the leper...did He check his insurance coverage?
• Public Option: Putting People Before Profit
• Democrat: A Republican Who Lost His Health Insurance
• What's Wrong With Expanding Medicare for Those UNDER 65?
• We Can't Fix the Economy Until We Fix Health Care!
• Healthcare Reform...Your Life Depends On It!
• Jesus didn’t ask for a co-pay
• All I Wanted Was Real Health Care Reform, and All I Got Was This Lousy Bumper Sticker
• GOP: Cancer Happens!
• Coming to a Hospital Near You: Attack of the Wingnuts Socialized Health Scare
• Put health back in healthcare
• Life is a pre-existing condition
• Doctors prescribe healthcare, insurance companies proscribe healthcare.
• USA: Third World Country. No Universal Healthcare.
• Health Insurance Profits Up 400%
• Kill Single Payer Healthcare! 30,000 Lobbyists Can’t Be Wrong!
• Universal Health Care Is a Family Value
• GOP: Defending Your Right to Higher Premiums Deductibles
• Government run military = #1 Private Health Care = #37
• Support the Health Care Bill - Or We'll Focus on Passing Strict Gun Control"
• Public option not public optional.
• POTUS+60 Senators+80seat House majority No public option in health care means there is NO PUBLIC OPTION IN DEMOCRACY!
• 1.4 Million Bucks A Day - Keeps Healthcare Away
• "Letting Americans Die For Profit?"
• "For Profit Healthcare Makes Me Sick"
• Health Insurance Premiums: its where 7 of your last 10 raises went
• Take My High Premiums From My Cold, Dead Hands
• One Nation, Underinsured.
• Republican Healthcare Reform: Be Rich or Die
• Health care should be a right...not a privilege
• Single Payer Is Pro-Life
• Take My High Premiums from my Cold Dead Hands
• Health Care is a Human Right
• Public Health Care will succeed where Private Health Care has failed
• Put Public Health before Private Profits
• Cure Health Care from Profititis
• Having insurance today does not mean you're covered.

Like flames to The Moth...part ii

...writing as I ride out of "....NY,NY the city that never shuts up..."- ani diFranco

Imagine 400 people in Boston lining up to hear stories - people of all ages but predominantly people 30 and under. Imagine nearly 300 souls crushed into a dark club paying $7 bucks to get in and buying 2 mandatory drinks just so they could hear 10 people tell stories (mostly) connected the evening's theme of " coincidence". Well, dream on. Meanwhile, in NY,NY this scene is happening once a month.

Word from the listserv was we needed to be very early to get in, much less to have seats. ( Shout out to Claire B and others). We were lucky to have three people to manage the line and dinner situation. Barbara A. stood in line at 6PM while we ordered out at nearby Suzy's, and got some great Chinese food that did not cost a mortgage payment. The line stretched round the block by 6:30PM and if I were an entrepreneur I would host an alternate story event for the overflow crowd at anyone of the gagillion clubs in that part of the Village. But I digress.

I never wait for anything - lines are an anathema to me, but I had traveled 250 miles to see the Moth in action and took one for the team. Once inside we got seats right up front near the sound engineer. The Moth website has been posting audio recordings of these storyslam stories for years.

Sara Barron was the delightful emcee/host for the storySLAM at the Moth. She was extremely funny in a very Tourettes-esque kinda way . She employs a volatile mix of self deprecating humor and vitriol while sharing TMI, outing ex-boyfriends, naming names, giving out all save cell phone #s for each egregious offender to woman kind via her own person - freakin' hilarious. Libelous even. Sara explained the rules, the voting and the time keeping signals all while hopping about on one leg - seems she broke the other in a bicycling accident and was still in a cast. Never far below her comic persona was her genuine care for the performers and she kept the scene flowing and the energy up for each teller. As for the rules, it turns out, 5 minutes stories are actually 6 and people mainly kept to the limits. The scores are posted on a flip chart on stage after they are delivered Olympic Games style, with numbers, no comments. Last night the founder/originator of The Moth was in attendance and sat in on one of the judging teams.

"The Moth believes that everyone has a story. The Moth created StorySLAM to give those stories a forum.Following the wild success of our Mainstage series, The Moth sought to accommodate all the people who asked, “When can I tell my story?” and to encourage those people who doubted they had a story worth telling. The Moth StorySLAM provides a stage and a microphone, a theme to inspire and shape the evening, a lively and supportive audience, and a host to guide the festivities. Stories are limited to five minutes, and ten stories are heard.

The stories are scored by three teams of audience-member judges, and a winner is announced at every SLAM. The SLAM winners later face off in a Moth GrandSLAM." More from their website What is The Moth?The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, was founded in New York in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon's Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda's porch...the first "Moth" evening took place in his NYC living room. Word of these captivating story nights quickly spread, and The Moth moved to bigger venues in New York. Today, The Moth conducts eight ongoing programs and has brought more than 3,000 live stories to over 100,000 audience members."

Tellers put their names in a bag and ten are selected, one at a time. The first set of five flew by and we had a "10" minute intermission. The stories and tellers ranged from good, to very good to absolutely amazing. After all the stories were told and a winner announced and celebrated, those who had not been in the 10 chosen, (yours truly and Robin Bady among them) were invited up to share our opening sentences for the untold stories. What a cool tradition!

The audience was warm and engaged. The judging was not at all the distraction I had imagined it would be. In fact the judging gave tellers time to prepare and added something to the concentration and the quality of the evening. Stories are judged on how they relate to the theme of the slam, how they are presented and timeliness and and having an arc; a beginning , middle and end. Now, we all know that no one wants to bomb. No one wants to suck. But you need to think twice and practice before telling and you will think before putting your name into the Moth bag to be picked. And this is a good thing. The judging seems to promote a healthy respect for the time and attention of the audience. I really believe that competition is not an inevitable part of "human nature" and does not de facto motivate us to do our best, so I am surprised at myself for saying any competition in the arts is good. Check out my anti- competition bible No Contest for more in this vein. I think in terms of overall quality, the fear factor + the time limits at MOTH add a welcome self reflection and crafting of story before telling - something I believe we desperately need in our New England open mic scene.

I went to the MOTH to study. I am reflecting and scheming and dreaming to create a place for storytelling - yes, they use that good old fashioned term for it, in Boston. We have the stories. We have the clubs. What else do we need? Oh yeah, 300 people lining up so they will not miss the monthly feast of story - told live.

Big hugs to my NY, NY friends who schlepped, housed and guided me - Robin Bady and Barbara AliprantisBoth these women are shakers and movers, bringing story to the city that never shuts up.

Like flames to the MOTH...

Went to the MOTH with Robin Bady and Barbara Aliprantis last night. Amazing - waiting in line that went round the block. Over 300 people crushed into the Bitter End to hear the 10 of the 21 people who wanted be the storytellers in a storyslam. Wow. This experience sure fanned the flames of us three LANES types who attended...such generous and dynamic women. Thanks again to both R and B for their hospitality.What a night - great stories and great connecting with the folks in NY, NY. More to come.

Weekend fun with Rodents

I worked all weekend in our mouse infested attic. Hot, smelly, cannot stand up straight because of roof pitch. Mice leavings every where - I am talking chewed paper, cardboard, fiberglass insulation,clothing, shoes and mouse pee and poo-even dead mice all mixed in with things of great sentimental value.

I have a new appreciation for the meaning of the term "rat's nest" - we were the rats and the mice had invaded our nest.

At the end of two long days of sorting and triage through the belongings of our children and 30 some years worth of my papers and art work I squealed in shock when I saw a live mouse disappear below my hand as I moved books from one plastic box to a larger one. How the hell did that mouse get in there? It was in the same box with the dead mouse near the top.Continuing on I found below the next layer of books three little micelings in a nest of insulation. I removed and examined books and finally the nest was at the bottom of a plastic box. They looked so vulnerable, trying to hide underneath each other after I removed their nest,

I brought the little guys outside. My family urged me to drown them but I could not. The poor little guys seemed so helpless and so, yeah, I know it sounds stupid, but humans are programmed on a DNA level to be kind to little mammals,- they looked so cute. I dropped them is some high weeds far from the house.

The mice nest and family had not been there long because the books were untouched. The rest of our belonging were not as lucky. Mouse excrement is one thing but their unrine is really nasty. And it was all over our storage - books, paper and clothing! Mamma mia-

Bike Fridays - commute/Boston AUG 28th

RIDE INTO WORK WITH AN EXPERIENCED CYCLING GUIDE! August 28 and October 30 ( from their website) "Talk about a grand entrance—you and a convoy of your fellow bikers all escorted into the city by experienced cycling guides. Really, how could you pass that up? What’s more, at City Hall Plaza you can enjoy a free breakfast burrito and yogurt parfait courtesy of Boloco, tour the Bike Expo featuring tons of great gear from local bike shops all while listening to WZLX live. And still get to work on time. That’s the deal on Bike Fridays. "


Bike Friday is fun. There is an exhilaration that comes from filling the roads en masse and when looking for exponential leap of exhilaration, I roll with the work and energy of Critical Mass "...is a vision of a happy, bike-friendly world replacing our polluted, congested roads, a protest for better cycling facilities and against car culture, a mobile paean to bicycling’s joys, a merry ride downtown and through the neighborhoods with friends, and more – all rolled into one convenient monthly ride right after work! Critical Mass is a party on two wheels to celebrate bicycling – a fast, friendly, clean, efficient, healthy, cheap, sensible, and fun way to get around the city. Critical Mass is not an organization. It is a coincidence. It is a xerocracy. Make your own flyers! Make a route map--maybe it will be followed! Bring a sign, noisemaker, or cupcakes to the ride! We ride on the last Friday of every month at 5:30 PM in Copley Square."

I love to ride my bike to shop, to visit, to play and to work. I ride wherever and whenever I can. My sister bought me a beautiful and comfortable bicycle for my birthday last year and I invested in some commodious and waterproof bike bags that clip on and off with ease - so I can carry a small amplifier, cables, a mic and a mic stand, water bottle and my journal etc. without straining my shoulders or back. But waterproof panniers aside, I shy away from rainy day riding- I am just that much of a chicken. A little drizzle is okay. Or a ride on a bike path + falling water ? I am in. It seems that Boston drivers, who have so little patience or attention for bicycles under the best of conditions get dangerously stupid and blind the minute there is one drop of moisture in the air. Add to that the fact that my glasses are not for show and have no wipers and it is scary. Random pedestrians have asked me 5 times in the last few weeks if I was not scared to ride the streets of Boston. Hellz ya! I mean, I would not still be alive if I did not have some healthy fear focusing my attention while riding. Though an avid multi-tasker I just ride. Really. I never plug up my ears with an iPod, rarely talk on my cell (speaker phone in extreme situations only) and have trouble texting even while sitting still. So texting and checking email while riding is right out.

Looking forward to many fall and early winter days of biking to work as a freelancer and unemployed artiste. Sweet. I want to say that I am missing the start up of school but simply is not so. I loved the kids and miss them very much. But, there is no longing for the lack of congeniality, and mad, unbearable work load of last year. Instead, I am missing my mother and as I am less busy and have time to reflect I am beginning to feel the loss and the awful sudden finality of her demise more rather than less.

* Photos by Rosie, the amazing and Music by Rupa + the April Fishes ( I believe that Poisson D'Avrile means April Fool in French)

musing on place and friendship

Sister Shotgun of Enlightenment - Unitarian 'Jihad'

The following is the first communique from a group calling itself Unitarian Jihad. It was sent to me at The Chronicle via an anonymous spam remailer. I have no idea whether other news organizations have received this communique, and, if so, why they have not chosen to print it. Perhaps they fear starting a panic. I feel strongly that the truth, no matter how alarming, trivial or disgusting, must always be told. I am pleased to report that the words below are at least not disgusting

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Greetings to the Imprisoned Citizens of the United States. We are Unitarian Jihad. There is only God, unless there is more than one God. The vote of our God subcommittee is 10-8 in favor of one God, with two abstentions. Brother Flaming Sword of Moderation noted the possibility of there being no God at all, and his objection was noted with love by the secretary.

Greetings to the Imprisoned Citizens of the United States! Too long has your attention been waylaid by the bright baubles of extremist thought. Too long have fundamentalist yahoos of all religions (except Buddhism -- 14-5 vote, no abstentions, fundamentalism subcommittee) made your head hurt. Too long have you been buffeted by angry people who think that God talks to them. You have a right to your moderation! You have the power to be calm! We will use the IED of truth to explode the SUV of dogmatic expression!

People of the United States, why is everyone yelling at you??? Whatever happened to ... you know, everything? Why is the news dominated by nutballs saying that the Ten Commandments have to be tattooed inside the eyelids of every American, or that Allah has told them to kill Americans in order to rid the world of Satan, or that Yahweh has instructed them to go live wherever they feel like, or that Shiva thinks bombing mosques is a great idea? Sister Immaculate Dagger of Peace notes for the record that we mean no disrespect to Jews, Muslims, Christians or Hindus. Referred back to the committee of the whole for further discussion.

We are Unitarian Jihad. We are everywhere. We have not been born again, nor have we sworn a blood oath. We do not think that God cares what we read, what we eat or whom we sleep with. Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity notes for the record that he does not have a moral code but is nevertheless a good person, and Unexalted Leader Garrote of Forgiveness stipulates that Brother Neutron Bomb of Serenity is a good person, and this is to be reflected in the minutes.

Beware! Unless you people shut up and begin acting like grown-ups with brains enough to understand the difference between political belief and personal faith, the Unitarian Jihad will begin a series of terrorist-like actions. We will take over television studios, kidnap so-called commentators and broadcast calm, well-reasoned discussions of the issues of the day. We will not try for "balance" by hiring fruitcakes; we will try for balance by hiring non-ideologues who have carefully thought through the issues.

We are Unitarian Jihad. We will appear in public places and require people to shake hands with each other. (Sister Hand Grenade of Love suggested that we institute a terror regime of mandatory hugging, but her motion was not formally introduced because of lack of a quorum.) We will require all lobbyists, spokesmen and campaign managers to dress like trout in public. Televangelists will be forced to take jobs as Xerox repair specialists. Demagogues of all stripes will be required to read Proust out loud in prisons.

We are Unitarian Jihad, and our motto is: "Sincerity is not enough." We have heard from enough sincere people to last a lifetime already. Just because you believe it's true doesn't make it true. Just because your motives are pure doesn't mean you are not doing harm. Get a dog, or comfort someone in a nursing home, or just feed the birds in the park. Play basketball. Lighten up. The world is not out to get you, except in the sense that the world is out to get everyone.

Brother Gatling Gun of Patience notes that he's pretty sure the world is out to get him because everyone laughs when he says he is a Unitarian. There were murmurs of assent around the room, and someone suggested that we buy some Congress members and really stick it to the Baptists. But this was deemed against Revolutionary Principles, and Brother Gatling Gun of Patience was remanded to the Sunday Flowers and Banners committee.

People of the United States! We are Unitarian Jihad! We can strike without warning. Pockets of reasonableness and harmony will appear as if from nowhere! Nice people will run the government again! There will be coffee and cookies in the Gandhi Room after the revolution.

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Startling new underground group spreads lack of panic! Citizens declare themselves "relatively unafraid" of threats of undeclared rationality. People can still go to France, terrorist leader says.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/04/08/DDG27BCFLG1.DTL#ixzz0PA92pxRZ