mojosmom | Entries tagged with politics

Yes, I voted twice (quite legally). Somehow, in my effort to make sure there were no hanging chads, I overvoted my first ballot, easy to do with the length of the judicial retention ballot. And I couldn't let it go, as there were certain people I had to vote "NO" on, and make sure that it counted.

I got to the polls (a half block away) at about 8:45. It's now 10 - I just got back. Two precincts vote at my polling place. While there was a long, long line for one, there was no line to speak of for the other. Good thing I brought a book. It turned out that part of the problem was that something was triggering challenges in our precinct. The election judge in charge was still trying to get that straightened out when I left, in addition to calling downtown for more voting booths. (Once you got your ballot there was still a wait, though a short one, to get into a booth.)

The media were out in force when I first got there, since Barack votes at my polling place. One news team was still inside, stationed next to a voting booth. I'd have had something to say about that if I'd been using that booth. Oh, wait, I did have something to say about it anyway. The reporter had the news on (no volume) to monitor it before her piece, and had it on while Keyes was being interviewed. Someone remonstrated with her about that, and this being Hyde Park, an intense discussion began. She made the mistake of saying something like, "you should be glad you have a free press", which of course brought several responses along the lines of, "the media is controlled by a few capitalist robber barons", "you're all in Bush's pocket", "you don't report the truth", etc. etc. A good time was had by all. ;-))

Apparently there are problems with the ballot scanners and long lines all around the city and county. They say as long as you are in line by 7:00 p.m., you'll get to vote. It's going to be a long night . (Except for Obama. He'll probably be able to declare victory at about 7:05. The Crane/Bean race is going to be interesting, though.)

Democracy in action is messy, but it's a wonderful thing.

Current Mood: hopeful

( More Books Read )

I saw Arthur Miller's new play, Finishing the Picture. It's about the problems on the set of The Misfits. It's okay, but not great. The first act is all the characters talking about Kitty (the Marilyn Monroe figure), and the second act is all of them talking to her, trying to get her out of her funk and onto the set. Kitty has no lines. To use another film term, from another director, she's the McGuffin, the thing that drives the plot and the action (though this play is mostly talk, and little action).

MIler is absolutely vicious to the Strasbergs, and the character who is himself is something of a cipher. We never really understand why Kitty freaks when he's around, he seems so blah. The most interesting relationship is that of the studio head and Kitty's secretary/personal assistant, perhaps because in the midst of a group of people who are relating only to Kitty, they manage to relate to each other.

There's an interesting design choice in the second act. As the characters each speak to Kitty, their images are projected onto a scrim, so that it seems that you are watching a movie and the play at the same time. Which do you look at? The actor or his image? Hmmm?

Friday night, I got togged up and went to the Park West for the Obama fundraiser, with Ramsey Lewis, Robin Williams, and Stevie Wonder. The joint was rockin'! I somehow ended up with a $500 ticket! On the main floor, in a booth at the center. Great seat. I was talking to the other people at the table, and it turned out that one of them is friends with a woman I used to work with. Small world.

I had volunteered to be a trial advisor for the University of Chicago Mandel Legal Clinic trial advocacy program, which basically means helping a trial team with advice and showing up for the mock trial, which was yesterday. Both teams did a good job generally (the artificiality of the situation is always tough), but you can tell them and tell them that it doesn't work, but they always want to start out cross-examination by going for the jugular. The clinic popped for pizza, etc. at a nearby bar afterwards.

Chick's getting an award from the National Lawyers' Guild (Chicago chapter) tonight, so I have to get togged up again. (I don't know why I say "have to"; I like getting dressed up!) I found a really nice pink silk jacket piped in black on sale at T.J. Maxx that I'm probably just going to sling over my sleeveless little black dress.

How I Know Summer's Gone

1. I got my fur out of storage yesterday.
2. The furnace kicked in.
3. We're supposed to have a hard frost tomorrow night, so I brought some plants inside.
4. I took the screen window off the back door and put in the storm window.

Current Music: Mr. Mojo wrestling a catnip mouse

I was scheduled to go to a very cool fundraiser for Barack tomorrow night (Kurt Elling providing the entertainment at a local artist's studio), but the campaign called to say it had been cancelled due to some scheduling conflicts.

So I get three options:
1) let the campaign keep my contribution,
2) have my contribution returned, or
3) get a ticket to another fundraiser for the donation I made, which is less than half the minimum requested donation, said fundraiser being a concert with Ramsey Lewis, Stevie Wonder and Robin Williams.

Which do you think I chose? ;-))

And in other cool news:

Nextbook is bringing Tony Kushner to speak in Chicago, on a date I can actually go! And it's free! I've already reserved a ticket. (This is a great site, by the way, worth checking out even if you don't live in an area where they have public programs.)

Current Music: E. Power Biggs playing Bach

I just spent forty-five minutes on the phone with Earthlink trying to figure out why my DSL wasn't working. The third person I talked to finally got it fixed.

This was after I got back from the local candlelight vigil in remembrance of the 1,000 Americans killed in Iraq. The vigils occurred all across the country tonight. We had about 100 people at one of our neighborhood parks. I had thought of going to the vigil at the Federal Plaza, but decided that this was something I wanted to do in my own back yard.

According to The Illinois Leader, a conservative political journal, there was a lot of yelling going on at the State Central Committee meeting before they narrowed their choices. The Leader also reports that one of the potential candidates, who is a Sikh, was asked what he looked like without his turban. I really hope that was a joke, but I doubt it.

Tonight, they decided to offer the candidacy to Allen Keyes. That would be the same Allen Keyes who lives in Maryland, has no ties to Illinois, and who fulminated against people who "parachute" into a state and run for office. "An outrage to federalism".* Oh, wait, guess that's just a problem when Hillary Clinton does it.

But wait! He hasn't accepted yet! He's making them wait until Sunday, while he "thinks about it".

In the meantime, I went this evening to a birthday party/fundraiser for the next U.S. Senator from the State of Illinois, Barack Obama.

*EDIT to add: I couldn't find the actual quote last night. Here it is: "I deeply resent the destruction of federalism represented by Hillary Clinton's willingness to go into a state she doesn't even live in and pretend to represent people there. So I certainly wouldn't imitate it."

The Illinois Republican Party is pathetic. I'm sorry, but even as an independent-mostly-Democratic voter, it is painful to watch them self-destruct.

Here's the latest: the moderate and conservative wings are battling it out to choose a candidate to oppose Barack. So who do they come up with? Moderate: Andrea Grubb Barthwell, a janey-come-lately to the party who pulls Democratic primary ballots and contributes to Democratic candidates. Conservative: Allen Keyes, who may be articulate and bright as all get out, but has NO ties to Illinois.

And does anyone else think it's a coincidence that they're both African-American? Go ahead, call me cynical.

The State Central Committee was supposed to choose a candidate today. Instead, they narrowed it down to Barthwell and Keyes, and will decide tomorrow. One commentator, however, suggested that the decision was deferred in hopes they could come up with a third candidate who would satisfy both factions.

The sad part is, the Republican Party does have folks who could have run a good race. Judy Baar Topinka, for one, but she's saving it for a gubernatorial run two years down the road. A couple of other folks who ran in the primary, like Jim Oberweis. Despite his faux pas re: immigration, he'd have pulled the conservative vote, has name recognition, and the money to put together a campaign. Heck, he's got a campaign put together.

Frankly, I think it's a slap in the face to all the other primary candidates. You're not telling them just that they're not good enough, but that there are no Illinois Republicans good enough. There's a hell of a statement to make.

Ain't we got fun?

They'll never do it, but, in the grand tradition of Lar "American First" Daly, who liked to campaign in an Uncle Sam suit, I'd really like to see the Illinois GOP nominate this guy to run against Barack: "Daniel Vovak, a Florida resident who ran against George W. Bush in the Iowa primaries and whose chief claim to fame is that he wears an 18th Century-style powdered wig".

Current Music: Astor Piazzolla

Tonight was Associates' Preview Night at the Book Fair. Quel haul! I shall be registering madly. Much of what I bought will be kept, but there are others that will likely be released once I've read them. I found two copies of a little book called The Night Before Christmas in Chicago that I'll save for holiday releases in appropriate spots in the city. A couple of Wodehouses and two Robertson Davies books that I didn't have, a pop-up of Forest Animals, a Truman Capote, a Calvin Trillin, a Katha Pollitt and more. But the pièce de résistance was the paperback edition of Leon Edel's biography of Henry James. Covers were torn, so all five volumes, boxed, were $1.00.

I got a couple of non-book items as well. Amongst the CDs, I found an Isaac Stern/Jean-Pierre Rampal recording of the Vivaldi Double Concertos. The bookstore was having a sale, too, and I got a very cool retro fountain pen for $1.00. Remember those little games we had as kids, a box with an illustration inside, and balls that you had to get into little holes in the illustration? Well, I found an excellent large one, a bit larger than 5" x 7",with Victorian pictures of a variety of household objects and you have to match the color of the ball to that of the object, so there's an added level of difficulty. Couldn't pass it up.

I'll go back Sunday for the final day's bargains, and perhaps take in a Bughouse Square debate or soapbox session.
__________

Lots of buzz about Barack today (no surprise!). I read a lot of the postings to the blog at his campaign website, and was thrilled, amazed and delighted by the number of people who said, "I didn't know about him before, but I think I just watched the first African-American president". Of course, my favorite post was the one that read, "I've always been a Republican, and I was going to vote for Bush, but Obama changed my mind." May you be one of many.

"She went to the union hall, when a meeting it was called . . ."

I went down to the IBEW hall this evening to watch State (soon to be U.S. ) Senator Barack Obama kick some major butt. Good crowd, good food, lots of energy, and a great speech! Content and delivery were A+.

But here's a question that I wonder about every four years. What is it about political conventions that makes otherwise normal adults suddenly want to wear bizarre hats?

#78
Cyanide Wells, by Marcia Muller

Fourteen years ago, Matthew Lindstrom's wife Gwen disappeared. Suspected of murdering her, he found his life in shambles, and moved to Alaska, where he made a new life. Then he received an anonymous phone call, telling him that his wife was alive, well and living in California under a new name.

When he goes to California seeking answers, she disappears again, fleeing with her child from her new lover, Carly. When Carly and Matt join forces to try to find her, they discover that her lies reach far into the past.

I've always liked Muller's Sharon McCone series, and this non-series mystery lives up to those, with one exception. The plotting is deft, the characters interesting, but there is no real explanation for Gwen's history of deceit. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the book.

#79
High Spirits: a Collection of Ghost Stories, by Robertson Davies

Every story in this book is a joy. Davies spoofs himself, as, in his persona as Master of Massey College of the University of Toronto, he narrates them. It seems that there is something about Massey College that is attractive to ghosts, famous, infamous and not famous at all. "Every part of our great University strives for distinction of one kind or another, but it is everywhere admitted that in the regularity and variety of our ghostly visitations Massey College stands alone." Even Little Lord Fauntleroy puts in an appearance! Splendid stuff.

#80
Welsh Boys Too, by John Sam Jones

I had to read this after having enjoyed the author's second collection of short stories about being Welsh and gay, Fishboys of Vernazza. This is quite good as well. Among the best is one story ("The Birds Don't Sing . . . ") set outside of Wales, in Poland, amid memories of Auschwitz. I could see it coming from the first paragraph, but it was still a shock. In "But Names Will Never Hurt Me", a boy harassed at school decides that being called "rent-boy" doesn't sound so bad. Mrs. Amelia Roberts, the "elegant old aunt", goes to Shrewsbury to pick out a new suit ("The Magenta Silk Thread") for a very special service. And there is the wonderfully funny "Pocket Sprung and Nested", in which two older lovers go shopping for a new mattress.

I had no idea that Kurt was a delegate to the Democratic convention! When I went out to get the paper this morning, he was out front with luggage. Naturally, I assumed he had a gig somewhere, and asked him where he was off to. Well, it must have been way too early in the morning for me, because when he said "the convention", I replied, "convention?". He said he was a delegate, and finally the light dawned.

Yesterday, I went to Paulette's housewarming. Just a couple of us from the office showed; it was mostly her family. Her mother (who's from Louisiana) had made an awesome gumbo! I met a very interesting woman who had just been inducted into the Mayor's Senior Citizens' Hall of Fame. I should only look so good and move so spryly and be so active in the community when I'm 87! She was telling us about how she started working in other people's homes when she was 12 to help out her widowed mother, working before and after school. She never did go to college, but back then you could teach with only a high school diploma, so she did that for a while, until she married and quit to help her husband farm (this was in Mississippi). Years later, when she finally retired, she took a job cleaning houses just to prove she could still get a job! She's president of her block association, ran the Thanksgiving dinner program for the homeless at her church until just a couple of years ago (but still "advises"), and faces down the gangbangers in her neighborhood. An impressive lady.

Today I checked out the Antique Fair on W. Randolph. It was a great day for it, sunny but not too hot. Lots of dealers, with some very nice stuff, though I didn't buy anything. But I did get the name of a guy who does clock repair (my floor clock needs help), and discovered that my Norse vase is "collectible" and that I am right to keep it far, far away from the cats!

Then I went up to DSW Shoe Warehouse, and was very naughty (3 pair).

Of course, on the way home, I got stuck in soccer traffic; I'd completely forgotten about the game at Soldier Field. It was a bit of a pain, but I've dealt with worse.

#76
Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies

The first book in the Deptford Trilogy. When Dunstable (later Dunstan) Ramsey is 10 years old, he ducks a snowball thrown at him by Percy Boyd Staunton. The snowball hits the pregnant wife of the Baptist minister and she falls, resulting in the premature birth of Paul Dempster and his mother's descent into "simpleness". Ramsey's feeling of responsibility for these events moves the story that follows, a story told by Ramsey upon his retirement as a school master.

Davies is a consummate storyteller, and is also a keen observer of human nature. I have yet to encounter a character of his who was not credible, or who behaved in a manner inconsistent with his psychology.

#77
Mystery Midrash: An Anthology of Jewish Mystery & Detective Fiction, ed. by Lawrence W. Raphael

A midrash is a story told to explicate the meaning of a Biblical text. This is a collection of short mysteries, all linked by a connection to the Jewish religion or culture. For the most part, the stories are just okay, but one did make me weep a little. That was Michael A. Kahn's "The Bread of Affliction", in which the mystery of a Holocaust survivor's missing will is solved by reference to the Passover seder.

I've done my civic duty. I voted today. I guess technically I voted last night, but I dropped the absentee ballot off at the Board of Elections today. There is a tremendous advantage in voting absentee when there are judicial elections. I actually had the time to check out all the various bar association evaluations. The Chicago Council of Lawyers' was the most helpful, as they actually give specific reasons for their ratings, which gives much more insight that a mere "qualified" or "not qualified". Then I did my other civic duty -- I mailed off all my tax stuff to the accountant.

More preparations for the trip. I went to the bank and bought yen. And tonight I started work on my travel journal. I'm doing a non-adhesive binding, and for endsheets I'm using some handmade paper that another bookcrosser, awesomeaud, sent me.

After work, I stopped off at the Center for Book and Paper Arts for the opening of the show, "Structure and Skin". I especially liked Lesley Dill's work, and would have liked to stay for the lecture, but too much to do at home to get ready for the trip. So I had a glass of wine and some nibbles, said "Hi" to various people, saw the show and came home.

Tomorrow more running around. There are about a half-dozen things I want to do, on top of everything I need to do, so we'll see what I can squeeze in. At least the Darrow memorial is just down the street. I must go to Pearl, and the Newberry is too close to pass up their Mystery Book Fair, and then the Historical Society isn't that far away so if I time it right I could get to the film showing . . . I'm getting carried away, aren't I??