Young Writers Group Christmas Party 2014

As I drove to my party last night, my nerves were on end because it was dark and raining and I had such a late start. I took my time going, the GPS blaring out turn-by-turn directions, but I still managed to get lost. For some reason my mind moves to the macabre when I drive alone. In my head I vision my car hitting water, spinning out of control and being plummeted on all sides by oncoming traffic. It's a constant battle to get my mind off that and onto better thoughts once it gets reeling. Thinking about angels guarding the four corners of my car generally does the trick.

When I arrived at the neighborhood where we were gathering, the GPS managed to get me lost. Driving in circles, for what seemed like forever, the voice told me I had arrived. As if by magic, there was one parking space directly in front of the door. What luck. The evening was spent with some interesting people ... On my left was a young man who had recently graduated from USC, directly across from me was a retired English teacher, and on my right a retired District Attorney for Santa Cruz. We were all there because we love to write and volunteer helping kids.

It would have been so easy to stay home in my pj's and Sherpa blanket wrapped around me last night, but I pushed myself to go and I'm grateful. Meeting people, talking to them about projects coming up, playing word games ... makes the community I live in alive. December is such a depressing month for me, so whatever will get me out of my doldrums is good. 

Immigration Thoughts

My Grandfather came to the U.S.A. from Norway. He made his way across from N.Y. to Minnesota where he went to school to become a minister. The town where he went to school had a Norwegian college... He married my Grandmother and moved west. His bible was in Norwegian and he spoke his sermons in Norwegian so that his congregation would feel at home and understand. As time went on and kids were born they integrated into the school systems and people stopped talking in their native tongue as much. By the time I was born, my father didn't speak much Norwegian and the language was lost with me. We still honor our heritage though, we still have Norwegian flags ... Some in my family put on costumes and proudly wave the flag of our heritage ... and we're Americans. 

I volunteer in the schools out here in Northern California. There are Hispanic kids in these schools. Some speak little English but they are trying to learn. Most live near the farmlands and some have parents who work in the fields. Some rarely see their parents. Some have problems but there are also some really great kids. My next project is going to be with kids who are all English learners. It's going to be interesting because I don't know much Spanish, but they are supposed to stretch their new found knowledge, so it will be good for both of us. At any rate, they are kids who hope to be the first to go to college in their families. I've worked with Caucasian kids who couldn't care less about learning a thing ... and Hispanic kids who were excited to learn. It can go either way ... If given the chance to dream, I believe they are capable of doing well. If they feel there is no way to reach their dreams, they will not do so well.

I don't have a problem with them enjoying their own culture just as I hope that nobody would protest me enjoying mine. Tough decisions are being made in our government about the lives of all of us. It would be nice if we could find a way to make this world work in spite of our differences.

The Koch Brothers and Frac-Chem

oligarchy
noun
a small group of people having control of a country, organization, or institution : the ruling oligarchy of military men around the president.
• a state governed by such a group : the English aristocratic oligarchy of the 19th century.
• government by such a group.

Koch Industries now owns Frac-Chem whose chemical cocktails, that are injected deep under the nation's aquifers, are almost entirely exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Guess who helped craft the anti-regulatory agenda that led to that exemption? It turns out that Koch helped draft it during Bush's administration. They seem to be systematically buying up everything in the country and have created an oligarchy.

Does it matter? Only if you like clean drinking water and clean air to breath.

The measure to prohibit fracking here in San Benito passed in the last election. The people said they didn't want it in their land. We live in an area that is notorious for earthquakes and we don't want our ground water to be polluted. Nobody can survive without water. But this didn't matter to Big Oil. They are suing in several places in the country where similar measures passed. Money will no doubt pass between some parties and decisions will be made that will screw over the people who didn't vote for it.

You can't live without water… but I can guarantee you the earth can live without us.

http://www.democracynow.org/2014/11/5/a_big_win_for_climate_change