I played the bugle!

Me. In the news.

Fun day yesterday!

BTW, the Durham Herald Sun (First link) is annoyingly registration only. So here are the relevant bits, as an excerpt:

At the park

About 100 people and a few dogs from the Old West Durham and Watts-Hillandale neighborhoods gathered at Oval Park for a parade after watching the inaugural proceedings on TV.

With snow on the ground and flakes still falling, chants of "Obama" and "Yes we did" rose from those assembled as they took a couple of laps around the park, led by American and North Carolina flags and a cardboard cutout of Obama.

"I was glued to the TV," said STEW, who was playing a bugle along to the "Yes we did" cheer. "I was lucky enough to have a snow day. I expected to be at work. It was a lucky gift."


(Ahem, they misquoted me. I said it was a "simple" gift."

Photo: Chris Seward, News and Observer.

From excellent to yicky in less than a week!

I haven't talked about the election returns yet, have I? Suffice to say that overall I'm extremely pleased.

Some specifics:
1) No more Liddy Dole. My mom and my friend Michele both called me* when that race was called. Not only did I (figuratively) wish to spit on the woman who took over the seat of another loathesome guy, but I was also very proud to vote for Kay Hagan. She has some sound ideas about sustainable ag and local foods, and I'll always love her for her support of raw milk. Have you tasted that goodness yet? It's a gorgeous sensation.
2) Obama. I doubt I have to say much about this to any of you, but I'm even more impressed that he's planning to recind many of the immoral policies Bush implemented. I volunteered on election day in a county that eventually went for McCain. I didn't do very much at all, but I was glad I took the day off.
3) Anti-choice initiatives failed. Thank goodness.
4) Can you say NC is blue? Yes! Me too!
5) Bad news: Proposition 8 in California passed, as did a number of other anti-gay initiatives. Gotta love people taking away civil rights, ya know?

I spent the night at my friend Ian's place, after going to the NC Dems victory celebration downtown. The energy there (as well as some champagne) gave me a fantastic buzz, and there were celebrations in the streets. So wonderful. Walking downtown the next morning I was so grateful to see people still beaming and making small talk in the street with strangers about how happy they were.

The next day I met with the group of teens I work with, and they were excited as well. They did share some unfortunate experiences documenting the racial tension that still exists even now. I'd expected as much, sadly, so I had prepared a "teachable moment" plan and showed them The Children's March. I was so proud to hear them talk about ways they have already and could continue to stand up to bigotry as it happens today.

So yeah, election week rocked.

But.

There always has to be a but, doesn't there?

Yesterday started out well. I was super productive and did dishes, cooked, and gardened. I'm landscaping most of the front yard, and I realized at Maria's birthday party the night before that I really had to get the irises in that Jamie and the s.o. gave me back over labor day weekend.

While I was doing this, though, I noticed an oddity on the street. Someone had pulled up in front of the house next door for a bit, and then turned around and parked again, this time directly across the street from me. I was a bit oblivious at first, though I did wonder briefly what this person was doing. Were they lost?

Nah. It was a young guy who decided to jerk off to my yardwork. Once I figured that out, I walked out in the street towards him a bit, but really more towards the back of the car. To get the plate number, see? And I did. I got the entire plate number, even before he peeled out. The police were very nice, and I felt strong, proud, and confident. I was happily surprised that my reaction was so matter-of-fact and oriented towards justice. I didn't show him any response beyond first being puzzled and then calmly (not even forced calm...I was zenned out) observing and memorizing as much info about the situation as I could. I emailed two neighborhood listservs with the details as well, and many residents cheered me.

Unfortunately, that pride and calm dissipated as the night wore on, taking me to a place of fear and worry. What if he retaliated? What if he broke in or vandalized my car? My god, he knows where I live, after all. What if Bubba's barking (Loud! Mean-sounding!) compelled this asswipe (and the friends I imagined would accompany him) to shoot Bubba?

I read By the Shores of Silver Lake last night, and didn't contain my tears when Jack died in his sleep.

I'm going to the police department in the morning to check on their progress. I've contacted local sexual violence crisis centers for advice and support. I can't imagine the horror that a more serious act of sexual violence would be like. I'm glad I haven't had to. This was gross enough.

Lotta tags for this post, hm?

*Michele actually texted me, and I then called her.

Seriously

Today I voted. I was voter number 1291, and my site had been open for about 8 hours. I took my time, double and triple checking to make sure I got everything right. I didn't expect to be nervous.

I pride myself on being a pretty informed voter. The judges always confound me, of course, but I have trustworthy advisers for that sort of thing. I was caught a bit off guard by a food tax initiative. Do I want a 1% prepared food tax, or do I not? I hadn't even heard of the issue. It was pretty clear to me even without knowing what it was about that no, I didn't want an additional tax on food. Food tax just seems wrong. I did check, though, with some of my neighbors, who were outside the polls with sample ballots. God, I love this town. My intuition was right--no food tax.

Normally when I vote, there aren't that many other people there. Today, maybe because it's the first day of early voting, I could barely fit into the polling place. There wasn't a long line, but voters were crammed into every little space. It was a bit chaotic, actually.

After the machine sucked in my completed ballot and the counter changed from 1290 to 1291, I took my sticker and walked back outside. I was surprised to notice the lump in my throat. I looked around at my neighbors. Not just the ones who live in the square mile or so that marks my immediate neighborhood, but at all the others who live in the city proper.

My eyes welled up. My city has mobilized, and it makes me proud to live here.

I'll wear my sticker tomorrow to the conference where I'm presenting. Every little bit helps, you know?



(Oh, and this:)




(And this)

Hrm

Wailing. From the general direction a neighborhood house. I can't tell if it's sex, torture or deep grief. I'd bet it's one of the second two. When my roommate comes out to listen, the noise stops. And then it begins again. It's intermittent, and I've never heard this sort of thing before here.

What would you do?

I called 911 about 5 minutes ago, after discussing with my housemate once again. Better safe than sorry, right? Cops are here, brb.

OK, I told the officer what was going on, and he's going to go check it out. Oh. Just got backup. I was going to go inside, but now I think I'm going to stay out here on the porch and live-blog this event. They're talking to a guy in the house I think the noise was coming from. I think they've gone inside, but it's hard to tell for sure. OK, now one of the inhabitants of the house is out on the front lawn talking to the cops. It's quiet, no fuss. I feel kind of bad for calling, but it looks like everything is OK. At least calm.

I wish I didn't feel bad about calling. I mean, either it's nothing or it's serious, right? And either way it should be the right thing to do, right?

The cops are leaving now, and there doesn't seem to be any fallout.

OK, cops came by to give me a heads up. Turns out the neighbor is in severe distress about a life situation and was just crying very loudly. Poor thing.

Cop's quote: "They're glad to have good neighbors."

I hope so.

Heh Heh Heh

I'm wearing the same dress today.




From here.

Soooooo

Remember how last week that guy came to my house and I called the DOJ on him?

Yeah.

Apparently the press picked it up, and someone's coming by to film me this morning. Beer + Sleeping over at Cristin's (kitties!) = how the hell do I get rid of these eye bags??

Bad alarm sales scams make good neighbors

Last night a guy showed up on my doorstep wearing a uniform of sorts, including a logoed shirt and lanyard with a photo ID. He was selling, erm, "giving away" alarm systems, because "We're all concerned about crime here."

Actually, dude, we're as much concerned with scammers who prey on people's sense of security.

I observed his name, badge number, physical description and emailed out to the neighborhood listserv about it. Many of my neighbors responded and encouraged me to call the police. I did, but they didn't seem very interested. They said they'd send out a patrol to take my statement, but they didn't.

This morning, our community association president passed this message on to the listserv:

Folks on the Partners Against Crime (II) listerv are posting messages about this company coming door to door in their neighborhoods. This update was posted on the PAC2 listserv last night...

> The NC Dept. of Justice is already investigating these alarm company scammers and actually has APX before a review board right now. There are about six different security companies involved in these scams and they're working with the states of VA and SC to obtain information and press charges. Under investigation, these companies have to provide proof of their company background, financial information, proof of training, etc. Based on the scams and the deceptive practices, they are going after them for felony charges (false practices) and criminal warrants.

Once the state is able to press charges, they will issue a cease and desist order so the company cannot operate anywhere in the state. If they continue to operate, it will be taken to the Superior Court and a restraining order established.

What they need to help build the case against these companies are specific complaints from residents. Paul Mason [City of Durham] got Mr. Liggins from the NC Dept. of State who was pleased to receive additional information/ complaints to help him build his case. If you've had experience with ANY security company selling door-to-door with deceptive practices, excessive pressure, ANYTHING that doesn't seem right about them, please forward the information directly to Mr. Liggins of the NC State Department of Justice: lliggins@ncdoj. gov.

Within six minutes of forwarding my complaint to the DOJ, I had an email back. Within 15 minutes, I had a call from the investigator, who was leaving Raleigh to cruise the area looking for this guy and to bring me a formal written complaint to file.

Dude. That's service.

Providential Oddities

This afternoon I had a meeting at my local senior center, to get trained on how to ask companies to donate to one of the organizations that funds my workplace.

As I was leaving, I saw a table of women crocheting. Something overcame me, and I sat down with them and just started chatting. I hauled my hook out of my purse* and asked if they had any extra yarn to play with. For about 20 minutes I learned about these ladies and their various crochet meet ups. Monday and Wednesday 1-3 p.m. at the senior center and fourth Thursdays at 6 p.m. at the IHop. They showed me how to properly (EW THERE'S A CICADA!) start your first row and assured me that my meathook-like grasp was a perfectly fine way to hold a hook. They called my technique dainty, in fact. I lamented my problems with following patterns, and they were excited at my freeform approach. It has a name! It's called modular crochet**. I told them about my bag making and my felting, and they absolutely lit up with joy.

I put in a volunteer application, and I hope to stop back by if I'm ever in Durham on a Monday or Wednesday from 1-3. Thanks Lorlene, Hazel and Miss Mary Rita.

I miss my grandma.

* I know. They laughed at me, too.
**Hilarious URL!

It's done

So I voted this morning. I know many who voted early, but I'll tell you, I LOVE voting the day of. There's such fantastic community where I live, and it's really a social activity as well as one of civic responsibility.

I ate the donuts. I drank the coffee. I talked with neighbors about some of my yet-undecided races. I saw the 17-year-old voting for his first time. I met a new dog.

For the most part, I think I made well informed decisions. Cool.

Ch Ch Ch Ch Ch Changes...

New Roommate is a total gem. He's easygoing, kind, sweet, and considerate. He's also underpaid due to working in the public schools, doing fantastic work with an underserved population. Living here is a stretch for him, and it's not sustainable. I like New Roommate so much that I want to keep him.

In addition, I want to buy a house in the next few years. I'm still recuperating financially from the unemployment days and subsequent fear of house sharing once FreakShow moved out. (Did you know that I PAID him in order to get him to leave? Not much, but it was worth every single fucking penny.) I paid off the credit card in the last two months. WAHOO! MY car will be paid off come October, and I need to begin saving in earnest.

Enter the master plan: we have an extra bedroom. We're going to find Second Roommate, whoever that may be. New Roommate wants it to be a girl. I don't care much either way.

No cats, kids or dogs. (Too small for three people and a dog, sniff). We're laid back but not too slack. We don't want partiers or anyone who's too into illegal substances. We don't want anyone either of us already is friends with to move in. Liberal/progressive-minded is a must.

It's a great and convenient neighborhood and a fantastic house. Really good people live here already. ~$315/month + 1/3 utilities. Shared bathroom. Rent will probably be less than the $315 quoted above. I am extremely comfortable paying more for having my own bath, and New Roommate has the larger of the two remaining bedrooms, so we're going to pro-rate. Neither of us can figure out how to do the math.

1) Know anyone?
2) Can you do the math? If total rent=x, Stew = +$40 for shared bathroom, New Roommate= +$10 for larger than third bedroom, what would each of us owe?

Yum.

There are 19 tomatoes in varying stages of ripeness on my kitchen table. There are as many as that again that are true green over on my counter. And then there are probably 10 or so more that are still hanging out on the vines. It's Thanksgiving week, and I still have garden tomatoes. I'd have never expected that. Looks like it's time for some creative green tomato uses! Maybe salsa...

I think this weekend (Long weekend! Celebrate!) I'll be spending some time outdoors tending to the garden and yard. We've finally gotten leaves falling, which will be perfect as a winter mulch for the new bed. I have tomato cages to put up, and chicken wire to roll.

Maria is taking me in for Thanksgiving. It will be a small get-together--Maria, David, Maria's sister in law Betsy, and me. I'm in charge of getting a kick-ass white wine. The rest (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, tomato apple chutney, various breads, creamed corn, squash pie) is up to them.

If I get *my* act together, I'll make my mom's pecan pie, as well. Can't have too much pie, you know? And besides, we'll walk it off. Right?

As an orphan this holiday, I appreciate all the people who have offered me a place at their table. Maria asked me if I knew anyone else who was alone this holiday, and I don't. But if you are, and if you live around here? Let me know. There's space with us.

Reprinted with Permission from the Watts Hillandale Neightborhood Association listserv

Dear citizens,

I have observed urban chickens standing on corners trying to push illegal corn feed to innocent visiting chickens from the country as well as leaving it in plain site of our children. It has also been observed that urban chickens violate traffic laws as I noticed them traveling the wrong way around traffic circles while fleeing from prosecution from the chicken police for chicken misdemeanors to chicken felonies. Urban Chickens are know for trespassing, public disturbances, public defecation, j-walking, fleeing and eluding, threatening behavior to smaller chicks, and public lewd and lascivious behavior, and other disturbing urban chicken behaviors best left in the country.

They set a bad example for our domesticated animals and thus should be incarcerated in a maximum security chicken pen-itentiary under strict supervision of correctional officers (the fox) of the pen-itentiaries and isolation from the public for the protection of public safety and innocent country chicken corruption. Most incarcerated chickens are hardened by their confinement and while in incarceration learn more criminal chicken activities. They pose a risk to innocent chickens being lured into a life of criminal chicken crimes and rampant chicken gang induced violations in our community.

Please help keep our streets safe from these gangs of chickens from infiltrating our peaceful community. I have noticed different varieties of chickens gathering into groups. We do not need more gang chicken violence spreading filth into our communities. It is a statistic that different chicken gangs are already having wars over the heinous and illegal habit of chicken feed distribution. Chickens are incarcerated in pen-itentiaries from the cities and other populated communities for a reason.

Parole of chickens has proven a high rate of crime in areas they flee. Reincarceration is inevitable after they flock to neighboring communities creating pandemonium and illegal distribution of chicken feed. These criminal chickens should all be fried!!!!!

Please help keep our streets safe.....to quote Nancy Reagan "Just say no".

Dr. Cluck PHD.
The Domesticated Animal Rights Association of Durham

Gwen Frostic and Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, too.

Pinky, in addition to you being just, well, COOL, I love that we share roots. We have a bond that most people just will never understand, and I appreciate it.

FRAGELS, PEOPLE!

You only WISH you had access to these fantastic lumps of hot, sweet, chewy bits of happiness.

From here:

fragel

(thing) by Lucy-S (5.4 hr) (print)

?

Fri Jun 21 2002 at 20:11:50

A fragel ("FRAY-gul") is a a bagel that, instead of being baked, is deep-fried in light oil and then rolled in sugar and cinnamon.

They are soft and sweet and densely chewy. They taste like a cross between a bagel and a doughnut, and have far more calories than the former but are healthier than the latter. They are probably at least as fattening as boardwalk fries, and they are deeply yummy.

As far as I know fragels are solely a regional Michigan delicacy. I first encountered fragels when I was in East Lansing, MI for the Clarion workshop. East Lansing is evidently an enormous market for all manner of exotic bagels due to the huge college student population. One of the Clarionites, a native Michiganer, came in one morning with a big brown paper grocery bag mottled with telltale grease spots. A delicious aroma filled the room the moment he opened the bag. He passed the fresh-fried goodness around the room, and five pounds of fragels disappeared in about as many minutes.

I have searched the Midwest for bagel shops that offer fragels, but I have been met with nothing but blank looks when I've asked about them. I'm amazed no one else makes them -- it's surely not out of bagel purism, because real water bagels are not what most bagel joints offer.

If you visit Michigan, your best bet for finding fragels is to seek out a regional chain called Bagel Fragel that has locations in Lansing/East Lansing and Ann Arbor.

Thank you Pinky!

But I don't have a fever!

Happy Halloween, and Happy Birthday Jerry!

I'm laid up at home, barely functioning. I am able to be up out of bed for, oh, 10 minutes before feeling the need to crash back. I even walked up to town today, to pick up some soup at Whole Foods. I was hoping for chicken noodle. The choices were honey sweet potato (yuck) or chili. Not so much.

By the time I got up there I was a little panicked. I was woozy and in a cold sweat. I bought my goods,* ate the breakfast and took off for home, walking slowly and steadily, hoping not to pass out.

On the way home I made friends with Victor, a neighbor two streets down who was walking his 1.5 month old puppy named Pulgar. Pulgar's momma was a chihuahua, so this puppy, in addition to being too young to be out and about, was about 6 inches long. Victor was more comfortable speaking to me in Spanish than English. I just wanted to be home in bed.

The roommate is also sick, but his seems to be more of a cold. Mine is something different entirely. I mean, it fakes at being a cold--I'm coughing occasionally. But the extreme fatigue and dizziness make me wonder about the flu. No fever, but plenty of hot/cold flashes.

Another neighbor came by and dumped a ton of pills into a baggie to get roomie and I on the mend. They're some kind of vitamin/herb concoction, and you take, no shitting you, three enormous horse pills twice a day for three days. Quack Quack!



*one pack Tropical Emergen-C, tomato soup in tetrabrick, a roll, a can of Mango Fandango sparkling juice, and a hodgepodge of salad bar items I thought looked like they might be healthy. $9.33

I forget these things

Ya know, occasionally I get a comment on this blog from someone I don't expect to. And then I'm kind of embarrassed if I've been ranting. I always assume the people who bother to read this blog know me well enough to understand that I'm actually a happy, sane individual with the same hardships and worries as others. But looking at yesterday? I must come across as totally cuckoo sometimes. Maybe I should cut out the venting.

Hm. Food for thought.

Green

Thursday I'll be heading over to the NC State Fair to staff the Sustainable Agriculture booth for Slow Food Triangle. I'm not really that much of a fan of tabling (as we call it in the non-profit world), but hey, it's something I know how to do. I allowed myself to get roped into a 10-hour shift. Ouch.

But I'll get into and park for free at the fair.

I'm a little conflicted (ok, VERY little) about the fact that one of the reasons I go to the fair is for fair food. How much of it will be local? I'm guessing not all that much.

A couple of years (and 40 lbs) ago, when I was being super-conscious of my figure I ate roast corn, an apple and some grilled shrimp. Those shrimp were local. Maybe I can find that seafood booth again. I don't NEED funnel cakes, but I do need to eat.

(Not-so secretly I'm hoping that many cute men will come by and ogle my green Sustainable Agriculture shirt. That I get to give back and have someone else wear. (Eeesh)


********************

Changing subjects a bit...

At some point you have to wonder what the point of insurance is if they won't pay for normal services, like the root canal I'll be getting on Wednesday.

Apparently as a new hire I'm not eligible for a long list of "major" dental work for a year. So, too bad if your tooth goes more than wonky, right?

Speaking of drought...

I just found this video timeline graphic. (What would you call it? A snapshot active time-lapsed map??)

Meanwhile, according to neighborhood listserv reports, the city is wasting tons of water.

For at least 2 days, the water department has been flushing water out
of the hydrant at Carolina and Pershing onto the street.

As I schlep big buckets of water out of my shower into the garden,
and our family refrains from flushing our toilets when appropriate to
conserve this precious resource, is it appropriate for the city to
dump water by the thousands of gallons at this time?

Another neighbor responded:

One other year when we were low on water, they were flushing the hydrant on
my block. I called the water department thinking that surely this was a
mistake. I was told that they are required by the State to flush the pipes at a
certain time each year.
I asked if they could do it at another time since we were low on water. I
was told that it had to be now since that is when the State told them to do it.

That really chaps my ass.

UPDATE: Another neighbor who's in the know checked out what was going on:

In this case, the hydrant was running due to sewer from the creek
getting into a broken sewer main. The maintenance crew has made the
repairs. As soon as the Stormwater team makes a check, they will give
the OK to stop the flushing. This was scheduled to happen around noon
Friday.

If only

A friend of mine is getting married this weekend up in SW Virginia, or I'd be going here to enjoy the festivities.

Sigh.

Out with the old

This afternoon I got 18 plants for free.

No seriously, the plant delivery truck guy came into my local Barnes Supply store today just as I was whining about them only having 12 varieties of collards and nothing else for a fall garden. I followed him out the truck to pick out cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower starts when LO! Mister Greenhouse Guy had a half-flat of red cabbage he'd accidentally dropped. He blamed his clumsiness and gave them to me for FREE.

I walked out without any cauliflower yet (though I put in a request), but with a surfeit of other Brassica goodies.

Hm. Didn't realize this kind of thing happened in real life.

Mystery SOLVED

Hi!

I saw your recent blog post and wanted to solve the little mystery you posed to your readers. Our editor who lives in the Research Triangle was a reader of your blog, and loved the hyperlocal aspect of your content, so she added your blog to our system. We have your feed included in our site and thus automatically grab all posts. You can view your posts that are linked to our Place pages on your outside.in blogmap here. (The more specific locations and Places you blog about, the more that show up on that map.

We have a new feature that helps bloggers submit location information to our site, the outside.in "where" tag, which would be great for your blog. If you add the "where" tag to the text for your posts that refer to a specific location (farm stand, etc.) you can add either the zip code or specific address. Then your post will show up on the correct page in outside.in automatically. Check out our new features for adding content here.

If you're curious about our site and the principles behind it, click through here.

Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about our features, submission guidelines, or site in general.

Best,

Chrysanthe
Neighbor Liaison