626 Elinor Burkett's So Many Enemies, So Little Time

She was an ardent 60s Leftist, a True Believer, you might say. She had helped establish two Women's Studies programs and had taught women's history. She had little use for Liberal Democrats, whose programs she thought of as band-aids. I can't remember why I checked out her book published in July, So Many Enemies, So Little Time; an American Woman in All the Wrong Places. However, it is a real eye-opener, regardless of your party affiliation or religion. She discovered in the post 9/11 years travelling and teaching in a former Soviet Republic, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq, that her gender shaped the reality of everything she saw and experienced. Being a woman, she was usually where she shouldn't have been. She was sure the Feminists back home would applaud what the Bush Administration was doing abroad--freeing millions women from slavery, early death, illiteracy and imprisonment in their own homes--even if they had complaints about his domestic policies. Boy, was she wrong!

In an interview with FrontPage, she says: "So when I came home, I fully expected the feminist movement to be up in arms, demanding that the U.S. government do more to defend these women, marching on the United Nations in defense of their sisters.

Instead, I found NOW working on its annual Love Your Body Day. And if I didn't hit a wall earlier, I hit it several weeks ago during the March for Women's Lives. Whoopi Goldberg declared that "there's a war going on, a war against women." I agreed. Unfortunately, we were talking about different wars.

The marchers insisted that George W. Bush is the world's greatest threat to women. What I'd seen and heard during a year's travels was that Muslim fundamentalists were the world's greatest threat to women. That's certainly what the women I met - on the street, in the market, in the classroom, on buses and during interviews - told me. They weren't worried about access to abortion. They were worried about access to jobs, about the right to work, about the right to run to the store without having to cover themselves, about the right to select their own husband, the right to educate themselves and their daughters.

And a march focused on George Bush and access to abortion belittled their situations and their struggles. How can you care about women, as the feminists insist they do, and not care about the actual threats to their lives?

Fortunately, I discovered shortly after I returned home, the current administration didn't need NOW and the Feminist Majority to march down Pennsylvania Avenue in order to reach out to women who live under the threat of Muslim fundamentalists. They understand that we - Americans - share an enemy with these women. By defending them, we defend ourselves."

Writing about her time in Kryrgyzstan teaching basic Journalism, she takes aim at NGOs (practically a cottage industry for Americans and Europeans who want to live abroad on easy grant money) and Christian missionary groups. Before you donate that next dollar, do take a look at what is going on in the name of "modernization" and/or Jesus.

My copy was checked out through OhioLink from Southern State Community College, but this is a title that needs to be more widely available, and a woman who needs to be on the program at a college near you.

Burkett's new book 

Chapter One of So Many Enemies, So Little Time (HarperCollins, 2004).

625 Six Reasons to be Late to the Party

Recently an acquaintance of my husband and me asked if we could provide transportation for an event we all attend once a week. I paused a moment before I agreed, because I had noticed that she always arrives about 5 minutes late. However, she is an interesting person, and I'd been looking for opportunities to meet new people. To pick her up was only 5 minutes out of our way. I told her I would be happy to help, but noted that I would pick her up 15 minutes before the hour because we like to arrive early so that we are not rushed.

The first night wasn't too bad--she was 5 minutes late getting to the car, and I could see through her front window that she was bustling around getting ready, but I still had time to get to the event without walking in late. The second week when I pulled up in front of her house, she came out to the car and told me she had another ride. The third week the phone rang as we were putting on our coats, and she said she would be ready at 10 minutes before the hour.

My husband went ahead in the other car, and I pulled up to her house at 10 minutes before the hour. Her son ran out and held up 5 fingers saying she would be out in 5 minutes. At 3 minutes before the hour I went up to the door and knocked--but no one came. At 2 minutes before the hour I honked and then left and went to the event, arriving late with no time for preparation.

Obviously, this transportation arrangement won't work. But it has caused me to think about people who are habitually late. We all have acquaintances and friends with this habit, and if we value and enjoy their friendship, we grumble and accept the behavior that inconveniences so many people.

One dear friend was always 20 minutes late for our weekly get-together some years ago. The reasons she gave varied from traffic on Rt. 315, to a faulty alarm clock to a crazy work schedule. We changed our time by 20 minutes, but she then was that much later. She assured me that it was OK for her occasionally to be late to work because she worked harder and better than her co-workers which made up for a few missing minutes at the front of her shift.

Another friend often arrived late to our planned get-togethers and meetings, whether breakfast, lunch, professional or club. One time a whole group changed the day of the week that we met to accommodate her schedule, but her attendance was still spotty and she still arrived late.

Are they just being rude?

I don't think of tardiness as rudeness, but rather a learned behavior that could be overcome if there were good reason to change. It may be caused by the following:

1) For some, it is a control issue--particularly if it involves their spouses or children. They may not have any other control over their lives, but they can hold up a whole family or occasion just by "finishing this one last thing," or losing a favorite necklace, or needing to let the dog out. Tardy wives are usually married to overbearing, bossy husbands, and always being late is a good way to grab back some of the power he has assumed over her life. If children are holding up the whole family, they probably learned that power struggle by watching Mom or Dad.

2) Some people enjoy the extra attention they receive, even if it is negative, when they rush into a room with hair askew, scarf and gloves being whisked off, papers rustling. All eyes turn to them instead of the speaker or leader.

3) There are cultural norms at work in the perception of tardiness. My ancestors came to the United States from Germany and England in the mid-1700s, but Americans of Asian, Indian, African, or Island heritage or other areas of Europe may perceive time very differently. We once belonged to a group where arriving 60-90 minutes late was considered appropriate for some of another cultural group. My Appalachian relatives also move to a different beat. We use many of the same English verbs with time concepts that we use with money: we save time, we invest time, we spend time, etc.

4) Metabolism or health may be the trigger for sense of time. I haven't known very many high energy, thin people who are also habitually late. People with a sluggish metabolism may need the pressure of being late to make the effort to speed up and move more quickly.

5) Some people enjoy the appearance of being extremely busy--too much on their calendar, too much to do, "too many people want my time, so you are lucky to have me at all." Every snap of the briefcase and sigh of relief as they slip into place 10 or 20 minutes late build their egos.

6) But perhaps the biggest reason for being late is that tardy people enjoy the "rush" of adrenaline, that down-to-the wire frantic feeling when they can't possibly meet a deadline. It's a high that is better than a drug, and it is addictive. They find it very energizing--being on time doesn't provide that feeling. Some procrastinators need to pile everything up at the end in order to feel the energy to actually accomplish all the tasks they have left to the last minute. However, others overstep that and just fall into the sloppily-late group and will be decorating the tree or shampooing the dog when the guests arrive.

When the Prompt People and the Tardy Troopers are trying to plan something, the first thing to agree on is that the Tardies will continue to be late regardless, because their tardiness has nothing to do with time, date, schedule or location. Then, after there is an agreed upon time and date, both will agree that the Prompt will start (or drive off) without them.

Buy Me a Puppy Daddy

This is a rhyme about my parents--although it could be about anyone's. I don't remember why or when I wrote it, but I came across it in my draft file today. It reminds me that I'm so grateful that I had wonderful parents. But so often these days when I see what others my age are experiencing, I'm so grateful to God that he allowed them a dignified, peaceful and "healthy" home-going with family by their sides.

Buy me a puppy Daddy
Give me a horse, pretty please!
"Save your dimes and dollars, Baby,
Animals don’t grow on trees."

Tell me a story Mommy,
read me a volume or two!
"Write your own my dear daughter,
Read it to me when you’re through."

623 I'm apparently not the oldest blogger

These guys look older than me. The Becker-Posner Blog. Nobel laureate Gary Becker and Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner have planned a new weblog, so I'm guessing it will be law and economics, not recipes and crafts.

What am I? I can never fool these guys!

You Are the Investigator

5 You're independent - and a logical analytical thinker. You love learning and ideas... and know things no one else does. Bored by small talk, you refuse to participate in boring conversations. You are open minded. A visionary. You understand the world and may change it.

What number are you?

Hat tip to Paula, who finished her novel!

621 Ten Trends in Publishing

The Wall Street Journal on November 22 featured a special section on "Trends." The article in that section on trends in publishing suggests the following:

1. The "Do not call lists" have hurt magazine sales. The new approach is to pair up with a major retailer--launch a new title at a specific store, like Wal-Mart.

2. Publish more women's titles. In 2003 consumers spent $1.6 billion on women's magazines. O (Oprah) and Lucky lead the growth.

3. Overstatement--is it a trend? Three major dailies overstated circulation numbers, and in this industry, three examples prove a trend.

4. The line between editorial content and advertising continues to fade. More magazines will resemble catalogs.

5. Hook the young. Some newspapers are putting out special editions for younger readers--Redeye, Red Streak. Heavy on entertainment, news articles larded with short, snappy stories. The training wheels of newspapers. The hope is they will graduate to the "mother paper."

6. Long bets--a balooning pool of titles. 19% more titles were published but fewer readers. Publishing field is looking for the block buster--a DaVinci Code or a Purpose Drive Life (19,000,000 copies since October 2002) to float the others.

7. Political black hole--it is possible the bottom will drop out now that the campaign is over, but maybe not--with cabinet members resigning, there may be more stories to tell.

8. The next Dan Brown--best seller. (can't read my notes here)

9. What's cooking. The trend is for TV personalities on the Food Network to issue titles. Cookbooks are big sellers, and they have a built in readership.

10. New or used? New books are being sold as used on the internet. The jury is out on whether this hurts or helps--some of us will never pay $35 to read a book--we'll wait or go to the library.

620 Doggie Humor

The Midwest Border Collie Rescue page is loaded with dog humor. My friends Syliva and Dave have Border Collies. Sylvia says they will actually try to herd cats. My son has a chocolate lab--his second--lost the first one (vanilla) to the wife. My brother is fond of Boxers. My friend Nancy used to have Goldens. My daughter's Chihuahua recently died at age 18. We have a cat. This has been around the internet many times, but has something for all of us.

How many dogs does it take to change a light bulb?

GOLDEN RETRIEVER: The sun is shining, the day is young, we've got our whole lives ahead of us, and you're inside worrying about a stupid burned out bulb?

BORDER COLLIE: Just one. And then I'll replace any wiring that's not up to code.

DACHSHUND: You know I can't reach that stupid lamp!

ROTTWEILER: Make me.

LAB: Oh, me, me!!!! Pleeeeeeze let me change the light bulb! Can I? Can I? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can I?

GERMAN SHEPHERD: I'll change it as soon as I've led these people from the dark, check to make sure I haven't missed any, and make just one more perimeter patrol to see that no one has tried to take advantage of the situation.

TIBETAN TERRIER: Let the Border Collie do it. You can feed me while he's busy.

JACK RUSSELL TERRIER: I'll just pop it in while I'm bouncing off the walls and furniture.

POODLE: I'll just blow in the Border Collie's ear and he'll do it. By the time he finishes rewiring the house, my nails will be dry.

COCKER SPANIEL: Why change it? I can still pee on the carpet in the dark.

DOBERMAN: While it's dark, I'm going to sleep on the couch.

BOXER: Who cares? I can still play with my squeaky toys in the dark......

CHIHUAHUA: Yo quiero Taco Bulb.

IRISH WOLFHOUND: Can somebody else do it? I've got this hangover.....

POINTER: I see it, there it is, there it is, right there....

GREYHOUND: It isn't moving. Who cares?

AUSTRALIAN SHEPHERD: First, I'll put all the light bulbs in a little circle...

OLD ENGLISH SHEEP DOG: Light bulb? I'm sorry, but I don't see a light bulb.

HOUND DOG: ZZZZZZzzzzz.z.z.z..z..z..z...z

CAT: Dogs do not change light bulbs. People change light bulbs. So, the question is: How long will it be before I can expect light?

And we all know about academic librarians and light bulbs: "How many academic librarians does it take to change a light bulb? Just five. One changes the light bulb while the other four form a committee and write a letter of protest to the Dean, because after all, changing light bulbs IS NOT professional work!"

If you live in Illinois or Wisconsin, these Border Collies may be looking for you.

619 All she wants is her privacy

Linsay Lohan I've seen in one movie--the one where the mother (Jamie Lee Curtis) and daughter change bodies but still know who they are, Freaky Friday. Linsay has now turned 18 (although I thought she looked older--not a good sign if you want to stay in the movies), and sings about "Privacy" on her debut album. Esther first mentioned this in her blog and then she wrote a rap to go with Linsay's plea--in about five minutes. If movie goers and photographers really gave her privacy, she'd be singing another tune.

618 When he says "Shush," you listen!

Greg likes Rush Limbaugh, corn on the cob, camping by the lake, and would like it if both cellphones and student loans would go poof. He's a librarian, hear him roar!

617 Dr. Rice and the Feminists

Babs on my blogroll is another new mommy. Her baby came from Russia, and sounds like a real sweetheart. Motherhood is new to Babs, but saying it like it is, isn't. She can still hit it out of the ballpark. In a recent blog at her site called, "Girl in Right" she decries the distain the Feminists are showing toward Dr. Condoleezza Rice:

"Feminists and civil rights advocates deride anyone who may have walked through the doors opened through the sweat and blood of early equal rights leaders, but who then fail to fall in line with the current objectives of the "progressives". How does it follow that if a woman wanted to earn a PhD in the '70s, she's obligated to espouse the virtues of late term abortion in the 21st century? I'm not quite following that stream of logic. We can be thankful for the effort of others who came before us without having to traipse behind them blindly for eternity."

Being sleep deprived with a sick baby hasn't confused Babs at all.

616 GOP Elephant Christmas Ornament

Someone has sent me an offer for a patriotic Christmas tree ornament.


No thanks. 

Well, Christmas trees aren't a religious symbol, being a carry-over from a pagan custom for a different holiday, but since we've more or less thrown holy water on it all these years to keep it green, I'd rather not make it even more secular with a Republican elephant bearing gifts.

Update: I checked on the artist. He is Christopher Radko, and his website shows many special issue ornament used as fund raisers. There is also a donkey ornament with gifts and a John Kerry ornament as well as a George Bush ornament. They cost between $40-$50.

615 In My Book®

Do you like to send nice cards? Here's a card that will keep on giving--with a beautiful bookmark. Check out this site called In My Book, for all the different people on your list who will enjoy this simple gift.

614 Oops! ULAC?

Huge Thanksgiving services Wednesday evening and Thursday morning at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, known around here as UALC. But spell checks won't tell you when the words are spelled right but in the wrong order. So yesterday's bulletin welcomed us to "Upper Lutheran Arlington Church." It got a good laugh when our pastor mentioned it--most of us hadn't even noticed.

This item has been cross posted at my other blog, Church of the Acronym.
ULAC 

613 The table groaned

This check-list shows the menu and organization of my daughter's Thanksgiving. Two items didn't get checked off, but they were on the table. There were 2 pumpkin and 2 apple pies, and a pumpkin rice pudding, a la Martha. I hope that before she's forty she'll discover that the most important gift you give your guests is a rested, happy hostess. At this point, she is still enjoying doing all this work, and she has three guests for the four day holiday, so I'm sure all the food will be eaten by Monday.


The turkey tasks 

Happy Thanksgiving 2004

Have a happy Thanksgiving. We're having dinner with 5 other people (all adults); my daughter has made four pies, two of them "deep dish." I'm guessing that is about l lb. of pie per person. Two 20 lb. turkeys. She was chopping, slicing and dicing all day yesterday. Time to move the safety pin on my slacks. It is also her birthday week; doesn't seem right that she has spent three days getting ready, and then it will all be over in 30 minutes.

Her sister-in-law has flown in from Denver, and apparently, the Columbus airport had everything running smoothly. She called me from there (I was expecting flight delay stories) to ask if I'd bake another two pies for her. She didn't have enough room for everything. We do pies a little differently, and all I had to do was wipe a little milk on the crust and cover the fluting with foil and put them in the oven according to her written instructions. She makes my organizational skills look like a third grader, so everything came to our house with careful instructions and already made.

Here's one of my stories about my daughter preparing for one of her wonderful dinners.

611 New Baby on Board

Amy Welborn, whom I link to at Church of the Acronym has had her baby boy--November 19, I think. Amy holds an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, taught theology in Catholic high schools, and served as a parish Director of Religious Education. And she's a mommy again, and can now bend over again, she says. She is the author of "The Words we Pray; discovering the richness of traditional Catholic prayers," and "The DaVinci Code; the facts behind the fiction." She has also authored childrens' books.

De-coding DaVinci

610 Pork Sausage for Ohioans

In a show of equal opportunity porking, Ohio Representatives Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Democrat, and Steven LaTourette, a Republican, want about $350,000 for music education programs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in the current federal budget. Republicans have shown that they too can spend money like drunken Democrats. We need Newt.

609 Operation Christmas Child

Our church narthex at Mill Run is a drop off site for Operation Christmas Child and yesterday, the last day, it was really humming. Volunteers and donors were every where, and the room was filling up. About 10 a.m. I remembered. So I got out the four plastic shoe boxes I bought on sale for about 88 cents each and brought out the items I’d been purchasing through out the year. Actually, there wasn’t as much as I remembered, and I only had items in certain suggested categories. But I read the directions and decided I didn’t need everything on the list. Toys are missing from my boxes this year. Inexpensive small toys are so cheaply made I don’t even look for them anymore. Even small puzzles or games seem to be in the $5 neighborhood. I had some nice shirts and pants all for girls ages 2-4 (all purchased at end of season sales), mittens or socks, soap, combs, slippers, school scissors, and hard candy to fill in all the empty spaces. The snap on lids would barely go on, so even if I’d bought more school supplies or a toy, I don’t think they would have fit.

609-a Friends of the Library

Today I returned some books to the public library and discovered it was Friends of the Library Book Sale Week. This sale is the size of many smaller town libraries with huge tables set up in the main circulation area. I leafed through some Pearl Buck and Judith Krantz and Tom Clancy, paused at a 1996 Internal Medicine textbook that weighed about 10 lbs., and momentarily fingered EdTV, the video. Even computers were for sale. I finally settled on a 1981 Southern Living hard cover Annual Recipes. You can't go wrong with a cook book, even if you don't cook much. These go for $6-$12 on the internet used book sites. I paid $2 and it looks like it was never used. Not even a sticky fingerprint.

It is organized month-by-month and includes entertainment ideas for each season. There are microwave recipes, recipes for two, menus, tips, and because of the date, no low-carb or low-fat articles like the recent cookbooks. That alone makes it worth the price!

For November there is:
Sweet-and-sour turnips
Mexicali meat loaf
Fried peach pies
Stir fried cabbage
Cheesy grits casserole (I think my mother made that)
Fluffy eggnog pie
Sweet potato surprise
Raisin butter

608 Campaign Ad Spending in 2004

Today's paper reported that $167 million was spent in Ohio on campaign ads for all federal, state and local races, and that Cleveland alone accounted for $77 million, second only to Los Angeles ($84 million). Five Columbus TV stations pulled in more than $30 million. As an Ohioan, I can testify that our media got wealthy in the months, weeks and days before the November 2, 2004 election. I could have accepted Kerry as President toward the last, just to have the campaign ads over.

So I looked at the summary report by Campaign Media Analysis Group. Based on the hysteria and accusations of a large clutch of homophobic fundamentalist voters, the ad revenue doesn't add up to that conclusion at all. Over $239 million dollars were spent on approximately 365,000 television ads about the ECONOMY (jobs, taxes, Social Security, tort reform). Next most important on the ad front was HEALTHCARE with over 325,000 ads totalling over $230 million spent. The WAR ON TERROR was third, with about $130 million spent on ads in the Presidental campaign. Gay Marriage spending was barely a blip, being outspent by Indian Gaming six times over.

The Democrat 527s outspent the Republican 527s by a huge margin, $66.5 million to $10.9 million. Kerry led in internet ad spending by 50%, and I'm sure campaign gurus will be looking at those dollars carefully--1) could they have made the race close, or 2) would the money have been better spent elsewhere, or 3) did the DNC enter that arena too late (RNC was outspending on the internet until September).

To have access to details, you'll need to be a subscriber, but the main site, has lots of interesting information.