Happy 40th, Mark!
Two Tune Tuesday: Milestones
Two Tune Tuesday: With Love from Daughter #3
My father was a gentle man who lived a life of decency and took pleasure in simple things – music, food, family, & the Brooklyn Dodgers. He passed away suddenly yesterday morning at 83 years old after a tricky aorta surgery. He ate like he was 25, danced like he never might again, and quietly, simply, taught me everything I know about social justice.
Godspeed, Dad.
WI Elections: Tuesday, August 9th
Colbert explains how Americans for Prosperity “helped” out with the recall elections by sending ballot applications to Democratic households.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Wisconsin’s Recall Election & Americans for Prosperity’s Absentee Ballot Typos | ||||
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I would like one Repulican I know to explain how on earth this isn’t voter suppression.
Life in Wisconsin, Pt. 4?
I’m not sure how many of these updates I’ve done, but here’s another!
This summer I’ve been spending most of my time reading, thinking, bicycling, and learning how to drive and cook. Weird, all of it, besides the reading & thinking parts.
There are times I find myself on a little path that’s actually called the Apple Creek Trail looking at the huge sky and the tiny finches and think, how the hell did this happen? Not in a bad way. It’s just a surprise, still, on a regular basis, and the more bucolic the scene, the more surprising.
I’ve been biking every day for a month now, & recently I’m up to at least 20 miles a day. I usually do that in two stints – an hour in the early afternoon & another 40 minutes around dusk – but it varies. I don’t really go anywhere in particular, but sometimes I stop at a picnic bench and read and/or write and/or smoke (yes, really!) for a while.
I’ve lost a little over 30 lbs. since I was first here in Winter 2008. Intentionally, and somewhat slowly.
Another day I’ll write more about the experience of teaching, of seeing the first students I knew as sophomores graduate, but for now, birds and clouds and fresh mushrooms from the weekly farmer’s market.
Recall Election Office Needs Help
We Are Wisconsin is the group working the recalls, and they had an office in LaCrosse, WI, burn to the ground this past week just as 800 volunteers had shown up to canvass the neighborhood for next week’s recall election.
The amazing thing is that they went out & canvassed anyway. Kind of mind-blowing. But they do need to replace the office & plenty of supplies they lost in the fire. I’m sure they had insurance, but that’s not often a speedy process, and the election is on 8/9, so help if you can.
One of Everything
Another amazing story out of India: a man’s stomach complaints turn out to be a uterus & ovaries. Imagine going into a hospital as a man with abdominal pains and winding up having a hysterectomy.
“The external reproductive organs of the patient were masculine and he has no problems whatsoever with his sexuality. He had functional male genitals and there was no formation of breasts in the patient. It’s an embryological accident at the time of embryonic formation,” he said.
The patient, who was said to be as “stunned” as his doctors at the discovery, is recovering in hospital and is being supported by his family.
It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? I had a doctor tell me once about a patient who had terrible acid reflux, and it turned out his stomach was backwards, so that the shallow end of it was at the end of the esophagus.
Two Tune Tuesday: Foster the People
I kept noticing “Pumped Up Kicks” because the guy’s voice reminded me of Ray Davies’ and that’s just not a bad thing.
Trippy and sweet electronica, what isn’t often my thing, but sometimes it hits when there’s some kind of nice noise & a pretty voice.
Dessert.
Anti AB 173
Congratulations to Outagamie County, reportedly the first county in Wisconsin to adopt a resolution to opposing AB 173, the anti-immigration copy cat law.
Milwaukee County Adds Domestic Partner Benefits
Good news from Fair Wisconsin:
FAIR WISCONSIN APPLAUDS MILWAUKEE COUNTY BOARD PASSAGE OF DOMESTIC PARTNER BENEFITS Board grants important protections to employees, moves County forward
Today members of the Milwaukee County Board approved a measure granting health care coverage to the same- and opposite-sex domestic partners of county employees. The final vote was 13-5.
“This decision marks an important victory for fairness. Providing equal employment benefits for all county employees is the right decision,” stated Katie Belanger, Executive Director of Fair Wisconsin.
“On behalf of Fair Wisconsin, other members of the Board of Directors and more than 20,000 members and activists statewide, I thank the members of the County Board and County Executive Chris Abele,” noted Fair Wisconsin Education Board President Robert Starshak. “The collective leadership of key board members, County Exec. Abele and other activists have been impressive. We look forward to continuing our work together to advance equality and move our state’s largest county forward.”
As the statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organization, Fair Wisconsin is proud to have worked closely with members of the County Board and the County Executive to support the passage of this resolution. Providing domestic partner benefits and creating a more inclusive workplace is a critical step towards building a stronger, more diverse workforce that will lead Milwaukee County in the years ahead.
With the passage of this resolution, Milwaukee County has joined a growing number of employers who already grant their employees these critical protections, including the State of Wisconsin, the City of Milwaukee and Marquette University, and top private sector employers like Aurora Health Care and MillerCoors.