Shaunna's Soliloquies

Sigh

Rear View

(for Wordless Wednesday go here.)

The Times They Are A-Changin'

The weather is hot, the Santa Anas are blowing, and SoCal is a sheet of flame. The news has footage of current disaster intermingled with "specials" noting the thirty-year anniversary of the mass murder in the name of religion that was the insanity of Jonestown.

 

Amidst this cacophony of tragedy there existed a strength of purpose born from disappointment and despair. Throughout California on Saturday people gathered at city halls to protest Proposition 8.

(The picture is of a statue of the founder of San Buenaventura, Father Junipero Serra - via the mission era circa 1782, when California was a part of Spain - with the protesters starting to gather in the background in front of Ventura's city hall.)

As I see it, this is the start of a grass-roots movement against inequality. You don't take away your fellow citizen's established rights. Period. 

Keith Olbermann was marvelously eloquent regarding this (read it here or watch it here - that is if you haven't already, it's all over the internet). And while I can wax eloquent myself now and then in this case I'll simply leave it at this:

As a California native I'm appalled and grieved by the injustice Prop 8 represents. I'll keep joining the fight to repeal this injustice, and although these words are now more than forty years old, well, they seem quite apropos:

                                            The line it is drawn
                                            The curse it is cast
                                            The slow one now
                                            Will later be fast
                                            As the present now
                                            Will later be past
                                            The order is
                                            Rapidly fadin'
                                            And the first one now
                                            Will later be last
                                            For the times they are a-changin'
                                                                                           -Bob Dylan

Califas Burning

The fires always make me heartsick. It may very well be due to the ingrained memory of the Bel Air fire when I was a child. That awesome inferno happened close on the heels of watching a neighbor's house burn down (I was awakened to witness this spectacle by my mother - at the age of around five - and still don't know why, although it left quite an impression). However, I digress.

Anyway, I remember watching the blaze from the other side of the Valley, a giant glowing red ball that could be seen from miles away, as well as witnessing and absorbing the anxiety of the adults in my life. They were worried that the fire would come over the hill and engulf my paternal grandmother ("Bahquine") and uncle's home in the hills of Sherman Oaks. I also remember "going for a drive" to look at the damage afterward. The dreadful smell, along with the magnificent homes reduced to ashes marked by brick chimneys standing sentinel over the ruins.

Laurel Canyon, Malibu (oh so many times), but particularly in '71 when we lived there and a good friend's father died fighting the fire ... on and on and on. So many, so many. Infinitum.

There have been a lot of fires since I've returned from Northern California, they run into one another like raindrops upon a window pane. This particular photo was shot during the Zaca Fire last year. I had tickets to attend a concert at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, but there was absolutely no way I was going to sit within that structure when the smoke was thick enough to choke on and the probability of the flames roaring down the canyon wasn't inconceivable. No way. I stopped by the mission, shot a few pictures, got back into the car and headed home. Exit, stage south.

Last night I turned on ABC to watch some insipid program and it was pre-empted by the local news. Santa Barbara was burning down. The fire started in Montecito, and the winds were blowing 70  mph. The newscasters reported with controlled panic in their voices, and one in the field broke down into tears. The probability of the fire heading toward town was all-too-sickening-real.

I live 17 miles south of Montecito, and spend a lot of time in Santa Barbara. I've spent time there since I was a child, when we spent summer vacations in Carpinteria. I love it. My half-sister lives above the mission, and as far as I know she's evacuated right now. Her family is in my thoughts and prayers, as well as the untold unfortunate others who've suffered this calamity.

The winds are quieter tonight. Untold damage was already done.

Liar Liar Pants On Fire

Did she really think people wouldn't check? (She was asked "What do you read for news sources?" NOT "What do you read up there in Alaska?") Maybe her fifteen minutes will be up soon. Yeah, I know. But one can hope.

Remembrance

Today, of course, is a day of remembrance. For all the veterans of the armed services we think of you (and remember you, and thank you) for the sacrifice and service you've given your country.

On a more personal note, today once was my maternal grandmother's birthday. She was a beauty, wasn't she? Nowadays I refer to her in jest as my "hubba hubba grannie," but wowsa she really was.

She was born to a time where she always referred to today as "Armistice Day" - she'd forgo the newer term of "Veteran's Day" - and if you reminded her of the change she'd become snappish and say petulantly, "I know! I know!" (In hindsight, I wonder if she did it to annoy my dad, who was a WWII vet. Most probably. No, definitely. She loved to annoy him.) Or maybe she just didn't like to be reminded of all the conflicts in her lifetime. WWI. WWII. The Mushroom Cloud. Korea. The Cold War. The Cuban Missile Crisis. Vietnam.

Ah, well.

She'd also tell we kids that the reason everyone had the day off was because it was her birthday. She was that important.

Grandma really was something else, when I think about it. This portrait was done when she was in her twenties. She was quite smart, as well as being beautiful.  She was a math genius ("oh, calculus is easy" she'd advise when I'd whine about mere algebra), who worked as a CPA until my mother was born... in her late twenties. Pause for that. And as a young woman, she bobbed her hair, raised her hems, smoked those cigarettes and danced that Charleston when she was done crunching numbers for the day. Oh, I forgot about the gin. Go Grannie go.

(Here's that photo again of her with Grandpa in the glory days following WWII, most likely in the late '40s or early '50s.)

So, this remembrance is for her, as well as my uncles and father who served in WWII, my neighbor Mike who still deals with the horror of Vietnam, my friends who served (either because they volunteered or were drafted), in fact all veterans everywhere across this country who served because they believed it was the right thing to do.

Grandma's also remembered by the generation who lost her before they knew her. One of my GenX son's tattoos is Grannie inspired. I'd like to think she'd be rather proud.

Go Grannie go, indeed.

Rock on, Hubba Hubba.

Peace out.

Tomorrow Has Started Now

You'd think I would've posted ebulliently immediately after the election... and make no mistake about it, I was very, very happy. The day afterward was a bit surreal, buoyed by a cloud of joy while feeling an immense relief. Yes we did. Tomorrow is starting now. 

Obama's speech was no less than magnificent, his somber mien most fitting for the seriousness at hand. The crowd reaction from the different locations... well, it's not often you get the chance to feel you're watching history in the making, and maybe helped. Just a bit. As a boomer it was gratifying to read Heather Havrilesky's wonderfully eloquent GenX open apology. Yes they finally got it.

I worked as a volunteer for the Obama campaign (68 vs. 30 million, yeah baby), making calls through election day.  I've simply been greatly fatigued in the aftermath, and tried to use the past week to re-group and re-energize. (Not to mention going to the beach, giving the dog some attention, enjoying the sunsets, just breathing for a bit...) It's also highly gratifying to read about the conservative crackup,  as well as the myth of the conservative majority. F**k Fox News' misinformation campaign. Loggins' lyrics are now reality:

                        Let the pendulum swing.
                        Let the old guard surrender
                        It is a new day, a new world.

Yet, yet ... well, there's important doings going down in California that have my attention and current effort.

I made it clear in an earlier post about my position on Prop 8. As far as I'm concerned, it's a hater law that denies equality, no better than Jim Crow.  Not to mention the lies and misinformation that were touted as a way to garner votes. So now I'm in full mode for the repeal of Prop 8 (sign the petition here). It's heartening that the Governor has now spoken in support  (although you want to ask...  you couldn't do more BEFORE the election?)

Also, as a firm believer in the separation of church and state, I don't believe that religion has any place in the making of civil law. Period. We don't live in a theocracy.  And I've been completely appalled by the money that came through religious organizations to fund Yes on 8, so I'm supporting efforts toward revoking tax-exempt status (all organizations, not only the LDS) who crossed that line and actively campaigned - and advised from the pulpit - for the Yes vote.

Busy times. Tomorrow started yesterday. (And if you want to let the new President-elect know what you expect from your new government go here).

Sister Birthday Sunset

How apropos... a sky filled with all her favorite colors. Happy Birthday!

Sunset From the Hill

for Wordless Wednesday go here.

Vote

If you've already voted... GREAT. If not... GET OUT AND VOTE TODAY. No whining about long lines - how many times have you waited in line for a sporting event, concert, amusement park or even Costco? So, no excuses. Get to it, chop chop chop.

If the national election's called early those on the West Coast please still go to the polls. Local elections are important, too. In California the propositions are very important.

Any problems at the polls call 1-877-462-6608 (877-GOCNN-08).

And a sincere and heartfelt rest in peace (e ho'omaha me ka maluhia) for Madelyn Dunham, Obama's grandmother.

"Say a prayer for Toot and thank her for raising Barack Obama.” –Michelle Obama, November 3, 2008

Yes. Now get out and vote.