617 N. Elm St in Historic Fisher Park

Our legislature is exploring taxing medical services in order to close the budget shortfall.  That means an extra charge on top of each dental cleaning, physical, check up, illness which I already pay for through insurance premiums, co-pays and the little extra doctors charge that insurance companies don’t cover.  In practical terms, this means that I will have my teeth cleaned once per year so the rest of the family can have their bi-annual check ups.

2205 W Market St in Historic Sunset Hills

A letter to today’s paper proposed government buying foreclosed property from banks then using a lottery system to dispose of them because this shell game works so well for education.

302 W Market St, downtown Greensboro

I think it may be time to look at some untapped resources.

The year we bought our house, the nearby town that provided our water hook ups decided that they needed to update the pipes that delivered our water.  As our property is in an unincorporated part of the county, we do not pay taxes to this municipality nor do we have representation.  There was a contract drawn up about 30 years before.  It was a simple agreement that the couple dozen households near the border would pay for the installation and upkeep of a water delivery system and would pay for the water at twice the rate of people living in town.  Not ideal but it worked.

After 30 years the town decided that the pipes needed to be bigger.  It is not that there is more demand along the line.  There had been some breaks and leaks which we property owners promptly had fixed at our own expense.  Still, the town insisted that our two inch pipe needed to be replaced with a six inch pipe.

As it turns out, we were paying for a system to serve a new neighborhood that was in the planning stages.  Several dozen new houses that would be within the city limits could be most directly served using the pipes that serviced our few houses.  My suggestion was that if the town had to use larger pipes they should pick up the difference in price.  We would pay replacement value for the current system; they could kick in the increased cost of a heftier infrastructure.  Of course, since we had no representation the town refused to entertain negotiations.  We got stuck with the inflated bill.

(This is typical property owner rant, I know but there is more to the story.)

You know how they say that Americans work a certain number of days just to pay taxes?  Well you could add another 9 weeks to that for me to pay off that freaking water line.  An unexpected expense but I paid it off.  Then several weeks later I heard the same lament but accomanied by a choir.  Apparently a property owner had petitioned the town to waive the fee.  They couldn’t afford it.  They were poor.  They had limited resources.  They asked for mercy.  And they got it.    Because they are a church.  Now I understand they are a small church with just a few dozen congregants but they are associated with a larger worldwide organization that rakes in hundreds of millions of dollars yearly.   And I understand that their portion of the bill was larger than mine because their quaint little congregation holds onto 14 acres of undeveloped land next to the new development.  And I understand that they are water conservationists of a sort, adhering to baptism of the Holy Spirit.  But all this is besides the point.

They got an exemption because they are a church.

First Presbyterian Church, 617 N Elm St in historic Fisher Park.

Our Lady of Grace, 2205 West Market Street in historic Sunset Hills.

West Market United Methodist, 302 W. Market St, downtown Greensboro.

Why are these agencies which sit on some of the most valuable land in the county not paying property taxes?

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. ¹⁶They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men, because you pay no attention to who they are. ¹⁷Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”

¹⁸But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, ²⁰and he asked them, “Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?”

²¹“Caesar’s,” they replied.
Then he said to them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”

²²When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.

Matthew 15-22

I understand that a lawyer for the outgoing governor of Alaska has sent a warning to bloggers to back off.  This is from an associated press article.

…Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims.

“To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as ‘fact’ that Governor Palin resigned because she is ‘under federal investigation’ for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation,” Van Flein said in a statement. “This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law.”

Now I know that defamation is the false or unjustified injury of the good reputation of another so I will be very careful here.

Based on observation and analysis of public record, Sarah Palin is a loose wing nut in need of the firm application of thumb and forefinger.

So sue me.

My aim in being involved in establishing a community garden was not just to grow local foods but to build community.  This is expressed in our 10% giveaway, the community beds, the layout inviting people to walk and enjoy the tranquil scene.  It is also integral in the chance meetings of gardeners and the conversations that naturally arise as plot owners come by daily to care for their individual gardens.

Last night when I went to water another gardener came by.  I was a little preoccupied.  One of my sons had just told me that he was interested in talking to a marine recruiter.  He is a rising junior and is beginning to think about what he will do after finishing high school.  I mentioned this to the other gardener as we were watering our plants.

“Given your beliefs I imagine that’s really hard for you,” she said.

That seemed like an odd thing to say.  She and I had never spoken about my beliefs.  We had never spoken about philosophy or lifestyle or religion.  We’d talked about beans once or twice.

“I mean, you probably don’t think that it is ever acceptable to go to war.”

Where was she getting this from?

“Actually,” I told her, “our country was justified in entering World War II.  There were atrocities that needed to be addressed and I can wish that there had been a peaceful resolution to them but I can understand that a military response can be part of a solution. “

“Well I think that punishing a country that sent terrorists to destroy buildings in our country merits a military response.”

I was dumbfounded and made the mistake of reacting rather than responding.

“Iraq had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks.”

She gave me one of those knowing smiles that are reserved for the terribly ignorant.

“My son’s are in the Marines.  They tell me things that you probably don’t know about.”

How can anyone still believe that Saddam Hussein was the true initiator of the 9/11 attacks?  This amazes me.

But some people do.  And I would not have believed this if I had not had the opportunity to talk to a stranger with a similar common interest in making life a little better by clearing ground and growing something good.

For those who didn’t get the memo…

more about “Bush admits that Iraq Had Nothing To …“, posted with vodpod

The sun dips below the western tree line around 8 p.m.  This is a great time to water and a relaxing time to chat with other plot owners at the garden.  Two days ago a note went out warning about a dreaded squash borer infestation. Last night  I brought along a printed brochure to leave in our reference desk (a ziplock bag tied to the water spigot that we leave notes in).

There were two women that I had not yet met along with a young girl and boy gently misting their plots.  One of the women, the ‘auntie’ introduced herself.  We started talking about the cut worm that has found its way to the yummy hollow-stemmed vines of many of our straight and crook-necked squash plants.  I showed her a picture of the very unusual moth that has found our neighborhood to be so inviting.

You already know that this gardening stuff is not my strong suit but the processes involved fascinate me.  Bugs are interesting.  The transformation of seed to sprout is more fundamental a miracle to me than Lazarus rising from a corpse.  The jargon of flora and fauna is purely poetical.  Say this out loud and listen to yourself–Melittia cucurbitae, Order of Lepidoptera, Family Sesiidae.  That’s who came to dinner.

On the other hand, to a squash plant these little guys are no less than piratical cut-throats that go chuckling into their very marrow and tear the life out of them.  They are cancer visible.

So who wanted to know about our new garden pets, I mean pests.  Auntie?  Mama?  ‘Course not.  It was the little girl and boy.  We sat down by one of my squash plants and looked for the tell-tale wound at the bottom of the stem.

“Think something got in there?  Should we look?”

There’s a question that required no answer.  Well, duh.

Being less sentimental than a real gardener, I ripped the affected vine from the plant.  Our three heads bobbed together as we looked closely.  I started to split the stem open and we saw a tiny amount of fuzzy yellow particles along with a bit of greenish-yellow ooze.

“See that?  I think someone was here.  You know what I think that is?”

The kids put their hands on mine to move the vine and get a better angle.  Then they looked at me expectantly.

“Larva poop.”

Big smiles from the kids punctuated by groans from Auntie and Mama.

“Come on, let’s look a little bit farther but we need to be careful and quiet.”

We examined the widening slit closely until-bingo.

“Look at that.  It’s pretty small.  What do you see?”

“It’s white,” said the girl.  “And it has a black spot on it’s head.”

“Cool,” said the boy.

“It’s pretty surprised right now.  They don’t expect to be in the light.  See, these guys are really smart.  You know how moths usually come out at night and fly around your window or lamp posts?  These guys are moths but they come out during the day.  The mom puts her eggs on a yummy plant like this where the babies can sneak inside the vines.  See, most caterpillars eat on the outside of plants and that’s where something else can find them and eat them up.  These guys live on the inside where they don’t get rained on and they have all the food they want and they have this great shelter.  Pretty smart, I’d say.”

The kids nod.  Sounds like a good plan.

I ripped up the rest of the squash plant.

“Not in my plot.”

The kids thought this was pretty funny.  Their mom, though, she looked a little worried.  Her eyes flicked over to her plot where in the corner was growing a  yellow squash vine with broad leaves and flowers.

“Let’s see what else we can find,” I said handing the kids some stems with leaves.  “Take a look at the bottom sides of the leaves and see if there is anything that looks strange.”

“Hey, look at this.  Is this something?” asked the boy.  He held out a leaf that had a dozen little spots neatly laid out at the crux of two veins.

“Great job.  Look at that.  Those are eggs.  Aren’t they cool?  Look how neat they’re laid out.  Their like treasures all in little rows.  See, they hatch there and the tiny critters just zip down the stem and cut their way in.  Then they’re safe.  Until we came along.”

“So what do we do with them?”

“Well, we can leave them alone and let them grow.  We can put soap on them and suffocate them.  We can put them in a bucket of water and they will eventually drown.  Or I hear their really good for little boys to eat.”

“Cool” the boy said just at the same time that Auntie said “No.”  Mom smirked.

“Just kidding.  You aren’t hungry enough.  Save them for some starving kid.”

While the kids took the infected plants to a water filled bucket to drown the invaders I spoke with their mom.

“It’s important that you not compost your squash vines if they are infested,” I told mom.  “They’ll live in the soil and then just continue to spread.”

Of course mom wanted to look at her beautiful plant and we did find eggs and a suspicious slit.

“See that ooze?  That’s your plant screaming.”

We talked about destroying the eggs and carefully splitting the affected stem to remove the larvae.  I explained that the vines could be re-rooted above the wound by covering with dirt.  I asked her if she had old pantyhose and suggested that she wrap the vines with it so a new infestation of egg laying moths could not find purchase although this is a weak preventative.   I showed her pictures of the jewel bright moths so she could look out for them.  I showed her a brochure with a bacterial insecticide that paralyzes the digestive system of lepidoptera and talked about care in using it as there are other members of that order that offer neither threat nor harm.

We returned to the two kids who were enthusiastically performing their ritual execution through dunking.  It is funny to me how children can enjoy the cycles of living and dying with pure exuberance.  I don’t know if this is a lack of morality or a healthier view of the planet system as a whole.  Either way, the larvae had no chance between their squishing fingers.  Better luck next life.

Mom told them it was time to go and they both groaned.  They wanted to play.  The boy looked at me with his blue eyes bright, cheeks smudged and hands dripping.

“I love nature,” he said.

Named after the 19th century author Edward George Lytton-Bulwer who came up with innovative phrasing such as “the great unwashed” and “the almighty dollar.”  He also composed this opening to Paul Clifford:

“It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents–except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.”

Contestants in this literature parody contest submit opening lines to fictitious work that matches in spirit the prose above.  There are a variety of categories including children’s literature, purple prose, western literature.  The grand prize this year went to David McKenzie of Federal Way, WA.  He had this to share.

“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin’ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin’ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the “Ellie May,” a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin’ and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

I particularly liked the winner of the ‘Adventure’ category, Joe Wyatt of Amarillo TX.

“How best to pluck the exquisite Toothpick of Ramses from between a pair of acrimonious vipers before the demonic Guards of Nicobar returned should have held Indy’s full attention, but in the back of his mind he still wondered why all the others who had agreed to take part in his wife’s holiday scavenger hunt had been assigned to find stuff like a Phillips screwdriver or blue masking tape.”

Jesse Kolman of GoodYear, AZ  kept it short and intriguing.

Perry had come a long way in the nine years since being arrested by a park ranger in his ‘81 Firebird tenderly holding a spiral-cut, honey-glazed ham (with the bone removed).

For the rest, go to Bulwer-Lytton Results.

Grasshopper,

There are many roads toward information harmony.  It is essential to achieve clarity of purpose in order to lighten your path.

What is your goal? You may wish to be free of the crushing, suffocating weight of random scattering of paper.  You may want to be able to find specific information without being swept into the morass of miscellany.  Perhaps you wish for balance of archive and working information in efficient reach.

It is achievable.

Choose your path.  Are you an ascetic Zen master?  The shredder is your best friend.  Let go all those pieces of paper with strange marks on them.  Enjoy the incredible lightness of being (unemployed).  Do you lean toward Krishna bliss?  Set aside a room with unsorted piles to dig through with the joy in your heart of the fearless explorer (make sure there is a door that can be shut and no breezes).  Are you comfortable with the Middle Way?  This is the Tao of Filing.

The Tao is a balanced approach.   It saves not everything; it shreds not to nothingness.  It is based on detachment from sentimentality but accepts the necessity for attachment to some artifacts.  It loves the alphabet.

First:  simplify.  Reduce your overall burden using the basis of essential vs. non-essential.  Let go of rough drafts, duplicates, hand written notes.  If this is problematic, put all those questionables in a big box and if you don’t touch that box for 6 months then sacrifice the box through fire.

Second: sort.  Imagine there are three options in life and use this mantra to sort your documents—scan, shred, save.   Scan anything that can possibly be useful in the long term and store the files in at least two places (computer and back up).  Make up a naming system that makes sense to you.  Shred hard copies whenever possible.  Be unsentimental, after all it is the information you need, the vessel is superficial.  Save only the essential, for instance final drafts of reports, contracts or agreements with original signatures.

Three: store.  Be minimal.  Be happy with the alphabet and manila folders.  All else is vanity.

If you wish to have color in your life leave only working documents in your sight line and put those in pretty color folders.  If you do not touch a folder for an arbitrarily set number of days (choose a number from 1 to 10) sacrifice it to appease the fire deity.  If you do not do so, the fire deity might come and get you.

Once you find balance in the middle way you will feel an incredible relief and lightness.  Come to the light and let me help you along the way in any way that I can.

I have no words.

more about “HOVERBOY DESTROYS CHRISTMAS!! from 11…“, posted with vodpod

Gonna send five copies to my mother.

Gonna see my smiling face

On the cover of the Rolling Stone.

So I couldn’t resist.

The Gibsonville Community Garden held a very grand opening on May 30.  Christine asked me to talk a little about sustainability.  There were about 30 people there, some curious, some interested in leasing a plot and of course our central crew.  Lenny, the mayor was present, a local reporter and we had three master gardeners.  This is what I had to say.

“Good afternoon.”

The stony silence of people not listening?  Polite reserve?  Lucky I have a trick to figure that one out.

“We don’t have to agree that it’s good but can we agree that it is afternoon?”

Ahh, a response.  Lenny picked it up; he’s wearing a full grin.  Some chuckles and a few good afternoons back.

“I think this afternoon is good and is the first in a succession of lovely days we’ll be spending in the Gibsonville Community Garden.  You can see that a lot of hard work has been done to get this far.  You just heard from Christine.  I want to mention Leslie and Sam, Sandy, Steven (that’s my husband who dug that big hole for the apple tree and already snuck away); these are some of the people who did the really hard jobs.  And I know they were the hard jobs because they’re all the jobs that I weaseled out of.”

A couple laughs from the principles, a warm murmuring.  You did all that mowing this morning!  All right.  Time to focus.

“Christine asked me to talk a little about sustainability.  Sustainability is a buzzword, kind of like existential conflict or pink is the new black.  It means a lot of things depending on who you are and your personal experience.  And sometimes it can mean absolutely nothing but it sounds like you know something.  It’s one of the words people sometimes don’t question because they think they should know what it means.  To make sure we are all starting in the same place, I want to talk about what sustainability means to us, here, now.

For us, sustainable gardening starts with taking care of the soil.  We nourish the soil as the soil would be nourished naturally.  For that reason we won’t be using chemical herbicides, pesticides or fertilizers.  We are building the soil up because it is the soil that is going to nourish our plants.  I don’t know if you heard recently but just in Orange County some farmers used an herbicide in their hay fields to get rid of invasive plants, thistles, clover.  They wanted to maximize grass for their baling.  They sold the hay to horse farmers.  The horses did what horses do and a year later, their aged horse manure was sold to gardeners and guess what?  The herbicide is still there.  And it could be there for another year.  Nothing with a broad leaf can grow in it–no tomatoes or squash,  no lettuce or beans.

Now behind you is a big pile of dark dirt.  That is actually compost from a local farm, Calico Farm over on High Rock Road.  They are an organic farm, they don’t treat their fields with chemicals so none get into the cows, so naturally, none come out of the cows.  Last night I got a phone call from a man who read about our garden in the newspaper;  yes, I spoke with you earlier, I am so glad you came.  He told me he did organic farming in the 70s and asked if this is an organic garden.  It is not.  The term organic has been co-opted by our government and by corporate interests and if you want to talk about that some more you can give me a call, my phone number is in your packets.  There is a lengthy and expensive process to be certified organic and we just can’t afford to do this.  What we can do is adopt natural practices, what were called organic practices at one time but we are calling them sustainable.  And it starts with the soil.

Now I am sure you have some questions about these practices.  Please don’t ask me because I don’t know!  There are three master gardeners here today.  See that lady digging in the hole?  And there, Justin and I believe we have someone from the Cooperative Extension coming today.  They know.  And if you are shy, keep your eye on that big pile of dirt.  If you see someone stoop over like this,”

Hope there’s something I can pick up, yeah, a little dirt

“pick up a pinch of dirt, rubs it like so, sniff it you’ve found a farmer.  Make that person your best friend.  He or she has forgotten more about coaxing food out of the ground then I could learn in a lifetime.

At the Gibsonville Community Garden sustainable is not just about the Garden part, it is about community.  Part of our vision is building and sustaining our community and in order to do this we are asking each gardener to donate 1/10th of your produce to the community.  If you have any suggestions on how to distribute this please let me know, again you have my number.  This is a crucial point of our developing this garden model.

Now I am about to say something that is not going to win me any Miss Congeniality awards.”

Interesting, a wee bit of nervous laughing.  At least they’re still listening.

“Our country is the fattest undernourished country in the world.

Like I said–no sash for me but a couple people are smiling really wide.

It is not about money and it is not about providing quantities of food indiscriminately.  It is about making available good, fresh, wholesome, local food.  Further, it is about developing relationships among our neighbors to make sure our community is appropriately nourished.  We nourish the soil, the soil nourishes the plants, the plants nourish our bodies, this activityas a whole  sustains our community.

This is how we view sustainability at the Garden.  I am so happy that you are here taking part in it.  We are a work in progress and everyone’s effort and voice is genuinely appreciated.  Thank you for coming and helping to develop and grow this model.”

You think that you are speaking with or texting or e-mailing her.

She’s a nurse or a student or an aspiring model.  She is nurturing and hard working.  She has been doing community service in Africa but she is from Australia or England or Canada.  She very much wants to come to the United States.  It is her dream to live in this great country, to work and be a good citizen but most of all, to give her heart and soul to a kind and loving American man or woman.

In fact, over the last few months you have shared your deepest kindness and vulnerabilities with one of these folks.

The economy is tough all over but the economic squeeze is nothing new to west Africa.  Ghana is my focus right now but this story repeats itself daily throughout the region.  Just yesterday, ghanaweb announced in its business news section that Afrique announced the ten strongest economies in Africa based on 2005 figures.  Ghana debuted as number 10, even with this to say about the country:

Ghana – GPD: $54.45 billion The tenth ranked country on the list was also the first country to gain independence in sub-Saharan Africa in 1957. Despite being a country with plenty of natural resources, Ghana is still heavily dependent of international aid and technical assistance. Its chief exports are gold, timber and cocoa. Ghana operates a subsistence agriculture-based economy and employs about 60% of its workforce.

Let’s see if we’re paying attention.  This country is in the top 10% in GDP based on subsistence farming and a 40% unemployment rate.  And that’s before the global economic hit.

The new president, John Evans Atta Mills seems like a smart and involved and sincere guy who wants to improve the quality of life and continental standing of the country.  He has some tough challenges.

Not every Ghanian is a con artist and there are resources to help people make good decisions.  This blog post was written in 2007 by an American (Jersey-girl) who is raising her family in Ghana.  The government has tried to build up the infrastructure to better support technological industry and attract outside investment.  Like Bangalor and successful projects in the Indian subcontinent they have made strides in ‘wiring’ the countryside.  This has led to the establishment of a multitude of internet cafes.  This in turn has been the basis of a new cottage industry–virtual romance scams.

Ghanian youth, generally from ages 14 to 24 cannot find jobs.  They are banding together in collectives and running these scams.  They purchase portfolio shots from photo studios (and note the photo I used above was a freeware stock photo shot).  These are from young women who are trying to break into modeling or acting and is done absolutely without their knowledge or permission–their visual identities are stolen.  The scammers then troll through singles dating sites and magazine dating ads.  Their focus is the vulnerable, recent widowers, the disabled.  (An excellent resource put out for the latter, here.)  Once potential ‘clients’ are identified, they hone in on the vulnerabilities in the personal descriptions.  They begin correspondence rooting out areas that they can exploit.

I want to emphasize here that they are not necessarily exploiting people’s nefarious desires.  They are carefully learning what an already hurting human being needs to hear.  They are targeting deep needs that we humans don’t always successfully meet for each other–ease of loneliness, sense of relevance.

Over a period of weeks or months after developing a sense of trust and compatibility the scammers of course start to ask for money always with the promise that it is just to relocate and join their mark.  At the same time, they use that trust basis to drive a wedge between their victim and any friends or family that may object.  The fact that the latter works shows how deeply they touch a person’s basic needs, for love, companionship, relation.  They are good.  The American Embassy in Ghana puts out an excellent treatment of the development of this, let’s call it the business model.

Why are the scammers doing this?  It’s lucrative.  With the duping of just a few clients a year, say for a couple thousand a piece, a Ghanian can live very well.  Health care is not great in Ghana but it is really cheap.  Food, housing, even luxuries like cars are inexpensive by Western standards.  In a country with limited legal opportunities, cheating people is a viable employment.

So what can you do when a friend or family member is being taken in?

First kick yourself real hard for not recognizing that this person has been suffering.  He or she would be much less likely to be vulnerable if there was a local face-to-face outlet for friendship, companionship, company.  Lose the judgement and understand that he or she is missing something fundamental.  Help him or her develop a local support network.  At the same time, ask the right questions and offer correct information.  Suggest that the stranded potential spouse or lover produce some real documents (i.e. Visa) and have it checked out with the State Department.  Brainstorm some positive ways to challenge the scammer.  Be a detached rational and compassionate supporter.

It takes awhile for a person to become involved with this kind of scenario.  Take the same amount of time to bring your friend into healthful supportive relationships.  This is not a game and it’s not some shameful weakness.  This is an opportunity to become stronger in the human community.