How Long?

The other day I attended a community meeting, and during the meeting a question was posed to a person talking.  That person held a position of authority as being chair of an advisory panel to Borough Council and was pretty well schooled on why the group make the decision they were discussing.  One of the members of the audience point blank asked him where he was from.

I hear that a lot and it never ceases to amaze me that people either constantly ask me, or anyone who holds a position of authority, where they are from.  Does it make that much of a difference? I have lived here nearly 30 years now, yet I believe I am still considered an "outsider".  It appears that no matter how long you are here, if you weren't born here, you are not worth a plug nickel.

I asked a group of "natives" exactly how long it takes before a person is considered relevant. I explained that my husband and I have been here almost 30 years, we have raised a son here, and we have been active in the community almost as long.  The person looked at me somewhat quizzically and said he thought 30 years warranted  a "vested" status. I suppose I surprised them with my question, but I was really curious.  Does being born in a place grant you special powers to make decisions for the town? I supposed experiences or education from outside don't give you any special consideration.  I fear that with that kind of narrow thinking, this town is not destined for much.  

Equality

Last weekend, I stood at the wedding at one of my LGBT friends' wedding, and next weekend I will stand at the wedding of another couple.  I am so proud to be witness to this historic moment  for Marriage Equality in the county that I live in.  I also attended a rally the other day to support the Montgomery County Register of Wills, D. Bruce Hanes, on his quest to abide by the US Constitution and against DOMA, and why it is so important.

Same-Sex Marriage is one of the last civil rights issue.  It has been a long time coming, but it is the right thing to do.  Our Gay brothers and sisters deserve this; they deserve the ability to wed who they love, they deserve the ability to be with each other and have the rights that all other married couples enjoy. Furthermore, they deserve the ability to be who they are and not be shunned for that.  Marriage Equality is in no way harming my marriage as a Straight woman and causes no harm to anyone.  I just can't understand why people would be denied the ability to be with who they love.

Years ago, African-American were lynched and forced to stand away from white folk.  Millions fought for their right to be recognized as humans who are just like anyone else.  The world didn't end because they earned those rights; the world did change though, and now it needs to change again.  Marriage Equality is just like that battle and it is time we begin to see that the Constitution really does mean that everyone is entitled to the pursuit of happiness.

Social Media

I work in a small office and generally, we take time during lunch to peruse Facebook and Twitter. Occasionally we share things we see through those mediums and it occurred to me the other day that I get most of my news from Facebook postings. I do look at my local paper online, but I really can't stand their website, so I tend to look at their phone or tablet app which gives me the news articles without the annoying pop-up ads.  I also listen to KYW, but it is in the morning when I am getting ready so my concentration is not there.  

I thought that learning things through social media was akin to learning all my news from the slanted Fox News, but I think that the reality is that the news that I get is more varied; more subject to truth and opinion from people I trust.  I don't really think it is that bad to get information on what is happening around me via that medium. Since I was a communications major in college I learned that Marshal McLuhan said "the medium is the message".  It was introduced in his book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, published in 1964. Hot medium, such as movies make more of an impact on the viewer than cold medium, like television.  I would suspect that Facebook and Twitter would be considered a cold medium, one that can loose part of the message due to the distractions possible when viewing television.  I wonder what he  would say about social media today. But the fact of the matter is that social media, cold or warm, engages people to connect and opinion.

I know this medium has a permanent place in our culture now and I would not be surprised to find that others learn about what is going on through their own "friends". The people we connect with through social media have become our reporters and editors in the world around us.  We trust their content, probably more than the content from paid media, because we have more of a connection with them and trust them.   

Childless

I came across an article the other day about living child-free. It was stated that America's birth rate has declined 9% from 2007 to 2011.  I find that terribly interesting.  I also wonder if it is by choice or by fertility issues due to environmental stresses. Apparently from the article 1 in 5 American women end up child-less.  I have two friends who fall into this category.  One was very driven by her career and kind of "lost track of time" and the other made a conscious decision with her husband to not have children because she felt that the world was too screwed up to bring a child into.  Both of these women are in their 50s now so it is unlikely that they will change their status.

I can somewhat understand the reasoning for the decision not to have children because of the condition of this planet. It is screwed up and I often wonder if my decision to have a child was wrong.  My son is not in the best of places but I love him to pieces and feel as if I am leaving a piece of myself behind.  I sometimes wish I would have had more children, but my husband and I decided that one was enough.  It was further "enforced" for lack of a better word because I had all kinds of problems getting pregnant to the point of even possibly needing surgery to accomplish nature to take its course.  Maybe God was telling me something. But whatever the reason, I am happy I have my son and I pray for him every day.  It does give me something to live for and I kind of can't picture myself without a child.

I understand completely those women who make this decision, or in some cases have his decision made for them as they are unable to have children. But it seems as if many people cannot accept it.  The article goes on to say that many childless women get flack from everyone about it. I suppose that having children is in our human nature to survive, but sometimes ever though our species are designed to procreate, many people I see should have made the decision to be childless rather than neglect the children they have.

Update - Bike Rack

So a while ago I posted about my attempts to get a bike rack for the rear of my bike to put my backpack on.  I managed to craft something that worked rather well this morning.

I went to Michael's craft shop and found a set of 1 1/2 inch wide D rings and canvass binding tape.  I was looked for a more substantial webbing, but they didn't have it.  I put the D rings on one end of about a 3 foot section and sewed the end flaps down.  I then threaded the straps through the spring loaded section in the center of the bike rack figuring that the pressure would hold the strap in place.  To use it, I put the backpack on the rack and fastened the straps around it cinching it tightly.  Since the binding is very thin, the cloth bunches up in the D ring, but it held enough to get me to work.

I will have to look for a better strap material, but in the meantime it works well enough to hold it on the rack.  My main concern was not only holding it on, but causing me to have a different ride with the load on the back.  The rack is rated for up to 5 pounds and the backpack is no where near that weight, but I have never really ridden with any load on the back so I was concerned that I would be unable to handle the weight distribution.  I hardly felt it and whenever I stopped I had to reach back to make sure it was still there!  So here I am with my clothes change in the front basket and the backpack on the back rack.  I feel like a real bike commuter!

This Little Town of Mine

Last night when I got home from work, we heard siren after siren which we thought were fires.  I have a scanner app on my tablet and tuned in, but I didn't hear anything other than a breathing problem situation at a street in the east end of town. This morning I went to the local Patch.com website and saw there was a shooting not far from my home, a drunken person who crashed into a day care center in the afternoon, and an article about a motorcycle being stolen, recovered, and then stolen again. Facebook didn't give any clues either.

The town I live in has its fair share of crime.  Most of it is minor, vandalism stuff but in the last few years there have been more and more shootings.  I suspect that many of the shootings have to do with drugs, but since I am not in that scene or have guns, I wouldn't know what causes people to want to shoot each other.

Many people have been complaining that there is too much crime and I agree.  It is not an easy problem to fix and there is no easy solution.  I think that more jobs could work toward less, but I also think that people need to take a stake in protecting their blocks by calling the police and actually testifying if they witness crimes happening.  There are stories after stories of towns taking back their communities by standing up to criminals but it is not easy.  Until people stand up for what they believe in and not hide behind their front doors, status quo will remain.

A Different Routine

For the last few weeks I have been commuting to work on my bike.  I live approximately a mile from the office and thought it is a shame to drive that short distance when I am able to commute without my car.  I do have a large hill to climb on the way in, but I am getting better at it over time. Plus I am using my mountain bike rather than my road bike, and the knobby tires make it a little more challenging. This past weekend, I put a rack on the back and my intention was to put my backpack on the rack and put my change of clothes bag in the basket on the front.  The bungee cords I have, however, did not go around the backpack so I tried putting the bag on the rack and cinching it down with the bungee cords.  At first everything was fine.  Then right on the hill I felt a pulling and noticed that one of the bungee cords had come undone and was being wrapped around the wheel.  Not good!!!  Fortunately I caught it in time before either I or the bike got hurt (translation - fall down).

I guess Plan B is in order. What Plan B is, I am really not sure but I have been doing some experimentation in my head to dream up ways that I can accomplish this.  My thought is two belts of sort that can be threaded through the rack's structure and attached around the backpack. I haven't tried it yet because I don't have the belts I was thinking of.  I have to do further research. I am also not sure how the backpack on the back will affect my balance on the bike. I know it will be different, but I am not sure how.

However, the fact of riding to work has more pluses that minuses for me.  I get some exercise, fresh air, get to see what is going on around, and save a ton on gas.  On the flip side, I have to bring a change of clothes to work with me because I get sweaty even in that short time frame and I really can't do any lunchtime errands out of town unless I plan for that.  I even imagine that once the weather cools down I won't have to bring a change so that con will be out the window, so to speak.  It is a challenge to ride in traffic, but I am dealing with it rather nicely.  All in all, I think I have made a good decision to use this alternative.