Friday, October 8, 2010
Grandma's words
i did make cider and called a few distant relatives and heard some great stories about MYfamily. I also cooked pork chop, made applesauce and mashed tatters for the grents one evening. grandpa's response: "Well, it's really good Maria. I can say now that you are ready formarriage." I wish i could get more material like that, but we had to move away from familywhen i was a wee-one with infrequent visits and ive always felt home-less. hard to reflect honestly on the fast-paced world without a home i think.
So while i was telling my plans to root up my family history to my catholic hippie oxymoron ofan aunt, she said she had something. Grandma, before all those roofies the silly doctors gaveher, had begun to write down what she remembered of her past. It isn't a journal, but rather a few images she captured from her past and told as stories. Then there were poems. In the littleyellow notebook, Mrs. Patricia Kerg also wrote poems. By the end, you get a sense her decline was close. She was a great writer, my Grandmother, and my blood seems to have worth to me now. Apparently, Polish blood. In my family the germans made the money and fought in the war. the irish drank. the cheks lied and the polish women suffered, they wrote.
I won't copy it all down here, but here's one poem that struck me. The literary value of this onedoesn't compare to grandma's story telling, but the details compliment ma grandfather's final message at our last supper while i was still a single blonde-haired blue eyed woman. (Note, i am still single) also, i find an unobliging and inelegant honesty in her poetry style in what little ive written.
Title: The Phonies
I am hitting golf balls at the country club.
With 60 cents in my pocket.
Lincolns, Cadillacs, Chryslers line the windy road.
With 60 cents in my pocket.
I ride in a rented car, live in a mortgaged home
with four children who hate me.
We coexist in a mutual hell of hate.
I am married to a man
Who owns us all, mortgaged, rented to the hilt.
the enormity of dullness wraps us in saran wrap.
Nothing changes.
could be a rap song. she crossed it out and tried again:
Net worth.
Rented Lincoln, mortgaged home, business, family.
Country club pretense
Golf, martini's, deductible charity
The whole ball of wax spells phoney.
Never say "no" except to tenderness or love
a lifetime (?) of T.V. at night
The tenuous trap of routine
Chokes all feeling, conversation.
And i think of every time i visited the grandparents in my childhood- always in their same spots, grandpas lazy-boy thrown all the way over there next to the window where he'd tenderly watch over the garden and do his daily NYT crossword puzzle. grandma never speaking unless addressed on the end of the red, white, blue tartan sofa that had room for us, guests. But she did love to write letters and her smile made us welcome.
Why poems
Street encounter
i need to think about what to do if there is ever a next time bc this time i had too much adrenaline running and honestly felt like battling the robbers (not smart- an artifact from too many action movies when i was young- and NOT what i did, but i did threaten them with my half empty water bottle above my head and they backed off)
so im thinking of writing down a set of rules for when an assault comes even if you do all you can to prevent it like...
1) ALWAYS SCREAM LIKE HELL (i was dumbfounded when it happend so i didnt make a sound except telling them to leave us) and RUN if anyone looks even suspicious unless:
A. they have kiley or a friend and might hurt them... then:
_____
B. they outrun me... then:
____
2) Go directly to a public place and call the police, wave down drivers?
3) Find protection
4) Do not return to the area of the encounter
Locked us up in Quito
SOURCE: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39441275/ns/world_news-americas/
QUITO, Ecuador — President Rafael Correa reasserted control over Ecuador on Friday and his disgraced police chief resigned after officers' protests against spending cuts briefly plunged the country into chaos.
Police commander Freddy Martinez took responsibility for a revolt by his officers Thursday, when Correa was physically attacked and trapped in a hospital for several hours before troops rescued him in a blaze of gunfire. Eight people died.
"A commander shown such lack of respect by his subordinates cannot stay in charge," Martinez said.
Police officers began to return to work Friday, a new police chief was named and three days of mourning was declared. The army increased security in streets around the presidential palace and soldiers helped guard banks to prevent looting.
Three presidents were ousted by popular protests in the decade before Correa took office in 2007, and for a few hours Thursday it appeared he might be next. More instability in the oil exporter could dent investor confidence already knocked by Correa's tough stance with the private sector.
The fiery 47-year-old leader was contemptuous of the rebel police officers' complaints over proposed cuts to bonuses when he addressed supporters shortly after his rescue by troops.
"For such a stupid thing like that, to damage the fatherland so much, history will judge them," he shouted.
State media said Correa's vehicle was hit by bullets as soldiers took him out of the hospital Thursday night. "They wanted to kill President Correa," the Andes state news agency said, adding that the bullet-proof vehicle was hit four times.
President Rafael Correa
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* First elected in 2006 promising a "citizens' revolution" to better distribute natural resources, curb corruption.
* In 2008, Correa defaulted on billions of dollars of foreign debt he declared illegal.
* Correa backed the re-writing of Ecuador's constitution to tilt the balance of power toward the executive, and easily won re-election under the new charter in 2009.
* His pugnacious style has been popular among many Ecuadoreans. Others, though, have grown weary of hearing him harangue rivals.
(Source: Reuters)
Correa's relationship with the armed forces has been mixed, and Thursday's unrest could force a delicate line handling the military, which has helped topple governments in the past.
Some rank-and-file soldiers joined the protest, shutting the main airport, but the military top brass stood by Correa.
Correa is expected to purge rebel officers from police ranks and he could also choose to dissolve Congress and rule by decree, or call elections to try and solidify his power, although he might prefer to let things cool down first.
"We can't claim total victory. We have overcome the situation now, but we can't relax," Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino said, adding that the government would seek out the roots of the "coup."
Correa, a close friend of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, is part of the bloc of Latin American leaders fiercely critical of U.S. policy, and he alienated investors when his government defaulted on $3.2 billion in global bonds,
Support at home and abroad
Correa remains popular at home and won support across the region Thursday, from the White House to Havana. Top South American diplomats arrived in Quito on Friday. Even critics said it was important for Latin America and the United States to stand behind democratically-elected leaders.
Ecuadoreans were relieved the crisis did not spill into wider bloodshed, and many called for Correa to seek dialogue.
"Ecuador's image is ruined. It's tragic," said Eduardo Villavicencio, 60, who works at a foreign gold mining firm. "They share the blame. There is no dialogue or understanding."
It was still not clear whether Correa was targeted in an organized coup attempt, as he and his supporters claim, or whether it was simply a protest that spiraled out of control.
The police were angered by plans to cut bonuses and freeze promotions as part of nationwide austerity measures that Correa is trying to push through in the face of a financial squeeze.
The U.S.-trained economist, limping after knee surgery he underwent last week, was jostled while confronting protesters on the street early Thursday. Amid chaotic scenes, a tear gas canister was hurled at him and exploded near his face.
The government said eight people died, including two police officers killed in a 40 minute shootout as troops stormed the hospital where Correa took refuge. Five civilians were killed in the city of Guayaquil, and 274 other people were hurt in the unrest, most of them in Quito.
Thousands of Ecuadoreans poured onto the streets to support Correa and, unlike during previous coups in OPEC's smallest member, there was no alternative leader waiting to take over.
'Citizens' revolution'
It was, however, the toughest challenge yet to Correa, whose popularity has been stable at about 50 percent despite Ecuador's slow recovery from the global economic crisis.
His social initiatives -- including health and education programs, a $35 per month stipend for the poor and home-care programs for the handicapped -- have helped give him the strong base of support that eluded his predecessors.
Video: Ecuador's president caught in protestLate Thursday, an emotional and combative Correa vowed to push ahead with his "citizens' revolution," which hinges on the state taking more control over the crucial oil sector.
Ecuador, which holds OPEC's rotating presidency, produces an average of 485,000 barrels of crude per day, and sends just under half of that to the United States. It is seeking better terms from companies, including Italy's ENI, Brazil's Petrobras and Spain's Repsol-YPF.
Correa's survival and support — plus the absence of a united opposition — could strengthen his political hand in some ways, but analysts see troubled times ahead.
He still faces a showdown with Congress, where some members of his Country Alliance party reject spending cuts.
Ecuador's two-year-old constitution lets the president declare an impasse, dissolve Congress and rule by decree until a new presidential and parliamentary election.
Christian Voelkel, a London-based analyst at IHS Global Insight, said the international backing Correa