Patia Stephens :: Missoula, Montana

NOOOooooooooooo!!!

I just received an email headlined:

Start Holiday Shopping Early
at Our Online Outlet Center

It continued:

Hello PATIA,
Savvy shoppers know the secret to wise shopping - do your holiday shopping early! The values are plentiful, the pressure is off, and the savings tremendous.

People! It's freakin' JULY!!!

This email is from Colorful Images, an otherwise great little company for things like personalized stationery and address labels. But -- is nothing sacred? In recent days, I have also seen ads promoting back-to-school specials and fall fashion sneak-peeks.

Summer in Montana is short enough as is. I don't want to be thinking about Christmas in July.

Enough is enough

I'm cross-posting this from a new blog that I and others are creating called 1776 Dead Americans:

Welcome to the 1776 Dead Americans blog. It seems so callous, saying that -- and that is exactly what war does. It makes us callous. Like violence on television, the deaths in Iraq are an abstraction to most Americans (myself included). We've forgotten that each soldier has a face, a family, people who love him or her.

I support our soldiers, and that's why I want to bring them home now. Our troops should only be called to duty for the gravest of reasons -- the protection of human life, the defense of American soil. From the beginning, many people suspected the reasons for war in Iraq were false. Weapons of mass destruction have never been found. Saddam Hussein was captured months ago. Iraq's connection to the Sept. 11 atrocities are tenuous at best, nonexistent at worst. Osama bin Laden? Osama bin Forgotten.

As of today, 1742 American men and women have given their lives in Iraq. The number will be 1776 before we know it, and that's as good a time as any to remember the rights guaranteed to Americans in the Declaration of Independence: "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." This group blog will seek to draw attention to and create action protesting the needless loss of American lives in Iraq (while not forgetting the tens of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children who have also died).

Educate. Protest. Act.

Because enough is enough.

***

Please go read Birdie's amazingly heartfelt story, "Friday Morning, for Ada and Kevin." She says it all so much better than I can.

Waah

I'm in pain today. It started Thursday with my left shoulder suddenly becoming very painful to lift. Then it migrated into my neck and upper back. I ache. Not sure if it's a pinched nerve or a virus or just overzealous massage. Or maybe anticipatory pain for my jaw surgery, which is less than two weeks away.

Anyway, I'm going back to bed.

Quickie update

New West is featuring one of my photographs today on their home page. It's an image of my cabin ceiling. Sounds like they're going to use my spring blossoms pic on June 27. Nifty.

I have lots to do today, but will blog more this weekend. I have something up my sleeve about the 1776 thing. Stay tuned.

Early summer, Montana

Blue sky. Sweat.
Hills like a cupped palm.
Blanketflower. Lupine.
Fairy rings and cow wallows.
Dalmatian toadflax.
Butterflies.
Fawn leg bones.
Whir of gnats.
Rock piles and wild roses.
Coyote den.
Magpies.
Snake. Sss.
Barbed wire and fenceposts.
Ponderosa pine.
Flash of yellow wing.
Salt lick.
Beetle-pocked cowpie.
Rusted trough.
Hoofprints in mud.
Whole world's
a poem.

How to commemorate 1776 dead Americans?

The tally is up to 1722 today. For those of you who missed my earlier post, we're trying to plan an action of some sort for when the Iraq death toll gets up to 1776. Please share your ideas.

From the comments:

Neva: "Perhaps someone creative should make something and we can have a CafePress account for it? Bumper Sticker for our vehicles, t-shirts, etc?"

Declaration of Independence, 1776: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. ... That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it ...."

Jack: "It's grassroots support that causes the ground swell of change. And if the polls are right, this country is ripe for political change."

Possible T-shirt slogan: "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness (scratched out, then ...) Death, Torture and the Pursuit of Halliburton Contracts"

Mike: "Do the "chalk walk". Civil disobedience is the answer."

Me: "How about chalk outlines? Or painted with red tempera paint?"

Granny: "I also like the idea of donating $17.76 and of putting the numbers 1776 on your rear window."

Keep 'em coming, people! Blog about it, spread the word.

Story on the new Spring Creek

A few people know I first came to Montana in 1983 to attend a boarding school called Spring Creek Community. It was a therapeutic wilderness boarding school in the mountains near Thompson Falls, and it probably saved my life. Sometime in the early '90s, though, the school changed ownership and became something completely different from the granola-crunching, vegetarian, roll-your-own, individualistic, "what-do-you-really-feel?" school I knew and mostly loved.

Michelle and I visited the new Spring Creek in 2000 and were shocked at the changes. Three- or four-hundred kids vs. the 30 or 40 we'd lived with. Boys and girls not allowed to look at each other. "Lock your guns in your vehicles" signs. Massive, pre-fab log dorms. We got the impression they were just warehousing kids. We felt sorry for the kids there, and were grateful we'd attended when we did.

This week's Missoula Independent has a story on the Spring Creek Lodge Academy and some of the controversies surrounding it. Are the abuse allegations true? Probably not. Draconian, impersonal, rigid -- almost certainly. How could a school that big function otherwise? To some degree, warehousing kids probably works. It keeps them alive (mostly) till they (hopefully) outgrow the self-destructiveness that goes with the territory of being a teenager. And for desperate parents without the means to pay for a more personalized, hands-on, therapeutic approach, it may be the only alternative.

Whatever the truth may be about the modern Spring Creek, I hope that people will remember not to paint all such programs with the same brush.

Talkin 'bout a revolution ...

One thousand, seven-hundred and seventeen. That's how many American soldiers have died in Bush's trumped-up Iraq War so far, points out GrannyInsanity, a fierce Montana political blogger who is not letting us forget. (Much as some of us -- like, uh, me -- would prefer to stick our heads in the sand.)

Think about it: 1,717 men, women, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grandsons, granddaughters. All of those bodies have left a hole in someone's life, a hole that cannot be filled. And it didn't have to be this way.

Granny and I want to plan an action of some sort for when the number hits 1776. Some way of saying, "We notice. We see what's happening."

Do you have any ideas for a powerful action? Here are a few, none of which I'm particularly wild about, but maybe they'll spark some genius in one of you:

-call in sick to work the next day
-not spend any money the next day
-black armbands
-everyone could write the number 1776 in large type on their blog, graffiti, send it to the president, etc. Sort of a massive awareness "we're watching" campaign.
-something to do with $17.76?
-protest gatherings where people form a giant 1776 and have a photo taken from above, share it via blogs, etc.

What do you say? Is 1776 a big enough, meaningful enough number to say, "No more"?

Quote du jour

Short version of the Serenity Prayer: "Screw it."

Wild roses and the old barn

As promised, here's a picture of some of the wild roses around the place.
Wild roses and the old barn
Originally uploaded by patia.

California Street Bridge graffiti

I just uploaded a bunch of new photos to Flickr.

Of special interest are pictures of an urban art project that's sprung up at the south end of the California Street bridge in Missoula. A guy has put up a metal fence of sorts, with a note inviting people to decorate it, as long as there's no hate speech. The result is a vibrant graffiti collection.

Have you seen this site?

PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail-in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard.

Thrilling. Sometimes chilling.

Finally!

In the morass of ugly, boring box development on Missoula's Reserve Street, we're finally getting something I'm excited about: Famous Dave's. I saw the sign on the construction site yesterday and immediately started salivating. Michelle and her mom took me to Famous Dave's when I was in Washington, D.C., last summer, and it is some damn good barbecue. (Which is sorely lacking in this town.)

Quote du jour

Life. Joy. Chocolate.

-- Dove wrapper

My exciting life

Yes, it's a Saturday night and I'm at home, blogging. I'm actually enjoying the heck out of myself. It's a drizzly dusk, I've got a candle lit and the white Christmas lights plugged in, and both the kitties are home. Oh, and cut purple irises on the dining table, and a tiny bouquet of wild roses, columbine and lavender on the bedside table. Life is good.

Speaking of roses, Birdie of Beauty Dish invited me to read my guest-blogging piece, "Peach-Colored Roses," on her podcast, Beauty Dish Radio. It's section 2 of her second show; here's a direct link to the mp3. I'm slightly embarrassed, but proud, too.

I would have to say that wild roses are my favorite flower .... They're tough and fragile at the same time. They smell incredible, like tea rose with a hint of cinnamon. They bloom every June for such a short time -- maybe two weeks, tops. I'll try to post a pic later.

Movie Tag

A movie meme received from Granny Insanity, a Montana blogger (who is saying all the things about the current political situation that I'd like to, but don't have the energy for).

Total Number of Films Owned: 10 VHS, 4 DVD.

Last Film Bought: Bull Durham, The Princess Bride, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Last Film Watched: The Sopranos, Season 5, disc 1.

Five Favorite Films That I Watch Frequently or That Mean A Lot To Me: 1) Bull Durham is, in my opinion, the perfect movie. And I don't even like baseball that much. But I love Susan Sarandon's character Annie and her whole quirky take on life, religion, men and home decor. Favorite line: "Honey, we all deserve to wear white." 2) Thelma and Louise. Simply brilliant. 3) The Rocky Horror Picture Show. "Antici ... SAY IT FRANKIE ... pation!" This movie expanded my young mind in all sorts of ways. 4) The Full Monty. Sweet, sensitive, real men who strip to great disco music. What's not to love? 5) Shrek. I didn't think I liked animated movies, until my friend insisted I watch this. She was right. I loved it! (I also adored Shrek 2.)

Movie you would most like to see again if you could find it: I was just thinking about this recently. I was maybe 6 or 7 and went to the movies with some older kids in Willow Glen. I remember the movie as "Journey to the Bottom of the World." It had killer whales and ice floes. A few weeks ago, I did a search on Netflix and found two contenders: Journey to the Center of the Earth and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I added them to my queue, so hopefully I'll soon solve the mystery.

Hmmm, who should I pass this meme onto? How about Nancy, Meg and Sam. Tag, you're it!

Bush lied, people died

From MoveOn.org:

The "Downing Street Memo" contains smoking gun evidence that the president knowingly lied to the country by "fixing" intelligence on Iraq's WMD's to justify a pre-planned rush to war. For weeks President Bush has refused to respond. Now Rep. Conyers is aiming to personally present Bush with 500,000 signatures demanding an explanation. Please sign the petition today.

From me:

Impeach Bush.

(If it was good enough for Clinton, it's good enough for Bush. At least Clinton's lie didn't kill a couple hundred thousand people.)

I'm turning comments off for this post, just because I don't have the energy to deal with those who disagree right now. Sorry, I know it's a wimpy thing to do.

EEAAAaaaaaauuuggGHhh!!!

What will YOU look like in 40 years?

Remember when we ...

... licked stamps?
... actually dialed a phone?
... never thought about germs?
... didn't wear a helmet while riding a bike?
... never wore seatbelts in a car?
... worried about swallowing the pull-tab that we ditched IN our can of soda?
... didn't recycle?
... had sneakers, and they were white?
... climbed trees?
... played Kick the Can?
... thought Atari was the coolest thing ever?
... lived for candy?
... thought our stomachs would explode if we drank soda and ate Pop Rocks?
... had yellow plastic "banana" skateboards?
... used word processors? Typewriters?
... thought a 1MB Mac Plus was an amazing computer?
... had to go to the library to research a school paper?
... played records?
... had to have a Sony Walkman?
... thought Michael Jackson was cool?
... wore our jeans as tight as humanly possible?
... feathered our hair?
... drank Tab?
... stubbed out cigarettes in an old tuna can at the laundromat?
... watched black and white television?
... couldn't rent movies?
... didn't have microwave ovens?
... hitchhiked?
... had to stand in line at the bank?
... made calls in public from a phone booth, preferably one with glass doors for privacy, and it only cost a dime?
... knew people who didn't have phones?
... had no idea what a URL, JPG or HTML was?

Who's your inner European?

Your Inner European is French!

Smart and sophisticated. You have the best of everything -- at least, you think so.

Take the quiz!

5 observations about Missoula

It's raining. A lot.
The newscasters have stopped predicting a terrible summer for wildfires and started predicting a terrible summer for West Nile virus.
The Rotary Club is in town. I know this because there is a big banner stretched across Broadway that says, "Welcome Rotary Club, June 2-7" (or something to that effect). So if you hear a bunch of middle-aged men singing "Oh Rotary, oh Rotary," that's why.
Leafy spurge is really bad this year. (Leafy spurge is a chartreuse-colored noxious weed that displaces grasses and wildflowers.) They oughta call it leafy scourge.
A local girl is very likely going to be on an MTV reality show this fall. Good job, B.!

I'm proud of me

For the past two or three weeks, I've been pretty good about sticking to a daily workout schedule. I'm walking, lifting weights, doing cardio at the gym, and swimming. The trainer I've had a few sessions with over the years (courtesy of our Wellness program) has drilled it into me: My goal is consistency. Thirty minutes is enough. Because I've always thought that if I wasn't sore and exhausted, it was a waste of time. You know, no pain, no gain. Well, only problem is, pain makes me quit. So maybe I will stick with it this time.

Site Links

My Tools

Archives

A Drivel Runs Through It

Recently Viewed

Books

Movies

Blogroll