Category Archives: Uncategorized

Time to Talk Back

A friend of mine emailed me this morning to share one of those internet “jokes” that make the rounds. He was astonished–and disheartened–to think that the relative who’d forwarded it evidently agreed with what might loosely be called its “message.”

On opening the attachment, the first thing I saw in large letters was “What a dumbass!”

In slightly smaller type, the text went on: “The problem with public housing is that the residents are not the owners.  The people that live in the property did not work for it, but were loaned the property from the true owners, the taxpayers.  Because of this, the residents do not have the “pride of ownership” that comes with the hard work necessary to earn the money to purchase the items.”

Following a couple more paragraphs of this were posted pictures of the President in the White House, with his feet up–a pose that evidently demonstrated his lack of pride and his usurpation of the premises from the “rightful” owners.

Let’s deconstruct this. Not only is the premise both incorrect and stupid–plenty of renters show a lot more respect for property than many “owners” (and plenty of “owners” are for all intents and purposes renting their homes from their mortgage holders)–but a President who won an overwhelming majority of both the popular and electoral vote is as “rightful” as a White House occupant gets.

But those are just factual objections. What is most distasteful is the obvious racism–the implicit message is that renter=black person=person who doesn’t respect property=illegitimate President. And what is even more irritating is the strong likelihood that the people who forwarded this particular bit of bilge would indignantly deny any racist intent–indeed, they probably don’t admit it even to themselves.

I think the only way to combat this ugly underbelly of what passes for political discourse is to call it what it is. When people of good will receive this sort of unAmerican bilge, we need to respond to the sender. We need to ask “why would you forward something like this to me?” And when the sender protests that their animus to this President is based upon “policy differences,” we need to press them on precisely what those policy differences are, and why they justify a portrayal that focuses upon the race of the President rather than on the failings of his policy proposals.

When we fail to respond, we enable the ongoing denial of racial motivation. It’s no different than remaining silent when someone tells a “joke” about “kikes” or “wops” or “spades.” If we don’t make clear that such labels are offensive–and not at all funny–we are complicit. If we simply hit the delete button, and don’t respond, we are equally complicit.

It’s time to talk back. We probably won’t convince the senders–they have demonstrated their obtuseness–but we may at least make them think twice before forwarding the next one.

And we’ll feel better.

Comments

Crime and Promises

When Greg Ballard ran for mayor, we were treated to a lot of rhetoric about crime. Public Safety was going to be “job one” in a Ballard administration. Well, if crime has been job one, I shudder to think of how we are doing with jobs two through ten.

The media have reported on our distressing rates of violent crime; it seems as if there’s a murder every day or so. But there are fewer reports of the so-called nonviolent and “petty” crimes: thefts from cars parked on city streets, burglaries and house break-ins, etc. And those have grown alarmingly.

I live in the Old Northside now, but my husband and I have lived in downtown neighborhoods for 30 years. We were part of the Hudnut Administration that jump-started the renaissance of the city’s core. In that thirty-year period, I have never seen the rate of what police call “household invasions” anywhere near this high. Just in the past month, I’ve had three neighbors I know personally burgled, and the neighborhood listserv has circulated reports of several others. One friend was in his house, in bed with his wife, when intruders broke in and took computers and other electronics. (Talk about shaking your sense of security!)

My friends in IMPD report significant issues of morale and management in the department. Whether those issues affect the crime rate, I don’t know. What I DO know is that crime is increasingly a topic of concern among my friends and neighbors, and that there is a perception of a significant increase in criminal activity. That’s troubling enough, but what is even more troubling is that the Mayor does not seem to recognize either the problem or the challenge that the growing concern about crime poses to other important city goals.

Promises, promises………

Comments

Sporadic Posting, Unconnected Observations

We left the Villa Fabrioni and the attentive hosts Sergio and Stefano, and after a night in Florence in a surprisingly good hotel near the train station (booked purely for convenience), we took a day-long train trip, first to Bologna where we spent a few hours marveling at the architecture, then on to Bari where we were to catch the ferry to Dubrovnik.

We had a momentary scare when the board first announced that our train was 50 minutes late, amid a number of “cancelletos.” But our train did in fact appear, and only 20 minutes late. While we were waiting, we struck up a conversation with a lovely young student from Argentina who–during our talk–asked me whether most young Americans were like those she met traveling. She tried to be diplomatic, but basically was appalled at how ignorant our college-age students were–not just about other countries and cultures, but about their own. She did not find this among her peers from other countries. It was difficult to argue with her perceptions, although I could assure her that there ARE bright and educated young people in the US. I must agree, however, that they are a minority, and that doesn’t bode well for our future.

And speaking for the impression left by our citizens, as we waited for the ferry, we met a truly embarrassing man from Florida. He took great pains to impress us–I assume he tries to impress everyone he meets, he seemed the sort–and he was everything we used to mean by the term “Ugly American.” He said he’d been coming to Italy for 20 years, and it was awful and getting worse. The decline, we found, was due to immigration, “just like at home.” I heard him talking to an English-speaking Italian woman about how dangerous the “dark people” were, and in lowered tones about Obama and his “socialism.” He told me he was an ex-Marine, so he knew how dangerous the Italians were (if he’d been describing their driving, fair enough, but he wasn’t), and proceeded to show me the knife he always brought to protect himself and his wife. All in all, a perfectly appalling specimen.

We got to Dubrovnik early the next morning, after a trip on a pretty gross ferry, and everything you have read about Dubrovnik is true. It is magnificent. The old city is a world heritage site, restored by Unesco, and it defies description. unfortunately, every tourist in the world has also read about it. The crush of tourism is unbelievable, and while a boon to the local economy, subtracts from the overall experience a bit.

At 2 in the afternoon, we boarded our small boat. We had worried because it only carries 12 passengers, and there are a lot of young, boisterous party people who choose to travel this way. We lucked out. We have 11 on board; five French, four Australians and us. Most are in their late forties or fifties, so we don’t feel QUITE so old. The trip has been fantastic so far, and I will write about the trip, the passengers–educated, thoughtful, and really nice–the next time I have internet.

Comments

Disconnection from the Collective

Okay–I’ll admit it. I’m addicted.

Those of you who are Star Trek fans will recall the Borg–the species without individuals, who could not survive when severed from the Collective. I think I may be going in that direction. We lost internet two days ago (the whole village experienced an outage), and I felt utterly helpless.

Without internet, how could I look up information? How could I blog? What emails were going unanswered? To say the experience was anxiety-producing would be an understatement.

There are lessons to ponder, and not just that we may be becoming Borg-like. What would happen if a terrorist–or accident–took down the internet, or some substantial portion of it? We have created systems–banking, policing, communicating, etc. etc.-that simply would shut down if computerized systems no longer worked. Not to mention the psychic shock to our increasingly interconnected social systems.

I am one of those people who welcome change. Generally, I think technological innovation aids human progress. But I have to admit that our increasingly wired world has made it more difficult to disconnect, to be alone with our own thoughts and selves for extended periods of time. There is much research–and concern–that suggests these new technologies may be changing brain patterns in unanticipated ways.

In any event, I will have to cope with the experience for over a week, since it is unlikely that the small boat we will take from Dubrovnik will have wifi.

Blogging will be VERY spotty until we return to the US in early August. I know all of you will be fine–there’s plenty of other reading available to the connected.

If the last two days are any indication, I’m not so sure that I’ll make it.

Comments

What Makes a City Liveable?

I have never been to Berlin before, although I have been to Germany several times, and if I thought about it at all, I suppose I expected a rather “monumental” and forbidding Germanic landscape.

I was wrong. This is first and foremost a livable city.

We spent time today doing the usual touristy things: the bus tour with running commentary in several languages, the obligatory looks at famous landmarks–I even bought a sweatshirt at Checkpoint Charlie (it was cold!) But the real highpoint of our too-short visit was the experience of walking around the neighborhood of our hotel.

We walked to a restaurant several blocks away that had been recommended by our son (aka the Tech God). He has been everywhere, and his restaurant recommendations are always flawless-he’s a real foodie. We strolled through streets lined with 4 and 5 story apartment buildings, a mix of restorations and new construction. There were pocket parks everywhere, with children on swings and slides, young people playing table tennis (and in one case, older men playing bocce ball). Bikes were everywhere–and Berlin has the same bike-share/rental that we’ve seen elsewhere. At street level, there was cafe after art gallery (dozens of them, as we are in the arts/gallery district) after retail shop after grocery market after “wein cafe”–all at small, human scale, and all very inviting.

Berlin has an enormous amount of green space–large urban parks and the ubiquitous small “pocket” parks. What it doesn’t have is the monotony of the US suburbs. There were no quarter-acre lots with grass; instead, there were flowerpots and small potted trees on balconies–and the density that makes all of the wonderful urban amenities sustainable.

Once again, mass transit was evident everywhere. The subway, we are told, runs on minute and a half headways. Buses are everywhere. There are plenty of cars and bicycles, of course, but you can get anywhere in short order on public transit.

What really impressed me was the general attention to quality–beautiful windows and doors, etc., rather than the large, poor quality construction that characterizes so many of America’s “McMansions.” (Contrary to what all those “make yours bigger” emails we all get, size ISN’T everything.)

Finally, we remarked upon the sophistication that comes with diversity; as our waiter tonight noted with pride, Berlin is a truly international city–home, he assured us, to over 250 nationalities.

There are remarkable museums and fantastic architecture here, but it is the scale and variety of the built environment, the prevalence of the art and music, and the investment in infrastructure that makes this so livable-and delightful.

If we Americans weren’t so smugly convinced that we know everything we need to know and that we are “exceptional” (in the good sense), we could learn a lot from cities like Berlin.

Comments