Apparently, there is nothing more funny to my daughter than putting me in jinx. She'll say something, anticipating my response, and then say it at exactly the same time, so as to force the jinx situation.
Here's an example,
Daughter: Mom, can I have some candy?
Me and Daughter at the same time: No.
Daughter: Personal jinx!
Personal jinx is my kids' spin on the whole thing. Just jinx is kind of for funsies--no one enforces it. It's just sort of a "gotcha" kind of situation. No repercussions. Personal jinx on the other hand, means you are not allowed to talk under any circumstances until someone says your name.
Sometimes my daughter goofs up which, as it turns out, is equally hilarious. As in,
Daughter: Mom?
Daughter: What? and at the same time Me: Yes?
Daughter: *peals of laughter and huge grins*
I'm glad that the jinx gene has continued in my offspring considering that their father didn't even recognize the jinx I put him in one time when we were dating. I was horrified. I hadn't ever heard of someone flouting the social convention that is the jinx. It's kind of unheard of. Who doesn't recognize jinx? This was wildly unchartered territory I was traveling on. Truth be told, the rebellious side of me kind of liked it...
Here is a picture showing my husband flouting convention by not staying in jinx. Rebel...
I just found out through Walk Score that where my house is in relation to everything else--restaurants, schools, parks, grocery stores, movie theaters, etc.--makes it not very walkable. My score was a measly 43. That's terrible!
I checked out other houses I've lived in and one was 45 and another was 66. Those are still considered not very walkable neighborhoods. So what's the criteria? Here's a bit from their site,
Walkable Neighborhoods
Picture a walkable neighborhood. You lose weight each time you walk to the grocery store. You stumble home from last call without waiting for a cab. You spend less money on your car—or you don't own a car. When you shop, you support your local economy. You talk to your neighbors.
What makes a neighborhood walkable?
Walkable communities tend to have the following characteristics:
A center: Walkable neighborhoods have a discernable center, whether it's a shopping district, a main street, or a public space.
Density: The neighborhood is dense enough for local businesses to flourish and for public transportation to be cost effective.
Mixed income, mixed use: Housing is provided for everyone who works in the neighborhood: young and old, singles and families, rich and poor. Businesses and residences are located near each other.
Parks and public space: There are plenty of public places to gather and play.
Accessibility: The neighborhood is accessible to everyone and has wheelchair access, plenty of benches with shade, sidewalks on all streets, etc.
Well connected, speed controlled streets: Streets form a connected grid that improves traffic by providing many routes to any destination. Streets are narrow to control speed, and shaded by trees to protect pedestrians.
Pedestrian-centric design: Buildings are placed close to the street to cater to foot traffic, with parking lots relegated to the side or back.
Close schools and workplaces: Schools and workplaces are close enough that most residents can walk from their homes.
A one-mile walk in Seattle's Phinney Ridge, takes you through a grid like street network with a mix of residences and businesses (shown in purple). Map courtesy of the Sightline Institute.
One-Mile Walk in a Sprawling Suburb
A one-mile walk in Bellevue, WA with cul-de-sacs and winding streets has few shops and services within walking distance. Map courtesy of the Sightline Institute.
Here's the scoring:
What does my score mean?
Your Walk Score is a number between 0 and 100. The walkability of an address depends on how far you are comfortable walking—after all, everything is within walking distance if you have the time. Here are general guidelines for interpreting your score:
90 - 100 = Walkers' Paradise: Most errands can be accomplished on foot and many people get by without owning a car.
70 - 90 = Very Walkable: It's possible to get by without owning a car.
50 - 70 = Some Walkable Locations: Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car.
25 - 50 = Not Walkable: Only a few destinations are within easy walking range. For most errands, driving or public transportation is a must.
0 - 25 = Driving Only: Virtually no neighborhood destinations within walking range. You can walk from your house to your car!
Darn these unnatural suburbs! They are completely car dependent--thanks 50s mentality. How's that going to work when gas costs $10 a gallon. (Does anyone think it won't get that high? Where's the freak out now that it's $4 a gallon? You know how to boil a frog, right?) You can't just pack up the ol' station wagon and load up the kids with fluffernutter sandwiches and go for a spin when it will cost all of the college savings to go across town.
Good thing my husband is into bikes as vehicles, not just as a means to exercise or a way to get some alone time. No. It's about getting around this town without depending on gas. I have a trickier time of it with the kids, because my daughter isn't that great at longer distances. She's a nervous rider. She and I will have to ride the tandem, and my son can ride his bike.
We've got to get off this gas dependency, and since our neighborhood isn't very walkable, we'll have to learn to ride more. What's your Walk Score? Do you have a bike...
I don't mean to be so reliant on youtube videos for posts here. But, I think since a computer is where you're viewing my blog, I can take advantage of it's multi-sensory nature. I don't have to just write essays here, as if it's a newspaper or magazine you're looking at. Instead, I can post photos from all over, and youtube videos and post polls and links and so on. There are layers upon layers here. It's deep. And varied. And complex--very, very complex.
So, with that in mind--here's another ripped off youtube video!
This time we'll see Pete Seeger singing a song I've never heard before, but unfortunately is still quite apt. Too bad, but it exemplifies another reason why we're homeschooling. These are not the things my kids are learning. Not at all.
I think most everyone tries to portray themselves in the best light possible. I certainly have not revealed all the times here when I've argued with my kids, or when they've had freak outs about seemingly unimportant issues--obviously, very important to them! I think that's fair enough. You can guess that we're a very normal family with quirks and idiosyncracies and it's not always smooth sailing around here and there are occasional freak outs from the Mom too. But, I don't have to reveal all of that to you. This is not a confessional--this is a blog about how we're negotiating our way through life not buying new things for a year. The compact. That's what this is about. That, and what we do instead of buying. Oh, and the music that I like. And lots of politics. And reports of kids' happenings. And wry comments from my husband. That.
When the mainstream media only reports things that make for an easy narrative that's going in a certain direction, you can be sure that you're not getting the whole story. I get that. I see where that idea comes from. The powers-that-be are all in cahootz together. GE owns NBC, and Murdoch owns everything else (kind of!) However, the mainstream media isn't a giant blog which can shape every story however they see fit. The mainstream media is supposed to be in the service of us--the people. Freedom of speech is one of the most highly regarded rights we have in this country. It allows me to say that Bush is a complete idiot who has fucked up a lot of lives. I get to say that if I want to. I can say it again if I want to--fucked up a lot of lives. There I said it again. I even italicized it to give it even more emphasis.
I would like more eloquent reporting than my measly little rants here. And, I would like the mainstream media to show the forces that are shaping all of our lives and they just don't. They don't most of the time. It did come out recently that almost all of the military "experts" that were interviewed in the run up to the war were being paid by the Pentagon, or had commercial interests that impinged on the Iraq war going a certain way. It was all PROPAGANDA. That's not supposed to happen here. It's illegal for that to happen here. There are anti covert propaganda laws. That's something nasty that we would have heard about Soviet Russia doing to its citizens. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. That's the kind of behavior you get from dictatorships and totalitarian governments", we would shake our heads and say. God bless America and our American freedoms--yeah except, we've been lied to in a huge way. We've been served a line and the media is not reporting that...cause they were a huge part of it themselves. Remember the whole show yourself in the best light possible thing? I get it. But, I don't send people to war to die. It's OK if I don't reveal everything. I'm not a Reporter.
After Hillary's wins in Kentucky and Pennsylvania we have heard the analysts say how her biggest support, her biggest demographic is uneducated, poor white people. Um. what does that mean exactly? How come just in Kentucky and Pennsylvania? Why not lily white Oregon? What's different between all of these places. How come Obama gets white support all over this country, but not in certain areas? You know why and so do I. The media doesn't want to report it and say it explicitly because how sticky would that be? What would the headlines look like?
Hillary Wins Racist Vote!
or maybe,
Illiterates Vote for Hillary, Reject Obama as Elitist!
or maybe,
"We Don't Want no Nigger Telling us Nothin'!" Hillary Wins Kentucky in a Landslide!
Messy, no? Yet that's what is going on here. Hillary saying that Obama can't win this in November is her saying that the racists won't vote for him--he's unelectable. But, I think he's going to win big because people are finally going to vote for their own interests instead of out of fear. As Obama says, Not this year, not this time. Well, except not the folks in the hills of Kentucky. They're going to vote their fears.
Who is fully exposing this? Al Jazeera, that's who. I'm sure they don't mind showing the U.S. in a bad light--we've been bullies around the world for a long time. So, although there may be a bias here, it doesn't take much to show all of our blemishes and our media doesn't show it, but they should. We need to know. I think we should see who the voters are who are going for Hillary in Kentucky.
This Al Jazeera youtube is so painful to watch. The people are so closed minded and angry. Their lives are very hard. They're going to auctions where coal miners are bidding on household items including a single can of Manwich for $1.10. They have not had a lot of success for generation after isolated generation. That's hard and that's their culture.
One coal miner realizes all of this in himself, in his own family and explains how his Grandfather would yell at the TV when black people were on it. I think that follows the mainstream narrative. Whites will vote for Hillary, blacks will vote for Obama. Feminists will vote for Hillary. Urban areas will vote for Obama. And so on. Except that's not exactly what has happened. Hillary had the black vote up to a certain point, then she lost it. Hillary had the feminist vote, and then many women realized she's a liar and it doesn't matter if she's a woman--we want decency especially after Bush. Whites are supposed to vote for her, but Oregon went for Obama. Except in Kentucky and why is that? That's what the media should spell out, because that's what's going on.
Look at this youtube video. These are Hillary's white Kentucky voters. Boy, does this look bad...
We're going to share a ride to the museum with Mr. B and his daughter, and then when we come home later, the kids will settle down, have an early dinner and then go to a local theater for the end of their drama classes performances. My son has a monologue as King Arthur and my daughter is in a group number singing.
Enjoy your day.
Oh, and by the way, Obama won Oregon. With a majority white population. With hard working people. He lost Kentucky.
Oh, and I ended up not digging up dandelions the other day...I just posted about it. So, I'm sure I'll actually do it some time this week, er, weekend. Some time. Probably. Maybe. I might. No--I definitely will.
Let's enjoy some music together, shall we? What do you feel like hearing? I know! Listen to this:
Pentel Arts is giving away one set of oil pastels per household. Here is the link and the promo code is SA2008.
You'll receive them in 6-8 weeks.
My Picasso/Manet/Klimt/Van Gogh/Monet/Cezanne children will especially appreciate these. I hope yours will too!
This is the kind of stuff that I think is wonderful partly because it is not wasteful or frivolous or transitory. My kids will use these pastels until they are smeary little nubs.
Enjoy creating your own Starry Nights, or Sunny Days if that's where the pastels take you...
I'm a 40 something homeschooling mom to two. I have homebirthed, breastfed for years, and portaged canoes. These days I make kefir from the raw milk I get from my Farm Share farmers. My husband designs stuff for a company and when at home fiddles with a bike suspended from the ceiling in our laundry room. My son loves: Harry Potter, Star Wars, and doing handstands. My daughter loves: Harry Potter, baby animals and mud. Welcome to our little corner of atypical suburban living.
