Pussy: The Racecar No Man Would Drive

I've met some cool people during my short stint as a census worker. Among these people is fellow enumerator, Heidi MacDonald. Heidi's car is what she calls an "art car" - it's painted with roses, the rear bumper reads "peace is da bomb," and her dashboard is covered in various objects. However, it wasn't always as, relatively speaking, unassuming. Heidi's car's last life was as the Pussy Car and it was the subject of a short film by Pan Left Productions called "Pussy: The Racecar No Man Would Drive." Watch it here via Real Player.  The car wasn't a vulgar prank, or an attention grabbing stunt, but a sort of social experiment. When I asked Heidi if it was weird to give up the anonymity we usually enjoy while riding around, she simply said she's driven art cars for a while and it seems natural to her. If you have a car, why not make it art? 

Arizona Fashion PSA

I found this odd little video on Internet Archive. It's interesting that at one point Arizona had unique fashions based, as far as I can tell, on the traditional dress of Native American and Mexican women. Read more about the Squaw dress here. The video mentions the Arizona Fashion Council, which, according to this 1955 Ocala Star Banner article, consisted of "manufacturers and designers turning out colorful Southwestern fashions." The council consisted of 40 designers located across the state - Tucson, Phoenix, Wickenburg, Scottsdale, and even Douglas. The article discusses squaw dresses created by a Phoenix designer named Lloyd Kiva, a Cherokee from Oklahoma. it's a neat read, so check it out.

Morning Glory Time Lapse

Toyota RV 2

The Toyota RV-2 was a concept car Toyota tested out in 1972. It was never made available to consumers, but I think it's pretty interesting. Based on a Corona Mark II chassis, the RV folded open to create a living area to camp in. It doesn't look to off-road ready, though, which I'm sure didn't enhance its marketability to outdoor enthusiasts. When Pontiac tried something similar with the Aztek 30 years later, Time Magazine called it one of the worst cars of all time and it was only produced from 2001-2005. Maybe Pontiac should have taken a lesson from the Toyota RV-2.

Great Ideas for a Perfect Life #1

Homemade, originally uploaded by Dia-trib3.

I have several recurrent post themes here on MOCS1986, such as Homesick Yankee Ramblings and 10 Works, and I thought it was time to add another. Introducing Great Ideas for a Perfect Life. The title is pretty much self explanatory - sometimes I get great ideas that, though unlikely to happen, would probably result in a fantastic life.

Sometimes they're minor ideas. For example, the other day I proposed to Erin that we have breakfast food for dinner once a week. That's something we can do. Other ideas aren't so easily achieved.

I recently got paid for a short story I wrote. It's my first paying publication. $25 Canadian dollars. So I proposed to Erin that I save any money I make from publishing fiction or creative writing and put it into a fund. That money will be set aside to buy an RV. It's great because it encourages me to write more and try harder to publish AND it could, in theory, eventually allow us to buy and RV and travel the country. I don't write much, it's hard to publish, and most journals pay little if anything, so the RV won't be parked in our yard anytime soon. Still, writing for a living, spending my time visiting interesting places, meeting cool people, and doing rad things, is a great idea for a perfect life.

Of course, we'd also need a German Shepherd with a bandanna and a large format camera....

The Aldrich Family

A few years ago when I was teaching high school, my friend Amy found a record in her classroom of the Original Radio Broadcasts of "The Aldrich Family." I've had the record for some time, but I only recently researched it and I was quite surprised to find that the radio show was only one part of "The Aldrich Family" program. In addition to the radio show, there was also a comic book and several movies.

The show ran from 1939 to 1953 and featured Ezra Stone as Henry Aldrich, the goofy, adolescent protagonist. Each show began with Henry's mother calling "Henry! Henry Aldrich!" and Henry's response "Coming Mother!" The show was quite popular at the time and, after listening to a few episodes, I understand why. It's really funny!

I have a great grandparent named Henry Aldrich and it's funny just how accurately Henry Aldrich the character capture the essence of Aldrich. First off, he kind of looks like me. There are several episodes in which Henry attempts to raise carrier pigeons that are quite funny and at the outset of those episode, his original idea is to raise rabbits and make money. Back in 1994 my friends and I had the same idea. We bought several white rabbits with plans to breed and sell them. Much like Henry's plan, it made neither sense nor money. It must be an Aldrich thing.

Many episodes are available here. I guess I always thought radio situation comedies were too antiquated for me to really appreciate them; after all, they were merely the result of technological limitations obviated by television, right? Well, not really.  There's a particular style of narrative and performance that is lost and it's really too bad. Furthermore, I also think it's time for Aldriches to reclaim the our place that Henry established in American popular culture. Be on the lookout for my plan of action...

Stanley Fish Doesn't Understand Arizona

In his recent New York Times editorial, Arizona: The Gift That Keeps on Giving, Stanley Fish criticizes both the Tucson Unified School District and the Arizona legislature. Recently,  the AZ legislature passed HB2281, a bill that bans ethnic studies from public schools because it claims that ethnic studies promote "ethnic chauvinism." The bill:
"Prohibits a school district or charter school from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that:

Ø        Promote the overthrow of the United States government.

Ø        Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.

Ø        Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.

Ø Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

Fish cites TUSD's Mexican-American Studies program's statement that they follow Paulo Freire's Social Justice Education Model and criticizes the program's theoretical grounding in Freire because he claims it politicizes the classroom. Fish writes:
"If the department is serious about this (and we must assume that it is), then there is something for the citizens of Arizona to be concerned about. The concern is not ethnic studies per se — a perfectly respectable topic of discussion and research involving the disciplines of history, philosophy, sociology, medicine, economics, literature, public policy and art, among others. The concern is ethnic studies as a stalking horse or Trojan horse of a political agenda, even if the agenda bears the high-sounding name of social justice."

Fish states that classrooms should not be political. The idea is that teachers present information and students have the option to question social hegemony based on that information, but teachers should not encourage students to actively work against the hegemonic structure. He then goes on to criticize the legislature for attacking all of ethnic studies rather than just demanding that TUSD and other such programs are depoliticized.

The problem with Fish's argument is really twofold, but certainly interconnected. Not once does he mention that what TUSD's Ethnic Studies Program is reacting to is actual, not nebulous or theoretical, oppression. In Arizona, people from all over the Latin American world, but most specifically Mexico, face the constant presence of discrimination or racial prejudice. Some people try to make a distinction between "legal" and "illegal" people of Mexican or Latin American descent, but that distinction cannot have a significant impact on how Mexican and Latino students conceptualize their place in Arizona or America. They see constant hostility directed toward people who look like them, speak their language, share their customs, share their history, live in their communities, and are often related to them. The hated "illegal" could be their uncle, their mother, their friend, or them. As Fish criticizes the school for teaching students to think politically about their position in society and about hegemony, he seems to be describing a school teaching such things in an environment that isn't defined by racism, hostility, and discrimination. It might seem wrong for a teacher in a predominantly white, central Massachusetts school to try to politicize the classroom. In most instances, that interferes with the students' abilities to create their own identities. However, in Arizona where Mexican and other Latino students are treated like second class citizens that are guilty of fostering a hated and un-American culture, the reality is that these students need to be taught to understand the ideology and social structure here that supports those racist views. Otherwise, they'll believe they are what the hegemony says they are. Freire's model of hegemony is real and it's here in Arizona. His model of using education to counteract the power of hegemony is real and here too. We're not talking pedagogy - we're talking reality.

As for Fish's idea that the legislature should have only stopped the political aspect of TUSD's program, that ignores who the legislature is and what they do to such an degree that it's ridiculous. The legislature is part of the problem. Most of them were elected primarily because they are racist against Mexicans. Tom Horne, the school superintendent, knows absolutely nothing about education, but he said he'd stop bilingual education, so he was elected. The people controlling the AZ legislature are racist and are one of the reasons why TUSD needs to educate Mexican students and other students about how to live in a racist environment; they're the reason why the ethnic studies program is political, so why should they stop it from being political?

I think it's safe to say that Stanley Fish knows nothing about Arizona. It's like he's read and talked about theoretical oppression and hegemony for so long that he's unable to recognize the real thing and understand what real people need to do under those circumstances.

The Flume Gorge, Franconia Notch NH

From the Reverse: "This chasm, 700' feet in length, 11' to 24' in width has 60' to 70' perpendicular walls rising on both sides. The gorge was carved by nature in ancient geological times, but was not discovered until 1808."

I remember visiting the Flume Gorge in New Hampshire with my family on vacation. I was probably nine or ten years old. My brother and I each got a Davy Crockett-style coonskin cap and I got a moosehorn made out of an old cow horn. When you blew into it, it produced a low, bellowing sound. I thought it was funny to blow it when my father stopped the car at traffic lights or stop signs, and, in retrospect, it shows how cool my parents were for letting me get away with that. People would look around, confused. It was really fun.

Live From AZ Central!!!

If you want to get an idea of how many Arizonans think, look no further than the comments on articles posted on the Arizona Republic's website, AZ Central. I thought it would be revealing if I posted the title of some articles and some of the corresponding comments they generated. I will not discuss or editorialize on the comments or articles, but consider that my compiling in this manner is its own editorializing.

1. Comment on a May 15 article on Macho B, the jaguar that was captured and euthanized several months ago in Southern AZ.
User John5319 writes: Yes let's talk about "the economic problems you are worried about"...... in Arizona. Our new Immigration Law, and those who are against it, reminds me of the world's past history which we are repeating. We are repeating the history of the Warsaw Jews in pre-war Germany. The German government, under Hitler, created the boycotts that would DEMAND that anyone caught making a purchase from a Jewish merchant would face a prison cell. Isn't that very close to the same thing we hear today from Los Angeles, Austin Texas, Chicago high schools, and even Attorney General Holder who has not even read the bill? The only thing that is missing is the jail cell or the bullet from a Mauser rifle. Those State governments who want to boycott Arizona, make is just like the Jewish merchants. We as a state are being singled out simply because the power hungry have chosen to look at Arizonians as the Jews from Warsaw Poland. Where is the outcry about that? They want to punish, not understand. Yet they say a boycott in the name of "fairness" and "equality", but you can't have a boycott without hurt. This is about our state economy as well as existing Federal Law, the one that nobody wants to enforce. Those against our state law will say anything so that it doesn't threaten its existence or offend the moral FEELINGS of any illegals. Today our state is the Jew from Warsaw. It's time we realize it, and learn from History."

2. On an article entitled "Australian Teen Completes Round-the-World sail:" 
User GoHomeIllegalAliens (who's icon photo is a crossed out Mexican flag) writes: "When she turn 18? Id give her a round the world trip she cant refuse once shes legal!!"

3. From "Small Earthquake Shakes Southern California:"
User AZDivine writes: "This is all prophecised in Tehran, Iran from a cleric who predicted the West would pay for it's immodesty and (hence "Boobquakes"). Look out California and Vegas "PORN CITIES"... You're going down! Stop shakin it over there! You're tippin it in the ocean!"

4. Article - Alleged Robber Uses Mask to Appear Black:
User - Windrunner: "I wonder how they discovered he was a true human."

5. Miley Cyrus to Appear on 'Dancing with the Stars:"
User - cleave: "She's really not a very attractive girl, After her years of being on top I think she will crash burn in the flames of stardom. Use it while you got it Miley, because it never last.. you'll be pimping your child to fulfill your dream someday."

Arizona Fights Back

A couple of days ago, I wrote a post arguing why out-of-staters shouldn't boycott Arizona. In that post I stated that contributing to the economic depression of the state and taking a punitive stance against all people in the state, including those who oppose and hate the racist laws Jan Brewer and company are creating, is counterproductive and basically unfair. Well, the AZ Democratic Party has created a website to help rid us of the fools who have hijacked our little southwestern square of American property and are attempting to drag us back to before the Civil Rights era. As I stated before, many of us are digging in our claws to keep AZ in the American present. The website, www.arizonafightsback.com, gives you the opportunity to petition, volunteer, or donate. If Los Angeles and San Francisco, Boston and Worcester, and other cities boycotting, donated money instead of merely withholding it, we'd see a change in Arizona pretty quickly.

I just want to clarify, that I don't want to give the impression that I think all Republicans or conservatives are like the people we have in Arizona and my endorsement of the Arizona Democratic Party and Arizona Fights Back stem from the extreme conditions the horrid state government here has created. I think all Americans, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, should oppose racism and civil rights violations if extreme elements of any party or political alignment propose to construct laws that violate American values. Again, I apologize for all the political stuff on the blog, but if you lived here, you'd understand. And if you live here, I'm sure you do.