More on Americans Elect

Man... I knew it was too good to be really good.

The slick shtick of Americans Elect, Just what Americans yearn for: A high-tech presidential ticket funded by secret Wall Street money

Could we have an open source democracy?

From the website of Americans Elect:
Americans Elect is the first nonpartisan nomination. We're using the Internet to break the gridlock in Washington, open up the political process and give every single voter—Democrat, Republican or independent—the power to nominate a presidential ticket in 2012. Your voice matters. You decide the issues. You choose the candidates. And in a secure, online convention next June, you will make history by putting the Americans Elect ticket on the ballot in every state. With Americans Elect, you have the power to choose leadership that puts country before party, and America's interests before special interests. You have the power to change politics as usual.

If you haven't already, check it out here: http://www.americanselect.org/about

I've been talking about the need for something like this for years. My hope is that this will help Americans get and feel more involved in the political process. No more just voting once for the guy who seems better than the other guy and hoping for the best. At least now there is another option. If they can just find a way to engage folks without computers, then we'd really be talking about a revolution. In the meantime, if Americans Elect catches on, it could at least make our democratic process, and the 2012 elections, a lot more interesting.

Why can't shoes feel nice and be sexy?

I find it hard to believe that it is impossible to build a shoe that is comfortable, affordable and not hideous. If they exist, I haven't found them and I've been searching for years. Wearing heels on daily basis just isn't an option for someone like me, with a messed up body. Ballet flats, as cute as they can be, don't really work either. I am lucky enough to live in New England, where clogs are socially acceptable, but I still cringe a little each time I finish off my outfit with a pair of gray corduroy clogs from DSW. And, even the clogs hurt my knees when I wear them too much.

It's become such an issue, at this point, I really can't move. At least, not to anywhere cooler than Boston. To live in New York, I would have to change professions, to a postal worker, personal trainer, or maybe a zookeeper. I also wouldn't be able to go out, ever.

Is there hope for girls like me who want to walk but also don't want to look hideous or like they're in their 80s? I'm about ready to throw in the towel and buy some orthopedic Easy Spirits.

Blue suede Easy Spirits, so hot right now!

I can't imagine I'm alone here. First, there must be other closet cripples like me out there, and even if I'm the only one, every woman's closet is home to at least one pair of shoes she doesn't wear because they cannot be walked in. I imagine that women, as a large consumer block, would take to the idea of comfy and elegant shoes. Sure, some women don't believe in comfortable shoes and eschew the word "comfy" they way others do "moist," but I think the everyday American lady making $31,000 a year, who feels forced to dress up for work, would really love such an invention.

Attention investors: I have ideas. If you know anyone in shoe design, please let me know.

Of course, there is always the possibility that everyone else loves the cheap shoes that I find hideous and I'm just a poor but stuck up snot face.

If I was a rich stuck up snot face, or at least rich like Daphne Guinness, I would design my own dashing custom shoes for every occasion.

Daphne Guinness in Alexander McQueen heels with Marc Jacobs in 2009.

Guinness in Paris in custom shoes.

Another custom pair made for Guinness.

Throw your money on the ground and leave it there

Tune-Yards Tiny Desk Concert, suggested by of jazz pianist extraordinaire Molly Cyr.

Hilarious Yoga Music Video

Tunes and Ron Swanson

Blog has been neglected. My apologies. What time I haven't spent at work, socializing, or trying to steer the drunken ship that is the board I'm on, I have been indulging in episode after episode of Parks and Recreation. There are a lot of reasons why I enjoy the show, but I especially love the character Ron Swanson, because he reminds me so much of my brother. He's a libertarian who loves guns and meat, and says a lot of wildly un-PC things. Dean is the same, and since he's in Afghanistan, it's a little harder to get my weekly dose of jaw-drops and hysterical laughter. Swanson has been a nice place holder. I can only hope and pray that my brother will one day grow such a magnificent mustache.

Ron Swanson's Pyramid of Greatness, which he used to train his youth basketball team.

I recently acquired Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings' Soul Time, Mayer Hawthorne's How Do You Do?, Cass McCombs' Humor Risk, and the new Pokey LaFarge record.

So far, my favorite track from all of them is Hawthorne's "No Strings" The SJDK album's best tracks were all already released on EPs. Wanh wanh. This track is still hot, even if it's not new, and it is especially relevant now:


Look out for a review of Humor Risk in the January issue of Performer.

Garlic has been planted!

Carma

Veronica and I left our place Sunday night excited for a little drive to Wellesley, where we were scheduled to have dinner with our dear friend Molly.


Dinner was a success but the rides there and back were fraught with adventure. On the way there I got pulled over for turning from the wrong lane, because Wellesley's stop lights don't make sense, and on the way back we ran out of gas, which has never happened to me before. (Dean, if you're reading, I'm really sorry. I know its not good for the car.)
What's amazing is that I got out of both incidents way more easily than I should have. The cop who pulled me over just gave me a warning. Miraculously, we ran out of gas right in front of Allandale Farm, where my old boss happened to be home and happened to have gas. I felt like one lucky chicken.




The white whale just got a visit to the body shop. The guy who owns the place is a Cadillac man himself. Not only did he do a beautiful job, but he washed the car and cleaned the white walls on the tires. A-mazing. Thank you universe.

Piglets

Pokey!

Pokey La Farge is the man! His band, the South City Three, are pretty swell themselves. I thoroughly enjoyed their folksy Americana set at Club Passim last night. They are true performers, choosing not simply to play music but to put on a proper show. And they were super accessible. I asked them what, out of the old Americana cannons, I should listen to. Pokey and one of his band mates happily offered several recommendations: early Cab Calloway, Milton Brown, and Ma Rainey. I learned from Wikipedia that Rainey and her husband dubbed their duet Rainey and Rainey, Assassinators of the Blues. A-mazing.

You can buy the new Pokey La Farge and South City Three album Middle of Everywhere (2011 Free Dirt Records) on cd or vinyl here.

This song was particularly awesome. All my whiskey drinkin' pals will 'preciate it.

(This isn't from the show I saw but the feeling is similar)

Amartya Sen + Van Jones

I am a lucky lady. I had the pleasure of seeing two of my heroes speak within days of each other: Amartya Sen on Friday in Houston and Van Jones tonight in Cambridge. They were both great speeches, though I connected more with Jones' (which you'll find on the Harvard Institute of Politics iTunesU by the end of the week). Definitely check it out. He highlighted some little known information about the Tea Party and drew some interesting comparisons between the Tea Party movement and #Occupy. I actually got a chance to ask both speakers about #Occupy. Sen said he'd been out of the country and needed to read up on it but he was encouraged to see people rising up against the vast economic equality in America. I asked Jones about strategy specifically and he said that he thinks the protests, as a swarm, don't necessarily need to be held accountable for coming up with strategies or solutions for us but should help draw attention to the actors who have put forth solutions. I look forward to a close reading of his organization's Contract for the American Dream which, he claims, lays out some solid solutions. Honestly, we he first announced the contract, and the launch of his group Rebuild the Dream, I thought, "Really, another group?" we already have MoveOn, 350.org, Progressive Change Committee, and a million other groups who haven't put forward a silver bullet, why another? I suppose I'll give it a second look.

Van Jones is so fun to listen to. He's an amazing speaker and has a great knack for making a conversation about the dire circumstances in our country just a little hilarious. Tonight I laughed out loud more than once. He also just made some choice and quotable points:

"When you rig the game, you divide the playground... The kids start acting up."

"Markets work according to rules. The rules are whacky and as long a they're whacky, they're going to give us things we don't want." He then provided some examples, including "...chemicals in our food." I love that.

Thanks Van, for always being an inspiration.

I'm sitting in Club Passim in Cambridge, about to see Pokey LaFarge. Awesome.

Eugene McDaniels

This post is dedicated to Wyatt.

I first got into Eugene McDaniels when a really good soul put "Outlaw" on a mix for me. While not often a household name himself, McDaniels' music was sampled in a crap ton of hip hop in the 90s, most often by A Tribe Called Quest, and again in the 2000s by groups like De La Soul, Quasimoto and People Under the Stairs. (A comprehensive list is available on WhoSampled, which is fun to play with.) He started out doing gospel and jazz stuff in the 60s under the name Gene McDaniels but later went back to Eugene McDaniels before releasing Outlaw and the much sampled Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse. Also in the same time period, he began focusing on black consciousness and wrote "Compared to What," a protest song made famous by Les McCann and Eddie Harris.



McDaniels was pretty up front with his politics. A message printed on the back of Outlaw reads:

Under conditions of national emergency, like now, there are only two kinds of people -- those who work for freedom, and those who do not: the good guys vs the bad guys.

The original gangsta passed away just this summer, at his home in Maine.

This Tribe classic samples McDaniels Jagger the Dagger (featured second).

Simple Pleasures

Often my job allows me to run around and do cool things but sometimes I have to hunker down, roll up my sleeves, and bury myself in administrative and financial paperwork. It doesn't sound fun but there are things about it that I find immensely pleasing. For example, I particularly enjoy the act of stamping the word "COPY" on my own file copies of financial reports. I know how sad that sounds. I made a point of not smiling too wide while I did some stamping recently because I feared my intern would notice and think I was a real nut job. (She probably thinks that anyway.) The thing is, I grew up with some similar rubber stamps and the act of using them is as nostalgic for me as I imagine making fluffernutter sandwiches is for some folks. As a kid, I used to pull stamps out of my parents' desk drawer and use them to officialize my own "paper work" and "business" with words like "TAXES" and "FAXED." I'm sure my parents really appreciated all the rubber stamp art I left on top of their bills and other properly important business.

Paperwork, like typewriters, dot matrix printers, rotary phones, AOL, and pencils, is something we'll probably have trouble explaining to our children. Maybe we won't even bother trying. I'm all for new technology, but when paperwork and pencils truly disappear, I will miss the tactile satisfaction of actually doing things with my hands while I'm at a desk. God, I hope I'll at least still get to have desk.

Record Review in Performer: Tall Heights

“Boston duo blends cello with soaring vocal harmonies”

After a year of touring, and a residency in Fanueil Hall’s Street Performer Program, Tall Heights have stripped down their sound and released a wintry little EP entitled Rafters. For the first time, they wrote, played, and recorded all five tracks alone and it seems that shedding outside influence has worked in their favor. The new songs are slow and insightful, marking a departure from their pop-tinged folky debut Smoke Signals, and the EP as a whole is more mature in its composition and its subject matter.

While the meat of their sound comes from a mellifluous mix of guitar, cello and vocal harmonies, a low-fi recording style and unique percussion act as perfect condiments. Drums were omitted in favor of knitting needles and a steel pipe, and careful listening reveals the sounds of singing birds and a thunder storm that were picked up during the recording. The title of the EP feels appropriate, as old and lonely things are reoccurring themes in the lyrics.

Keep reading

On Occupying

Photos from this weekend's police crackdown on protesters in Boston.

It kills me that I haven't yet been down to Occupy Boston. Tomorrow night, I'll be there. Any highlights from you folks out there around the country? Updates please!

I've heard a lot of complaints about this movement not having a clear message. I'm not sure that's true, but either way, I'm just so happy that we're finally giving the Tea Party a run for its money. Were we really going to sit back and watch some frightening racist rhetoric-spouters use the tools we created* to thoroughly destroy what little dignity might be left in Washington? Unh uh!! Thank God something is happening. And who knew we'd take a page from the Arab book on revolution? How 'bout that America?

*Tea Party organizers have been known to use Rules for Radicals by Saul Alinsky, among other traditionally liberal organizing texts.

I particularly enjoyed the words of Occupy Boston organizer and Northeastern student Jon Phoenix on today's show of On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Phoenix addressed the question I've been asking all along, what happens three months from now when it's cold outside and the media has stopped covering the protests? He believes the movement might morph into a third party, produce a candidate for the 2012 election, and give Mr. Obama a (perhaps well-deserved) run for his money. It's an interesting idea. We'd also have to consider how a third party candidate might split the vote in favor of the Republican candidate. Of course, four years of Mitt Romney could also help further mobilize the left. But for what? Can we do better than Obama in 2016? I digress.

One of the other guests on the radio show indicated that the third party proposal plays into our existing polarizing political system and would continue to leave a lot of voices unheard. Also a valid concern. I'm excited to see where this goes. I wish I was a grad student in the study of social movements right now and I could spend the next year bouncing around these protests. I just hope there are good people carefully documenting the movement as it unfolds so we can learn from present events and build on them in our quest for the America we really want to see.

Here is some info on the financial implications of Occupy Boston on Boston's municipal services, i.e. the cost of overtime pay for the police patrolling Dewey Square.

Anais Nin and The Common Ground Fair

Dear blog and readers,
I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. I've been doing a lot more writing in my journal lately and spending my other free moments with the New Yorker and Anais Nin's Henry and June. I'm a bit obsessed with both. Anais Nin was so cool and it is her writing that has inspired me to journal again. I think she began writing at age 9 and kept at it until her passing in 1977. Henry and June is like a high brow beach read, filled with exciting affairs (many at once), and vivid sex scenes, as well as detailed discussions on writing and art. She uses the "f" word a lot, which surprised me. I didn't realize it was already widely used in the 30s. Now I know. More on Anais here.


Sunday, I bathed in a lake. That was just one highlight in a fun-filled weekend in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, the childhood home of my roommate Veronica. We were joined by Emily and Wyatt, and had a wicked good time with her ever welcoming and entertaining parents. They sent us home with homegrown squash, local apples, cookies, and all kinds of pickles and relishes.

Part of the impetus for the journey was attending the Common Ground Fair, one of the largest and oldest agricultural fairs in New England. Mostly we just ate until we couldn't eat anymore. If you ever have a chance to go the fair, try a pie cone and/or the fried shitake mushrooms. The fair is run my MOFGA, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardners Association, so everything at the fair is organic and, for the most part, local. For example, there is no sugar at the fair but they've made an exception for coffee. The fair offers countless workshops on everything from beekeeping to the benefits of keeping and eating your own placenta. (I'm not joking.) There were also all kinds of demonstrations and juried exhibitions of livestock, vegetables, and flowers. I especially enjoyed hanging out with the mules and squishing their noses. I spent much of the weekend trying to imagine how I might make enough money to start a farming operation large enough to necessitate a mule, especially a Percheron-donkey cross like this one.


More photos soon.

Jeff Mangum in Boston and Cambridge + Aloe Blacc

"...the most arresting lyricist of his generation" - Carly Carioli, The Phoenix, 9/11/2011



After years and years underground, Jeff Mangum of Neutral Milk Hotel went on tour this summer and fall, and graced the Greater Boston area with two shows on September 9 and 10.The video above is from the show I saw with K-Moms at Sanders Theatre at Harvard on the 9th. This Phoenix review is from the next night. At both shows he opened with "Oh Comely," led the crowd in several sing-a-longs, and was coaxed into a second encore. Good stuff Jeff. Thank you. If you want to make more music now, that's fine with me.

I also saw Aloe Blacc at Brighton Music Hall last week and would definitely put that show in my top 10 best ever. Someone in the crowd got it right when they said, "That motherfucker is gonna be filling coliseums someday." Blacc did some of his hip hop and a whole lotta soul. He's a great dancer, political, and relentlessly positive. I got to give him a hug after the show. I'm never washing the sweater I wore that night. My show-going partner was distracted by the super polished nature of his backing band, presumably a group of studio musicians Blacc plucked for his album and then took on the road. I felt like that was to be expected for a Los Angeles band and it didn't bother me. If anyone out there has thoughts on the matter, let a girl know in the comments section.


See what I mean with the dancing?

He also performed this and it was hot.

Sculpture

The DeCordova Sculpture Park is cool.

My Favorite Song of All Time

I'm pretty sure I should have been born in the 1970s.



More on KC and the Sunshine Band

Embarrassment + Organization

It's funny. I consider myself a happy and easy going person but when I think I've unintentionally hurt, offended or upset someone, I really just want to cry and hide. Lately, I've been so happy that I've noticed it. I was just thinking this morning that it's been so nice to have been on a high for so long. Even the occasional bad headache hasn't messed with my mood. And then, the rest of today happened. In one instance I said "hi" to a co-worker, who's name I thought I knew. I totally called her the wrong name. Not even close. I thought she was a completely different person. Ugh. Earlier today I was reprimanded by a friend for inappropriate Facebook posting. I didn't even consider that it might be inappropriate. Oops. I feel like poop.In researching embarrassment, however, I learned that it is also a medical term. Yay learning.

In other news, I'm thinking about starting a website for millennials called getyourshittogether.com. (Unfortunately someone already has the domain name but I'm sure I can work out a deal.) The point of the site would be to share useful tips in managing life's many facets in order to live and work as productively as possible. I'm often amazed by how hard it is for people in my age group to manage multiple projects, i.e. some people are really organized at work, but not at home, or vice versa. And, while we have so much more technology to help us keep our shit together, it can be hard to choose the right kind for our needs. Or, even if we use it, it can be hard to keep up with all of it. Our generation is somewhat unique in that we are pretty tech-savvy, but we were also alive for awhile before the internet took over our lives. Expectations about our reachability have grown tremendously in our lifetime. Also, some people just aren't that into using their phone as their calendar. I get that too. I think it would be interesting to pull together different literature on staying organized, keeping the e-mail inbox under control, managing voicemail, helpful websites, etc. There could also be some info on financial management and career advancement. If you know of existing stuff like this, let me know. I haven't delved into any research on it yet.

Song of the Week: "Don't Vote" - Cass McCombs

Wedding!

I just returned from my third wedding of the summer, this time Wyatt's sister got married, in Vermont. I now feel that all summer weddings that don't take place in cities should be held at lakes. Being able to swim before/after partying is such a treat.

Some pics for the kids:


James walking Andrea down the aisle.



Maddy ( the mom ) in the foreground.



Wyatt with his cousin Willie, affectionately referred to as "Wild Will."



The harbor at the Basin Harbor Club, near Vergennes, Vermont. The wedding was held just to the right of this shot.



Babies! These are Henry and Gus, respectively. There must have been 100 babies at this wedding. During the ceremony, there was a whole crew of moms standing to the side of the crowd, either bouncing babies at their breast, or gently pushing strollers back and forth.



And finally, a garden shot for the other plant nerds out there.

Aggregated Goodness

Here is an amazing blog post on the hardships of trying to be a responsible adult. I'm pretty sure that the author of Hyberbole and a Half is my long lost best friend. Even the title is so me. More than a few people in my life have been bothered by my hyperbolic tendencies.

Apparently Chinese basketball players have trouble with starting sh*t on the court. One team recently beat the crap out of the Georgetown team at an exhibition game in Beijing.

If you live in Boston and you haven't yet RSVP'd for the Boston Cyclists Union First Annual Meeting, please do so now. I have acquired some really swell raffle prizes including, but not limited to, a free CSA from Allandale Farm for next season, a gift certificate to Salmagundi (sweet hat store in JP), free bike tune ups, a helmet, a tire pump, and a 10 class card to South Boston Yoga. I'm planning on buying $20 worth of raffle tickets and you should too. RSVP for the sweetest bike party of the year here.

Song of the Week: Video Games

This week's song is dedicated to my friend Laura Richardson, who plays the harp, darts, and video games.

"Video Games" by Lana Del Rey:


This says she's inspired by the filmmaker David Lynch (Mulholland Drive, Blue Velvet, etc.) and you can definitely feel that in her sort of creepy, super romantic ballads. She apparently defines her genre as "Hollywood Sadcore," which seems right on to me.

Tuesday (!)

My best friend has pronounced Tuesdays "Posi Tuesday," an opportunity to block out the bad and celebrate the good. Its a swell idea and it leads to a lot of fun, entertaining Facebook posting.

I, however, need to get some shiz off my chest this Tuesday. I've been trying to keep it posi (positive) for awhile and I need a small break. Please forgive me.

Mostly, I just want to get away. Away from computers, emails and Facebook events. Away from resizing photos to fit websites better. I want to re enter the world of real conversations and quiet time. I'm over the city. Over the sounds of my quarreling neighbors, stomping above and below, and the mysterious midnight train whistles that keep me up late.

I'm also sick of cancer, and injuries and "America's posture of endless war." Especially the war that's sent my little brother to get shot at by Pakistani paramilitary fighters in Afghanistan. I'm sick of seeing everyone so sad. I'm sick of John Boehner and our president saying the same things over and over, with tired eyes and undoubtedly tired hearts. Come on America, we can do better.

If you can't reach me on Monday, hopefully it'll be because I've jumped ship and hopped in the Cadillac for a journey to the promised land. Ideally that'll include a dog, a tree house and lots of singing and dancing.

Who would be on your super hero dream team?

I'd like to start a new collaborative series on super hero dream teams. Maybe it's the grassroots organizer in me, or the dreamer, or whatever, but I often think about people in terms of their usefulness in a team setting. More specifically, if I was charged with saving the world from some kind of impending doom, say a natural disaster, a surprise third Bush administration, or a nuclear meltdown, and I could put together my dream team of problem solvers, intellectuals and Olympic athletes, who would I pick?

I've worked with a lot of amazing people in my life so far, and I would like to feature some of them and their potentially world-saving qualities, on this blog. I would also like you, dear readers, to submit some writing on who you'd pick for your team. One person per piece, 250 words or less per person. Sound good? Send 'em in. superherodreamteam@gmail.com

Gardening Rules

This post is dedicated to Dan Abrams, whose enthusiasm for this blog never ceases to surprise me.

Cucumbers in the front yard,



Bigger, in the kitchen,



And pickled as spicy half sours




Raspberries from the community plot!

Really?

When I was living in Columbus, Ohio in 2007, I saw a lot of Ron Paul street art and wondered how that asshole got people to stencil for him. It seems his guerilla street teams are already at it again, putting stickers on every lamp post in Cambridge.

Song of the Week: Comfortable, Happy, Satisfied

Listen to "Comfortable, Happy, Satisfied" by Body Parts.