Politics Through A Rural Lens
We got a new stove last week (the old one only lasted about 20 years) and I asked friends for an easy recipe using fresh blueberries. My friend Louise Baxter has one that is a real winner and will be repeated in the fall when the pears growing in our front year are ripe.
You can find Louise’s recipe here and others that have been kitchen and family tested under Fuel Resources.
The Friday Photo
A weekly photo celebrating art, spontaneity, and community
August 9, 2013
Some people think environmentalists abhor the use of electricity.
Here’s photographic proof that we don’t.
This HVAC unit is outside the window next to my desk.
Due to the duct work, my office is the coolest room in the house, so when I
am working I can turn the temp up and run it less often (saving energy, as environmentalist are prone to do).
However, I can’t stand looking outside and seeing it. And I don’t want to put up blinds or curtains, which in the end will reduce the natural light where I need it (bonus-I don’t have to turn the light on during the day usually).
I called our heating and cooling guy, and Mel said he’s never had anyone ask if it is OK to paint their AC unit. As long as I keep the fan clear of paint, he said I can paint it.
So, friends and readers of Rural and Progressive, got an idea for a design (or best techniques if in fact you have done this too). I am not much for drawing or painting, but I am hopeful someone will have a simple idea that I can manage or build on. Let me know in the comments section here any other way we are connected if you have a design idea.
Three years ago I had to make a difficult decision between keeping my job and fighting for my beliefs. I felt like I had been thrown under a train by a few people who didn’t understand how firmly I am committed to my values and ethics, the things that are at my very core.
It took me a while to build my strength to a point where I could stand up under that metaphorical train. It wasn’t easy and it wouldn’t have happened without the support of my family and so many friends who kept me from being crushed. When I said I was ready, their steadfastness in doing what is right, and holding on to values which require the highest ethical standards, helped me stand up and shake that train off its tracks.
August 5th is a day of celebration for me now. If you’ve had to stand up for the values and beliefs that make you the person you are, especially when you knew standing firm could have serious consequences, celebrate yourself and the people who are there for you when you need to be cheered on.
Today, for the third time, I want to thank the people who have seen me through some very hard and painful days. I also want to thank the strangers who made a point of telling me, “What you did was great.” Because when you manage to push a train off your back, word gets around, especially in a small community crisscrossed by railroad tracks.
The Friday Photo
A weekly photo celebrating art, spontaneity, and community
August 2, 2013
We live in an old country farm house. There aren’t any columns in Classical style, or a sweeping view from a gated driveway. We bought the house 26 years ago, rewired and replumbed it, and moved in while we continued to renovate. The old lightning rods are still up on the tin roof, as well as a flattened Prince Albert can that covers a hole in a wood ceiling we uncovered.
We’ve never succeeded in having a radio in the kitchen. 26 years. Sometimes we listened to A Prairie Home Companion or All Things Considered blaring from a stereo in the den (that equipment gave up not long after our daughters could reach the buttons and dials).
In a last-ditch effort I tried the radio in today’s photo. It isn’t new and it has no iPod auxiliary jac. It works without static in just one of the kitchen outlets. I could only get public radio and a station in Louisville (Georgia) that carries the Braves.
Those two stations were as clear as a bell as long as the power cord is in a jumble.
We’ve waited years for something as simple as a radio in the kitchen. We’ll have to overlook the fact we are giving up precious counter space because the kitchen is small. Fortunately we could make enough room for the entire Braves lineup against the Rockies and the production staff at NPR.
The Friday Photo
A weekly photo celebrating art, spontaneity, and community
My friends John and Paula Swint, and neighbors, by country folks definition, have more organic green beans than they can eat or want to can for the winter. I arrived to get the fresh picked beans they offered and got to hear a teen brother and sister duo perform a song they were rehearsing with John for church this Sunday.
The dirt road in today’s photo may be just another dirt road to most people. For me, and many others in rural communities, dirt roads take us to fresh food that is gladly shared and a peek at young talent encouraged by parents and neighbors.
What I might write here about Moral Monday 12 on July 22 won’t add anything better than what has been captured in the photos and two videos below.
My sister Mary Helms on News 14 Carolina:
http://youtu.be/OVCysA1cP_0
The NAACP’s video includes my Guilford College classmate Amy Evans Axon at 5:40
The North Carolina Legislature’s slash and burn budget includes eliminating a $2,500 tax credit for families with college students by tying it to voter registration. SB 667 will require college students to vote at home if their parents claim them as a dependent and receive a $2,500 state tax credit. Students who register to vote where they attend college will also be required to move their vehicle registration 60 days prior to voting.
Connecting college tuition tax credits to where a college student votes and pays taxes on their vehicle sure does seem like a poll tax to me. Why would the Republican controlled North Carolina Legislature want to do this? Could it be because counties with heavy student populations where students traditionally vote Democratic (think Appalachian and Chapel Hill) could see students turn out in heavy numbers and threaten Republican control of state and Congressional seats? Is this a back door effort for legislators to add tax dollars to some counties via car taxes while taking it from others? Nope. It is a poorly veiled effort to control what would be legal student voting via a family’s checkbook.
Fortunately thousands have packed Halifax Mall outside the state legislature on Mondays to shine a bright light on the efforts to roll the clock back decades, if not centuries. Doctors in their white coats, faith leaders in vestments, teachers, retirees, attorneys, and hundreds of other tax paying, voting citizens have come forward to be arrested.
Wake County law enforcement officials went to work today knowing today is Moral Monday 12. Come rain or shine, the citizens will be there to peacefully demonstrate for a state that values equality, fair pay for teachers, Voting Rights, clean water and air, and a woman’s right to make her own health decisions.
The Friday Photo
A weekly photo inspired by art, community and spontaneity
July 19, 2013
Color stands out in all the gray weather we’ve had
This year I decided to be physically present in my beliefs by showing up. I started 2013 with wise and funny women at the North Carolina coast. Being Present has led me to stand silently while same-sex couples requested, and were denied, marriage licenses in Decatur. Being Present has taken me to a TEDx conference, the nation’s largest Climate Change action in DC, and a ribbon-cutting for the Dublin High School solar energy installation.
Next week I’ll Be Present with Guilford College alums at an unofficial Guilford College Reunion organized by alum Tom Dawson. We’ll come together in Raleigh, North Carolina at Moral Monday outside the state Capitol. Tom’s call to gather includes:
Why: This is not an official college reunion. Our truest reunion will always be in the field helping others.
We’ve seen so many Guilford friends representing their communities and the highest principles of their education and selves. Let’s meet up for a common purpose and represent together. This is a good way to connect across communities and bring out people who haven’t come to a Moral Monday yet, but are concerned about North Carolina.
When: 5:00, July 22 rain or shine
Where: Come to the word “Awed.” You can find it under the you are “a child suitable to be awed” inscription on the Public Instruction Department building on the left side of the commons facing the general assembly. Closest streets are the North Wilmington and East Lane Streets.
Who: Guilford alumni, students, faculty, kids, partners, friends, it’s complicateds, Quakers, strangers you meet on the street who have that certain “glow” about them. It’s a big field. Let’s fill it.
What: Wear Guilford colors if you like. If the spirit moves us, lets form a “Silent Bloc.”
My sister, Guilford College ’88, and her sons will go with me to Raleigh. She’s already working on a sign to carry. I’ll probably make mine with my nephews after I arrive.
It is important to me that I stand with my family for them, for my friends in North Carolina, for my high school and college alma maters, and for the millions who call the Old North State their home. I’ll be in the best of company.
There’s been A LOT of commentary and punditry, and several peaceful demonstrations, since The Verdict was announced Saturday night. I have heard and read a little of the coverage, but I prefer to focus on what change we as individuals, and as a country, can do to protect our children, ALL our children.
It occurred to me in the still dark hours this morning while I listened to NPR (my husband got up extra early to start on a project at work) that we really need to make our streets and communities safe for black men of every age, and to get to the heart of the matter, all men of color. While we’re at it, let’s make the streets safe for gay and transgendered men of all colors.
Then I thought about how unsafe our streets, homes, schools, Armed Forces, and businesses are for women.
Maybe I should have had a second cup of coffee, but next my mind frog-leaped to the fact that as long as we compartmentalize our calls for justice based on the most recent murder, mass shooting, movie, or state legislature vote, we are not setting the lens wide enough to see the whole picture.
I’m not suggesting that we can come up with an overnight “one size fits all” solution to the injustices and inequalities in our country. Unfortunately, as the Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act ruling shows, change can take generations. It’s just that I don’t think Treyvon Martin’s generation can, or should have to, wait any longer.
Once again Better Georgia has done the homework on icky ethics and leadership in our state’s government. Using reporting from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, the Gainesville Times, and a nifty infographic that timelines Governor Nathan Deal’s troubled finances with a salvage company he co-owned with Ken Cronan, now we know that a blind trust isn’t always blind. And millions in state taxes aren’t always paid by the Texas companies who owe them.
Deal had a $300,000 per year sweetheart contract with the state for storing junked cars. Now that salvage company, one that was placed in a blind trust, has been sold to Copart, a Texas based company which owes the state of Georgia almost $74M in taxes and penalities.
And that blind trust? The AJC reports that the trust got Governor Deal to sign off on the purchase contract, one which allows both Deal and his partner to own the property and collect $120,000 each per year to lease the land to Copart.
And Copart? It has filed an appeal with the state Department of Revenue on the taxes it owes.
Now that Governor Deal has a little change in his pocket, maybe he can bring some pressure to bear on companies who owe our state a hefty amount of taxes and penalties. After all, the taxes are owed to the people of this state, the same ones who bankroll Governor Deal’s paycheck and the Governor’s Mansion where Deal now lives.
The Friday Photo
A weekly photo inspired by art, community and spontaneity
July 12, 2013
Roscoe is 18 months old now. He is filling out and
getting taller by the minute. In many ways he is still a
young puppy. Making sure he is “with” us is important.
There were two public rallies scheduled today before the Public Service Commission (PSC) considers a $482M rate increase request from Georgia Power. One was supported by the Atlanta Tea Party Patriots along with renewable energy advocates. The second was funded by the Koch Brothers.
Update: the PSC voted for in favor of adding 500MW of solar power to Georgia Power’s 20 year energy plan!
The Friday Photo
A weekly photo inspired by art, community and spontaneity
July 5, 2013
The photo on the left is all that remained of the Ogeechee River last fall.
The photo on the right is the same view taken late yesterday.
Last year on July 4th my friend Man Martin posted this. It bears repeating.
My head just exploded, again, over the narrow-minded, blinders on, knuckle-dragging, Conservative Christian, threatened white man’s mentality trotted out on The Georgia Gang yesterday by Phil Kent, Gov Nathan Deal’s appointee to the state’s Immigration Enforcement Review Board. Dick Williams suggests an S-Corp “solution” to same sex marriages to further demonstrate just how ass-backwards some people can be when their Stone Age values are being rolled back.
http://vimeo.com/69431536
The Friday Photo
A weekly photo inspired by art, community and spontaneity
June 28, 2013
The third ingredient in my favorite summer breakfast
is organic French vanilla yogurt.
President Obama’s announcement about carbon pollution controls Tuesday at Georgetown University closed the circle in some ways on the future of Plant Washington. It won’t matter whether Plant Washington belches carbon into the air as a new source or an existing source, it will have to reduce and control the amount of Greenhouse Gases (GHG, or most commonly called carbon) it emits.
And that won’t be cheap.
Plant Washington has never modeled for carbon control, so the already doubled price tag 
just to construct it won’t be going down.
We have a surplus supply of cheap electricity on the market. Power generated from Plant Washington won’t be any “better” than what we can get today. All we’ve heard about buying power from this plant is a lot of talk about getting a “preferred position” for future power contracts.
I am willing to bet that anyone who might consider financing this carbon fueled project will not just prefer a sound business plan with realistic returns on their investment, they will require it.
When that happens, Plant Washington will be nothing more than a failed hot air project in an economy and country already moving away coal.
DOMA struck down http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_g2bh.pdf
And on Prop 8 from SCOTUS Blog: There will be much further discussion and analysis about how the decision in Perry affects other couples in California. For the time being, we will say this: the Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal challenging a final order from the trial court. It would appear, then, that the order will go into effect. And it appears that this final order purports to prohibit the Attorney General and the Governor from enforcing Prop. 8.
There could well be new challenges to the scope of that order. But for the time being, the order appears to be in effect and to prevent enforcement of Proposition 8 statewide.
I can make something simple very complicated in seconds, like plans for last weekend.
Yesterday David and I celebrated 29 years of marriage. We hadn’t been to Asheville 
together in two years, and we thought it would be fun to go back and do a brewery tour.
And then I tried to make it complicated:
“What if we invite our Guilford College friends in the area to go on the tour? Maybe Karrie will come up from Greensboro! I already spent New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day with her this year, so why not our anniversary too?”
“What if I invite my friends from the retreat I did near Asheville in the fall?”
“What if we invite Leslie (David’s work wife) and Marni to meet us in Asheville for the weekend?”
Wow! We could see a lot of fun people and you could meet some of the friends I made in the fall at the retreat. This could be great!
Our history of spending our anniversary with other people isn’t without precedence. Twenty-nine years ago we met David’s mother and grandmother for dinner in Charleston while we were on our honeymoon and they were doing a historical architecture tour. And last year we spent the day with Ogeechee Riverkeeper members before heading to Savannah.
David was thinking this trip would be a vacation without a long itinerary (he judges a good vacation by the number of naps he gets to take). He offered a compromise: we spend the weekend with Leslie and Marni OR we do the beer tour/meet friends afterwards. But not both.
That was tough. After all, in 2013 I had already spent New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day with girlfriends (including cooking dinner for David’s work wife Leslie). I was batting 1000.
But I came full circle to the choice I made 29 years ago. I wanted to spent a four-day weekend with David, and did not tag on our friends.
We didn’t run into anyone we knew while we were away. If we had maybe we would have had a beer and a short visit. Instead, we only had each other’s company while we are away.
And after 29 years, that was all the company I wanted.