Author: codec

Take a book, leave a book

Little Free Library Ribbon Cutting, October 27, 2014 W. Church Street, Sandersville, Georgia
Little Free Library Ribbon Cutting, 511 West Church Street, Sandersville, Georgia

About two years ago my friends the Digh/Ptak family built a Little Free Library and placed it in front of their home in Asheville. A Little Free Library (LFL) is simply a place where books are made available for anyone to take a book to read or leave a book for someone else to read. You don’t even have to ask if it is ok to leave a book, you just put it in the library!

A LFL can be sponsored by a family like mine, a business, church, civic group, Scout troop, or a group of friends and neighbors. Most are located outside in a water-resistant box/container where there are lots of people throughout the day. Occasionally they are located inside a business too.

The cost is minimal. Registering a Little Free Library and getting your official Little Free Library sign requires a one-time cost of $35. They’ll send you some helpful information to spread the word about your LFL, and once you have yours ready, you can make it official and be placed on the LFL map and list of locations.  My LFL is number 16,856, so there were 16,855 Little Free Libraries before me! LFL is non-profit organization and can be found at littlefreelibrary.org 

So why is my LFL made out of an old newspaper box?  Unfortunately  I was not able to convince my husband to build one for me because he seems to be busy helping me with other things on a list that never ends. Last summer when a bike tour of Little Free Libraries in the Mercer area in Macon was announced, my determination to have at least one LFL in Washington County took off again.

After searching the web I found some old newspaper boxes repurposed into libraries. No building required! The Sandersville Progress didn’t have any boxes to offer, but after several phone calls I was able to get some from the Augusta Chronicle.

Little Free Library, Washington County, GA
Little Free Library, Washington County, GA

Once I got the boxes back to Sandersville, the real work began to make Little Free Libraries a community project. Washington County Machine Shop made some repairs so the boxes would be more weather resistant. Once I retrieved the shored up boxes, I got local businesses to help make Washington County’s first LFL happen.

ACE Hardware supplied me with paint, Brooker Business Products contributed a custom stamp for library books that reads “Little Free Library Washington, GA.” Katlyn Norwood painted to lettering on the box, and Smith Farm Supply donated a fence pole for me to secure the box in my front yard.

Charles Lee was willing to bend the rules for Chamber of Commerce Ribbon Cuttings since this is the first official Little Free Library in our county. Bob West and his crew were kind enough to get my front yard “ribbon cutting” ready. Neil Pittman at the Country Buffet and Judy Page contributed food for everyone who attended the ribbon cutting.

On Monday, October 27 community leaders, friends, and neighbors gathered to celebrate Washington County’s first Little Free Library at my house on West Church Street. The books inside Washington County’s first LFL were donated by Jeanne Roughton, Susan Garrett, and my friend in the Monticello area Susan Joris. They range from classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and early reader books for young children, to adult murder-mysteries.

In the next few weeks Little Free Libraries will be popping up all over Washington County. The Beauty Junction on South Harris Street has put one out with children’s books. Washington EMC employees had a design contest for the one they will put on the front porch of their office in Sandersville. The Pendry family will have one on West Church St near the city cemetery soon. The Progress has found a newspaper box this fall to contribute and that one will be decorated and placed in front of Susan Lewis’ office on the Square. The fellows at ACE Hardware plan to build one and place it at their store, and Clayton Sheppard is going to try and make space inside JP’s Kwick Shop for a LFL that Warthen residents want to sponsor.

I am really appreciative of the help and support local businesses and friends have given to bringing Little Free Libraries to Washington County. I have one newspaper box left that I will give to someone who wants to decorate, register, and sponsor a Little Free Library in our county. If you want to get your name in the hat email me with your contact information, who will sponsor the LFL (your family, a Sunday School class, etc), and where you will place it. The other Washington County Little Free Library “librarians” will select a winner.

The deadline for your nomination is Friday, November 21. The winner will be chosen and announced in early December. Email me at [email protected] with your nomination.

 

Throw like a girl, vote like a woman

Earlier this week Fox News’ Kimberly Guilfoyle urged young women to skip the voting booth and spend time on Match.com because they don’t pay bills, have mortgages, or apparently, any semblance of a life beyond fussing with clothes, hair, and chasing men. Guilfoyle and others in this segment don’t urge young men to skip voting.

As a stark contrast, Chevrolet is running an ad during the World Series featuring 13 year old pitcher Mo’ne Davis. The poised and talented pitcher begins the ad by saying, “Dear America” and closes it with, “Sincerely, Your Daughter, Mo’ne Davis.”

Which message do you want the young women of America to hear?

http://youtu.be/WDjyAaihcQM

Declaring Victory

Goal Met

I had no idea what the response would be to launching a Go Fund Me campaign asking people to help me go to a camp for grown ups. The time was just too ripe for me to get to this camp led by Patti Digh, and so I decided to be my own advocate. I’ve asked people to sign comments  to support clean air and water, marriage equality, access to health care, and other issues, but IU’ve never done a “help me personally” type of ask.

This has been a humbling experience for many reasons. I’ve not told my story for myself, and for that purpose alone the experience is valuable. As a participant in other campaigns I have been amazed at people stepping up because there was value in the need and ask. I wasn’t sure that would happen for me, and every time it did I had to catch my breath.

I’ve got a lot to do between now and the time I leave for Life Is A Verb Camp 2014. Right now I am letting such unexpected generosity soak in. I am appreciative of the what everyone did to make this happen, from sharing the link to the campaign to actually typing in a donation amount.

Thank you.

 

The one week when Friday comes early

This Thanksgiving, lots of Macy’s employees will be curtailing their time with family because the department store chain will open its doors on Thanksgiving evening at 6:00 pm, two hours earlier than it unlocked the doors last year.

Black Friday isn’t on Friday any more. The Thanksgiving holiday has become an almost weeklong slug fest among major retailers.

If you don’t want retailers to open their doors on Thanksgiving, the choice is simple-put another log on fire and stay home.

I already have a recipe for potato salad

The Friday Photo
October 10, 2014

Life Is A Verb camp

Last summer a guy posted a satirical Kickstarter campaign for a potato salad recipe. He ended up raising $55K. Fortunately I have a couple of good potato salad recipes, including the slightly spicy one from the Vortex in Atlanta (no fundraising required).

What I realized I don’t have in my cookbook is a recipe for finding my way to whatever my next job will be. I’ve got a lot of ingredients but what I don’t have is a way to find the right recipe.

Some friends suggested I step outside my comfort zone and make an ask for help to go to Life Is a Verb Camp in early November. The Camp Director, my friend Patti Digh, has planned teaching and learning sessions that include poets Naomi Shihab Nye and
Ellen Bass, nonprofit leaders that span the spectrum, an Ambassador for the Alzheimer  Association, artists, writers, and health leaders. I’m not going because I want to learn how to write poetry, but rather because I need to figure out how to think differently about the ingredients I already have.

Wednesday afternoon I got two unexpected gifts outside my Go Fund Me campaign, one that included a message, “Do not put this effort down.” As Progressives know, much attention and money are focused on heated campaigns across the country, not exactly the best time to launch a smaller one like my camp campaign.

After I let the unexpected generosity soak in overnight, I was able to cut my goal be more than half. Now I’m really close to going to my first ever sleep over camp on November 6th and I need your help to top the $500 mark by Monday.

This campaign isn’t  beholden to a bunch of PACs, but I am offering to work with donors on their own marketing/nonprofit projects as a return on their investment. If you make a donation of any size, of course I’ll be grateful. If you can share the link with your friends, that will help a lot.

I’ve stretched way beyond what I thought possible. It is scary, but a good campaign requires a candidate that is willing to make The Big Ask. This camp candidate is asking for your help and support now.

 

Fracking for the Cure

pink drill bit

There’s just no saving the Susan G Komen organization from itself. For the second year in a row, Komen has lined up to get a $100,000 check from Baker Hughes, a fracking company. Baker Hughes is so committed to helping find a cure for breast cancer that it is shipping out 1,000 drill bits painted in a specially commissioned Komen Pink, packed in pink boxes with a fact sheet on breast cancer tucked inside, to rig sites.

The fact that Baker Hughes uses fracking chemicals that contain known cancer causing agents clearly isn’t worrisome enough for Komen to turn down a check.

Kudos to Susan G Komen and Baker Hughes for creating the most phallic breast cancer prevention campaign I’ve ever seen. I can barely wait until October 2015 to see how they top this one.

Locked and loaded for Fall

The Friday Photo
October 3, 2014
IMG_1062.JPG
The three vials of allergy shot serum I picked up Tuesday are missing from my arsenal of allergy meds. This is one time when armed vigilance is appropriate.

My first sleep over camp

Most readers of Rural and Progressive have followed the work I have been lucky enough to be part of to stop a proposed coal plant in my rural Georgia community. None of us knew what was ahead almost seven years ago when we came together to speak up for the health of our community except that it would require strong backs, patience, strong partnerships, and grit.

The ugly part of this work has been the tearing apart of decades-long friendships and splintering of families. Sometimes when people stand up for what they believe is right, no matter how difficult that may be, communities become divided.

Four years ago I made what was probably the hardest decision I have made since I heard the announcement for coal-fired Plant Washington: I stood my ground for my values and integrity when I was asked to sit on my hands. Given the choice of sitting in silence and keeping my job, or speaking up for what I believe in, I chose my values and beliefs.

I took on a job that, if we won, would put me out of a job. Fighting Plant Washington full-time required a commitment to a much smaller paycheck, and sometimes no paycheck at all. Environmental activists don’t get rich fighting the fossil fuel industry.

Plant Washington opponents won’t stop until the project is cancelled, but the writing on the wall is in all capital letters for this coal plant. That means it is time for me to figure out what I will do next.

The scars and experience I’ve accumulated can’t be boxed up and put away. The challenge now is finding a way to put them to work for a community or organization that needs an advocate/activist to help in their work.

Can I find a way to cobble together work that will pay my bills without requiring me to move away from my family? What could that work be? Where do I look and how do I do that with clarity and focus? Who might help me and how do I make the right ask?

At 53 years old, I am ready to go to a sleep over camp for the first time in my life-
a “camp for grown camp fireups.” Life is a Verb, a three day camp/workshop/retreat will challenge me to find the questions I need to ask, and begin to work towards the answers.

Patti Digh wrote this about the camp she is leading, “Camp is a place where people of all walks of life come together to explore what it means to be fully human and what it means to live life fully, as an active and not a passive, verb. To live, and live fully. To love, and love well. To let go, and let go deeply.”

As an advocate I’m not used to asking for myself, but I am trying to let go of that stumbling block now. I set up a Go Fund Me account because I simply am not able to cover the costs of going to camp and finding a sustainable way to what is next for me.

My goal is to cover the costs of camp and traveling back and forth. I’ll arrive there ready to do the work at hand and maximize every minute. What I learn will help me step into the unknown that is knocking on my door.

My life has truly been an action packed adventure since I stepped into a huge unknown almost seven years ago. Now I have skills and experience I want to share with people and communities who have challenges of their own. What I have learned is meant to benefit others, not be put on a shelf and collect dust.

I’ll write about my adventures at Rural and Progressive as I prepare to leave and when I return (letting go for me also includes less time with electronics).

I hope you’ll support my first-ever camp experience with a donation. Any amount will help send a 53 year old advocate/activist to camp for the first time.

Urban Outfitters has no fashion sense

Fresh on the heels of the National Guard “quelling” the unrest in Ferguson, MO,  Urban Outfitters listed a “vintage” Kent State sweatshirt for $129 yesterday.

Urban Outfitters "Vintage" Kent State sweatshirt
Urban Outfitters “Vintage” Kent State sweatshirt

This fashion backwards item wasn’t well received. Urban Outfitters issued this statement:

“Urban Outfitters sincerely apologizes for any offense our Vintage Kent State Sweatshirt may have caused. It was never our intention to allude to the tragic events that took place at Kent State in 1970 and we are extremely saddened that this item was perceived as such. The one-of-a-kind item was purchased as part of our sun-faded vintage collection. There is no blood on this shirt nor has this item been altered in any way. The red stains are discoloration from the original shade of the shirt and the holes are from natural wear and fray. Again, we deeply regret that this item was perceived negatively and we have removed it immediately from our website to avoid further upset.”

What’s next Urban Outfitters? Will you debut a line of Napalm Personal Care Products next week?

For the youngsters among Rural and Progressive readers, this is what happened in 1970 when the National Guard was sent to Kent State.

How we have failed since September 11, 2001

Tonight President Obama will address the nation about ISIS and any actions that we may take in response to the horrific murders of Americans and innocent civilians at the hands of terrorists.

Tomorrow there will be an observance in my community, and many others, to honor the thousands of lives lost to hate and terrorism, and to support the families and friends who knew someone they loved would never return home again.

Since September 11, 2001 we as a country have talked a lot about being kinder to one another and being a better country. Yet 13 years later this is what consumes us as a country:

  • fighting about allowing two consenting adults of the same-sex to legally marry each
  • failing to take care of the thousands of veterans who have defended our country, many of whom returned with horrible wounds from the Middle East since September 2001
  • allowing private corporations to decided which forms of legal birth control they will cover for employees through company based health insurance because some corporations should have the same privileges as churches
  • granting corporations the same rights as citizens so businesses can pour money into elections and our representatives’ pockets
  • making it harder for citizens to exercise their right to vote
  • subsidizing corporations with huge tax breaks while their employees working full-time never earn enough to break the poverty barrier
  • denying the hard facts of science because profits should come before cleaning up the mess we’ve made of the entire planet
  • deporting children
  • complaining about failing schools while slashing teacher pay and testing our children to death
  • sitting by silently while racism and sexism are displayed proudly
  • being sure we can take our assault rifles into the grocery store
  • we pay for and support violence on playing fields, in the movies we watch, video games we buy, music we listen to, and television shows we watch, but we react with horror when students are sprayed with bullets in their classrooms, women are drug from elevators by their hair, students are bullied, children and women are raped as well as being forced into prostitution
  • too many among us are convinced that their brand of faith should be followed above all others, and if necessary the rights of other citizens should be denied because they choose to worship differently, or not at all

We absolutely should remember and honor the victims of September 11th’s violence. I’m just not convinced we are a country that is a better reflection of the democratic values and freedoms which terrorists intended to destroy 13 years ago.

 

Victims are not volunteers

This letter was sent to The Sandersville Progress in response to owner Bob Tribble’s column.

Bob Tribble’s column on August 26, 2014 included a statement that isn’t accurate regarding the child victims of convicted Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. Tribble wrote,”Some lost their virginity involuntarily by a man whom they once trusted.”

Victims don’t “voluntarily” do anything during a crime. None of Sandusky’s child victim’s “volunteered” to give up their virginity anymore than they willingly volunteered to be sodomized in the Penn State locker room showers.

I don’t care what Tribble thinks about whether Penn State’s players were unfairly penalized by the NCAA sanctions. 

What I do care about is the fact that the person who profits from owning the legal publishing organ for Washington County, believes that a victim of rape or other sexual assaults, and a child victim at that, could voluntarily participate in those acts. 

Rape is a crime. Victims aren’t volunteers.

Bob Tribble is wrong to state otherwise. 

 

 

West Charlotte Lions

The Friday Photo
September 5, 2014

West Charlotte

The first floor room in the corner is where I took Latin.
The middle of the second floor is where I took French classes.
If I had gone to high school before Swann v Char-Meck Schools was decided in 1970,
West Charlotte High School would have only been a black school in a low-income neighborhood all the way across town.

I grew up in a family that believes in and supports public education. As a result I will always be a proud West Charlotte Lion, Class of ’79.

A burning take on the Ice Bucket Challenge

This was posted on my friend, Derek Maingot, on his Facebook page on August 21. He kindly agreed to let me repost it here.

Michael Jack
Michael Jack

I’ve been asked by several hundred (slight exaggeration) people now why I’ve not done the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Two WEEKS ago Zhan was the first person I saw on the internet doing this, and he challenged me. 

This is long before it took off and I kind of feel proud to have been one of the first to get challenged.

He challenged me because my dear friend Michael was slowly beaten down by this disease. 13 long years of fights. 3 years ago, on August 22 he sent us an email that he’d prepared, saying that he finally succumbed to ALS. The subject of the email was “That’s all she wrote”.

So why have I not done this challenge? Yet?

Well, I’ll be honest, I’ve been having a BLAST watching this thing go viral. I originally promised Zhanny to try (TRY) and do something at Burning Man next week. Those of you know know me know that this disease is the one that I’ve always raised money for over the years and marched in Washington several times with Michaels Fund Raising Team the JackALS.

So I donated and I’ve sat back happily watching my nephews and friends’ kids talking about a disease that they previously knew nothing about. Awareness has gone through the ROOF and so have funds to help people living with the disease. Michael hugely benefitted from these funds from the ALS Association. It’s not all about ‘research’ and the idiot haters out there obviously know NOTHING about how non-profit organizations operate and how they help people with ALS. As that amazing kid said on his video, you’ll soon return to watching cats. For now this is a great spotlight.

Anyway, I’m just so FREAKING happy that this is all happening. We would fight to raise 30, 40, 50 thousand dollars at our walks in DC, and as of today, people have donated a thousand times that amount. I can only smile and know this is all good.

My challenge might be probably among the last to get done, even though I was one of the first to get challenged, but my heart swells to see how great this has worked. I’m proud of everyone.

I hope (HOPE) to get to it next week! But don’t misunderstand my participation. I love EVERY one of you who have helped in whatever role you played!!!

As Michael wrote in his final email “Whatever role you played—friend, family member, colleague, lover, bridge partner, co-conspirator—thank you. Thank you for humoring, befriending, entertaining, enlightening, enabling, abetting, loving, and/or tolerating me. My life was richer for your presence, and I hope you got something in return.”

Derek Maingot accepts the Ice Bucket Challenge at Burning Man 2014
Derek Maingot accepts the Ice Bucket Challenge at Burning Man 2014

I did old friend. I did.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

The Friday Photo
August 29, 2014

Gringos, Milledgeville, GA
Gringos, Milledgeville, GA

To borrow a slogan from an old toothpaste commercial, “Put your money where your mouth is.” I’m making a real effort to find and support businesses who are willing to post a sign saying guns don’t belong in theirs.

 

Tarbuttons are big funders for Gov Deal

There’s no doubt that money follows power. When your primary measure for the most important appointments is “who has money and who will give it to me” then you have a government like Nathan Deal’s, which is dominated by a few major donors instead of reflecting the diversity of Georgia’s citizens.

Last week the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that, “Three powerful Georgia boards help to bankroll Gov. Nathan Deal.” The three boards reviewed include Washington County’s own Tarbutton family.

As noted by the AJC, Ben Tarbutton, III, often referred to in conversation as Ben III by people in Washington County, currently sits on the Georgia University System Board of Regents .  Ben III is a former Chair of the Board of Regents and was appointed by Gov Deal for a second term in 2013. He will sit on that Board until 2020. The AJC reports that Ben Tarbutton, III has donated $158,100 to Deal’s campaign since 2009.

The AJC quoted Ben III  describing his donations as part of  “modern day politics.”

During Ben III’s first term on the Regent’s Board he was joined by Dean Alford, who holds a no-bid contract to build a coal-fired coal plant in Washington County called Plant Washington.

Alford’s second wife, Debbie Dlugolenski Alford, was appointed to lead the Georgia Lottery in October 2012.  The AJC reported that Ms Alford was the sole finalist for the job. She had no previous experience running a lottery. One Lottery Board member, Frances Rogers, resigned because she thought Gov Deal had interfered in the process for selecting someone to lead the Lottery.

Just a few months after Debbie Alford was appointed to lead the Lottery, Benjamin R Tarbutton (Benjie to folks in Washington County) was appointed to the Georgia Lottery Board. I don’t know if Benjie filled the seat held by Ms Rogers. Benjie is Ben III’s cousin.

Benjie’s father is Hugh Tarbutton, Sr. Hugh Sr. was re-appointed to the Georgia Ports Authority two years ago by Gov Deal. He had served 20 years on the Ports Authority Board but former Gov Sonny Perdue wouldn’t extend his term. Hugh Sr. has donated $157, 200 to Deal’s campaign according to the AJC’s infographic  and he is back on the Ports Authority Board. (Hugh Sr. has a son who is also named Hugh, hence the use of Sr. here.)

It gets even cozier.

The Tarbuttons own Sandersville Railroad, a short-line railroad, that would move hundreds of cars of coal every week to Alford’s proposed Plant Washington, if the plant is ever built. They also own B-H Transfer, a trucking company based in Washington County. The Tarbuttons have a vested interest in transportation, and Georgia’s ports are tied to transportation.

Plant Washington will also require thousands of acres of land. The proposed plant site include large tracts of land owned by Hugh Tarbutton, Sr. A few tracts of Plant Washington land that don’t belong to Hugh Sr. are connected to Washington Timberland, LLC. That LLC is registered to Dean Alford. According to county tax records (Tuesday, August 26, 2014), property taxes due in December 2013 by Dean Alford’s LLC are still unpaid, and are subject to auction next month at the Washington County courthouse.

Oh yeah-Debbie D. Alford’s daughter Sasha Dlugolenski, is Governor Deal’s Press Secretary. A complaint was filed against Sasha Dlugolenski  earlier this summer concerning her Tweeting in support of her boss, Gov Deal.

People may think Atlanta is the center of power in Georgia, but it seems to tilt towards Washington County and the checkbooks of a few campaign donors.

Rural and Progressive

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