I'm not sure why it looks crooked. Doesn't appear that way IRL.
Here's a beautiful story, beautifully written.

Here's a beautiful piece of writing. And, I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately I don't think anyone is interested in toleration. That reminds me, I haven't taught it in a year, and probably will not be teaching that class again. I have not been annoyed by this change because it hadn't been fun to teach for a while. But I will be teaching ethics; that's a good thing.

Two steps forward, one step back. If animal abusers are permitted to walk free, get their animals back, or the shelters have to bear the cost...no words I can write here. I am so mad!

Now my university account is requiring a two-step log in. Seriously, the hacking situation must be at crisis level or something. The process wanted my cell number, and I thought, no way, even though that was the recommended choice. My cell is often not charged, and frequently is downstairs, far from my computer.

The past couple months, I have no luck logging into accounts I've paid electronically for years, I am forced to submit a forgotten password request, create a new password, verify the account, answer the security question - every time I log on. I don't even bother with trying to remember any more, because no matter whether ScReWuIhAtEdOiNgThIs7$ is correct, it never works. What is going on? Is hacking really this rampant? It's making mailing in paper checks seem efficient.

This is excruciating!! But I am glad to see another small Village was empowered enough to apply.

On Tuesday night, a house five houses away burned. It was a total loss. It was next door to a county-owned house (seized for taxes) that was condemned & unsafe, and that was demolished too. These two little row houses were similar to mine, which originally was in a row of 13 nearly identical houses built circa1900-1905 for factory workers, and now they have been torn down (three had already been lost when I moved here in 1987). It's so sad to lose old buildings, but a derelict structure that is too far gone to save is worse. It is the fault of bad owners, and a tax sale process that enables them.

I wrote in the DRI proposal that we only get publicity from fatal car crashes & sex offenders living in town, but apparently fires grab headlines too.

Imagine calling the police because you don't feel like being bothered with the public you represent! How dare someone FOIL! Sure the public can be obnoxious and loudmouthed and sometimes a little crazy but that's the job. It's truly amazing how entitled many elected officials become. It's shameful - but this story comes as no surprise to me.  I could say a whole lot more about background unrelated to this particular town, but still relevant -- but I won't.

Be bold! That's leadership.

I think he didn't mean to be offensive, but he should know better.  And - I still feel this way about the Times Union's obnoxious POV.

A rant. Everywhere on campus, the paper towels are being removed and replaced with air dryers. I am so pissed. Everyone knows those things suck filth from the floor and blow it on your hands. Also, how do you dry your face? Finally, I always use a paper towel between my hand and door knobs or elevator buttons. Guess what? I have not had a cold in ages, and I am already sick from this. I completely blame the University at Albany. (I hope there is a BOT scanning the web for mentions.)  I know the justification is being "green." OK -- my carbon footprint is quite likely less than anyone on this campus. My house is 900 square feet. I don't drive. The last time I flew in a plane was 1988. I am a vegetarian. I compost. I founded in 2017 and have organized Repair Cafe for the Village for over two years. Regardless, I call BS. The reason for the change is probably to cut janitorial staff. I WANT PAPER TOWELS IN THE BATHROOM.

We may get a frost tonight. I think I'll cover these beauties. They are right near the front door. I never have good luck with marigolds, but this year these yellow ones are fabulous.

F You SNL. If you ever had any relevance at all, it was lost 25 years ago. How about you keep your snarky snottiness in the NY metro area and stop riding the train or Thruway up here. #elitistaholes

A very sad week. It almost goes without saying that September 11 is a solemn day, but this year something else happened: Gary died on Sunday. Typing it is surreal. He had myelofibrosis for nearly  20 years, and it started getting worse about two years ago. In the spring it was decided that it was time for stem cell transplant, which he received on June 28. It engrafted, but he did not have enough healthy bone marrow for his numbers to go up. He received a booster on August 30, but developed pneumonia. Here is his obituary.

Classes start tomorrow! I am ready...I guess.

This is maddening. Heslep (1996) assets in The Moral Presuppositions of Multicultural Education that because of multicultural education’s limits on tolerance, some of its advocates have tried to restrict hate speech, politically incorrect speech, and other “linguistic modes of cultural disrespect.”

According to Heslep, cultural respect is a virtue in multicultural society. Cultural disrespect is a vice because it is the opposite of cultural respect. Disrespect is also bad because it is offensive to individual members of targeted cultures; being offensive, it also is antagonizing, thereby encouraging cultural discord, another vice for multicultural education.

He argues that the use of a linguistic sign of cultural disrespect might offend members of the involved cultural group regardless of the innocent intention of the user of the sign. Such is the case with youth - sometimes they absorb elements from popular culture and don't understand the context of the words they casually use.

Then, some cultural groups have language of cultural disrespect as one of their features. Teaching intolerance of the language of cultural disrespect might be self-defeating in that it might promote cultural disrespect. Outsiders may judge users of those linguistic signs as being offensive, when the insiders do not mean each other harm. Heslep writes that multiculturalists answer that such intolerance is simply a necessary socially therapeutic act. A multicultural society cannot exist in harmony if any of its cultural groups are inclined to speak ill of each other.

How to remedy? It is not enough for multicultural educators to instruct their students to be intolerant of linguistic signs of cultural disrespect, explains Heslep. We must learn discernment - how to determine what the user of a linguistic sign actually intends in using it. Both speaker and listener are important. It is one thing to be intolerant of ethnic jokes whose users intend to be culturally disrespectful in telling them; it is another to be intolerant of such jokes when their users do not mean to be culturally disrespectful. They may be innocent, or ignorant, or mean-spirited.

Heslep is being generous - two decades later we tend to believe that what the speaker said hardly matters. What the listener heard is what is important, and if someone feels uncomfortable, those sentiments are valid and should be respected.

Yes, Chris Cuomo overreacted and his language is not what I'd use, but there is no question that the guy who said Fredo to him intended it as an ethnic slur. And who cares whether wop means guappo or without papers? You're really going to cite Google? It is also intended as an ethnic insult, no matter its origin. Maybe Casey Seiller & Rex Smith have never been called an ethnic slur or been close to anyone who has been insulted. But they shouldn't have to be to understand they are defending a wrong and being insensitive.

BTW, I have never seen or read any of the Godfather, nor have I watched the Sopranos.Not sure why that would invalidate a point of view.

And for something completely unrelated that I haven't bothered writing about here this year (although I do address on Facebook, to the (I suspect) chagrin of a (small) group of so-called "friends:"): It is animal abuse season, that disgusting time of year when the Capital District media, including the TU, gushes about how glamorous horse racing is and ignorant, plastic people can't wait to go to Saratoga. >:-(

The best thing about summer!

Still lots of things I can't write about. Finished the show I wrote about in the last post. It got better as the season went on and had a strong finish. The actors were strong and that helped.

It is hard to write here, because I have so many things I cannot share! Then there are several I could share - but it's probably better if I don't. This is one of the advantages to the old, pre-tech, private journal model. Summer is rolling along. Lots of basil growing. Tomatoes aren't ripe yet. I don't want to go back to campus next month.

We've been watching a new Netflix series called "Tales of the City." It's actually the fourth season of a show from 1993. Every few years, they made another season with some of the same actors. They re-released Season 1, but did not release season 2 or 3. That is extremely annoying. My takeaway, Season 1 was WAY better than the latest season.

I have really, really, really big exciting news that has to be kept secret...extremely hard!

There is so much I could say about this article (besides that it is too long and repetitive, like most NYT pieces). I don't have time to address every point, but it strikes me as sour grapes. He's not satisfied with the millions he made and is jealous that the company is now worth even more. It also has a personal vendetta flavor. OK, I get it. You don't like the CEO. You're smarter, better, more attractive, nicer, more moral, more self-actualized, more deserving than he is, why is he so much more influential than you are? It's not fair. 

There are many outrageous assertions in this manifesto, but this one is scary: [there should be a new government agency to] "create guidelines for acceptable speech on social media." I cannot believe this dude is calling for censorship! He must be a conflict theorist - or at least on this issue. He wants "his" elites to control the "other" elites - those big, bad ones. His elites are more benevolent, and would take care of the little people (as long as they agree). He makes a lame effort to justify his attack on the First Amendment with the tired "you can't yell fire in a theatre" argument. What is he, in junior high school? 

I have a personal page with a news feed I carefully craft through hide, mute, un-follow. Us peons are perfectly capable of managing this ourselves, even if Chris Hughes is smarter, wittier, more clever, richer. I also administer three pages, one private and one public group. I am a member of several public and private groups too. I resent Chris Hughes having a loud, elite megaphone like the NYT. He drowns out other voices. I want him to shut up and stop advocating for government to tinker with my social media.

Yesterday I filled out the tax forms and mailed them at 5. I had done background work weeks ago, but did not bother finishing. Why, when we had to pay? The process is filling out the forms is awful, although at the Federal level, it is much simpler than it used to be. But to be clear: That does not make it better when you have to write a large check at the end, especially having paid thousands in payroll deductions. So I am more angry than ever before, and I've never liked tax time. I don't get into political debates with people, and don't plan to start now, but since this is a low traffic spot, will openly admit how much I cannot stand DJT and all his rude, idiotic comments. Not that I admire the dems, because I don't. DJT and all the rest of our so-called leaders make me want to puke. They are scum.

I have a little Timex clock on my desk on campus that I've had for over 20 years. Twice a year when I have to change it, the display cuts out for a few days. I used to think it needed a new battery, but now I know that it hates springing ahead as well. It will start working again after a while.

I absolutely hate springing ahead. It will take several weeks for me to feel normal again. I want my hour back - and I don't want to wait until November!!!!!! What idiots thought tinkering with time was a good idea?

March 1 passed with no post, but it was my 17th blogversay. I'm not inclined to do a review of this blog, as I did in some past years, but I wanted to note the milestone.

I have been seriously contemplating becoming vegan. I finally made the change to vegetarianism 40 months ago, and it has been easier and more rewarding than I imagined. I didn't want to be a "carb vegetarian" (surviving on pasta, sweets, bread) and I haven't. The challenge is eating out (which I love, but choices on most menus are limited). So I know veganism would be even more difficult in that regard.

It occurs to me that a reason I haven't been writing here much is because for the past four years, I've been keeping an off-line journal, as I did pre-Internet.

The first post of 2019. Will I post more than last year (30)? No idea, but since 2018 was my least active year since I started in 2002...how much lower could it go?

Something I've been thinking about: changing the novelette into first person. Would that make it better?