Oh, this is it folks. Here it comes – TA DA – the laziest blog post ever. No doubt someone else has done this, but I thought of it myself this morning, so here goes. Instead of writing something, I’m just going to rehash some of my comments that I’ve left on other blogs! Because you don’t follow me around the Intertubes, you haven’t read them yet. So it’s fresh material for you and a timesaver for me. We here at WCGB are nothing if not practical. Pass the two-buck Chuck,* won’t you?
First up, Pa Kettle confesses that he throws away his son’s “artwork.” I said:
I don’t think this is so bad. However, be aware that production of artwork is not consistent, and he may actually give it up some day. You may want to keep one or two things from this era. Emphasis on the one or two since you’re not to Kindergarten yet, and that year tends to be a real bonanza of ephemeral things made permanent through the use of plaster-of-paris and laminating machines.
Next up, the talented Neilochka at Citizen of the Month has a powerful, poetic post about the World Trade Center site. As one who feels her insides have been permanently shifted due to 9/11, I valued his observation: “Man is powerful…Man is powerful, but not always good.” My comment:
I like the site as it is now, a big pit filled with cranes. The cranes seem to be working, but yet nothing ever appears to change. I like the futility of that. It seems an appropriate response to the violence of 9/11.
To this day, I cannot look at a digital clock that reads 9:11 without thinking about all that was lost that day. I use it as a reminder to pray.
I highly recommend Man on a Wire. The film does many things, one of which is to function as sort of an elegy for the WTC.
Finally, to our Miss Havisham. “Do you drink and blog?,” she asks. Susan over at 2020 Hindsight has long said, “Friends don’t let friends blog drunk.” But here we are in our little silos, with Chuck on the table and you out there somewhere, not here. You are not here in the moment to suggest that I put a cork in it (mouth or bottle). My comment to Miss H:
Who can resist the righteous indignation that accompanies the consumption of Charles Shaw? If we are personal bloggers, that means we bring our person to the blog. Call it blogging Bukowski style.
* The Wikipedia article mentions some serious labor problems with Charles Shaw production. Just when I thought I was getting off easy with this blog post, I find myself scouring the Intertubes for information about the death of 17 year-old Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, who died in June while working in a vineyard owned by West Coast Grape Farming, a subsidiary of Bronco Wine Company, maker of Charles Shaw wines. Oy vey.
Here’s what the United Farm Workers say:
Fines aren’t enough. There must be criminal prosecution in the death of 17-year old heat victim
The following statement is from UFW President Arturo S. Rodriguez.
“This is a case of manslaughter – there is no difference between a driver killing someone while breaking our traffic laws and a labor contractor breaking the law and killing this beautiful young woman. Anything less than criminal prosecution is a desecration of Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez’ death.”
This is in response to California’s Occupational Safety and Health Agency issuing a $262,700 fine against the Central Valley farm labor contracting company that employed Maria Isabel Vasquez Jimenez, the 17-year old farm worker who died of heat stroke because of the company’s negligence in following the law.
Has anyone else out there heard about this? Absent a larger, organized effort to protest this travesty, I must shoot off some letters to the responsible parties. And I do mean good, old-fashioned snail mail. How in the world did OSHA come up with the dollar amount for the fine?
UPDATE: More info here. Maybe the buck doesn’t stop with Chuck on this one after all.
West Coast Grrlie Blather 