Southern culture and technological shortcomings

My initial thought in going to the Tampa/St. Petersburg area was that technology (or the ability to easily access it) in the form of wi-fi availability would not be an issue.

Prior to leaving Maine for my week in the sun to watch my son and his Wheaton College mates play nine games on their annual Florida pre-season trip, I checked a couple of websites that catalogue wi-fi availability around the country. It appeared that Florida would have more than it actually does.

A casual walk around Portland, Maine (my home state's largest city) would reveal an abundance of opportunities for whipping out one’s laptop and having immediate capabilities of updating your blog, accessing email, or surfing the web. Not so in the Tampa/St. Pete/Clearwater area. How is this possible? Maine as a state has slightly more people than the Tampa Bay region has, yet at least in Portland (and most towns with a library), opportunities exist that allow you to quickly be up and running with a laptop.

One of Maine’s forward-thinking nods to technology was updating all of the state’s libraries in order to provide wireless internet access to anyone with a laptop. This is not available in Florida, even though the numerous libraries appear to be decent and have computers with internet access. Maine’s governor, John Baldacci, and several other state officials deserve credit for recognizing the importance of technology, as well as making it available to all Maine’s residents, not just those who can afford it.

While one could make a case for going on vacation and leaving the cares of blogging behind, I felt the need to put up a few posts while away. Not only did I feel a need to, I wanted to put some pictures up and comment a bit about my trip.

Despite some of the technological shortcomings, there appears to be a pocket of progressive activism, as well as the presence of a cutting-edge artistic community in this area, deep within the heart of the southern, red belt region of the U.S. While country music and right-wing talk radio certainly exists in no small supply here in the land of sunshine, Jesus, and Clear Channel, one can tune in independent, community radio stations like WMNF-88.5 in Tampa, and catch programming like I did tonight (Wednesday). The locally-produced program featured the music of the likes of Henry Kaiser and other avant-garde artists such as Captain Beefheart, as well as Chris Cutler to name a few.

This same station also carries assorted NPR programming such as Terri Gross and Fresh Air, as well as Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman. While in town, I listened as much as I could to the opinionated progressive radio emanating from the far-left end of my radio dial.

It’s encouraging to know that despite the right-wing grandstanding about Terri Schiavo (one of the big news stories down here, as well as nationally, I’m sure) and the case involving prolonging the life of someone clearly incapable of maintaining the most basic of human functions, the case has elicited some spirited op eds and clearly, not everyone in Florida shares the views of the right-to-life, bible brigade.

I’ve found the St. Petersburg Times to be an excellent newspaper, informative, editorially strong and well-staffed with a stable of writers covering both local and nationally news with an eye towards journalistic integrity. The Tampa Tribune on the other hand, appears to have a right-wing slant that one might expect in a media market controlled by corporate news, acting out their roles of Republican lackeys. It’s obvious in listening to radio for any length of time down here that corporate ideology rules the airwaves, in one of the major media markets in the country.

Now if the state could at least upgrade their libraries and have them wired to allow wi-fi access at their local library branches, then this major sunbelt metropolis might be worth considering as a future alternative to the cold and snow of the northeast, for the short-term, or even longer.

Escaping the cold

For most of this week, I'll be in Florida, away from the falling snow and the arctic temps that have been gripping the northeast for most of February and now, March.

I'm in the Tampa/St. Pete area, watching my son play some baseball (he's a junior DH/1B for Wheaton College) and will return to regular posting next week. Hopefully, I'll have some gleanings and musings about the Sunshine State and its culture.

I do have a post up at my website, JBIWFY about the trip thus far, with a few pix.

Peace!

Crushing the consumer (with debt)

I have been following the dialogue pertaining to the bankruptcy bill with interest. One is apt to track legislation that will either currently, or in the future, affect one's person.

There is no denying that Americans are carrying dangerous levels of debt, particularly unsecured debt incurred from those little rectangular cards deemed "credit" cards. For many self-employed and small business people, as well as families trying to keep themselves afloat amidst job losses, spiraling medical costs, and the systematic eradication of the middle class, credit cards allow many to rob Peter, to prolongue paying Paul.

As Arianna Huffington penned in her weekly syndicated column, this new bankruptcy legislation is "so hostile to ordinary American families that it could only have come about in a place as corrupt, cynical and unmoored from reality as Washington, D.C."

She goes on to write, "Instead of cracking down on predatory lending practices, closing loopholes that favor the wealthy, and strengthening the safety net for working people, single mothers and elderly Americans struggling to recover from a financial setback, the Senate put together a nasty little bill that reads like a credit industry wish list.....So what does the bill do? It makes it harder for average people to file for bankruptcy protection; it makes it easier for landlords to evict a bankrupt tenant; it endangers child support payments by giving a wider array of creditors a shot at post-bankruptcy income; it allows millionaires to shield an unlimited amount of value in homes and asset protection trusts; it makes it more difficult for small businesses to reorganize, while opening new loopholes for the Enrons of the world; it allows creditors to provide misleading information; and it does nothing to rein in lending abuses that frequently turn manageable debt into unmanageable crises. Even in failure, ordinary Americans do not get a level playing field."

For many Americans, the downward spiral of credit card debt comes from the availability of easy credit, which is offered daily through mailings, phone solicitations and other promotions, which is the equivalent to offering a life-preserver to a drowning person, or heroin to a junkie. These modern day money-changers charge interest rates that most kindly could be termed "usury". [For the hell of it, the next time your credit card company jacks up your APR, call them like I did and accuse them of usury and see the indignant response you get from some lower-level flunky, feigning moral indignation at your charge!] Offering credit cards at interst rates as low as six or seven percent and luring you into a level of debt of thousands and then jacking up your APR to rates between 20 and 30 percent!! This is criminal, but instead of the Congress going after the credit card companies, they've turned the tables on you and I.

The audacity of this legislation defines rational commentary, because it so blatently attacks the very people who are being so egregiously "fucked" by the system. Then, after this system takes their job, dumps medical costs on them no longer covered by health care benefits, not to mention those in the northeast who may have been forced to open new lines of credit to put oil in their tanks so their children wouldn't freeze, turns around and practically tosses them into debtors prison.

Read Huffington's piece, because I can't add much to what she highlights as being so grossly unfair about this legislation.

When Huffington posted her commentary, the bill was pending; since then, it has passed, by a wide margin, 74-25, with not one Republican voting against it!

If you are a member of the working-class, the one means of giving yourself some space has been taken away. With this new law, credit card companies and financial institutions can now use the long arm of the law to place the noose over your neck and tighten it until you can't breath. All in the name of the Bush administration's business-friendly agenda. [Most of your credit card companies who lobbied aggressively for this legislation, including MBNA, were large contributors to President Bush's re-election]

Right-wing hate monger threatens boycott of Maine businesses

Every state has at least one; the self-appointed moral arbiter that jumps at every opportunity to get his/her name in print, expressing moral outrage over some issue, usually of a private nature, most notably, homosexuality.

Our state's right-wing nitwit is Michael Heath, of the Christian Civic League of Maine, which is neither xian or interested in the civic good. I wrote an op ed-style post on my other blog about Heath back in February. At that time, his persecution complex was on display, complaining about perceived attacks upon him and his organization.

The most recent publicity stunt involving Heath has him tilting at the business community, for their sponsorship of a weekend banquet being held by Equality Maine. In an article that appeared in the Portland Press Herald, Heath is warning businesses such as Verizon, Hannaford Supermarkets, as well at the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram newspapers, that their sponsorship may bring about financial retribution--sounds like Heath is intimating a boycott.

I'm sure that the businesses involved are quaking in their boots at the thought of the CCL/Maine's membership of what, a couple hundred(?) visiting financial ruin on businesses willing to show their support for diversity and equality.

To top it all off, Heath claims that someone "hacked" into the CCL website and renamed their forum, "atheists only", apparently misspelling "atheist", as "athiest". I am only engaging in conjecture, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if Heath is using this as a publicity stunt and set up this whole "hack" on his own. I'm not a "techie", so I don't know how easily this could occur--I'm sure someone with more knowledge can let me know if what Heath claims actually could have occurred. I've met him, and something about him just doesn't sit right with me.

It continues to amaze me that this hatemonger and his 16th century theology continues to receive widespread coverage in Maine's media outlets.

I applaud the businesses willing to show their support for inclusion, diversity and the respect for the choices of individuals. This is an important issue and its refreshing to see that Heath and his ideology of hate didn't win out in this situation.

When the levee breaks

Writing a book is work. At times, the words dry up, or slow to a trickle. At these times, completing certain chapters consist of literally putting one word after another. These are the times of cold sweats, sleep interrupted at 3am, awakening with a knot in your stomach, realizing that finally, the charade is over and everyone will find out you’re an imposter—a literary wannabe—someone who talks the talk, but can’t put up the capital to claim the merchandise.

The first few chapters came easily, as I was writing mostly about things that I knew about—my hometown and men and teams I had memories of, even somewhat yellowed by 30 years of scrapbook relegation.

I knew I was in trouble when I was nearing the halfway mark and had to pen the chapter about the Twilight League. This is the summer league that I played in, now coach in, and should be familiar with enough to quickly rip off a chapter and get to the work of editing my prose. Instead, a two day writing assignment turned into two weeks, with most of the final work taking place over two days at the end of the second week.

Knowing I had so much trouble with this increased my dread and despair of writing about the northern and downeast sections of the state that I had little firsthand knowledge of. I would be forced to rely on the stories of others, compiled over a hastily-arranged three day road trip in October. I hadn’t listened to the tapes since I conducted these interviews in Lamoine, Cutler, and Mattawamkeag.

Sometimes, one needs to just get out of the way and allow the intuitive nature of the muse take over. Overanalyzing and trying to force history into my own preconceptions might be what’s been a proverbial wet blanket, smothering my creativity and killing the flow of the book’s own story.

This morning, a chapter developed that wasn’t there and couldn’t be found in the outline. What was supposed to be one chapter, in a beautiful act of grace, transformed itself perfectly into two. The beauty is that these now have a flow around geographic location that wasn’t there before.

For the past few weeks, I’ve dreaded writing first thing in the morning, found any excuse not to write in the afternoon, and excused evening sessions at the keyboard with the lame, “I’m too tired”. Today, the dam broke and the block is gone. By 9 in the morning, I had 2,000 words from a player who I thought would be a footnote and a couple of paragraphs at best. By noon, halfway through my interview tape of a former player downeast, I was over 4,000 words. Desperately needing to mail off a couple of queries for magazine articles and get invoices out, plus make a needed trip to the bank got pushed back, because I was still at work on my newfound chapter. The book had become fresh again, not some dreaded houseguest overstaying their welcome.

Coming home in the late afternoon, I had another 1,000 words to get down before I felt able to put this away for today. I’m psyched as this chapter is over 5,000 words and will be close to 8,000 when done.

I learned a valuable lesson today about writing. A book will write itself, if the writer prepares his subject, does his research and learns to trust the process. I didn’t know this—how could I, since I had never written a book before?

This is going to get done and I’m going to have a book that I’m proud of. I'm confident that others will be amazed at the prominent place that town team baseball once occupied in Maine, a time that’s long gone and not ever coming back.

Maybe that’s part of the problem; too much of my focus of late has been nostalgia, thinking somehow I could recreate this time. No one can, certainly not me. Local baseball of the town team variety is gone, just like Mom and Pop stores in rural communities, replaced by the Wal-Mart mindset that excuses our loss of innocence and ability to do for ourselves. Trading independence for some perceived security, that’s neither secure or worthy of the Faustian bargain we’ve struck.

I can’t change the course of time, nor can I change the events of the past. I’m just going to let this thing flow to completion. This is a kind of epiphany for me and I hope this is the push I need to get this done and to a publisher by the end of May. If I can do that, I think I can get it out this summer.

Man, is this beer going down easy and the tunes on the CD player are as sweet as they’ve sounded in some time! I’m not even bummed about the swirling snow and howling winds outside my window.