Sometimes you just have to stand up

I was a rebel for almost any cause in my youth. From free speech to against illegal wars to save the mini skirt. I was working on a United Churches campaign to end the draft when a young draft dodger noticed my ERA pin - Equal Rights Amendment. He told me women were not equal and had no right to be. That God said we were the hand maidens of men.

I quietly got up from the desk and leaned over and told him in a whisper I hope he was drafted and walked out. From that day forward my goal was to make women equal in the eyes of the law. On March 22, 1972 the ERA was passed by the congress and began moving through the states for ratification. It ultimately failed. If it hadn't would we be having this current rash of vagina politics? Would presidential candidates be telling us we shouldn't be having sex except to procreate? Would states be passing laws that infringe on our rights to control our reproductive lives? Would companies have the right to refuse to cover birth control prescriptions even if they are used for other health reasons?

I think not.

And I feel a bit guilty that I stopped fighting. I believed that line in the 1964 equal rights amendment that stuck in sex as well as race would be enough. It obviously is not.

I live in a conservative community. And as an artist I depend upon my "friendly" presence on the web to further my reputation and my sales. So there were a lot of reasons to not get involved in fighting this current round of oppression of my sex. And I was trying to be quiet and lady like in my subtle support. Until Rush Limbaugh. And the most recent round of oppressive laws in Virginia (maybe they should change the name of the state to a man's name).

But I have a bumper sticker on the back of my car (which was there when I got the car) which says, "Your silence will not protect you," Audre Lorde. And it occurs to me that my silence might get me burned at the stake. We all need to speak up about this horrid trend of the religious right before we are all victims of the next inquisition. Four million women were put to death by the Catholic church during those times. Now they just want to deny us equal access to health care. It all begins with one small step.

But they are way past that small step. They have allied themselves with the Christian Right (which is wrong) and with one of the two major parties of our country. And it is not just the laws but the attitude. They have made it right for a major public figure to rant for three days against a coed witness before a congressional committee. To defame her sex and her character nationally over and over and over.

And this morning when I thanked Carbonite, Inc for withdrawing their sponsorship I became a victim of the same nasty, sexist abuse. I will not be silent on this issue if it kills me. It feels rather lonely out here but it feels right.

A long time coming - or not

I was in Washington, DC when the process of an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution of the United States began. It was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972 and began the long uphill battle for ratification by the states. 

It had originally been written by Suffragist Leader, Alice Paul in 1923 so it had already been a long and arduous battle for what seemed to so many of us so simple an issue. It was argued that we would be giving up our protection under the law. Especially labor laws and draft laws. And we countered that if we had equal rights we could protect ourselves. In March of 1982 it was declared dead as it had failed to pass.

This March 22 it will have been forty years since the bill went to the states in the process to become the 27th amendment. The southern states essentially denied all women equality. I fortunately live in a state that ratified the short lived attempt to give women equality before the law.

I was abhorred by recent events led by the GOP and its Tea Party to once again extend our servitude. Men can get Viagra paid by their insurance companies but the majority of the same companies will not pay for birth control for women. And with national health insurance looming the GOP has made it very clear they do not want to pay for our PLAY. We are to take responsibility for ourselves. Well, guys we tried that. And you said we needed protection. And now you won't pay for that protection?

We are suppose to grow up and practice restraint, and yet in 1972 you argued we could not even make our own informed decisions about how much weight we could pick up (most women carrying twins were over the then legal limit) or how many hours we would work.

We still make way less than male counterparts but we must pay the $20 to $30 a month for birth control pills. The men don't want to pay for that. Cheaper than a whore frankly, boys. Not to mention child support. Oh, right you always try to side step that one even to the point that murder by spouse is the number one cause of death for pregnant women. And yet you call abortion murder and are still fighting to take away our right to a legal abortion. The extreme right has terrorized abortion doctors and clinics to the point it is almost safer to go back to the alley way abortionists of my youth.

I am past the age that reproduction politics should matter but I would love to be an equal to a man before the law before I die. Because it is not all about reproduction. Sexual discrimination still exists in housing, mortgages, car loans, credit cards, deposits for utilities, rental leases - the list goes on and on and on.

The recent debate over vagina politics has made it clear it is time to dust off that old ERA button and try it again ladies. Let's make this March 22nd a day for all men to remember. Just say NO to whatever they want.

Time to Move On

 

Moving does not mean packing up the household belongings and hitting the road. As a child with a father in the military, and then later in my youth working for a major construction management company I got to redo my life on a regular basis via United Van Lines. Home was just where my parents lived. And given their lives not anywhere I had lived often.

Now I have lived in the same house for almost 15 years and in the same geographic area for almost 23. I until recently would image moving house just to not have to be trapped. But I have at last discovered that movement can be a rather static thing. It can be just a shift in attitude. Or turning just a bit to be aware there is another path to follow. It can be not calling the same friends for lunch or belonging to the same board of directors.

It can be like the newly emerged butterfly just quietly pumping its wings full so it can fly - a movement so still as to be almost no movement at all at first. Then that leap of faith. Leaving that comfortable space.

I have done a lot of moving this summer. Changing people and goals if not place. And while a bit scary it feels good. And it seems that the universe has united behind my shift in direction. Or should I say directions. To a lot of my old friends it seems that I am going all ways at once; that I am leaving behind what they believe is important.

The biggest visible shift has been to photography. But, never fear, I am still painting. I just am not painting for fairs or the expectations of galleries. I am painting what I want to paint. And I am painting at a pace my muse can support. A lot of energies are going into the photography just now but that is understandable. It is new and exciting to me especially given my success with it thus far. To the outsider this seems all so sudden. But it was a change in some ways long coming.

In some ways I was pushed by the economy, the down turn in fairs, the death of the Astro Van that took me to those fairs, my stand against giclee prints of my paintings, and just plain got to move off this damn leaf I am on. If I hadn't moved I could have been gobbled by some frog.

But yes I am still here. I have not moved house as the Brits say. I am still blogging but the focus of my blogs may have shifted a bit. More poetry on Creative Journey. Less politics and more consumer issues on Travels with Charley. A tad more introspection on Sidetracked Charley. And I have left groups I began on Facebook as I consider new groups I might want to start.

Times they are a changing. Like the butterfly whose new wings are at last dry: Move or die.

A Modest Proposal

Aiming for the Ponytail Joe

As the previous blogs indicate I have been battling HP computer company and Fedex shipping over the issue of incompetency when it comes to dealing with my under warranty HP Pavilion Desktop computer that broke over Labor Day weekend.

I was promised it would be fixed in 7 to 10 business days and we are now on the 7th business day and it sits boxed and ready to go but without a shipping label. HP forgot to include it in the box shipped to me. But Fedex refuses to allow HP to e-mail me a label to print. Not the label has to be shipped Fedex!

I live in a rural area and we love our UPS service. And know our mailman by name. We often chat with both before they go on with their scheduled deliveries. But nobody in my area likes Fedex or Ponytail Joe, the current Fedex man. We groan when some internet company we have purchased from gives us confirmation of shipment and a Fedex tracking number. I personally shifted from one art supplier to another due to their shipping methods. DickBlick ships USPS or UPS depending upon the product. Cheap Joe's shipped Fedex.

I know big companies sign contracts with shippers, but these contracts are not exclusive. When I had my mask business I, for a short while, had accounts with both UPS and Fedex so they would pick up. So why can't the Internet customer be given a choice on shipper. We are already given a choice on bargain, standard, second day air, etc. Just a couple more options, an invisible to the consumer calculation behind the scenes to figure shipping cost and the customer is happier.

I love shopping on line but it gets complex for me because my billing address is a rural route box and my UPS or Fedex delivery address in a street address with a different postal code. Unless I know how the company I am dealing with plans to ship I don't know what address to give them. UPS has developed an agreement with USPS and hands over a package with a rural box number to the delivering post office. Fedex doesn't. But if I could choose my delivery method no problem. And I would never, ever have anything delivered Fedex.

We are being denied choice. I have complained to HP that admits the error Fedex made by not delivering a second day air package on the second day. And they admit that not being allowed to e-mail me a label creates further delay. They apologized for the error of their shipping department with the label. Fedex complaint department apologized for any inconvenience the tardy shipment or their new policy has created but that does not get my business computer fixed.

Yesterday I was told that the label would not be picked up by Fedex till Wednesday ergo I might be lucky to get it Friday and maybe not. If I had the money I would just buy and MAC as long as it would be shipped UPS.

Fedup with Fedex

My HP computer broke again. Mother board this time. And of course it crashed on the first day of Labor Day weekend. It was under warranty and I have a laptop, but my desktop is where I do all my company business and all my photo editing. And, of course, I had a deadline on getting some photos printed for a show I was accepted in.

HP agreed that only 8 months old the computer was under warranty. They would send me a shipping box. It left their center on Tuesday with second day express shipping. It was schedule to be delivered by Fedex on Thursday.

That delivery date was critical because I could then box the offending computer and call for pickup on Friday. With any luck it would be in the repair center on the following Tuesday at the latest. I cancelled all appointments to not miss the Fedex delivery van. I rushed downstairs after making the bed just in time to see it pull out of my driveway.

No box on porch where most drivers leave packages, no box at my renter's apartment. She saw the Fedex very distinctive white truck drive away too with nobody getting out of it. Checked with my immediate neighbor to the west. He gets constant Fedex shipments of chemo drugs. No the driver had not left it there. I called Fedex Help line (now that is a misnomer) and they said the driver could not find my address.

I mentioned he was in my driveway. They asked if he had left an attempt to deliver tag. He had not. He did not get out of his truck because it was raining. Pony Tail Joe has quite a reputation in the Angel Fire area for non-delivery. As 29 comments to a community Facebook page attest. This is just a sampling:

• We would have to start a new page to list all the complaints about Fed Ex deliveries in Angel Fire. My new skis were dropped at a local business that was closed the following 4 days. Home delivery was never attempted despite the tracking saying the package was delivered to my house.
•  does seem to be the norm here with Fedex. He recorded that he could not find my address even though he was in my driveway.

  
  
• 
  

  I wonder if it's the same driver that lied about (not) picking up our package at the Resort last week. Even though it's not a public drop-off, the Resort has been kind enough to allow us to take our overnight lab work to their Fed-Ex drop off for the last few years because it (was) the most reliable pickup spot in town. We left our box in the usual spot and Fed Ex hadn't picked it up in 3! days so we took it to the Chamber. When Jo at the Chamber mentioned it to him she said he rudely said, "that box hasn't been at the Resort" - liar!! They need to get Fabian back as a driver - he was great!
  
  
• This guy needs fired. And I plan to collect all these experiences and put them in a blog and mail it to Fedex
  

  
  
• If it was the younger kid then yes! I filed a complaint just last week! Er
  

  
  

  
  
• 
  

  I never saw him because he did not get out of his truck
  

  
  
• He better show up with my new Mac tomorrow after I paid for overnight shipping fees
  

  
  

  
  
• I used to accept packages for people at the old bookstore. One of the reasons I quit doing it was because I had sooooo many problems with Fedex. Never had a problem with UPS.Fedex delivered a package to me yesterday....I met him at the top of the pass. I asked him if he was the regular guy and he said no...he was probably mid-to late 40's, with a pony tail. Heavy-set guy. White econoline van with FEDEX on it. That's all I can tell you...didn't get his name.

The Fedex agent on the phone insisted my box would be delivered later Thursday evening and to call back in a half hour. I did and the computer record had deleted the bit about the driver could not find my house. Package was not in the truck on Thursday for delivery. They apologized for the inconvenience and promised it would be delivered on Friday - hardly second day air I was paying extra for.

It has not been nine days since my business computer crashed. I did finally get the box on Friday at 6:30 but only because I saw the Fedex truck parked in the middle of my county road ready to once again drive off. I understand from a friend that Fedex is now commercializing their service in rural areas. I can only say . . . . well, I try to keep my blogs clean. I have for sometime tried to avoid all FEDEX shippers when I shop on line. This recent experience with them (see previous blog about VAS too) as validated that decision.

I am definitely worried about my computer being picked up and delivered to HP in a timely manner now that I finally have the box. I would drive it to a repair center if I knew where that was but HP forgot to include a return pre-paid label. So add that I am also fed up with HP.

Customer Service an Oxymoron?

Ernestine

In the old days before technology ran wild you had a chance of talking to a real receptionist or a real operator. Note I did not say human. Ma Bell, the mega telephone company we insisted on breaking up, gave all their operators and service personnel a list of questions and responses from which they could not vary. One of Ernestine's lines on the old Laugh In comedy show was, "Is this the person to whom I am speaking?"

I was reminded of Lily Tomlin that made Ernestine famous yesterday in a series of telephone calls to HP and Fedex concerning the undelivered package to ship my broken computer back in. Both have a set list of questions and responses from which they are not allowed to vary regardless of how inappropriate the are.

 "Your driver failed to deliver the chemo drug package this week and my husband has died."

" We are sorry for your inconvenience."

"The funeral is Wednesday."

" We apologize for any inconvenience this has caused."

AND both have Voice Recognition Software as do several other companies I can mention. I had several well chosen words to say about VRS last night. None of which I think the software recognized. But then it also did not recognize what is was designed to recognize. In short, Voice Recognition Software is an oxymoron. It does not recognize voices and it is more hardware than software.

VRS might work with your home security system because you get to program it to match your voice and is not filtered through two telephones and miles of, if you are lucky, fiber optic cable. But VRS as used by companies on service lines make absolutely no allowances for the device you are speaking from, your sex, your regional accent, or any speech impediments, static on the line, or a major lightning storm. Most VRS used on customer service sites are programmed for the male voice in the lower registers (name the last time a man placed his own service call?). Screaming at it when it fails for the fifth time to know the difference between J and K just raises your voice an octave and makes you harder to understand. It does not like repetitions unless it is asking for it, will not start over if you say, "whoops, I meant 5 not 9," does not get that Alpha, Beta, Charlie is ABC, . . . well this list could go on. And there is a lot of GIGO as with HP last night that wanted one zip code to match one telephone number when for my problem they had two of each. Any one remember set and subset theory?

Let me say that the first few times I had to repeat something, because what it read back to me was so far from correct, I was a bit amused. When it thought 2300 was 1350 I pressed zero (once operator now what passes for a human voice) and figured I would rather talk to Ernestine. Instead I got Pakistani who had only a fleeting acquaintance with English and Ernestine's canned script. Even reverting to my 6th grade vocabulary did not help. In the end I reverted to screaming which had the same effect on him as it did on the VRS.

"Sorry if this caused you any inconvenience. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

I declined to mention he had not helped me with anything to that point and hung up. Sometimes all you can do is hang up and see of you can find an e-mail address on the website to which you can send your queries. Or never use that company again! Bring back Ernestine.

Southwest ablaze

Wallow Fire in Arizona and New Mexico

John McCain set off a firestorm recently by blaming out open borders and illegal immigrants on the fires in the southwest.

He has a point. They certainly cannot check into hotels so they do camp and in forests both Arizona and New Mexico have closed because of the very dry conditions. This hurts the economy of locals that depend on tourists this time of year. And this is where are homes are . . . or families and our pets and our friends. We are all on edge and very aware of the restrictions. I, who does not live in the forest but a meadow near its edge, cannot have a barbeque in my yard even or celebrate the 4th with fireworks.

We are all living in terror of illegal campers. And they could be US citizens from another state just unable or unwilling to read the signs warning of new camp fires, no smoking, no fireworks. But, Senator McCain is right, there is a higher possibility they are illegal migrants seeking to stay off of main roads and hide in the woods, set signal fires for others to meet them, etc. There is a piece of privately owned property near the national forest that has been used for years as a "gathering place" by the coyotes.

But to be fair it is not just illegals we are angry with. As our governors seek to ban the sale of fireworks as we approach the 4th of July we know the Indians will continue to sell them on their reservations knowing full well that is not where the buyers will set them off. And state officials of New Mexico and Arizona have no standing on reservation lands. But fireworks can be brought across state lines by visitors.

I think it is long past time that we ban fireworks and their use by anyone other than licensed individuals that set off public displays in closely controlled circumstances. Let's ring bells on the 4th of July instead. I have had enough flash, band and boom. We in the southwest are sitting on the front lines of a battle for our forests and the way of life they provide not just here but to the global climate.

Pacheco Fire in Pecos

I have been watching the smoke from the Pacheco Fire go 30,000 feet into the air. It was started by someone that went into a forest that was closed.

Whether an illegal immigrant or not it was someone doing something illegal but it is us and not them that will pay. And if our governor bans the sale of fireworks it is legal vendors that will lose money while the Indians continue to make it.

The 4th of July used to be about all men being created equal.