There's a bat in my sink

Of course there is, and it makes me smile. You see, it's a few days after Halloween and giving one of my two rubber bats a rinse before giving it to Joey, my five-year-old neighbor on one side.

The other one is already with Jaiden, my five-year-old neighbor on the other side, who pre-empted my gift with the question on the lips of every five-year-old little boy: "Can I have that?" "Of course you can!" was my response. I had premeditated the gift, after all. Jaiden's question simply moved the gifting to before the rinsing. And that is why there's a bat in my sink.

The reason why a bat in my sink is so significant requires a little more telling. You see, those bats are my favorite Halloween decorations. They are pretty realistic looking as long as it is dusk or dark. And before I had to take down the big tree, I used to hang them on fishing line over the sidewalk. They really freaked a couple of trick-or-treating kids (or parents!). This year, I almost worked out a way to attach one to a fishing pole, the same way Bill T of Five Houses fame makes his bats fly and his trick-or-treaters scream.

So the bats are my favorite Halloween decorations, and Halloween is my favorite holiday. Never more so than here, in my Paulstan Court neighborhood, among my Paulstan Court Neighbors.

Why? First, I closed on my home on Halloween '99. The very first thing I did after the ink was dry was a mad dash to the grocery store for candy and then the party store where I picked up a few decorations and luminaria. The fact that my house was lit and open for Halloween business for the first time in years did more to connect me to this neighborhood than any other gesture might have done. And the beauty of it is that wasn't even my intention!

Second, as I learned that first year, our street has one heck of a reputation. It's one of those streets that attracts carloads of costumed kids in addition to the locals. And it's not because we hand out the best stuff or the most stuff. It's because we're consistently welcoming, and we're an old-fashioned kind of real neighborhood. No snowbirds, so most everyone is home, and it's not too far between driveways. Lots of kids get a big payload in a short time...a parent's dream!

So with all that said, why give the bats to the boys? It's simple. This is likely my last year in my little home. I have no recourse or remedy to foreclosure in sight. It was a bit tempting to just hole up and turn out the lights this year. Instead, I put out a few extra candles, invited Joey's grandmother to dress up with me and hand out candy, sat back an enjoyed the evening.

And it was a truly magical night. The veil between me and the departed was translucent. They more effortlessly and completely surrounded me. The veil between the path behind me and the mystery before me was transparent, and not at all scary. With one foot on each side of this life's next divide, I found an evening's peace. I have that night, Halloween 09, to take with me as I step forward into the mystery.

In my imagination, Joey and Jaiden are playing together next October, sharing Halloween stuff, and discover that they both have the same black rubber bat. One says, "I got mine from Moira. She used to live next door." And the other says, "Me too!" As my unseen fairy dust sprinkles down upon these two wonderful boys, their friendship is bonded and they run around with their bats looking for people to scare. If you find yourself the object of their black rubber scare tactics, please scream bloody murder (the louder you scream, the harder they'll laugh), then laugh with them, and know it's all part of the plan.

I write like

James Joyce

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The Public Option: We're Fearing the Wrong Thing PLUS Fun with Forums

[For full context on my response, please see the Op-Ed "We're Fearing the Wrong Thing" by Waldo Proffitt, former editor of the Sarasota-Herald-Tribune, published September 09.]

My response to the Op-Ed:

Bullseye! Yes, there are valid fears where health care reform is concerned. Those valid, rational fears are inaction and failure to change. As significant as today's issues and obstacles are, Waldo brilliantly (and with great heart) points out that our moment is in fact proactive.

Please, everyone. Let's maintain rational, informed debate. Let's acknowledge legitimate fears, resolve contributing issues and remove obstacles to our shared interests in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Let's also remember that democracy is not possible without a healthy, educated populace. Our current condition undermines the current and future states of our democracy, and hands a significant competitive advantage to every entity that operates outside the US borders.

Most of all, let's not fear hearing both sides of any debate or walking in anothers' shoes. As long as we retain those abilities, we retain our humanity.

Moira

Reader Response to My Response:

Dear Mothra, As a relative newcomer to this [Sarasota Herald-Tribune] Readers Forum, it's my observation after two months and about 20 posts that your appeal to engage in a rational, informed debate may amount to whistling in the wind.

While [Sarasota Herald-Tribune] seems to recruit dozens of new members every day and attracts hundreds of routine readers, only a handful of self-proclaimed experts on everything dominate the "debate"...There seems to be little balance, less listening and virtually no dialogue...Until the hundreds of readers now content to watch from the sidelines begin to chime in, the few blowhards will continue to dominate--and this will remain a [Sarasota Herald-Tribune] forum in name only.

My Response to Reader Response:

Another bullseye. My expectations for healthy discussion in this forum are less than zero, and my expectations are consistently met. Still, once in a great while, I am compelled to chum the waters with intelligence, fact-based analysis, compassion and even optimism.

May I share? A friend commented via email on what appears to be my optimism. He included one a timeless Barnum quote, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public" He added, "The problem is that a majority of the American public...respond to cutesy slogans and outrageous statements rather than rational argument." I must agree that this has become the American Way and our brand abroad.

Am I optimistic? A victim of rose glasses? No. I am a realist who has managed to retain sanity by retaining a sense of humor. As I replied to my Barnum-quoting friend, "...the health care riot warm-ups we've seen here and around more than underscore the complete willingness of American publics, with few exceptions, to consume the carnival's sweetest, fluffiest, most colorful and cheapest cotton candy, no matter how bug-infested or bacteria-ridden, and in complete ignorance of consequences beyond immediate gratification. I have never more before wanted to take my other passport and FLEE. The only thing keeping me here is the desperate hope that I might get selected to sit on a Death Panel. THEN we'll see some solutions."

Thank you for reading, and your rational response ; )

Destination Unknown

Well, folks, it's official: the foreclosure process on my home has begun. It will be a while before paperwork starts flying, and the local estimate on the duration of the entire process is six months to two years. The advent of foreclosure has triggered few decisions regarding this heartbreaking turn of events.

• I have detached the timeline of my life from that of the foreclosure process
• I will leave Sarasota, destination (currently) unknown
• I am chronicling this experience, along with the parallel and tangential lines of my life experiences, in this space

My intention and goal is to write, so it can legitimately be said that I have turned this turn of events into an opportunity for serving my own needs and wants, i.e. If I'm going to be homeless, I might as well fulfill the long-held fantasy of disconnecting from what is comfortable, wandering on a grand Walkabout adventure, and chronicling the experiences and observations of a recovering bourgeois.

I might as well admit that another great desire might be fulfilled via piggybacking this adventure. For years, I have wanted to hole myself away for three months somewhere that I cannot be found, other than by an informed and vital few. I call it the 90 Day Solution. The purpose is writing and listening, with the hope of gaining the self-knowledge and serenity required to pursue my highest and best purpose with the full force of my being. Is my sister's home in Kenosha my hermitage? Was the cost of my hermitage my sister's life? Or is the hermitage payment for my sister's death? Of course, there's the possibility that there is no course or recourse, just circumstance.

You are welcome to join me in whatever way suits you: observation, participation, question or not at all. Here's to self-knowledge...Chin-Chin!

Published by Sarasota Indymedia March 09

Civil Disobedience Stirs in Sarasota

Did you see this SH-T Forum posting on Sarasota tent cities? http://forums.heraldtribune.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3941081465/m/7431051858?r=5771076068#5771076068

The author’s expressed wish has come true: public words have sparked public dialog. In turn, public dialog has revealed much more.

First, the open comments in response to the forum contribution illustrate a sharp divide in both opinion and insight on the very timely topic of Sarasota-based economic refugees. Those with glib or even snide responses are legitimate contributors, yet I can't help note that they are woefully under-informed and mercifully inexperienced on this matter. The majority of people who are living in existing Sarasota and Bradenton tent cities (both open and secret) are average, normal and responsible people who experienced many months of household budget cuts: Cable, telephone, AC/heat, beer and other luxuries are long gone by the time a tent city becomes a viable and even desirable option. The details of their stories may differ; the broad strokes are similar.

Second, the prospect of a Sarasota tent city is a top-of-mind topic among Sarasota’s Limousine Liberals. I attended the DESC annual fundraiser last night, and over the $8 cocktail that preceded my $100 plate I learned that a Sarasota tent city is being considered or planned. A little bit of Googling this morning added healthy flesh to the subject’s bones and led to this response. (Please note that I am no Limousine Liberal, and am circling the event horizon of foreclosure myself. At this point, $108 is not going to make or break my outcome and it was well invested in learning the mood, dialog, and priorities of self-proclaimed difference-makers.)

The gift of public discourse on the local ravages of our global economy has revealed an important and (IMHO) fabulous fact: Civil disobedience has started. Neighbors have banded together to hide a tent city from authorities. Another’s voice has drawn a line in our local sand over selective law enforcement. Somewhere in my college days I coined the phrase, “What this country needs is an economic Martin Luther King.” Today, I can hear the far-off thunder of his or her voice rumbling its way toward Sarasota. What better place to illustrate the real fulcrum of the socio-economic divide. It is so very much closer to every back yard than most realize.

I write like
David Foster Wallace

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Every Rich Republican Represenative's Worst Nightmare

The rich are poor.

It's that simple, and that deadly to the self-serving so-called Representatives that have populated every level of US government for decades.

Sure, it's all relative. Whether you started with $5 or several million, if you've lost 50+% of your income and reserves, you're equally poor and equally angry. Angry at yourself, because you bought into "trickle down" economics and believed there were no consequences to the easy plunder. Angry at yourself because you sold your future for the instant gratification of American largess on steroids. Angry at the people, motives and decisions that are outside your control and hidden behind walls and laws.

Suddenly, the dearth of an educated, healthy workforce is chunking away at what relative wealth remains clutched in the hands of the rich.

Suddenly, decisions motivated by greed and the needs of the wealthy and powerful are no longer justifiable. The valildating voice of the wealthy and powerful has dwindled to a whisper.

Suddenly, representation without representation is revealed.

Suddenly, Socialism is not a dirty and foreign word. It's a solution.

I write like
Kurt Vonnegut

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