Velvet Verbosity

Ah Eden. Paradise lost. Was it ever real or merely a construct of human imagination, a place created in the mind to explain and ease our suffering? A past and future promise that there is a place we can return if only we get “it” right.

Yesterday I discovered that I missed the deadline for a local arts grant by HOURS. I had been checking and checking their site waiting for the deadline and details to be announced sometime in April. Then I got sick with this fatigue and it was all I could do during that time to get up and get my daughter to school in some approximation of “on time”, and then work. My limbs, even my fingers, felt hollowed out and fragile like an abandoned wasp’s nest. I could move, I could think, I could stay awake, but it took so much will. By the end of the work day, all that pumping of will power left me mentally exhausted and I forgot all about checking the arts council site. I would just crawl under the blankets and stare with dry eyes at the television. I couldn’t move, but I couldn’t sleep either. As I’ve already said, I’ve now seen more movies in the last few weeks than I’ve seen in the last 5 years. Being a couch potato is as alien to me as walking on two legs is to cats. It’s just not in my nature. That alone tells me just how sick I’ve really been.

My point? I’m not sure I have one except that I feel as far from the grace of Eden as one could get, and missing that deadline by such a small margin was the exclamation point on a bad few weeks. Let’s get to the 100 Word submissions for Eden.

This week, Jeremy emailed me this delicious entry. The link to his site is for his book, you won’t find this entry there.

So, this was Eden, the magical garden where life began, at least, she thought, for her. It was the small garden outside the church in the town where they first met, where they put off getting married until spring, when it could be in that garden so family, friends, and God could enjoy the sunshine they brought to each other’s lives, the love. She toddled through here as a child so many times, she knew each rock, rose, and root. And she now held them both, brought them back, to where it all began, to become part of it forever.

Sassy Mama Bear asks if Eden can exist.

Eden, can it exist? Where could one find a place that qualifies as paradise? Does such a place exist that could ever meet everyones needs? Is there a tangibility to the word?
Or is Eden a state of mind? A sense of perfect happiness, sublime bliss?
Have you found your Eden? Is it a place or a feeling?
Are you still searching? Will you know it when it is there?
Was there once a garden, where God started humankind? Are the gates still waiting somewhere for the right person to find them again?
Do we have that power within us?
~ May 8, 2008

The multi-talented Secret Agent Mama is back from vacation with poetic vengeance.

Her head is seemingly filled with
A senseless silence

Despite constant efforts to increase the volume
There’s still a personal void

This emptiness often muted
By the sounds she chooses to muddle life with

I’ve tried to tell her
I’ve tried to make it clear

But my words are too softly spoken for her to hear
She doesn’t understand why it can’t be easy

Why can’t she just recreate that melodic tune
That personal eden

Where there’s more light than dark
Where there’s more love than hate

She’s trying to amplify and resound
So….she opens her mouth and sings

Lceel reminds us all of the innocence around us every day. By the way, Lceel, aside from being a loyal player of 100 Words, and flattering me each week with new descriptions of me, is also a burgeoning artist. Go check out the evolution of his paintings.

There are those who would say that Eden is lost. For Eden was Innocence; we knew not we were naked. And Eden was no knowledge of Fear; danger had never arisen. And Eden was a lack of Want; all needs were provided for. And it would seem that Eden is lost. But there are those among us who live in Innocence; they don’t care if they’re clothed. And they have no fear; for they don’t recognize and understand danger. And they want for nothing; they ask for nothing beyond what they are given. They are Children. They live in Eden.

JM over at Fiction Scribe offers a, erm, slightly cynical view of what might have become of Eden. Of course it’s fiction, but captures well the disillusionment we all have felt at the receiving end of lost love.

Eden. The mythical, biblical land of absolute perfection and paradise. Thinking of Eden made John think of great expanses of very green grass with beautiful trees in sight in every direction. Some bore the purest beautiful fruit you could ever imagine.

Eden meant perfection. Love. Serenity.

That is, the biblical Eden.

The Eden of his reality was anything but serene. He tossed another one of the pictures featuring her and him on the fire and took a cold pleasure in watching it slowly curl up before turning into ashes.

Maybe after the betrayal of Adam and Eve, God burned Eden.

And so begins a new challenge. Readers, if you are new to the 100 Word writing prompt and challenge, you can find details here. I’ve just picked up a book that’s been on my “must read” list for years. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It’s one of those books I heard about over and over again through the years, and I’ve finally come round to reading it. From its pages, I challenge you with:

Want

Check this out.  Is this not the coolest laptop pillow you’ve ever seen?  From Intelligent Forms Design, who’s philosophy is to “provide unique lifestyle tools that merge environmentally responsible values with innovative performance and aesthetic impact”, this is a design company shooting straight for my heart.  Being environmentally responsible doesn’t have to hurt and it should be just as cool as trashing the earth the way we have been.

I found these when Googling for a solar charger for my Macbook Pro.  The small Canadian company that makes these pillows also makes a solar “lounge table”.  Essentially it’s a solar coffee table that charges all of your electronics from cell phones to laptops.  The laptop pillows (there are three designs) are all made with sustainable materials and are designed to be highly functional.  The above design keeps the heat off your legs while allowing for cooling ventilation.  The “log” design holds your laptop in place and even gives you a wrist rest for comfort.  Smart, sexy, functional, and responsible.  What’s not to love?  But you know what I love most about this company?  They use a Mac to model their goods.  Because Macs are sexy, that’s why.

Oh dear, I must be losing my touch. This week brings only two 100 Word entries. Probably my bad for being a tardy poster. Or bloggers going and getting all famous.

Truly though, I’ve been sick (along with McShirty) for going on two weeks now. It’s a strange affliction that mostly causes extreme fatigue and a general malaise. It’s been hard enough to work but blogging has just proved to be too much. So for someone who doesn’t watch TV or movies (much), I’ve seen about 15 movies in the last two weeks. Yep, for two weeks if you went looking for me, you wouldn’t have had to go much further than the local couch.

Sassy Mama Bear has a great piece over at her place complete with a music clip from “Lunatic Fringe”, which brought me RIGHT back to the 80’s.  Ah, I can smell the Aquanet now.

She danced to music that nobody else heard, swaying one second, and bouncing madly the next. She chattered when she walked down the street garnering bemused stares from anyone she passed.
Her family had left her long ago, at a special place, as they called it. A place where people just “like her” lived and grew up together. She was little then. Pigtails and a gingham shirt neatly tucked into her Oshkosh B’Gosh overalls, she looked so innocent and sweet.
Years went by and she never saw her mama or her papa again.
When she was eighteen she was free.

I love this one by LCeel.  I think I know this guy.

I knew him so many years ago. Back then he was a vehement Goldwater Republican. And an angry young man. We were in the Marines together, but eventually, went our separate ways. One day, out of the blue, came a call. He rambled on about Nixon, the CIA, the FBI, his Senator and all the conspiracies that the government was party to. There have been many calls in the last few years. And long, rambling letters. He sold his business. He’s retired now. He is alone. He has always been alone. From where he lives. On the fringe.

LCeel also talks about the rapid passage of time and children growing up so go read the full post.

Today, I’m choosing a word from my bookshelf without opening a book.  Let’s see, how about…

Eden

If you want to play, all the details are here.

Softness delights and soothes me. Things that are soft.

• My daughter’s fingers dancing across my face when she is 10.
• My sea green cashmere t-shirt.
• The surface of a still pond.
• Kitten fur.
• A lover’s mouth.
• Waking up to Spring mornings.
• A newborn cry.
• The letter V.
• The soles of my feet.
• The Genuine Heart of Sadness

Painting by Robert Popick

I’m just wondering what content you’re reading that I’m not writing. I’ve thoroughly checked my blog, and I just can’t make the connection between my content and the ad you’ve most recently placed on my blog with a half-naked woman selling Skid Steer Tires?

Blink blink.

Could it be the entire category labeled “Feminism”? Because feminism and women selling tires in their underwear must be somehow related. Now I happen to know that you have some amazingly ginormous brains working for you over there at the Google complex. Perhaps you could set them on the task of creating algorithms that actually interpret my content to produce relevant ads. Maybe you know something I don’t, but I don’t think that you’re going to sell many tires to my readership. I know I mentioned Goodyear a few times, but apparently you’re only reading half the conversation.  I think you missed the part about fair pay for Lilly Ledbetter?  Maybe my brain is too small to comprehend your mysterious ways, because I was equally confused at the Muslim dating sites, the diet plans, and the mail order bride ads. Maybe that’s all you got over there? Yeah, that must be it. How else to explain the complete disconnect between my content and your thinking you’re going to sell women on my blog. I’d send you a memo, but you wouldn’t get it.

Maybe Ima fire your a** and switch to Blogher ads.

Don’t worry, I won’t let you forget about the campaign to boycott Goodyear Tire Company starting on Mother’s Day if they don’t make good on what a jury originally awarded Ms. Ledbetter. I’m persistent like that.

But for serious…I still need all your help. I need you to not let your readers forget about it. There’s so much in the world to be concerned about. There’s so little time to do anything about it all. I know. Here’s an opportunity to just sign up to NOT do something. To NOT spend your money with a corporation that allowed unfair pay practices, not just for Ledbetter, but for other women in the company too, and got away with it. Here’s your chance to do something by NOT doing much of anything at all. How often does an offer like that come along?

Well, except for you bloggers. You, YOU I need to do something. To not let this slip away and get forgotten. If you haven’t already, you can add the campaign button to your blog. You can post the campaign link every day at the beginning or ending of your posts. You can gently remind your readers that they too can blog about the campaign and then take but a few seconds to sign up for the boycott. You can stumble and Digg these stories, and the original campaign. You can do what bloggers do best…TALK!

Because bloggers are awesome like that.  If only Dooce would blog about it.

I am not even going to TALK about Josef Fritzl. Nope.

I STILL don’t have time to write the long and thoughtful post I would like on this case, but I thought I could at least provide you with some excellent links on the Ledbetter vs. Goodyear case so that you can decide for yourself if you think Goodyear should be boycotted until they make good on what a jury originally awarded Ledbetter. Yesterday Jeffrey commented on my first post announcing the campaign suggesting that pay discrimination is a myth and that Ledbetter lost her case because she failed to prove discrimination. I’ve read the Supreme Court case, and it is not true that she failed to prove discrimination. If you read the case with an educated eye, as well as refer to the original case that she won, it is clear that she failed to prove discrimination within the bogus time constraint for discrimination cases.

If you visited yesterday, you will remember that I have started a campaign to boycott Goodyear Tire Co by getting 10,000 supporters to boycott starting on Mother’s Day. Of course 10,000 is just a start. After all, the more the merrier. If you haven’t signed up for the campaign, please do!

To understand the case better, I would recommend you start your reading here (Cornell Law School).

For further information:

• Lilly Ledbetter: Peaceful Revolution: Equal Pay for Equal Work- Time for the Senate to Vote - Living on The Huffington Post

  This piece was co-authored by Lily Ledbetter and Joan Blades. I can’t believe I need to write this blog. The 1964 Civil Rights Act made equal pay for equal work the law of the land. For almost 50 years Americans have had the justice system to turn to when they suffer pay discrimination. Last year the Supreme Court upended this law by making it essentially unenforceable.

• The Stagnant Artist: Back to the Stone Ages

  Another blogger who has picked up the campaign.

  tags: Ledbetter

• LEDBETTER v. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO.

• David Drake: Lilly Ledbetter vs Goodyear:
  The Lefty Blogosphere’s Most Overrated,
  Biggest Non-Story Of The Year (so far!)

  A dissenting view, but Velvet Verbosity thinks you need to hear both sides to accurately decide for yourself which side you fall on. “The ruling by the court is right-on. Look at it this way, she waited 19 years to file suit and then files suit within 180 days of her final paycheck? This woman is none too bright. She forges along in her daily work routine for 19 years, clueless that others may - may - be earning more than her, coupled with the fact of Goodyear saying her performance reviews were substandard. Like I wrote, this woman is none too bright. Some Liberal female bloggers have written that there should be absolutely no statute of time limitations on cases like this. Well, keep on living in your tiny, brainless bubble gals.”

• On the Legal Front: Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire Co.: A Divided Supreme Court Causes Quite a Stir January 2008

• Opinion L.A. : Los Angeles Times : Who’s afraid of Lilly Ledbetter?

  Who’s afraid of Lilly Ledbetter? Not Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Both came out in favor of a congressional bill that would make it easier for victims of pay disparity to charge discrimination in court. That’s what Lilly Ledbetter tried to do, but the Supreme Court ruled against her, adhering closely to a law that says discrimination must be reported within 180 days of its occurrence. As the editorial board wrote earlier this week:

• Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

  Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 550 U.S. ___ (2007), is an employment discrimination decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Alito held for the five-justice majority that employers are protected from lawsuits over race or gender pay discrimination if the claims are based on decisions made by the employer 180 days ago or more. This was a case of statutory rather than constitutional interpretation. The plaintiff in this case, Lilly Ledbetter, characterized her situation as one where “disparate pay is received during the statutory limitations period, but is the result of intentionally discriminatory pay decisions that occurred outside the limitations period.” In rejecting Ledbetter’s appeal, the Supreme Court said that “she could have, and should have, sued” when the pay decisions were made, instead of waiting beyond the 180-day statutory charging period.

• Ledbetter, Lilly v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. - Medill - On the Docket

• LEDBETTER v. GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO.

  To show how far the Court has strayed from interpretation of Title VII with fidelity to the Act’s core purpose, I return to the evidence Ledbetter presented at trial. Ledbetter proved to the jury the following: She was a member of a protected class; she performed work substantially equal to work of the dominant class (men); she was compensated less for that work; and the disparity was attributable to gender-based discrimination. See supra, at 1–2. Specifically, Ledbetter’s evidence demonstrated that her current pay was discriminatorily low due to a long series of decisions reflecting Goodyear’s pervasive discrimination against women managers in general and Ledbetter in particular. Ledbetter’s former supervisor, for example, admitted to the jury that Ledbetter’s pay, during a particular one-year period, fell below Goodyear’s minimum threshold for her position. App. 93–97.Although Goodyear claimed the pay disparity was due to poor performance, the supervisor acknowledged that Ledbetter received a “Top Performance Award” in 1996. Id., at 90–93. The jury also heard testimony that another supervisor—who evaluated Ledbetter in 1997 and whose evaluation led to her most recent raise denial—was openly biased against women. Id., at 46, 77–82. And two women who had previously worked as managers at the plant told the jury they had been subject to pervasive discrimination and were paid less than their male counterparts. One was paid less than the men she supervised. Id., at 51–68. Ledbetter herself testified about the discriminatory animus conveyed to her by plant officials. Toward the end of her career, for instance, the plant manager told Ledbetter that the “plant did not need women, that [women] didn’t help it, [and] caused problems.” Id., at 36.10 After weighing all the evidence, the jury found for Ledbetter, concluding that the pay disparity was due to intentional discrimination. Yet, under the Court’s decision, the discrimination Ledbetter proved is not redressable under Title VII. Each and every pay decision she did not immediately challenge wiped the slate clean. Consideration may not be given to the cumulative effect of a series of decisions that, together, set her pay well below that of every male area manager. Knowingly carrying past pay discrimination forward must be treated as lawful conduct. Ledbetter may not be compensated for the lower pay she was in fact receiving when she complained to the EEOC. Nor, were she still employed by Goodyear, could she gain, on the proof she presented at trial, injunctive relief requiring, prospectively, her receipt of the same compensation men receive for substantially similar work. The Court’s approbation of these consequences is totally at odds with the robust protection against workplace discrimination Congress intended Title VII to secure. See, e.g., Teamsters v. United States, 431 U. S., at 348 (“The primary purpose of Title VII was to assure equality of employment opportunities and to eliminate … discriminatory practices and devices … .” (internal quotation marks omitted)); Albemarle Paper Co. v. Moody, 422 U. S. 405, 418 (1975) (“It is … the purpose of Title VII to make persons whole for injuries suffered on account of unlawful employment discrimination.”).

• The Overlooked Explosive News Story « Just Above Sunset

• TESTIMONY OF LILLY LEDBETTER BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  Good afternoon. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Mr. Ranking Member for inviting me. My name is Lilly Ledbetter. It is an honor to be here today to talk about my experience trying to enforce my right to equal pay for equal work. I wish my story had a happy ending. But it doesn’t. I hope that this Committee can do whatever is necessary to make sure that in the future, what happened to me does not happen to other people who suffer discrimination like I did.

Let’s show the business world that with Social Media behind us, citizens do not need to wait in frustration for fair policies to be passed. We can send powerful messages quickly and efficiently by sharing and organizing on the internet, and then with solidarity choosing to not spend our money with companies that we feel are getting away with unfair practices. We can, as a combined force, effect change.

Join these other bloggers in sharing the Goodyear Boycott Campaign.

• Two Women Blogging
• Telecommuting Journal
• The Stagnant Artist
• LouCeel
• The Junkys Wife
• Green Girl Today
• You should be here! C’mon bloggers, let’s show corporate America where it’s at! (If I’ve missed you, please email or comment and I’ll add you.)

Good morning fair readers.  The day is grim outside and I’ve caught myself a virus of some kind, so I write from a cocoon of blankets as I peer out from puffy eyes.  It’s a sucky Tuesday in my neighborhood.   Last night I saw Eddie Izzard at the Orpheum, and that was fantastic fun even though I started to feel the tiredness from impending illness towards the end of the show, and certainly on the long ride home.  I’ll write more about that later.  Eddie Izzard that is, not my sickness.  Why make you suffer too?

Last week’s 100 Word challenge was “Hooked”.  Let me take a moment to direct new readers (and hopefully new playas) to the 100 Word Challenge Rules, such as they are.  The first 100 words is a reflection of one of the things that comes to my mind when I hear the word hooked.

Heroine hooked him with promises of bliss.  She became his lover, his friend, his steady companion, his home, and his escape.  She needled her way deep and deeper into his flesh, his brain, his soul, then she methodically took him down until he didn’t know how he ever lived without her, or ever would.  She turned on him, turned him inside out and he loved every minute of it, even when the bliss was punctuated through with searing longing, even when the lies stacked upon lies; those she told him, those he told others, and worse, those he told himself.

None of us are entirely sure about what happened to Secret Agent Mama this week when her 100 words turned out to be about Hidden, yet at the same time about Hooked.  Truth is, doesn’t matter.  SAM always delights me with whatever she writes, and with her photography.  Did I mention she has a new website just for her fantastic photos?   Damn I miss my camera!

I can’t
I won’t
It’s sad
It hurts
The pain
The lies
The cost
The loss
My heart
It broke
The past
Long gone
And still
I sit
I wonder
I balk
I question
How come
And why
Just some
Too much
Or maybe
Just maybe
The pain
Is deep
And maybe
Just maybe
Evil creeps
Sadness looms
Happiness doomed
Squinted eye
Furrowed brow
Underneath it
Somewhere somehow
Truth sprouts
Good grown
Paths chosen
Evil dethroned
I can
I will
I’m happy
You know
My slate
Is clean
My heart
Is well
You’ll see
You will
What’s hidden
Must stay

LouCeel, in addition to coming back again and again with clever and thoughtful 100 Word submissions, also always has a unique descriptive word to describe me.  This week I was “diabolical”, which of course means incredibly evil.  Of course he meant it playfully.  I mean, I’m not really evil.  Hehe.  I digress.  LouCeel uses 100 words to describe his love and passion for art and being an emerging artist.

The names come to me in my sleep. Unbidden. Relentless. Remorseless. And the visions the names conjur up are all the things the names imply - romantic, intimidating, eloquent, frightening, terrible, bloody, angelic, pastoral and religious. To give a name to but a few of the things they imply. The names are old. So very dead. But they have a life of their own. Something that I would wish for myself if I had but one wish to claim. The talent to live among the names. For their names are ART. And I have found their Art. And I am hooked.

I was thrilled to see Sassy Mama Bear back for this week.  Her poem evokes peaceful and gentle energy.  I feel like I could know this man.

Sitting upon the park bench,
the wind whistling through the trees
He sat and watched the water flowing past.

With fingers gnarled by years gone by,
He gently wound the line
A twist a turn, a knot deftly tied.

A flick of the wrist, and a tip of his hat
He sat, watched and waited.
The sun warming his weathered skin.

A gentle tug, just a simple sign
Slowly, with skill learned over time
He wound the strand around his hand.

Dangling at the very end flopping fiercely
Hung his dinner, trying hard to break free
a beautiful perch, hooked.
~ Penelope Anne Bartotto
April 25, 2008

So that wraps up the Hidden 100 Word challenge.  I’ve got a book laying here that I’m not actually currently reading.  One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn.  An old fraying paperback with an orange cover that I picked up at a tag sale because it looked interesting.  From its yellowed and aged pages, I give you:

Fringe

“Every reform movement has a lunatic fringe” ~Theodore Roosevelt