Anita Hill- 23 years after the hearings

I just saw Anita Hill on the Jon Stewart show and she is really a class act.  She paved the way for women in the work place.  The laws were on the books when she testified about Clarence Thomas and his indiscretions in the work place, but if you need to educate yourself about inappropriate behavior in the work place just watch a couple of episodes of Mad Men.  

I started working in education in the early 80's.  I can remember some of the coaches going out in the hall between classes and rating all the girl students.  The cheerleaders got extra high ratings when they had their short uniforms on.  I had a principal that always put his hand on my shoulder or arm whenever he spoke to me.  It gave me the creeps-but what could I do?  It wasn't an egregious offense. I would have lost my status if I had said anything. I had a boss during my summer employment in college that made me go out and drive him to get pot and then sit with him while he smoked it and then drive him home ( to his poor wife and family).  I didn't really like it but I didn't have any power, so I did what he asked.  

 When Anita Hill stood up to Clarence Thomas and spoke about his behavior to congress, she spoke to a panel of 14 old white men about sexual harassment.  Do you think they really had any idea why she was offended? She spoke of the sick perverted jokes and even worse the overt sexual overtures and those congressmen were probable thinking- this is nothing that I haven't done myself. But- it put a little bug in the minds of our nations's male dominated work bosses and within a couple of years, a lot of that behavior was curtailed- at least it wasn't considered normal.

I have always admired Anita Hill and apparently there is a documentary that is coming out that will explore her story and present it to a new generation of girls.  I can not wait to see it. If we had listened to her and nixed the judicial appointment of Clarence Thomas- would that really have been such a bad thing?  

A plea to the global citizens out there- Watch Vice and listen!

If you haven't yet gotten the message- drought, hurricanes, floods, record highs, record lows- this is called climate change.  Everyone has been affected in some way.  Probably the most overt example to me is hurricane Sandy.  The weather is trying to tell us a secret and that is that we are polluting the world with some gases that don't have an odor or a color.  They envelop the the atmosphere and cause a trapping of heat that can change the wind and water currents, increase the number of catastrophic storms and cause the Arctic ice to melt into the oceans.  

We have all heard about the idea of global climate change.  Some of us have worried about this, some think it is a load of crap.  I mean the Northern states just had the coldest temps in a long time- so what do we have to worry about?  I will tell you what we have to worry about- Greenland is melting .  and if the glaciers melt completely- the sea will rise over 20 feet.  There goes the coast. 

If you are concerned watch last week's episode of Vice on HBO. 

We need to decrease greenhouse gases by 80% or there will be a global catastrophe in 3 generations. Does this sound serious to you?

Netflicks watchers! House of Cards- Back with Avenegence!

FU- Frank Underwood- You are a Wicked Man!

Well my best Valentine's present wasn't flowers or candy- it was the return of House of Cards.  I was so flabbergasted after the first episode, I could hardly speak.  Frank Underwood is now the Vice President and he is not exactly the Veep.  He definitely isn't comparable to good old Joe Biden either.  He is simply the most evil character the we love to hate on  television these days.

Check it out.  Orange is the new Black and House of Cards makes a subscription to Netflicks worth the monthly charge.

Did the valentine snow jam influence Congress?

Good news:  We paid our debt last week.  Did the weather have any say in the matter?  They voted quickly and then got the Hell out of Washington before the snow came.  All I know is that I was so sick of the B.S. surrounding the government shutdown and Senator Cruz, that I was so happily surprised that the vote was positive and quick.  Ted Cruz was on Face the Nation last week and he had the audacity to blame the government shutdown last October on the President.  On which planet does he reside?

My two favorite people on TV

I know that I watch too much TV.I mean we are stuck inside for the next three days-so it is inevitable. I thought I would comment on my favorite TV characters at this moment.





 Number 1- Sue Heck. Sue is the hopelessly awkward high school ( she has to really be about 22, I think she played a preteen in Weeds also) junior in The Middle. Sue is the perfect overly optimistic, braces wearing, clumsy, always trying out for and seldom making any teams type gal. The episode this season when she comes home and screams that she made the varsity volleyball team. She has never made anything that she has tried out for.  She was on Cross country- but there were no cuts.  Her mom made sure she joined that team!  You come to find out that she fell through the gym floor at tryouts and the coach was afraid the family would sue the school, so they put her on the team. It was hilarious!




 Number two- Reza on Shahs of Sunset. Now, I do realize that he isn't exactly a character, because he is on a reality show. But he is a "character" with his 'stache, his quirky way of dressing and his over- dramatizations. Even though Asa, her mother and Reza were in Turkey looking out at the border of Iran and the moment was truly moving, because they were not allowed to visit the country they were born, my daughter and I couldn't help but crack up at Reza and his drama. I just can't help but crack up at the way he talks-"I was a prisoner for so long- and now I am free". He is gay and won't be accepted into Iran. Asa and her mother are political refugees from Iran. None of that is funny. In fact the episode was emotionally moving. I just love Reza and he make me smile. Whether he is discussing MJ's boobs or how Glonessa turns into Loch-nessa when she drinks- that shit is funny.

 I like a lot of shows on TV these days. I love Girls, The Goldberg's, House of Lies, Shameless, Parenthood, Downton Abbey, Sherlock and of course the best show on TV- The Walking Dead. But nothing makes me laugh harder than Reza and Sue Heck. I also love that Jon Stewart. The episode where he made fun of Atlanta's snow jam was classic. I also loved the salute to Sean Hannity leaving NYC.

Things are OK here in the land of snow and ice.  Thank goodness we still have our electricity!
Love- Momma

Day 1- SnowJam Part Deux- Atlanta is a ghost town

Well here we are two weeks later and Atlanta had another storm.  This time it is mainly ice and fortunately it started falling at night-so the roads are free of motorists. The schools were closed a day early- it just rained on Tuesday.  So we have avoided the traffic snarls.  The problem this time is the trees are burdened with ice and they are falling so 100's of thousands of people do not have electricity. Our family is fortunate so far- our biggest problem is trying to get a pampered pooch to take a dump in the ice.

Our city officials have had news conferences, reacting way ahead of time and established task forces to create plans to evacuate in the event of another day-time snow.  What did the ground hog say about spring? Can't wait!

Stormwatch 2014- another snowmageddon in the ATL- (does this look like our favorite TV show?)

6am Wednesday - January 29th

 Imagine sitting in your car for 18 plus hours on the highway!  This is Atlanta- we are not equipped to handle even 2 inches of snow.  The snow started yesterday-  Tuesday, Jan.28th- at about 10:30am.  People started to leave work around 12:30 pm.  Tracker trailers slid across several lanes of traffic.  Many other fender benders occurred and you have- snow jam 2014!

I have a friend that teaches at North Atlanta High.  He called me at 4pm Tuesday and said-guess where I am?  I thought he was stuck on the highway- but no.  The teachers were not allowed to leave the school, because the buses couldn't get to the school to take the students home.  So now it is 6am in the morning and they all had to spend the night at the school!

My family lives up north.  I know that after they get a snowfall of 15 inches, they still go to work the next morning.  They have no comprehension of this situation.  My niece was here for Snowmegeddon 2011.  The city was closed down for a week.  We picked her up at her hotel downtown and went out to eat on a Sunday night.  While we were out, it started to snow.  We tried to get home and got stuck on a hill about a mile from our house. we parked the car on the side of the road and walked home.  The next morning I walked her back to the MARTA train station and she was able to get back to her hotel.   One of my former students was walking her dog down Lenox Rd. and she and her boyfriend helped me get my car up the hill and I was able to park it in a flat parking lot across the street from where I live.  It stayed there for the next 5 days!

People make fun of us here in the south. We don't know how to drive in the snow.  We close schools when there is a threat of snow.  The truth is:  We do not have the equipment to handle a regular commute home in the snow.  The school officials made a gamble yesterday and they lost.  The last several years, when we have had snow it has been at night or over a weekend and they have forgotten the mess they had in 1982 when everyone had to park on the highway and walk to a friend's house, restaurant or hotel.  That year my sister and I drove from NJ back to college here in Atlanta through the snow and ice.  That was truly the worst driving I have ever experienced.

 Look- those of you in charge of schools and businesses- when the weather men are predicting snow in the middle of the work or school day- just call it off! Yes- we as a city will be wrong sometimes, and we may look like little wussies, but it is better to be safe than to be stuck in your car on the highway or to have students stuck at school without their parents or even worse to have a bus full of students that are stuck on the highway for 16 hours.  What a nightmare!  I hope that the school officials will give their teachers a comp day for their noble efforts to take care of their students overnight!