The upcoming cartoon ”Cheyenne Cinnamon and the Fantabulous Unicorn of Sugar Town Candy Fudge” is about “a Strawberry Shortcake pop princess that lives in a candy wonderland just outside of Detroit. She comes into Detroit and helps solve problems of racism and teen pregnancy with the power of love and teen pop songs“. The lead cartoon character lip-synch’s to sing the pop songs because the actress is a country and western singing star, not a pop singing star.
What a fantastic cartoon idea. I love it when the Americans self-parody like this. They are self-parodying aren’t they?
- directed to a standalone touch-sensitive display system with terminals on every floor that provided information about the court cases and the building.
I asked if the Murals and Sculptures in the huge atrium were exceptions to the no-photography rule. Alas, they weren’t. Like the English Crown court the Federal court deals with criminal cases.
Its difficult to estimate the ‘interestingness’ of a case from its title on the touch sensitive display system: ”The USA vs (person or corporation’s name)”. I chose a court where I discovered the judge was accepting guilty pleas and setting pre-sentencing requirements such as psychiatric and drugs assessments. The two cases I watched were illegal drug possession (Valium, Zoloft) by a diabetic in pain because of a kidney disorder who had just lost her job in a pharmacy. The second case was a violation of a parole requirement to avoid alcohol by an alcoholic.
A striking design feature of this courtroom was how similar it is to the court-rooms I’ve seen in US films. There is a central isle through the public gallery to a low gate marking the entrance to the main court area. The barrier is purely symbolic, anyone could step over the low-wall, gate dividing the court from the public gallery. The public and the lawyers enter by walking down the isle. In the UK the door to the public gallery appears to be separate none of the court officials have to walk through the public. Depending on their status the accused enters through the public gallery (not yet proven guilty of anything) or wearing prison gear from a door in the main court area. Just before the judge entered the room the court clerk banged a gavel three times and called out ‘all rise’.
The Seattle federal court building has the declaration of independence decorating a low wall and is reflected (backwards) on the the floor in front of the Court building. This struck me as curious. A supersticious person might think that the declaration of independence written backwards was an omen of loss of freedom. Writing the document on the floor means that any one can walk on it, placing it on a long low wall is just too tempting for many dogs whos natural inclination might well be considered disrespectful of National treasure.
(Warning: anyone with aversions to bulleted lists should avert their eyes after the next sentence)
The July 4th parade in the City formerly known as Bug is by far the most engaging, relaxed and inclusive I have ever experienced. Inclusiveness includes:
South West UK: mostly cloudy with outbreaks of rain
unlike like outbreaks of acne, outbreaks of rain can be pleasant. Misty fog with rain and drizzle can seem appealing when you’re not suffering from floods, like the UK.
North West Pacific: icky sticky
Here in the NW US, despite proximity to rain forests and mountains on the west, a reputation for rain and yet more mountains and deserts on the east, we’re having a hot sink.
Even the kitties are panting for air conditioning.
There is definitely a miner surge in the icky-sticky ratings understated in the weather summary:
I confess to be in search of an image that somehow captures my archetype, stereotype, of the US. The unexported America, not the internationally spread coffee houses, fast food chains, cans and bottles of soft drinks. The image must capture something of what is and something of aspirational. I doubt my photographic skills will adequately capture and convey this image, if it exists. Here is a placeholder that caught part of the my archetype.
It captures the styling of the classic red pick-up truck and the white picket fence. I rarely saw them in the UK where box hedges appear to be the territory border marker of choice.
The overhead lines, on tilted poles, are seemingly ubiquious. What’s missing from this picture?
Do not underestimate a North American’s need for ice cubes.
If you haven’t been raised with the ever-present ice-cubes of North America their necessity is not obvious. Practically edible makes the following points:
“In Europe, however, Ice Cubes are not so omnipresent… ….In North America, though, serving drinks at the right, chilled temperature does seem to be a matter of life or death for its inhabitants. Ice Cubes have therefore become a very complex topic“
Practically edible suggests that the difference evolved due to space constraints with Europeans not having sufficient superluous space to house large freezers or use their limited freezer space for ice when it could be used for to ensure more nourishing food items last longer. My experience suggests that the existance of ice in the drink is more critical than the temperature to the North American experience.
You can even buy pre-packaged, unfrozen, ice-cubes from “Ice Rocks“! Now that’s just a bit too silly for me. In the NW USA you can buy bags of ice-cubes in the supermarkets.
Iced drinks provide one way to stay cool in hot southern States and desert areas . When crossing the USA last summer taking breaks at soda shops to cool ourselves with an iced drink was a pleasure in a way the UK climate would not induce. During this drive, encouraged by my native companion, I tried a drink made with ground-ice and flavouring, a ‘Slushy’.
Wikipedia summarises the North American ice cube addiction using cultural comparisons:
“Traditionally, drinks in the United States are served with ice; in Europe they are served with or without ice. In India and other parts of the world, it has traditionally been viewed as unhealthy to drink something with ice in it; today, many older Indians still refuse to use it”
Can you imagine a North American trying to feed an elderly Indian an ice cube and the Indian STILL tries to refuse it? Outrageous! How ignorant can you get? Nevermind, the younger Indians are more susceptible to the propaganda of ice cube necessity so resistance will eventually die out.
Aerial circus star Clyde Pangborn and playboy Hugh Herndon, Jr., captured the Japanese prize with a glorious belly-flop in Wenatchee, Wash., in 1931.
I passed this hangar while faffing around in East Wenatchee. Then discovered this colourful article on the HistoryNet (above title). Local Washington State boy Mr. Pangborn was quite a character, he went on to join the RAF (Royal Air Force)
respect the pole on this International workers, Labour day. In Seattle many immigrants celebrate by peacefully, silently, marching downtown. Last year it was described as “A day without immigrants” raising awareness of their often invisible contribution to labour in major cities all over the USA. The USA allocated a different day to celebrate it’s workers, in doing so it left this international day open, for its international community, its immigrants.
Nurse: what’s the problem?
Wendy: I’ve had a fever for 3 days
Nurse: what’s your temperature?
Wendy: I don’t know, I don’t have a thermometer (feels extremely guilty for failing this social communication requirement, I haven’t transformed my experience into a standardised, shared, language a thermometer scale)
Nurse: how do you know you’ve got a fever?
Wendy: alternating between profuse sweating and cold shakes with some hallucinations?
“At the start of the attack, one pilot notices orange panels on the vehicles and asks whether there could be any friendly units in the area… …Pilots open fire but soon the error is realised and they are informed that friendly units were in the area“
There are lots of disturbing threads to the stories as published in the British press. I hear them daily on radio, TV, internet and newspapers. The most disturbing, unexplicit, storyline is that the US conduct their internal investigations to find themselves innocent. For the USA it is reasonable that they ignore the standard NATO symbol for identifying NATO vehicles. For the USA it is reasonable to make sure evidence is not made available to NATO allies by lying, denying the existence of the cockpit tapes.
The crux of the different verdicts are reported as based around a difference in the UK and the USA ‘rules for engagement’ without these rules of engagement explicitly being reported, a British soldier comments that:
“the incident would not have happened if American troops had as strict rules as the British on opening fire.”
This is not a unique verdit, where the US has been (ir)responsible for the death of UK soldiers. The incident has an analogous dynamic to many USA’s engagements with other Nations and Nationals. The USA look gun-happy in so many ways, internal laws, internal crime statistics, international diplomacy and even in its dealings with its allies.
British people I meet wonder how I can stand to live in the USA, they variously refer to the USA as an immature, ignorant, greedy, fat, dishonest, sick, bully.
recommended venue for an atmospheric, private, conversation with special friends or family over a good cup of tea and to stock up some sizable conkers.
1890’s Historically registered building. For the US West coast that is REALLY OLD! There are several huge old conker trees in the garden. The ground is littered with conkers. I rarely see conker trees in the puget sound region. A habit left over from childhood, I placed a few big, heavy, symmetrical conkers in my pocket, just incase…
Inside, high quality retro décor, not kitsch or overdone. White table-clothes and napkins. Antique furniture that is not ‘distressed’. The establishment blends beautifully American and English tea taking ceremonies with excellent food in a tasteful, timeless ambiance. Let me say ‘excellent food’ once again. Prices are neither cheap nor exorbitant. I had a large bowl of Coconut Chicken Lemon grass soup with a scone and a small pot of Darjeeling that came to about $10 including tax.
staff attentive and clearly amenable to customer requests not currently on the menu. I overhead a customer asking for, and receiving, iced tea. In January.
Those tiny imperfections that even an excellent establishment can have…they are trivial….
The isle closest to the entrance of the fridge is dedicated to breakfast. One side is ‘pancake mix’ the other ‘cold cereal’. The fridge is often this crowded. A girl could get agrophobic agoraphobic in here or maybe I should try a stronger deodorant?
Towards the end of the road trip we began to bet a bit confused about which State we were actually in. Because:
Burn-out. We were generally more in a state towards the end of the trip than at the beginning. We ultimately crossed 14/50 States covering approximately 3,300 miles in 10 days. By day 7 our thinking was generally a bit cloudy, like Iowa, or was it Ohio.
Turn-over. Sometimes we passed more than one State in a day. Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana just flew by.
Vowell-challenge. Iowa and Ohio seem to merge in my triple-vowell challenged consciousness.
I think Iowa and Ohio looked like this, arable farms (corn and peas), cloudy, straight deserted roads. I can’t be sure.
During our drive across North America we passed many buildings and, frankly, shacks advertising Taxidermy services. Many more buildings were decorated with stuffed animals. A quick internet search throws up multiple US websites offering Taxidermy training or lists of Taxidermy businesses, for example this list for Michigan.
This photograph shows a stuffed Otter hanging in the window of a bar in Idaho:
The published storyline is that the US government was scared of riots on international labour day, May 1st, and socialism when the date, first Monday in September, was selected.
In North America the first Monday in September is the “Labor Day Weekend”. In the US the Monday is a national Holiday. Not vacation, Holiday. Vacations appear to be taken by individuals while Holiday’s are given by the US government. The US Department of Labor website explaining the history of the US Labor Day does not cite pre-existing “Labour days” in other countries or any international level recognition of the value of labour to society. Wikipedia has 2 entires on Labour days one for North America (September) and one for the rest of the world (Labour, May 1st). The rest of the world entry does include Canada Labour day, British spelling, US compatible date.
“A Labour Day is an annual holiday celebrated all over the world that resulted from efforts of the labour union movement, to celebrate the economic and social achievements of workers. The celebration of Labour Day has its origins in the eight hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for work, eight hours for recreation, and eight hours for rest.”
“The origins of the American Labor Day can be traced back to the Knights of Labor in the United States and a parade organized by them on September 5, 1882 in New York City. They were inspired by an annual labor parade held in Toronto, Canada. In 1884 another parade was held, and the Knights passed resolutions to make this an annual event. Other labor organizations (and there were many), but notably the affiliates of the International Workingmen’s Association favored a May 1 holiday. With the event of Chicago’s Haymarket riots in early May of 1886, president Grover Cleveland believed that a May 1holiday could become an opportunity to commemorate the riots. Thus, fearing that it might strengthen the socialist movement, he quickly moved in 1887 to support the position of the Knights of Labor and their date for Labor Day”
One indicator of labour’s health and value, work-life balance, does not look positive within the US compared to other Nations represented by the United Nations. PNR reports that:
US companies are perceived as being responsible for an increasingly poor work-life balance……the U.S. ranks as one of the highest in average annual hours worked per person, a rank that has remained virtually unchanged since 1990, according to statistics from the International Labor Organization at the United Nations.
This fits with my personal experience and appears to influence the whole fluffy notion of ‘way of life’ here in the US. They are Free to work their sox off and employ services to maximise the efficiency of their limited ‘life’ time out of work (Nanny’s, cleaners, dishwashers, plummers, house-painters, Kitchen remodellers, personal trainers, gyms…..).
Imagine it’s 10pm at night. You’re driving through, no street lights, almost no traffic. The sensible tourists left before sunset. The gas tank is running dangerously low, the winding roads make judging distance from the map more a wild guess than an approximate calculation. If we run-out AAA could always send someone with a large jug of gas, if we can get cell-phone reception to call them. We may be sleeping in the truck if we don’t get to a gas station soon. We’re in a tight spot. Conversation stops.
Our headlights revealed a car stopped in the road ahead. We pull up. One by one 5 Buffalo climb from the steep incline onto the flat road. In silent awe we forget that we might be sleeping in the truck as these lighfooted giants gracefully cross the road ahead.
Soon after the Buffalo crossing we found a motel. The morning revealed a gas station within 100 yards of the gas-starved truck.
Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and scuttle of coal for the days session.
Make your pens carefully, you may whittle nibs to the individual taste of each pupil.
Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
After ten hours in school, teachers may use the remaining time reading the bible or other good books.
Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed.
Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of their earnings for his benefit during declining years so he will not become a burden on society.
Any teachers who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty.
The teacher who performs his labour faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of 25 cents per week in his pay providing the board of education approves.
From a set of rules published on the wall of Granny Joe’s, Vermilion, Ohio:
World Traveller took a fancy to reviving her Japan developed Karaoke skills in some small town with no chance of repercussions during our road trip. Friday, Saturday night on the road came and went without a nearby Karaoke event. Then. Sunday. The motel was attached to a restaurant-bar advertising karaoke on Sunday. Tonight. While carrying our stuff to our room a permanent guest briefly told us her life story and introduced us to Zack*, the bar chef who ran the Karaoke, as clients for his evening’s entertainment. While we ate our meal a puppy-like Zack kept popping into the restaurant to check if we were ready. He couldn’t wait. He started singing several songs. We heard the singing, ordered another pint of the local brew Yuengling, and wandered into the bar.
World traveller helped me choose a relatively easy song. “Crazy little thing called love” by Queen. After 3 pints (one more than my usual) I levered the microphone off Zack (not an easy task) and sang. The Bar manager commented on how my accent disappeared when I sang. ”He’s English too” I weakly protested.
World traveller picked “Me and Bobby Magee” by Janis Joplin. Zack was on a roll, getting the microphone from him was no mean feat. Finally she managed it and produced a fine rendering though not to her own high standard. Having given-up smoking constrained her ability to really scream the lyrics to her satisfaction. The bar seemed impressed, a school teacher, a single mother, a tractor designer and assorted others, mainly staff at the motel-bar-restaurant, like Zack.
As a compromise to ease removing the microphone from Zack World Traveller sang a duet with him, “Don’t go breaking my heart” by Elton John and Kiki Dee. He explained the lyric colour-coding to World traveller once, twice, three times. As they started singing he said “this is you” then “this is all me“. Clearly the whole event was all about Zack. I learned that the Karaoke machine only cost $30. The school teacher asked me to make requests for songs she wanted to sing “He’ll do it if you ask, he’ll ignore us” she explained. Single mom helped me sing “don’t speak” by No Doubt and commented that I had a talent for picking songs with difficult timing. School teacher went home to pick-up her child (another single mom) then came back to finish the evening with us.
Other songs covered: New York New York (Franky), Saturday night’s alright for fighting, Candle in the wind (Elton John), Yellow (Coldplay), Let me sleep on it (Meatloaf) and some American classics I barely recall in the ilk of Hotel California. At midnight the bar manager threw us all out. For $2 a beer World Traveller and I had a spanking good time only totalling $12. Bargain! As we ambled back to our Motel room and hugged goodbye’s one of the people at the bar, that neither of us recall having spoken to, gave us his email address commenting that he would be hunting Bear in Montana soon, out our way.
In South Dakota we saw REAL COWBOYS. Not people merely masquerading in cowboy boots, hats, jeans and western-cut shirts. These boys had just unloaded their horse-carrying trailer and were mounting-up ready to round-up some nearby cattle.
In the ferocity of female-pheromone-fast-production and general dribbling I completely forgot about the camera as World Traveller excitedly announced
“real cowboys, there, look, I’ll slow up” (she was driving)
Every other pick-up truck from Montana to Wyoming hauls a horse-trailer. Modern cowboys haul their horses cross-country before using them to “off road” HA! horses, the orgininal “off roaders“ who needs a 4×4 when you’ve got a 6-pack of horses in your trailer!
The town is one large tourist shop “Wall Drug” with an entertaining marketing campaign (signposts) that leave the actual experience as an anti-climax. I do vaguely remember climax’s so I can recognize anti-climax’s. It does have a fire-station, a grain store and wireless internet at an economy motel.
The UK doesn’t have Liquor stores like the US. Liquor stores are a novel US cultural experience for me. In Britain you buy alcohol including liquor in many (licenced) corner shops and supermarkets. There are shops called “off licences’ that specialise in selling Alcohol. Off-licences normally stock wine and beer as well as liquor.
While exploring a State run liquor store in Charlotte I stumbled across ‘EverClear‘ amongst the bourbons. Bourbon is ‘America’s native spirit’. Evidently you can’t purchase Everclear in Washington State. I purchased this bottle out of curiosity. It is 95% alcohol, 190 proof. That exploded a few brain cells and I hadn’t even taken the cap off the bottle.
It looks like Meths. It’s packaged like meths. Meths is a strong spirit that can be drunk but is meant for other purposes. In the UK you occassionally see bedraggled people on the streets drinking it. I associated it with alcoholism and homelessness.
Wendy: what do you do with this stuff? Drink it or use it for cleaning things?
companion #1: Drink it. Carefully
Wendy: have you ever had any?
companion #2: No
companion #1: Yes. Once. At college. Students drink it.
Other than take the lid of and sniff it I’m not sure what I’m going to do with my bottle. Suggestions welcomed
occassionally the ‘executives’ send emails to the coal-face. 93.14159 % of them start with the phrase “I’m super excited…” Apparently they get super excited about sweeping generalisations, nothing specific. These make me think of labrador puppies before they’ve been house trained. Not inspring confidence in the executives ability to put a finger on the pulse of the organisation. Do US people thrive on this sort of vague praise?
To me ‘Super excited’ is beginning to mean ‘here comes the motivational management bull****. Skip down two or three paragraphs to avoid having your intelligence insulted and actually find out what this email is really about’
wendy: goodmorningLatino lady emptying the bin outside the hotel: goodmorning (big smile)
later
Wendy: I’ll take the stairs, we wont all fit in the lift
2 Latino ladies with room cleaning trolleys: (giggles)
In Seattle when I greet or talk to the Latino people emptying the bins or cleaning the rooms at work they rarely reply, I’ve never seen them smile. I’ve learned to treat them as if they aren’t there. It makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t know any Latino people. The only places I see them are on the streets or in support roles like gardeners or cleaners. Here in Charlotte the Hotel staff appear more open to sharing superficial niceties. I feel less akward being me.
No pedestrian crossing’s or sidewalks in this district. Everyone drives. I just wanted to pick up some supplies from a store near my hotel without getting into the car. A low slung car pulled up as I looked for a gap in traffic to cross the road
shiny black man: wanna ride? white-toothy-grin
Wendy “thanks, but no thanks” yellow-toothy-grin
He pulled away. A helpful native? A guy with a thing about skinny older white chicks? Someone surrupticiously working out whether I was a street walker? A budding serial killer? I’ll never know.
Outside the deserted suburbian strip mall Hotel a group of men loiter, smoking. No-one is white. The Hotel provides free ’beer’ (lager) to residents between 4 and 5pm. This fills the lobby with the elegantly labelled ’business men’. The mature manageress proudly referred to the hotel’s 20yrs history and recent renovations to suit it’s business clientelle. It certainly meets basic needs. It is in some taste of finery that doesn’t permeate my senses. It feels bland. Only the people make it special. She complimented me on my ‘cute accent’. I returned the compliment. Her drawl is kind to the listener and speaker. No hurry, think before you speak, its ok to ponder. Even the lifts are slow. I like it. She giggled as if no-one had ever told her she sounded cute. Her cell phone rang, she left…
In the foyer an attractive 44yr old black man talked about his business. He’s training chef’s across the east coast. He pondered on how he came to this point in his life. An easily shared story of college and job changes. He has a french speaking friend from the Ivory coast who now owns a cafe somewhere in Paris. He commented that I looked European. I giggled. Can he not hear my accent? Is this a subtle form of politeness? He asked if I can spot Americans. I looked at his faded, XL t-shirt and khaki cut-off cargo pants while pondering telling the truth. I told the truth without citing khaki cargo pants or t-shirts. Then my colleague arrived wearing khaki cargo pants and a t-shirt and we left to meet 3 more American people, all of whom wore khaki cargo pants and t-shirts.
Anticipating hot balmy southern nights. I didn’t bring mi’ mack. Ooops. Alberto, the first tropical storm of the season is here. Today’s CBS report comments:
‘the heaviest rain – probably 2 to 4 inches – is likely in Georgia and the coastlines of the Carolinas, with most of Florida getting only an additional inch or so and some areas staying rain free’
Tropical storms and their bigger sibbling ‘hurricanes’ are a completely new experience for me.
I plan to get wet rather than spend my brief, valuable touristy, time mack shopping (yuck!)
A striking design feature of this courtroom was how similar it is to the court-rooms I’ve seen in US films. There is a central isle through the public gallery to a low gate marking the entrance to the main court area. The barrier is purely symbolic, anyone could step over the low-wall, gate dividing the court from the public gallery. The public and the lawyers enter by walking down the isle. In the UK the door to the public gallery appears to be separate none of the court officials have to walk through the public. Depending on their status the accused enters through the public gallery (not yet proven guilty of anything) or wearing prison gear from a door in the main court area. Just before the judge entered the room the court clerk banged a gavel three times and called out ‘all rise’.
