The Heartbreak of Housecleaning

It's housecleaning season; spring's only drawback! Not housecleaning per se, it's the throwing away I can't bear.

But on the bottom shelf of an old bookcase with glass doors in the west bedroom here is a stack of 7 by 7 sq. inch high boxes. Sony & Maxell mostly. Reel-to-reel tapes from the 1970s: Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, Jacques Brel, Leadbelly, The Clancy Bros. & Tommy Makem, Randy Newman, David Bromberg, Leon Russell, Michael Martin Murphy, Crosby, Stills & Nash. These boxes carry such potent memories of my Denver 20s and 30's, I can't bear to. . . So, I wipe the dust and fly specs off and stack them neatly back, hoping I will happen on a good, cheap reel-to-reel and speakers.

That's not my only memory stash either: nearly as many cassettes of music and Interpreter interviews fill one of my desk drawers. Last year, I sternly told myself I must and did toss a few but some of those people are dead! Are their voices preserved anywhere else?

Next to my desk is a straw basket of CDs that can't be played on my new computer (no CD port). The contents of the basket reveal vast changes in my musical taste—Lorena McKennett (Canadian), Juan Gabriel & Rocio Durcal (Mexican), German classical, Schubert, Schumann & Mozart, a Turkish Orchestra, Hildegard von Bingen (Medieval), Peruvian flutes and Israel folk singers. I can't bear to toss any of these either, though it's cumbersome to connect my old computer to hear them.

Writing this, I realize what I really resent is the waste and obsolescence of technology. Maybe because it mimics aging? February 2013 I spent $100 on an device to play CDs on a TV. The new computer streams them directly.

I pride myself on critical eye, but it has clearly failed me here.

Penalized for Competence

A rare Cascade Council meeting last night in that it lasted 55 minutes! Usually, they last 15!
Though Shelley Annis has worked for the city for eight years, Council would not make her interim city administrator. Over the nay votes of Bill Hosch and Steve Knepper, on a 3-2 vote she will share the position with Phil Gehl. Nobody is accusing Ms. Annis of being incompetent. Quite to the contrary, competency is keeping her out of the position. She knows exactly what gives in this town, and I suspect Gehl does too. What the dominant faction seems to want is an administrator they can manipulate, which is precisely why Shelley would be great--she can't be.

As the situation is on-going Cascaders should call a council person and give him a critical ear full!

2^nd Monday of the Month—Be There

Critical Eye is remiss in not encouraging readers to attend the Cascade City Council meeting tonight. On the agenda is discussion of making Shelly Annis interim city administrator and disabling the devices that monitor some people's water use, so that they will be charged sewer fees on every drop of though it goes on the lawn.

Not that Cascade City Council meetings are not problematic to begin with for two reasons:

1. With such short meetings how can the difficult issues the city is currently dealing with be adequately discussed? When I was on council, meetings sometimes lasted two hours! Or more!
2. Being on the Sidewalk Committee, I have seen how Mr. Kearney and the Mayor in action. At one of the very early Sidewalk Committee meetings, the Mayor arrived with a plan fully formed, outlined it to us, and when I raised objections (that $50,000 wasn't enough), he cut the head off discussion saying, “I know the budget; I know council, and I know what they will go for—if you want a sidewalk budget, this is it.”

Yes, sir! Mr. My-Way-or-the-Highway! We got the Critical Eye fixed on you!

Nutritional Praise for the Lowly Dandelion
Did you know that one of the most nutritious of all the plants you can put in a salad is flourishing-- if you are like me, right outside your front door? The lowly dandelion! The poor ole dandelion, called piss-en-lit by the French (literally piss in the bed) is held in contempt by most people.
However, its leaves, which can be easily incorporated into a green salad, are higher in vitamin C (14,000) and calcium (187) than any other green you can name. Kale (8,900/135), turnip greens, (7,600/190), arugula (7,400/309) and spinach (6,715/99) are hardly even in the dandelion league nutritionally.
The crispy greens we love most, Romaine (2,600/36), garden leaf lettuce (1,900/68) and iceberg (330/19) are lightweights. Belgian endive that I love is worthless--(0/0). Zero in both the vitamin C and calcium categories.

Keep a critical eye out for the most nutritious green there is--the lowly dandelion green.

Disparaging and Marveling on Earth Day

Earth Day 2014 was, at least in Eastern Iowa, as lovely a one as could have been ordered up—if one could order weather. According to news reports, people don't “observe” the Day much anymore. Understandably, we'd rather not see what we've done to Earth.

I celebrated it disparaging the crab grass and marveling at the daffodils & willows. Like everyone, I have a hard time overriding my aching back to marvel at crab grass, but I know those vigorous roots long as your arm have kept the American Plains from blowing away. Willows have about as bad a rep for being “dirty.” But for me they also withstand the floods that are the natural offshoot of too many human-installed hard surfaces, and a row of them have created a curtain that keeps the sprays out of my yard. A gorgeous yellow-green this Earth Day 2014.

Of course, nobody can disparage a daffodil bobbing on the breeze, but a critical eye tries to appreciate the things that are less easy to control. Tho' it's not always easy!

A Few Truths,  A Rumor & No Bugs

Some thoughtful soul calling him/herself Big Johnny commented on my 13 April blog, which also appeared in The Pioneer, “Illegal immigration wouldn't be a problem if the employers who hired them (immigrants) were held responsible and perhaps jailed.”

Perhaps, I wasn't explicit or hadn't done enough research. During Easter festivities, a couple people mentioned they hadn't any idea either, but the connections are subtle. I was dogged by the question of why the Dubuque County Extension—an off-shoot of the university system, partially supported by our tax $—is promoting immigration, possibly undermining salaries of local workers, so I called up to ask.

ISU Extension Program Manager Jason Neises explained that he (Hernandez) was invited by the Chamber, and he is an expert on local economic development, whose objective is to address shrinking small town populations and school enrollment. Neises further explained that Hernandez is one of many experts, who speak on local issues from “unbiased research” done at universities.

Damn! I always thought they dealt with root worm, emerald ash borer and Asian beetles.

Hernandez's specific objective, according to Neises is promoting two programs:1) “Juntos-Success in Iowa” directed at Mexican immigrant high school students and the 2) “Bridges” a 12-series class directed at their parents. The confided that he expected he would be doing the programs here and the “local sponsorship (money) would be found (to pay) for them.” Frankly, I share his confidence.

Anybody who thinks businesses are not going seize every opportunity to pay lower wages is in for a rude awaking. Which may include that a couple local ones acted to keep Farm & Fleet, rumored to pay higher than the local prevailing wage, out of Cascade.

Tho' it's a real poke in the Critical Eye to discover the universities involved in this duplicity!

The Crucial ? Of Garden Gloves

As temps;gravitate upward and it's grand to be outside , the conversation inevitably turns to garden gloves. Rather question of why you can't buy a pair that will last a month. If you have longer nails, hey may not even last a hard day's planting and transplanting.

New, in nurseries and garden departments they are irresistibly cute—in, pink, purple, yellow and green, decorated with flowers, watering cans and spades—but a couple good days work and you'll have holes at the nail tips.

This winter my brother left a pair ugly gray “Pit Crew” ones here, but they have already lasted longer than the cuties.Yesterday, I was in an automotive store and noticed a pair the same latex design that allows you to handle root balls without ruining a manicure.

They are called “Pit Crew” and the cardboard tag they were suspended from says “Battery Change Gloves.” Bright green and white. They were no more expensive than the highly designed ones, but I warrant they will last, and I will be making fewer contributions to the landfill.

Always the question about a product for a critical eye!

Holiday Advice: Small Talk=Small Minds

            Sometime around Christmas last year I caught Daniel Post Senning on the radio lamenting American incivility at the dinner table. Grandson of Emily (Miss Manners) Post, flogging the family product: advice. Only his seemed to be a recipe for inane and boring small talk, and I called and told him so. He readily agreed!

However, he explained he routinely hears from Americans whose family relationships have been so sundered by fierce arguments during holiday dinners that he is essentially giving advice he doesn’t believe in: small talk at table. 

            One of the most remarkable things I saw in Berlin were TV talk shows where as many as ten guests outlined and defended their opinions without ever raising their voices or making disparaging remarks. Contrast that with Fox News and others on American TV, yelling as if shouting increased the legitimacy of their argument instead of undermining it. Mr. Senning was also advocating listening. It is remarkable the thoughtful exchange of ideas that can happen when respect is the order of the day.

So as not to embarrass yourself this holiday or any other, keep a critical eye on your volume, listen carefully and don’t betray your confidence in your own ideas by hollering!.

Judas-ed at City Council

Deeply saddened to see that not one single woman in this community showed up at Monday night 's council meetings to support Clerk Shelley Annis. It must feel like a like Holy Week to her—being Judas-ed, if you will!

Granted, a lot of us, especially younger women have jobs, heavy childcare and household responsibilities, but there is a cadre of retired, both men and women, sitting around doing Sudoku, crossword, jigsaw puzzles, and watching brain-rot TV.

It is an open secret that the present Administrator Tim Long is leaving because of the Mayor. There are other disconcerting rumors as well. For a long time I have been concerned these routinely short city council meetings (12 to 20 min) I know the Mayor's used-car-salesman modus operandi: he lays out the contract he wants and hammers away till he gets it. The idea of compromise or other people's rights is anathema to him.

Fortunately, Easter is on its way and we have second chance—keep a critical eye on the 2^nd & 4^th Monday of each month, remembering that democracy disappears when not enough people participate.

Hernandez on the Virtues of Diversity

The front page of the April 9, The Pioneeer reported on the appearance of a handsome sort named Himar Hernandez hyping diversity at the Tuesday Cascade Chamber of Commerce lunch. Hernandez is sponsored by Iowa State University Extension. He admitted, “They (immigrants) bring some issues, but they bring some opportunities.”

Well! Well! The issues never get discussed and opportunities accrue only to a precious few, so shouldn't tax, ah, university money be used for something else? (Like affordable in-state tuition! Fully funded public radio?)

I myself wouldn't know what “the issues” were if I hadn't lived in Israel (1986) and become friends with a lovely English/Israeli named Rona. She was working for a non-profit dedicated to strengthening Israeli democracy. She explained that people from dictatorships and marginal democracies often came with defective expectations—they didn't expect their representatives to look out for their best interests. They resorted to the local warlord or power broker or paid “baksheesh” to get things done.

It is widely assumed that you must have a literate populace if you want a well-functioning democracy, so what happens if you have a population that won't learn English or can't invest the time and energy?

How much relationship is there between desperate immigrants and the demise of the middle class in the U.S? Between the fact that minimum wage, if it had kept pace with inflation, would be at $15+ and is barely half that? The fact that our democracy no longer works?

I don't know the answer to these questions, but I do know that the people who populate commercial clubs—i.e. biz owners—are the few who benefit from immigration. Logically, the more applicants for every position, the less they spend for salaries, the larger their profits.

You only need a half open eye, not connected to any I.Q. to see there are a correlations. Of course, we are all immigrants here, but I bet my people thought they were coming to a place, where their descendants would be secure. I can't bear to be rude or unkind to immigrants because their lives aren't easy, but I would love the chance to be rude to the folks who are benefiting from immigration.

Good Luck Legislating Morality/Bullying

Earlier in the week, the Telegraph-Herald reported Rep. Patti Ruff's (D-Monona) speech Monday in the Iowa House. Ruff told legislators she spent a portion of the weekend in the hospital with her son who had been bullied. Ruff ended with an indictment of the legislature, “. . . we don't have the backbone to pass laws to help those that truly matter in this state — our children,"

While one can sympathize, she, Governor Branstad and every legislator who voted for the Anti-bullying Bill is misguided. Several reasons: 1) We cannot legislate morality; 2) American schools have their hands full teaching academics; and 3) Schools are out of their league trying to police social media.

I say this as a teacher who sees, even experiences a bit of bullying.

Recently, I heard a girl on Youth Radio opining, “Teenagers aren't any crueler than they were in the 1600's, they just have a wider reach.” Poppycock & Tommyrot! 
Mid and lower class kids, even into the sixties and seventies, had a far different sense of themselves. Nobody ever used the adjective “awesome” with us. Furthermore, the advent of smaller families and more resources has spoiled a lot of kids. If kids did not think so highly of themselves, they would not have the ego and audacity to set themselves up as a standard and demand their peers conform, but we see a lot of it.

Children will always be the apples of their parents' eyes, but parents need to keep at least one critical eye on kid behavior and let them know that they are not the center or emperor of the universe; they have no right to set standards for the rest of the world, let alone force others to abide. A critical eye is a far, far cheaper solution to MOST problems.

A Sunny Day to Celebrate

We have a sunny day to celebrate Equal Pay Day for women. Earning 75 cents for every dollar men earn, it takes an additional three months and 8 days for a statistical woman here to earn what her male counterpart earns. 
Cascade has made a baby-step in the right direction nominating a woman, Barb Gross, to the utility commission, and she will undoubtedly receive the standard $150 per quarter meeting fee. Time will tell if a woman on the board will yield more consumer-friendly policies. 

It doesn't take a critical eye to know that women are sometimes pressured into actions in jobs they find distasteful. Talk about it, tell the truth about it & write about it.

Unstellar City Administrators

            A quarter century ago, summer 1989, I started publishing the Cascade Interpreter & the City hired its first administrator. Council members weren’t paid, (mayor either) but donated their time & meetings lasted a couple hours.

When I suggested that almost $50K salary to get estimates and other info, which they themselves then did, was crazy, I was sternly rebuked. “You clearly can’t assess the city’s needs going into the future.” Or words to that effect.

By the time I was elected to council 4 years later, Larry Farley was still city administrator and I was ragged that his spoken English was so ungrammatical he made us look like Hicksville.

Once I said to then-city clerk Patti Greenwood, “Patti, you could rob us blind, and we would never know.”  She was peeved, thinking I was impugning her honesty, when it was actually complimenting her: Nobody knew the beating heart of the city—its budget—better than Patti. Including the administrator & me!

In the interim I was out of the country but with a house here always kept tabs on city biz. Randy Lansing, our worst/longest serving city administrator was hired. Worst, because he schmoozed contractors/developers, lied to council, & strong-armed ordinary citizens.

I was beginning to like Tim Long because thus far he hasn’t been caught in any big lies, & doesn’t muscle lesser folks.

Now Council wants to save money by not hiring a new administrator, but clearly with all the projects our spendthrift mayor has we need one. Said spendthrift is sexist—sez he will resign if City Clerk Shelley Annis is hired as administrator.

Cascade women should show up at Council next Monday night to unite with President Obama to protest the sexism keeping a woman out of a position she is clearly most qualified for. She couldn't be worse than what we've had!

The Critical Eye thinks she'll be a whole lot better.

Waiting in Line Protest

Yesterday, I was waiting in line at a store to pay for a couple of items. The lady at the head of it couldn't find her checkbook; when she located it, it had no checks. Next, she's digging for the debit card. La-dee-dah. Suffice it to say that we stood in line for the better part of five minutes. Standing there in an aisle formed by display case after display case of every kind of gum, candy, and chip really rags me.

It's not that I gave up candy for Lent; it's that you pretty much have to give up candy for the duration at this age if you want to remain in your wardrobe. So, I said to the clerk. Now, I am fair-warning you: and the next time I have to stand in your diet-busting aisle, I am going to being dropping an example of each each of your goodies on the floor. I know it is not you, but the manager & the company who decides this, but you need to inform them.

Businesses like to make us think the customer is king, but their bottom lines is really king is their own bottom line.

And it doesn't take much of a critical eye, or even much IQ to see that, but if you don't like it, start doing the same.

April's Fools, Fat-Cat Farmers & Monarch Butterflies

Anybody (me) who thought we were finished with winter was in for a big surprise this morning. Hope you haven't stowed your winter coat!

Though it appears winter is back, I got some of the city's street ground prepped to install a butterfly garden the last couple nice days. It was reported last fall the monarch butterfly is on the skids, because farmers had sprayed the milkweeds. According to www.monarch-butterfly.com the larvae consume only milkweed milk. Last fall, on the way to a party in the country, I hopped out and collected some seed pods. Thanks to indolence and the early onset of winter, I did not get them planted, but this April Fools' return of chilly weather offers me a reprieve. Perhaps today or tomorrow.

The scuttlebutt is that the city is about to give $10 thou an acre for ground south of town to a fat-cat farmer for a new sewer plant. I called City Hall and checked with Shelly, who said, “Discussions are so preliminary, there nothing to report.” So we know what we have always known: the city will give major bucks to the well-heeled element of the community, (think: the old supermarket) but no breaks to ordinary folks on the price of property they force you to take care of. At least, the butterflies benefit!

By the by, if you're interested in the life cycle and peregrinations of the monarch, the above-mentioned website will give you a critical eye full!