My Cat Likes Potato Chips, and Other Stories

Good afternoon everyone I’m back!!  Can’t get rid of me that easily can you?  For the past several weeks I have pondered the topic of my next blog post.  Will it be serious? Sarcastic? Researched??  Finally, I decided on neither of these and instead will return to a topic that is near and dear to my heart, my cat Jemima Fish.  If you’ve followed this blog since its inception, you already know I’m a borderline crazy cat lady, if this is the first of my blog posts you’re reading, I will say that yes, I am definitely a cat lady.  Crazy though? Well, I don’t think I’m quite there yet, but I will keep you posted.  In the mean time, please enjoy these carefully crafted vignettes about life with Jemima.

Just look at this little angel!

Jemima Tries Being Vegan (for 15 minutes)

            Once upon a time, I walked into a corner store close to my apartment and bought a bag of goldfish, and a sleeve of Oreos.  The cool air-conditioned interior was a welcome respite from the muggy summer evening.  Walking home in the dusky light after my small purchase I couldn’t help but fantasize about the epic chick flick I was going to watch while I devoured these goodies.  To this day I no longer remember what epic chick flick I watched because I was so struck by what Jemima did in the middle of my movie.

            Now, Jemima has a history of gleefully eating Goldfish (crackers) whenever anyone leaves any around.  This evening I had painstakingly resealed my own Goldfish bag after every handful, to prevent Jemima from ingesting any human food, which would undoubtedly wreak havoc on her digestive system later in the evening.  What I also had done, was leave a couple Oreos stacked next to my laptop completely unattended, because you don’t have to worry about that chocolate thing with cats, so I was wholly unconcerned with this uncovered, unwatched food.  It was at this moment that sweet Jemima sprung lightly to the coffee table, sniffed around the laptop for a few seconds, grabbed one of the Oreos with her little kitty mouth, and hauled it over to the corner where she devoured the entire cookie.  WHAT THE HELL JEMIMA!?!

*Much to my surprise, Oreos are vegan.  This is why the title of this vignette works.

Even Cats Use Computers

            This brutal winter has had the unexpected positive consequence of driving Jemima and myself closer together, physically.  Jemima now relatively enjoys being in "closer" proximity to me now because of the heat my body exudes.  Lovely, I'll take it, as long as I can delude myself into thinking it's real honest-to-goodness affection.  Just the other day she sat with me on the couch, and only left a one-cushion space between us!

            As good as the days are, the nights are a slightly different story.  Exhausted, I fall into bed, often times leaving my laptop open, my iTunes account working its way through a playlist of Bing Crosby or ambient piano compositions to relax both my mind and body.  Just as I'm about to drift off to sleep I hear a horrible thunking-beeping noise and I groggily roll over to see what it is.  As I look across my bedroom, I see two shiny eyes staring dreamily back at me, from behind my laptop screen.  Jemima perches on my laptop keyboard, and the computer is wigging out because it can't find the file entitled "HJJKJKJJIJNNMMMMMML>>NOPHNKM>>>>">""""""""""""" and the "voice over" command has somehow been activated and now I have a stale-vaguely creepy computer voice narrating to me everything my mouse rolls over.  I glance at the clock, which reads 2:38am.  Dammit cat, what on earth have you done??  I search my computer for a way to fix everything.

            "Opening System preferences," drones the computer voice.  Right, first things first I'll figure out how to turn off this stupid voice-over setting.  After a little searching, I find that I just have to press "Command-F5".

            "Voice over off," says Fred, the computer's voice.  Hmmm, maybe I'll change my computer's voice to Zarvox.  Done.  Nice.  Look who's a cool lady now.

              Anyway, when I went to turn on my music to help myself fall back to sleep, I find my entire Ambient Piano playlist has been deleted.

My Cat Likes Potato Chips

            Shortly after my birthday I was reheating a stir-fry for lunch.  While the bowl of noodles, fried egg, and veggies rotated lethargically in the microwave, I was picking away at a bag of kettle chips left over from my party.  A particularly great chip (you know, where it’s all folded over, crispy and crunchy like?) fell from the bag and onto my kitchen floor.  I’ll get that later, I thought to myself, and I would too, don’t worry about that dear reader.  However, before I could “get to it” Jemima had silently approached the chip, sniffed it tentatively for a few seconds, and proceeded to crunch it all up with her little kitty teeth.  Sighing, I add “Potato chips” to the list I keep of people food my cat really likes.  To date, this includes:

1.     Gold Fish

2.     Ritz Crackers

3.     Milk (from your cereal bowl)

4.     Oreos

5.     Peanut butter (but not cashew butter) toast

6.     Potato Chips

So the moral of the story here is, my cat will eat your snacks.

Things that Get Knocked Off Bookshelves in the Night   

            Jemima has always, and will only ever knock the same four things off my bookshelf at night.

            The End.

I Discover Jemima has a Heart <3

            7:00am: I'm sitting on the leftmost couch cushion eating cereal out of a large latte mug, because it definitely tastes better this way.

            7:03am: Jemima Fish leaps onto the left armrest with a quiet chirp.  Jemima proceeds to climb up and move behind my head on the back of the couch.

            7:05am: Jemima Fish jumps onto the middle couch cushion and stares at my lap, sniffing my leg every so hesitantly.

            7:07am: Kitty-kins walks quickly over my lap and on to the couch arm rest.  Turns in a circle once, then climbs into my lap and sits down.

            7:10am: I decide that I would be willing to be late to work if she continues to sit on my lap, because this is an opportunity I simply cannot miss.

Dear reader, I was not late to work, because Jemima did not stay on my lap for very long, but she has since that time become much more cuddly, often burrowing under the covers at night by my stomach and purring ferociously.  After years of searching, hoping, dreaming, I now know my cat loves me.

Jemima approves of my new accessory

 

Book Review, Frozen Lakes, and more Cat Pictures

As you might know, the northeastern part of the United States has been harangued with excess snow, record-breaking low temperatures, and more completely frozen over lakes then we know what to do with (which, as you'll see is kind of cool).  Yesterday when I got to work there were small icicles on my eyelashes.  ICICLES ON MY EYELASHES! Now tell me, when was the last time that happened to you?  Anyway, I've undertaken an abundance of indoor activities during this time, including catching up on my massive reading list.  One of these days, perhaps I'll just post my reading list instead of an actual blog entry, and I bet it will be the longest blog entry in the world. This week, I finished reading Where'd You Go, Bernadette? a novel by Maria Semple.


This is the cover art.  As you see it features a woman who looks like she stepped out à la 1962, with a hair scarf and large dark glasses.  I was definitely into the cover art.  I also love the title, because it just leaves you with so many questions such as:
1. Who's Bernadette?
2. Where did she go?
3. Why did she go there?
4. Who is looking for her?
5. Why should I care where Bernadette went?

And so on.  Needless to say, with all the blurbs on the cover about how delightful the book was, I decided I would definitely give it a shot.

To tell you the truth, this novel was not what I was expecting at all, which actually made me like it even more!  It is first and foremost a satire about a dysfunctional family who live in Seattle (ergo, some of the satire directly targets certain aspects of Seattle culture, I'm not sure how accurate this part of the book is since I've never visited Seattle, or even the West Coast in general, so I can't even draw regional comparisons).  Semple tells this story from the perspective of Bee, Bernadette's daughter who is putting together stacks of documents including emails, faxes, letters and other correspondences from Bernadette, her husband and Bee's father Elgie, doctors, administrative assistants, busy body neighbors, and everyone in between as she tries to figure out why her mother disappeared, and where she may have gone.  I've met some people who have told me they "just didn't get it."  I can empathize with this, at the start of the novel, Bernadette is portrayed by her neighbors as certifiably insane.  She's anti social and wears dark glasses everywhere, she doesn't participate in the PTA like other parents (a travesty!), and she allegedly ran over another mother's foot with her car.  When you read the emails from Bernadette, her topics of conversation imbue a practically stifling level of weird quirkiness that may possibly be covering some ongoing mental illnesses like depression and anxiety, but you also have the distinct impression that she's a freaking genius.  I really liked this book because practically all the characters become better people by the end of the book.  Even the terrible neighbor character about whom I had an immediate horrible visceral reaction at the beginning of the novel, delightfully surprised me with accepting accountability for some of her more devious actions, and taking steps to make amends with the people she affected.  When the day's over, this book has a happy ending, not a perfect ending, but a happy one with the promise of continued positive change.

Moving on to the weather.  It. Is. COLD.  Last Sunday, I started a new job (yippee!!) and after the training session I had the rest of the afternoon to myself.  Since my new office is right on the Lakefront, I decided to take a stroll out on the lake.  Yes, I walked on the frozen lake because, you know, everyone else was doin' it.  But actually they were, there were families, old people, young people with dogs, college students, tourists, and me strolling around the lake, and contemplating walking all the way to New York (probably, I don't know for sure).  What an amazing experience though, I'm not normally a picture taker, but I took some pictures of the sun pouring through the clouds, and of the vast expanse of completely frozen over Lake Champlain.

 So this is a patch of ice someone scraped the snow from.  It's quite black, or perhaps a very very dark green.  Either way, it was eerily look down and see basically nothing.  It's almost disorienting, and like Anne of Green Gables, I could imagine I was floating through space, unhindered, weightless, without a thought for the suffocating confines of life on earth.  I'm not sure Anne would ever have imagined anything quite like that, there wouldn't really be any context for space travel in 1880s Prince Edward Island, it's more of the "imagining" part to which I found parallels.

 If you've ever been to Burlington and visited the water front, you may remember being at the ECHO Center, the Spirit of Ethan Allan, or even the boardwalk and seen a rocky wall apparently sitting in the lake.  I still am not quite sure what that's for, I bet I could easily find out if I asked someone at the ECHO Center.  My point though, is that is picture here to the right is of that wall, and I was standing on it because I walked across the ice to get to it. 

 No words for this one really, I just think it's gorgeous.

I really have nothing else to say about anything except I hope Vermonters vote on Town Meeting Day next Tuesday (March 3), and LOOK AT THESE PICTURES OF MY KITTY!!

She's just so absolutely adorable I don't know what to do about it.  So there.  I'm sorry this was a pretty anti-climactic ending.  I didn't even write any poems this time (yay! says the audience).  Anyway, practice makes perfect, and hopefully I'll have a better, more uniform post that will capture your hearts and minds, and tire my fingers with my furious typing!

I Vote Vermont (and You Should Too)

Hello everyone! Guess what we get to do in two weeks time? VOTE! Yes that's right ladies and gentlemen, on March 3 we will take to the polls and vote on municipal issues like the school budget, town budget, local ballot referendums, and mayoral candidates.  I'd like to briefly take a moment and recount a fictitious discussion that took place between myself and my neighbor the other day (in my brain).

"Morning! Golly, I'm sure excited to vote in a few weeks...three cheers for participatory democracy!" I wave, smiling as I pass my neighbor's porch on my way to work.

"Didn't we just have elections in like, November?" My imaginary neighbor asks me.

"Well yes, we did.  However, those were state and federal elections, and these are municipal, or local elections.  You'll be voting on things like the school and town budgets, not POTUS or state senators" I reply.  "In fact, I'm really excited to vote in March because there's a Referendum on the ballot this year in Burlington to which I've taken particular interest.  When Burlington residents, including yourself, receive their ballot on March 3 they will see these questions,

“Shall the City of Burlington Charter, Acts of 1949, No. 298, as amended, be further amended to delete the requirement that certain appointed members of City boards and department heads be required to be legal voters of the city of Burlington and instead require that they be Burlington residents, by amending sections 48, 120, 130, 183, 196, 203, 218, 226, 276, 277, and 322, to reflect the change from ‘legal voter’ to ‘resident’ of Burlington?”

and

"Shall the Vermont Constitution be amended to give residents of Vermont who are not currently citizens of the United States the right to vote in municipal and school elections?"

As I'm sure you know, voting rights in the United States is directly linked to US citizenship.  If you are a US citizen, you can vote in elections, if you're not a citizen, you can't vote.  Historically though, that has not been the case."

"WHAT!?" Says my imaginary, bunny-slipper-wearing neighbor in disbelief.

"It's true!" I reply. "On February 4th, I attended a panel discussion at City Hall on restoring voting rights to all Vermont residents for local and school board elections.  In 1977, non-citizen Vermont residents were stripped of their right to vote in municipal elections.  Prior to 1977, voting was extended to 'citizens of the United States and persons who have become citizens of this state by virtue of the constitution or laws are, while residing in the state, citizens thereof.'  Essentially, if you live in (insert Vermont town of your choosing), and pay taxes in this town, you can vote in local elections."

"So, why should I care about this? What's the big deal whether non-citizens can vote in Burlington anyway?" Says my privileged-natural-born-citizen neighbor.

"Well, did you know, Seven Days published an article about this issue in January, and according to the author,  about 1,900 people, or about 4.5 percent of the population of Burlington are legal non-citizens.  All these people live here, pay taxes here, send their children to Burlington schools, contribute actively and positively to the community, and yet have no voice when it comes to issues like, for example, voting on the school budget, which will directly impact many of their, or their families' lives.  Remember what happened last year with the school budget in Burlington?  It didn't pass the first time, and the second time it passed by only a narrow margin.  How would you feel if you had children and you couldn't vote for their school budget?  I personally would feel dis-empowered."

"So become a citizen, duh." retorts my voisin(e) (French for "neighbor").

"Did you know it takes years to apply for US citizenship? It can take anywhere between 5 and 15 years to become a US citizen, which is a really long time.  That's a long time to wait to vote for your kid's school budget.  Additionally, were you aware that you don't actually have to be a US citizen to serve in the military?  So you can serve in the military, but not have the right to vote, which I don't think it quite fair."

"Hmm, that doesn't seem very fair at all.  I can see how a non-citizen resident in Burlington might become frustrated if they are barred from fully participating in their communities.  I wouldn't even be able to serve in some Burlington city boards or departments if I wasn't a US citizen, which would make me sad, because all I really want to do is make Burlington a great place to live for everyone," laments my invisible-now-converted-to-the-cause neighbor.  "And if non-citizens were allowed to vote locally, they can see how awesome it is and maybe they'd want to become naturalized citizens."

"That's certainly a possibility!" I reply enthusiastically.

"Well, how can I learn more about this issue?"

"I learned a lot about this issue through the group I Vote Vermont, which is a grassroots group of Vermonters who want to restore local voting rights to non-citizens.  They're pretty cool, they have a really informative website, and a Facebook page!"

I add, "Just be sure to double check your Ward, because they recently redrew the lines according to the 2010 census, and I know my Ward has changed from when I last voted in November.  You can verify your name on the voter checklist, and see your Ward's sample ballot.  Election day is March 3rd and polls are open from 7:00am-7:00pm, but you can go to City Hall and vote anytime between now and March 2nd! I'm so happy to hear you're going to support this referendum!"

"You bet! I'm so excited to exercise my civic responsibility to ensure that everyone in my community can, if they choose, participate as fully and as happily as I will in making our city a better place!"  Says the critic-turned-supporter-more-empowered-happy-neighbor as s/he skips off into the sunset to get to the polling station before it closes.

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

It's a blustery, snowy afternoon in February, just the way I like it.  I'm able to curl up on my couch with a cup of hot tea, VPR Classical playing through the "radio" (an app on my phone), and cancel all of my routine evening commitments on account of the weather.  However, now that I have nothing else to do today, I sheepishly slink to my laptop, open it, and begin writing this blog post after many, many months of writing absolutely nothing.  When I had started this blog back in September/October, my goal was to write about once a week.  That felt reasonable.  Once November hit I became busy/lazy/preoccupied and neglected to write, although often I would catch myself thinking about something, and then think,"that would be a really good entry for my blog," and then do absolutely nothing.  In this entry, I will recap some of the things I have wanted to write about.  It's a new year!  The "restart" button has been hit, so let's start fresh by summarizing post ideas I had last year.

1.  When November rolls around, Thanksgiving is on everyone's mind, and gratitude is the name of the game.  Recipes are traded, relatives are visited, flights get cancelled and there may be crying.  Personally, I love the ritual of this holiday.  In November, I had wanted to do a food blog entry in which I documented my forays into baking a pumpkin pie using an actual pumpkin, like the kind one may decide to carve a face into on Halloween (only smaller for baking).  Speaking of Halloween, this is a picture of the pumpkin I carved:

Cute right?  I put a tea light in it and burned it on my coffee table to provide romantic lighting a few days after Halloween when I cooked myself to a delicious homemade meal.  I had plans Halloween night and I didn't want the responsibility of leaving a flaming gourd on my porch with the possibility of starting a fire.  (Since the building next door to my house actually did burn down a few weeks ago, I can say in hindsight that I definitely made the right decision).  Anyway, the pumpkin pie I made turned out great! I brought it to my parents' house for Thanksgiving along with some Vermont artisan cheese platters.  Check it out, I did it myself:

The cheese was a big hit, and someday, mark my words, I will talk about about Vermont cheese in this blog.  We've got a lot of really amazing cheese makers in this state, so it may actually have to be a series.  For my Thanksgiving entry I may have also wanted to reflect upon the people and circumstances of my life which I am thankful for, but at the moment, that reflection will take more time and effort than I'm willing to commit right now.

2. Holiday Alternative Giving!!!
The moment Thanksgiving ends, thousands, perhaps millions of Americans take part in that crazy shopping season that always makes me feel a little emotionally and morally nauseous.  So, I decided to compile a list of "alternative" gifts one can give to friends and family.  Now that I think about it, this list shouldn't be limited to the holiday season, so go crazy year round with meaningful and thoughtful gifts for the people you care about.  Here are my suggestions:

• Buy Fair Trade or support Local Artisans and Producers:  Consumers who choose to shop for local or fairly/directly traded goods are returning capital to their own communities and in communities that have been oppressed, marginalized, and otherwise excluded or prevented from earning a decent living for themselves, their communities and families.  Maybe you'd like to make some homemade cookies using fair trade sugar, fair trade chocolate, and locally produced flour.  Perhaps you'd like to give your new baby niece a warm sweater that was knit by a woman in Uttar Pradesh, India.  You can find locally produced and Fair/Direct Trade food items in most grocery stores and coops around Vermont and Burlington maintains an indoor Farmer's Market throughout the winter, which makes those sorts of products much more physically accessible to those of us who live in the area.  Burlington has two stores, the Peace & Justice Store, and Ten Thousand Villages which offer a variety of Fair Trade and local crafts from over 60 vendors from all parts of the globe.
• Make a Donation in someone's name to a non-profit!  Instead of physical gifts, you can choose to make a meaningful donation to a variety of non-profit organizations undertaking many important missions right here in Vermont or in other parts of the country or the world.  Below are a smattering of some suggested non-profit organizations (many of them are in the Vermont or Burlington area, but some do operate at a national or global level). 
• COTS
• Vermont Ibutwa Initiative (VIBI)
• Liberty in North Korea
• Peace & Justice Center
• King Street Youth Center
• Sara Holbrook Center
• UNICEF

Now, let me be clear, this list comprises some non-profits that address certain issues I personally find compelling; I actually am directly involved with some of the above non-profits through volunteer work.  However, there are so many more non-profits in Burlington and elsewhere that are doing good work, but need more support, so I suggest, when making a donation in someone's name, you find out what issues or causes they are passionate about, and make your donation to a group that focuses on those issues.

3. NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS (NYR)!!
What's my resolution? I have given the matter very little thought.  I spent New Year's Eve and the subsequent 5 days pretty darn sick, and 100 percent miserable, so I didn't get to do my usual timely reflection on the past year, and efforts I could take to make my life better in 2015.  As always, I guess I resolve to take steps to move my life forward in positive ways.  My "life" consists of a lot of different parts, my professional life, which involves my career(s), education, and possibly even a vocation.  There's the vast pit of hobbies and interests I have, and there's the personal relationships I share with lots of different people, most notably my friends and family.  I know for a fact that my "life" is not always properly balanced, sometimes I work too much, I may let some relationships slide, or in turn focus so much on certain relationships that I neglect the hobbies and activities that bring me joy.  So here are a few very specific things I will attempt to integrate into my life this year to reach my NYR:

• Practice thinking like David Foster Wallace urges us to do in his commencement speech to Kenyon College in 2005, entitled "This is Water."  This video is only an excerpt, but it really does a good job highlighting the key points he makes.  It makes me happy.

• Practice Nonviolent Communication: It's a new (read: Better) way of communicating!  Much like the above video, nonviolent communication facilitates better, more empathetic connections with the people you talk to, which allows you to resolve conflicts and differences is a more productive way.
• Take healthy risks: I already tried going to a Body Pump class last week at the gym, and you know what? It wasn't as scary as I thought, in fact I rather enjoyed it, so here's to a year of high intensity weight training!! :-) I can take other healthy risks besides one's related to my personal health, I can apply for the hypothetical "dream job," sing karaoke in front of everyone, etc.  I think you get the picture.
• Check off titles on my reading list.  I think that's pretty clear, don't you?

 So, that's it really.  That's my resolution.  So there you have it, summaries of posts that could have been had I actually bothered to write them.  Thank you all for humoring me as I try to get back on the horse (sorry for the cliché!) and try this blogging thing again.  Full disclosure: I think trying to post every week was a bit more work than I intended, so I will try to post bimonthly and see how that goes.  Thanks again, and continue being wonderful human beings!!

Get Excited, It's Almost Election Day!

This past week my head has been filled with jack-o-lantern designs, Harry Potter-themed dinner party ideas, and of course, the Mid-Term election occurring on November 4 this year.  I imagine that most of you readers are now groaning audibly over the mention of the midterm election.  I myself have just about had enough of most of the coverage by our big national news stations.  HOWEVER, voting is perhaps the most important part of living in a representative democracy, and if you are a United States citizen THIS IS YOUR CIVIC DUTY.  Seriously, voting is awesome.  I love watching my ballot getting sucked into the ballot box (fun fact, we still use paper ballots in Vermont). 


I hadn't planned on covering the election in my blog at all, but in light of some recent words spoken by certain people about a certain demographic that I fall under, I feel inspired to write not about specific candidates and issues that are important in this election, but to give you, the voter, as much information as possible about the election schedule, polling places, ballot issues, and candidates so that you have all the tools you need to cast an informed vote.  On that note, this article will be most pertinent for Vermonters/Burlington residents, so if you are reading this from outside the 802, my apologies, this only sort of applies to you (cause I expect those of you who are able to vote in the US to do so no matter where you live).  Here is a list of several important things Vermonters need to know before heading to the polls on NOVEMBER 4th.

1. Register to Vote!!!
Are you registered to vote in the city or town that you live in?? If you are not, why not?  One of the first things I did when I moved to Burlington, besides getting a library card, was to register to vote in Burlington.  It's really easy.  I went online to the City of Burlington's website, clicked on the section for the Office of the Clerk/Treasurer, and there's a link where you can download a registration form.  Simply fill out the form and mail it to City Hall on Church Street. Or you can register to vote in person simply by walking over to City Hall (the Town Clerk's Office is open until 5pm). 

Keep in mind that the deadline to register to vote for this coming election is OCTOBER 29TH, which is in 2 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!  So if you haven't registered yet, you have less than 48 hours in which to do that.  Also, if you are not 18 (the legal voting age) by October 29th, but you WILL be 18 by November 4th, you need to fill out an Intent to Register form so your name can go on the registration checklist.  Woot!

2. Polling places
I hope many of you are asking me, "Kristen, where do I go to vote once I'm registered?"  Well, that's a great question!!  Burlington is divided geographically into wards, and each ward has its own polling place.  Here's a list of all the polling places in Burlington by ward:

Ward 1 Mater Christi School 100 Mansfield Avenue	Ward 2 H.O. Wheeler School Corner of Archibald and Walnut St.
Ward 3 Lawrence Barnes Elementary School 123 North Street	Ward 4 St. Mark's Youth Center 1271 North Avenue
Ward 5 Burlington Electric Dept.   585 Pine Street	Ward 6 Edmunds Middle School 275 Main Street
Ward 7 Robert Miller Rec Center 130 Gosse Court

If you're not sure what ward you live in, click here and find out!!
 
3. Early/absentee voting
If any of you have found yourself going, "Crap! I'm (insert explanation here) on Tuesday and I just can't make it to the poll," never fear, you can request an absentee ballot or vote early!  In Vermont, early voting starts 30 days before the election, which means you can go vote RIGHT NOW, or AS SOON AS THE TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE IS OPEN AND BEFORE 5:00pm ON NOVEMBER 3RD.  I was studying abroad in Morocco during the 2010 midterm election, but I filled out a request for an absentee ballot.  I got a nice big paper ballot in the mail, I filled it out, sealed it up and mailed it back.  Obviously, if you do submit an absentee ballot by mail, please ensure that your ballot will make it back to the Town Clerk's office before polls close on election day.

Fun Fact: The Town Clerk's Office will be open from 9:00am-Noon this Saturday, November 1st for early voting, so yeah, go vote!!

4. Rides/Accessibility to polling places
I fortunately can walk to my polling place, but if transportation is an issue for you in any way shape or form, you can either make the decision to request an absentee ballot or vote early, or have your ballot delivered to your home on election day (but please, only if you truly can't leave your house, don't be lazy).  The CCTA bus will surely go near all of these places, and you can absolutely bum a ride from your friend too, which ensures that there will be at least two more people voting instead of one.  Did I mention Vermonters with disabilities have the option to "vote by phone"! 

5. Candidate/Issue Research
Here we go, the "hard" part; the homework part.  Ideally, before you cast your ballot you should have at least some idea of who or what you are voting for.  In fact, I strongly urge you to do your own research before voting.  Don't know who's running?  Fear not!  You can download a sample ballot for your own ward so you know not only who's running for what, but also exactly how your ballot is going to look on election day.  Pretty sweet right?  Most candidates running for political office these days have websites, so a quick Google search should square you away if you want to check out the issues they care about.  If you don't have access to a computer at home, the public library is a great option AND the librarians will be able to help you out if your computer starts getting all freaky.  You can also look at various print media like Seven Days or the Burlington Free Press, which have offered some election/candidate coverage.

Well, there you have it.  Please vote.  When you register to vote, and when you actually DO vote, please be sure to follow all written and verbal instructions you may receive (ie: please mark your ballot correctly, follow signs to correct rooms, etc).  Additionally, if you feel that I've left out any important information regarding the voting process, and to this upcoming election PLEASE let me know.  I want everyone to have access to the most accurate, up-to-date information possible.  Make me proud!

Resources/Relevant Websites

Vermont Secretary of State
City of Burlington, Clerk/Treasurer's Office
Rock the Vote

Light-Hearted Post #1: Jemima Fish

Since I missed my own personal deadline for my second ever blog post, I am now pushing myself to write my third one on time.  Needless to say, the quick turn-around has left me no choice but to write about my cat, Jemima Fish.  Just kidding, I really really really want to write about my cat, a lot.  The only snafu I can see, is how exactly I am going to write about her.  This shouldn't be my typical (do I have a "typical" yet?) prosaic, structured blog post.  Actually, upon further reflection, I haven't really given one hoot to the structure, or prose, for that matter, of my blog posts so far.  Clearly, this is something I will work on in the future, but not now.

Now, back to Jemima.  I figured I should have a little fun with this.  I picked out some of my favorite pictures I've taken in the last few weeks, and have decided that I will write a little poem about each one.  I'm no poet, so this should be...interesting?  I'm actually a little nervous, because my sister, Melba Chops (I've given the option to everyone I mention in this blog to come up with a sweet pseudonym), writes very good poetry actually, and I honestly feel a little intimidated.  So here it goes, I've tried to pick a variety of poetry styles for your added enjoyment, and my sanity, because if I wrote them all as sonnets or something that would just be annoying, for me at least.

A Limerick of Love

Here lies a cat named Jemima Fish,

Who eats grain free food from a dish.

And every day right before my alarm,

She jumps on my bed and scratches my arm,

So I dive under my sheets with a swish.

 

Now, I'm not sure if that was a real limerick, because it didn't start with the famous phrase "there once was a..."  In some of my first drafts I started with those words, but I later changed them to better illustrate what you see in the picture.  More importantly, that old beginning phrase makes it seem like she's dead, and I can assure you, she's not dead, not even a little bit.

 The Acrostic Kitten

Judicious
Energetic
Mercurial
Insistent
Motley
Amazing

Furry
Inquisitive
Sophisticated
Heartening



Yes, I know, acrostic poems can be more complex than this, but it also took me a very long time to come up with appropriate adjectives.  I have a (self-imposed) deadline people!  The next two poems are haikus because they're the easiest poems for me to write.  I know I mentioned in the beginning of this post that I wanted to do four distinct styles of poetry, but I learned that writing anything in iambic pentameter will take me forever, and I'm just not in the mood for free verse, but I love a good haiku.  Like I said, my sister Melba Chops is much, much better at this poetry thing than I am.

When she sleeps like this

My ode to Star Trek fandom

Here is a Tribble

If you didn't already know this about me, I'm going to come right out and say it: I really enjoy watching Star Trek.  My parents are Trekkies, so it was a big part of my life growing up.  My favorite series is Deep Space Nine.  Since "Trials and Tribble-ations" is one of my favorite episodes from the series, not only is this an homage to Star Trek in general, but also to that show in particular.  I suggest you check it out if you haven't yet.  Seriously, do it.  I'll wait....

Ok cool, now back to my final haiku:

Saturday morning

Were you going to read this?

Guess who got here first

This happens a lot in my house.  Jemima loves sitting on paper, and she especially loves sitting on my copy of Seven Days.  She also loves to give me that "what are you gonna do about it?" look and my heart melts a little, because when it comes to her, I'm a really big pushover.  

In conclusion, I would like to thank everyone who has taken time from their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or (hopefully) your favorite news website (but not Fox) to read this poetic post about my cat.  As I've mentioned before, this blog is a forum for me to reflect about my life through pictures and poetry, but to also compose well researched opinion pieces about everything that's happening on this big blue marble.  I'd love to have a journalistic piece soon, but the research is going to take time, and I'm a wee bit out of practice.  So in the mean time, please enjoy looking at pictures of my cat!

October is Conflict Resolution Month in Vermont!

October is such a beautiful month for those of us who live in Vermont.  The leaves are starting to turn, the air is crisp and chilly, and some of my favorite foods (squash, apples, parsnips) are coming into season.  October is also Conflict Resolution month in Vermont.  All over the state, schools, book shops, local governments and non-profit organizations will host events commemorating Conflict Resolution month, which will hopefully train us to think about how we manage conflict in our own lives.  Now, just take a moment before reading further and think about the strategies you use that help you manage conflict.  Did you think about it? Good, you may now proceed.

Whenever I encounter conflict, I try to think about it from a restorative point of view, rather than from a punitive mindset.  Why do I think this way?  Well, one fine Saturday, I was perusing the Burlington Farmer's Market when I beheld a table nestled under an awning with a big sign reading "Burlington Community Justice Center."  Having recently graduated from college after spending a year working on a thesis about interfaith dialogue and its application as a peacebuilding tool, I was yearning for some real-world experience using real-life-honest-to-goodness peacebuilding strategies.  I walked up to the staff person at the table and stated, "Hello, I'm interested in learning more about what you do at this place."

Turns out, the CJC has a LOT of programs that are available to Burlington residents who have encountered varying levels of crime and general conflict.  The Restorative Justice panel program stood out in particular.  I have now been volunteering on a Restorative Justice panel in Burlington for the past year, and it has been one of the most fulfilling experiences I've had since moving back to Vermont.  Restorative Justice grew out of the need to address some of the limitations and failings of the traditional Western justice systems.  When someone is "brought to justice," what picture pops into your mind?  For a lot of people, that picture consists of the state (ie: country, state, community, town province, etc) punishing a person for breaking a law.  The offender is tried in court, and is sentenced by a judge to undergo a punishment that is equal to his or her crime.  This model is called a punitive system of justice.  Rarely is the voice of the victim heard.  Rarely is the relationship between the transgressor and community examined, and rarely do any of those people feel true justice is achieved in such a formulaic punitive sentencing.  Restorative justice sees conflict as the infliction of harm upon an individual or community (I'm sure most of you are like, "duh, that's the definition of conflict).  What makes this justice restorative is that is seeks to repair that harm by attending to the needs of the direct victims and the community.  Restorative practices put the victims first, and makes sure that their needs are attended to, including providing information about the motivation of the offender, and sometimes bringing the victims face to face with their offenders if this meeting is desired.

Last year, my bike was stolen from work.  Someone cut right through my (very thick) chain and rode away.  I was devastated because someone had taken away my primary form of transportation, and I had just spent a lot of money getting it outfitted with lights, a rack, and odometer so it would be more utilitarian.  Sure, I was angry and hurt, but what I really wanted to know was why.  Why did this person make this choice?  Even though this happened over a year ago and I've recovered and moved past this incident, a part of me would love to know the answers to these questions.  Part of me hopes that if I had the chance to share my story with whoever stole my bike, they would feel so remorseful they would never steal again.

So, on the restorative panel I volunteer on, the victim is contacted and asked if they want to participate in this process.  The victim can choose to participate in person and attend panel meetings, they can write or send a victim impact statement outlining how they felt at the time of the incident and what has changed for them since the incident happened, they can just be kept informed about the offender's participation on the panel, or they can choose not to participate at all.

Secondly, restorative justice involves the offenders by holding them accountable for their actions (more about this later), encouraging some sort of personal changes and education so they do not re-offend, and providing support from the community so they can reintegrate and reconnect with the community, which can also lower the rate of recidivism (re-offending).  The panel I volunteer on engages offenders by bringing them before a group of volunteers (including me) and we ask them to take responsibility for their actions and work with them to create a legally binding contract in which they outline a strategy for repairing the harm done to the victim(s), the community, and learning opportunities for their own personal growth.  Anything can go on our contract, so long as it achieves the goal of repairing the harm done.  In my opinion, the most creative contracts we write have the biggest impact on the offenders and are the most successful.  Part of the reason this happens is because we, as a panel, spend a chunk of time getting to know the offender beyond his or her crime.  This allows us all to examine the strengths, talents, and passions of the offender and come up with a contract that will be extremely meaningful and dare I say, restorative, to all parties.  I've seen a lot of beautiful artwork that offenders have made in an effort to repair the harm their actions may have caused the community.

In the last year I've seen numerous people who've committed numerous different crimes within the community from retail theft, to disorderly conduct, and a few cases of petit larceny and drug possession.   The participants (offenders) have come from many diverse backgrounds.  Participants are referred to us from the police, or the Department of Corrections.  Some are completing the program as part of the terms of their parole, and others see us with a deferred sentence, or pre-charge, which means that if they complete our program successfully then this incident will be struck from their record.  Needless to say, this is a wonderful opportunity for our participants to avoid the court system and to learn from their mistakes and maintain a clean criminal record.  It is hugely stigmatizing and debilitating to have a criminal charge on your record.  It's hard to find a job, and many convicts lose their right to vote; it leaves people positively unable to lead a normal life. 

I would argue that nobody I've met on the panels deserves this isolation.  Most people I've seen have taken accountability for their actions, and are ready to learn from this incident and move forward with their lives.  Some accept accountability right away, but other cases are more challenging.  This is why victim participation is so hugely helpful.  Many of our participants have absolutely no idea of the actual effect their actions had on the physical/mental/emotional well-being of the victims, and I've seen participants make a 180 degree turn around after listening to one of the panel members read a victim statement.  I've seen offenders brought to tears by the victims' statements.  This may have been the first time learn the extent of the consequences of their actions.  Restorative justice procedures really strive to humanize not only the victims, but the offenders, and I think this really does help repair the harm and rebuild the positive community connections many of us cherish.

Let me be clear, there are definitely challenges to this kind of work.  Sometimes I'll meet a participant who's just not ready to take accountability for his or her actions.  Restorative justice is most effective for the offender when they actually take responsibility for their actions, and when someone isn't quite willing to do this, we (the panel) often just end up going around and around in circles.  It feels as if my time is being wasted, and I'm sure I'm not the only panel volunteer who feels this way.  I will also sometimes see participants glibly taking accountability for their actions.  The words are often exactly what we want to hear, but their sincerity is doubtful, and that is unfortunate. 

Yet another challenge arises when the participant does not take this panel as seriously as he or she should.  They often forget, if they fail to satisfactorily complete the terms of the contract, we will violate them, and their case returns to court, where it will stay firmly affixed to their records for forever and eternity.  This is probably the most frustrating challenge I've faced.  Part of this work entails meeting people where they are in life, and that may involve some concessions or re-evaluations of what I expect from some people.  The middle class college student with the possession charge, and the shop lifter who struggles with homelessness and drug addiction will be at very different points of their life, and I can't hold them each to the exact same standard.  Their restorative processes will look very different.

I'm also the type of person who wants to see everyone succeed.  Sometimes in this process you have to be a hard ass, which is a personal challenge for me.  If a participant has come to a check-in meeting without even starting to work on his or her contract, or their work so far is shoddy, incomplete, or clearly thrown together at the last minute, then we will have words.  I really want this process to be meaningful for everyone we see, and I've learned in the past year that some people are just not ready for this process.  That's hard to watch.  It's hard to watch someone technically fulfill the terms of their contract, but do so in such a hollow manner that you really aren't sure what was accomplished over the 45 to 60 days they participate.  Harder still is when we've violated someone for not fulfilling the terms of their contract.  Even though that has been one of the least enjoyable parts of this work, one of my fellow volunteers pointed out that those violations are learning experiences as well, and hopefully this will finally prompt participants to reflect on their behavior and actions.  I know I've grown and learned a lot from failures and setbacks in my own life, so I would hope that these others will also grow from their own negative experiences.

So now I've shared with you my experiences working/volunteering in one small corner of the beautiful, lush, and vast field of conflict resolution.  It is a wonderful way to connect with my community, and to meet other community members I would otherwise have never met.  Its challenges contribute to my personal growth, and have greatly influenced my ongoing vocational search.  In fact, one of the many reasons I started this blog was to write about my first forays into restorative justice, no joke.  Creating this blog in October, which just happens to be conflict resolution month, may be one of the most serendipitous occurrences in my recent memory. 

Seriously though, if you want to learn more about restorative justice, I would suggest reading The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr, who is one of the first serious proponents of Restorative Justice in the academic world.  It's short, to the point, and extremely accessible to pretty much everyone.  In honor of Conflict Resolution Month, I would also like to challenge you to Reach Out by practicing one or several of the suggestions listed by Conflict Resolution Month Vermont that will help develop and improve your conflict resolution skills.  Remember that there are also lots of events and displays all over the state, and I encourage each one of you to try your best to attend one of these events.  I am very interested in hearing your thoughts, and especially your experiences with conflict resolution.  If you do try to "Reach Out", let me know how it goes! What did you learn about yourself and your community?  Were there any unexpected encounters or challenges you faced?  Were you able to identify and deconstruct any assumptions or prejudices you have that was holding you back from resolving one of your own conflicts?  Did you attend an event...and have fun?  I'd love to hear your stories!