Lately, Geraldine Ferraro is the latest staff member to be cast out because she is politically incorrect. For those of you living in a cave, she recently opined that B. Obamma is where he is because he is a black man, and that a white woman with his record of accomplishments would not be taken seriously.
Of course, she's a little bit right. Recently a great political thinker said the reason Obamma was leading in Virginnia was because with one swipe of the pen a white voter could expiate 400 years of guilt.
But I submit another couter: Hiliary is where she is because she was married to one of the most powerful men in the country. And when he left her alone to reform health care she fell flat on her sunny face.
Geraldine, dear, put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Monday, March 17, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
return to the blog
Dears:
Grandma Letty has been spending all her time teaching and learning; she has taken the California Real Estate Exam after much study, and will not get the problematical results for a few more days. Hence, the home movie" Return to the Blog."
It occured to Grandma Letty that in the seven years she has lived in California, she has amassed four licenses: 1)dog;2)marriage;3)tax preparer;4)real estate (assuming she passes a very hard exam.) Certainly, the one that so far has worked out the best is #2. Number 3 paid only a little more than the investment to get it; Number 4 has great promise, because the aforesaid grandma letty sold Timeshare in Orlando for a grand total of about 12 years. Believe me, that paid well.
No reason to believe it won't be the same, here.
Further, if the place I want to sell weeks takes me in, it's right down the road. Commuting in San Diego county, my place of residence, is a killer. The timeshare I hope to work at is 15 minutes away on NO FREEWAYS AT ALL.
Grandma Letty has been spending all her time teaching and learning; she has taken the California Real Estate Exam after much study, and will not get the problematical results for a few more days. Hence, the home movie" Return to the Blog."
It occured to Grandma Letty that in the seven years she has lived in California, she has amassed four licenses: 1)dog;2)marriage;3)tax preparer;4)real estate (assuming she passes a very hard exam.) Certainly, the one that so far has worked out the best is #2. Number 3 paid only a little more than the investment to get it; Number 4 has great promise, because the aforesaid grandma letty sold Timeshare in Orlando for a grand total of about 12 years. Believe me, that paid well.
No reason to believe it won't be the same, here.
Further, if the place I want to sell weeks takes me in, it's right down the road. Commuting in San Diego county, my place of residence, is a killer. The timeshare I hope to work at is 15 minutes away on NO FREEWAYS AT ALL.
Can you imagine how appealing that is? Probably not, but take my word its the boon of all boons.
Wish me luck, dearest ones. My first buy will be a family reunion here, with airfares paid to the far-flung relatives. Kids, that's you. Cross your fingers, and those of you who pray could do a little of that.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Here's what it used to be like when I was young
Dears,
Grandma Letty, in her day, was something of a superstar. Salutatorian of her High School Class (the Valedictorian got an A in orchestra and Grandma Letty got a B in Chorus. That made the difference.) Delegate to Girl's State and elected Attorney General There, State wide debater earning many, many trophies, and a college record that included "Outstanding Woman in Journalism, writing awards, presidency of the class and of her sorority,Editor of the Daily Newspaper, National Debater, Judge on the Student Court,Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, etc etc etc.
You know what? When I flashed that resume, the best job I could get was as an Editorial Assistant. My equivalent, I think, was Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connnor who graduated (at the same time) first in her class at Stanford University Law School and was offered a job (the only one) as a Paralegal. Gender discrimination was such a fact of life for us ladies of the 50's that we just accepted it. In hindsight, we should have raised hell.
I am tickled pink that my smart and savvy grandbabies will be taken seriously. I sincerely hope they aim high. We were cowed. They needn't be.
Grandma Letty, in her day, was something of a superstar. Salutatorian of her High School Class (the Valedictorian got an A in orchestra and Grandma Letty got a B in Chorus. That made the difference.) Delegate to Girl's State and elected Attorney General There, State wide debater earning many, many trophies, and a college record that included "Outstanding Woman in Journalism, writing awards, presidency of the class and of her sorority,Editor of the Daily Newspaper, National Debater, Judge on the Student Court,Phi Beta Kappa, Mortar Board, etc etc etc.
You know what? When I flashed that resume, the best job I could get was as an Editorial Assistant. My equivalent, I think, was Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connnor who graduated (at the same time) first in her class at Stanford University Law School and was offered a job (the only one) as a Paralegal. Gender discrimination was such a fact of life for us ladies of the 50's that we just accepted it. In hindsight, we should have raised hell.
I am tickled pink that my smart and savvy grandbabies will be taken seriously. I sincerely hope they aim high. We were cowed. They needn't be.
Now, It's The Clintons
Hello, dears
Have you noticed? It's no longer "Hillary". It's "The Clintons." Since I did so well with predicting the New Hampshire primary, I'll go out on a limb, again. Since even the really big boys in the media are calling them "the clintons," I think the average American queasiness about the pair running the country, instead of her, means trouble. I'll pick Obama for the winner in Super Tuesday.
Of all the endorsements Barack has garnered, I think Caroline Kennedy's is the most telling: she wrote in the New York Times that he could be the kind of president her father was. WOW. Only I said it louder: WOW.
Isn't this fun? Twice as many voters came out in South Carolina as had voted four years ago. There really is the potential for a new, broader, more diverse coalition in the Democratic party. Obama said he admired Reagan for forging a new vision for Republicans. He DID NOT say he admired Reagan's stance or issues, as the Clintons (there it is again) advertised.
Anyhow, I sent money to McCain in 2000. Today, I'm sending a similar pittance to Obama.
Have you noticed? It's no longer "Hillary". It's "The Clintons." Since I did so well with predicting the New Hampshire primary, I'll go out on a limb, again. Since even the really big boys in the media are calling them "the clintons," I think the average American queasiness about the pair running the country, instead of her, means trouble. I'll pick Obama for the winner in Super Tuesday.
Of all the endorsements Barack has garnered, I think Caroline Kennedy's is the most telling: she wrote in the New York Times that he could be the kind of president her father was. WOW. Only I said it louder: WOW.
Isn't this fun? Twice as many voters came out in South Carolina as had voted four years ago. There really is the potential for a new, broader, more diverse coalition in the Democratic party. Obama said he admired Reagan for forging a new vision for Republicans. He DID NOT say he admired Reagan's stance or issues, as the Clintons (there it is again) advertised.
Anyhow, I sent money to McCain in 2000. Today, I'm sending a similar pittance to Obama.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Great Fun and Profit
Dears:
Grandma Letty gave a talk today and part of the presentation concerned the early days at America Online, more easily known as AOL, which were guided by a marketing guru of a CEO named Steve Case.
I had written Clues for the Clueless and received a message on my IBM from "Tribe." She said that if I participated in a new Forum (sort of a magazine on line; a quasi-website but located on AOL, that the forum would publicize my book as a quid pro quo. Envisioning Book-of-the-Month Club status, I signed up and went to work. The Forum was AARF, Addiction and Recovery Forum, and it took its format from the ground-breaking Gay and Lesbian Forum, the first place in the nation (that I knew of) where rights and networking were discussed among its adherents.
Begun as a commercial venture, it never yielded much revenue and after some 8 years or so was scrapped, but in the meantime it attracted to the Forum (later re-christened A&R for Addiction and Recovery) a phalanx of brilliant people from early computer nerds (we were doing this in the 90s and AOL had its own programming language) to psychiatrists to addicts of all stripes and shapes, including ground breakers like Kay Sheppard and Joy (? The food lady).
At the time, I lived in a 10-acre spot in the country outside of Orlando and hosted the group for a picnic/program in 94 or 95; I forget which. It was memorable for its collection of addicts. The sugar addicts and the food addicts fought, and one food addict was so heavy she broke my computer chair. Joy, the sharpest of all, had flown in from Los Angeles and the majority were from New York and Michigan and North Carolina, where the group was headquartered. We had never before met face to face; we were the first online company structure that I knew about.
It turned out that I had made a trip to Spain with one of the other addict's former husbands (when I was single) and other revelations followed.
There's a lot to be said for anonymity.
We did check it with AA's World Service in New York and they gave it their blessing as we held online AA meetings several times a day. Friends of Bill Wilson meetings were consequently going on AOL chat sessions, but we had rules and conducted ourselves as much like a face-to-face meeting as we could. We were a great boon for shut-ins and those just trying the waters, because the anonymity was total. Our screen names didn't even give us away. We sent many a seeker on to AA meetings in their localities after satisfying them they would be helped (read loved.) It was a heady time.
My book enjoyed a modest success and I was so impressed that all these people were giving their all for free that I bought AOL stock (at $40 a share; sold it three years later at $120 a share and took Dan (husband #2) to Machu Pichu. When I had a little money, my greatest pleasure was to go somewhere. Travel was my reward.......A&R indirectly got me there.
Grandma Letty gave a talk today and part of the presentation concerned the early days at America Online, more easily known as AOL, which were guided by a marketing guru of a CEO named Steve Case.
I had written Clues for the Clueless and received a message on my IBM from "Tribe." She said that if I participated in a new Forum (sort of a magazine on line; a quasi-website but located on AOL, that the forum would publicize my book as a quid pro quo. Envisioning Book-of-the-Month Club status, I signed up and went to work. The Forum was AARF, Addiction and Recovery Forum, and it took its format from the ground-breaking Gay and Lesbian Forum, the first place in the nation (that I knew of) where rights and networking were discussed among its adherents.
Begun as a commercial venture, it never yielded much revenue and after some 8 years or so was scrapped, but in the meantime it attracted to the Forum (later re-christened A&R for Addiction and Recovery) a phalanx of brilliant people from early computer nerds (we were doing this in the 90s and AOL had its own programming language) to psychiatrists to addicts of all stripes and shapes, including ground breakers like Kay Sheppard and Joy (? The food lady).
At the time, I lived in a 10-acre spot in the country outside of Orlando and hosted the group for a picnic/program in 94 or 95; I forget which. It was memorable for its collection of addicts. The sugar addicts and the food addicts fought, and one food addict was so heavy she broke my computer chair. Joy, the sharpest of all, had flown in from Los Angeles and the majority were from New York and Michigan and North Carolina, where the group was headquartered. We had never before met face to face; we were the first online company structure that I knew about.
It turned out that I had made a trip to Spain with one of the other addict's former husbands (when I was single) and other revelations followed.
There's a lot to be said for anonymity.
We did check it with AA's World Service in New York and they gave it their blessing as we held online AA meetings several times a day. Friends of Bill Wilson meetings were consequently going on AOL chat sessions, but we had rules and conducted ourselves as much like a face-to-face meeting as we could. We were a great boon for shut-ins and those just trying the waters, because the anonymity was total. Our screen names didn't even give us away. We sent many a seeker on to AA meetings in their localities after satisfying them they would be helped (read loved.) It was a heady time.
My book enjoyed a modest success and I was so impressed that all these people were giving their all for free that I bought AOL stock (at $40 a share; sold it three years later at $120 a share and took Dan (husband #2) to Machu Pichu. When I had a little money, my greatest pleasure was to go somewhere. Travel was my reward.......A&R indirectly got me there.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
whoops
Dear Grandchildren,
Like all the heavy hitters, I believed the polls. I thought it would be Obama in New Hampshire by 10 points. Fortunately, only the one or two of you who read this knew I was wrong. Contrast that with "The Best Political Team on Television" and the News Hour Crew. Contrast that with Mark Halperin, the political editor of Time magazine.
Do you know what they told all of America? Donna Brazil (a heavy hitter in more ways than one) and Gore's old campaign manager said at 7 Eastern time last night as the polls closed that "Obama is a tidal wave that can't be stopped." Evidently, among their other skills, the Clintons can stop tidal waves. Mark Halperin didn't even include Arkansas governor Huckabee among the list of real contenders for the Presidency in his new book, and told an Arkansas audience in September that Huckabee had no chance for election. Last night he beat Guliani in a state where the latter had been stumping since last year.
Now I know I'm just a garden variety political junkie who has zilch national standing after a lifetime in the garden variety press, but at least I don't have public egg on my face. Nor did I have a large meal of my words at 10 p.m. Pacific Time.
I'm beginning to think being inconsequential is a good thing.
Love to you all
Your grandma
Like all the heavy hitters, I believed the polls. I thought it would be Obama in New Hampshire by 10 points. Fortunately, only the one or two of you who read this knew I was wrong. Contrast that with "The Best Political Team on Television" and the News Hour Crew. Contrast that with Mark Halperin, the political editor of Time magazine.
Do you know what they told all of America? Donna Brazil (a heavy hitter in more ways than one) and Gore's old campaign manager said at 7 Eastern time last night as the polls closed that "Obama is a tidal wave that can't be stopped." Evidently, among their other skills, the Clintons can stop tidal waves. Mark Halperin didn't even include Arkansas governor Huckabee among the list of real contenders for the Presidency in his new book, and told an Arkansas audience in September that Huckabee had no chance for election. Last night he beat Guliani in a state where the latter had been stumping since last year.
Now I know I'm just a garden variety political junkie who has zilch national standing after a lifetime in the garden variety press, but at least I don't have public egg on my face. Nor did I have a large meal of my words at 10 p.m. Pacific Time.
I'm beginning to think being inconsequential is a good thing.
Love to you all
Your grandma
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
a black, a woman, and a jew
Dear Grandchildren:
This could never have happened before. First, a black and a woman are vying for our presidency, and now it looks like Mayor (multimillionaire) Bloomberg of New York will enter the race if he thinks he can displace the nominees of both parties. That rounds out the collection of people "who can't win". Who's next? Maybe Georgia Senator Max Clelland, who is a disabled veteran. Or with all the maiming our current president has accomplished, maybe Clelland is just too mainstream.
The early election results certify that Oprah was right, as usual. If Obama defies the odds and carries the election, will he make her Ambassador to Kenya, his turmoil-ridden ancestral country? They certainly need her there. Who was the Washington taste-maker who became an Ambassador? Ethel Merman played her on the stage in "Call Me Madame." Maybe someday a Merman Wannabe will play Oprah in a similar drama! (It just came to me, slowly, as things do nowadays. It was Perle Mesta, the hostess who created congeniality in Washington and was sent as Ambassador to Luxemboug (where she could do no harm.)
Keep up, little ones. Obama's message is for the young, and the young can change the world. We did, for a short two years., a long time ago.
This could never have happened before. First, a black and a woman are vying for our presidency, and now it looks like Mayor (multimillionaire) Bloomberg of New York will enter the race if he thinks he can displace the nominees of both parties. That rounds out the collection of people "who can't win". Who's next? Maybe Georgia Senator Max Clelland, who is a disabled veteran. Or with all the maiming our current president has accomplished, maybe Clelland is just too mainstream.
The early election results certify that Oprah was right, as usual. If Obama defies the odds and carries the election, will he make her Ambassador to Kenya, his turmoil-ridden ancestral country? They certainly need her there. Who was the Washington taste-maker who became an Ambassador? Ethel Merman played her on the stage in "Call Me Madame." Maybe someday a Merman Wannabe will play Oprah in a similar drama! (It just came to me, slowly, as things do nowadays. It was Perle Mesta, the hostess who created congeniality in Washington and was sent as Ambassador to Luxemboug (where she could do no harm.)
Keep up, little ones. Obama's message is for the young, and the young can change the world. We did, for a short two years., a long time ago.
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