sundries

[rm]

unicursal has a hole between her inner ear and her brain that shouldn't be there. It's fucking up her health and her finances. Surgery is happening soon, but she needs financial help for related expenses.

I know I promised you all that charity list. I got derailed with the situation with Little, but I will put it up before we leave for the cruise.

I'm also going to post when we return from the cruise about what to do if you want me to boost the signal on things. I'm getting a lot of these requests lately, and I'm all for using the journal for good, but I'm going to be thinking about a formula for doing it and the best way for you to help me help you.

I got asked to do an event in Memphis. Any of you all in Memphis? Would it be cool? It's probably a logistical impossibility and I'll just donate a couple of books instead if they are interested, but I'm really enjoying this traveling and seeing places I'd never think of to go thing, and it's kinda cool. What's in Memphis?

I have just gotten confirmation that the tux will not be released from customs in time for the cruise. Assuming I get it in time, I will wear it to DoV or something, just so it has a run before Gally.

Are you in NYC? Are you gluten-free or have other specific health needs? If so, hurry over to Westside Health Food at 2569 Broadway -- they're going out of business and everything is 30% off. I just got two gluten-free frozen pizzas, two boxes of cookies, a box of brownies and a bos of crackers for under $24, which is EXTREMELY cheap for gluten-free stuff.

Dogboy & Justine information, now with flyer.

Speaking of dogs: on the floor below us lives a pit bull who barks through the door when his owner is not home. The people across the hall from this dog, have just acquired a new yipster, which now barks in return. The stairs are alive with the sound of dog arguments now.

Most Amazing Statistic EVAR: 1 in 5 divorces refer to Facebook.

Do you know what's back soon? My current favorite HBO show, Big Love.

People warned me this would happen: last night I kept thinking I saw Little out of the corner of my eye and then she bapped me with her tail. That's a little creepy. But you know, what else is she going to do but hang out on the couch?

I am fed up to here with fucking security theater. I am fed up with us throwing $$ at a big show designed to make the ignorant feel safer through humiliation. Now the TSA is subpoena'ing bloggers who are posting non-classified public information. I feel like I have to travel with a doctor's note in case I, god forbid, have a celiac reaction while on a flight and need to use the bathroom for more than five minutes. I am angry, angry, angry.

Tomorrow, when we are all no longer the Master, this icon will revert to previous.

I don't really make New Year's Resolutions, but in 2010 I'd like to book/sell more creative work, continue on the road of treating myself and those I care about better, reconnect with the LGBTQ community so that I can learn from other activists as opposed to just trying to teach allies and finish my novel. Probably lots of other stuff too.

Patty comes home TOMORROW.

Comments

[faithwallis.livejournal.com]

Found you through a friend's blog. I saw something today you might want to look at...a restaurant called Monical's Pizza has a new gluten-free pizza on its menu. I'm not sure if they are in NYC. They are in the Midwest and their gluten-packed offerings are good.

[smirnoffmule.livejournal.com]

I don't even believe in that stuff, but I saw/heard/felt my cat so many times after he died, I think he was trying to prove some kind of point. I still don't believe in it, since I think he'd admire that more than if I caved. He could always sense weakness.

I'm very sorry for your loss of Little. My cat and I were both nineteen when he died, so I know how it feels to have that gap.

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Memphis = Graceland. And probably other stuff, but c'mon.

Oh, you know what I just realized? The "Empty Child" transformation was terrifying. The "Master Race" transformation was goofy. So congratulations, RTD, you made the Master less frightening than an eight-year-old boy.

[bunnybutt.livejournal.com]

My dead cats regularly take possession of one of my living cats, causing her to eat things she normally never would, and accept caresses she usually avoids. It's fun to watch.

Memphis has Graceland, and they take their legacy pretty seriously. It's kind of an awesome thing to tourist through, but you will have a hell of a time finding things to eat if you decide to go there.

[liminalia.livejournal.com]

The heck with Graceland, visit Beale Street and the Rev. Al Green's church, if you're at all a fan of full-tilt gospel music.

[snufflesdbear.livejournal.com]

My GF is in Memphis... yeah...um... and this really cool junk yard with all sorts of car parts, and guys who freak when a girl walks in wearing a dress.

My icon will change back after Saturday night. :-)

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

sociallyawkrd is in Memphis, IIRC.

Travels

[jslorentz.livejournal.com]

Firstly, Memphis is a 6-8 hour drive from DFW, but I and probably kadair would be willing to make the drive for an event! Memphis is fascinating for having the nicest homeless people ever. I was never prepared for how much I would enjoy Graceland. There is delicious barbecue to be found but I have a feeling finding celiac-compatible food will be ridiculously impossible. But you can walk down Beale Street, recognize that every other shirt sells T-shirts (some of which are actually special and interesting), wonder how many decades the buskers have been playing there, and still get a sense of magic from the experience.

Secondly, if you're looking to get involved with LGBTQ activism, might I recommend Creating Change 2010, right here in Dallas? I'm on the host committee and I can tell you more if you like.

Re: Travels

[jslorentz.livejournal.com]

Also: Dopplr is a good travel networking site, where you could exchange information (such as food) before/during/after travels to Memphis or elsewhere.

[luke-jaywalker.livejournal.com]

In Memphis: really good barbecued ribs, from all I've heard. (And I can tell you first-hand from having visited Chattanooga that you're at least in the same state as really good barbecued ribs, anyhow.) Country music, if that's to your taste. Outside that, not an awful lot else.

Me, I like to get out of the Northeast every so-often anyway. It's easy to forget that there's a world on the other side of Route 128; I imagine it's even easier to forget that there's something on the other side of the Hudson. The perspective's healthy, in my opinion.

TSA security theater disgusts me. No, guys, inconvenience does not equal safety; you don't magically get karmic safety points from insulting and frustrating people. The world doesn't work that way.

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

People warned me this would happen

After my cat Ajax died, I would sometimes feel him jump up on my bed, walk on me a bit with his pointy little feet and curl up behind my knee. It was very comforting, especially as he was a cat with major developmental issues who got extremely distressed at any kind of change. I'm glad Little Kitty is getting her humans sorted out.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Well, I don't live in Memphis and I've never been there, but if I were to go, I'd go to the Stax Records museum. Stax Records was the record label home of many excellent, talented and famous Motown, blues and R&B artists for several years. Not sure if you're into that sort of thing, but it's supposed to be excellent. Plus, there are all of the really cool live music venues (mostly for blues), many of which are historic.

[nicoli-dominn.livejournal.com]

Oh, and the Facebook thing? I'm sorry, but...I laughed. If people want to blame their divorces on something, why don't they just blame themselves? Get to the root of the problem, you know?

[azurelunatic]

Oh, now that's two people in my extended circle of acquaintance who have had that very thing. A former roommate of mine also had that, and flippantly described it as "having her brains leak out her ears". Rare medical conditions are ... somewhat less so ... on the internet.

[miep.livejournal.com]

Some of us will still be the master until Saturday, when the stateside broadcast will happen.

[littlebelleblue.livejournal.com]

Memphis has many things (aside from the wonderful barbecue - try the dry ribs!- fried catfish, and Elvis/Graceland). Take Ida B. Wells, for example (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells). And it can be fun for a few days! I actually have a list, entitled: Culturally Fun and Free (or pretty close to it) Things To Do in Memphis That Will Enlighten Your Day.

Most of the museums/stuff have free days or free to people with TN ID days, and most will let you piggyback in if you're with one person with a TN ID. If you like music, it's the place to come.

#1 free thing to do (Besides Beale Street): Shelby Farms! 4500 acre urban park in the middle of the city - largest one in the country. It is amazing - trails, horses, farmer's market, experimental farm, golf frisbee, place to rent paddleboats, fishing, deer, kite flying range, American Bison range.

If you like black gospel music, there are a ton of churches with amazing choirs.

National Civil Rights Museum, including the preserved room where Martin Luther King was staying when he was murdered, and many really good exhibits. www.civilrightsmuseum.org

Rock and Soul Museum (Smithsonian affiliated history of rock and roll and the blues) http://memphisrocknsoul.org/

Gibson Guitar Factory (get to see all of the guitars being made!) http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Locations/RetailCenters/Memphis/DiscoveriesOfGibson/

Stax Museum http://www.soulsvilleusa.com/

Sun Studio (where Elvis recorded his first hits) http://www.sunstudio.com/

A. Schwab Dry Goods Store on Beale Street - three floors of miscellany (often very very old) in the only remaining original store on Beale (since the 1870's). Their slogan: If you can't find it at A. Schwab, you're better off without it. http://www.tnvacation.com/vendors/a_schwab_dry_goods_store/

Brooks Museum http://www.brooksmuseum.org/ - mainly Italian Renaissance and Baroque, with an extensive African gallery, but they also have fascinating local stuff and a few really good traveling exhibits each year.

W.C. Handy Home and Museum http://www.mytravelguide.com/attractions/profile-78119405-United_States_Tennessee_Memphis_WC_Handys_Memphis_Home_Museum.html

Memphis Zoo - Pandas, and lots of really good, recently redone exhibits. www.memphiszoo.org

Peabody Ducks! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peabody_Hotel#The_Peabody_Ducks

Dixon (Impressionists + really good traveling exhibits; gorgeous gardens and greenhouses) www.dixon.org

National Ornamental Metal Museum - has a working forge, and is very very cool; people come here to do multi-year internships. Plus, they have kitties who live in the forge! "The National Ornamental Metal Museum is the only institution in the United States devoted exclusively to the preservation and promotion of fine metalwork." www.metalmuseum.org

Slave Haven - stop on the Underground Railroad http://www.tnvacation.com/vendors/slave_haven_underground_railroad_museum_burkle_estate/

U of Memphis Egyptology/Art Museum http://www.memphis.edu/egypt/

Center for Southern Folklore (very interesting and cool) http://www.southernfolklore.com/

Cotton Museum www.memphiscottonmuseum.org

Pink Palace - unfinished home of the founder of the Piggly Wiggly grocery store chain, the first self-serve grocery stores in existence! Now a very intriguing museum; one of the best parts is the miniature circus. Place to go to learn about Memphis history(there were growing pains - among other things, the city charter was revoked after the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1878, when over half of the population (25000+) fled and 5000+ died; interestingly, the ones who stayed behind to nurse the people who could not flee were the nuns and the brothel madam). http://www.memphismuseums.org/

Elmwood Cemetery - free, open to the public; stop by the visitor's center for tours.

Fire Museum; Mud Island; Botanic Gardens

WDIA was the first radio station with programming by blacks for blacks; it gave a lot of artists their breaks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WDIA; http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1546/is_n4_v8/ai_13284541/

Aside from the museum-y things, there are a lot of good places to go and experience our very unique culture. Much of it is music and food based; some of it is very painful, and some of it is wonderful. :)

[littlebelleblue.livejournal.com]

Ooh, also, Memphis in May. Musicfest/international festival (Tunisia this year)/barbecue contest combined. For an entire month. http://www.memphisinmay.org/

[kadairk.livejournal.com]

Your list makes me want to spend more time in Memphis ... I drive through there generally twice a year, yet very rarely stop and see things. Thanks for sharing this!

[kadairk.livejournal.com]

Re: FB and divorce ...

sometimes, the internet can help you find the support you need to make changes in your life to improve things. At least, that's what happened to me. It wasn't FB that led to my divorce, but it was networking online, meeting the people I needed to help me become the person I wanted to be. My marriage couldn't survive that transition (though we are committed to co-parenting our children, and have something that vaguely resembles friendship at times.) But my ex probably would blame the internet for the demise of the relationship.

So while FB may be implicated in these divorces, that doesn't make FB a force of evil. Sometimes, people change and relationships change. Sometimes, we need to be supported through necessary change. But it is easy to blame an external factor, easier than blaming yourself, or accepting that things sometimes change.

[littlebelleblue.livejournal.com]

Yay! :)

There are a ton of "stop for an hour or two and have fun things to do" places. You should swing by and take a look! If nothing else, there are some really great hole-in-the-wall places to eat not too far off the interstate or right in downtown (they're all relatively easy to get to; Memphis pretends to be a big city, but most of the time acts more like a small/mid-size town), and Shelby Farms is a great place to stop for an hour or two and relax or have a picnic. There really is a lot of history in the city - musical, civil rights, agricultural, etc.

[nekosensei.livejournal.com]

I believe you. I once saw the family dog sitting in her usual spot two or three days after we put her to sleep. She had her head up and was looking to see who was coming through the room, much like what she did when she was alive. She was only there for about ten seconds or so. The creepy thing is that she became transparent-- I could see the chair behind her!-- before she faded away completely. It scared the shit out of me. I remember throwing nervous glances at that particular spot for months after that.

Maybe Little is hanging around, making sure that you're okay?