Interim Update

[pameladean]

Semagic is all full of notes on California. Yes, I know that I can have multiple entries going, but it confuses me. So I'm doing this entry on-line and hoping it will not be eaten.

I am quite concerned about various volcanic upheavals in Minn-Stf, which I still think of as my social group, though I have been so lamentably bad at getting to meetings that I was not eligible to vote in the last Board election. It's true that I've thought probably half a dozen times over the past five years, "This will really do it, it's all over," and have been wrong. I'm having, in useless but pleasantly sentimental reaction, a lot of fond flashbacks to my own personal "best time of Minn-Stf" (this time varies from person to person and says more about persons than about anything else), when it was a near certainty that every single person I liked in the immediate area would be in the same place for up to sixteen hours, every two weeks.

My own local microcosm is blessedly free of upheavals at the moment. We are waiting to hear about a refinancing deal, and I am waiting for the book contract to get negotiated, and I would really like both these things to get done soon.

Outside, it's March, almost stereotypical March, wild and windy with an instantaneously-changing sky, sudden hailstorms, and hopeful green shoots under south-facing walls blighted by near-record-low overnight temperatures, lest anybody become too complacent. Inside, we should be doing more to straighten things up so the appraiser can actually see the house. I've been collapsing and tying into bundles an endless supply of cardboard, and making more space for hardcover fiction by sternly suppressing a rich, overflowing, dusty collection of maps and brochures and castle guidebooks and photo essays about the Lake District and old RSC programs. By suppressing I mean that the pretty stuff goes downstairs with the other large colorful books, and the merely useful into an archive box. I am not throwing this stuff out. If I had thrown out the stuff that other people throw out and that I am always being exhorted to throw out, I never could have written Tam Lin.

The long-distance relationship is working. I don't like it at all., but it's working. I particularly didn't like the last week or two, when several large emotional events happened in Eric's life and I was much too far away to be useful. Matters are arranging themselves fairly well, and that is a relief, but I continue to have basic objections to the separation.

I am still watching TV with Raphael; our allegiance has shifted a bit, over to "Joan of Arcadia," which I was very resistant to even thinking about for some time, because the events of the last few years have made me violently allergic to any non-materialistic worldview; and also to "Cold Case." We still watch our older favorites like "The West Wing" and "C.S.I.," but we shake our heads and mutter a lot, and sometimes, if we had any rotten tomatoes, we would probably throw them.

The transit strike is starting to get on my nerves. I felt I should not complain much, since I don't have to commute to work, but what it has done is to completely remove my autonomy. When the buses are running, I can, within the pretty generous limits of the Number 18's schedule, go to the bank, the grocery store, Target, the pharmacy to get my medications, the clinic to keep my doctor's appointments; visit a fairly large assortment of friends; and check out how Loring Park looks in March. When they are not, I have a wealth of volunteers to drive me to any of these places, but the whole feeling of the matter is utterly different. It's the transit company's job to take me places; if my friends do so, it's a favor. And frankly, among the things I dislike about this is that, should I happen to be feeling anti-social, I can't treat them as if they were bus drivers.

It is a little petty of me to say what I'm about to, in the shadow of recent events in Madrid, continuing horror in Iraq, the ever-present (and so disgustingly reiterated by the ads for the continuation of the idiocy presently being practiced in the White House) recollection of September 11. Nevertheless, in a city without public transit, I feel that civilization is shredding just a bit all around its edges.

Pamela

Comments

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I agree that public transit is an important part of civilization. Too many people ignore it. In addition to everything you wrote about autonomy, it connects individuals to the larger community. Taking a bus or train, I have dozens of micro-interactions with strangers, or with people who look vaguely familiar because I've seen them on this bus before. I care more about this city because I connect with people. Connections with strangers on the bus are shallow...except when you compare them to the disconnecting gulf between one private car and another.

[oursin.livejournal.com]

A book I mentioned recently in my own lj, Michael Saler's The Avant-garde in interwar England: medieval modernism and the London Underground, has a lot about the concept of good efficient and inexpensive public transport being part of the civilised city, along with the ideas about using the architecture and furnishings of stations, the posters etc, as a way of exposing the public to modern design and art. A visionary approach which seems sadly lacking among the masterminds of London's transport system these days.

[pameladean]

I made a note of that; thanks. I am always slightly shaken every time I hear of the sad decline of London's transport, since my vision of it was irrevocably shaped by my first visit in my senior year of college, the fall of 1974. I'd never even been to a really big city before, and being plumb in the middle of that one and able to go about on my own whereever and whenever I liked was a delight almost comparable to something like space travel.

Pamela

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

"Joan of Arcadia," which I was very resistant to even thinking about for some time, because the events of the last few years have made me violently allergic to any non-materialistic worldview

Right there with you, although for slightly different reasons. I've watched it a few times and while it seems enjoyable enough, the premise alone is difficult for me....also, given how Jeanne d'Arc's story actually ended, I'm not sure how I feel about how television might handle that.

and also to "Cold Case." We still watch our older favorites like "The West Wing" and "C.S.I.," but we shake our heads and mutter a lot, and sometimes, if we had any rotten tomatoes, we would probably throw them.

Right there with you as well....CSI seems to be going seriously downhill (although I do enjoy the bearded-ear-fixed Grissom). I like "Cold Case" well enough, except for their tendency to pack every episode with lots of Time-Appropriate Music and to make the ending of nearly every ep I've seen so far into a kind of music video where the detective sees the cold case victims looking at her.

It is a little petty of me to say what I'm about to, in the shadow of recent events in Madrid, continuing horror in Iraq, the ever-present (and so disgustingly reiterated by the ads for the continuation of the idiocy presently being practiced in the White House) recollection of September 11. Nevertheless, in a city without public transit, I feel that civilization is shredding just a bit all around its edges.

Actually I don't think that's at all inappropriate...a big part of what terrorism does, I think, is tear at the fabric of daily quotidian life until its victims feel it can't be trusted anymore. Trains (IIRC) are used a lot more by commuters in Europe, and part of the horror in Madrid, as it was on 9/11, was that these were "ordinary" people, on their way to work mostly, in the middle of their daily, ordinary, solid-as-bread lives, and then it was all ripped apart. I think public transit is a huge part of any civilized infrastructure (despite the US government's apparent happy ignorance of this, to me, blindingly obvious fact) so it's not inappropriate, especially in these times, to miss it.

I don't know if that made sense -- it did when I wrote it. The feeling of community, I guess, is what I was working at....

moi

[pameladean]

With regard to "Joan," I'm hoping that if there is actually a formal ending to the story, it bears the same resemblance to history as the kinds of tasks the show's Joan is given bear to the task given the historical Joan.

I'm afraid I'm haplessly fond of the standard ending of "Cold Case." I find that these endings are so colored by what has happened that they don't have remotely the same effect, and sometimes even stand in ironic counterpart to one another. I will say that the one ending I've seen so far that didn't conform to this pattern was extremely effective. I don't want to commit a huge spoiler, but it caused us to cry to one another, "Cats!" when the episode was over.

My use of the word "petty" was probably a bit obscure; I meant it seemed so to complain about a transit strike when other people were having their public transit blown up. But I do take everyone's points.

Pamela

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

in a city without public transit, I feel that civilization is shredding just a bit all around its edges.

We just dodged this bullet, here in Philadelphia, with an eleventh-hour settlement. As long as the weather isn't terrible, I can get just about any place I really need to (supermarket, bank, office, library) on foot or on my bicycle -- but it puts a crimp in plans to entertain out of town visitors, as I discovered last night when trying to plan some get-togethers with someone who's in town for a week but two miles away.

(On the other hand, the city is blessedly quiet when the diesel buses stop rumbling.)

[pameladean]

I haven't noticed any quiet -- there's a lot of other traffic, just generally. Now, when widely-hated Northwest Airlines had a pilots' strike, THAT produced quiet.

Pamela

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

I haven't noticed any quiet -- there's a lot of other traffic, just generally.

Diesel-powered vehicles are a lot noisier than automobiles, and the prevailing diesel on our narrow city-center streets, during the daytime, is the bus. There are [counts on fingers] five different bus routes running within four blocks of my house -- the nearest one has buses going by every five to seven minutes during the day. This is a great convenience when I'm using the bus, but it makes for a lot of noise.

The overhead noise that gets to us is the police helicopters when they're tracking murderers, robbers, or drug dealers. There are many of the last-mentioned within two blocks of us, so almost any night we "enjoy" about an hour of low-flying helicopters hovering and shining their bright lights down on the neighborhood.

[pameladean]

We've got two bus routes running within a block of our house, one with buses every six to ten minutes. But I think what would really noticeably reduce noise around here would be to get rid of all the trucks.

We've had the helicopters, but mostly they operate a bit north and east of us. Does anybody know if they do any good?

Pamela

Don't feel petty

[redbird]

Public transit is part of the weave of civilization: your autonomy and that of many other people, and the connections that keep a community healthy.

This may or may not make you feel less petty, but one of the ways we knew we were getting back to normal in New York after 9/11 was that the TA was getting the subway system back to [almost] full function, a bit at a time, a new map every week or three.

Busing

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

Nevertheless, in a city without public transit, I feel that civilization is shredding just a bit all around its edges.

I'm in -full- agreement with you.

Madrid, and the terrorist attacks-- those are tragedies. This is a wide-scale piece of idiocy, brought to us by a governor more interested in pinching pennies than holding the fabric of the city together.

I've got a couple friends who are going to have to find new jobs, if the strike goes on any longer.

Re: Busing

[pameladean]

And jobs are so very easy to come by right now. Those morons and their ideology. I spit in their general direction.

Pamela

[drewan.livejournal.com]

I am still watching TV with Raphael; our allegiance has shifted a bit, over to "Joan of Arcadia," which I was very resistant to even thinking about for some time, because the events of the last few years have made me violently allergic to any non-materialistic worldview; and also to "Cold Case."

Joe and I have be really enjoying Joan of Arcadia (http://www.cbs.com/primetime/joan_of_arcadia/). I appreciated the mix of family, cop, and supernatural drama.

If you like that show, I recommend that you check out Wonderfalls (http://www.foxnow.com/wonderfalls/), 8pm Friday on Fox. Again, it is a girl sent on various tasks by a supernatural source, or maybe it is just her own insanity, mixed with a very quirky family and social environment. I see the show as a mix of Joan and Dead Like Me, (http://www.sho.com/site/deadlikeme/home.do) a Showtime series about a Grim Reaper which is written by Bryan Fuller, who is also writing Wonderfalls.

[pameladean]

I love the characters, and the wit. I think it took them a while to get the mix right, or maybe it took them a while to make the transition from Joan's world to her father's without making the police parts look a bit sheepish and naive, but they've done a good job. Mostly I like the characters. Especially Grace. Raphael persuaded me to give Joan a chance by comparing it to Freaks and Geeks, which I still think is basically unmatched anywhere by anything in its particularly strange weight class.

Emma Bull just sent me email, also recommending Wonderfalls, so this made me laugh. I'll have to consider it.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

Freaks and Geeks, which I still think is basically unmatched anywhere by anything in its particularly strange weight class.

I'm curious as to how you would define this group; there seem to be several ways to go about it, and I'm not sure I like any of them. Undeclared is (unsurprisingly) the only thing I can think of that clearly belongs in any possible group.

I'll throw out Picket Fences as a show I liked in many of the same ways as Freaks & Geeks, despite very few superficial similarities. Both were shows of whimsical seriousness, and weren't afraid to add humor to their drama.

[pameladean]

I don't actually know enough about television to have made such an unqualified statement, but one of the things I had in mind, originally pointed out to me by Raphael, was the high quality of acting by the younger characters, and lurking somewhere in the background, a less or at least differently stereotyped idea of the variety possible in childhood. The qualities you mention, those of whimsical seriousness, or combining humor and drama, often in fact putting them in a blender until their separate components couldn't be separated, are things that are very hard to get right, and I did feel that F&G managed this very often. I used to feel that Buffy got this balance right about half the time, maybe, though to devastating effect then. I haven't seen Picket Fences, though.

Pamela

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

J and I still enjoy the original C.S.I., but we watch the Miami one only because it's a habit and it's something we do together. The only characters I really like on it are the two younger guys.

[pameladean]

We've avoided the Miami one so far, but I can't even begin to calculate how much mediocre TV I've watched because it's a habit and it's something I do with somebody else. This isn't all bad; habits are good, and complaining about mediocre TV is sometimes entertaining and unifying, as well as, in our case and I am quite sure in yours, occasionally productive of really good conversation.

Pamela

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

J and I get really good (not to mention endless) conversation out of mediocre and pointless shared experience? Gee, a person would think you know us or something.

[pameladean]

Busted!

Pamela

transit strike

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

I'm better off than you in one way, worse off in another.

Better: I can walk to the pharmacy and to my preferred groceries. (Partly because I live closer to them, partly because I'm a bit more used to long walks than I think you are.) Worse: It looks like I'll need a part time job, and to prepare to look for one requires me to go places farther than I like to think about walking. (Not to mention looking for a job, getting to one if found, and all that.)

I can get rides through the Community Barter Network, and since I'm paying for them (with Time Dollars), I don't have as much obligation to be social as with rides from friends. But currently, only three CBN people offer transportation; and one works during the day.

Agreed that civilization is shredding around the edges. It's not so much the strike itself that bothers me. It's the attitude of "Hey, we don't really need public transit!
The people who don't drive can get cars somehow, or something can be worked out!"

Re: transit strike

[leaina.livejournal.com]

Here's one more voice to proclaim the importance of public transit. I too hate that attitude of "The people who don't drive can get cars somehow!" I hate to drive, and very rarely do it, but when I lived in Grand Rapids (I am coming to think of that time as my Michiganian Exile), it was nearly impossible to avoid driving. Buses ran on limited routes, every 20-30 minutes at the most, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., every day but Sunday. How convenient! At one point there was some discussion in the news about the difficulty that people without cars had in getting to and from work. What was the proposed solution? Increase the transit budget and improve the schedules? Of course not! They talked about how the poor people could somehow get cars. Grrr.

(Now I live in San Francisco, and can get just about anywhere I need to go on foot or by public transit. And it's been in the 70s here for a week--and things have been blooming since sometime last month--no wonder everybody wants to live here!)

Re: transit strike

[dsgood.livejournal.com]

In the Twin Cities, they've gone a step beyond "poor people could somehow get cars." The head of the Taxpayers League of Minnesota estimates that for $5000 each, the poor could be given cars. I don't think he's figured fuel, maintenance, and insurance in.