Most weekdays I ride a commuter bus to work. The bus starts in Fairfield, picks up passengers in Vacaville and Dixon, and travels to downtown Sacramento, where it makes six stops before returning nonstop to Fairfield.
I drive my car to the Davis Street Park-and-Ride lot in Vacaville and take the bus from there. I know most of my fellow commuters by sight, some by name. We’re a varied group – different ages, races, backgrounds going to work or school. I have made two friends from riding the commuter bus.
This morning there was a disruption. A young African-American man with a backpack boarded the bus in Vacaville with about 15 of us. The Monday bus tends to fill up quickly. When the young man, who, I assume, is a college student, went to the back of the bus, he spread out his backpack on the seat next to him. One of the regular commuters, a man of East Indian descent, attempted to sit by the young man, who allegedly said, “You don’t want to sit next to a black man.” (I got this secondhand from another regular passenger, who heard the conversation.) The commuter sat next to me until his stop. The young man eventually apologized before he got off at his stop.
I found the episode a bit surreal. On December 1, 1955, an African-American woman named Rosa Parks refused to go to the back of the bus, where blacks were ordered to sit. Instead, she sat at the front in the white section and was arrested for taking a seat.
After an event that sparked the Civil Rights Movement and gave us some of the rights all people enjoy today, I find it rather annoying for the young man to deny another commuter a seat, either because he wanted that space to himself or he had a chip on his shoulder.
So, I have a message for the young passenger: Grow up! It’s 2009, for crying out loud! For one thing, the transit district rules state that you cannot save a seat. Second, it’s inappropriate to cause such a ruckus on public transportation. If you don’t want anyone to sit next to you, drive yourself to school or work.
If you choose to take public transportation, leave your problems and racial hang-ups off the bus.
Writing Diva
Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Strike That!
What's done is done.
The Service International Employees Union Local 1000, which represents about 95,000 California civil servants, has voted to take job actions up to and including a strike.
Borrowing a page from President Obama's book, I think the vote, announced Saturday, was the stupidest thing SEIU Local 1000 has ever done.
The vote was 74 percent “yes” to 26 percent “no.” I was among those who voted “no.” My sister T1 voted “HELL NO!” SEIU officials did not release how many members cast ballots.
To my knowledge, state workers have never voted to go on strike before. There is a clause in our contracts that prohibit walking off the job in protest. However, SEIU Local 1000 officials assert, “The state cannot discipline anyone who participates in a legal and protected job action or strike. As an added protection, Local 1000 will ensure that any resolution includes an amnesty clause – a provision guaranteeing that members who participate in a strike will be protected from discipline or adverse administrative action by the state.”
On the question of whether it’s legal for state employees to strike, SEIU Local 1000 states, “In a case brought before the California Supreme Court by SEIU in 1985, the court held that strikes by public employees are legal in California. In its ruling, the court said only strikes that are expressly forbidden by law or that threaten the public health or safety are illegal. Since the 1985 ruling, there have been scores of legal strikes by workers in cities, counties, and school districts throughout California.
On the other side, the Schwarzenegger administration, as represented by the state Department of Personnel Administration Personnel Board, declares that state employees have no right to strike. The SPB Web site states that any employee who participates in a strike “will be regarded as absent without Leave (AWOL) and will not be paid for any day in which they participate in a strike or job action.” Moreover, “employees who participate in a strike or other job action may be subject to disciplinary or other appropriate administrative action.”
“The state will dock their pay and take disciplinary actions,” said Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for the DPA in an interview with The Sacramento Bee. “They will lose money – or worse.”
Well, Ms. Jolley, we’ve already lost money – about 14 percent of our paycheck since July 1. Although I’m not at my tipping point (that is, having to sell my home), other people have reached and gone beyond it. I imagine the state workers who voted to authorize a strike concluded that they have little or nothing left to lose.
The reason why I voted against the strike comes in an acronym – PATCO.
I remember the August 1981 walkout of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. The trade union’s members wanted better pay, better working conditions, and a 32-hour work week. President Ronald Reagan ordered the air traffic controllers back to work, citing safety concerns. When only 1,300 of the almost 13,000 employees returned to their posts, Reagan carried out his threat and fired the remainder who stayed on strike.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a lame-duck governor with nothing less to lose except his improved standing with the Republican Party. I believe he has no qualms about having those of us on strike fired. He has no sympathy for state workers, erroneously stating that the average state worker earns $60,000 a year. That’s utter nonsense! Most state workers earn way below that. To flex his political muscle, I strongly believe he will fire us.
Don’t get me wrong. I support the union. I was even a union steward in SEIU Local 1000. But this is little more than a pissing match between SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker and Gov. Schwarzenegger, with the union members being peed upon. We will be the real losers.
So, in response to SEIU Local 1000’s “Count on Me” job actions, count me out.
Writing Diva
The Service International Employees Union Local 1000, which represents about 95,000 California civil servants, has voted to take job actions up to and including a strike.
Borrowing a page from President Obama's book, I think the vote, announced Saturday, was the stupidest thing SEIU Local 1000 has ever done.
The vote was 74 percent “yes” to 26 percent “no.” I was among those who voted “no.” My sister T1 voted “HELL NO!” SEIU officials did not release how many members cast ballots.
To my knowledge, state workers have never voted to go on strike before. There is a clause in our contracts that prohibit walking off the job in protest. However, SEIU Local 1000 officials assert, “The state cannot discipline anyone who participates in a legal and protected job action or strike. As an added protection, Local 1000 will ensure that any resolution includes an amnesty clause – a provision guaranteeing that members who participate in a strike will be protected from discipline or adverse administrative action by the state.”
On the question of whether it’s legal for state employees to strike, SEIU Local 1000 states, “In a case brought before the California Supreme Court by SEIU in 1985, the court held that strikes by public employees are legal in California. In its ruling, the court said only strikes that are expressly forbidden by law or that threaten the public health or safety are illegal. Since the 1985 ruling, there have been scores of legal strikes by workers in cities, counties, and school districts throughout California.
On the other side, the Schwarzenegger administration, as represented by the state Department of Personnel Administration Personnel Board, declares that state employees have no right to strike. The SPB Web site states that any employee who participates in a strike “will be regarded as absent without Leave (AWOL) and will not be paid for any day in which they participate in a strike or job action.” Moreover, “employees who participate in a strike or other job action may be subject to disciplinary or other appropriate administrative action.”
“The state will dock their pay and take disciplinary actions,” said Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for the DPA in an interview with The Sacramento Bee. “They will lose money – or worse.”
Well, Ms. Jolley, we’ve already lost money – about 14 percent of our paycheck since July 1. Although I’m not at my tipping point (that is, having to sell my home), other people have reached and gone beyond it. I imagine the state workers who voted to authorize a strike concluded that they have little or nothing left to lose.
The reason why I voted against the strike comes in an acronym – PATCO.
I remember the August 1981 walkout of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. The trade union’s members wanted better pay, better working conditions, and a 32-hour work week. President Ronald Reagan ordered the air traffic controllers back to work, citing safety concerns. When only 1,300 of the almost 13,000 employees returned to their posts, Reagan carried out his threat and fired the remainder who stayed on strike.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a lame-duck governor with nothing less to lose except his improved standing with the Republican Party. I believe he has no qualms about having those of us on strike fired. He has no sympathy for state workers, erroneously stating that the average state worker earns $60,000 a year. That’s utter nonsense! Most state workers earn way below that. To flex his political muscle, I strongly believe he will fire us.
Don’t get me wrong. I support the union. I was even a union steward in SEIU Local 1000. But this is little more than a pissing match between SEIU Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker and Gov. Schwarzenegger, with the union members being peed upon. We will be the real losers.
So, in response to SEIU Local 1000’s “Count on Me” job actions, count me out.
Writing Diva
Monday, July 20, 2009
Remembering “Uncle Walter”
A frequent dinner guest in my family’s household passed away Friday.
Walter Cronkite, the CBS television journalist for whom the term “anchorman” was coined, died at the age of 92. He was the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, an era that took my family from the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, to the Vietnam War, the first moon landing, and Watergate.
Cronkite told the story straight, showing no liberal or conservative bias, collecting all the facts before airing the piece. He was an avuncular man whom my parents would depend on if they wanted their news as simple as round steak, mashed potatoes and gravy.
In the 1960s and early ‘70s, my siblings and I served as the remote control for the family television. While cooking dinner, Mom would say, “Go turn on Walter.” Not the “CBS Evening News.” Not “Walter Cronkite.” Just “Walter.” As we ate dinner, we would watch battle scenes in Vietnam, civil rights marches, even the Beatles while “Walter” explained everything like a grandfather sitting in his favorite chair smoking a pipe and telling a story.
Cronkite rarely used jargon in his stories. He also rarely showed emotion. There were two instances I remember when his veneer of objectivity cracked slightly. The first happened on November 22, 1963, when he announced from the news wires that President Kennedy died from an assassin’s bullet in Dallas. The second was when the Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the moon. His “Oh, boy!” spoke volumes even when he later said he was “speechless.”
Cronkite also seldom gave his opinion, which is an unspoken rule among journalists. But when he did a short commentary in 1968 about the stalemate that was the Vietnam War after his visit to the war zone, his 30-second piece caused shock waves in the White House. President Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”
I was embarking on my own journalism career while working in the news department of UC Davis radio station KDVS in 1981 when Cronkite put down the mike for the last time. I was sad that he was stepping down from the CBS Evening News. But even the “Most Trusted Man in America” needed a break.
Cronkite set the standard by which many journalists, including myself, strived to achieve. And these days, news coverage is so fragmented that unbiased journalism is hard to come by. Yet I’m glad Cronkite was there to guide us through the turbulent times with as steady a hand as he steered his sailboat. Rest in peace, Uncle Walter.
Writing Diva
Walter Cronkite, the CBS television journalist for whom the term “anchorman” was coined, died at the age of 92. He was the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 to 1981, an era that took my family from the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, to the Vietnam War, the first moon landing, and Watergate.
Cronkite told the story straight, showing no liberal or conservative bias, collecting all the facts before airing the piece. He was an avuncular man whom my parents would depend on if they wanted their news as simple as round steak, mashed potatoes and gravy.
In the 1960s and early ‘70s, my siblings and I served as the remote control for the family television. While cooking dinner, Mom would say, “Go turn on Walter.” Not the “CBS Evening News.” Not “Walter Cronkite.” Just “Walter.” As we ate dinner, we would watch battle scenes in Vietnam, civil rights marches, even the Beatles while “Walter” explained everything like a grandfather sitting in his favorite chair smoking a pipe and telling a story.
Cronkite rarely used jargon in his stories. He also rarely showed emotion. There were two instances I remember when his veneer of objectivity cracked slightly. The first happened on November 22, 1963, when he announced from the news wires that President Kennedy died from an assassin’s bullet in Dallas. The second was when the Apollo 11 lunar module landed on the moon. His “Oh, boy!” spoke volumes even when he later said he was “speechless.”
Cronkite also seldom gave his opinion, which is an unspoken rule among journalists. But when he did a short commentary in 1968 about the stalemate that was the Vietnam War after his visit to the war zone, his 30-second piece caused shock waves in the White House. President Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly said, “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.”
I was embarking on my own journalism career while working in the news department of UC Davis radio station KDVS in 1981 when Cronkite put down the mike for the last time. I was sad that he was stepping down from the CBS Evening News. But even the “Most Trusted Man in America” needed a break.
Cronkite set the standard by which many journalists, including myself, strived to achieve. And these days, news coverage is so fragmented that unbiased journalism is hard to come by. Yet I’m glad Cronkite was there to guide us through the turbulent times with as steady a hand as he steered his sailboat. Rest in peace, Uncle Walter.
Writing Diva
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Hard Choices
Just three hours ago Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order mandating three furlough days a month for California state employees. Starting July 10, most state offices will be closed the first, second, and third Friday of each month.
By my calculation, three furlough days a month will cost me 14.3 percent of my paycheck -- $689 a month before taxes. This is really going to hurt.
My boss sent out an e-mail reminding us that at least we have a job and thanking us for keeping our heads above the turmoil that has been brewing over the past several months.
Now, can she talk to my mortgage banker about approving a loan modification to lower my monthly mortgage payments?
I will be making some hard choices this month, including:
By my calculation, three furlough days a month will cost me 14.3 percent of my paycheck -- $689 a month before taxes. This is really going to hurt.
My boss sent out an e-mail reminding us that at least we have a job and thanking us for keeping our heads above the turmoil that has been brewing over the past several months.
Now, can she talk to my mortgage banker about approving a loan modification to lower my monthly mortgage payments?
I will be making some hard choices this month, including:
- Cancelling my health club membership. I had rejoined Solano Athletic Club in January after a disastrous stint with 24-Hour Fitness. Now I'll have to exercise on my own.
- Reducing my cable subscription to limited basic. I was going to do that earlier this year, but the customer service representative persuaded me to stick to expanded basic for $38.40 a month, including taxes. I'm afraid I'll have to return to $16 a month, including taxes.
- Ordering no more magazine subscriptions of any kind, not even my writing magazines, until these furloughs end, supposedly on June 30, 2010.
- Getting a job working Friday through Sunday, except for the fourth and fifth Friday of each month. Considering the tight economy, that will be difficult, but not impossible.
- Applying for a loan modification with my mortgage banker. I'll explain the situation and send all the required documents and a copy of the Governor's press release. Hey, it's worth a shot.
I'm already shopping at WinCo Foods, driving less, clipping coupons, limiting my entertainment, suspending contributions to my IRA, and cutting back on my church offerings. But it could be worse. I could be unemployed without a roof over my head for me and my two cats.
It's time for me to batten down the hatches.
Sigh....
Writing Diva
Friday, June 26, 2009
Michael Joseph Jackson -- 1958-2009
It's still sinking in that Michael Jackson is gone. "Gone Too Soon," as he sang.
His music, with the Jackson Five and as a solo artist, was part of my family's soundtrack. When we were little, we saw the Jackson Five for the first time in 1969 on "The Ed Sullivan Show," followed by an appearance on "Hollywood Palace." (Only baby boomers and older would have seen these shows. Sorry, younger folk.) My sisters and I would go to our cousin's house down the street in the Oak Park area of Sacramento to rave over the Jackson Five's debut album. Their hits came in quick succession -- "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save," "Mama's Pearl," "I'll Be There."
When we moved from Oak Park to South Sacramento in April 1971, the song "Never Can Say Goodbye" was on the radio in Mom's black Oldsmobile. My siblings and I were saying goodbye to our friends from Oak Park and saying hello to a new life in the suburbs.
My high school friends did the bump and the robot to the Jackson Five's "Dancing Machine." In 1978, when I was at UC Davis, Michael struck out on his own (for the second time) with "Off the Wall." When I would spend nights into the early morning studying, I would dance to "Working Day and Night" to keep myself awake.
When "Off the Wall" came out, that time was the best Michael ever looked. He was lanky with a perfect button nose and milk chocolate skin.
But it was "Thriller" that shot Michael into the stratosphere. It seemed everyone had a copy of the album. When MTV began showing "Beat It," I think that's when blacks began saying, "I want my MTV."
During the 1983 television special "Motown 25," he showed how much of a showman he was. When he sang "Billie Jean" and performed his famous moonwalk, I was in awe. I thought he was on par with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
Yes, there were the tabloid tidbits -- the vitiligo, the makeup, the allegations of child molestation, his unorthodox fascination with children, his marriages, his young children being shielded from view. There were times when I'd shake my head. But it was like having an odd relative whom you loved anyway.
He was on his way to making a comeback when he went into cardiac arrest and died. It was a comeback that will never come.
May God rest your soul, Michael Jackson.
His music, with the Jackson Five and as a solo artist, was part of my family's soundtrack. When we were little, we saw the Jackson Five for the first time in 1969 on "The Ed Sullivan Show," followed by an appearance on "Hollywood Palace." (Only baby boomers and older would have seen these shows. Sorry, younger folk.) My sisters and I would go to our cousin's house down the street in the Oak Park area of Sacramento to rave over the Jackson Five's debut album. Their hits came in quick succession -- "I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save," "Mama's Pearl," "I'll Be There."
When we moved from Oak Park to South Sacramento in April 1971, the song "Never Can Say Goodbye" was on the radio in Mom's black Oldsmobile. My siblings and I were saying goodbye to our friends from Oak Park and saying hello to a new life in the suburbs.
My high school friends did the bump and the robot to the Jackson Five's "Dancing Machine." In 1978, when I was at UC Davis, Michael struck out on his own (for the second time) with "Off the Wall." When I would spend nights into the early morning studying, I would dance to "Working Day and Night" to keep myself awake.
When "Off the Wall" came out, that time was the best Michael ever looked. He was lanky with a perfect button nose and milk chocolate skin.
But it was "Thriller" that shot Michael into the stratosphere. It seemed everyone had a copy of the album. When MTV began showing "Beat It," I think that's when blacks began saying, "I want my MTV."
During the 1983 television special "Motown 25," he showed how much of a showman he was. When he sang "Billie Jean" and performed his famous moonwalk, I was in awe. I thought he was on par with Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.
Yes, there were the tabloid tidbits -- the vitiligo, the makeup, the allegations of child molestation, his unorthodox fascination with children, his marriages, his young children being shielded from view. There were times when I'd shake my head. But it was like having an odd relative whom you loved anyway.
He was on his way to making a comeback when he went into cardiac arrest and died. It was a comeback that will never come.
May God rest your soul, Michael Jackson.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Embracing Singleness
My sister, Black Woman Blogging (http://www.blackwomanblogging.blogspot.com), slapped me upside the head yesterday and brought me to my senses about my single status. The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
In my previous post I was doing the wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding my not being in a relationship, especially as I approach 50. (Or, as I call it, "fiddy.") I was especially envious of BWB and her marriage to BMNB (Black Man Not Blogging). The two are best friends who married each other.
But not all is as it seems, BWB said. There are occasional disagreements, division of household labor and cooking (She gets the cooking.), arranging schedules and finances so they can travel together, checking with each other on their whereabouts, and, in old age, changing a spouse's "poopy diaper." (Not something to look forward to.)
As a single woman, BWB pointed out, I can go where I please, buy what I please, and not worry about joint finances or schedules. I have been squandering my singleness on feeling sorry for myself. As Tim Gunn from "Project Runway" would say, I should "make it work."
So, as I write this, I have a new attitude toward singleness. I probably wouldn't have been able to attend National Association of Black Journalists conventions if I had been married. And I love traveling. But, most of all, I like the freedom of being single. I attend dances and other single events, go to movies, ride my bicycle, and shoot photos without worrying about what my husband would think.
This is not to disparage marriage. There are pluses and minuses in both marriage and singleness. But I'm learning to be happy where I am.
Thank you, BWB.
Writing Diva
In my previous post I was doing the wailing and gnashing of teeth regarding my not being in a relationship, especially as I approach 50. (Or, as I call it, "fiddy.") I was especially envious of BWB and her marriage to BMNB (Black Man Not Blogging). The two are best friends who married each other.
But not all is as it seems, BWB said. There are occasional disagreements, division of household labor and cooking (She gets the cooking.), arranging schedules and finances so they can travel together, checking with each other on their whereabouts, and, in old age, changing a spouse's "poopy diaper." (Not something to look forward to.)
As a single woman, BWB pointed out, I can go where I please, buy what I please, and not worry about joint finances or schedules. I have been squandering my singleness on feeling sorry for myself. As Tim Gunn from "Project Runway" would say, I should "make it work."
So, as I write this, I have a new attitude toward singleness. I probably wouldn't have been able to attend National Association of Black Journalists conventions if I had been married. And I love traveling. But, most of all, I like the freedom of being single. I attend dances and other single events, go to movies, ride my bicycle, and shoot photos without worrying about what my husband would think.
This is not to disparage marriage. There are pluses and minuses in both marriage and singleness. But I'm learning to be happy where I am.
Thank you, BWB.
Writing Diva
Saturday, June 20, 2009
My Relationship With Me
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been in a funk about my relationship status, or, shall I say, a lack thereof. I've seen friends and former loves in happy romances, leading me to feel sorry for myself. I came close to doing something I promised myself I wouldn't do -- contact a psychic. I haven't and, God willing, don't plan to.
I prayed for several days asking God for some guidance. That guidance came from, of all places, the movie "Sex and the City." The film, based on the successful HBO television series, followed the adventures of writer Carrie Bradshaw and her friends, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. Samantha had a previous bout with breast cancer and was juggling a relationship with her younger boyfriend. She came to the conclusion, when breaking up with Smith, that she needed to focus on a relationship with herself.
My "significant other" would push me out to enjoy life by going to dances, going bicycle riding, exercising, seeing movies, decorating the home, and spending time with friends and family. Whether I have a relationship with a man is pretty much up to God. I may be destined for lifelong singleness, but it's not a death sentence. In fact, singleness may be my way of living life to the fullest.
Writing Diva
I prayed for several days asking God for some guidance. That guidance came from, of all places, the movie "Sex and the City." The film, based on the successful HBO television series, followed the adventures of writer Carrie Bradshaw and her friends, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. Samantha had a previous bout with breast cancer and was juggling a relationship with her younger boyfriend. She came to the conclusion, when breaking up with Smith, that she needed to focus on a relationship with herself.
My "significant other" would push me out to enjoy life by going to dances, going bicycle riding, exercising, seeing movies, decorating the home, and spending time with friends and family. Whether I have a relationship with a man is pretty much up to God. I may be destined for lifelong singleness, but it's not a death sentence. In fact, singleness may be my way of living life to the fullest.
Writing Diva
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