Blah, blah, blah

The picture above is from over a month ago, but I was going through organizing the hundreds of pictures we've taken, and thought it was so cute. Don't have much to say today. I feel kind of blah. I'm wondering if I should go back to my regular website and quit updating here on blogger. Anyone have a preference? My manual main website is more work, but I miss it! I also fear what would happen if I ever lost the blogger stuff and there's no backup.

The dishes are done. The house is fairly clean. I took a shower. Maiya is sleeping and has slept a lot today, so much so that I have barely changed or fed her today. I had planned to go to the Tuesday Farmer's Market and Trader Joe's about an hour ago, but I didn't want to wake her, which I often do. But then if I wait till she wakes up, then I need to feed and change her first, which means that by the time I get her bundled into the car seat, I will hit the traffic. Ahh, always trying to figure out the timing when taking Maiya to public places. Then figuring out if we're going to do stroller, car seat, Baby Bjorn, Maya Wrap, or go alone and leave Maiya with Tony, or take Tony with me. The last two require me waiting for Tony to get home from work.

I feel somewhat annoyed with myself that there's so many things lingering on my To Do List, but here I sit, reading blogs and wasting time. Which reminds me, I still want to write up Maiya's birth story and how she got her name. Blah, blah, blah.

This week with Maiya G.

Maiya with Mama

Today, Maiya is 2 1/2 months old. At her 2 month appointment last week, she was 12 lbs, 3 oz, and 24 1/4 inches long. We have settled into somewhat of a groove. She nurses about every 3 hours during the day, give or take an hour. This week, she has started sleeping a little bit longer, going from an average of 3 hours of sleep a night to maybe 5-7 hours. We think it's because we started swaddling her again at night. I'm still waking up every 3 hours, but last night, she slept from 3am till almost 9am, skipping the 6:30 feeding.

Some days, we are out and about, and other days, we stay home all day. When we're home, we do baths, have tummy time, and air time (no diaper).

--Monday night, Tony had a J-townvoice meeting, so Maiya & I went to have Thai food with Monica and the very adorable 2 1/2 year old Dyami.
--Tuesday night, we went to The Talpa for dinner, then went to visit Grandpa Larry and Uncle Bill.
--On Wednesday morning, we went to visit my cousins, Cherie & Roxane. Cherie is visiting with her husband Didier and two boys from France, so it was great to see them. Then, we went from there to Great Leap, where we visited phloe, Luke & Harry. Lily stopped by too.
--Yesterday, we stayed home all day, and I went grocery shopping after Tony came home from work, then we had a visit from Arvin last night.
--Today, after her bath and filing the tax extension, we're going to go run some errands.

When Maiya's awake, she's much more alert now. She "talks" with Max the Monkey, when you put him up on the mobile above her pack n' play. When you put her to the mirror, she will flirt with herself and laughs at herself. She smiles widely and will follow a picture of Bert & Ernie when you move it from side-to-side. Last night, Tony put "Lamb-y," a soft fuzzy white lamb rattle in her right hand, and she brought her left hand up to hold it in both hands. Tony said that she's a genius. I think he's right.

BIG LA

Los Angeles County:  10,179,716 (July 1, 2004 estimate)
City of Los Angeles:    3,912,200 (January 1, 2004 estimate)

Did You Know? If Los Angeles County were an independent nation, it would have the 14th largest economy in the world, larger than that of either Australia, Netherlands, Russia, Taiwan, or Switzerland.

Source: California Dept. of Finance; Demographic Research Unit

Ma(i)ya Wrap

Maiya Hanging with Daddy, 2 months old

I am reading a great book about Attachment Parenting, a nurturing style that encourages parents to trust and follow their instincts for child-rearing based on the baby's needs that responds attentively to baby's cries, minimizes the parent-child separation, avoids "sleep training" (scheduled feedings), etc. We have found that it supports and validates a lot of the things we are doing to bond with Maiya such as breastfeeding on demand, co-sleeping, cloth diapering, no pacifiers, etc. They also encourage "wearing" your baby as much as possible in cloth carriers, and limiting use of plastic infant carrier buckets, strollers, swings and bouncers.

So, yesterday morning, Maiya was fussing and just inconsolable. So, I put her in the Baby Bjorn. No sooner had I strapped her in, she fell asleep. I "wore" her on my chest for 2 hours, going for a walk, working on the computer, folding laundry, while she slept happily snuggled close to me. In the evening, she was crying, actually I would say she was screaming. I told Tony about what I had done earlier in the day, and we decided to put her in the Maya Wrap Sling, or what we call the Ma(i)ya Wrap (haha). Tony put on the sling, we adjusted it for him, and put her in it (photo above), and went for a leisurely walk in the neighborhood. She stopped crying, fell asleep, and was calm the rest of the evening. It was a beautiful thing.

(Source: Attachment Parenting: Instinctive Care for Your Baby and Young Child by Katie Allison Granju)

Japanese American icon Fred Korematsu passes away

THE PASSING OF A CONSTITUTIONAL LAW LEGEND

Fred Korematsu, who President Bill Clinton described as helping to widen the circle of democracy by fighting for human rights, by righting social wrongs, and by empowering others to achieve, passed away on Wednesday afternoon (March 30th) at his daughter's home. He died of respiratory failure at the age of 86.

Born in Oakland, California on January 30, 1919 and an American citizen by birth, Korematsu was among 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry living on the West Coast when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In the ensuing months, the Army issued orders rounding up these Americans into 10 Internment camps, each surrounded by barbed wire and machine gun towers and located in desolate regions from California to Arkansas.

Korematsu defied the military orders, evaded authorities and was ultimately arrested and jailed in 1942. He appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that it was unconstitutional for the government to incarcerate Americans without charges, vidence or trial. He lost. In its 1944 landmark decision, the high court ruled against him, declaring that the Internment was not caused by racism, but rather, was justified by the Army's claims that Japanese Americans were radio-signaling enemy ships from shore, and were prone to disloyalty. The court called the Internment, a military necessity.

In a stinging dissent, Justice Jackson complained about the lack of any evidence to justify the Internment, writing ??the Court for all time has validated the principle of racial discrimination?and of transplanting American citizens. The principle then lies about like a loaded weapon ready for the hand of any authority that bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need.? Constitutional law scholars have referred to the 1944 case as a civil liberties disaster.

Korematsu's case stood for almost 40 years until Professor Peter Irons with the help of Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, researching government's archives, stumbled upon secret Justice Department documents. Among them were memos written in 1943 and 1944 by Edward Ennis, the Justice Department attorney responsible for supervising the drafting of the government?s brief. As Ennis began searching for evidence to support the Army's claim that the Internment was necessary and justified, he found precisely the opposite -- that J. Edgar Hoover of the FBI, the FCC, the Office of Naval Intelligence and other authoritative intelligence agencies categorically denied that Japanese Americans had committed any wrong. Other memoranda characterized the government?s claims that Japanese Americans were spying as ?intentional falsehoods.? These official reports were never presented to the Supreme Court, having been intentionally suppressed and, in one case, destroyed by setting the report afire.

It was on this basis -- governmental misconduct -- that a legal team of pro bono attorneys successfully reopened Korematsu?s case in 1983, resulting in the erasure of his criminal conviction for defying the Internment.

During the litigation, Justice Department lawyers offered a pardon to Korematsu if he would agree to drop his lawsuit. In rejecting the offer, Kathryn Korematsu, his wife of 58 years remarked Fred was not interested in a pardon from the government; instead, he always felt that it was the government who should seek a pardon from him and from Japanese Americans for the wrong that was committed.

In throwing out Korematsu's 40 year old criminal conviction, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel of the US District Court of the Northern District of California wrote:

Korematsu remains on the pages of our legal and political history. As a legal precedent it is now recognized as having limited application. As a historical precedent it stands as a constant caution that in times of war or declared military necessity our institutions must be vigilant in protecting our constitutional guarantees. It stands as a caution that in times of distress the shield of military necessity and national security must not be used to protect governmental actions from close scrutiny and accountability. It stands as a caution that in times of international hostility and antagonisms our institutions, legislative, executive and judicial, must be prepared to protect all citizens from the petty fears and prejudices that are so easily aroused.

In 1998, Korematsu received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award. President Clinton's introduction of Korematsu reflects the significance of his achievements: In the long history of our country's constant search for justice, some names of ordinary citizens stand for millions of souls?Plessy, Brown, Parks?To that distinguished list, today we add the name of Fred Korematsu.

Korematsu has been the subject of numerous documentaries including the Emmy awarding film ?Of Civil Wrongs and Rights? co-produced by filmmaker Eric Fournier and Korematsu?s son, Ken Korematsu. His daughter Karen Korematsu-Haigh actively supported Korematsu's interest in civil rights, helping to found the Korematsu Civil Rights Fund sponsored by the Asian Law Caucus, the oldest Asian American public interest law firm in the nation. Karen remarked ?I know he was the country?s hero, but he was my personal hero.?

Other awards include honorary doctorates from the University of San Francisco, California State University Hayward, McGeorge School of Law, and the City University of New York Law School, and official recognition from the California State Senate.

Korematsu's other community activities include serving as past President of the San Leandro chapter of the Lion?s Club, and actively supporting the Boy Scouts of America. Funeral arrangements are pending.

Source: SUNNEWS wire

I Love to Read/March's First Fotos!

Just uploaded pictures of Maiya, the reader and March's "first fotos" of Maiya, her guests and travels to the www.kuidaosumi.com website.

On Being a SAHM

I think Maiya is going thru a growth spurt (7 weeks this week)... last night, she ate about every hour or so from 7pm till 3 am... and then she slept till 6:30 am. For the most part, I'm sleeping in increments of 10 minutes to 3 hours, but aside from being tired in the evenings, I'm functioning pretty well. Must be the fact that I'm getting so much love back from my little girl, who is much more alert these days, smiling a lot and even has a chuckle that is just so cute.

Yesterday, I left Maiya with Tony for 5 hours! That's the longest I've been away from her since she was born. I went to Great Leap to take the staff out to lunch at Zip Fusion Sushi (our favorite lunch place). it was wierd being back at the office after being gone the last 3 months. After lunch, I was about to start downloading all my personal files off the computer, but the CD burner wasn't working and there was over a gigabyte of stuff i had on the computer. So, I realized that i really don't need all that stuff i've been hoarding and i should go thru it b/4 just bringing all that clutter onto my home computer. That, and this mama's breasts were full and heavy and I needed to get home. In any case, Maiya took two bottles of thawed breastmilk and although she was a bit fussy, she took her first bottle since she was 8 days old.

It's so funny how last year this time (actually for the last 10+ years), I had commitments 2-4 nights a week, coming home from 8-11 pm on a regular basis, and often had weekend meetings, work/arts-related performances or community/political events to attend, and since January I have been home-home-home. I'm seriously enjoying being home. Am I now a housewife? A Stay-At-Home Mom? In many ways, even if motherhood is definitely lot of work, it's much easier than the lifestyle that has exhausted me for years. I still need to probably work on balance in my life, but I think that will even itself out as Maiya grows and develops.

Harvests Begin with the Seed (Tony's Blog #2)

Last month, Saturday, February 19, 2005, Jenni and I took Maiya to the annual Day of Remembrance (DOR) program in Little Tokyo. Organized by NCRR--Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress, it commemorates the signing of Executive Order 9066 by Franklin D. Rooservelt that forced 110,000 Japanese American into Concentration Camps during WWII. This year’s program was titled, When Loyalty is Questioned...from Tule Lake to Guantanamo.

When I told some of my high school students we were planning on going with Maiya, one said, “How come, she’s too young to remember.” She was right. At several weeks old, Maiya is too little. But like many religious and cultural traditions like Baptisms and first year birthday parties, taking Maiya was important because DOR represents the values we want Maiya to grow up with: honoring past struggles, using history to make connections to today, and standing up for justice. Along with connecting a new family tradition to NCRR’s DOR tradition, it was a treat to see Maiya surrounded by so many of her elders and their community spirit. She’ll have many role models to learn from.

So yes, Maiya won’t personally remember any of her first experiences she’s likely to take part in this year like “painting” the Little Tokyo mural, marching for peace against the the war in Iraq (and possibly Iran), walking the picket line for Assi Market workers in Koreatown, eating dinner at the Far East Café--or at least Paul’s Kitchen, and dancing the Tanko Bushi at summer Obon festivals. We also plan to visit Grace Lee Boggs (where she got her middle name) in Detroit and relatives in Washington and Idaho this summer. But Maiya will hear the stories, see the pictures and grow up knowing that her own life is intertwined with larger events and people. Along with taking care of her physical and psychological needs, Jenni and I also need to nurture her spiritually and build her community consciousness. She’ll grow knowing she has an important role to play in this world.

Gaining the heart and skills to build a new and more just society means experiencing community-building events in the same way bedtime stories, nursery rhymes, and alphabet play lay the foundation for a love of reading. It should be a process and a natural part of daily life. Jenni and I will have to think of ways to make these times interactive and age-appropriate. We hope it works out.

Link NCRR to http://www.ncrr-la.org/
Assi Market Workers--http://www.kiwa.org/e/homefr.htm

6 Weeks with Maiya G.

Maiya turned six weeks old this week. Hard to believe. She's such a dream. She's starting to be more alert during the day, looking around at things. We've been moving around quite a bit lately. We've been to two La Leche League meetings, gone for walks in the Baby Bjorn carrier or the stroller, running errands, going to doctors, and this morning we went to a Mommie & Me Yoga class. It was my first workout in many months, so I'm probably going to be sore tomorrow. What's cool is that you can bring your baby, nurse or hold her if necessary. She slept during the first half, and "watched" me during the second half. After we came back from yoga, it was bathtime. My brave, strong daughter likes the water and doesn't cry when taking a bath.

When she's fussy or gassy, I'm learning that she will calm down when we pick her up, and she will smile if I turn on India.Arie and start dancing with her and singing loudly. Sometimes. I'm also learning that a horrid day can be wiped out with a sideways glance up at me and a big smile.

Did you hear about the 1,000 protesters who picketed Arnold's $89,000 per couple fundraiser in Century City last night? He's got obviously very wealthy special interest individuals and businesses paying $89,000 for dinner with him, and he's complaining about "special interest" teachers, nurses and service union employees outside. Is that ironic or what?

Ok, well, enough for today. Time to feed the little munchkin. I'm putting my column which ran in yesterday's paper below.

Celebrating Life: Documenting Family & Community

Here's my most recent Rafu Shimpo column 3/16/05

I’ve been taking pictures like crazy! On February 1st, just six weeks ago, I gave birth to my first child, a beautiful baby girl, Maiya Grace Kuida-Osumi.

With my digital camera, I have taken close to 300 photos. I take pictures when Maiya sleeps, when she smiles, when she cries, when her daddy gives her a bath, after diaper changes, when we go for a walk, every time Maiya has a new visitor, and sometimes, just because she is just so darn cute.

I am also taking pictures with our 35 mm film camera, videotaping her, and doing my best to keep up our personal family website. In addition, I’m recording every feeding, every pee, every poop, with a brief journal entry of each day.

This is my life the last six weeks, but unfortunately, I have been to two funerals in the Japanese American community in the last few weeks. Both of which were very moving tributes that remind me of the importance of documenting family and community stories.

The first was a memorial service for Eddie Oshiro, who was tragically killed when a car hit him as he crossed the street in February. Eddie was 83 years old and a longtime resident of the San Pedro Firm Building, a low-income housing project operated by the Little Tokyo Service Center CDC (LTSC CDC).

Eddie took pictures every day. People who work, live or spend any amount of time in J-town undoubtedly have run into Eddie, and maybe had a snapshot taken by him. He took pictures of all kinds of people, and documented the changes taking place in Little Tokyo over the years.

At the funeral, Bill Watanabe from LTSC said that Eddie wasn’t just a picture taker, he was a picture giver. It’s true. Eddie would take your picture and then get a copy to you. A few months ago, we received a batch of photos taken by Eddie--some with my husband Tony as he led community tours for college students in Little Tokyo, and some of me, at Great Leap’s production of “To All Relations: Sacred Moon Songs” in the courtyard of East West Players last July.

I also learned that Eddie was a regular member at Centenary United Methodist Church and that he took pictures every week during the service. Reverend KarenFay Ramos-Young said that she has a shoebox filled with photos Eddie had taken of her children, documenting their growth from week-to-week over the last few years. Every person who spoke at Eddie’s service talked about how he had given them photos of themselves as well.

At the memorial service, Eddie spoke to us, through a video interview that had been shot by Sheri Kamimura for a project of LTSC, and produced by Tad Nakamura, a 2nd generation filmmaker. It was so great to see Eddie in action, taking photos and walking the streets of Little Tokyo, and passing out photos to his friends.

The other funeral I attended was for Gloria Uchida, who passed away after a 7-year battle with breast cancer. I first met Gloria about 10 or 11 years ago when I was volunteering for a community tree-planting day on Second Street in Little Tokyo. Gloria was the Little Tokyo Project Manager for the City’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and was so happy that young people were helping to beautify Little Tokyo. (In fact, if you want to see pictures of the tree-planting day, Eddie Oshiro took photos that are hanging on a poster board in the San Pedro Firm Building.)

I met Gloria again over the phone about 5 years ago through my work with Great Leap. She was interviewing me about a Great Leap project that I had applied for funding from Japanese American Community Services (JACS), an organization that has supported projects in Little Tokyo for decades. The project was to bring 1,000 kids to Little Tokyo to see one of Great Leap’s multicultural performances and visit the Japanese American National Museum. We spent several hours talking about the project, Great Leap, and Little Tokyo. She was so sharp, and I loved talking with her.

Then, I joined the Board of JACS a few years ago and met Gloria at one of the meetings. She was very sick, but she had been the heart and soul of JACS for decades and made an effort to meet with the new board members and pass on some of her knowledge of the organization’s 90+ year history (starting with the Shonien orphanage). I remember being immediately engaged in talking with her, and thinking how electric and vivid her eyes were as we spoke and how much she cared about the future of JACS.

At the funeral, I learned that through Gloria’s decades of work with the CRA, she had her hand in supporting countless buildings and projects in Little Tokyo. They showed a video montage of Gloria’s family photos, coincidentally also edited together by Tad, showing Gloria’s love for her family. It was very touching, and really reminded me how precious life is, and how important it is to spend quality time with family.

So I encourage Rafu readers to take pictures today or use any form of media that allows you to not only document life now--while the kids are still young and before a loved one passes away-- but to live life to its fullest. Both Eddie and Gloria were a part of J-town and they will definitely be missed and remembered.

Celebrating life, family and community. I gotta run. Baby Maiya is smiling and I just have to take a picture.

© 2005.

Save EV1! Stop GM from destroying cars

Have you heard about the Save EV1 campaign? I just saw a story on the local news this morning because one of the Baywatch babes was arrested yesterday in protest of the crushing of these electric vehicles. Apparently, GM made 1100 zero emission, zero pollution, petroleum-free electric cars in 1999, and is now destroying all remaining 77 of them. A group of environmental and clean-air activists are participating in a round the clock vigil outside the GM facility in Burbank to put the remaining EV1's back on the road, which GM is taking to Arizona to be crushed. Individuals have offered to purchase these remaining cars for $1.9 million, which were taken back after their leases ran out.

It doesn't make any sense to destroy these cars--especially when SUVs run amok in this state. Check out the campaign's website at www.saveev1.org. Then click to the section on how you can join me in helping support the vigil and save these cars from GM's senseless destruction. How un-green can you get. I mean really.

Take a Steroid, Kick a Woman

Here's an article from Counter Punch, a similar version is scheduled to run in the Nation. I highly recommend that you read this article.
 
Take a Steroid; Kick a Woman
By ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Back in the early 1990s, the right-wing taste of the year was Newt Gingrich. He led the Republican sweep into Congress in the 1994 mid-term elections. His "Contract With America" loomed in every headline. Liberals wailed that Gingrichism was invincible.

The counterattack began right in Gingrich's front yard, in Georgia. The Atlanta Central Labor Council and Jobs with Justice staged a noisy sit-in in Gingrich's local Congressional office and seized the headlines with stinging descriptions of the Contract as a cruel assault on the poor and the working class. For months, groups of union workers dogged the Congressman at his every stop across the country. This noisy guerrilla warfare rallied the faint-hearted and threw Gingrich, then Speaker of the House, off balance. By 1995 a rattled Gingrich had lost his touch, faltering badly in the famous budget face-off with Clinton.

In the 2000 Democratic primary campaign the AIDS coalition ACT UP (involved in the earlier Gingrich protests) adopted the same tactic against Al Gore, showing up wherever he made public appearances and shouting out protests at the rotten AIDS policies he'd signed on to. There weren't always many protesters, but they were always there, and they had an effect. Gore changed his line, and so did the Clinton Administration.

Now it's Arnold Schwarzenegger's turn. California's nurses have got him rattled, and it's already costing him. A February 23 Field Poll showed his approval ratings declining ten points since last September, a significant drop. One might have thought that it's a no-brainer to realize that kicking Florence Nightingale's butt is not a sure-fire way to the public's heart. But the Governor is so used to browbeating the press that he thought he could do the same to the California Nurses' Association (CNA), one of the most militant unions in the country, with 60,000 members and representing registered nurses at 171 health facilities throughout the state. Schwarzenegger has been trying to roll back the union's gains on nurse/ patient ratios, safety standards and kindred issues.

Schwarzenegger's version of Howard Dean's scream came in December in Long Beach. As the nurses barracked him during a speech, he denounced them as one of the "special interests" and said, "I'm always kicking their butt." This witty response from the breast-grabber got plenty of play, and did the nurses nothing but good. At a January Capitol protest in Sacramento the nurses carried coffins and had a New Orleans jazz group play a death march. During the Super Bowl they flew a small plane over the steroid-swollen Governor's party at his Santa Monica home. When he was in Washington they took out a full-page ad in Roll Call flaying his record. During a Schwarzenegger speech in a Sacramento hotel, nurses held up a banner saying RNs Say Stop the Power Grab.

On February 15, when Schwarzenegger and his platoons of body guards and flunkies trooped into a screening of Be Cool, 300 nurses demonstrated. Kelly DiGiacomo, 46 years old and 5'2", a nurse at a Kaiser hospital near Sacramento, had a ticket. She ensconced herself in the fourth row, wearing her nurse's scrubs.

A bodyguard rushed up, and under the pretext of a possible meeting with the governor, led her to a room with a California Highway Patrol cop at the door and began to grill DiGiacomo. A few days later a CHP investigator called. DiGiacomo asked why she should be considered a threat. The investigator replied, "Well, you were wearing a nurse's uniform." "Oh, sure, the international terrorist uniform," DiGiacomo scoffed. Californians scoffed with her when they saw the news stories. At least Bush and Cheney can claim they're being targeted by hairy men from the dark side of Mecca. Here's Arnold hiding behind his goons from the woman who cares for you when you're in the hospital.

Schwarzenegger's strategy has been to project an image-calculatedly fascistic in style-of irresistible momentum, aiming to crush all opposition with threats to go directly to the people with rallies backed by the mountains of corporate cash he's been raising since he was elected.

It's no idle threat. Schwarzenegger has a swollen war chest, albeit one that's also starting to get him bad press. One of the reasons Gray Davis, his predecessor in Sacramento, got recalled was his 24/7 addiction to fundraising. If anything, Schwarzenegger is even more relentless, with a corporate cash IV permanently stuck in his arm. Last year he raised $28.8 million, and this year he plans to raise at least another $50 million to promote his agenda.


Schwarzenegger's agenda is crudely simple: Attack and if possible destroy social safety nets in health, pensions, insurance, workers' comp, job security, education, etc., with a green light for business to pillage, outsource jobs and not pay taxes.

He's already tripped. Near the end of February Schwarzenegger was reportedly abandoning his proposal to abolish the independent Board of Registered Nursing, along with eighty-eight other regulatory and policy boards. But he's still planning to roll California into DeLay-style redestricting and to ramp up the use of "emergency" diktats to undercut democratic opposition from the legislature. One such example is in the area of healthcare: an emergency order by the Governor in November to roll back patient safety standards in California hospitals, reversing the intent of a 1999 law. A CNA lawsuit challenging that order will be heard in Sacramento Superior Court in early March.

You might have thought Schwarzenegger would have some sympathy for nurses, who incur long-term back trauma from having to haul patients up in bed, a task equivalent, on average, to lifting about 1.8 tons a day. No. The Governor vetoed a bill requiring hospitals (heavy Schwarzenegger donors) to install safe-lift policies and equipment. And yes, he vetoed another bill to educate school coaches about the dangers of steroids and performance-enhancing diet supplements.

As I said, political momentum is the key to Schwarzenegger's game. But what happens when you trip over a 5'2" woman in nurse's scrubs? You lose momentum. What happens when you start screaming abuse at nurses and teachers? What happens when you make working women your enemies? The humbled president of Harvard, Lawrence Summers, might want to have a word with Governor Schwarzenegger on that one.

March 2, 2005 

Happy One Month

Happy One Month Birthday to baby Maiya! Hard to believe it's been 4 weeks since our little love bug was born! We're off to a New Mother Breastfeeding support group at The Pump Station today!

First Month Fotos!

Finally, finally I updated the kuidaosumi website. I still haven't written the birth story, or some of the entries I had planned to write, but I put up some of the cuter photos from the first month. We have over 200 photos on our digital camera, and here are a select few for now at http://www.kuidaosumi.com/Updates/jenjournal.html

I have to say, we are lucky parents so far. Except for a few rough nights, she sleeps a lot, and often sleeping from 4-6 hours at night. I have been able to take naps in the evening, and that helps with getting up at night, and then getting up in the morning. This morning I actually woke up at 5:30 am and had to wait half an hour for Maiya to wake up. We have a co-sleeper, but often she ends up sleeping with us.

We have had a lot of support. Friends have been visiting, Tony's mom was here the first few nights (and at the birth), and my mom has been coming over about 2 days a week, cooking for us, doing laundry, helping me run errands, and taking pictures of Maiya. We've ventured out a little more... we went to the park where Tony & I got married, and went to the doctor's office and the Japanese market by ourselves. Did I mention that she was 9 lbs, 13 oz. at her 3 week appointment? She's moving around much more, able to wiggle herself around in bed, and her alert moments are increasing. During her last two baths, she hasn't cried at all.

As for me, I've already lost 28 pounds, yet my wrists, hands and fingers are experiencing a lot of pain from overuse. I'm exhausted, but happy. I'm appreciating every moment because I know that the first month will never come again!

Baby Activist

First let me start by sharing a picture of this lovely gift for Maiya which arrived in the mail from Peg (pegpower.com), one of my first online friends, and someone whom I haven't met in person yet. I was so touched when I opened it, I had to share it. People who are not bloggers don't always understand how online friendships can be very meaningful. Peg and I have shared our lives, good and bad, over the past few years. I love her dedication to her daughters Ashlyn & Summer and her generous nature and love towards her family and friends. So Peg, thank you so much for your gift of friendship.

Baby Maiya has had a series of firsts this week. First trip in the Baby Bjorn, first stroller ride, first La Leche League meeting, first shopping trip to Target, first community event in Little Tokyo, all of which she slept soundly through. Yesterday, we went to the annual Day of Remembrance event called "A Question of Loyalty From Tule Lake to Guantanamo Bay," which commemorated the 63rd anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 which sent Japanese Americans to concentration camps during WW2. The program included speakers Salam Al-Marayati from the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Hamid Khan from South Asian Network.

As we arrived, it started to rain, so we had to maneuver the stroller thru the streets of J-town. We were over an hour late and had to sit upstairs in the overflow room and watch the program via big screen TV. Then, just as the program was ending, Maiya woke up and needed to be nursed. Afterwards, we went downstairs and introduced sleeping Maiya to her community of friends, aunties and uncles, who seemed to enjoy staring at her, just like her daddy and I do.

Patty, Steve and Kelsey brought Maiya a red t-shirt that says "ACTIVIST" across the front of it, which they bought in San Francisco at a museum with an exhibit of the same title. So at less than 3 weeks, that was Maiya's first introduction to the political and community life that her parents hope she absorbs and embraces as she grows up.

Maiya's Two Week Milestones

It's hard to believe that Baby Maiya is already 2 weeks old as of yesterday. I know people are waiting to hear the details about Maiya's birth story and Jenni's labor, but that will have to wait for now.

It's hard to believe that she's finally here and in our lives. Our lives will never be the same. You would be shocked to see me and Tony as parents. For two people who had collectively changed literally 3 diapers in the last 20 years, we are now old pros and can change a diaper, while singing, and in our sleep! We obviously have much to learn and Baby Maiya is teaching us what it's like to be parents.

She is an angel, so beautiful. When she's hungry, she's ferocious and girlfriend uses her powerful lungs to let us know what she wants. Right now, she's propped up on a blanket on the couch, sleeping in the crook of Tony's arm. Hard to say who will sleep longer--Daddy's girl loves to sleep!

2 Week Milestones:
* Maiya is starting to lift her head more.
* Maiya can manuever from burp position on my neck to the feeding position with 3 strong head bobs.
* Maiya can turn her head from side-to-side during tummy time.
* Maiya smiles often in her sleep.
* Maiya can focus on our voices and turn her head when we call to her
* Maiya can grab my glasses and fling them off my face (grabs necklace and hair as well)
* Maiya's umbilical cord fell off on day 12.
* Maiya used 73 cloth diapers in the first 6 days at home (73 diapers saved from landfill!)
* Jenni lost over 20 pounds in the first 2 weeks.
* At 15 days old, Maiya is 9 lbs, 2 oz and growing!

Maiya Grace & Ossie Davis

Our 13 day old daughter Maiya Grace was named after me and Tony's dear friend and mentor, Grace Lee Boggs, an 89 year old Detroit-based movement activist from the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership. Grace is author of the highly recommended book, "Living for Change." Maiya Grace is connected to the esteemed Ossie Davis, because one of Grace Lee Boggs' dearest friends was Ossie, who we met at briefly at Grace's 88th birthday party in Detroit (photo below). Here is an article that Grace wrote upon Ossie's passing.


OSSIE DAVIS
RENAISSANCE MAN OF THE PEOPLE
By Grace Lee Boggs
Michigan Citizen, Feb. 13-19, 2005

It is hard to accept that Ossie Davis has made his transition. He was scheduled to come to Detroit in May to receive an award from the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies and to be guest of honor at the premiere of Professional Revolutionary: The Life of Saul Wellman, a documentary about the legendary political activist and survivor of the Spanish Civil War, World War II and McCarthyism.

We were also going to celebrate my 90th birthday with a conversation at the Boggs Center.

I was so looking forward to that conversation.

Like millions of others, I honor Ossie Davis for his gifts and achievements: his majestic voice and imposing presence, his plays and performances, his (and Ruby∂s) blazing the trail for generations of black artists and actors, his (and Ruby∂s) courage and skill in integrating their citizenship/political/Movement lives with their
professional lives.

But I especially cherished Ossie as a black man who, like my late husband Jimmy Boggs, had been born and raised in the Jim Crow South in the early 20th Century, had been part of the Progressive movement after World War II, had refused to be intimidated by the McCarthyism and anti-Communism of the 950s, had marched with Martin and also described Malcolm as "our black shining Prince" in the 1960s, and was helping to build the new movement we now need as we enter the 21st century.

Despite the demands on him as an actor and speaker, Ossie always made time to do benefit performances for Detroit Summer and to sit down with young people who wanted to know how he and Ruby had been able to stay married for so long and/or how they had been able to make their livings as artists and actors without selling out.

Among the questions I wanted to explore with him:

* What have blacks and the country lost because of the integration that was achieved by the civil rights struggles? How does one deal with the new contradictions that arise from successful struggles?

* Why was it so important for blacks and the country that blacks refused to be intimidated by McCarthyism?

* What did he learn from growing up in the rural South that might help young blacks raised in urban ghettoes?

* Why did Jimmy think that "being locked in racism was the most devastating thing that had ever happened to us"?

At Jimmy's Memorial celebration in 1993 Ossie described how he had often been "born again" through encounters with Jimmy. This is how he summed up their last meeting.

Jimmy was ill and couldn∂t come to the program. But when I got to the house, he immediately embraced me with one hand and with the other gave me three pages on which. were the questions which had to be
resolved to make this an intelligent and decent society. So Jimmy gave me my assignment, and reading the questions and his thoughts and propositions about them, once again I was born again. Because I came across the concept that Racism as we had used it in our struggle was no longer valid. Racism was indeed a very small designation of what the problems were. What we needed to do was enlarge our frame of reference. Our struggle indeed could only be meaningful if it was a struggle in which everybody was fought for instead of fought over; nobody was any greater or any less than anyone else. The struggle in its purest sense had to be focused on elevating the lives of all the people.

NEWSFLASH: Tony Blogs for First Time!

I love to write, but I've never blogged. Not sure why. Jenni's voice has been the one to document her/our life over the last few years on-line. But with her nursing Maiya and me feeling like I don't want the moment to pass, here I am.

After Maiya's birth, I called my dad and said, "Hi Grandpa!" He shot back, "Hi Dad!" It caught me off guard. Teacher, muralist, hapa, lover of food and justice--those things I've heard and felt, but "Dad," that was a new one. 40 weeks of secondary role-pregnancy kind of got me thinking about it, but holding Maiya, tallking motherese, changing diapers, swaddling, washing pumps and bottles, and feeling proud, nervous and more has brought me into parenthood.

Let me first say, Jenni did some hard beautiful work for 24 hours (not counting 13 hours before when the water began leaking). Several years ago when she contemplated having children, she worried a lot about the pain. Well, for a person who says she has a low threshold of pain, she was super solid. Men, that's some work to be admired.

My mom, Nobuko and Laura and Mike were right there when it got nitty gritty and Jenni got guttural. Like dueling doulas, mom and Nobuko were dynamic. Singing, chanting massaging, comforting and guiding. At delivery, my mom and I supported Jenni's legs as she pushed. I saw Maiya make her way out and got to cut the cord.

Today is Maiya's 7 day birthday. But let me thank all those that have helped out over the last 41 weeks and even before. To all of Jenni's blogger friends who've been e-normously supportive. All the family and folks that organized and came to the baby showers and were so generous. Every cloth diaper comes from the community. Also thanks to family and friends that came over to help get the house ready with packing up, moving furniture, prepping and rolling paint, setting up baby furniture, cooking meals, bringing food and just being great family and friends with advice, encouragement and congradulations. Righteously collective and cooperative. Thank you thank you.

Gotta go. Maiya needs to be cuddled.

Tony--Jenni's husband

Welcome Baby Maiya!

We are so unbelievably happy to announce the long-awaited arrival of our new baby! I only have a minute to post, so here are the quick stats:

Maiya Grace Kuida-Osumi
Born Tuesday, February 1st.
8 lbs., 11 oz.
20 1/2" long.

My water broke on Monday morning at 4:10 am, and she was born the following night at 5:41 pm, so if you do the math it was a 37 1/2 hour process, that had many ups and downs, but the end result is just the most amazing thing, We are enamored with our new beautiful little girl, and are adjusting to parenthood, and already she is teaching us many new things about being parents. Stay tuned for the delivery story and updates on parenthood from me and Tony.

Come into the circle, circle of life
Welcome to the dream of a paradise
What was once a ruin can be reborn
Just like sun appearing after a storm

Sun above, earth below,
seeds of love, let the children grow,
I... Dream a Garden!

Reporting In

Just reporting in to report that there's no update with the countdown at 4 days till due date. Last night contractions were 2-5 minutes apart for an hour, so I thought this was it. Again. Went to sleep, waking up every 20-40 minutes until 4 am without contractions, then up till 5:30 pm. This has been going on for weeks. I did find that the glider (rocking chair) that we borrowed from Sergio and Steph is the most comfortable seat in the house.

Self-Care and Movies

Yes, still waiting. I so am ready for this baby to come. Went and had a manicure/pedicure today, and treated my friend Laura to her first mani/pedi for her b-day. Best part was the hands, feet and shoulder massage that goes with it. So, I will have nice nails when the baby arrives. Then I went and ran a bunch of errands, including over an hour at the grocery store trying to stock up on foodies. Got stuff to make 2 lasagnas, but by the time I got home, I ran out of energy to actually make them. Maybe tomorrow. I don't know if I've mentioned this, but I haven't worked in 27 days, and that's definitely the longest break from work I've ever had in my 20 year work history. I don't think I've ever had more than a week and a half off without being out of town or out of the country.

As part of my additional self-care in waiting for baby and keeping my feet elevated (severe feet and hand swelling), I have watched a lot of DVDs this month. Here is my star rating with 1star being worst, and 4 stars best.

Meet the Fockers** - worth seeing for Barbra Streisand and Dustin Hoffman. They stole the movie! Oh wait, we saw this on New Year's Eve at the theater. The only other movie I saw in a theater in 2004 was Fahrenheit 911, which I highly recommend.
Manchurian Candidate*** - pretty good. Meryl Streep is amazing in her role as a powerful senator, and Denzel Washington is totally great. I needed to watch the director's comments to pick up on some of the storyline that confused me in the first viewing. This is an anti-war movie that has a strong political message by the screenwriter and director.
Day After Tomorrow**- fell asleep during the viewing, and the next day while watching the director's comments. There's a strong political commentary about the environment, but still I couldn't keep my eyes open.
Collateral*** - pretty good movie. I was surprised that it takes place in LA and shows a lot of diversity of LA within the story. Shabaka Henley (his wife Paulina is a long-time Great Leap artist) has a pretty big role. A little too much violence for me, but Jamie Foxx' performance is worth watching. He's fine.
Happiest Baby on the Block*** - for parents of infants, this is a pretty good DVD of some ways to calm a crying baby.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle* - what a waste of my time. This is not my kind of humor. It was pretty stupid, very sophomoric humor --but Tony was laughing hysterically. I pulled out the laptop and surfed the web until it was over.
The Forgotten*** - I really liked this very suspenseful movie. You really feel for Julianne Moore's character in her refusal to forget about her son.
Love Actually**** - I'm a sap for a romantic comedy. This one has about 10 different stories and you just get caught up in all of them. The best story was the one with Liam Neeson (sp?). I was surprised how much I loved this one.
Secret Window *** - Ooh, this thriller had me jumping out of my skin. I haven't seen Johnny Depp in years, he's a fun actor to watch.

Ok, that's my little movie review for the month. I think I saw others, but these are the ones I remember. Any other movie recommendations for me?

Mama Who Cried Wolf - Monday, Monday

I think I had something like 39 Braxton Hicks contractions on Sunday. Yesterday morning (Monday), I was having contractions every 4-6 minutes from 3am to 5am. I was so sure this was it, I woke Tony about 3:30 am (who had gone to sleep at 2am). My breath was very short, so I did some deep breathing. I started to get confused and wondered if I should call my birth coaches, wake everyone up and get my a$$ to the hospital. I was exhausted, after Tony spent 6 hours to put our new TV antenna up in the attic, and rearranging furniture, and not getting enough sleep. I thought, oh, I just need to rest a few more hours b/4 going into labor. I went and took a long shower and by 5am, they stopped and I fell asleep till about 10:30 am. False alarm.

I woke up and talked to Fran, my in-house nurse midwife (Tony's mom) and she assured me this was natural, and said it could be another week! Aiyah! Lily came knocking at my door, and was kind enough to do a Costco run for me. Frozen ravioli, toothbrush refills, a gallon of Naked Juice OJ. Ate a little breakfast, puttered around, talked to Tarabu (Interim Managing Director at GL who is filling in for me after 7 years on the job) for half an hour, talked to Juliet (new Manzanar Committee Secretary who is handling a lot of stuff I've been doing the last 7 years) for about an hour and a half.

Had a little lunch, made some hardboiled eggs, then settled in on the couch with a grape Dreyer's Frozen Fruit bar, a People magazine and watched Ellen. Tony came home from work, and we/I napped until almost 7:00, when Juliet came over. We ordered pizza, made edamame and a delicious salad for dinner. I showed her how to update the Manzanar website (http://www.manzanarcommittee.org), and helped her with some strategies on handling this year's pilgrimage, which has a pretty full and amazing agenda this year. It felt good to do some community work, since I have been on hiatus from the committee the past 4 months.

After Juliet left last night, Tony awoke from a 6 hour nap, and we watched Jay Leno and the tribute to Johnny Carson. Some pretty funny moments. I didn't record any noticeable contractions the entire day. It's now, Tuesday morning, Jan. 25. I like odd numbered days. Maybe today is the day that our baby will be born?

Back Up? For Now, At Least

So, I think I'm back up--but just temporarily. So you can click back to my regular journal page, but if you don't see me updating there, it's either cause i can't get to my computer, or some other reason, like I'm at the hospital giving birth.

Yesterday, I went to visit baby Kevin, my new nephew. I got to do a poopy diaper change and a feeding. It was fun! I was having contractions in the car all the way home. Today, Ayako came over and brought lunch. It was nice to catch up. Been having lots of contractions. Funny how when I'm up straightening the house for 15 minutes, they come every 3 minutes, and as soon as I lie down, they go away. This pattern has been going on for days, so I think it's getting closer. Today, Tony put the infant seat base in the car. But, still no agreed upon boy's name. Hey, we're working on it.

Have you found kuidaosumi.com here?

Hi friends, family, bloggers, just wondering if you found your way here via my kuidaosumi.com blog. Yeah, it's a drag. Ever since we got DSL, we've been having problems with our computer and now we can't even boot up our computer, so I've been unable to update. But, since our baby is due in 10 days, people are wondering, emailing and calling to see if we had the baby early.

No. Not yet.

So anyways, yes, we are still waiting for baby. If my normal blog page still looks screwy, check back here until I can fix it. In the meantime, I'm glad I kept this blogger account open. If you haven't been on my blogger for awhile, feel free to check out some of the things I've been putting up here, mostly political things, articles, links to songs, random thoughts, etc.

Do me a favor, can you leave me a comment here so I can see if people are getting here? If not, I'll put the old page back up and ya'll will just have to wonder. Did Tony & Jenni have their baby? Was it a girl or a boy? What did they finally name it? Did they ever finish their home improvements?

Peace. Out.

Baby... House... Update...

So, we finally got DSL, but that involved us upgrading to OSX, which has caused numerous problems with perpherals and now finally, our computer has completely not working the last week. So I'm unable to update kuidaosumi.com.

We're at 38 weeks, so people might be stopping by and thinking that we've had the baby. We have not. We still don't have a boy's name, although we have a few top names for girls picked out. As you can tell by the picture on the home page (January photo of the month), I am huge. I'm moving slowly. My pelvic pain is slightly better, but I've had much more pressure since the baby dropped down. Still not sleeping well, but am using the hours to get things done, and I'm lucky that I'm able to take naps in the mornings and afternoons. Yesterday, we got our first delivery of cloth diapers, that was pretty exciting.

Our house stuff is coming together, we're not finished, but things are much more organized and livable. Seems like I'm constantly cleaning and straightening up the house.

Today was the inauguration of the idiot who stole the White House. Again. Ughh. I tried to stay away from network TV or news today. So today is like a day of mourning. I didn't know about the economic boycott for today. Too bad, cause I went to Trader Joe's with my auntie and stocked up on some groceries.

That's about it.

Water & Disasters

By Shea Howell
Michigan Citizen, Jan.16-22, 2005

For the last two weeks much of the media has focused on the tsunami disaster. We have seen the horror of whole communities
destroyed. Hearts around the world have been moved by the horrible loss of life and the daunting challenge to rebuild life amidst devastation.

The contrast between the vivid images of this disaster created by earthquake and water and the dull, dim images of the devastation of Iraq created by bombs and bullets is worth considering.

The wave killed 100,000 people in Indonesia‹so far. The death toll in Iraq is 100,000 people‹so far. By now most Americans have hundreds of images of the human dimensions of loss in Indonesia. Yet we have only vague images of the deaths created by our bombs and bullets.

This contrast is not by accident. Nor can it be explained away by the distinction between an unexpected natural disaster and the
slow, steady spreading of death through military conflict.

Most of the mainstream media has focused on this war through the eyes of the military and the political goals of the Bush
administration. Media coverage, when it happens, is of attacks by insurgents on American troops. We have vivid images‹usually from a distance--of car bombs. Or we hear of the attacks on American-backed Iraqis as insurgents unleash their fury on those
whom they view as collaborators. These stories are cast against the backdrop of the drive toward meaningless elections.

What we don∂t see are the stories of the deaths and lives of everyday Iraqi children, women and men. Most of us have no idea that the simple act of getting drinking water is still a major problem for almost everyone in central and south Iraq. People are drinking from filthy streams. Wells cannot function because of the lack of electricity. Ground water has been polluted by raw sewage and water treatment plants have yet to be rebuilt.

The lack of clean, safe, dependable water is a daily problem and creating a public health catastrophe. The restoration of the water supply is the responsibility of Bechtel. On April 17, 2003 this giant corporation was awarded a no-bid contract of $680 million behind closed doors. In September this was raised to $1.03 billion. Then Bechtel won an additional contract worth $1.8 billion to extend its program through December 2005.

Of course, we get little news of Bechtel∂s failure. Nor do we get images of the horrendous results created by the lack of basic
sanitation. We have little idea of what doctors are seeing in their daily work. In Fallujah, for example, the General Hospital was seized in order to keep out reporters and to keep doctors from reporting out. Doctors report typhoid, cholera and the very rare hepatitis type-E as common.

Medicine and materials are in short supply. Qasim al-Nuwesri, the head manager there, said, "We are short of every medicine. It is forbidden, but sometimes we have to reuse IV's, even the needles. We have no choice."

Nearly three-quarters of Fallujah has by now been bombed or shelled into rubble. The devastation of that town is as complete as if a giant wave had moved over it, flattening all in its path. Slowly reports are coming forward claiming the wave got its destructive force from chemical and phosphorous weapons. There are growing reports of the use of cluster bombs.

Many in Indonesia say they now curse the sea that brought them such destruction. How can we possibly think the Iraqi people
will not come to the same conclusion about the source of their pain?

LETTER FROM THE MANAGING DIRECTOR…

12/30/04

Dear Friends of Great Leap:

Happy New Year! After 7 years as Great Leap’s Managing Director, I will be going on an extended maternity leave of absence beginning January 1, 2005. My partner Tony Osumi and I are expecting a baby in late January/early February.

When I began here at Great Leap in 1997, our main focus was establishing Great Leap as a theater-based national touring company, reaching children and college audiences of up to 50,000 each year with our multicultural performances. Some of these performances on our roster included, “A Slice of Rice,” “A Grain of Sand,” “A Slice of Rice, Frijoles and Greens,” and the “Grain of Sand Reunion Concert Trio.”

While we still tour quite a bit, we have expanded on that each year by adding the “To All Relations” community residencies which we have made friends in Phoenix, San Jose, Detroit, Watts and Boyle Heights. Our most recent residency, “Sacred Moon Songs” has been a great collaboration artistically, socially and spiritually. We have also begun work on COLLABORATORY, an initiative designed to invigorate Great leap with new talent and usher in the next generation of diverse community artist-leaders. In 2005, we look forward to the world and local premieres of the long-awaited theater production, “The Triangle Project: Journey of the Dandelion” featuring Nobuko, Yoko Fujimoto of KODO and PJ Hirabayashi of San Jose Taiko.

I have grown so much in the past 7 years. I have learned much about the struggles and successes of non-profit life in a nurturing multi-ethnic arts environment under Nobuko’s leadership and commitment to community art-making. I am great-ful for the many friends I have gained working with the Great Leap community/family of artists, staff, board members, donors, funders and the very receptive Great Leap audiences. Likewise, Great Leap has grown in the past 7 years. Our annual budget has doubled; we now have Harry Um, Development Associate, phloe pontaoe, Booking Coordinator, and Luke Patterson, who is being promoted to Administrative Coordinator, our talented and dedicated staff working with us in the Leaper office.

I would like to also announce that Tarabu Betserai Kirkland will be stepping in as the Interim Managing Director from January–April 2005. In May 2005, I will return to Great Leap as a Board Member and plan to work from home on a limited basis, until a new Managing Director can be hired and acclimated. I am so great-ful to Tarabu for his incredible knowledge and wisdom, as he guides Great Leap’s programs and development activities in the coming months, and works with the board and staff during a time of continued re-visioning and transition for Great Leap.

As we plan for 2005 and beyond, we look towards sustaining our organization and continued growth, development of programs and funding in a time of extreme cutbacks in funding at all levels. I hope you will stay with us, continuing to support us with your generous contributions, love and energy.

Peace and all my love,

Jennifer Kuida
Managing Director

Corporate Support of Repubs vs. Dems

BEFORE YOU SHOP!

Be aware which corporations helped re-elect Bush and which support Democrats. Vote with your pocketbook this holiday season. With the holidays upon us, some of us might wish to be mindful of who we patronize relative to their 2000 Election Cycle political donations, as reported by the Center for Responsive Politics. [Would be interesting to have the 2004 statistics, but they seem not to be available yet.]

Shopping?

Price Club/Costco donated $225K, of which 99% went to democrats;
WalMart, $467K, 97% to republicans;
K-Mart, $524K, 86% to republicans;
Home Depot, $298K, 89% to republicans;
Target, $226K, 70% to republicans;
Circuit City Stores, $261K, 95% to republicans;
Rite Aid, $517K, 60% to democrats;
Magla Products (Stanley tools, Mr. Clean), $22K, 100% to democrats;
3M Co., $281K, 87% to republicans;
Hallmark Cards, $319K, 92% to republicans;
Amway, $391K, 100% republican;
Kohler Co. (plumbing fixtures), $283K, 100% republicans;
Warnaco (undergarments), $55K, 73% to democrats;
B.F. Goodrich (tires), $215K, 97% to republicans;
Proctor & Gamble, $243K, 79% to republicans;
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, $153K, 99% to democrats;
Estee Lauder, $448K, 95% to democrats;
Guess ? Inc., $145K, 98% to democrats;
Calvin Klein, $78K, 100% to democrats;
Liz Claiborne, Inc., $34K, 97% to democrats;
Levi Straus, $26K, 97% to democrats;
Olan Mills, $175K, 99% to democrats.

Spirits?

Coors, $174K, 92% to republicans (and he is anti-Semitic); (also Budweiser - sd)
Gallo Winery, $337K, 95% to democrats;
Brown-Forman Corp. (Southern Comfort, Jack Daniels, Bushmills, Korbel wines - as well as Lennox China, Dansk, Gorham Silver), $644, 80% to republicans;
Southern Wine & Spirits, $213K, 73% to democrats;
Joseph E. Seagrams & Sons (includes beverage business, plus considerable media interests), $2M+, 67% democrats.

Hungry?

Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (chicken), $366K, 100% republican;
Outback Steakhouse, $641K, 95% republican;
Sonic Corporation, $83K, 98% democrat;
Tricon Global Restaurants (KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell), $133K, 87% republican;
Brinker International (Maggiano's, Brinker Cafe, Chili's, On the Border, Macaroni Grill, Crazymel's, Corner Baker, EatZis), $242K, 83% republican;
Triarc Companies (Arby's, T.J. Cinnamon's, Pasta Connections), $112K, 96% democrats;
Waffle House, $279K, 100% republican;
McDonald's Corp., $197K, 86% republican;
Darden Restaurants (Red Lobster, Olive Garden, Smokey Bones, Bahama Breeze), $121K, 89% republican;

Hyatt Corporation, $187K, 80% to democrats;
Marriott International, $323K, 81% to republicans;
Holiday Inns, $38K, 71% to republicans

Margi Dunlap
Executive Director

International Institute of San Francisco
(415) 538-8110 - phone
(415) 538-8111 - fax
mdunlap@iisf.org

The Great Peace March

I'm going to see Holly Near tonight! She is my all time favorite singer ever.

GREAT PEACE MARCH

Ancient eyes are watching in the night
The stars come out to guide the way
The sun still shines despite the clouds
And the dawn is dusk is dawn is dusk is day

Farmers rise and dream to feed the world
The world awakes to feed the heart
Hearts beat while a thousand flags are waving
And the farmer sees a dream has played a part

Chorus:
We will have peace, we will because we must
We must because we cherish life
And believe it or not, as daring as it may seem
It is not an empty dream
To walk in a powerful path
Neither the first nor the last great peace march
Life is a great and mighty march
Forever for love and for life on the great peace march

Are you black like night or red like clay
Are you gold like sun or brown like earth
Grey like mist or white like moon
My love for you is the reason for my birth

Peace can start with just one heart
From a small step to leaps and bounds
A walk becomes a race for time
And a brave child calls out from the crowd

17 Reasons Not to Slit Your Wrists

11/5/04

Dear Friends,

Ok, it sucks. Really sucks. But before you go and cash it all in, let's, in the words of Monty Python, 'always look on the bright side of life!' There IS some good news from Tuesday's election.

Here are 17 reasons not to slit your wrists:

1. It is against the law for George W. Bush to run for president again.

2. Bush's victory was the NARROWEST win for a sitting president since Woodrow Wilson in 1916.

3. The only age group in which the majority voted for Kerry was young adults (Kerry: 54%, Bush: 44%), proving once again that your parents are always wrong and you should never listen to them.

4. In spite of Bush's win, the majority of Americans still think the country is headed in the wrong direction (56%), think the war wasn't worth fighting (51%), and don't approve of the job George W. Bush is doing (52%). (Note to foreigners: Don't try to figure this one out.  It's an American thing, like Pop Tarts.)

5. The Republicans will not have a filibuster-proof 60-seat majority in the Senate. If the Democrats do their job, Bush won't be able to pack the Supreme Court with right-wing ideologues. Did I say "if the Democrats do their job?" Um, maybe better to scratch this one.

6. Michigan voted for Kerry! So did the entire Northeast, the birthplace of our democracy. So did 6 of the 8 Great Lakes States. And the whole West Coast! Plus Hawaii. Ok, that's a start. We've got most of the fresh water, all of Broadway, and Mt. St. Helens. We can dehydrate them or bury them in lava. And no more show tunes!

7. Once again we are reminded that the buckeye is a nut, and not just any old nut -- a poisonous nut. A great nation was felled by a poisonous nut. May Ohio State pay dearly this Saturday when it faces Michigan.

8. 88% of Bush's support came from white voters. In 50 years, America will no longer have a white majority. Hey, 50 years isn't such a long time! If you're ten years old and reading this, your golden years will be truly golden and you will be well cared for in your old age.

9. Gays, thanks to the ballot measures passed on Tuesday, cannot get married in 11 new states. Thank God. Just think of all those wedding gifts we won't have to buy now.

10. Five more African Americans were elected as members of Congress, including the return of Cynthia McKinney of Georgia. It's always good to have more blacks in there fighting for us and doing the job our candidates can't.

11. The CEO of Coors was defeated for Senate in Colorado. Drink up!

12. Admit it: We like the Bush twins and we don't want them to go away.

13. At the state legislative level, Democrats picked up a net of at least 3 chambers in Tuesday's elections. Of the 98 partisan-controlled state legislative chambers (house/assembly and senate), Democrats went into the 2004 elections in control of 44 chambers, Republicans controlled 53 chambers, and 1 chamber was tied. After Tuesday, Democrats now control 47
chambers, Republicans control 49 chambers, 1 chamber is tied and 1 chamber (Montana House) is still undecided.

14. Bush is now a lame duck president. He will have no greater moment than the one he's having this week. It's all downhill for him from here on out -- and, more significantly, he's just not going to want to do all the hard work that will be expected of him. It'll be like everyone's last month in 12th grade -- you've already made it, so it's party time! Perhaps he'll treat the
next four years like a permanent Friday, spending even more time at the ranch or in Kennebunkport. And why shouldn't he? He's already proved his point, avenged his father and kicked our ass.

15. Should Bush decide to show up to work and take this country down a very dark road, it is also just as likely that either of the following two scenarios will happen: a) Now that he doesn't ever need to pander to the Christian conservatives again to get elected, someone may whisper in his ear that he should spend these last four years building "a legacy" so that history will render a kinder verdict on him and thus he will not push for too aggressive a right-wing agenda; or b) He will become so cocky and arrogant -- and thus, reckless -- that he will commit a blunder of such major proportions that even his own party will have to remove him from office.

16. There are nearly 300 million Americans -- 200 million of them of voting age. We only lost by three and a half million! That's not a landslide -- it means we're almost there. Imagine losing by 20 million. If you had 58 yards to go before you reached the goal line and then you barreled down 55 of those yards, would you stop on the three yard line, pick up the ball and go home crying -- especially when you get to start the next down on the three yard line? Of course not! Buck up! Have hope! More sports analogies are coming!!!

17. Finally and most importantly, over 55 million Americans voted for the candidate dubbed "The #1 Liberal in the Senate." That's more than the total number of voters who voted for either Reagan, Bush I, Clinton or Gore. Again, more people voted for Kerry than Reagan. If the media are looking for a trend it should be this -- that so many Americans were, for the first time since Kennedy, willing to vote for an out-and-out liberal. The country has always been filled with evangelicals -- that is not news. What IS news is that so many people have shifted toward a Massachusetts liberal. In fact, that's BIG news. Which means, don't expect the mainstream media, the ones who brought you the Iraq War, to ever report the real truth about November 2, 2004. In fact, it's better that they don't. We'll need the element of surprise in 2008.

Feeling better? I hope so. As my friend Mort wrote me yesterday, "My Romanian grandfather used to say to me, 'Remember, Morton, this is such a wonderful country  -- it doesn't even need a president!'"

But it needs us. Rest up, I'll write you again tomorrow.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com