Sunday, March 23, 2003
While watering the flowers this morning I discovered that the non-naturally occurring fleabane plant continues to be eaten while the naturally occurring ones still seem untouched. Where before only the flowers were gone, I would say that about half the plant is now missing. I can't remember if this was supposed to be a larval plant for nurturing caterpillars or not, but I don't see any creatures living on it. And more baffling still is that this one has been singled out. I was also please to discover a naturally occurring white flower that I had not seen before growing in the cactus garden across our driveway. Now, how can I get that thing to spread into the flower garden?
Each day of the war brings new horrors. I have been actively using the Internet to seek out non-mainstream news sources.
Alternet and
Counterpunch are two I visit frequently as well as Wade Hudson's
Baghdad Journal and
Iraq Body Count.
Like the mainstream media, the first two sources are obviously biased though in a different direction, but they at least provide an opportunity to look at things from an alternative perspective.
Wade Hudson's Baghdad Journal puts a personal face on the war and provides a first-hand account from inside Iraq which the United States government has otherwise tried to squash. Wade is a member of the
Iraq Peace Team which plans to stay in Iraq indefinitely to provide support and assistance to the Iraqi people as best they can. Several other members' thoughts are documented on the diaries page of the IPT website as well.
The last site is doing a job which the government apparently isn't interested in doing- it provides a measure of the horrors perpetrated on the innocent by the United States. I like that it provides a range rather than a firm number as well as the data and methodology it uses to arrive at that range. It seems to me to be an honest attempt to provide the facts as they are as opposed to government-censored and media-spun information that has been processed and spoon fed to the unwitting public.
posted by Kirsten at 11:12 AM
Friday, March 21, 2003
The rain we were supposed to have last night didn't show, so it looks like I am back to work taking care of my flowers instead of letting nature do the work for me. I spent some time communing with them this morning.
In a strange turn of events, every last flower on the fleabane plant which I bought and planted disappeared overnight. They are nowhere in the vicinity, so I presume they were eaten rather than that the died and fell off. Strangely, though, the naturally occurring fleabane plants in my garden which have been blooming since I started watering remain untouched. Go figure.
A plant (type unknown) which had previously been losing flowers and had yellowing leaves is doing much better since I buried some plant food spikes in its vicinity. It had previously lost all its flowers, but it has since developed two new ones. I'm hoping this will help attract back the butterflies which showed up and then seem to have disappeared.
The enjoyment of my garden starting to show color was spoiled by reality as I drove in to work this morning. I saw at least four border patrol vehicles and two cop cars on my way in to work. Three brown-skinned folks were being harassed here and there by law enforcement. Then, when I got in to work, I found out from a colleague that the law enforcement agents stationed at the exit (exitS, as I later found out) of my place of employment were not there under the usual guise of protection due to the nation's orange alert status. No, they were simply stopping people with out of state plates of expired tags for the sole purpose of extorting money from them.
I have confirmed that at least two of the three exits from our place of employment were covered. I can only assume that the third was as well. There are murderers, thieves, rapists, and politicians running loose in the streets of Tucson, but they're not where the money is. The state can't afford to miss out on one penny of registration fees- or even better, fines- for those who commit the simple act of peacefully driving a vehicle.
Ain't Amerika grand?
posted by Kirsten at 1:33 PM
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
In these days of information-gathering, property-stealing, person-violating intrusion on the part of government and big business alike, it is a worthwhile practice to simply start exercising the right to say simply but firmly, No.
Now I don't mean saying no for the purpose of being mean or unkind. I hope that people would say yes when reasonable to helping one another and that sort of thing. But often we are told- not asked, mind you- that we must present this or that piece of information. Many of us provide it more often than not without a second thought.
A retailer wants to know your zip code when you are making a cash payment for a purchase.
A software company wants your personal information in order to validate a warranty.
Your school or health insurer insists it must track you by social security number.
It seems everybody wants to know a little bit more about you. Perhaps you are not worried- after all you have never done anything wrong.
I say, Who cares? Not having done something wrong doesn't mean you are required to prove your innocence day in and day out by handing out your personal information left and right. Stand up for yourself and practice occasionally saying, No.
Since I've started doing that, I have felt a little more empowered each time I do it. Today was a fine example. I went to purchase new visors for my car at a local dealership. I gave the year, make, model, and interior color of my vehicle and was handed two new visors. As I handed over cash to complete the transaction, the cashier asked me my name. I simply replied, "No."
He seemed a bit stunned and confused. "What did you say?" he asked, his voice and eyebrows rising in tandem. Calmly and with a smile, I replied, "I said, no."
"But we like to get your name just to put on the ticket here," he stammered. Still smiling and with no malice in my voice, I closed the subject with a polite but firm, "No thank you."
Now, I did nothing wrong in purchasing new visors for my car, and I don't owe this person or his employer my personal information. It was not to help me, his customer, but to help his company by collecting my personal information that he wanted my name. And that information would then become available to who knows how many other people and of what character?
Small bits of information may seem to be nothing important or damaging as we hand them out piece by piece, but in aggregate they become a powerful tool by which we are more easily manipulated, mischaracterized, or victimized. But with a simple act- firmly but kindly saying, No- we can begin to take back the power over our lives which we have been relinquishing to strangers throughout this age of information we live in.
posted by Kirsten at 3:11 PM
Monday, March 17, 2003
Rainfall was good both yesterday and today and kept my newly sown wildflower seeds damp. I'm hoping for some more tomorrow. I love the rain, but sadly we are in a drought so storms are generally paltry and far between. It is difficult but to help admire the tenacity of desert plants even as one uproots them from one's garden.
That tenacity is something I will keep in mind as this country embarks on a fool's mission in Iraq. It is difficult to know what is most discouraging- the disregard of our government for basic human rights, the blind trust for government and double standards for appropriate national conduct advocated by much of the citizenry, the willingness of many of those in the military to "just follow orders" even as they will kill others for doing the same, the shambles being made of the economy by those in power (both political and corporate)... The list goes on and on.
Somehow saner voices must continue to ring out publicly in spite of the onslaught of the mindless blatherings of the masses. Tenacity will be an important virtue to cultivate in these dark days.
Here are some of those saner voices:
A Vietnam Veteran on Iraq: The Case Against War
Points to Ponder at Five Minutes before Midnight
posted by Kirsten at 9:49 PM
Friday, March 14, 2003
It was the damnedest thing. We bought ten flowering plants from Desert Survivors Nursery in Tucson, brought them home, planted them, and started watering the garden. It turns out that watering that overgrown mass of weeds... err, I mean desert grasses... has started several plants flowering. I spotted two more of the fleabane plant after watering for a couple of weeks. I also have several unidentified yellow flowers and one plant with white flowers blooming. Note to self: water first for a couple of weeks, then see what I still need to plant.
In the meantime, I have noticed that every couple of days I am spotting new flowers by the side of the road. It's hard to tell going 50 mph, but I think there are several Baja fairydusters blooming along Sierrita Mountain road. Also, some unidentified white flowers (different than what I found in my own garden). The occotillo are also beginning to show color. I look forward most of all to the saguaro and prickly pear blossoms that are still to come.
We are looking at a chance of rain on Sunday. I hope to put down some seeds for more flowering plants before then and hopefully those will take hold in the garden as well.
posted by Kirsten at 1:38 PM
Tuesday, March 11, 2003
I was excited to find out from a book on desert wildflowers yesterday that the flowers of my chuparosa plant (well, it's more like a chuparosa stick at the moment) are edible. I really love the thought of putting flowers in my food. Just writing that reminded me that after I bought and arranged a beautiful bouquet of flowers yesterday, I forgot to bring them in to work. Damn it. I can just see it now. My dog Pepper decides to hop up on the table where I left them, starts sniffing around or wagging her tail, and the whole thing ends up on the floor. Broken vase, soaked carpet, dog with a thorn in the paw. Sigh. Please, Pepper, please be a good girl!
posted by Kirsten at 11:08 AM
Sunday, March 09, 2003
I am please to note that our
fleabane plant which was fading on me was greatly perked up when I went out to water today. The flowers were previously curling up and drooping. Now, however, all of the surviving flowers are once again face up and petals open to the sun. I am hoping this was just an effect of the shock of transplanting. I noted two new butterflies in the garden today- one which looked like a monarch (though I'm not sure it was) and a yellow one which I often see out in the desert. Some of my friends insist this type of insect is a moth rather than a butterfly. I am not sure what is the difference, except that I am happy to see butterflies but not moths.
posted by Kirsten at 2:39 PM
Saturday, March 08, 2003
According to the planets spring is on the way, but according to my garden it has already arrived. Last weekend we bought and planted ten flowering plants in front of our house to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. I am pleased to report that so far I have killed off nothing, and this morning at the end of a lovely walk with my dog Pepper, I was rewarded with the beautiful sight of the first butterfly of the year flitting around from flower to flower. It was black with stunning blue markings. In times like these, this is a welcome reminder that nature is not concerned with the petty and foolish acts of humanity.
posted by Kirsten at 1:14 PM
