Power to our people!

Power is back in her neighborhood, Carol reports from Miami. I asked her what she was going to be for Halloween. Here's a pictorial hint. You can get this and more on ebay.

Skunks and raccoons

In the tree, on the second to lowest branch, is a raccoon. She survived Wilma. She is cute. (Photo courtesy of JR in Hollywood.)

But I smell skunks on the horizon. Tomorrow?
And this guy charged today:

"A coin dealer and major GOP donor at the center of a scandal in Ohio State government was charged with illegally funneling $45,400 in contributions to President Bush's reelection bid," according to the Associated Press.

Other scents in the foul political air? Delay, Frist, Rove, "Scooter." And one question of the day: Did Harriet Miers withdraw her nomination to the highest court in the land? Or was this scent of arrogance extinguished by another?

New, Post-Wilma, From Hollywood

Justin & Michelle's tree (top), Jane and Wade's to-be-updated shutters (right), Hollywood, FL.
(All photos, Jane R.)




Sunset Golf Course, Hollywood, FL, where I wasted a lot of my youth.

Just in from Carol. Tracy has power!

Jane’s doing well, sent an email.

I predict good steady progress on South Florida infrastructure.

This just in from Jane:

“ . . . Hillary . . . has power, the (Manta Ray Motel, Hollywood Beach) has power so Justin and Michelle are staying there. Actually Justin just brought us six gallons of gas because they went upstate to get it yesterday and got power today!”

Good news for my family and friends down there.

(I must learn how to operate layout tools.)

Power may be out four weeks

My sister reports family is doing OK. Miami Herald says this morning FPL might take up to four weeks to restore power in South Florida.

Here's a photo of a black walnut tree limb on her back deck.

J.R. says, "We have very low water pressure and are under boil-water orders . . . right, with no power."

She has a working a phone line and DSL and plenty of bottled water.

My reports say family in South Florida is OK

This photo may or may not be funny

Spent much of the day watching Hurricane Wilma move through Florida, where I grew up, worrying about family and friends. I made a couple of phone calls and it seems all is as well as it can be. There may be many days without power but thank God for generators. Temperatures are dropping into the thirties every night this week in Atlanta. Tested the furnace and ended up with a nice tidy repair bill. Plenty of firewood stacked, though, and that's good with natural gas prices going up.

Just had another report from Carol and Stella chasing a Florida Power & Light truck down their street. Must be a good sign they'll have power soon. Go Stella!



I wonder what happened to the black hen and her chicks in the hurricane. The morning sound of chickens crowing is ubiquitous in Key West. Photo by Mary Todaro, taken last Wednesday.

She gets an incomplete before committee takes her to school

Inadequate, insulting, insufficient. That’s how leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee characterized Harriet Miers’s written answers to a routine pre-hearing questionnaire. You’ll recall Miers is George W. Bush’s idea of the best possible Supreme Court replacement for Sandra Day O’Connor. The woman was never a judge yet has “mountains of information” to sift. Sounds like resume building time to me. From yesterday’s Times.


Thursday evening, Key West, looking toward Wilma. She's still out there. Glad we stayed
another night.

We played chicken with Wilma and she won

Arrived in Key West Tuesday night. Mary and I had delicious grouper sandwiches at Caroline’s, walked around a bit, went to bed at La Concha. The FIU Writers’ conference began the next morning at 8:30 and ended at 10:30. Visitors were ordered to evacuate, hotels and conference centers were closing. Mary attended one workshop with Dan Wakefield, and I with Jim Daniels. Jim’s was interesting and I looked forward to exploring some of his ideas for writing in poetic forms I had yet to explore.

I look forward to being able to work with Denise and Nick another time, it's been several years, but it was great seeing them again and chatting if only for several minutes.

Suddenly we were looking for flights and buses to Miami; van rides; and conference directors and faculty were trying to hook us up with a plan; a concierge suggesting of all things a ferry to Fort Meyers then saying, cool it, you’ll be fine for a day or two here.

We went back to the conference site, Pier House, had a drink at the beach bar, swam in the Gulf of Mexico, went out to dinner, and I had a poem critiqued by a guy next to me at The Green Parrot Bar.

The next morning I watched Channel 6 from Miami taping mundane scenes of Conchers carrying plywood. Flew into Miami, where we were interviewed by Channel 10 (Ooooo, were you scared?) gave my 120 second editorial of how they should be covering more important stories such as Bush budget cuts affecting needed levee reconstruction in New Orleans for the past five years and hiring idiots to run agencies such as FEMA. (My nephew in Ft. Lauderdale reports it was aired, along with Mary’s interview).

Many thanks to the FIU writing faculty for doing the best they could with what they were dealt. Especially Cindy Chinelly, so responsive, so on top of minute-to-minute changes. And Les Standiford, who tried the best he could to fit two into one seat in his car (take my wife, please, take my wife!).

We tried. And I got a lead on a good long poem I’m working on now. No, so far, it doesn’t have a thing to do with Key West, the conference, or hurricanes.

And we were able to visit with my dear sister, Carol, on a four-hour layover in Miami.

Back on the farm now,

Tom Todaro.

Just thought we'd fly down for a late hurricane

We're headed for Key West today to attend the fabulous FIU Writers' Conference. After watching a pretty mean hurricane season, you'd think we'd be clear for mid-October.

Wilma! The tropical storm is well south of the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Could be a hurricane when the conference ends this weekend. Will probably head west of us.

Some topics for poetry workshops at the conference:

Fear is just a word.
What's that whistling sound?
Ode to plywood.
Lift that mattress and let me in.
Isn't that Anderson Cooper out there on the corner?
The wind cries, Mary?
So do I, Mary!
We flew in and somehow we'll fly out!
Yabba, dabba do! Wilma.
Looking into the eye of the muse.

Topics if the conference is cancelled:

You don't need a poetry workshop to know which way the wind blows.
A flood of letters in Wilma's wake.
What Denise and Nick would have said, what I would have written, what they would have said.
And finally, John Dufresne must be really pissed off now (he hates hurricanes).

And so on. If the airline flies, so do Mary and I. (We fly out late.) If not, that would be a great disappointment (its been several years) but glad we bought the travel company refund insurance.

Bush not the worst president, I guess

Bush has served much longer than seven weeks in the White House. They say Muskrat was the worst president. On second thought, seven weeks looks pretty damn good right now.

White House staffers walking the halls with dazzed eyes, W. is cranky and has temper tantrums--doesn't want to hear bad news. Needs DVD's of the days events only when necessary. Mamma Rove has his own troubles. Congressional republicans scamper like, well, muskrats! Heaven help these guys if an opposing party ever gets its shit together.

Bush administration target IAEA, head, get Peace Prize

When Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency he leads declined to back Bush's rationale for invading Iraq, the Bush Crony Club tried to get him out of the IAEA--going so far as wire-tapping for dirt on the guy and recruiting replacements. Mission not accomplished.

Congratulations, Mohamed ElBaradei and IAEA, for sticking to your (absence of) guns, and for your well-deserved Nobel Peace Prize.

Bush creates own tabloid world: God told him to invade

Incredibly, a report coming from BBC in the coming weeks says our president told mid-east leaders: "God would tell me, 'George, go and fight those terrorists in Afghanistan.'
"And I did, and then God would tell me, 'George, go and end the tyranny in Iraq...' And I did." God told him to invade

Did God tell him about WMD? Did God tell him to go stand on an aircraft carrier, declaring "Mission Accomplished?" Wonder what God said about Brownie's great job at FEMA. I wonder how many other administration appointments were made by God. Guess God told George to try cutting back on health care for the poor and elderly. Gut education. Tear up the Arctic Wildlife Refuge. Guess God told George Robin Hood had it backwards. Gee Whiz, if Bush has God's ear what do we have to worry about? God is running our country! Everything's going to be alright.

Loosen up! Abbotts Pointe

By Tom Todaro
President
Abbotts Pointe Home Owner’s Association.

I was looking for a way to help generate a bit of excitement or at least more interest in our block party Saturday. As some of you (residents ) know turnout has been dismal to the low-end of mediocre in many years past.

So I thought I might try my hand at publicity and advertising, something I’ve spent thirty years of my career doing.

My wife though younger has spent her career in the same business. When her company, a retail concern, closed, we acquired some foam rubber mannequins. Being “self-taught” artists as well as advertising creatives, we’ve saved six or more of these mannequins in our attic, thinking we could make things out of them, and we have. We’ve given some of them away over the years, including the pink ones. All we had left were some black foam figures, mannequins, those things they use in stores to display fashion clothing.

We thought these items might make interesting, attention-getting, signs for the block party. Not having much time to spend, being busy making our living in advertising, Mary painted simple faces and words like “fun” and “run” along with the day and time of the block party.

I placed them on Home Owners Association property at the entrance to Abbotts Pointe.

In a few hours, I had complaints. One seemed to be a complaint implying racism, I’m not sure. The other seemed to be an “anti-Halloween” complaint, though I’m not sure of that, either, since the figures had as much to do with Halloween as “The Scream,” a piece by Edvard Munch, the great 19th century Dutch painter.

I was prepared to apologize for my effort and Mary’s as well. But I’ve reconsidered. I’m not going to say, “I’m sorry.” I will say I’ve learned a lot about leadership in a community but the most important thing I’ve learned is this: You can’t do it alone. It takes more involvement by more members of the community. It takes getting out on the street and getting to know each other.

(As a side note, I “market tested” my fun-figure signs in my yard for two days. I had a conversation with two board members, standing in front of them. We all agreed they were fine and I distinctly said I would then place them in public at the entrance.)

Apparently, some out there in Abbotts Pointe don’t know me. And it seems some think they know how everybody thinks. Call it fear maybe. I’d rather call it a reluctance to loosen up, be yourself, and be real.

Those were not derogatory depictions of any people of color from any country (Abbotts Pointe is populated by people of color from many countries).

And if they evoked Halloween and that is bad, maybe we should ban Halloween yard ornaments and kids begging for candy October 31st.

Anybody for a stone-construction of the Ten Commandments at the entry to Abbotts Pointe?