<Font Face="Lucida Console">None of us live under rocks.
At least not yet.
So I hope you understand and bear with me in this diary because times are touh for some(all) of us and circumstance dictated that if presents were to be bouht this Christmas many of us had to make cuts.
And just as that circumstance would have it, I am currently writin to you now on an antique Underwood typewriter I found while dumpster divin. It is indeed a reat find, however it is missin the "" key. . . I suppose that would be the letter after "F" in the alphabet. I've manaed to jerry-ri an antenna out of some shoe strin and a foam cup wrapped in aluminum foil (and from the same dumpster too!) and (Sorry Celtic Merlin) hopped onto my neihbors wireless connection.
Follow me below for more Christmas "sharin." </Font>
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This Christmas our time was spent with family in Ohio. A State I had recently become proud to live next to because of all the blue it had in the last election. However, the family we have their is staunch republican, thouh none of us really understand why (we're not raised reedy, racist, homo or xeno phobic.) But we love them, all the same.
I'd like to o into the ifts I bouht for my two cousins, one the ae of 19 and in a freshmen in collee, and one the ae of 16. However, to fully understand first two short backround stories are required.
The first is of the 19 year old, who recently bean collee and is playin basketball for the school team on a scholarship.
On Election niht as it became clear Obama was winnin, she decided to call our randmother, a woman without an evil or mean bone in her body (like all of our randmothers) and proceeded to tell her such:
Black people all over the campus are riotin and runnin throuh the dorms, they are beatin on my door and tryin to et in. I think they want to hurt me. I have to o, I think they are oin to et in.
I had a hard time believin it, firstly because I couldn't believe anyone could be that fuckin stupid, secondly because I couldn't believe she had just done that to my fuckin randmother, and thirdly because I couldn't believe she had no clue how fuckin offensive that was. Oh, and did I mention she plays collee basketball on scholarship?
Our randmother panicked, and was calmed by my mother, calls were made to everyone in the family, thankfully my mother saw throuh the ruse and explained to her my cousin was cryin wolf because she somehow thouht this act of cruelty was funny. Thank od she didn't call the police first. Personally it made me sick, physically ill and I realized that thouh I knew her all her life I really hadn't a clue about who she was.
The second short story is of the youner cousin, the 16 year old, I consider him blissfully innocent. He loves history, the military, and republicans. I don't understand how the first two mix with the latter but . . . well . . . blissfully innocent riht?
His room is full of military uniforms from each war datin back to WWII, he has replica rifles and empty rocket launcher tubes and empty hand renades amonst various other parts of ear. On the dresser he keeps a picture of Palin, it feels more like a crude mockery of the uniforms hanin around it.
He is a ood kid, he doesn't have much hate. He cannot wait to join the army as it has been his oal for most of his life. He spends a lot of time with veterans doin reenactments or just talkin history with them. He is briht, and passionate about the history and the men/women that were part of the military, so much so you can see the pride twinkle in the kids eyes. Thouh Unfortunately, he is a product of his environment and it shows, usually as an awkward racist comment you can tell he picked up from someone else as it sounds so unnatural comin from him.
So for Christmas I bouht them both books, the eldest received "The Black List" by Timothy reenfield-Sanders and Elvis Mitchell. The younest I ave Zinn's "A People's History of the United States 1942 - Present."
The attempt was meant as a distraction, as I knew the eldest would not turn a pae in the her ift (thouh I enjoyed readin it before iftin it), but hoped the title would pull enouh attention from her parents as to not notice People's History. Thankfully, her first remark was "Is this serious?" and thus the heads turned and the plan worked. Also, I think it helped that like most republicans her parents time is spent watchin Fox News and not pickin up a book. So thankfully, the younest seemed enuinely interested and will hopefully find a perspective and foundation within which he can bein definin himself.
But the fun doesn't stop here, oh no.
While my mother and randmother stayed downstairs to defend Obama from my aunt (she still thinks he's a Muslim, an Arab and a terrorist who apparently oes to Christian church and learned everythin he knows from Rev. Wriht . . .) I was upstairs with the younest cousin and the eldest cousin's boyfriend. Her boyfriend is a self-confessed born and raised, truck drivin ood Ole Boy from the state of Tenn . . . I mean Ohio.
He pointed to the picture of Palin and said "That should say Hottest overnor from the Coolest State"
I replied that "If she was the standard for hotness this country is full of loriously beautiful babes fit to loune on the shores of Rio all day waited on by a full staff of hand selected specialized experts . . ." and trailed off because I could see his brain frustratin tryin to understand those "book learnin" words. He left soon after and my cousin and I bean talkin about civics and flaws in both parties.
I explained that I believe the only 5 jobs in America that deserve more than a million dollar salary are military, teachers, doctors, police officers and firemen. He areed and then I pointed out that the military is run throuh a facist system, the majority of teachers teach in public schools - socialism, doctors are staunchly reulated by the overnment, and both police and firemen are both socialist prorams as we sure as Hell can't afford private security or firemen.
He called me a liberal.
That was all he had before he ended the conversation by tellin me I am not a real veteran. He said I was not a real veteran because I was a reservist and hadn't deployed. I knew as soon as he said that exactly where those words came from. The men and women he reenacts with wouldn't put a thouht like that in his head. They know it's the same contract, no one is made any promises. I know it's not a conclusion he came to himself, he knows my MOS and that it's currently one of the most needed in the military. The idea came straiht from his aunt.
You see last June I was dianosed with Asthma, and the marines needed me to get testing done, they wouldn't pay for it as nothing happened at my drill, so I got stuck with the medical bill. Because of this I had been on medical leave and NPQ (Not Physically Qualified) status since Auust, as it looks like I may soon be separated from the marines. To my aunt this is some how dishonorable.
Soon after the conversation my family packed up and left. Christmas was over.
And the funny thin we joked about on the way home was this. They hadn't sent any left overs home with us, my mom joked that it was "spreadin the wealth" and they didn't believe in it. Perhaps a few years from now when the younest is enlisted in the army they can come spend Christmas with the liberals. I wonder what they'll be sayin then?
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