Boards & Commissions

Turns out, Missouri has a bunch of boards and commissions. At least 800 citizens serve as members. Many of them hold their seats for years after their terms have expired, mostly because no one steps up to replace them. A lot of position holders are attorneys. On some boards, including the three that are full-time salaried ones, the number of Republicans and Democrats serving is limited. So sometimes a governor of one party may have to appoint someone of another. My guess is that those appointments get made with limited enthusiasm. The governor appoints each member of every board, and new members attend a tea party at the Governor's Mansion once their appointment is approved by the General Assembly. So everyone gets a say--even if the board is one that oversees amusement park ride safety or hairstylist certification.  Some boards stayed filled with influentials, like the pardons and paroles board and the board of county sheriffs. Other boards teeter on the brink of losing their quorums and without a quorum, they can't make decisions. Missouri's two historically black schools Harris-Stowe State College and Lincoln University fall in that category--along with the hairstylists. If I can't get my hair cut when I want, it's a nuisance. If a newly minted hairstylist can't get her license, it's a crisis--ditto for colleges trying to function for their students. No one at the intro meeting jumped up to serve on anything--it wasn't a volunteer-on-the-spot situation. But the crowd asked questions, mostly about the background check required of applicants. "What if 'someone' has bad credit...a criminal record...owes taxes...is related to someone else who has a criminal record?" I left the meeting knowing that Missouri wants 'someone' to serve if they can get on the path to right with their finances and haven't personally committed a felony serious enough to embarrass the state. My finances are fine. My felonies are nonexistent. And Missouri is a lot more likely to embarrass me than I am to embarrass it.

Sausage

In Costa Rica, I saw how sausage gets made. I watched as workers pushed chunks and scraps of raw meat, ribbons of yellowed fat and a mix of pungent spices into a huge metal funnel with grinding beater blades. I remember the workers, in their red-flecked clothing, smiling and nodding their heads in greeting. I vaguely recall my very kind host, a consultant for the American Soybean Association, explaining the sausage program, funded in part by U.S. soybean growers. Most vividly, even 20+ years later, I recall the strong scent of spices and blood mingling and how my stomach hovered on the brink of nausea. I survived, although the faint scent of sausage cling to my clothing. I vowed to never again watch sausage being made. Tomorrow, I take the first step toward another sausage grind. I plan to attend a meeting to learn how to serve on a Missouri state board or commission. I am not adept at sitting still or wading through long agendas. And I possess a low tolerance for windbags. However, I am a sausage survivor. And in a state preparing to honor Rush Limbaugh with a sculptured bust in the Capitol building in Jeff City, that credential alone may qualify me for service.

Girl Scout Cookies

While Birdie bought the Girl Scout cookies, Big Guy is enjoying them. Birdie intentionally stashed the cookies in "her car," so Big Guy wouldn't find them. Then Birdie slept in this morning and Big Guy drove "her car" to work. But like a fox set loose in the hen house, Big Guy sniffed out the cookies. Now he is snacking in style. If I were Birdie, I would have hid the cookies underneath the mound of clean laundry heaped by the dryer. Big Guy never looks there. But then again, neither does Birdie.

Why Aren't We Talking About Jobs?

Posted by a friend on Facebook: This is why job hunting for graphics jobs has been less than productive! Designers aren't valued much these days as this ad suggests, this is what I have been finding over the past few years: 

Full Time Graphic Design for Websites $3-5/hr budgetWe are searching for a top notch CREATIVE graphic designer to work for us full time! You must be very creative and know how to create website designs, logo and more.
No companies!!
No agencies!!
Only freelancers / self employed designers
This is a long term job and cost is everything to us! If you looking for a high rate per hour don't apply!Full Time Graphic Design for Websites $3-5/hr budget
- United States
 Comment:  They've got to be kidding, right? Shouldn't there be at least a 1 in front of those numbers? Do they really think they are going to get someone with actual talent?

 

Reply: Well, 1) they get what they pay for IF they get anyone at all and 2) Orlando in particular is bad for graphic designers because you have Full Sail graduating 2 classes who are graphic design oriented every month, plus UCF, Valencia, SCC and Rollins all have graphic design degrees and IADT and what ever other vocational schools around here have graphic design programs. There are more graphic designers than there are jobs around here and with so many out of work, someone WILL take this job.

 

Comment: While back I ran into an ad that wanted a manager for a night club that was hand's on being the host or hostess with the mostest which also included hiring the music acts AND running the website, MAKING the web site ..the pay was not near the amount needed for the superperson they were looking for and then was the kicker..Drug free ... and I said "are they kidding?"

 

Reply:  I understand everyone wants more for less, but this kind of thing is insulting and shameful. At least they should be offering minimum wage. I know this market is over run with graphic designers and if I want to stay in this field, moving would be the thing to do. It is still frustrating to be so undervalued!

 

Comment: Can they even do that? Offer below minimum wage?

 

Reply: It's contract work, they can offer whatever they want. Now getting someone to accept that offer is a whole different thing! Unfortunately this days, with so many people looking for work, they will more than likely find someone who will take it as it is more than nothing.....just barely! But then again, they will not be getting top notch either.

 

 

Goodbye Little Book Store

Tonight I grieve for The Little Bookstore. In two weeks, its owner will lock the doors and walk away. Almost from the start, my faith in the little shop failed. It was up against a big-box bookstore and temptingly clickable Amazon. And booklovers, too, are a spoiled bunch. They crave the crispness of a never-turned virgin page and the immediacy of a bestseller. They dump their dog-of-a-book at the used bookstore for credit and keep their treasures. Purists use the library. Book groups share among themselves. To many of us who knew the little bookstore, it stood like a David encircled by Goliaths. And this David lost. Other Davids remain--ones better equpped with new stock, specialities, author connections and children's story hours. I plan to shop the David stores, but I will buy from the Goliaths, too. I'm a booklover and I'm spoiled.
What I'm reading now:  Ape House by Sara Gruen.

Grits Served Cold

Most times, if I suddenly pop up wide awake, I am driven by my dreams--crazy images of Big Guy driving the minivan with the party pony and giraffe wedged in the back seat or some other such nonsense. But not this morning. I awoke fearing that my writing on Cheesy Grits might have inadvertently come across as endorsing Newt Gingrich. Not so. Many a fool is smart enough to eat grits well. But that doesn't make him a fool worth voting for. Newt is a man who ate grits with his wife and with his girlfriend, too. I don't know if he ate them with cheese, buttered or plain. Or if the wife served them in a bowl while the girlfriend served them on a plate. But a man who eats his grits in two places isn't worth fixing grits for, at least not hot grits. And there's nothing like the rubber cement of cold grits to remind you to take out the trash.

Cheesy Grits

Mitt Romney ate cheesy grits. So now, with a ya'll thrown in, he understands the South? I doubt it. I've got southern roots, and I don't understand the South. But I do know how grits are supposed to be eaten, and starting with "cheesy" Mitt got it wrong. As proof, I refer to the 1952 Great Grits Rebellion at North Georgia College in Dahlonega. My dad participated. He may have instigated it as few bits of mischief on that quiet campus lacked an Ed stamp of approval. As Dad related the story--many times--each morning, the dining hall plated great scoops of grits dotted with butter alongside the eggs. And the students ate them. Then someone messed with the system.One morning, the grits were served in bowls and the students were expected to like them that way. They didn't. In a moment of intense rebellion for the placid 1950s, the grits got dumped. That's where the story gets vague--I don't know if students dumped grits on tables, floors or on top of each other's closely shaved ROTC-standard crewcut heads. But the grits weren't eaten. And the next day, the grits returned to the plate. In these modern times, grits are eaten with cheese. And they are enjoyed in bowls with spoons as well as old-style plated with a side of eggs. But to understand the South, I encourage politicans to dabble in grits more thoughtfully. First., try them served on a plate next to eggs, preferrably cooked up in the kitchen of young mom with mess of young kids, who needs cheap grits to feed them. That's how many North Georgia students first learned to love them. As for "ya'll," park that word at the door, Mitt. If you're not Southern, it isn't yours.