Hope for Rebuilding

The Wall St. Journal says if other devastated cities' histories are any indication, NOLA will be all right.

Check out the article here.

New Orleans Aid: Grassroots

I'm going to begin to use this blog as a diving board into pools where there is need. I know a lot of us are wondering if we can trust where our money and aid are going, so I think for me the best thing to do is to post here how you can help real individuals. Of course here I'm only thinking of my friends and family/families of friends--in other words my extended circle. So any concrete way I know that I can help or you can help, I will post here.

So far, my friend Tanner has his two dogs with him in a motel in Houston and he's running out of cash. Tanner volunteered with the Red Cross for a few weeks after September 11 here in New York. I think he's got some karma coming. I don't know what else he needs just yet, but I've donated some money to his PayPal account, which is an extremely easy process: You just enter the recipient's email if you already have a PayPal account. If you want to help Tanner and his dogs, here's his info:

Go to: www.paypal.com
Make a payment to: tannerno@aol.com


My friend Nina is looking for a job in San Diego. Do you have any info or any leads? She can do just about anything: service: coffee/restaurant/bar, administrative, archiving--you name it! Resourceful and bubbly and looking for employment in her new place of residence. She and her boyfriend Evan just discovered that they've lost everything; their home was flooded. So anything you can think of for setting up life/house. Post here and I'll forward to her.

My friend Melissa is in Florida with her family. Baby James, husband Patrick, mom, dad, sister and her family. They've rented a condo for a month until things get figured out. I'm not fully updated on everything going on, but as soon as I figure out what they need, I'll post. If you have any ideas, please post.

So far, that's it, but if you have any info you'd like disseminated, let me know and I'll post. Also if you know of any volunteer opportunities for rebuilding our great city, let me/us know.

Yours in eternal love for New Orleans,
Candy Sue

One year and I'm dripping in cloying honey, and I like it

You know what's weird about this romantic relationship of mine? Today celebrates a year (which I haven't had the experience of celebrating in more than seven) and I'm pretty free of anxiety. Me, who is anxious about whether I can pay my bills, whether my fish will still be alive when I get home from work, whether I will die penniless and alone having never accomplished any of my goals. I'm not anxious about D.Rae or how she feels about me. I just hate that I don't see her every day. I don't know if I've ever been in a situation that improves the more I see someone. I'm a big fan of space. And today I feel pretty comfortable slipping into the soft, snug-fitting clothes of someone who doesn't mind being disgustingly in love, who doesn't mind public displays of affection, or sticky-sweet declarations of everlasting carnal admiration and reciprocation. It's obnoxious, sure. But today I don't care. With her I don't care.

It's a nice thing to look in the mirror and like who you see a little more every day, feel a little more comfortable anywhere you walk. I think that's what makes a really satisfying relationship. When you really like who you are in it. And when you can start to think for once (if you're like me) that someone else's happiness can make you happy.

Golden Skeletons

OK. We already know that corporations are ethically bankrupt, for the most part, and that it's the perfect structure to adopt if one never wants to be held accountable for "indiscretions." Here I'm thinking, Standard of living, health and welfare, compensation for work--all of which are heinous things to take advantage of and play with in a human being's life--but Holy Pope on the Cross, here we go with the life itself. I mean, the content isn't as surprising as the fact that no one feels the need to keep these sentiments in the closet. Parade those golden skeletons, boys. I guess closets are only for homos.

This horrific parody of ethical standards is really from Dow's website. Read it and weep.

http://www.dowethics.com/risk/

ADDENDUM: OK, this isn't really from Dow's website, I discovered. It's just a fucking awesome watchdog group that ripped off all their logos to make it look legit. I'm happy to be duped.