madmuser

I believe in fairness. I believe in equal opportunity. I believe in working hard and making the grade. I do not believe in coddling, quotas, and ‘rewarding’ mediocre performance. Among the first wave of professional women in business, I experienced the chauvinism and prejudice that accompanied my appointment as Eastman Kodak Company’s first female photofinishing technical sales representative. I dealt with the “unfair” treatment associated with the delay in assigning me my own territory because the division manager didn’t believe women should be in this manly-man field. So what did I do? I worked. I worked hard. I worked harder than I had to because I was intent on proving myself, letting my performance speak for itself. And it did, and I finally got a territory of my own: the San Francisco Bay area.

What’s the relevance of my story? I came upon this NY Times article about the changing demographics at CUNY and I was pleased on the one hand, discouraged on the other. Let’s do the bad news first: Several years ago, CUNY raised its entrance requirements, and after several years, the Asian and white student populations have increased while the black and Hispanics have decreased.  Likewise, the average SAT scores of entering freshman are now at an average of 1200, and the overall quality of students has increased.

Is this indeed bad? There are those who think so. They think that the gains made to create diverse student populations are falling away to the detriment of the schools, ethnicities, and society as a whole. True, a “purposed” lack of diversity is an essentially evil thing. But in the CUNY case, (and now for the good side), we’re talking about students being aptly rewarded for work and performance, and subsequently, a student body rich in challenge and intellectual diversity. We’re talking about a quality education at a reasonable ($ 5430 for instate-students) price. We are talking about rewards for work and performance with an end result that is beneficial to students, institutions, and society.

End of the semester is a crazy time, but this year, things are surprisingly under control. Only a few stray assignments to read, followed by the grand finale — the 12 — 15 page papers — 30 to be exact — that will be coming in next Tuesday. In the meantime, I have taken on a new gig with tons of work and it’s all good — it’s just timing, you know?In spite of the “load,” I went riding today. It was one of those sparkly, perfectly-cool, infinite blue-sky days and it was simply not going to pass without this ass getting into the seat of saddle secured on the back of a horse — mine! We didn’t do much because Buzzy was a bit gimpy last week, and today his mistress was a bit lazy, so a few turns around the ring, and that was it.

I’ve been meaning to post this quote for weeks, so now that I’ve finished the book and it gets buried amid my ten million piles of books, today is the day. It came from James Michener’s Alaska, a 1000 + pager about which I can say I honestly enjoyed every single page.  I shall otherwise remain mum regarding details. So, here goes:

So … Life comes at you in a thousand different forms, and you better be prepared to accept it when it comes along. Because if you miss it, the years stretch out forever, bleak and lonely and meaningless.

Now I can take the sticky-marker off the page, stick the book on the shelf with all the others, and  maybe dust it at some future time to come.

Absolutely unbelievable:

“The growth rate mostly slowed as millions of Americans lost insurance coverage along with their jobs. Worried about job security, others may have feared taking time off work for doctor’s visits or surgical procedures, or skipped nonurgent care when money was tight. ” –

This quote is from a NY Times article titled “Hopeful Sign, Health Spending is Flattening Out” ?????

It’s hopeful that people don’t have insurance or are afraid to take time off for doc appointments for fear of losing their jobs???

All I can say is something is very wrong in a society that celebrates such a thing. But I already knew that, did you?

This is a compelling and frightening essay about the cancer “industry” with “industry” as the operative word. So disgusting to think — there’s been no cure because it would not be in the economical industry of those companies involved.

The (evil) cancer industry exposed by medical doctors.

Yep – an honest-to-goodness, cultivated, artistically displayed dandelion garden. It lit up an otherwise steely morning, with its bursting of buttery flowers. How often do we think of dandelions as flowers? Nope, we think of them as pesky and unsightly, something to be sprayed with poisons, or dug up and thrown curbside for disposal.

I dare you to go outside now and pick up a single dandelion. (Your lawn is probably bursting with them as mine is at this moment). Smell it, turn it around and look at it from all sides,  see it as something other than an annoying, ugly weed.

Instead of “stop and smell the roses” flowers that are stunning, alluring, and so aromatic that perfumes are named after them, how about, “stop and deliberate the dandelions?”

In this age of economic crisis, technological scams and frauds, and tensions among countries like never before,  there is a new peril facing humankind: the grocery cart as kamikaze weapon.

Recently, my hometown grocery store reinvented itself and instead of long, single aisles one had to navigate from beginning to end, (or turn-around mid-stream) , it cut out the shelves mid-aisle, and made new aisles that bisect the originals at a 90 degree angle. Thus — grocery store intersections! In theory, the idea seems to be customer-focused, you know, ease, convenience, and all that. In reality, these stores have morphed into playgrounds for the emotionally frustrated, angry,  irritated, depressed, bipolar, and angst-motivated teeth-gnashers.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been pushed, shoved, smashed into, and run over with someone in some state of heightened emotion. On the passive end of the spectrum, I’ve had to wait for, as well as steer around, some clueless clod who has no comprehension that there may be other people in this universe. In this milieu, there are no rules of the road, and thusly, no one has a clear right-of-way except those bully-ish sorts who will take advantage of any situation.

Okay, you get the picture? Let’s throw in another variable, the one that makes me frustrated, angry, irritated, depressed, bipolar, and an angst-motivated teeth-gnasher, and that is the Baby Basket Bomber, as in those ridiculously long, big, basket in back, kiddie-car in front shopping carts. These things are a caliber of weapon, driver (mother-pusher) included, that win wars!

Anyway, try meeting one of these in the grocery aisle intersection. These mothers KNOW they have power, and they love wielding it. In fact, the other day, I was at one end of an aisle, and a woman with two kids in the Baby Bomber car at the other end of the aisle came at me with eyes narrowed, shoulders bent in fast-forward position, and was that actually foam in the corners of her mouth?   I stopped and could not help staring as she barreled towards me. I made a mental noted to petition the store manager to outlaw the bloody things in the interest of keeping the rest of us innocent customers alive.

In fact, I think that thanks to this new store layout, we need courses and manuals on the Basics of Grocery Story Etiquette.