Happy Turkey Day!

Indians in mind, for one day

BY Mark Anthony Rolo

I usually try to keep a low profile when Thanksgiving comes around. As an American Indian, one has to be careful about admitting to the guilty pleasures of enjoying a turkey feast.

White liberals are shocked to learn that Indians could celebrate a holiday that is essentially a funeral for them -- "You're commemorating your own cultural death?" White conservatives like to use the holiday to make mention that "Indians are the ones who should be thankful for all we've done to civilize them."

Yes, considering that I spend most of the year thinking and writing about the plight of my Indian people, Thanksgiving is my day of rest.

And considering what a lousy cook I am, imagine my delight last year when I discovered "turkey in a bag" for under 20 bucks. It's loaded with seasoning and does its own basting right inside the bag. Just pop it in the oven and in a few hours, juicy turkey is served.

Of course, it's tough to enjoy the bird when you've got white liberal guests reminding you that sports mascots like the Cleveland Indians' Chief Wahoo continue to degrade and dehumanize "your people." And it's even harder to taste the tart canned cranberries when you've got a white conservative telling you to quit the victim game and "learn to pull yourself up by your bootstraps."

My favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal is the microwaveable stuffing. Again, no bother with having to add seasoning. But the plight of American Indians intrudes again. "How can you stuff your face knowing full well that the poverty rate on most reservations is among the highest in the country!"

"Is that so," I reply. "I never grew up on my reservation. But I have to tell you being the poorest family on the block on Milwaukee's south side, we were lucky to even have a turkey."

"More stuffing, please?"

White conservatives don't like to talk about genocide, land stealing and smallpox. "Please! With all the casino money you people are raking in, one would think you'd learn to forgive and forget."

That would seem to make perfect sense, except for the fact that I, like most other Indians in this country, are not members of those few tribes that rake in big casino bucks. "Anyone have room for pumpkin pie?"

Football truly rounds out the day of thanks. Naturally, you have to be discreet about which team you root for. Among white liberals, the Cowboys are not America's team. "I resent embracing the mythic reminder about how our rogue forefathers stole the West!" White conservatives do not really have much comment on the game, unless the Redskins are on the schedule. "What is so wrong with 'Redskins'? Can't you see how your people's pride and warrior skills are being honored?"

A few years ago, I was stuck out of town on business and I decided to slip into a restaurant to enjoy Thanksgiving in peace, among strangers. But as I sat there enjoying my turkey plate special alone, I got to thinking that maybe I should talk about the Indian plight during the holiday.

"After all," I said to the waitress, "Thanksgiving is the only time white people think about Indians."

(Mark Anthony Rolo is a member of the Bad River Band of Ojibwe in Wisconsin.)

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes, today is my 50th birthday and I have the sudden urge to read AARP Magazine. Not really, just kidding. Please stop sending them to me.

So far, it's been a pretty good one and it's only 11 AM. My brother and SIL are taking us out tomorrow night, I've gotten lots of cards (both real and ecards), a co-worker is taking me out to lunch at a French restaurant and oh, I'm engaged!

LOL! Yes, I am thrilled. No, I didn't expect it, especially at my ripe old age. Wow. My engagment ring, while beautiful, does not fit, as I have skinny piano fingers. But we're taking it for adjustment this weekend. (What IS that little piece called that they insert into the ring to make it fit?) I ALWAYS have a problem with rings and bracelets fitting.

We will most likely get married in the summer, probably at home since neither one of us have any money left after buying a house. But that's what we want, small and sweet, just family and close friends. All right, maybe some dogs. :-)

In fact, I joked to Tom that we should tell all our friends that we're getting married so we can have puppies. LOL!

So far, unless you're reading this blog, I have only told my best girlfriend and my siblings. I will only tell select co-workers because the women around here go BATSO if theere's a hint of an engagement or if someone brings in a baby. (No danger of THAT happening!)

So, that's it, on this sunny, crisp November 16 day.

I am very happy. I don't get too many days like this one.

From a Trekkie Friend's Blog:

Autographed Star Trek Phasers, Communicators to Go On Sale Next Week

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/high_end-memorabilia/autographed-star-trek-phasers-communicators-to-go-on-sale-next-week-322213.php

"A serious Star Trek fan and collector died recently, and an anonymous tipster sent us pictures of the Star Trek memorabilia he left behind. Here's a heads up to dedicated Trekkies everywhere: These items will be appearing on eBay next week, so check out the gallery on the next page; maybe there's something you'd care to bid on.

"There are prop replica phasers, communicators and a pinball machine in the lot, all in pristine condition, and some are autographed by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and Patrick Stewart. There's no information about pricing, but these precious artifacts probably won't be cheap."

Wow. Just. Wow.

FIOS and "The Purge"

When we moved, we decided to get Verizon FIOS because 1. it's cheaper than Comcast and 2. it's the fastest Internet service you can get, short of having a T1 connection (like I have at work).

So, I come home last Friday night and the phone and TVs work great but the computer? Don't even go there. Everytime I try to connect to the Internet, it freezes up on me. WTF? This is what we paid for? Why didn't the installer stick around to make sure everything was working? Grrrr! This kind of shit burns me up.

I called Verizon and I wait about 25 minutes to speak with a tech. Finally, Ed comes on the line and I tell him my problem. To make a long story short, we run all kinds of diagnostics on it and it appears that it is not Verizon FIOS that's the problem but my computer. I give Ed props, though. He stayed on the line with me for about an hour and went over everything before he ruled out Verizon. Basically, he told me that my problem is "outside of the realm of Verizon."

OK. What next? I found an old business card from one of those Mom & Pop tech companies (like Geek Squad). I call 'em up and someone, Omar, comes out the next day, a Saturday. Diagnosis? Corrupted file(s) and not enough memory to run XP. (Why didn't Microsoft inform me of that when I loaded the XP?) He had my computer back to me on Sunday! I was VERY impressed. And it only cost me $210. Hey, it's cheaper than buying a new machine. That was the good news.

The bad news is that my hard drive had to be virginized. That is, EVERYTHING had to come off and be reinstalled. That means all my docs, pix, whatever. He said if he put them back on and one or more them was infected with a virus, I could have the same problem again. He did double my RAM, though, to 510, which is optimal for XP. You would not BELIEVE how fast this thing is now. BF & I always used to complain how slow it was and I was always running Spybot to remove adware, shareware, whatever. It would work for awhile and then be slow as molasses the next week.

As it turns out, I was of sound enough mind to either save my photos to disc or Snapfish so nothing of importance is gone. I had to recreate a couple of BF's business forms but that's about it. I'm sure, down the road, I'll be looking for a document and then remember, "oh yeah," but dems da breaks. I am loving the fast 'puter!

Apparently, I Don't Deserve a First Name

In short, we have moved into our new home and we are loving it. It's soooo surreal, wrapping my brain around the fact that I am a home/property owner!

Tom has already painted the dining room and it looks gorgeous (pictures promised). It's now crimson with white trim which nicely offsets the built-in white China cabinets.

Yes, moving is a bitch, the physical and mental aspects of it. As bad as I thought dealing with mortgage folks was, moving ranks even lower in the depths of Hell.

Gradually, things are being put away into their rightful places, furnishings are being put together, old grandma curtains are coming down to be replaced by new ones. This weekend will be spent raking the lawn, hanging up pictures, and buying a few things like new bathroom towels, curtains and such. It's coming together.

You're probably wondering about the title of this post so here it is. Yesterday, I arrived home and found an envelope addressed to me in my mailbox. But it was just my last name in bold caps, as if I was a private in the Army. It was my first property tax bill! (Do I dare have it framed?) I was a little put out by this being that our taxes are included in our monthly mortgage payment. A quick call to my mortgage rep assured me that I was NOT being billed twice, it was just a record that I should file away with all my other pertinent papers.

But, yanno? It would have been nice for the Township of West Orange to convey that. And, while we're on the subject, a welcome note would have been nice. Even a friggin' form letter would have been an improvement. How about, "Dear____: Welcome to West Orange! We hope you enjoying living here, blah-blah-blah..." something like that. And how about including my first name on the correspondence? Bureaucrats! They're everywhere.