Monday, December 1, 2008

Black Friday Recap

I can’t stand it. Where is the outrage?

There’s plenty of angst and unhappiness this holiday season as we Americans talk about the sacrifices we must make, the things we must go without. We can’t afford the high price of the cheaply-produced electronics our ‘tweens beg for – nor do we treat ourselves to a new automobile this season, produced in part all over the world and hopefully assembled somewhere on our continent. We do honestly believe we intend to be modest this holiday season of extravagance.

Yet… as Black Friday, the 28th of November, 2008 closes… what do we see?

The headlines of my regional paper sum it up precisely. As precisely as we Americans, in our land of plenty, care to think.

Above the paper’s masthead? Date – Place – Time – Station for rivalry football.

The main headline? “Mumbai gunfire rages; 2 Virginians among dead”

The right column headline? “Shoppers scour stores for deals on Black Friday”

Which article did I read first?

Well… I was where papers weren’t delivered on Friday, so I’m catching up after a long weekend with little outside influence. I’ll admit to already knowing the outcome of the football rivalries for the weekend. I’ll also admit to watching headline news during our sausage breakfast on Friday morning, followed by a LONG stretch of CNN trying to figure out what was happening in our world, followed by a WHOLE lot of football. Today it’s Monday, with a family-friend crisis at hand, and I’m digesting papers as we go from snow delay to the hospital to school and back, then home.

I wonder… Which article did you read first?

We, as Americans, have for generations defined ourselves as “not British” and, yet, live some telling British ways. Our forsaken forebears celebrate their Christmas holiday with gifts, a feast, and an afternoon lolling by the fire and the telly (which illuminates more, I’ll leave to you). The Monarch broadcasts her version of the State of the Union in fireside-chat sheep’s clothing. On the next day, Boxing Day, the country is shut down, and perhaps a bit quiet and contemplative. When we girls were there in 1986, we walked the moors around York looking for sustaining peace and field conversation a la James Herriot. We found exactly what we needed in that serene and foggy repose.

Yet… Perhaps… What we really needed in those plentiful 1980’s was a day of free-for-all shopping! For goodness sake – who would plan a holiday without a blank day after to engage in reckless commerce?

That, my friends, is what I fear “Black Friday” has become. Reckless commerce, driven to make ourselves feel SOMETHING, whatever our perceived deficiency might be.

It didn’t surprise me one bit that the headline news carried a sympathetic bit about the two Virginians on pilgrimage who died in Mumbai – and just a few breaths later described the death of a mass-merchandise company’s employee at the feet of shoppers eager for some sort of bargain. Both tragedies,but of very different import.

WHAT are we thinking?

All of these lives were lost in senselessness… and the lack of sense surrounding our now-decreed-successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday supplants it all. I haven’t read far enough to know why these gunners in India decided to kill to make their point, nor do I understand the point they might have tried to make before experiencing their own deaths. I don’t understand, either, why Americans make their point by trampling others to stake their claim on cheap purchases. Neither of these situations seem like reasonable ways to improve ones lot in life.

I honestly believe we get what we pay for, however we might intend or direct.

I am outraged about the things I pay for. I trust you are, too.

Monday, November 3, 2008

The Holiday Photo

What makes a great holiday photo?

Whether you actually have the camera handy (and the batteries aren't dead), or the kids are mysteriously dressed in compatible tones, or even if the kids will simply stand close enough together to frame a single shot, somehow that serendipitous moment, when caught on film, is a magical gift to ourselves, family and friends, and, eventually, our progeny.

Accidental Art, I say!

Lian Dolan got me thinking about the best holiday photo I've ever seen (read her article about getting a jump on the hectic holiday hoo-rah at http://www.makinglifebetter.com/home-family/article/cut-the-chaos-getting-a-jump-on-holiday-madness). Getting a memory recorded for posterity can be a lot easier than one may think!

My cousin Bonnie and her family send a montage of photos every year, which I love. There was a time when I lived close and I could pick out the ones I'd taken myself. This can be overwhelming to some recipients, though, because each shot is so tiny.

Getting the subjects to play along can be also a challenge. I remember a particularly horrible photo "session" my sister and I endured on a hot summer day, dressed up in matching parkas with crocheted hats and mittens - cute, but horrible just the same. I recall year after year (after YEAR after YEAR... even as late as LAST year!) of being the single family member who ruined the family photo because no one had the patience to take more than one or two snaps.

Fortunately, I'm blessed both with photogenic kids and an occasionally-handy camera with auto film advance. Here's my favorite holiday photo, EVER, which doubled (thanks to Accidental Aura in clothing choices by the kids) as a phenomenal legacy desktop photo... from 2005 (I think). Again, a supreme Accident, as we'd stopped to see a breathtaking mountain view and, instead of snapping the standard tourist shot, we staged the photo against a spray-painted rock and decaying tree. A great memory of the days when the kids would share a hug and both had front teeth!!!

Go out and snap some Accidental Art with your family today!!

Monday, October 20, 2008

My Name is Jonas...

Many thanks to my 2007-8 1st period class at AMS for giving me a theme tagline...

My (married and adopted) name IS Jonas - and I guess I do carry the world for my family (if not for the Guitar Hero 3 audience)! Many thanks to Weezer, their lead singer's brother, and Jacob T., who asked me to play the song each and every one of our 180 days together.

THIS Jonas is... well... a MOM. I was many things before, and I expect I'll be other things again, but I am first and foremost a MOM.

What's a MOM?

You can scour the internet for a definition, or look a little closer to home. I've joked often that MOM stands for "Mean Old Mother"... and that I learned from The Best... SHE took that as a compliment. That's my MOM for you.

But what am I, this being and blogging entity who posts her occupation plainly on her license plate as "JSJ-MOM"?

Well... I'm a born-and-bred New England outsider, someone who claims places as home which mightn't claim me. I was born in Maine and raised in part of NH that few people know - few politicals even visit my North Country before a presidential primary. I was raised again at an accessible NE boarding school (as a day student!) and yet again at a VERY accessible state university... and yet again as a Bright Young (Female) Engineer in an aging paper industry. All my life I was taught, told, and subsequently believed I could do anything.

Today I live in SW Virginia, on the edge of a different Appalachia. I truly can do almost anything... cook, sew, write, read, light carpentry, even some rudimentary plumbing... anything except, so it seems, get hired. My education, degrees, training, and life experiences don't impress anymore - perhaps these credentials even intimidate some. My husband's impressed... thank goodness, because if I relied on the neighbors, the community, or the family for much support, I'd be destitute.

So... why blog now? Good point... particularly as this life I lead at home seems so dull. Perhaps this blog is an attempt to document a simple life, albeit in an upscale, electronic form. Perhaps I reach out now for affirmation, or simply to document both the easy yet hardworking life I knew, adopted, and now hope to bring to my corner of the world.

The trouble with this, then, is narrowing a focus.

A hardworking family woman does it ALL... and somehow manages to teach that hardworking ethic to her progeny. Maybe that's the hook... figuring out how to pass that ethic on to generations to come, by sharing the load.

Instead of doing it all myself... maybe we can learn to do it all together.