Race and Excess

Nate's talk of turning ski bum led me to this 1990 NY Times Magazine article about Aspen, Colorado's problems. I remember Tom telling me about this a few years ago. I did some more reading and it seems the town has implemented an affordable housing project that works, but is simply inadequate in terms of volume.

A friend of my mom's was telling us how back in 1994 she moved to some town in Pennsylvania - I've already forgotten the name of it. She said it was real "red-neck" country. She took her son, in first grade at the time, to the school and the principal took them around. "This here, is the first grade for white kids," he told the boy. "You stay out of that class." Then he took them to another class. "This here is the first grade for the black kids. You'll be going to this one." The woman's son protested, "But I'm American Indian!" And the principal said, "Listen here, son, don't backtalk me!"

I'm not sure if that's worse than M-'s story of how last year in South Carolina she was told by a white woman who worked at the law office with her, "Oh, M- you talk so good, you sound almost like a reg'lar person!" This is the same woman who declared, "I couldn't stand that Martin Luther King; he was a troublemaker!"

( Jeezus )

Animal Encounter, Part II

Okay, so the other day I mentioned that I found a live ladybug in my bedding. That has never happened to me before and it seemed peculiar. But last night was even stranger.

At the office we have two large aquariums in the lounge, stocked with tropical fish. I was sitting at the computer around 20:30 when I heard a sound like big bubbles being blown in one of the tanks. I looked over at the tank, but nothing seemed unusual. A bit later, I heard more "plop, plop" bubble sounds. I peered in the tank; all seemed fine. A few minutes later I glanced behind me and noticed that every fish was swimming to the top of the tank. It was like they were being drawn up by some unseen force. I thought, "Hmm. Must be feeding time." A few hours later, a co-worker walked into the room and began wailing profanities. I went over to find that seven of the biggest fish were at the bottom of the tank, dead or dying, while the rest were still at the top, gulping up ... what? Food? We realized it was air. At midnight, the fish guy showed up and rigged an impromptu pump; the main one had stopped working. The oxygen levels were only at about 20 percent of what the fish needed.

The moral of the story: the biggest fish died because they couldn't get enough air to support their bodies. The smaller fish are doing fine; after just minutes of pumping fresh oxygen into the water, they were swimming about like nothing happened.

When I got home around 4 this morning, I put some stuff away in the kitchen and was headed upstairs when I heard a "meow" outside. I opened the front door and an orange tabby I've never seen before walked right in. I said, "I don't know you, cat" and picked it up. S/he cried, "Meeeow," in protest, but didn't struggle. I put it back on the porch and it just looked at me. I closed the door.

I don't know about cats just walking into my house like that. Or flounder-sized fish dying from lack of oxygen at my office. Or ladybugs in my bedding.