You Need More than a T-Shirt to Get Your Way Friday Round-Up

Yesterday, standing up after three hours of debate at the County Board culminating in a vote we lost, I said to my Commission on Aging colleague, “I wish I had more of an ass.” He mumbled something, probably not able to quickly land on an appropriate response even though earlier when I’d stood up and then sat down abruptly, banging said ass on the side of the bench, remarkably constructed like a church pew, he said, “That’s gonna be a bruise.” The sitting was interminable. I watched as the members of the County Board sat on their cushions. One was eating little tiny, shredded wheats out of a plastic bag, another had three orange flavored sparkling waters lined up on his desk. They all had flowers in tiny vases. I wondered who’d put them there, more, who paid for them. I did, I thought, I paid for the flowers and their cushions while I suffer my inadequate ass on their wooden bench.

The no vote was about a project to combine a senior center and senior affordable housing in a county park, a first. The combination made a state-of-the-art senior center possible because of the financing for the housing. The park people lost their minds even though the county parks director was a leading proponent. So we lost 10-7. I have no gripe with the County Board members who voted against. Frankly, I could’ve argued either side of the issue: yes to housing in the park, no to housing in the park. But because it was for old people, my point of view was unwavering. Lordy. We need to replace the crumbling senior center that was in the park already and the cost of housing is killing old people. So yeah. Grass vs. elders is no contest for me.

We went to McDonald’s this morning on the way to the dog park and got two Egg McMuffins with orange juice. This was easily the best thing I’ve eaten in weeks, not that we have poor cuisine around here, not at all, but when you are hungry, and hungover from a public defeat on an issue you’d lobbied your thin ass off for, an Egg McMuffin makes you whole again. And the orange juice and the little potato thing, kisses from heaven. And we got to McDonald’s three minutes before the menu flipped to lunch. Blessed moment.

Every day, at 5:08 p.m., a man walks by with his dog. Well, with a dog. He had a cattle dog and then something else and now he has a very large and quite handsome Husky something mix. He’s been walking by for, oh, maybe ten years. The other day I saw him walking just holding a leash but looking hurried and anxious. Then, I saw that his dog was tearing across the street, up and down people’s driveways, so I went outside. The dog came on to the porch, but I couldn’t get hold of his collar. Then he tore off and we asked the man if we could help and he asked if we had treats. So, my husband fed treats to the large, handsome dog while his owner leashed him up. And that was the first time we’d ever talked to the 5:08 man.

Two police officers were shot last night in Milwaukee, one of them is in very critical condition. Just now on Facebook, I watched a video made by a community leader talking about the culture of violence, how kids are soaked in it, and calling out the anti-gun advocates as taking the easy way out, not thinking deeply enough about causation and environment. Maybe because it’s too complex. Maybe because rough issues of class and race are involved. Meanwhile, we wait to hear whether the most critically injured officer will survive. They’ve arrested the shooter, a young man.