3 a.m.

Sky padded with fog, silvered by a thickening moon; a secret privilege to be awake feeling this quiet.

The jangle of day is not far ahead but for now not even the refrigerator hums and the owls are still.

Absolutely a Big F'ing Deal

Just have to shout YAHOOOOIEEEE for the passage of the Health Care Reform Bill! To quote Joe Biden, yes, indeed, it's a big f**king deal. And I have to hand it to Obama, he's not sitting on his laurels; in the week since, he's given the Won't Do Party (the  Great Obstructionists Party, whatever you want to call it) plenty of fodder to choke on: a jobs bill passed, a seder in the White House, an end run around their inability to cooperate by appointing officials during recess and today, he popped up in Afghanistan. He's a blur; they don't know where to focus or when to get riled up next, and by the time they do, he's onto some other thing they can't stand. Good for him! The Republicans showed their stripes as rabble-rousers and leaders of the ignorant. Their fears, their over-the-top rhetoric about Health Reform and what they think it will do to America....well, it just tells us more about them, about their ignorance and deep prejudices than it does about any of the issues.  I predict that their resistance to Health Care Reform will hurt them in the next round of elections, even as they continue to bluff and posture otherwise.

Back in the day, the rhetoric about Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid was just about as vitriolic and insensible, and yet now I don't think there is one American who doesn't view either program as their inalienable right. Not even rabid right-winger Republicans. Except for GW Bush, perhaps, who seemed to think that the social security funds were fair game for the stock market. I don't hear anyone singing that tune now - no, siree bob.

And credit goes to Nancy Pelosi, too, who fought the good fight, didn't give up and produced results. Now is the time for us to support her: click to StandWithNancy

Paper Fan Shout Out

Wanted to thank anyone and everyone who not only read the Paper Fan story, but jumped over to Girls Write Now or bid for it on E-Bay. Someone won the fan for $21.50, a fair showing for the item+story, I thought. (Is this the sort of someone who will do something creative with the story+item, and send  a photo of it into Sig Obj, as some bidder/buyers do? one never knows... ) But! more importantly, the money pot is filling up for Girls Write Now, well over $300 and rising.

There are more items+stories to bid on, so if any of you get E-bay fever....

But here's a nice shout out to Significant Objects from Girls Write Now that features a very familiar fan...

and if you enlarge the type, some familiar words... at least to me.  

Fanning the Flames of a Bidding War....

oh, dear...I forgot to mention that Japanese  Fan item is only up for bid for a week at Significant Objects...and the week ends tomorrow morning at 6 am!  so ...if you intended to bid but procrastinated, the time is now! 


The fan is at $20 now (a steal for that and an inspiring story!) but the S.O. organizers are hoping to get a significant amount of money to give to for Girls Write Now. This wonderful organization, singled out by Michelle Obama for its successes, "provides guidance, support, and opportunities for New York City's underserved or at-risk high school girls, enabling them to develop their creative, independent voices, explore careers in professional writing, and learn how to make healthy choices in school, career, and life."


You can read more about at:  http://www.girlswritenow.org/gwn/

And if you have the inclination, swing by http://significantobjects.com/2010/03/03/paper-fan/   tonight!


Muchos gracias, in advance!

Fan Mail from Your Favorite Flounder-er

Hey, guess what! Significant Objects just posted a story I wrote about this sweet Japanese fan.  As I've mentioned before, I have been fascinated with Josh Glenn and Rob Walker's project which seeks to show how our emotional entanglement with an object increases that object's value. All that makes sense, of course. But the beauty of the Significant Objects project is that they've devised a method to measure that increased value using the auctions on E-Bay.

So, here's the deal...swing by and read the story, then click the link that takes you to the ebay auction for it..and bid, bid, bid! You may win ... and if you do, you gain three things: the sweet little fan, a copy of my story to have and to hold, and the warm feelings of contributing to a very worthy cause, Girls Write Now.

And I'd love to hear what you think of the story, too.

True Confections & NPR

Off to the side is a brilliant red and white Follower Badge belonging to Katharine Weber.  It is the image of her book cover (on the left)  of her latest novel, True Confections, which was published  January 5th, 2010... and has already garnered a very tasty review from NPR  Her blog, Staircase Writing, is one of my fav go-tos on my bloggy-bloggy list, so there is no excuse for me not trumpeting her pub date earlier. But do visit her blog for candy-lore, "staircase moments" and book-tour reports. And I'm sure you'll be tempted as I am to snag her book, too. It looks delectable. Like chocolate.