Wednesday, June 7, 2006, 08:31 PM - Politics
Despite our earnest MoveOn member phone banking, Francine Busby could not build on her strong first-round showing to take 50th district in a runoff yesterday - in fact she barely improved on the April election results. (That said, she improved tremendously on her '04 numbers, so perhaps there's hope in the big picture - especially given the piles of cash the Republicans had to pour into the race). The last 5% she needed to pick up were an extreme long shot, given the huge R tilt to the district (even without her last-minute gaffes). I hope this makes people realize that corruption is not the core issue to build our messaging around - if it didn't work to turn moderate Republicans and keep the R base home in SD (with a full-on bribery, limos and prostitute scandal) it's certainly won't work with the subtleties of campaign finance irregularities. My sense (maybe from living in Argentina) is that most people have a ridiculously high tolerance for corruption, and politicians in the U.S. at their worst are better than those in many other countries at their best. Most of the venality in our political system is right on the table; the lobbyist/ campaign contribution thing is astonishingly blatant, and barely raises eyebrows. MoveOn's gotten some lift with 'caught red-handed' ads targeting vulnerable republicans, but only when they're on a specific issue that matters to people (Rx drug coverage). The general 'culture of corruption' message just tells people what they already know, I fear. We need to do better this fall.Wednesday, June 7, 2006, 08:16 PM
Last night I went to see my coworker Brandon's band (I am a terrible publicist since I cannot for the life of me remember what they're called)(UPDATE: it's Drums Like Machine Guns, I know you were wondering). It was at the Smell, an anarchy-breeding punk rock collective space in a fairly sketchy part of downtown. They really mean all ages (see small fan in the background of this picture) and it really was punk rock (lots of screaming, but much more fun than that terrible show at Spaceland I went to recently). The first band played entirely covered by a green tarp, their cute asses and red Xmas lights showing from underneath. The second band was astonishingly loud. Brandon's band didn't play for long enough at all, and then the last person (that I stayed for) created his pieces almost entirely out of guitar distortion pedals. It was great fun.
Monday, June 5, 2006, 02:59 PM - Travels
There was lots of Hollywood in my weekend - Adam was down to visit from SF, and in true oblivious Catherine style I walked right by Jake Gyllenhaal at the Farmer's Market Sunday morning. Adam is appalled at the thought of all the glamorous people I'm overlooking on a weekly basis...if Nick would just set up defamer/stalker perhaps I'd be more motivated to make a celebrity cheat sheet, or flashcards, or something, but I kind of doubt it. I was much more interested in the 14-year old Matt Dillon in Over the Edge - which we saw at Hollywood Forever in my first trip to what all my LA friends claim is the best open-air cemetery movie picnic in town.
But my favorite "I live in Los Angeles now. How did that happen?" moment was starting my Friday evening with a quick scenic jaunt on the 2 freeway...
Did I mention how much I love people on flickr who've taken pictures for me when I forget to? It facilitates my tenuous hold on this whole blogging form.
And did I mention how I think eggplant is the best possible color for a Chevy Malibu on the 2 at sunset?
;)
Monday, May 29, 2006, 04:37 PM
I remembered/understood again yesterday that the enthusiastic embrace of my current emotional state (even when it's unpleasant) is the best option for me. I decided (relatively consciously) to go full-bore into the republican-related discontent that's been swirling around in my head for the last few days. I didn't really hold back from inflicting my black mood on a few people (sorry!)...or on myself. It made me remember that self-indulgence (at least in this context) is mercifully self-limiting if I don't try and skirt around the source. By the end of a very cranky Sunday I had had enough, had remembered (thanks a bit to Adam) that I am quite resilient about these things, had regained some critical distance/ amusement on the whole topic, and had very fortunately gotten close enough to my normal equilibrium to appreciate the abundant pleasures that became available some time after 12:15 Monday morning...Monday, May 29, 2006, 01:30 AM
Many thanks to the people at Appley Rotten for making the t-shirt that made me happy to get dressed this morning...
By the end of the evening, I could wear something much less cranky to the Smartgals Speakeasy.
Friday, May 26, 2006, 08:13 PM - Politics, Dancing
Some things are inevitable, although unhappy: Desmond Dekker died.
Some are totally preventable: U.S. Marines may have massacred 24 Iraqi civilians.
Friday, May 26, 2006, 08:08 PM - Dancing
;)
Last night I (successfully) eased my way out of a tempestuous day with the pure joy of a Jurassic 5 set. It was a super special treat to see Cut Chemist and DJ Shadow on 4 turntables, spinning an all-45 70s fabulous set. When the night's best beat is based on a skipping record, you know you're witnessing a transcendent and abstracted level of dj skill. It's kinda exciting to now be part of the hometown crowd for the people who are my favorite djs these days -not to slight the forever-untouchable Bay Area's DJ Q-Bert- and it was just the kind of ego-soothing loss of self I needed to be in the middle of that crowd.
Thursday, May 25, 2006, 05:36 PM - Sex
Last night I had my first date in LA. Pink wine at Stella, farmer's market tomato pizza, and some tasty kisses. Before you get too exicted about all that, I'll clue you in to the fact that he's so newly separated his wife's voice is probably still on the answering machine. Which doesn't negate the thoroughly enjoyable evening...and which came in handy today when the Republican dropped the "I'm just not that into it" bomb. I've been trying to convince my friends it was coming, but they're such sweet people they didn't believe me. Oh well... I wish my instincts were wrong more often. Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 11:04 AM - Politics, Technology
MomsRising.org is going to the NetSquared conference next week in San Jose. Joan will be speaking at the plenary ("Grassroots, Netroots, and the Beginning and End of Politics") on Wednesday morning with Amy Goodman and Michael Turk on how her work with MoveOn and MomsRising has changed the way we think about and participate in politics. I'm on a panel Tuesday afternoon lead by Lisa Stone (from Blogher.org ) about gender and social networking - not that I'm an expert, but I'd love to get feedback from the conference attendees on how MomsRising can make the best use of social networking tools, as well as what enhancements we could develop that would benefit the open source online organizing community. Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 02:01 PM - Food
This morning I ate my first real peach of the season. It was the best kind of early season peach - juicy, tart, sweet, full of promise for the rest of the summer. One of the farmer's market guys told me Sunday that the stone fruit yield will be small this year, but the quality should be great. Based on today's peach, I can't complain. It made me ridiculously happy. 
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