There will actually be some courtroom action on August 3rd, which is Friday of this week. McClish will be appearing in court for rescheduling of his sentencing hearing and a ruling on the "ineffectiveness of attorney" issue he has raised. The Press-Banner is carrying the story this week; click on the link and go to Page 2.
If I am feeling physically up to it, I will be going to this particular hearing, as I want to attend when I can.
That's all for today. Thanks for stopping by!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Monday, July 30, 2007
Ingmar Bergman
Ingmar Bergman has died at age 89. leaving behind an astonishing cinematic legacy.
I would simply like to reiterate something here that Danish director Bille August said, and then let the article to which I've linked speak for itself:
"He was one of the world's biggest personalities. There were Kurosawa, Fellini, and then Bergman. Now he is also gone."
I would simply like to reiterate something here that Danish director Bille August said, and then let the article to which I've linked speak for itself:
"He was one of the world's biggest personalities. There were Kurosawa, Fellini, and then Bergman. Now he is also gone."
no updates on McClish trial or Veil case
I know that many people come here for news of the Veil murder case and the McClish trial, and so I wanted to say that I have no news of what is proceeding in either of these cases. There not be a sentencing hearing on August 3rd, however. I promise to keep everyone posted as I learn of events.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Beat
Hi, faithful readers, and thanks for visiting today. I have had a busy weekend and haven't been able to blog--Mr. Strega and I traveled up the state and back to pick up my youngest from music camp (Riff went on tour with the music camp and had an absolutely fabulous time, with performances in three major cities). Then, I had my last performance of the summer season, two very easy dances (yay--I wouldn't have been up to the difficult ones this time) and a terrific audience in San Leandro. I did have a costume malfunction just before I went on--my tassel belt (made predominantly of yarn) unravelled and snapped, but I safety-pinned it back together and folded part of my costume over it, and it was fine There was great Moroccan food there and I treated myself to a very nice chicken bastilla (click on the link to find out what that is).
But now, I am beat, with the usual ailment sending me a reminder that it is still there, so I am putting my feet up tonight, listening to music, reading, and if I feel a little better later, working on the book just a little So, nothing spectacular to report today, for I have not looked at the news. But thank you all for stopping by my little neck of the woods today anyway.
But now, I am beat, with the usual ailment sending me a reminder that it is still there, so I am putting my feet up tonight, listening to music, reading, and if I feel a little better later, working on the book just a little So, nothing spectacular to report today, for I have not looked at the news. But thank you all for stopping by my little neck of the woods today anyway.
Friday, July 27, 2007
A True Story from Today
Some of the hardest parts of my book for me to write are the parts narrated by my grandmother's character in first-person. I feel like I have had to journey through her life as a single mother in the 1930s and literally put myself in her shoes in order to write her life effectively. In doing so, I have relived a lot of what I went through myself as a single parent when my four kids were small (in the same way actors will draw on their own experiences to bring a character to life--I think acting and writing are very similar in that way). It's not always been the easiest task for me, though it has changed my life to go on this journey.
I have had the marvelous experience of talking to a cousin in Massachusetts today, a granddaughter of my grandmother's sister Rose, and so many things have fallen into place as a result of the conversation both by phone and email, and many questions answered. I am about to work on the scene where my grandmother (and Rose and the boys in the family) lose their mother in the great influenza pandemic of 1918. Rose, the eldest, was still just a teenager, her brothers were very small children, and my grandmother was only about ten. It is very hard to put myself in my grandmother's character and try to imagine what it would have been like to lose my mother at that age. Deaths from this strain of influenza were usually horrific, in a word, and cities were virtually shut down, with people staying indoors, and wearing white gauze masks when they did venture out, in an atmosphere of literal terror that was probably a lot like the time of the Black Plague. In fact, the pandemic created such trauma due to the massive deaths in such a short period of time that survivors often would refuse to speak of it afterwards.
I drove to my writing group tonight, feeling that I wasn't up to the task of creating this part of the book, that I would live through this experience in my imagination and I could not handle it. I know it sounds like drama queen time, but I realized if I skipped this part of the book out of not having the courage to go into it, I would miss the opportunity to draw a very important part of what shaped my grandmother's life, and her siblings as well. So, as I have done a thousand times, I asked my grandmother Mary for a sign that I could summon what it will take to write this part of her life, and that I could finish this difficult book, which I have thought of leaving aside a thousand times. I even spoke out loud to my grandmother and said I felt like giving up, that I couldn't do it. Literally before I drew my next breath, the following song came on the radio.
So I guess I'd better listen to my grandma!
I have had the marvelous experience of talking to a cousin in Massachusetts today, a granddaughter of my grandmother's sister Rose, and so many things have fallen into place as a result of the conversation both by phone and email, and many questions answered. I am about to work on the scene where my grandmother (and Rose and the boys in the family) lose their mother in the great influenza pandemic of 1918. Rose, the eldest, was still just a teenager, her brothers were very small children, and my grandmother was only about ten. It is very hard to put myself in my grandmother's character and try to imagine what it would have been like to lose my mother at that age. Deaths from this strain of influenza were usually horrific, in a word, and cities were virtually shut down, with people staying indoors, and wearing white gauze masks when they did venture out, in an atmosphere of literal terror that was probably a lot like the time of the Black Plague. In fact, the pandemic created such trauma due to the massive deaths in such a short period of time that survivors often would refuse to speak of it afterwards.
I drove to my writing group tonight, feeling that I wasn't up to the task of creating this part of the book, that I would live through this experience in my imagination and I could not handle it. I know it sounds like drama queen time, but I realized if I skipped this part of the book out of not having the courage to go into it, I would miss the opportunity to draw a very important part of what shaped my grandmother's life, and her siblings as well. So, as I have done a thousand times, I asked my grandmother Mary for a sign that I could summon what it will take to write this part of her life, and that I could finish this difficult book, which I have thought of leaving aside a thousand times. I even spoke out loud to my grandmother and said I felt like giving up, that I couldn't do it. Literally before I drew my next breath, the following song came on the radio.
So I guess I'd better listen to my grandma!
My Grocery Checkout Time Just Got A Little More Dull
I actually shop mostly at the organic store in Felton, but there are times I go to the local Safeway for a couple of things (they have the only type of minced clams that seem to work for spaghetti with white clam sauce, for one thing). The checkout tedium is often relieved by the presence of The National Enquirer and such, with their pictures of celebrities without makeup and so forth, or the big blue dot they used to print someplace in the paper, which you were supposed to rub (yes, this is true) and by doing so, gain whatever you wanted.
The reigning monarch of the tabloids by far in weirdness is always the Weekly World News, with its stories of alien babies, 200 pound cats, and the incomparable (thank God) Bat Boy.
Well, sorry to say that the print edition of the Weekly World News has been beamed up to the mother ship. Apparently its readership has fallen, and so it will now be only the online edition, which you may access at www.weeklyworldnews.com, should you really need your daily dose of Bat Boy. One memorable headline from this week is based on a joke I heard someone (I think it was my dad) say from time to time: "Why Moses Wandered in the Desert for Forty Years--He Lost the Map!"
So now, instead of reading about vampire spouses, haunted beauty salons, and photos of George Bush at a summit with aliens, I will have to resort to musings about celebrity cellulite and plastic surgeries gone wrong. But then, all life is change, isn't it?
The reigning monarch of the tabloids by far in weirdness is always the Weekly World News, with its stories of alien babies, 200 pound cats, and the incomparable (thank God) Bat Boy.
Well, sorry to say that the print edition of the Weekly World News has been beamed up to the mother ship. Apparently its readership has fallen, and so it will now be only the online edition, which you may access at www.weeklyworldnews.com, should you really need your daily dose of Bat Boy. One memorable headline from this week is based on a joke I heard someone (I think it was my dad) say from time to time: "Why Moses Wandered in the Desert for Forty Years--He Lost the Map!"
So now, instead of reading about vampire spouses, haunted beauty salons, and photos of George Bush at a summit with aliens, I will have to resort to musings about celebrity cellulite and plastic surgeries gone wrong. But then, all life is change, isn't it?
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Broadway has Riverdance...
Santa Cruz has HippieDance!
(extra points for glimpses of Jerry Garcia)...
(extra points for glimpses of Jerry Garcia)...
One Heck of a DUI
Sometimes, when life in my one-horse town is slow, I turn to CNN to find things to blog about. Here is an interesting one, albeit disturbing (click on the link to see). I think it's bizarre and downright awful that astronauts might have been allowed to board the shuttle drunk, so much so that they posed a flight risk. Every pilot I know (including Mr. Strega when he was taking flying lessons) doesn't have alcohol for at least eight hours before flying (it's called the "bottle to throttle" rule). NASA states they are going to investigate, as these claims have not yet been substantiated.
Wow...can you get a DUI from flying the shuttle under the influence?
Mr. Strega's comment was that, since it's an international flight, cocktail service should be free!
Wow...can you get a DUI from flying the shuttle under the influence?
Mr. Strega's comment was that, since it's an international flight, cocktail service should be free!
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Possible Sentencing Delay in McClish Trial?
I don't wish to spread rumors, but I heard on the Topix message board for Ben Lomond that McClish is going to try and challenge the competency of his lawyer or something like that, so his sentencing in the rape case may be delayed. I am not, by even the furthest stretch of the human imagination, an expert in law, so I don't know if this is even possible at this phase of the legal action against McClish. But, this is the latest news from across the neighborhood fence. For now, it hasn't been verified.
**LATER**I am having a rather busy Wednesday, so just wanted to say that a reader wrote in and commented that McClish is indeed challenging that his attorney was incompetent and will be asking for an appeal on that basis. This is his right to do so, but I must say that the evidence against him was overwhelming and I wonder if this will help him at all, or just reflect even more badly on him. He did, after all, take the stand in his own defense and, from what I heard, did a stellar job of indicting himself. I don't think his attorney had much to do with it, if at all (in fact, I believe he testified against the advice of his own attorney).
So, on it goes...
**LATER**I am having a rather busy Wednesday, so just wanted to say that a reader wrote in and commented that McClish is indeed challenging that his attorney was incompetent and will be asking for an appeal on that basis. This is his right to do so, but I must say that the evidence against him was overwhelming and I wonder if this will help him at all, or just reflect even more badly on him. He did, after all, take the stand in his own defense and, from what I heard, did a stellar job of indicting himself. I don't think his attorney had much to do with it, if at all (in fact, I believe he testified against the advice of his own attorney).
So, on it goes...
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
More on the New Look
Spent time today working on my nonfiction piece (I am working some parts of this blog into a longer piece, trying to weave the threads together), and doing some work on my book, though I think I am going to have to get some noise-canceling headphones in this highly musically-oriented household.
Anyway, I worked hard to get the fresco in the banner just right (it is of Etruscan women doing a funerary dance) without subsuming the entire blog. I realize I could never have what it takes to do computer stuff--that I leave to Mr. Strega. Please do not be alarmed if you signed onto this blog more than once and saw the fresco change sizes--that was just me, noodling around with the picture.
So, I hope you all enjoy The New Look--believe me, it's going to be here for awhile!
Anyway, I worked hard to get the fresco in the banner just right (it is of Etruscan women doing a funerary dance) without subsuming the entire blog. I realize I could never have what it takes to do computer stuff--that I leave to Mr. Strega. Please do not be alarmed if you signed onto this blog more than once and saw the fresco change sizes--that was just me, noodling around with the picture.
So, I hope you all enjoy The New Look--believe me, it's going to be here for awhile!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Cat Cam
Mr. Strega emailed me this morning with something from his friend Weird Norman (BTW, one of the reasons Norman is weird is that he often wears a pith helmet as part of his normal attire). I am not a terribly big fan of blogs about pets, especially blogs written from the perspective of the pet itself, but this was interesting. Some guy attached a small digital camera to his cat's collar, and this is the result.
My own kitties would have far scarier CatCam results than this, I suppose--what with the wild pigs, bobcats, and occasional mountain lion around here, it would be more like Crocodile Hunter ("Crikey, a 300-pound boar!")....
BTW, most of the stuff from the previous template has been restored. The three magic dots indicating a link are gone; now, an underlined title for the blog indicates a clickable link.
Also...to the great delight of the organized Mr. Strega (at least as far as computers are concerned, as well as his chef and cooking stuff), I have categorized all my links to blogs and such. Please comment or email me at mailstrega@yahoo.com if you find a link doesn't work or is acting crazy. I have a link to Bakery Bonneau in France (where you can see baguettes being made), and it seems to be down temporarily, but otherwise, all the links seem okay. Let me know if they do something odd, like everything linking to Dr. Bronner's Label Generator or something (they did this before).
G'day.
My own kitties would have far scarier CatCam results than this, I suppose--what with the wild pigs, bobcats, and occasional mountain lion around here, it would be more like Crocodile Hunter ("Crikey, a 300-pound boar!")....
BTW, most of the stuff from the previous template has been restored. The three magic dots indicating a link are gone; now, an underlined title for the blog indicates a clickable link.
Also...to the great delight of the organized Mr. Strega (at least as far as computers are concerned, as well as his chef and cooking stuff), I have categorized all my links to blogs and such. Please comment or email me at mailstrega@yahoo.com if you find a link doesn't work or is acting crazy. I have a link to Bakery Bonneau in France (where you can see baguettes being made), and it seems to be down temporarily, but otherwise, all the links seem okay. Let me know if they do something odd, like everything linking to Dr. Bronner's Label Generator or something (they did this before).
G'day.
Yes, It's Different
I was playing around with templates last night, and subsequently erased all the little doo-dads I've had on the blog, such as my counter, Google Adsense, and so forth. I took it as a sign from the heavens to change my template. And dang it, I will have to put back in my links...Blogger ate those, too. But let's face it, after a couple of years, I think it was time for a change. If you don't like the new look, let me know...but believe me, when I start restoring links and such, I am not really going to want to do a new background and lose it all again. I guess one's blog background is more like a marriage than a dating relationship.
Later...found an old template Mr. Strega had saved...so am restoring familiar landmarks...
Later...found an old template Mr. Strega had saved...so am restoring familiar landmarks...
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Tammy Faye
I was deeply saddened to see a desperately ill Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker) interviewed on Larry King the other night--yet I loved her flashes of humor and her ability to laugh even as she faced her imminent death. I've included a link to a rather thoughtful article about her by a fellow blogger. Tammy Faye died the very next day after her Larry King interview.
Tammy Faye was one of the few evangelical Christian celebrities who reached out to the gay community--this I did not know until today. I remember her from the 1980s, with her mile-high shoulder pads and mascara that seemed to have a life of its own. She told Larry King jokingly that she wanted to be remembered for her eyelashes.
And so, in memory of Tammy Faye, and of times gone by, I have included a little YouTube video from "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," in celebration of those lashes.
Tammy Faye was one of the few evangelical Christian celebrities who reached out to the gay community--this I did not know until today. I remember her from the 1980s, with her mile-high shoulder pads and mascara that seemed to have a life of its own. She told Larry King jokingly that she wanted to be remembered for her eyelashes.
And so, in memory of Tammy Faye, and of times gone by, I have included a little YouTube video from "The Eyes of Tammy Faye," in celebration of those lashes.
From the "Unusual Methods of Self-Improvement" Files
Noodling around the Internet (while eating soba noodles for lunch), I came across a most unappetizing headline from Bloomberg.com:
"Bush Reclaims Power After Doctors Remove Five Polyps"
So THAT was his problem, after all. Who'da thunk it. Are his approval ratings going to rise now?
Just kidding....
"Bush Reclaims Power After Doctors Remove Five Polyps"
So THAT was his problem, after all. Who'da thunk it. Are his approval ratings going to rise now?
Just kidding....
Another Acceptance, Happy Dance!
I just got another acceptance, to a local poetry mag, Monterey Poetry Review. I am so pleased to be in this--I LOVE being in local magazines like this one and the honorable Porter Gulch Review, so changed now from its humble newsprint roots. I even co-won the Porter Gulch's Mary Lonnberg Smith poetry award, along with Julia Alter, five years ago.
Monterey Poetry Review is a wonderful publication and I am happy to see that I will be in it with some wonderful poets, such as Dane Cervine and Patti Sirens. I'm very proud to be a writer affiliated with Santa Cruz--it is my heart's home.
Mr. Strega and I are going out to the bank and for a quick coffee date, and then I will be back to the essay I've started and to The Book. I dreamed I had the book done last night, but lost my regular glasses and had to wear my reading glasses (the kind that have multicolored frames). Maybe it was a strange version of "rose colored glasses."
Monterey Poetry Review is a wonderful publication and I am happy to see that I will be in it with some wonderful poets, such as Dane Cervine and Patti Sirens. I'm very proud to be a writer affiliated with Santa Cruz--it is my heart's home.
Mr. Strega and I are going out to the bank and for a quick coffee date, and then I will be back to the essay I've started and to The Book. I dreamed I had the book done last night, but lost my regular glasses and had to wear my reading glasses (the kind that have multicolored frames). Maybe it was a strange version of "rose colored glasses."
And so it goes...
Am working on a creative nonfiction piece apart from my book, sending more work out, looking to see if there is more writing lurking about that I can send out, and edging ever so slightly towards The End of my book. This book has taken a long time to edit and clean up--frankly, when I turned it in as my thesis, I got a skeleton crew of fairly unlinked vignettes together, got them in thesis form, and got it approved, as I very much wanted to graduate and had gotten what I'd gone to my alma mater to accomplish--getting off the starting line with The Strega's Story. Actually, the fun/challenging part was strengthening and creating the overarching frame.
For, faithful readers, work I must--it's getting to where I need to go to bed early and rise early, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, in order to get this book done by its deadline. I do intend to do some research and thinking, and writing, about the Asha Veil case. But frankly, this is a lull time, it seems, when people continue to speculate on what happened, and there are still no answers. McClish's sentencing is on August 3rd. If you are a local and plan to go, get to the County building early, as the courtroom is likely to be packed. I'll definitely be there.
And then, after that, who knows what will happen?
For, faithful readers, work I must--it's getting to where I need to go to bed early and rise early, to paraphrase Ben Franklin, in order to get this book done by its deadline. I do intend to do some research and thinking, and writing, about the Asha Veil case. But frankly, this is a lull time, it seems, when people continue to speculate on what happened, and there are still no answers. McClish's sentencing is on August 3rd. If you are a local and plan to go, get to the County building early, as the courtroom is likely to be packed. I'll definitely be there.
And then, after that, who knows what will happen?
Friday, July 20, 2007
Oh, No!
Thanks to Lynn (click on the link to see her wonderful blog), I have discovered the following information about my own blog:
Dang! I have the same rating as The Godfather and Pulp Fiction! I don't see Clemenza around here, do you? Or The Wolf, for that matter. I've never even been in a Twist contest.
G'nite...
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Nothing Further on Asha Veil Case...Yet
I don't really have a lot to report on the Asha Veil case so far. McClish's sentencing is on Friday, August 3rd, and at that point, I will be attending the sentencing portion of the trial.
I truly don't view these things lightly or with a lot of detachment--the rape and murder have saddened our community greatly, and saddened me as well.
I do feel that an arrest is likely in the offing, but since one of the prime suspects is in jail and likely to be there for a long time, maybe life, law enforcement has all the time in the world and I doubt the murder will become a cold case. At least I hope not.
In time, I hope a paper such as the Valley Post will do some sort of memorial piece on Asha, possibly around the anniversary of her death. We know so much now about McClish, his family, etc. Frankly, there has been just the merest thread of focus on Asha herself. I would like to know what her life was like, what drew people to her, things like that. I have even thought about writing something like that, but I honestly knew Asha not very well, just a few contacts with her when I went to the market.
For today, I go off to my own writing. I have a huge amount of work I've submitted still out there--I mean, nine months for some, including two excerpts from the book,
At least a few of these people have sent nice notes or emails along, saying that the work is being held for final consideration, and that is good.
I truly don't view these things lightly or with a lot of detachment--the rape and murder have saddened our community greatly, and saddened me as well.
I do feel that an arrest is likely in the offing, but since one of the prime suspects is in jail and likely to be there for a long time, maybe life, law enforcement has all the time in the world and I doubt the murder will become a cold case. At least I hope not.
In time, I hope a paper such as the Valley Post will do some sort of memorial piece on Asha, possibly around the anniversary of her death. We know so much now about McClish, his family, etc. Frankly, there has been just the merest thread of focus on Asha herself. I would like to know what her life was like, what drew people to her, things like that. I have even thought about writing something like that, but I honestly knew Asha not very well, just a few contacts with her when I went to the market.
For today, I go off to my own writing. I have a huge amount of work I've submitted still out there--I mean, nine months for some, including two excerpts from the book,
At least a few of these people have sent nice notes or emails along, saying that the work is being held for final consideration, and that is good.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Truuust me....
Do y'all know about Rick Rolling? It's sort of done as a bit of a prank, asking someone to click on a link to see gaming tips or pictures of your fishing vacation or something, but it leads you to....well, click on the link. Yes, do it! You know you want to! Then you can say you were among the fortunate to be RickRolled by Ms. Strega.
0ops...some faithful readers have just emailed me (three, to be exact) or commented and do not understand this. So, I have failed to explain adequately and will try to now:
RickRolling is when you email a friend and tell them you have a link to..well, as I said before, gaming tips, recipes, pix of the luau you held in your backyard last week, whatever. You tell them to click on the link to see these fabled pictures, recipes, gaming tips, whatever you choose. BUT...instead, you have in reality given them a link that leads to a YouTube video of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up." And at that point, if your friend clicks on the link, you have consequently RickRolled your friend.
I don't know where the "rolling" part of RickRoll comes from, though. It's sort of a silly prank.
0ops...some faithful readers have just emailed me (three, to be exact) or commented and do not understand this. So, I have failed to explain adequately and will try to now:
RickRolling is when you email a friend and tell them you have a link to..well, as I said before, gaming tips, recipes, pix of the luau you held in your backyard last week, whatever. You tell them to click on the link to see these fabled pictures, recipes, gaming tips, whatever you choose. BUT...instead, you have in reality given them a link that leads to a YouTube video of Rick Astley singing "Never Gonna Give You Up." And at that point, if your friend clicks on the link, you have consequently RickRolled your friend.
I don't know where the "rolling" part of RickRoll comes from, though. It's sort of a silly prank.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
George Bush, poet
Mr. Strega emailed me something tonight that his "weird friend" (and that's saying something) emailed him. It is a poem comprised of actual George Bush sayings (and the research to prove the sayings are authentic).
Reminds me of the time someone brushed up against the magnetic poetry on the fridge and accidentally rearranged it.
Time to go put food on my family.
Reminds me of the time someone brushed up against the magnetic poetry on the fridge and accidentally rearranged it.
Time to go put food on my family.
Monday, July 16, 2007
A Short History of a Long Illness
A faithful reader from far across the sea has respectfully requested today that I pen some thoughts and share what is known as "experience, strength, and hope" in terms of having lupus and fibromyalgia, how it affects my life, and how I deal with it on a daily basis. I agreed reluctantly. I don't like to focus much on the physical challenges that are in my life daily and sometimes cause me to have to take things an hour or a minute at a time. I visit the doctor on a regular basis--my rheumatologist three times a year, my primary care physician every two to three months, and my alternative health care worker, an acupuncturist and specialist in Chinese medicine, twice a month.
I have had the unfortunate experience of going to the ER for something lupus-y just about every year, sometimes more, in particular if I get the flu, which sets off a sort of bodily chain reaction. And yet, like the Eveready bunny, I keep going. I don’t like to make my illness the center of my life or the locus of my existence. I do, however, have to live with it and know there are others out there who deal with it, too.
I was diagnosed conclusively with lupus in 1995 (after a couple of years when the illness was miserably developing) when a facial rash biopsy showed lupus antibodies in my deeper skin layers. For those of you not in the know, lupus is an autoimmune disorder and its primary strangeness is that the body, mysteriously and for reasons unknown, begins to produce antibodies to its own DNA and the immune system goes haywire, attacking body tissue as if they were an infection to be gotten rid of. These days, lupus affects my kidneys in particular, and other body systems in general, depending on its blind whim. During what I jokingly call my "tune-up"--blood and urine tests every three to four months--it is routinely observed that my kidneys are always stressed now, always showing spills of either blood and protein, or both to greater and lesser degrees, after years of being the target of numerous flare-ups. Having lived with this illness as long as I have, I am grateful that today it is not more than that, for now. There is still the ever-present danger that I could develop kidney failure, and I simply live with that knowledge, hoping it never happens. What else can a person do, especially someone like me, who had a long coming-to-terms with the fact that my body is touched by something I can't get rid of? It's like learning to live with a tiger in your household: you can either hide in a closet, cowering in fear about what the tiger might do, or you can find a way to make peace with it.
Most months, as my menstrual cycle clocks in (I am as regular at 48 with it as I was at 28), I experience a moderate to severe flare. This involves, generally, fatigue (a definite flu-like feeling, like the worst flu you've ever had), a brightening of the classic "butterfly" facial rash, very nasty joint pain, sores on my scalp (at least I have all my hair now--a long time ago, that wasn't the case), and sores on the roof of my mouth so severe that, recently, a dental hygienist recently wondered how I had gotten second-degree burns on my soft palate. There are systemic consequences to the monthly flare that I do my best never to think about anymore, even though I accept it as a reality of my life. Mine is a disability not always apparent to people due to its capricious nature, but it is still very much there--and very much documented in my years of blood and lab work.
Both lupus and fibromyalgia are characterized by periods of flare and quiescence, and every case is individual in terms of how that will be. In my case, to paraphrase Flannery O'Connor, when lupus comes forth, I go in, and when it leaves, I go forth.
If I am in a dance class, I sit, take breaks, I don't do everything, or I hang onto the barre for dear life. My troupe leader is accustomed to working with people who have limitations like mine, and we have been known to adapt performances (such as not having me do the sword dance) when I am unwell. There are times when I simply have to miss my classes or a performance and stay home in bed until I feel better. That's life, no matter how much I'd love to change it. In grad school, at least I could sit down--though what no one knew was that I would rest literally all day before getting on the bus for my classes, which took place twice a week in the afternoon and evening (often I do that when anticipating an exercise class today, too). Getting through graduate school took me much longer than many of my peers in the MFA program--and I was unable to take every class I really wanted to take and do all that I dreamed of, due to the fact that a lot of it was just too much for my body to take. Still, my MFA program helped me know that I could still write--that was the one thing I was left no matter how bad I felt or how little I could sometimes accomplish--even if things took me longer than most people. It's when I learned that life is not a race (besides, the finish line for life isn't exactly a pleasant place to be, so why rush to get there so fast?)
Where lupus is an invader, fibromyalgia is a stealth artist. A fibromyalgia attack (which I experience at least once a week, if not more) goes thusly: I wake up feeling as if I have had no sleep, even if nine hours have passed. Most people know that feeling of severe muscle achiness from not sleeping. Fibromyalgia is that achiness multiplied by ten thousand. It's as if the body has lost its ability to really go to sleep, with all the resultant problems of sleeplessness, including fatigue so profound it feels as if one's bones are made of lead. When I began to go to my current rheumatologist seven years ago, he told me that exercise was considered a primary treatment for fibromyalgia and outlined some things I could do--yoga being one thing. I told him that the one thing I did not want to do was get on pain medication, and he agreed that exercise might be a key to helping reduce my pain level. And so I began to walk a bit when I could.
In 2005, after using walking as my primary form of exercise, I began a yoga class and have remained with the same teacher, as she is extremely skilled at adapting the poses for me and is an overall great instructor. I often joke to myself that I have to use a series of pulleys and mirror tricks to do yoga--in reality, I use folded blankets, yoga bricks, and a yoga strap, and will often adapt the poses in the way my teacher has shown me (hard to describe here). It has helped a lot in learning how to get past the worst bodily pain, though some level of pain is always with me and I have simply learned to live with it.
I've come to a point in life where I have learned to say that lupus was a beautiful gift in a decidedly ugly package. I learned my mortality with it, something people even in my age group don't realize. We are not here forever. Yes, one day, lupus might play the trump card on me and I won't be here anymore--a reality I have been at peace with for a long time. I heard an old singer once interviewed--can't remember who he was--who joked that, every day, he picked up the paper and read the obits. If he wasn't in them, he figured it was a good day.
I know a dancer with AIDS who keeps dancing, even when he feels like he is dancing on the edge of a void threatening to take him anytime. I have a friend with brain cancer, in the terminal stages, her chemotherapy discontinued, who still makes plans for a solo dance next year, even when doctors have given her no hope for her life continuing beyond a few months. I have a friend in her late eighties who keeps writing despite the days she is tired of life and would rather join her husband in the world beyond this one.
What's the key to keeping going, even with the knowledge of my body's flight towards mortality--something that will eventually come to everyone? I don't know that answer. What I do know for myself is that some days I simply am with my illnesses, unable to read the cipher of my body, realizing I am not in control of the outcome, and hope that tomorrow's better. Some days, I am able to work on my book, two hours, as Flannery O'Connor did so long ago. Two hours is about it, most of the time. Some days I am able to get up and take a walk. And on some days, the very best days, I dance.
(the link today is to the National Lupus Foundation)
I have had the unfortunate experience of going to the ER for something lupus-y just about every year, sometimes more, in particular if I get the flu, which sets off a sort of bodily chain reaction. And yet, like the Eveready bunny, I keep going. I don’t like to make my illness the center of my life or the locus of my existence. I do, however, have to live with it and know there are others out there who deal with it, too.
I was diagnosed conclusively with lupus in 1995 (after a couple of years when the illness was miserably developing) when a facial rash biopsy showed lupus antibodies in my deeper skin layers. For those of you not in the know, lupus is an autoimmune disorder and its primary strangeness is that the body, mysteriously and for reasons unknown, begins to produce antibodies to its own DNA and the immune system goes haywire, attacking body tissue as if they were an infection to be gotten rid of. These days, lupus affects my kidneys in particular, and other body systems in general, depending on its blind whim. During what I jokingly call my "tune-up"--blood and urine tests every three to four months--it is routinely observed that my kidneys are always stressed now, always showing spills of either blood and protein, or both to greater and lesser degrees, after years of being the target of numerous flare-ups. Having lived with this illness as long as I have, I am grateful that today it is not more than that, for now. There is still the ever-present danger that I could develop kidney failure, and I simply live with that knowledge, hoping it never happens. What else can a person do, especially someone like me, who had a long coming-to-terms with the fact that my body is touched by something I can't get rid of? It's like learning to live with a tiger in your household: you can either hide in a closet, cowering in fear about what the tiger might do, or you can find a way to make peace with it.
Most months, as my menstrual cycle clocks in (I am as regular at 48 with it as I was at 28), I experience a moderate to severe flare. This involves, generally, fatigue (a definite flu-like feeling, like the worst flu you've ever had), a brightening of the classic "butterfly" facial rash, very nasty joint pain, sores on my scalp (at least I have all my hair now--a long time ago, that wasn't the case), and sores on the roof of my mouth so severe that, recently, a dental hygienist recently wondered how I had gotten second-degree burns on my soft palate. There are systemic consequences to the monthly flare that I do my best never to think about anymore, even though I accept it as a reality of my life. Mine is a disability not always apparent to people due to its capricious nature, but it is still very much there--and very much documented in my years of blood and lab work.
Both lupus and fibromyalgia are characterized by periods of flare and quiescence, and every case is individual in terms of how that will be. In my case, to paraphrase Flannery O'Connor, when lupus comes forth, I go in, and when it leaves, I go forth.
If I am in a dance class, I sit, take breaks, I don't do everything, or I hang onto the barre for dear life. My troupe leader is accustomed to working with people who have limitations like mine, and we have been known to adapt performances (such as not having me do the sword dance) when I am unwell. There are times when I simply have to miss my classes or a performance and stay home in bed until I feel better. That's life, no matter how much I'd love to change it. In grad school, at least I could sit down--though what no one knew was that I would rest literally all day before getting on the bus for my classes, which took place twice a week in the afternoon and evening (often I do that when anticipating an exercise class today, too). Getting through graduate school took me much longer than many of my peers in the MFA program--and I was unable to take every class I really wanted to take and do all that I dreamed of, due to the fact that a lot of it was just too much for my body to take. Still, my MFA program helped me know that I could still write--that was the one thing I was left no matter how bad I felt or how little I could sometimes accomplish--even if things took me longer than most people. It's when I learned that life is not a race (besides, the finish line for life isn't exactly a pleasant place to be, so why rush to get there so fast?)
Where lupus is an invader, fibromyalgia is a stealth artist. A fibromyalgia attack (which I experience at least once a week, if not more) goes thusly: I wake up feeling as if I have had no sleep, even if nine hours have passed. Most people know that feeling of severe muscle achiness from not sleeping. Fibromyalgia is that achiness multiplied by ten thousand. It's as if the body has lost its ability to really go to sleep, with all the resultant problems of sleeplessness, including fatigue so profound it feels as if one's bones are made of lead. When I began to go to my current rheumatologist seven years ago, he told me that exercise was considered a primary treatment for fibromyalgia and outlined some things I could do--yoga being one thing. I told him that the one thing I did not want to do was get on pain medication, and he agreed that exercise might be a key to helping reduce my pain level. And so I began to walk a bit when I could.
In 2005, after using walking as my primary form of exercise, I began a yoga class and have remained with the same teacher, as she is extremely skilled at adapting the poses for me and is an overall great instructor. I often joke to myself that I have to use a series of pulleys and mirror tricks to do yoga--in reality, I use folded blankets, yoga bricks, and a yoga strap, and will often adapt the poses in the way my teacher has shown me (hard to describe here). It has helped a lot in learning how to get past the worst bodily pain, though some level of pain is always with me and I have simply learned to live with it.
I've come to a point in life where I have learned to say that lupus was a beautiful gift in a decidedly ugly package. I learned my mortality with it, something people even in my age group don't realize. We are not here forever. Yes, one day, lupus might play the trump card on me and I won't be here anymore--a reality I have been at peace with for a long time. I heard an old singer once interviewed--can't remember who he was--who joked that, every day, he picked up the paper and read the obits. If he wasn't in them, he figured it was a good day.
I know a dancer with AIDS who keeps dancing, even when he feels like he is dancing on the edge of a void threatening to take him anytime. I have a friend with brain cancer, in the terminal stages, her chemotherapy discontinued, who still makes plans for a solo dance next year, even when doctors have given her no hope for her life continuing beyond a few months. I have a friend in her late eighties who keeps writing despite the days she is tired of life and would rather join her husband in the world beyond this one.
What's the key to keeping going, even with the knowledge of my body's flight towards mortality--something that will eventually come to everyone? I don't know that answer. What I do know for myself is that some days I simply am with my illnesses, unable to read the cipher of my body, realizing I am not in control of the outcome, and hope that tomorrow's better. Some days, I am able to work on my book, two hours, as Flannery O'Connor did so long ago. Two hours is about it, most of the time. Some days I am able to get up and take a walk. And on some days, the very best days, I dance.
(the link today is to the National Lupus Foundation)
The Valley Post's coverage of the Veil murder and McClish trial
Not much is happening in an obvious way with further developments in the Asha Veil double homicide. Michael McClish is to be sentenced August 3rd in the rape trial.
While researching for awhile, I came across The Valley Post's reporting of the case. I think they've done a pretty darn good job.
There is still talk of a candlelight remembrance for Asha and her daughter, but this date has not yet been set. I would also like to propose some sort of permanent memorial in Ben Lomond--maybe on the order of the streetlight on the Pacific Garden Mall which memorializes the earthquake victims (it's kind of a lantern/carved iron thing), or perhaps a memorial bench. It would be a place for people to at least go.
It is sadly poignant to me that Asha touched so many people in life with her kind heart, and so many people are deeply affected by her death and that of her baby--a senseless, unneccesary thing.
I hope at some point someone does a story on ASHA'S loved ones, her husband left behind to grieve, her parents in Poland, and I believe a mother-in-law. I wish I knew how these people are bearing up and I do hope someone in the local media does a story on this at some point.
While researching for awhile, I came across The Valley Post's reporting of the case. I think they've done a pretty darn good job.
There is still talk of a candlelight remembrance for Asha and her daughter, but this date has not yet been set. I would also like to propose some sort of permanent memorial in Ben Lomond--maybe on the order of the streetlight on the Pacific Garden Mall which memorializes the earthquake victims (it's kind of a lantern/carved iron thing), or perhaps a memorial bench. It would be a place for people to at least go.
It is sadly poignant to me that Asha touched so many people in life with her kind heart, and so many people are deeply affected by her death and that of her baby--a senseless, unneccesary thing.
I hope at some point someone does a story on ASHA'S loved ones, her husband left behind to grieve, her parents in Poland, and I believe a mother-in-law. I wish I knew how these people are bearing up and I do hope someone in the local media does a story on this at some point.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Windfall
There is an old fruit tree on my property, planted when my youngest was born, which has grown too tall for me to reach, yet it is laden with fruit. I am not good with ladders (I probably have mentioned here someplace that I have both lupus and fibromyalgia, and get a touch of vertigo from time to time when I am unwell because of these things, so I don't do ladders). Anyway, the tree is in a place where it's hard to access the fruit, until I began to see windfall apples in the brush around it, like red-streaked Easter eggs. I learned to collect the windfalls quickly, in the morning and evening, before anything had a chance to get at them. A quick wash, and they are perfectly nice (they fall into clean brush and leaves anyway, not the ground). Then, I had a brilliant idea and shook the tree just a little (it's still fairly thin trunkwise, as fruit trees tend to be for awhile). And there was a rain of apples, falling like a bounty from heaven, their fallings cushioned. So, now there's a bowlful of perfect, clean apples, a free gift.
Someone recently asked me why I don't blog about having lupus and fibro. The truth is, this blog is the one place I feel I don't have to focus on either of them, for my daily life is spent dealing with them so often, and my two chronic illnesses are the direct reason it has taken me seven-plus years to write my book. Plus, though I don't mind people letting me know about alternative treatments, I find that the two things that directly have helped me are following my doctor's orders (I was fortunate to find a good rheumatologist who supports alternative treatments that work for me such as acupuncture as well as a sound medical program, and I have a good medical team here in Santa Cruz), and following his directives about exercise and weight loss. I find that exercise is the ONLY way to the pain and fatigue associated with fibromyalgia especially, no matter how much it hurts to get going (and believe me, if you have it, you know exactly what I am talking about).
Plus, I have no desire to chronicle for the public's eye the yuckier details of having a chronic illness like lupus--mouth and scalp sores like a Biblical plague, for example, and the latest fun, blurred vision from time to time, etc. What I do is just keep going, gauge each day as it is, and try to enjoy life no matter what. I guess that's the heart of life, in some ways--taking whatever joys come, like a gift of windfalls on a summer morning.
Someone recently asked me why I don't blog about having lupus and fibro. The truth is, this blog is the one place I feel I don't have to focus on either of them, for my daily life is spent dealing with them so often, and my two chronic illnesses are the direct reason it has taken me seven-plus years to write my book. Plus, though I don't mind people letting me know about alternative treatments, I find that the two things that directly have helped me are following my doctor's orders (I was fortunate to find a good rheumatologist who supports alternative treatments that work for me such as acupuncture as well as a sound medical program, and I have a good medical team here in Santa Cruz), and following his directives about exercise and weight loss. I find that exercise is the ONLY way to the pain and fatigue associated with fibromyalgia especially, no matter how much it hurts to get going (and believe me, if you have it, you know exactly what I am talking about).
Plus, I have no desire to chronicle for the public's eye the yuckier details of having a chronic illness like lupus--mouth and scalp sores like a Biblical plague, for example, and the latest fun, blurred vision from time to time, etc. What I do is just keep going, gauge each day as it is, and try to enjoy life no matter what. I guess that's the heart of life, in some ways--taking whatever joys come, like a gift of windfalls on a summer morning.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Long Drive Again
Mr. Strega and I had another long drive to and fro, to see my son Riff perform at his music camp, for which he got an extremely good scholarship this year. Riff played bass in his band (one goal of the first week of camp is that the young folks create a band and put together a performance). Riff's band performed an Iron Maiden song, and I was quite impressed at my son's growing showmanship as a performer.
He did the wild man hair-toss dance, but very skillfully, while playing extremely well.
He's one of a select group of musicians going on tour from the music camp in a few weeks, to various locations, and I'll be going to a bunch of those performances, too.
And yes, at the moment, Riff plays some metal songs, but his musical tastes run the full gamut. We were very lucky to finally find him a guitar teacher in Santa Cruz who can actually teach him. So, hope y'all don't mind the brag--with three kids in college next year (one bound for graduate school), sometimes I focus on what that's all about! I am extremely proud of all four of my kids, all pursuing extremely productive lives after having been through many difficulties. As Riff said (quoting from Calvin and Hobbes), "Hey, mom, it builds character."
So, I got a cut rate on lamb tonight, and am making stuffed zucchini with lamb, mint, rice, and a yogurt-mint sauce to go on top. And then, I will be working on my book, with lots of joy in my heart that my youngest is happy tonight with his life and all that he hopes and dreams will come true for him. I believe it will--because I'm his mom!
He did the wild man hair-toss dance, but very skillfully, while playing extremely well.
He's one of a select group of musicians going on tour from the music camp in a few weeks, to various locations, and I'll be going to a bunch of those performances, too.
And yes, at the moment, Riff plays some metal songs, but his musical tastes run the full gamut. We were very lucky to finally find him a guitar teacher in Santa Cruz who can actually teach him. So, hope y'all don't mind the brag--with three kids in college next year (one bound for graduate school), sometimes I focus on what that's all about! I am extremely proud of all four of my kids, all pursuing extremely productive lives after having been through many difficulties. As Riff said (quoting from Calvin and Hobbes), "Hey, mom, it builds character."
So, I got a cut rate on lamb tonight, and am making stuffed zucchini with lamb, mint, rice, and a yogurt-mint sauce to go on top. And then, I will be working on my book, with lots of joy in my heart that my youngest is happy tonight with his life and all that he hopes and dreams will come true for him. I believe it will--because I'm his mom!
Friday, July 13, 2007
A Candlelight Vigil for Asha Veil?
People on the Topix message board--sometimes the only place to find news about the murder, and the odd biases in the local media--are speaking of holding a candelight vigil in remembrance of Asha and Anina Veil, possibly sometime around the time of their murder (September 9th). I think this would be a good thing, because Asha and her daughter deserve it, it would go a long way towards giving some focus to the community's continued grief, and it would keep the murder case in the public eye.
Frankly, a local paper of ours has done, in my opinion, a middling job these days covering the Asha Veil tragedy in terms of keeping up interest in her story. There was a long piece recently on McClish's wife, but, as far as I have seen, not one recent piece on Asha and her very-much-wanted child who lost their lives nearly a year ago. I would love to see someone run an article on what Asha was like--I know almost nothing of her daily life, the things she liked to do, what drew people to her so much. Her husband had some very wonderful information about her in his memorial, but I would like to know more about her. I am thinking about contacting people myself and doing a story on it in this blog if I can, though as I said, I am working to get my book finished, hopefully by the first week of September, and shipped off.
So, let's hope for at least a time and place where the community can gather--Asha deserves it.
Frankly, a local paper of ours has done, in my opinion, a middling job these days covering the Asha Veil tragedy in terms of keeping up interest in her story. There was a long piece recently on McClish's wife, but, as far as I have seen, not one recent piece on Asha and her very-much-wanted child who lost their lives nearly a year ago. I would love to see someone run an article on what Asha was like--I know almost nothing of her daily life, the things she liked to do, what drew people to her so much. Her husband had some very wonderful information about her in his memorial, but I would like to know more about her. I am thinking about contacting people myself and doing a story on it in this blog if I can, though as I said, I am working to get my book finished, hopefully by the first week of September, and shipped off.
So, let's hope for at least a time and place where the community can gather--Asha deserves it.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Family
(If you click on this picture, I believe it will open a larger image--the details
show quite well on my computer).
It's been awhile since I've blogged about family, but since I am back in the thick of the book, they've been on my mind. A little over a year ago, I posted a very fuzzy picture of my grandmother Mary at her sister Rose's wedding, which took place on July 8th, 1923. One of my cousins contacted me recently via this blog and it has been wonderful to be in touch with her. She sent me copies of many family pictures, including one of the wedding. The bride is my grandmother's sister Rose, and my grandmother is the other woman in the picture. My cousin told me that Rose's girlfriends made her dress and veil, and also my grandmother's dress. The workmanship is amazing to me (Rose was also an accomplished seamstress). The groom's name was John, and the best man was his brother Joe. I love looking at the faces in this picture--my daughter told me that Rose looks like the women in ancient frescoes she's seen, and I think my grandmother looks like my younger daughter.
All these photos seem miraculous to me in their presence in my life, as well as discovering family again when I thought I had no chance of finding anyone at all.
It gives me an extra dose of hope to keep going--I am in such a difficult part of the book, remembering how traumatized my mother was after losing her mother, how deeply their ties ran to each other, and how unbelievably lost my mother was when she lost her mother forever...and yet in some ways, it's healed my relationship with my mother to write this book, as I feel I can understand more of what she went through and can view her with compassion.
Not Much to Post Today...'Cause I Am Working on Book
I am plugging away at the book, I keep talking about it more than writing it lately, which I have found to be a way of avoiding writing altogether. Strange how that is.
At any rate, I have no news to report, but am including a link to the Press-Banner's latest edition, which has information about the rape trial. BTW, a request to my faithful readers: I usually read the Press-Banner when it arrives in my mail, and do not check out the website ahead of time. This is because my computer does not like its PDF format very much. I include it here, but if you happen to see something in the Press-Banner ahead of me, or hear new information about the case, do let me know...I don't mind correcting my information that I present here, and I certainly am not the last word on the McClish trial, or the Asha Veil investigation. I'm generally just a fly on the wall around town, observing and trying to make sense of things.
This said, it has been brought up in the Press-Banner that McClish admitted in jail that he had an affair with Asha Veil when she was separated from her husband. This is literally the first time I have ever heard of this (you have to dig through the articles to find it in this edition of the Press-Banner). So, one more piece of the puzzle in place.
That's all for tonight...I have a long, long rest of the week, with my last two dental appointments for this go-round. And I will keep blogging about the crimes that have rocked our little pocket of heaven.
At any rate, I have no news to report, but am including a link to the Press-Banner's latest edition, which has information about the rape trial. BTW, a request to my faithful readers: I usually read the Press-Banner when it arrives in my mail, and do not check out the website ahead of time. This is because my computer does not like its PDF format very much. I include it here, but if you happen to see something in the Press-Banner ahead of me, or hear new information about the case, do let me know...I don't mind correcting my information that I present here, and I certainly am not the last word on the McClish trial, or the Asha Veil investigation. I'm generally just a fly on the wall around town, observing and trying to make sense of things.
This said, it has been brought up in the Press-Banner that McClish admitted in jail that he had an affair with Asha Veil when she was separated from her husband. This is literally the first time I have ever heard of this (you have to dig through the articles to find it in this edition of the Press-Banner). So, one more piece of the puzzle in place.
That's all for tonight...I have a long, long rest of the week, with my last two dental appointments for this go-round. And I will keep blogging about the crimes that have rocked our little pocket of heaven.
Monday, July 09, 2007
My Interview at Bloginterviewer
I had a request for an interview about my blog, which you can click on the link to view. I was really beat when I wrote the answers, so they are definitely not my best work--do feast your eyes on what happens when I neither edit nor run a spellcheck! :) As I said on the interview, I have the "keyboarding skills of a blind cave fish." I really appreciated being asked to give some thoughts on blogging.
At any rate, Mr. Strega and I had a long drive yesterday, delivering my youngest son unto music camp.
I do love my dear son (nicknamed Riff here). It's funny--Riff recently told me he never knew how tight things were monetarily when he was growing up--I was pretty good about finding free things to do in town for kids, and I discovered that you could check out two kids' videos a day at the Felton Library. So, on Fridays, if Riff had done all that he needed to do (homework and such), he got to check out two videos for the weekend (we rented "ET" a lot, as I recall). He still thinks that was the coolest thing, that you could get videos at the library. He gave me a big hug yesterday before disappearing into the housing for the folks at the music camp, already surrounded by his friends from last year. He really is an amazingly gifted guitarist--as hard as it would be to see him go far away next year to study music, I want him to, because I want him to pursue his dream, as all his siblings have done. Besides, when every one of his music teachers has come to me and said Riff could easily become a professional musician, I listen.
Our Felton Library is the soul of cuteness, by the way--it used to be a small church, so I always think of it as a monument to the religion of books and literature.
Anyway, there is a lot of fighting going on at the Ben Lomond Topix boards over the McClish trial outcome. I hate to see how this crime has torn up our community. It's natural for such things to bring up strong emotions and even fear, but hard to see people lashing out in pain and frustration.
At any rate, Mr. Strega and I had a long drive yesterday, delivering my youngest son unto music camp.
I do love my dear son (nicknamed Riff here). It's funny--Riff recently told me he never knew how tight things were monetarily when he was growing up--I was pretty good about finding free things to do in town for kids, and I discovered that you could check out two kids' videos a day at the Felton Library. So, on Fridays, if Riff had done all that he needed to do (homework and such), he got to check out two videos for the weekend (we rented "ET" a lot, as I recall). He still thinks that was the coolest thing, that you could get videos at the library. He gave me a big hug yesterday before disappearing into the housing for the folks at the music camp, already surrounded by his friends from last year. He really is an amazingly gifted guitarist--as hard as it would be to see him go far away next year to study music, I want him to, because I want him to pursue his dream, as all his siblings have done. Besides, when every one of his music teachers has come to me and said Riff could easily become a professional musician, I listen.
Our Felton Library is the soul of cuteness, by the way--it used to be a small church, so I always think of it as a monument to the religion of books and literature.
Anyway, there is a lot of fighting going on at the Ben Lomond Topix boards over the McClish trial outcome. I hate to see how this crime has torn up our community. It's natural for such things to bring up strong emotions and even fear, but hard to see people lashing out in pain and frustration.
Driving
I was away from blogging today...had a bit of a long drive today, up the coast and back. But I'm home.
California sure is a gorgeous state. Saw, at dusk, a huge great horned owl sitting in an oak tree, everything silhouetted against a fading watercolor sunset, a simple gift.
California sure is a gorgeous state. Saw, at dusk, a huge great horned owl sitting in an oak tree, everything silhouetted against a fading watercolor sunset, a simple gift.
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Sentinel Article on McClish trial
Here is the Sentinel's coverage of the McClish verdict (at the end are some upsetting details about the crime itself).
Now that one suspect in the Asha Veil murder case is behind bars for some time, I think it is time for the community (and others out there who might be able to shed some light on this tragedy) to start hoping for someone to be charged in this case.
This is what we know, so far, about Asha's death:
1) Asha Veil was a cashier at the Ben Lomond Market. She was, at the time, living separately from her husband. They were in counseling together and, though separated, seemed to be trying to have an amicable relationship. Asha, according to law enforcement, was a private person who did not engage in risky behavior.
2) Asha was six and a half months pregnant with a child whose paternity was unknown to her. She had told her husband she'd had a brief relationship with someone else, but that the relationship was over
Media has mentioned that Asha hoped the baby was her husband's.
3) On Saturday, September 9, 2006, Asha--a reliable employee at the market--was last seen leaving work at the Ben Lomond Market. At this point, she vanished. No one--at least no one who has come forward--saw her after this.
4)Asha failed to show up for work on Sunday and Monday and also missed appointments.
At this point, friends and fellow workers grew alarmed, as Asha was reliable about her appointments and work. Among her missed appointments was an interview for housing in Capitola. She was reported missing on Tuesday, September 12th.
4)The same day Asha was reported missing, her vintage brown BMW (reportedly a bit noisy) was found on Brookside Road, a quarter-mile from the market. Neighbors reported that the car had been there since Sunday morning. At this point, I have to admit that I knew Asha was likely not alive.
5)On Thursday, September 14th, Asha Veil's body was discovered by a hiker on Love Creek Road, a significantly long distance from the abandoned car, and much too rugged and far for someone in Asha's pregnant condition to easily walk. The fact that her body was still clad in her market uniform and apron indicates to me she was taken very shortly after leaving work.
6) An invesigator has stated that her body was off the road, and likely dragged there in an attempt to conceal it. Furthermore, investigators say that Asha was likely killed elsewhere and her body brought to the woods, and that she was killed by someone known to her.
And that is all we know, except for the significant fact that her coworker, Michael McClish, was convicted of sexual assault and assault with a deadly weapon. But these are the bare bones of the case, for which I believe "more will be revealed."
Now that one suspect in the Asha Veil murder case is behind bars for some time, I think it is time for the community (and others out there who might be able to shed some light on this tragedy) to start hoping for someone to be charged in this case.
This is what we know, so far, about Asha's death:
1) Asha Veil was a cashier at the Ben Lomond Market. She was, at the time, living separately from her husband. They were in counseling together and, though separated, seemed to be trying to have an amicable relationship. Asha, according to law enforcement, was a private person who did not engage in risky behavior.
2) Asha was six and a half months pregnant with a child whose paternity was unknown to her. She had told her husband she'd had a brief relationship with someone else, but that the relationship was over
Media has mentioned that Asha hoped the baby was her husband's.
3) On Saturday, September 9, 2006, Asha--a reliable employee at the market--was last seen leaving work at the Ben Lomond Market. At this point, she vanished. No one--at least no one who has come forward--saw her after this.
4)Asha failed to show up for work on Sunday and Monday and also missed appointments.
At this point, friends and fellow workers grew alarmed, as Asha was reliable about her appointments and work. Among her missed appointments was an interview for housing in Capitola. She was reported missing on Tuesday, September 12th.
4)The same day Asha was reported missing, her vintage brown BMW (reportedly a bit noisy) was found on Brookside Road, a quarter-mile from the market. Neighbors reported that the car had been there since Sunday morning. At this point, I have to admit that I knew Asha was likely not alive.
5)On Thursday, September 14th, Asha Veil's body was discovered by a hiker on Love Creek Road, a significantly long distance from the abandoned car, and much too rugged and far for someone in Asha's pregnant condition to easily walk. The fact that her body was still clad in her market uniform and apron indicates to me she was taken very shortly after leaving work.
6) An invesigator has stated that her body was off the road, and likely dragged there in an attempt to conceal it. Furthermore, investigators say that Asha was likely killed elsewhere and her body brought to the woods, and that she was killed by someone known to her.
And that is all we know, except for the significant fact that her coworker, Michael McClish, was convicted of sexual assault and assault with a deadly weapon. But these are the bare bones of the case, for which I believe "more will be revealed."
FYI
Just a little tidbit about general sentiments towards our Fearless Leader in Warshington, DeeCee.
Sorry about the slow-ish link--weirdly, it was the only one which Blogger would allow to be cut and pasted as a link.
A bit like the "Spy vs. Spy" page from MAD, eh?
Sorry about the slow-ish link--weirdly, it was the only one which Blogger would allow to be cut and pasted as a link.
A bit like the "Spy vs. Spy" page from MAD, eh?
FYI
Just a link to an interesting news story about our Fearless Leader in D.C.:
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/07/1972523.htm?section=justin
http://abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/07/07/1972523.htm?section=justin
Friday, July 06, 2007
MCLISH GUILTY OF RAPE
I was going to be glued to the Internet today, waiting for the following news, but life intervened and I had to do a bunch of errands today (including a Trader Joe's run). I got home late to the following news:
Michael McClish was found guilty of rape and of threatening the life of a woman two years ago (he was convicted on four counts). His bail remains tonight at 1.5 million dollars and his sentencing trial (which I DO plan to attend) is August 3rd. People on the Topix board are discussing the verdict, so please go to the following link to see what a few members of my community are saying. There are various boards discussing the topic:
http://www.topix.net/city/ben-lomond-ca
I want to remind my faithful readers that McClish has not been charged in the Asha Veil double murder.
For once, this turn of events has rendered Ms. Strega quite speechless, but I'll give it a try. I must say that I have been dismayed at the court system regarding people who choose to be abusive in all its shades. I felt McClish would be exonerated simply because I admit to being somewhat jaded about the ability of our court system to listen to what women have to say. I have seen obvious abusers get off virtually scot-free, then return to the courtroom a year or two later, having abused the same person again. I used to wonder what it took to be believed. I suppose this time it took a woman being threatened with a hatchet, brutally sexually assaulted, and dangled over a cliff (oh, whoops, sorry McClish--you only "held" her over the cliff. My bad). McClish had a long history of sexual harassment; this was not the first time, but one in a series of terrible events. I am sorry it had to come to this...and sorrier beyond words if one day it is discovered that the last face Asha Veil ever saw was his.
So what do we do now, as a community? I think we should support McClish's wife and children in reminding them they are not to blame in any way for his actions. Perhaps his actions were partially fueled by alcohol abuse--in which case he is still responsible, and responsible for his own recovery, or non-recovery, as it goes.
As I remember him, McClish was very charming (except for one memorable time when I needed to use the bathroom at the Ben Lomond Super and he questioned me like a federal agent about why I needed to use the can before he finally unlocked the door for me).
It's easy to fall for a charming person who has the ability to hide malignant secrets of the heart and soul. I hope that McClish's wife picks her life up and their children are able to be okay. I hope that the women who were the targets of McClish's sickness are able to heal their lives. I hope that no one makes up alibis for this man again. Kudos to the judge and the prosecutor in this case for doing their duty well. It has given me a touch of hope for our justice system. And to the women who came forward: though no one heard you screaming, your voices were heard anyway.
I would also like to add that, in my opinion, the Sentinel has done a terrible job of reporting on this story. Their articles are basically Cliff's notes to an enormous human tragedy--a husband found guilty of rape, a family who has become basically fatherless due to his actions, and, so far on the periphery of all this, a young woman who should have been alive today, at this hour, with her child in her arms.
I realize the Sentinel has been going through enormous cutbacks and there's only so much space to write things, but there is a way to show how much this crime has impacted our small community, and this has, in my opinion, been virtually ignored.
It's a shame when people have to "talk amongst themselves" to get the real and detailed news. Maybe stories of crimes out here in the boondocks don't matter much in the media, though you COULD run that notion by the ghost of Truman Capote and ask him if people are interested in stories of a small town rocked by violence.
But this isn't Holcomb, Kansas in the 1950s. It's July, 2007 in the San Lorenzo Valley, in a time and place far removed from that world, where people left their doors unlocked and everyone in town trusted each another. In spite of a court system that has heard it all, today someone was listened to, for once. And now, will another chapter be added to this? Will someone finally be charged in the senseless murders of Asha and Anina Veil? If so, we must be prepared as a community to hear what happened to them--horrible as it is to think of Asha's kindness and sweet smile against what must have been the unspeakable horror of her final moments in this world. I believe,as a community, we must fully face the magnitude of these crimes in our community and be witnesses in our anger and grief to one of the oldest stories in the world, of innocent lives plundered and destroyed--for nothing, except for revenge for a perceived harm, or to remove an inconvenience from a perpetrator's life.
I would theorize now that it might still take time for an arrest to be made in the Veil case. If McClish is a suspect (the latest on this, stated some time ago, is that he is one in a "pool of suspects"), then the investigators have ample time to continue to build a case.
And, now that justice has been done for someone, and since we can never bring Asha Veil and her daughter Anina to live again in our midst, we can perhaps begin to hope that one day soon there will be justice for them, too.
Michael McClish was found guilty of rape and of threatening the life of a woman two years ago (he was convicted on four counts). His bail remains tonight at 1.5 million dollars and his sentencing trial (which I DO plan to attend) is August 3rd. People on the Topix board are discussing the verdict, so please go to the following link to see what a few members of my community are saying. There are various boards discussing the topic:
http://www.topix.net/city/ben-lomond-ca
I want to remind my faithful readers that McClish has not been charged in the Asha Veil double murder.
For once, this turn of events has rendered Ms. Strega quite speechless, but I'll give it a try. I must say that I have been dismayed at the court system regarding people who choose to be abusive in all its shades. I felt McClish would be exonerated simply because I admit to being somewhat jaded about the ability of our court system to listen to what women have to say. I have seen obvious abusers get off virtually scot-free, then return to the courtroom a year or two later, having abused the same person again. I used to wonder what it took to be believed. I suppose this time it took a woman being threatened with a hatchet, brutally sexually assaulted, and dangled over a cliff (oh, whoops, sorry McClish--you only "held" her over the cliff. My bad). McClish had a long history of sexual harassment; this was not the first time, but one in a series of terrible events. I am sorry it had to come to this...and sorrier beyond words if one day it is discovered that the last face Asha Veil ever saw was his.
So what do we do now, as a community? I think we should support McClish's wife and children in reminding them they are not to blame in any way for his actions. Perhaps his actions were partially fueled by alcohol abuse--in which case he is still responsible, and responsible for his own recovery, or non-recovery, as it goes.
As I remember him, McClish was very charming (except for one memorable time when I needed to use the bathroom at the Ben Lomond Super and he questioned me like a federal agent about why I needed to use the can before he finally unlocked the door for me).
It's easy to fall for a charming person who has the ability to hide malignant secrets of the heart and soul. I hope that McClish's wife picks her life up and their children are able to be okay. I hope that the women who were the targets of McClish's sickness are able to heal their lives. I hope that no one makes up alibis for this man again. Kudos to the judge and the prosecutor in this case for doing their duty well. It has given me a touch of hope for our justice system. And to the women who came forward: though no one heard you screaming, your voices were heard anyway.
I would also like to add that, in my opinion, the Sentinel has done a terrible job of reporting on this story. Their articles are basically Cliff's notes to an enormous human tragedy--a husband found guilty of rape, a family who has become basically fatherless due to his actions, and, so far on the periphery of all this, a young woman who should have been alive today, at this hour, with her child in her arms.
I realize the Sentinel has been going through enormous cutbacks and there's only so much space to write things, but there is a way to show how much this crime has impacted our small community, and this has, in my opinion, been virtually ignored.
It's a shame when people have to "talk amongst themselves" to get the real and detailed news. Maybe stories of crimes out here in the boondocks don't matter much in the media, though you COULD run that notion by the ghost of Truman Capote and ask him if people are interested in stories of a small town rocked by violence.
But this isn't Holcomb, Kansas in the 1950s. It's July, 2007 in the San Lorenzo Valley, in a time and place far removed from that world, where people left their doors unlocked and everyone in town trusted each another. In spite of a court system that has heard it all, today someone was listened to, for once. And now, will another chapter be added to this? Will someone finally be charged in the senseless murders of Asha and Anina Veil? If so, we must be prepared as a community to hear what happened to them--horrible as it is to think of Asha's kindness and sweet smile against what must have been the unspeakable horror of her final moments in this world. I believe,as a community, we must fully face the magnitude of these crimes in our community and be witnesses in our anger and grief to one of the oldest stories in the world, of innocent lives plundered and destroyed--for nothing, except for revenge for a perceived harm, or to remove an inconvenience from a perpetrator's life.
I would theorize now that it might still take time for an arrest to be made in the Veil case. If McClish is a suspect (the latest on this, stated some time ago, is that he is one in a "pool of suspects"), then the investigators have ample time to continue to build a case.
And, now that justice has been done for someone, and since we can never bring Asha Veil and her daughter Anina to live again in our midst, we can perhaps begin to hope that one day soon there will be justice for them, too.
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Jury Still Out in McClish trial
There is no verdict yet in the McClish trial (thanks, Topix folks, for the info). I am uncertain as to when the verdict will come in. Sometimes this sort of thing takes a long time.
We had a fun Fourth, as usual, watching the fireworks in Scotts Valley. I must say, I never have seen an ending like the one last night--tons of fireworks going off, as if all over the sky, leaving a zillion sparks floating in the air like gold fireflies.
Really lovely!
I am working on cleaning-up chapters tonight in the book, so this entry will be brief.
We had a fun Fourth, as usual, watching the fireworks in Scotts Valley. I must say, I never have seen an ending like the one last night--tons of fireworks going off, as if all over the sky, leaving a zillion sparks floating in the air like gold fireflies.
Really lovely!
I am working on cleaning-up chapters tonight in the book, so this entry will be brief.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Strega Restaurant!
I sometimes search the word "strega" on Google and found this great restaurant in the North End of Boston! Check out the video...and remember, "what happens in Strega stays in Strega....if you know what I mean!"
The North End has to be one of my favorite places in the entire world, where I feel I'm absolutely at home. I'm definitely going to this restaurant when I get out to the East Coast again.
The North End has to be one of my favorite places in the entire world, where I feel I'm absolutely at home. I'm definitely going to this restaurant when I get out to the East Coast again.
More on McClish trial, and happy 4th
Someone on the Topix board did an excellent job of recapping the prosecutor's closing arguments yesterday in the Michael McClish case. Click on the link and look at the first posting. I do wish there was a recap of the defense's argument.
It is really frustrating to know that these things do not get published fully in the media. The prosecutor looks like he gave a very strong and meticulous closing argument.
Well, on the heels of this, we are spending the 4th in the traditional way: FIREWORKS!
It's always a little crazy to go to the Scotts Valley fireworks display, with huge traffic jams, etc., but it is so much fun. I have always loved fireworks all my life. We always bring a little picnic for the festivities.
We used to go to Sepulveda Park when I was a kid and watch the displays--fireworks are all computerized now, but "back in the day," as my kids say, a guy would walk out and just light off a fuse!
I hope that everyone has a safe 4th, be careful with ordnance if you have it (especially in tinder-dry areas), and have fun!
It is really frustrating to know that these things do not get published fully in the media. The prosecutor looks like he gave a very strong and meticulous closing argument.
Well, on the heels of this, we are spending the 4th in the traditional way: FIREWORKS!
It's always a little crazy to go to the Scotts Valley fireworks display, with huge traffic jams, etc., but it is so much fun. I have always loved fireworks all my life. We always bring a little picnic for the festivities.
We used to go to Sepulveda Park when I was a kid and watch the displays--fireworks are all computerized now, but "back in the day," as my kids say, a guy would walk out and just light off a fuse!
I hope that everyone has a safe 4th, be careful with ordnance if you have it (especially in tinder-dry areas), and have fun!
Tuesday, July 03, 2007
McClish trial goes to the jury
The McClish trial is now in jury deliberation. I will let people know ASAP what the verdict is and if there are any further developments after that.
I got my hair done late tonight at a shop on Mill Street in Ben Lomond. When I was finished, I walked out and saw that the pet grooming place next door has a picture of Asha Veil and a little note in red marker, on purple construction paper, that says something like "you are missed." I wondered why I didn't notice this picture before, with Asha's kind, open-expressioned face and cheerful smile. Everywhere in Ben Lomond, the oleanders are in bloom, light and dark pink, and starry white, everything at that early-July peak of flowering and brightness. The wind had come up, everything cooling down from a hot day.
I also stood in the back of the Ben Lomond Super tonight, waiting my turn for the bathroom, and got a terrible, creepy feeling--probably just my imagination running away with me. I looked at the row of employee lockers and wondered which one was Asha's. I wondered what she kept in her locker, and if they had to cut the lock to open her locker after she died. Just idle, sad thoughts, and an equally sad wish that I had known Asha better in life.
I looked at the back door and wondered if that was the door she went out of on the last night of her life. And I wondered, while McClish's fate for an unrelated crime is in the hands of the jury, what happened to Asha on the night she walked out of the market--with no inkling that she was hours away from death--and vanished forever.
And I hope we have some answers, soon.
I got my hair done late tonight at a shop on Mill Street in Ben Lomond. When I was finished, I walked out and saw that the pet grooming place next door has a picture of Asha Veil and a little note in red marker, on purple construction paper, that says something like "you are missed." I wondered why I didn't notice this picture before, with Asha's kind, open-expressioned face and cheerful smile. Everywhere in Ben Lomond, the oleanders are in bloom, light and dark pink, and starry white, everything at that early-July peak of flowering and brightness. The wind had come up, everything cooling down from a hot day.
I also stood in the back of the Ben Lomond Super tonight, waiting my turn for the bathroom, and got a terrible, creepy feeling--probably just my imagination running away with me. I looked at the row of employee lockers and wondered which one was Asha's. I wondered what she kept in her locker, and if they had to cut the lock to open her locker after she died. Just idle, sad thoughts, and an equally sad wish that I had known Asha better in life.
I looked at the back door and wondered if that was the door she went out of on the last night of her life. And I wondered, while McClish's fate for an unrelated crime is in the hands of the jury, what happened to Asha on the night she walked out of the market--with no inkling that she was hours away from death--and vanished forever.
And I hope we have some answers, soon.
To Rose and Tricia
I just wanted to let two commenters know that I am kind of busy tonight and haven't gotten around to publishing comments....also, Rose, please email me at mailstrega@yahoo.com and let me know if you want me to publish your comment. I don't mind--just know that this blog has a large and growing readership (literally all over the world) and I want to make sure you don't mind attracting possible traffic to it from here.
Tricia, I will email you as soon as I have a minute to get into my email program.
Thank you!
many blessings, Ms. Strega
Tricia, I will email you as soon as I have a minute to get into my email program.
Thank you!
many blessings, Ms. Strega
Something Strange in the Neighborhood
**possible correction**--I read on the Topix board later today that someone said the Press-Banner was innacurate in reporting that plainclothes officers were observing McClish today, that they were actually attorneys-in training....
What's the right side of this, I wonder? I don't know yet...
The editor of the Press-Banner included a current article on the Topix board (click on the link and go to the second post by "From the Press-Banner"):
I found one statement to be rather odd:
"When McClish took the stand Thursday, the courtroom was packed with more than 60 spectators. Among them were about a dozen plainclothes sheriff’s deputies, each conspicuous by his suit, tie and notepad."
Why are a DOZEN plainclothes law enforcement officers observing McClish making statements (this was his cross-examination) IN PERSON? One or two might be understandable, but a dozen? There has to be a reason they are in the courtroom, in person. If they wanted to be covert about gathering information on him, they could study the court transcript, or an audio or video of his testimony, if they exist.
For what reason are there this many officers in the courtroom observing McClish?
Interesting....
What's the right side of this, I wonder? I don't know yet...
The editor of the Press-Banner included a current article on the Topix board (click on the link and go to the second post by "From the Press-Banner"):
I found one statement to be rather odd:
"When McClish took the stand Thursday, the courtroom was packed with more than 60 spectators. Among them were about a dozen plainclothes sheriff’s deputies, each conspicuous by his suit, tie and notepad."
Why are a DOZEN plainclothes law enforcement officers observing McClish making statements (this was his cross-examination) IN PERSON? One or two might be understandable, but a dozen? There has to be a reason they are in the courtroom, in person. If they wanted to be covert about gathering information on him, they could study the court transcript, or an audio or video of his testimony, if they exist.
For what reason are there this many officers in the courtroom observing McClish?
Interesting....
Strangers in the Night
We had some interesting visitors last night, squealing and making other weird, otherworldly sounds in the backyard. Our dog went crazy, trying to get out for some fresh pork chops. It seems the wild pigs were in transit, as the sounds faded out...and then the bobcat started up, with its bizarre and wild noises....making it a little hard to sleep. But then I did--I am on a new supplement for fibromyalgia, recommended by Richard at New Leaf in Felton. It's supposed to improve my REM and deep sleep (fibro is thought to be a sleep disorder. One of the standard treatments is exercise--but even that hasn't helped as much as I would like). I slept very deeply after the pigs left and dreamed some interesting dreams, including that the wild pigs had been eating Red Delicious apples the size of beach balls! Richard warned me that I might have some pretty intense dreams at first...hey, bring them on.
My REM sleep is so poor that I rarely remember any dreams anymore. I like my dream life and hope that it is on its way back now.
Some folks have been asking me how the book is going, as well as all the stuff I still have out at literary magazines...I have one really good magazine that just yesterday let me know work is being held for final consideration (a prose piece I think was one of my better ones)...and other than that, everything is still out. And as for the book, it's going very steadily.
Monday, July 02, 2007
Closing arguments in McClish trial apparently tomorrow.
One of the Topix message boards is full of information about McClish's final testimony
today, one step ahead of the Sentinel for now.
This week could prove fruitful for the end of this trial and...whatever else happens.
today, one step ahead of the Sentinel for now.
This week could prove fruitful for the end of this trial and...whatever else happens.
McClish Trial: Don't Know What Happened Today!
I couldn't be downtown today for the closing arguments in the McClish case, and a lengthy search of the news showed nothing, including the Topix board (where sometimes people who can go to the trial post about it before the media publishes it).
So, I have nothing to report, with much regret. I will illumine the blogosphere as soon as I know.
I predict that, no matter what the outcome of this trial, we may have some movement in the Asha Veil murder investigation. My psychic powers tell me....
So, I have nothing to report, with much regret. I will illumine the blogosphere as soon as I know.
I predict that, no matter what the outcome of this trial, we may have some movement in the Asha Veil murder investigation. My psychic powers tell me....
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Closing Statements Expected Monday in McClish trial
I have to do some sleuthing to find the link to this, but I read someplace in the Sentinel that closing arguments are taking place Monday in the McClish assault trial (either on the Sentinel blog or the paper itself). I cannot say how long the jury will be out at that point--it might be quick or take an eternity for the jury to deliver their verdict.
Like everyone, I really have no idea what is going to happen with this. It's truly sad and tragic all around.
Like everyone, I really have no idea what is going to happen with this. It's truly sad and tragic all around.
For many months now, I've been aware of a...(wrote this years ago, probably is irrelevant in a time when Internet anonymity is easier to uncover, but might as well leave it. This was a lot of work).
Interesting, this, from Whois: (I've left off the traceable ISP, which originates from the same person):
City Sacramento
ISP Level 3 Communications Inc
Returning Visits 16
Visit Length 4 hours 30 mins 2 secs
VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser MSIE 6.0
Operating System Windows XP
Resolution 800x600
Javascript Enabled
Navigation Path
Date Time WebPage
1st July 2007 09:22:01 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega&btnG=Google Search
The Strega's Story
1st July 2007 13:52:03 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
The Strega's Story
and this:
Region California
City Sacramento
ISP Level 3 Communications Inc
Returning Visits 5
Visit Length 9 hours 56 mins 39 secs
VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser MSIE 6.0
Operating System Windows XP
Resolution 800x600
Javascript Enabled
Navigation Path
Date Time WebPage
29th June 2007 20:22:15 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
29th June 2007 20:22:57 blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?um=1&tab=wb&hl=en&q=%22ms%20strega%22
stregastories.blogspot.com/2007/06/mcclish-testifies-on-his-own-behalf.html
29th June 2007 21:02:05 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
29th June 2007 21:02:52 blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?um=1&tab=wb&hl=en&q=%22ms%20strega%22
stregastories.blogspot.com/2007/06/mcclish-testifies-on-his-own-behalf.html
30th June 2007 01:44:48 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
30th June 2007 02:55:14 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
30th June 2007 03:19:04 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
30th June 2007 04:22:33 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
30th June 2007 06:18:54 www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&safe=off&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
and this (just today!)
Region California
City Sacramento
ISP Level 3 Communications Inc
Returning Visits 16
Visit Length 4 hours 30 mins 2 secs
VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser MSIE 6.0
Operating System Windows XP
Resolution 800x600
Javascript Enabled
Navigation Path
Date Time WebPage
1st July 2007 09:22:01 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
1st July 2007 13:52:03 www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22ms strega%22&btnG=Google Search
www.stregastories.blogspot.com/
"investigative journalism," my foot. Cyberstalking and grounds for a restraining order...yes. Thank God for Google and blogspot.
Warning Away the Usual Trolls
I had a long conversation with someone in law enforcement last night. He suggested, in lieu of taking down my blog (which I will never do, sorry), that I post a warning to the person who has been trolling my blog at least since February 2006. There has been a police report filed with the Santa Cruz County sherrif's ofiice and they have advised me to take other legal action against this person, which I fully intend to do.
Frankly, I'd rather sit and have coffee with Michael McClish than address this person directly, but here goes:
My partner and I have become aware that you have been regularly trolling my blog and conducting extensive Internet searches about me (on such subjects as images of me, the name of the head of my MFA program, information on my book, etc., all of which were recorded routinely as traffic pointing to this blog). You sit on my blog anywhere from a short while to fifteen hours a day, nearly every day, signing on dozens of times and gleaning it for personal information about me. Now you have threatened to create a website disseminating false information about me and my family, as well as information that creates a serious and actionable invasion of my privacy, that of my partner, and of my children--who are almost all adults and can and will take legal action on their own behalf against you should they choose.
So, here's what the officer told me to do: I am warning you, once, to stay off this blog. This place is open to everyone on the Internet but you.
Frankly, I'd rather sit and have coffee with Michael McClish than address this person directly, but here goes:
My partner and I have become aware that you have been regularly trolling my blog and conducting extensive Internet searches about me (on such subjects as images of me, the name of the head of my MFA program, information on my book, etc., all of which were recorded routinely as traffic pointing to this blog). You sit on my blog anywhere from a short while to fifteen hours a day, nearly every day, signing on dozens of times and gleaning it for personal information about me. Now you have threatened to create a website disseminating false information about me and my family, as well as information that creates a serious and actionable invasion of my privacy, that of my partner, and of my children--who are almost all adults and can and will take legal action on their own behalf against you should they choose.
So, here's what the officer told me to do: I am warning you, once, to stay off this blog. This place is open to everyone on the Internet but you.
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