Friday, May 30, 2008

Baby wars, eh?

Like the South End, it seems that the hipper neighborhoods of Toronto are also teeming with urban assault strollers. Are Canadians really more polite about tots in trendy restaurants? Not always.
"The bartender and all the staff were cool, but we got a mixed reaction from other people—a lot of really dirty looks in that passive-aggressive Toronto way, like they thought we were bad parents. "
"The next day, she woke up to a lengthy rant in her in-box: “I will let you know, as a manager of a high-end retail store in Toronto, that your ‘mommy bubble’ attitude is ruining the independent retail sector in this city."

"a sign in the window: “No SUV-type strollers, please” (the store has since moved to the Danforth, but the sign remains). Every time I saw that sign, I thought about the descriptor “SUV” and how it connotes something specific: space sucking, aggressive and, above all, entitled."
"The entitled parent easily becomes the militant parent, lashing out at the restaurant that doesn’t serve organic milk or the singleton who doesn’t help get the stroller up the streetcar steps."
... or the Starbucks barista who wants you to stop changing your tot's diaper on a table?

Some Canadian complaints sound like what we've heard (read?) about some Boston neighborhoods.
"What emerges in these family-driven downtown neighbourhoods, over a long period of time, is effectively the kind of monoculture that happens instantly in the suburbs when a group of economically similar people buy into a development while it’s being built."
They also apparently have some problems that have developed between 'human parents' and 'doggie parents.' Like what happens when an off-leash dog nearly knocks down your toddler.
“She was definitely afraid,” he says. “And the owners just laugh. They think those dogs are their children, but I tell them, ‘Your dog doesn’t grow up to be a taxpayer. My daughter will, and who do you think will be looking after you when you’re old? My daughter and her taxes.’ ”

"After two years of consultation between dog owners, the dog-less, and parks and recreation officials, the dogs of Jean Sibelius lost their off-leash hours in January. An appeal is under way.... She believes city councillors and judges favour parents, and notes, like a police officer talking about a gang, that parents are “highly organized.” Interestingly, Mills complains that the dog owners are “highly organized,” because they have no kids and far more time to lobby for dog rights; Mills uses the word “entitled” to describe dog owners, and Morton uses it to describe parents."
Not sure if this kind of activism has made it to Boston yet. But I won't be surprised when it does. Parents are parents, I guess.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

WBOS Earthfest 2008 in pictures









At one point, the music stopped and the police got on the stage with Cracker. Not entirely sure what the problem was.

Zombiefied Earthfest

Zombies celebrate the Earth at WBOS Earthfest!




police confront the zombies (photo above)
















(some of these photos were snapped by my friend Paul, as I was stuck in a line.)

Monday, May 19, 2008

Busy night skies

What's with all of the helicopters buzzing around my house tonight? One of them was even close enough for me to see that it was blue and white. (Life Flight? One of the local TV stations?)

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Avon walkers make their way through JP







Captured some of the Avon walkers on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain yesterday. Love the gal with the pink hair.

Israelis for Obama


IMG_8397.JPG
Originally uploaded by LoveLyss
Parking lot of Whole Foods in Cambridge, MA.

Rude awakening

Every morning there comes a moment of awareness - I'm awake. [pause] Why am I awake? - sometimes it comes following the annoying buzz of the alarm clock, sometimes it's the dog needing to go out, and sometimes it's your kid is trying to tell you that she had a bad dream. Today I was roused to consciousness thanks to a REALLY LOUD BOOM followed by an eerie envelope of stillness. It was like when there's a huge clap of thunder that almost seems to make your entire house vibrate punctured by the silence that makes you notice that the thunder is gone. I glanced at the clock, which was blank. Confused, I tried to turn on the TV, and when that didn't work I stumbled out to find my cell phone. The time said 6:45am.

I was not the only one awake - I ran into a neighbor in the hallway who was coming inside with his young son (where were they coming from at 6:45 in the morning?). He said that he'd heard it too and noted that the building's 'power off' alarm was beeping and that the emergency lights were on in the hallway. Still confused and barely awake, I went back inside and called the local police station to ask what tha what the what had happened to my electricity. The person who anserwed their phone patched me through to 911, despite my sleepy protests that I didn't think it was an emergency, I just wanted to know what was going on. The 911 operator asked me what happened, I said I wasn't sure that this classified as an emergency, but was patched through by the police. I told her that I had been awakened by a VERY LOUD BOOM at around 6:45am and I had no idea what it was, but that my apartment complex seemed to be without power. Confirming that it was not a weekday and I wouldn't oversleep and be late to work, I fell back asleep.

I still don't know what happened to create such a cacophony. But by the time I woke up again around 10:30am, the power was back on. Weird way to start the week.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Rozzie Plain bloggers in real life

Somehow, the Interweb makes the world larger and smaller all at once. Went to the Rozzie Plain blogger get-together tonight. Was cool to finally some of these fine authors in person. Wish that I could remember the URL's of everyone I met. (Sorry if I didn't.)









(If you don't wish to have a photo of yourself on the blog, please notify me and I'll remove it.)



Starbucks sucks up street space


IMG_8343.JPG
Originally uploaded by LoveLyss
Why can't the Starbucks delivery tuck just park in the parking lot (which is right behind that small tree) instead of blocking a large chunk of Centre Street (and what seemed to be a bus stop) during rush hour?

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Playtime

A little while ago some kids from the apartment complex were outside hitting each other with plastic strips that broke off from a chain link fence. I guess it's better than them being outside on a school night selling or using drugs.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Rural Wrentham

This morning I saw a man riding right through Wrentham Center on a small John Deere tractor. Tractor* Guy wasn't going very fast, but seemed to be obeying traffic laws. Reminded me of The Straight Story (except that the the guy in Wrentham was much younger).


*If it wasn't a 'real' tractor, it was a seriously large riding mower.

Something sounds funny

On tonight's Chronicle, during a segment on Dorchester's Peabody Square, the following (amusing) line caught my ear:

"...including a growing gay and lesbian community, a population that many say adds a creative element to the area..."

So, just because you're gay (or a lesbian), you're automatically creative?

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Aftermath of violence

The Wake Up the Earth Festival took place today in the same park where a young man was killed recently. The basketball court where he died has become some sort of shrine to him.










More pictures can be found here.