Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

I recently got a cameraphone, and so I recently created a moblog. The idea is that I can document interesting things I see during the regular course of a day and immediately upload them online.

So today, I’m driving along Poplar Avenue in Memphis, and I spot my first “interesting thing.” Actually, what I first saw was a TV camera filming from one corner of an intersection to the other. My eyes followed the direction in which the lens was pointing to a woman dressed in military fatigues, holding a sign that said, “Join the U.S. Army. Get Raped.” Quite a provocative sign to be holding, wouldn’t you say?

After I finished my short errand in the next block, I turned the car around and readied my cameraphone. Sadly, the woman was facing the other direction when I got to the red light, so I couldn’t take a picture. I decided to pull into the next entrance on the right and just ask if I could take her picture.

She was very pleasant and basically explained that she was a one-woman political action protesting the silencing of women in the military who are raped. She explained that the uniform she was wearing was her own and that she had been raped in the military, then suffered many negative consequences for trying to report the rape. She had been fighting the fight with the support of her husband. She said she was a performer and that she wanted to get herself heard. I wonder what got her inspired to go out there today.

I took two pictures, then got into my car to try and send them to my moblog. They weren’t there! The cameraphone is new, and I haven’t quite gotten the hang of using it. I got back out of the car to ask to take another picture, just as the woman and a man who she said was her bodyguard (but maybe was her husband, too – I’m not sure) were walking away. She graciously let me try again. (I learned I hadn’t hit “Save” after taking each picture. It’s hard to see that screen when it’s bright out!) I got two successful pictures. The man with her handed me a postcard and a CD:

a.g. Blue, NEW ALBUM APRIL 2005

N-cluding the smash club hitmaps”50/50” featuring NOID

Listen live @ XtaticRadio.com!

a.g. blue

Not really what I was expecting! I listened to the CD. It’s good, really political, in the hip-hop/dance/spoken word area. I’m not sure if she’s doing the mixes or just the vocals, but I’m not surprised she’s coming out with an album in April. You have to check out her web site. It’s got a great main page graphic, and within the site are several downloadable MP3s and WMA files. She seems a fascinating combination of soldier/activist/performance artist/whistleblower. You have to see it for yourself. I can’t believe the woman I saw on Poplar is the woman on this site, but that’s her!

It seems that every day is more interesting than the next.

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Growing up, I would often end up in a restaurant with my dad, and he would tell me, "This is the right thing to order here." My most specific memory was on Oxford Road in Atlanta, right next to the main entrance to Emory. There was a sandwich shop there. I think it was in that building with the silly top; the one that’s been a Dominoes and a million other things. I don’t know if it’s still there or not.

Anyway, he said that I should order turkey and cole slaw with Russian Dressing on Rye. He said that was the right thing to order, and the people working there would know I knew something about sandwiches. I remember feeling like a little bit of a badass ordering that. I was probably in the range of 12 years old.

So today, on AskMetafilter (a site I adore), someone is asking about good bagels in London. And someone posted this comment:

Correct bagel types:

• Plain
• Sesame
• Poppy
• Salt
• Onion
• Everything
• Cinnamon Raisin

Incorrect bagel types:

• Sun-dried tomato
• Blueberry
• Jalapeno
• Pesto
• Anything not listed under "Correct bagel types"

Another person pointed out the obvious exclusion of Garlic, another important bagel flavor.

Does it make me a snob that I am *so* with this person on this point?

I grew up eating bagels at The Royal Bagel at Ansley Mall in Atlanta, GA. It was owned by a Jewish woman from New York named Rose and her husband. It was there my whole life, and I have never had a bagel that good since.

Over time, The Royal Bagel became a fascinating cultural institution. It was where people in my neighborhood went on weekend mornings. It was a Jewish place, and because of its location, it was a gay place (for gay men, not gay women… that was Decatur).

I remember that over the years, the employees changed from being my friend Molly’s two older sisters (kind of a family atmosphere) to a really hopping gay Mecca, with a full expansion into the next shop’s space. The guys working there at the end of its royal reign wore t-shirts that said something like "Bagels fit for a Queen." Excellent! And Rose was always still around. She probably didn’t know me, but I knew her.

The bagel flavors there were the ones mentioned in the correct list (including garlic), and the cream cheese flavors were plain and lox. It was perfect. There was no way to perfect that combination.

The Royal Bagel isn’t there anymore. Instead, there’s an Einstein’s up the hill. It’s a sad replacement, and yet, when in Atlanta, that’s kind of where we end up… trying to reclaim those wonderful bagel moments of the past.

By the way, I’m not the only one who remembers the Royal Bagel. And here’s another description from Creative Loafing, the local Atlanta rag:

Royal Bagel — Now that bagel franchises blanket the city, it’s tough to imagine loyal customers driving halfway across town to line up at this small Ansley Mall bakery that was among the first to offer the breakfast staple when it opened in 1974. Hung on until 1997.

The take-home message? Shop locally, and order the correct bagels… PLEASE! No wheat, no blueberry chocolate chip, no walnut spread, no bagel pizzas, and no bagel sandwiches with lettuce and turkey and other wrong things. Please, people. It’s not snobbery. It’s being cultured!!
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Update: I’m reposting this hoping that the comments will miraculously work. If you wanted to post before but couldn’t, try again.

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Hi out there in TV Land. I’ve been really busy here, and I kind of forgot that I should probably get back on here and say a little about this job. It’s a job at a place that does these super duper Cadillac evaluations of kids. I will be working with a pediatric neuropsychologist who specializes in kids with learning disability, attention, and behavior problems. For the first long while, I’ll really be shadowing this woman, "attached at the hip." She’ll be in the room for every evaluation I do. They train their postdocs very closely with the aim of grooming people to stay. They are very focused on doing evals and making recommendations that are understandable to parents and that are really carried through, so they tend to stay in contact with families over years instead of the normal test, write a report, then send them away dealy. Instead, they consult with the people who will be carrying out the interventions directly. The salary isn’t great, but it goes up a lot if they decide they want me for a second year, and it goes up a WHOLE lot the year after that.

It’s worlds away from Memphis. This year, I’ve learned that psychological assessment and intervention are really a bit up Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. A lot of the kids I work with in Memphis need much more basic stuff like food, shelter, and safety. They need resources and a good case manager. Today, I was saying to Aaron that if a family that makes $500,000 a year has a kid with severe LD, then that’s just as big of a problem for the family as it would be if the family made 1/10th that amount. I can’t tell how it will be, but it’s really a dreamy opportunity for a first job. I’m pretty excited about it.

The coolest part was that this woman (to whose hip I will be attached!) was just a great match with me. She’s really enthusiastic and full of integrity and smart and funny and down to earth. I mean, that’s cool as hell. She’s also really direct. She said, "I got a lot of applications for this position, and I’ve done a lot of interviews. You’re the only one so far I’d want attached to my hip! I think I’m just going to offer it to you right now."

I mean, I must be getting some serious karmic payback or something. Seriously.

Today was exhausting. We spent all of our time driving all over the place trying to see where we want to live. It’s a hard thing to do. Seems like it’s so loaded! Like such a big decision. Hope we’re choosing well.

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The Toilet

The Note on The Toilet

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Went to the Blogger Bash Tonight at Garibaldi’s. I’m too tired for commentary, but here are some pictures…

Mike, Phil, and Baby Madeline

Len, Brock, Steve, and Mark

E.J.

Me, Rachel, and E.J.

Steve (LeftWingCracker, fittingly on the left) & Mark (The Conservative Zone, fittingly on the right)

Aaron and a little bit of E.J.

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