Monday, January 7, 2013

Yelp review update: Colman Pool

About a month ago a recreational group I belong to rented the pool from 7 until 9 p.m. one Saturday evening, after the pool was closed for the day.

I was the last person to shower up and leave Colman.  I accidentally left my new swimsuit on the bench next to the showers.  I didn't think I would have any problem getting it back as between the private party that evening and the time the pool reopened the next day there was obviously no one else entering and using the facilities.

To my dismay despite calling the first thing the next morning, the lifeguards said they had not found my swimsuit.  At the very least, even if the lifeguards had been in a hurry to get out early the previous evening (Saturday night, after all), there was also a maintenance person who scheduled to come in early Sunday.

Pretty mysterious.

When I did contact the Seattle Parks Department, they seemed pretty defensive and reported that the protocol for picking up stray items had been followed by their staff.  ("Maybe it fell out of your bag on the way to the car."  "But I know I hadn't wrapped it up, as it would have been sopping wet.").

On the other hand, swimsuits just don't get up and walk away.

I would not leave anything behind at Colman Pool, for any reason, as security may be a problem ("Maybe an 'inside job'?").

http://www.yelp.com/user_details_review_search?q=colman+pool&userid=zjZOOgIRvFnGAO0QQ5FNQA

Yelp review: Salvadorean Bakery

Excited to get my first taste of "authentic" Central American food at this cafe-bakery way out of the way in South Seattle, I was disappointed, in fact, by the Salvadorean Platter (combination plate) I ordered, which was bland, starchy, chocolate-dark, fried-greasy, and not very substantial.  

The papoose (or whatever it is called) was not very appetizing, nor were the deep fried banana, single tamale, re-fried beans, and fried yucca with bits of pork.  A small side of salad was included as well, the size of the coleslaw you get at KFC.  

I was still famished after finishing everything.

The prices seemed high, as well, for what you got.

Maybe I've gotten spoiled by Tacos Guaymas and Taco del Mar.  Or food trucks, for that matter.

http://www.yelp.com/user_details_review_search?userid=zjZOOgIRvFnGAO0QQ5FNQA&q=salvadorean+bakery

Yelp review update: The Stranger






What does a white girl like Jen Graves know about racism? 

* * * * *

After sexualizing and juvenaliizing everything under the sun for some time, the Stranger has finally broken new ground:

Now it  happily uses racial slurs such as WHITEY, HONKY*, CHINAMAN, etc. to casually refer to Caucasians and Chinese (but never, God forbid, uses "nig---" to refer to a black person or "k---" to refer to a Jew.

Racial/ethnic slurs are all ugly and made all the uglier by the fact that The Stranger has decided that some are O.K., whereas others are not.

I dislike hypocrisy, cowardice, and dogma.  I guess that means I have problems with The Stranger's policy of not reporting violent crime committed by African-Americans, only that of whites, preferably white-on-black, even though black-on-white is far more common.

* * * * *

On the eve of the anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, I think it would honor him that I state that

You can choose to remain silent but you cannot prevent me from choosing not to.

* * * * *

I get it::

Jen Graves, staff writer at The Stranger, is not actually a person.   

She is, in fact, a tape recorder--stuck on repeat play.  

"Given the fact that African Americans, women, and lesbians all struggle to be seen as non-stereotypical individuals..."  (The Stranger, first sentence of film review, January 3, 2012).

Why exclude African-American men (super-cool/noble/misunderstood victims of history), Asian-American men (grinds/nerds/eunuchs), gay men (un-subversive folk-like-us), straight white men (oppressors), men--period--, seniors (sexually starved grannies), Hispanics (hard workers), immigrants, handicapped, French, Germans, SPD (pigs), Republicans (rich repressed suburban white assh---s), Micronesians, canines, inanimate objects, fat people (born comedians)?   

Or the staff of the Stranger (cool hipsters, but not so poor that they can't go to uber-hip clubs and "super-cheap" restaurants that the real poor can't afford to go to)? 

Oh, yes, it's just my prejudices (as a triple minority which would put auto-proclaimed cognoscenti such as Ms.Graves to shame) that "stereotype" African-Americans as being, in general, bigger, louder, tougher, more aggressive, and more likely to play the victim role (and cry "Wolf!") than any other racial/ethnic/sexual/religious minority.  And we all know it's the white man's fault if they are.

Oh, I'll admit that it's really Asian-Americans and whites deliver sucker punches that knock their victim to the ground, bleeding and semi-conscious.

http://seattletimes.nwso…

I, for one, don't want or need her grotesque hand-wringing or commiseration.

Jen Graves is either a tape recorder or the assumed name of a group of writers, all encased in layers of P.C. resin like fossilized beetles.

And if she is actually a single person, some one should tell her that self-abasement in public is not attractive.

* * * * *

"Driving the narrow streets, I'd notice that young black men would sometimes walk in the middle of the street and refuse to move for cars. They'd downright lope, slow like the South, where African American families coming to work at Boeing in the 1950s hailed from when they moved to this neighborhood--the only area of the city where they were allowed to live until the middle 1960s. To me, this loping was a form of historical communication, intentional or not: This is our street.."  

Did you ever consider actually asking one of these men what they were up--or what they thought they were up to, rather than indulging your penchant in getting lost in your own precious liberal-white fantasies?

http://www.thestranger.c…

* * * * *

Enough of Jen Graves, read what is worth picking up The Stranger for:  the film and theater reviews--see, for instance, the perceptive review of the Tony Award-winning "Spring Awakening" [1/11-1/17/2012].

Though one may disagree with a particular article, the latter should be written without hypocrisy.

* * * * *

Why are the lives of whites, Southeast Asians, Hispanics, etc. worth less than those of African-Americans?

Why, for instance, did The Stranger to decide NOT to investigate and write about the murder of a Vietnamese Buddhist in Tacoma--a year before the Theresa Butz murder--whose young black attackers, when the man tried to flee, chased him down with a hammer and repeatedly hit his skull?   

The Vietnamese man had been sitting on his porch when the young men passed by and decided to attack him.  This horrible murder was almost totally ignored by the American press.  As a so-called "alternative" newspaper, The Stranger could have broken new ground if it had had the courage, political and ethical, to open its eyes.
 http://seattletimes.nwso…

* * * * *

The Stranger:  Seattle's Afro-Saxon elit

Yelp review: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences: Eve of announcement of nominations

The Academy is so ridiculously over-rated but it does mean a lot to the people who work in the industry as it brings recognition and $$ in.

This year the nominations will be announced in early January, which is a good thing, as it results in less of a protracted guessing game.

Nonetheless there will still be a slate of nominees for up to Ten Best Picture nominees, which is anomalous and cheapens the slate of the nominees for the top Oscar.

It would be really great if the Oscar continued to recognize European film actors by nominating both Marion Cotillard and Emmanuelle Riva, the latter for Hanecke's "Amour" (which won the Palme d'or at Cannes) for Best Actress.  But it is unlikely, even though a few members may remember Riva's beautiful work in Alain Resnais's 1961 haunting art-house masterpiece, "Hiroshima, Mon Amour" (screenplay by Marguerite Duras).

Instead we will the usual slate of mainstream Hollywood stars (Ben Affleck, Tommy Lee Jones, Robert DeNiro, Leonardo Dicaprio...) as well as obligatory nods to black actors (Denzel Washington, Quvenzhane Wallis).  The latter would, at age 6, also become the youngest acting nominee in Oscar history.  Ms. Riva, at 85, if nominated, would become the oldest nominee.

Acting nominees for foreign-language films from Latin America or Asia or Europe will be virtually non-existent.  No Native Americans, Asian-Americans, or Hispanic Americans.  No seniors.  No LGBTs.  No handicapped persons.  

Foreigners usually have to appear in Hollywood films to get recognition.  In fact, only three actors have appeared in foreign-language films for which they received Oscars (Sophia Loren, Roberto Bennigni, Marion Cotillard).

The last decade when there was more than one "foreigner" acting nominee every few years was for a few successive years in the 70's when Liv Ullman and Ingmar Bergman's films consistently found favor.

No wonder Woody Allen has never attended an Academy Awards show.  

Show biz and art don't make good companions.  The National Society of Film Critics, or the L.A. Film Critics--for that matter--might as well exist on a different planet.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences-beverly-hills#hrid:7sJeHN3Q6PMlqPhxc_ZnGA/src:self

Yelp review: Neighbors

Walked in here a few nights ago.  Found Beautiful People, loud music, and overpriced, mediocre drinks.

Overheard part of the following conversation:

(to a friend): "Tonight I just don't feel like having sex. I mean, I think I want something intimate."


http://www.yelp.com/user_details_review_search?q=neighbours&userid=zjZOOgIRvFnGAO0QQ5FNQA

* * * * *

I admire gay (male) culture, in "liberating sex" for us all, made one of the most intimate experiences between two people into a form of recreational sports (for 1, 2, 3 or more participants).

That's what the free condoms at Neighbours (why the British spelling?) are for.

Yelp Review: the downtown Seattle YMCA


Dedicated to the Matthew Shepherds, Bradley Mannings, Danny Chens*, and other scapegoats:  those who seen as weak or different in some way from others.

The price of standing up for what one believes is often steep.

We are all agents of change, + or -, whether we intend it or not.

Bullying doesn't only happen to middle-school kids in this country.  Adults may feel too much shame to report they have been victims because "it isn't supposed to happen [to adults]." If it does, it shows they are "weak" or "defective."  "I'm not a tattle-tale."  "I'll get blamed."  "No one will do anything."

*  http://www.nytimes.com/2…

EXAMPLE

After 12 years of being a member I am seriously considering cancelling my membership.   The downtown YMCA has been hemorrhaging members for some time.

One reason is that it has become increasingly dysfunctional.   I heard that no one gets fired here for any reason.  Well, maybe setting fire to the building.

Take another example:  the swimming pool.  You have to spend as much time as I do there every week (8 hours for the past two years) to discover this.

In the past three years I have witnessed misconduct wherein a few morning lifeguards scapegoat and denigrate swimmers they dislike:  "He's a straggler," "She asked me to let the other swimmer know if they could split the lane" or "Don't listen to him, he's a weirdo."   

It's a pass-time, literally, for them.  And the Y does not rein it in.  Who knows how many members have experiences like mine but do not speak out.  

As one who has been the object of attacks at the Y*, I can attest to the unremitting rudeness, indolence, condescension, and malice of these persons who have an overweening sense of entitlement in inverse proportion to their age.

(Me):  "What do you think of the morning lifeguards?"   (Another regular swimmer):  "Not very much.  They're not helpful...it's too bad.  They set the tone." 

* * * * *

One recent experience was a concrete example.  I had become used to a few lifeguards being rude to the point of insulting my personal hygiene.  But nothing prepared for one playing with the truth about what he allegedly observed.

A member whom I can only describe as a super-creep ("The Hulk") and with whom I had never exchanged words bawled me out several months ago because I had accidentally kicked him.

He stopped in the middle of his lane and roared over and over again "DID YOU SEE WHAT YOU JUST DID TO ME??  YOU KICKED ME!!!" to which I responded, "I'm really sorry" or "I'll try not to do it again."   This happened at least half a dozen times.  I finally gave up, "We're not getting anywhere.  I've said 'I'm sorry'" and began to swim again.

Since that time, this member (no pun intended) has accosted me a dozen times.  I have scrupulously avoided glancing in his direction.  What ever happened to the right to free association?  After the ninth time loudly "greeting" me, he was forcing himself on me.  

It reminded me of the rapist who tells the woman, "Well, you've gonna have to beam at me when you see me like we're old friends.  It did not happen."  If she tells him "Leave me alone," she's really "gonna get it."

Just today  at the YMCA pool we were there in adjacent lanes for an hour.   I barely grazed him once and later lightly touched him, to which his response was to kick me.  

Ten minutes later, the lifeguard--a guy whom I had complained was telling swimmers to leave the pool 10 minutes before the lap session was actually over--informed me that I had to change my swim-stroke because I was hitting other swimmers.

I tried to tell the lifeguard "He kicked me" and ask "Did you witness this?"  "How many times?"  But he cut me off with a "No" and walked away.  This is a person you have difficulty believing.  It was tit-for-tat, with his tat being invented. 

But I guess it's nice to join in the fray and give someone relatively vulnerable a big kick when it suits you.

It is discouraging, too, when the senior lifeguard does so as well.  The Y badly needs a fair-minded head lifeguard, one who looks for solutions instead of throwing the book at others ("that fixes things"); one whose preconceived ideas of persons and events does not impair his judgment ("Saying 'hello' is not harassment").

Staff come and go,  members like myself are here for years.  Yet the YMCA seems to esteem more the words of individuals whose behavior and "attitude" do not inspire trust.

* * * * *

On a more positive note, the newer lifeguards have not been drawn into the negativity and backbiting of their immediate predecessors (the coterie of slouching slackers:  Emery, perennially stricken with mutism; 19-year-old sulking, shift-the-blame-game Chris; saucy-bossy Tina.

No one said spoiled brats, did they?

You shouldn't have to be afraid of idle tongues wagging at the Y.  It's a team sport for them.

http://www.yelp.com/user_details_review_search?userid=zjZOOgIRvFnGAO0QQ5FNQA&q=YMCA

    Yelp review: Evergreen Hospice Services

    Death is still a taboo subject in the U.S.  Violence we live with daily.

    Hospice care is a relatively new phenomenon in America, having come into existence as a result of people like Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, with her "Four Stages of Grieving."

    Evergreen Hospice on the Eastside is a pleasant facility with a small number of rooms.  When a very close relative had been given only a few more weeks to live, we had her moved her, as Group Health Insurance only allowed for hospice either here or at Bailey Boushay in Seattle.  There is a beautiful rose garden that can be seen from all the rooms.

    I suppose the workers in a facility such as this become inured to death and dying, but nothing quite prepared me for the attitude of one person, who, when asked if she could request the persons in the next room to be a little quieter, rudely and flatly, said, "No."

    She then added, "No, they're not making anything but normal noise."   We hand been hearing over a period of perhaps half an hour a dog barking and people talking so that we could hear them very clearly in the next room.

    In general, the staff went about their business as if they were working in an insurance or sales office, oblivious to both the visitors and the dying. 

    One of the pastors from the adjacent medical facility was wonderful.  I'll never forget how sensitive and gracious she was to us.  A female Japanese volunteer was quite gracious to us.

    If you have a choice, though, I think you might look around for a different hospice facility where the personnel is more sensitively attuned to the needs of the dying for quiet, privacy, and respect.

    http://www.yelp.com/user_details_review_search?q=evergreen&userid=zjZOOgIRvFnGAO0QQ5FNQA

    Yelp review: Guardianship Services of Seattle

    Be very careful if you go with this organization.

    It is very important that parents be concerned about the future of a disabled child after the former die, even if they cannot leave the child a direct inheritance.

    This non-profit is one of a handful of specialized professional services that provides both guardianship and trusteeship in the above cases.

    It was not very easy to get answers from these people, even though it is obviously a very big decision to entrust the finances to one entity.   GSS's website provides some information, but it is drawn in very broad strokes.

    And a Google search reveals limited amount of information upon which to base a decision.

    One of the most important things to know about them is that they charge an hourly rate, anywhere from $65 to $125, for their services, which can be prohibitively expensive for a smaller trust.  The other option is a fixed annual percentage of the net worth of the trust, which may in general be better for trusts under $300,000.

    Obviously if Bill Gates set up a trust for his children, the hourly rate would be considerably more advantageous compared to the other option.

    GSS's sister institution, Partners in Care, has been reviewed on Insider Pages:
    http://www.insiderpages.…

    Non-promotional Information on this organization is very scarce:
    http://seattletimes.com/…
    http://seattletimes.com/…