The personal is still political

Posted 20 January, 2008 in Politics & Activism

My friend Julie White has a great new essay on her blog, My 45th Year. Go read it!

A new look at shaving

Posted 19 January, 2008 in Random Musings, Shaving

Several years ago, I tried shaving with a shaving mug and brush, plus some Burt’s Bees shaving soap. I used a Gillette Sensor razor, and just didn’t see that big a difference.

For Christmas, Jen bought me some Nutragena Men’s Triple Protect Face Lotion. I decided to take out the mug and brush again. This time, I bought some shaving soap from Herban Cowboy. Even with the modern-day razor, I’ve been enjoying the new feel and the more relaxed, mindful shaving experience.

Then I discovered A Guide To The Gourmet Shaving Experience at the Leisure Guy site. I took his advice and bought a safety razor from ClassicShaving.com. The model I bought — a Merkur “Futur” from Germany — arrived today. I’m going to take my first-ever whack at shaving with a safety razor in the morning. I’m excited, which is a crazy thing to say about shaving.

Senator Franken

Posted 16 January, 2008 in Politics & Activism

As you probably know, Al Franken is running for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota. Here are two reasons to support Al:

1. He’s a good guy.
2. The incumbent, Norm Coleman, is not.

Al just launched two TV ads:

If you’d like to throw some cash his way, as I did, visit his site.

Hotels in the family

Posted 12 January, 2008 in Family, Genealogy, Labor movement

As I may have mentioned, I work for UNITE HERE, the hotel workers union. I’ve worked for the union for several years, a fact which is not unknown to my extended family.

Today, I was visiting my grandmother in her nursing home. My mom was there, too. My grandmother had an old photo on the bed with her, and I asked her what it was. Turned out to be a photo of my grandmother with the staff of the — wait for it — hotel at which she worked.

That’s right. My own grandmother worked at the Wendell Hotel in Pittsfield, Mass. She was a switchboard operator for about five years in the late 40s and early 50s. And no one ever mentioned it to me. Oy!

Here’s a picture of my grandmother with the Wendell gang. She’s in the front row, fifth from the right. This photo was taken at a company picnic somewhere in the Berkshires. (Click for a larger version.)

And here’s the Wendell in about 1912:

I did some preliminary research on the hotel, and came up with these:

• A collection of images of the Wendell Hotel throughout the years
• An essay about Park Square in Pittsfield, on which the hotel was located (scroll down for photos of the hotel)

I also discovered this paper (PDF) by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, which has the following note:

March 1926: Pittsfield on the air for the first time in its history when AIEE [American Institute of Electrical Engineers] broadcasts the very first words, “We are broadcasting tonight From the Wendell Hotel, in Pittsfield Mass. at the AIEE’s annual banquet”.

The following is from the book Pathfinder to Greylock Mountain, the Berkshire Hills and Historic Bennington by William Hamilton Phillips, published in 1910:

Crossing the line into Pittsfield on the Berkshire trolley road the first objects of interest are Arrowhead, the house of Herman Mellville, the author, and once the site of an Indian village; the former summer residence of Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, whose ancestor, Jonathan Wendell, was an early settler of the town and from whom the Wendell Hotel in Pittsfield was named.

The Wendell is mentioned again in The Practical Hotel Steward by John Tellman, published in 1913.

If you’re interested in learning more about my union, you can visit UNITE HERE’s Web site.

Welcome to the future

Posted 8 January, 2008 in Random Musings

From the brilliant xkcd.com.

David Morris on "Clintonism"

Posted 7 January, 2008 in Politics & Activism

David Morris is co-founder and vice president of the Institute for Local Self Reliance in Minneapolis, Minn., and director of its New Rules project. He was also a guest on The Jason Crane Show back when it was on Rochester’s Air America affiliate.

Now he’s written a very useful article reminding us what Clinton-esque politics got us back in the 90s. It’s worth a read.

Read the article at AlterNet.

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