ugh.

gross. i can't believe i haven't written. sorry to anyone who cares!!
work has had me busy and then exhausted when i get home and it's all i can do to muster enough guts to go the grocery or the gym or out for a drink. poor liz.

an anecdote from the bakery:
normally, saturday hours are 7-5. but the bosses decided to change it up a bit because of employee changes so that the store is only open on saturday from 7-2. we had a sign on the outside of the front door for something like 2 weeks prior and 3 weeks post the change date. my fellow worker, megan, and i were working yesterday afternoon (saturday) and about 10 minutes to close we had a huge rush of people surging through the doors and between semi false smiles, we were darting the 'look' back and forth. the look of: "we're locking the door after these people, and then those people, etc...."
this guy came up to the counter. he was maybe 6.1 or 6.2, thick, with a grumpy countenance and a disheveled assortment of clothing. he grunted something about wanting some rye bread, to which i answered we sold out earlier in the day. he looked at the bread rack and back at me and, standing about 2 feet in front of me proceeded to raise his arms above his head and start to shake his fists. for a few seconds he did this with this menacing frown on his face and upon dropping his hands whined, "you can't sell out this early in the day!"
in unison megan and i curtly replied, 'we close in 5 minutes..."

Columbus day

This time last year, on this so-called holiday, some students in Boulder wanted to protest 'Columbus day'--wanted fellow students and faculty alike to acknowledge what Columbus' presence in north america really meant to the first and original inhabitants. People got a little crazy about it and accosted folks around campus, making sure they knew 'what Columbus did' and 'to realize this holiday shouldn't exist.'
A group of students went to Denver for the day to protest the Columbus day parade. (I'm sure these weren't the only cities around the nation where this was happening...)
A year later, I have not been accosted by anyone reminding me of the colonization and oppression that took place in north america after Columbus 'discovered' this part of the world. I have, however, wondered if it wouldn't be more effective to educate people about the indigenous populations of the americas and Europeans alike during that era, give facts about what really went down, go in a more constructive and positive direction by encouraging factual, realistic historical discourse, (Columbus vs Americas or otherwise,) instead of shouting and whining and not making much of a difference. transformcolumbusday.org has a good point: "As people of conscience, we must move our society closer to the democratic values of equality for all, through historical accuracy, justice in the judicial and political processes of the country, and respect for diverse peoples and cultures." If we really are people of conscience why not try progressive discourse and abandon futile protests?