“Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Larry and today as I stand before you I am homeless. I have not eaten today so if you could please spare a penny, quarter, or dollar or even something to eat I would greatly appreciate it,” says the homeless man on the train making his way up and down the aisle. In New York City we experience this many times a day; sometimes every time we ride the train. Now it’s true that before the unfortunate events that led to these people being homeless, most were successful, happy, contributing citizens of society, however, something in their life turned for the worst and caused them to have virtually nothing except their very existence. Sometimes the homeless are given opportunities to work and taken off the street and some are taken off the street and put into the running for public office? No, that can’t be right. Oh but it is!
In Arizona this is exactly what is happening. Three drifters, Benjamin Pearcy, Thomas Meadows and Anthony Goshorn are all candidates recruited by Steve May, the Republican operative who signed these people up to be apart of the Green Party. According to G.O.P Recruits Street People to Run on Green Ticket in Arizona, a New York Times article by Marc Lacey, this is an attack on the Democratic Party. The idea is that if this Green Party is in existence then the Democrats would get less votes; therefore will give Republicans a better chance on winning state votes. But why the concern, Arizona is typically a red state anyway; but republicans want to keep it that way.
Democrats are outraged, as you can imagine. These drifters, who range in ages from twenty to fifty-three, have a bigger and better chance on getting written into the ballots for November and winning primaries and it has Democrats nervous. And why is this a bad idea? They have no prior experience, no idea on how to manage anything in their lives but most importantly, they have no education. Sure they may have “street smarts” but how will that help in the fields they are trying to delve into? Maybe if they witnessed someone getting mugged in an alley that would be useful, not as the overseer of utilities, for example, in Arizona.
The bottom line is that we should not be exploiting people like this to simply reduce the possibility of Democratic votes. I think Arizona needs a reality check and a better plan to clean up their streets, which does not include putting them to serve in government.
For more information on this issue in Arizona please visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/us/politics/07candidates.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Friday, September 3, 2010
Tied up in the Tubes
“its ok Lee, I’ll be waiting for you when you get to the bottom.” The big squeaky tube barely fit around my tiny ten year old wrist as I gave my twin sister one last look. “ok Tash,” she said still preoccupied and half looking at me while talking with the ride monitor. I was nervous too but I had this gnawing yearn to make my big sister(by only twenty minutes) proud of me.
So I set my tube down at the start of the ride and watched the water gush underneath it. “Don’t think about it Tashi-just do it!” I said to myself. I carefully sat my behind on the tube and without warning the ride monitor pushed me down the tube. I immediately felt sickened by the fact that when I got to the bottom of the tallest tube ride at Dorney Park , there was going to be more water-a lot more water, and I didn’t know how to swim! I held on for dear life to my tube and finally made it to the bottom. I was proud of myself but, I didn’t see my sister. As I floated aimlessly on my tube in tiny circles I kept my eyes fixated on the people the tube spit out every two seconds- but no Lee. I panicked, “I gotta save her,” I thought “now if I could only make it to my mother,” (who was waiving me over). “I’m trying mom!” I yelled with a little ten year old sass.
I continued to stare at the careless tubes mouth discarding people as if the were waste. I finally decide to take matters into my own hands and jump off my tube into the water. I could not swim; therefore I was drowning. Water filled my lungs and nostrils as I dipped up and down in the water. “The water didn’t seem this deep when I was floating,” I thought to myself every time I sank one more time. I waived my hands in a panic and tried to cry out for help but I was never above water long enough to get any actual sounds out. At this point I thought I was dying and the glistening sun that sparkled on the water was God’s bright light. At least if I have to die I would have died in an honorable way trying to save my sister in a four foot deep pool with lifeguards staring at me nonchalantly.
Finally one of the lifeguards jumped into the water with her red one piece swimsuit and grabbed me by the waist. She dragged me across the pool to my mother without a word. My mother then asked me why I had jumped into the pool if I did not know how to swim, “I had to save Lee, mom,” I said firm and astonished as to why he had asked me that question. Just as I said that Lee walks up to me with her towel wrapped around her tiny body. “Lee you’re ok!” I exclaimed “Lee I almost drowned trying to save you,” I said through laughs. Lee looked at me bewildered, “Tash I came down the tube right after you…I was just watching you try to swim and thought maybe I should ask if you wanted to go on that again it was fun!”
So I set my tube down at the start of the ride and watched the water gush underneath it. “Don’t think about it Tashi-just do it!” I said to myself. I carefully sat my behind on the tube and without warning the ride monitor pushed me down the tube. I immediately felt sickened by the fact that when I got to the bottom of the tallest tube ride at Dorney Park , there was going to be more water-a lot more water, and I didn’t know how to swim! I held on for dear life to my tube and finally made it to the bottom. I was proud of myself but, I didn’t see my sister. As I floated aimlessly on my tube in tiny circles I kept my eyes fixated on the people the tube spit out every two seconds- but no Lee. I panicked, “I gotta save her,” I thought “now if I could only make it to my mother,” (who was waiving me over). “I’m trying mom!” I yelled with a little ten year old sass.
I continued to stare at the careless tubes mouth discarding people as if the were waste. I finally decide to take matters into my own hands and jump off my tube into the water. I could not swim; therefore I was drowning. Water filled my lungs and nostrils as I dipped up and down in the water. “The water didn’t seem this deep when I was floating,” I thought to myself every time I sank one more time. I waived my hands in a panic and tried to cry out for help but I was never above water long enough to get any actual sounds out. At this point I thought I was dying and the glistening sun that sparkled on the water was God’s bright light. At least if I have to die I would have died in an honorable way trying to save my sister in a four foot deep pool with lifeguards staring at me nonchalantly.
Finally one of the lifeguards jumped into the water with her red one piece swimsuit and grabbed me by the waist. She dragged me across the pool to my mother without a word. My mother then asked me why I had jumped into the pool if I did not know how to swim, “I had to save Lee, mom,” I said firm and astonished as to why he had asked me that question. Just as I said that Lee walks up to me with her towel wrapped around her tiny body. “Lee you’re ok!” I exclaimed “Lee I almost drowned trying to save you,” I said through laughs. Lee looked at me bewildered, “Tash I came down the tube right after you…I was just watching you try to swim and thought maybe I should ask if you wanted to go on that again it was fun!”
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
