In my previous post, there were two main points that I wanted to make:

1. The Target boycotters weren’t doing a good job of making it clear what exactly they are boycotting.
2. I had a hard time understanding the idea of boycotting a corporation because they support candidates with whom I disagree.

I stand by the first point and partially by the second, but I have a new viewpoint. Before I go into the details, though, I want to thank the people that commented or had conversations with me in person on this topic. I was genuinely interested in hearing other points of view and I really appreciated my friends’ willingness to discuss this with me.

Through these conversations, I found (at least) one flaw in my reasoning. I debated the idea of boycotting a company who makes donations that support a candidate who disagrees with me. If we were talking about fiscal policy, that would be one thing, but in this case we’re talking about basic human rights. And those shouldn’t be debatable.

On NPR the other day, I heard a California voter who voted for Prop 8 saying that he felt it was unfair that one judge was able to negate the voice of the majority of California voters.  I immediately found myself arguing with the radio, saying “It wasn’t that he overturned your law because he disagreed with it.  He overturned it because it was unconstitutional.  Just like any law that forbids Mormon churches would be overturned.  It doesn’t matter if you vote for it.  You can’t pass any law you want in this country – you have to abide by the rules that are our foundation.”

So that’s how I see this now.  Tom Emmer does not support equal rights for all Americans.  That goes against everything I (and we) stand for.  And, Target, by making this donation and declining to make a comparable donation to a gay-rights organization, you have said that you do not support equal rights for all Americans.

I never intended for this blog to be overly political, but it seems that there are often political issues and arguments on my mind when I sit down to write.

I’ve been tempted to write something about the “Mosque” that everyone’s been talking about “at” Ground Zero, but so many people have already said things so eloquently that it seems redundant. So here’s the only thing I want to add: if they want to build the center there, let them. The thing I worry about, though, is that they will build it, LEGALLY, and will then become victims of hate crimes, a la abortion clinics and mosques all across the country. The only thing worse than denying them their right to build would be for them to build the center and live in fear of using it.

It’s been said too many times, but it’s still true: the people who attacked our country were not representative of all Muslims. If we are saying that all religions must answer for their most radical, totally whacko extremists who do horrible, crazy things in the name of religion… then I’m going to go ahead and say the Christian Right has no room to talk.

Okay, on to different things.

I’ve been hearing a lot about boycotting Target recently, which confuses me. Here is my understanding of the situation:

The Supreme Court said that the government can’t ban corporate spending on elections.
Target spent money on an election.
Some people don’t agree with the platform of the candidate Target supported.
Those people are boycotting Target.

The part I’m confused about is which part the boycotters are against. (And I don’t think they’re doing a very good job of making it clear). Is it the fact that Target (a corporation) spent money on an election? Because that’s totally legal right now, according to the Supreme Court. And I imagine that if they had spent money on a candidate that the boycotters supported, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. We’d all be too busy shopping at Target, thrilled that they seized the moment and capitalized.

Is it the fact that corporate spending on elections is legal? Because that’s not Target’s fault. Don’t punish them.

Is it the fact that Target supported a candidate whose platform goes against your beliefs? I sort of understand this, but I sort of don’t.

I mean, I understand that you don’t want to give money to a company when you know that money might end up supporting a candidate you disagree with. However, we only know about this particular donation because it was a large gift made through the corporation. What about all the gifts made personally by CEOs and presidents of other businesses we patronize? Isn’t that the same idea? And are we really trying to become a nation of people who only support businesses who support candidates who agree with us? What would that nation look like?

One of my favorite cupcake shops in Portland supports Planned Parenthood, which is a cause I believe in with my whole heart. This endears me to said cupcake shop even more. If one of my Republican friends refused to go there because they supported a Planned Parenthood fundraiser, that would be fine. It’s their choice. But if ANY company that supported ANY organization or non-profit that was remotely controversial (why that children’s hospital instead of the one across town?) ended up experiencing huge backlash, why would companies EVER support these groups? And then what? A collection of non-profits who must survive solely on individual support? And how did those individuals make their money? By collecting paychecks from said companies.

I know for a fact that some of the biggest donors to The Foundation are conservative, and they probably aren’t pro-choice. But what if those people didn’t make gifts to The Foundation anymore because they found out that one of the employees made personal donations to Planned Parenthood? Sure, it’s a tiny fraction… but do you think my $20 occasional purchases at Target are going directly into Tom Emmer‘s pocket?

Maybe I’m being too negative. And honestly, it’s totally possible that I just don’t get it. But it seems like Target didn’t really do anything wrong.

Did I totally miss the point? Please let me know. I’m honestly interested in hearing other opinions on this matter.

I keep thinking I should write something about Prop 8.

But what would I say? That I think everyone should have equal rights? That I don’t think sexual preference is a choice? That some of my best friends are gay? That I have seen same-sex couples who are happier, healthier and more in love than most straight couples I know? That I don’t believe gay people should have to deal with extra steps and measures (and costs!) just to get the same rights that straight people enjoy for free? That it makes me sick that some parents have to have a conversation with their kids about why the government won’t let Mommy and Mama get married?

Chances are, if you read my blog, you probably agree with me on most of these issues. If you don’t agree, I would be interested in having a (level-headed, open-minded) conversation with you about it sometime to hear your point of view. In the meantime, however, I passed this car on my way to work today… and I felt like it summed everything up nicely.

Reason # 231 we should repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell:

All I’m saying is that if the armed services were a little more welcoming of “the gays,” it wouldn’t have taken almost nine years for the troops in Afghanistan to come up with the idea of lip-syncing, recording and releasing a music video online.  Plus, the rooms in the background would probably be cleaner.  At least, that’s been my experience.

Dear Arizona,

Until a few months ago, you and I didn’t know each other very well. I knew that you didn’t observe Daylight Savings Time and that you were one of the last states to approve the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday (don’t worry, New Hampshire, I haven’t forgotten you). You probably knew me as just some girl from Montana who never came to visit and always rooted against your teams in the Pac-10 Conference. I knew there were definitely good parts about you… I’ve had a few friends who attended ASU and lived in the area. Plus, my former roommate of 4 years is from Nogales, so I heard some things. Then a good friend moved from Portland to Phoenix this spring and I visited Scottsdale to see a few Spring Training games with Galen’s family. We were off to a pretty good start.

Until last week. Now, the only things I can think of when I hear your name are “racial profiling” and “birther crazies.”

Now, before I get started on the immigration front, let me first state this very important disclaimer: I have never lived in a state bordering Mexico, and thus, do not fully understand what it’s like. Where I come from, we have Canada to the north, and they’re more like a cool older brother who plays hockey and lives in the basement apartment, where he comes and goes as he pleases. We don’t hang out all the time, but we’re buddies and we vacation together. Sometimes Canada buys us beer even though we’re underage. It’s cool.

Mexico seems to be like a younger stepbrother who doesn’t live by anybody else’s rules. I know from experience that this can prove frustrating. I am trying to be compassionate.

But I really think there are better ways to deal with this. I just keep thinking… What if the illegal immigrants you were dealing with were from Canada? Or Croatia via Mexico? THEN what would you do? Because whatever your answer to that question is, I bet it’s a much better approach than this law. Anything that involves looking at the color of a person’s skin and then determining how you’re going to react based on that color is inherently racist.

Please be clear – I am not saying that illegal immigration isn’t a problem, because I don’t know that. I am neither experienced nor informed on the matter.

I also don’t want to lay full blame on you, Arizona. I understand that there is a bigger issue here (the need for immigration reform) that needs to be addressed on a national scale. The national government needs to give you a real, proactive solution instead of creating reactive programs that allow laws like yours to pass. If this was your way of rebelling to get attention, it may just have worked.

But the ends do not justify the means.

Then there’s this birth certificate business. I have a few opinions on the matter, but most of them are summed up in this video of Anderson Cooper taking one of your State Representatives to task:

To put it plainly, Arizona, reacting to false allegations by creating laws to PROVE they are false is the wrong answer. Your elected officials serve as fact checkers for their constituents. Thus, allowing laws such as this to pass is doing the people of Arizona a disservice. Your congressmen are abusing their positions by using their authority to help spread false information. All that is needed to put this issue to rest is for every representative or senator in every district to publicly state the truth. That shouldn’t be too much to ask.

Also, and I’m surprised you don’t already know this, crazy people who believe lies to be truth can never be convinced otherwise. The people who believe that Barack Obama was not born in the US will not rest until that false statement is proven true, which will never happen. They will never be convinced of the truth.

Don’t get me wrong – I understand that bad things sometimes happen in good states. My home state of Montana, for instance, which I love dearly, is known for providing a nice home in the woods for the Unabomber. Nobody ever mentions that Montana also elected the first woman to congress or served as the birthplace for the lead singer of the Decemberists.

And that’s one of the many reasons I will not be partaking in any sort of boycott. I understand you’re not all bad. I also don’t think an Arizona boycott would be felt by the people who really need to hear a strong message.

But I do want you to know that not all press is good press. And your rebellion has not gone unnoticed. It took us Montanans years to get over the Unabomber image – be prepared for a long redemption period yourself.

As for you and me, Arizona? I’m screening my calls at the moment. I’m not saying we’re through, but you’ve got some grovelling to do.

Sincerely,
Mego

Just like last year…

1. What did you do in 2009 that you’d never done before?

Got an Oregon Drivers License, lived by myself, bought a car (photos coming soon!), successfully navigated a long-distance relationship.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I did pretty well, honestly. And I’m going to try to revive the ones I’ve been slacking on.  I’m also adding one WHOPPER for 2010 – I am going to run a 5 mile race.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Yes! I got two new baby cousins this year.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

No. Thank goodness.

5. What countries did you visit?

Just Canada. Wait, does Vegas count as a foreign country?

6. What would you like to have in 2010 that you lacked in 2009?

Patience.

7. What dates from 2009 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

January 20th – Barack Obama’s Inauguration Day (and the day the Kilmorey burned down).

May 9th – Galen took me on our first date.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Living on my own has been very empowering, as silly as that sounds. I always thought I’d hate it, but it’s been pretty nice.

9. What was your biggest failure?

I don’t like this question. I failed to pay a couple of bills on time?

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Nothing more serious that the Swine Flu, thankfully.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

I’m hoping my new(ish) car will fill this role.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

The Blazers.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

I’m going to change those words to “disappointed and confused” and say President Obama. Not overall, mind you, but I’m still sort of confused about a few things, like the deployment of so many troops to Afghanistan.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Rent, car.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Pretty much every time Galen came to visit. And my cousins having babies.

16. What song will always remind you of 2009?

“Boom Boom Pow” – Black Eyed Peas
“Don’t Trust Me” – 3Oh!3
“Battlefield” – Jordin Sparks
“Poker Face” – Lady Gaga
“I’m Yours” – Jason Mraz
“Love Story” – Taylor Swift
“Single Ladies” – Beyonce

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:

happier or sadder? Happier
thinner or fatter? Thinner, I think. Maybe the same.
richer or poorer? About the same

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

I wish I’d spent more time in Montana.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

I wish I’d spent less time worrying about the future.

20. Did you fall in love in 2009?

Yes. :)

21. What was your favorite TV program?

The Daily Show, 30 Rock, So You Think You Can Dance, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Boston Legal (reruns).

22. What was the best book you read?

It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita by Heather Armstrong

23. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Zac Brown Band

24. What did you want and get?

A new job, a new car, A fabulous boyfriend.

25. What did you want and not get?

More sunshine. It’s never enough.

26. What was your favorite film of this year?

Wow, I saw so few (as always). I’m going to have to go with either The Hangover or Bolt. I saw both of them without knowing anything about them, really, so I was pleasantly surprised.

27. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I turned 26 and went to one of my favorite bars with almost all of my favorite people in Portland. It was a wonderful reminder that I have friends of all ages from many different areas of my life, and they’re all amazing.  It was also a reminder that tequila shots are never a good idea.

28. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

I’m going to state the obvious here and say that living in the same city as my boyfriend would have made a huge difference.

29. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2009?

Jewel tones. And jeans whenever possible. (Damn you, new dress code at work! *Shakes fist*)

30. What kept you sane?

My mom.

31. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

I’m going to change “fancy” to “admire” and go with Heather Armstrong.

32. What political issue stirred you the most?

Healthcare stirred me so much it left me exhausted and more than a little depressed.

33. Who did you miss?

Galen, my family, my friends who live elsewhere.

34. Who was the best new person you met?

It’s hard to believe I only met Galen in April…

35. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2009.

I have very high standards when it comes to my close friends. In return, they have my undying loyalty and love.

36. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Now my feet turn the corner back home
Sun turns the evening to rose
Stars turning high up above
You turn me into somebody loved

-Somebody Loved, by The Weepies

Remember this post? Well it turns out Sam Adams wasn’t the first one to prove that Portland mayors are just as colorful as Portland citizens… and maybe a little more corrupt.

Connie McCready’s and Bud Clark’s are my favorites. Man, I love the Willamette Week.

Today someone I work closely with was “let go.” This has happened to me before. At my last job, one of my closest coworkers and friends was fired about six months after I started working there. But as with most things, it’s different at a nonprofit.

Of course, all of the regular emotions and issues are in play: Where will she go? What will she do? How will she make ends meet? Particularly in this economy?

But there’s also the question of what our institution just “let go.”

This woman was an integral part of the hospital, the university, and the community that surrounds it. She’d been working there for most of my lifetime, and a significant chunk of hers. There will never be another person who cared as much about the mission, the patients, and the families of the hospital. She was everyone’s go-to gal. If you didn’t know the answer to a question, inevitably someone told you to call her and she had it. She worked harder and longer than the rest of us and never asked for any recognition or attention in return. She cared about her coworkers and always made us laugh. I had talked with her before about why I got involved with The Foundation and she told me about how rewarding her job was. She was the type of person I hoped I would someday be.

Why do they say that they “let someone go?” It’s as if your employer were the only thing holding you up and they just couldn’t do it anymore. What a horrible analogy in this instance. By all means, this woman was the backbone of the place that employed her. Yes, she received a paycheck from them every month, but it was the least they could do in exchange for the glue that held everything together and made the organization what a beautiful thing it was.

Nonprofit organizations are started by people who care more about the mission than they do the paycheck. Many of our employees are like this even now, and that’s after more than 50 years as an establishment. Why is it that when funding is low, the first ones to go are the types of people that started it all?

I don’t have any answers. Just sadness. And the knowledge that things will never be the same.

I haven’t talked about work much recently… Partly because whatever you put on the internet can be read by anyone, and partly because I try not to be a blog-downer.

But today is a little bit different. Today I finally figured out how to put a lot of my frustrations and feelings into words. So I’ve decided to make the following List of Differences Between the Corporate and Nonprofit Worlds (from an employee’s perspective):

In countdown order…

5. You get all those funny holidays off (like Presidents’ Day) that you haven’t “celebrated” since you were in high school. You also get lots of vacation days and people don’t look at you with jealous or angry or disapproving eyes when you put them to good use.

4. Your salary no longer means anything. Your title may be worthless as well. As long as you can pay your bills, consider yourself lucky. Don’t expect things like raises and bonuses – if you get a raise it will be a small percentage and probably won’t add up to much. (Although, of course, you will be thrilled).

3. Regardless of their background, the people you work with will come from the same place you do. They will have similar values and make similar life choices. They may not look like you or want to do the same things on a Saturday night, but when it comes to the things that really matter, they’ll understand you.

2. Working long hours suddenly feels different. It’s still hard. It still isn’t fun. But when you’re working for something that matters to you, it’s not the same as doing something because someone told you to. And even if your superiors don’t recognize your efforts (publicly or privately), you know you did something good for someone. And that can be enough.

1. There will come a time where you are fed up with a situation at work. I don’t mean frustrated – I mean fed up. This is normal in life. If you work in a corporate environment, it’s easy to mentally check out or quit, thinking I don’t need to put up with this. At a nonprofit, however, you might realize that you care more about the organization than you do about your own position. It’s the most baffling thing. Almost any issue I’ve had at work in the last year has ended with me realizing that I love my job and I care about the cause more than I dislike the situation/person/problem. So I’m working to try to make it better.

Did anybody see the episode of the Daily Show where Jon Stewart compared the wait between election day and the inauguration to the days leading up to Christmas?  He said it’s sort of like your parents bought you a bike and wrapped it before putting it under the tree.  Then the bike-shaped package sits under the tree and you have to look at it every day and wait until Christmas morning to open it, even though you can tell it’s a bike.  “Dear Santa,” he said, “PLEASE GIVE US THE BIKE!”

I have become almost completely numb when it comes to outrage over the current administration’s actions.  I was so frustrated and angry for so long, that I had to let it go out of sheer exhaustion.  I still yell at the TV every once in a while, but I’ve just learned helplessness.  In my Developmental Psych class in college, we learned that babies will cry when they’re in a noisy place.  If the noise doesn’t stop after they cry for a while, they go to sleep.  It’s a defense mechanism, and apparently young Democrats can learn to do something similar in the interest of self-preservation.

Karl Rove has apparently started a Twitter account, and last week he wrote this: “Send a farewell letter to President Bush [here he provides an email address] and I’ll give him your note on January 20.” One of my coworkers emailed me the link and told me she sent an email that said, “So long, Cowboy. The last eight years were absolutely terrible. Thanks for ruining the country.”

I don’t even know what I would say to him. I’m almost too tired to think about it. I want him (and his satanic VP) to be tried for their crimes, but I also completely understand the Gerald Ford theory of moving forward instead of looking back. I lived through it once – would reliving it do me any good? Would I really feel better if they were punished? I do think it’s important to make an example of them, but how much time and effort would it take? Would there even be any resolution before Obama’s first term is over? Is there a statute of limitations when it comes to this stuff? Because maybe I’ll be more gung-ho in a few years when my friends aren’t getting laid off left and right and my work day isn’t full of bad news.

At this point, I’m just ready for my bike. And it will be a long time before I’m ready to look back.