No Compliments Please, Money Instead The Best Commentary Concerning Your Ride & Dead Drunk In Queens & Hard To Get A Taxi In Pacific, Missouri

 Not Praise, $$$$

It may seem impolite or uncouth but spare me the lavish compliments and covering, instead, my sweaty palms with greenbacks.  I say this because yesterday Puget Sound Dispatch sent out a fleet message praising two cabbies for good service rendered to some account customers, thinking somehow this alone, this "pat-upon-the-head" was "just reward" enough for simply being professional, doing what you are supposed to do, all the while smiling, not snarling.  I say, hell with that, give the guys money or a break on their dispatch fees.  In this business, that is how to show your appreciation, because it is money that motivates us and little else.  Yesterday I got a $70.00 tip, and you know what, did I really deserve it?  Of course not!  But I was damn happy to receive it.  Yes, even I can fake generosity when in reality I am the worst Scrooge, stealing your Christmas pudding.  And it is still summertime August. Enjoy Sunday's full moon.

Two News Items from that rag, the New York Post

Not Drunk, Dead

A NYC cabbie, plying the streets of Queens, picked up what he thought was an inebriated passenger but instead, was in a fatal state, dying in his cab. Rushing the passenger to a hospital, the customer was DOA. The article doesn't mention if he was paid for his troubles.

There is one VERY dumb taxi company owner in Missouri

Charlie Bullington, owner of Yo Transportation Service in Pacific, Missouri (suburban Saint Louis), he of a small fleet of pink painted cabs, has a message for anyone interested in using his taxi service: if you wear a mask or have received your coronavirus vaccination, he will not allow you into one of his cabs.  That's right, he would rather you spread the virus to his drivers than take precautions to protect yourself and others. Yesterday I transported, on a King County account, a COVID-19 infected passenger to a quarantine center in Issaquah, Washington.  Both of us were double- masked while she wore gloves.  What would Charlie the Bull have done?  Why get sick and die, that's what.  And as the saying goes, doing us all a "big favor."

 

Greetings From Quincy, Washington: The American West Is Burning---I Got To See It For Myself & If You Don't Care, Why Should I? & Medallion Renewal Reminder---September 15th, 2021 & 2 Poems From The Road

You Should Visit the Quincy Public Library 

Today, this Sunday, my two weeks tripping around California, Oregon and now eastern Washington ends, yet despite all the smoke I will be unhappy coming back to Seattle and the cab, lonely roads like Oregon State Routes 66 and 31, nearly vacant of traffic, don't make me relish once again negotiating Seattle's  packed streets and crowded freeways and its forever foolish, too stupid drivers.  Especially in Eastern Oregon, there were few people, and returning to dumbbell Seattle is depressing, a backward city touting its imaginary forwardness, featuring spiraling costs but little true urban ambiance---a sprawling suburban center minus coffee after 9:00 PM.  

And the local governance is about to worsen, if that is entirely possible, with two of the poorest mayoral candidates possible, the wimpish  Bruce Harrell versus the "always theoretical" M. Lorena Gonzalez.  Yikes!  Let me run for the New Mexico hills, explaining why I am now registered to vote in Grant County, New Mexico and not King County, ready to vote for the first honest rattlesnake I see shaking its telltale tail.  There is venom and then there is the "I can never make up my god damn mind " poison that is Seattle and King County politics.  Quick, provide me an antidote, I am dying!

But reflecting a bit upon my recent travels, I can make a few recommendations for those traveling in and around north California and eastern Oregon, adding some pleasure to the drive.  If coming up from California, and thinking about exploring eastern Oregon, take State Route 66 eastbound beginning just north of Ashland proper and enjoy the quick accent up a twisting mountainside road, taking you first to the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, an interesting meeting of climate zones, and where, if you have the time, take a stroll down that part of the Pacific Crest Trail.  From there you are eventually going to descend into the Klamath River Valley, the road crossing that great river a few times.  It is very nice country, especially in and around the tiny burg of Keno, Oregon.  Though before you've turned off of 1-5 at Ashland, first make sure you stopped at the wonderful mountain town of Shasta City, California, buying provisions at the Berryvale Grocery Natural Foods, then enjoying a picnic at the Sacramento River Headwaters city park.  Great place to rest up and fill those empty water containers. Just head north down the main street and look for the entrance taking you across the railroad tracks, turning left.  

Continuing east like I did,  on SR 66, you will eventually connect with State Route 140, and the roadway taking you to Lakeview, Oregon.  It was along that road eastbound that I began wearily noticing the biggest smoke plume I will ever want to see rising ahead of me to the northeast.  Expecting at any time to be stopped by the local police, the still open roadway took me ever closer until I was about 2-4 miles away from a smoky blaze consuming a mountainside.  A giant orange flame, like a kind of big, hungry animal, bit into the forest. I even got to witness airplanes dropping fire retardant, the pilots bravely swooping into  smoky, wind driven clouds.  It was dramatic, a prime time movie minus the theater, no ticket required.  No, I don't want to see the sequel. 

After gassing up in Lakeview, I continued north on Hwy 395 to State Route 31 and Paisley, Oregon and the Chewaucan River, a favorite of mine from two previous trips. Unfortunately, fire had scorched the hillsides forming the river canyon, saddening me, certainly not pleased to see the many blackened trees.  My favorite campgrounds closed, and anyway, with the road also officially closed, I pulled off  and slept above the Chewaucan, the sky clear despite lingering smoke, a breeze cooling down the heated air. 

A note on camping:  Camping is cheaper and oft times free.  Both with her and alone and camping a total of nine nights, I paid a total of $18.00.  Think of all the fresh air and the pleasure of battling mosquitos. It's worth it, camping out in the great outdoors. 

Only a Fool continues to Care

While I will still mildly advocate when necessary, I have decided it is futile to care when no one else does, because, short of a class-action law suit, nothing it appears will compel any of the involved actors to do anything whatsoever to improve taxi customer service while also providing much needed justice for the cab drivers.  It is now that I declare, like everyone else, that I will cease to care to whatever happens to all those passengers never receiving their requested cab, missing jobs and airplane flights and everything else. 

Why care?  I have yelled enough, alerting everyone to problems that never end.  If the City and County fail to heed my warnings, well, so they do, having other matters on hand, like seriously submitting my writing and departing the taxi asylum.  I want to get out of the cab and Seattle, lingering much longer obviously a big, personal mistake.  Then I will no longer write what "she-who-can't-be-named" calls "that damn blog."  Yeah, I am ready to go.  As some might remember, she is the one who encouraged me to start writing it.  The truth is she wants me out of the cab as much I want to be gone.  It's unhealthy and besides, I've grown "long in the taxi tooth," time to pull these yellowish fangs.  Good idea.

30 More Days to Renew your Taxi Medallion

The end date is September 15th.  I say this because I have yet to renew YC 1092's medallion.  I'll get to it within the next two weeks, and I suggest you do the same.  Don't wait to the last moment. 

2 Poems

Coming Home to Tolstoy

Moving my camp to the Russian olive tree,

I am home, we discovering and naming this site

Tolstoy, the tree bordering the south side of Quincy

Lake, in 1989, and now memories of me and you,

always seeing you, there you are swimming

far out into the lake, watching you from the shore.

________________________________________

In the Marsh

Whirling forward, a concentrated swooping mass, excited dunlins 

instant feathered acrobats, the marsh their circus ring,

and godwits and avocets and sanderlings too winging shore to air

to water and back again and again,

all chittering, chattering, talking, warning  "look! look out above you! 

watch out! those harriers wanting lunch!"

the harriers sudden lethal missiles but missing

the sharp turning zigzagging dunlins, backs flashing sunlight,

all avoiding harrier talons five, ten, fifteen minutes more until 

their adversaries giving up, everyone now nervously happy as  

brown pelicans slowly glide down to their communal island.

"Did anything just happen? they ask, their friends replying, 

"No, No, only another pleasant Tuesday afternoon in the marsh."   

____________________________________________

The actors in this real life drama:

Dunlin (calidris alpina)

American  Avocet (curvirostra americana)

Marbled godwit. (limosa fedoa) 

Sanderling (calidras alba)

Marsh hawk or Northern harrier (cirens cyaneus) 

Brown pelican (pelecanus accidentalis)

The stage was the Arcata Marsh, Arcata, California. 

 

 

Greetings From Union Street, Arcata: Who Is Ultimately In Charge Of Regulating Seattle And King County's Taxi Industry? Somebody? Anybody? Nobody? & Boston Cab Drivers Lose Uber Court Action

Thwarted Hegira---Camping on Hurdy Gurdy Creek and the Smith and Winchuck Rivers

After changing our plans due to fires in nearby wilderness and forest, we were forced to once more alter our intentions after encountering scores of travelers, who like us, sought the solace and embrace of woods and rivers and open sky---a watery and green and flowering balm soothing the urban blighted mind.  Even at the isolated North Fork section of the Smith River, an overnight encampment of eight vehicles and many shouting children took over a beach we had, so sublimely the day before, solely to ourselves, meaning there was no escaping the human species this time around.  Having accessed this part of the river by a twenty-mile gravel road drive over an unnamed mountain pass, their arrival was a surprise, telling us it was time to go.  

Retracing our tire tracks, grinding up the southwest side of the unknown mountain in second gear, and once atop, pulled off, taking in the spectacular view, as nothing is more freeing than a wide open, unblemished blue sky embracing our known world.  After that, and reaching Highway 101, we crossed over into Oregon, reaching the Chetco River outside of Brookings but hordes of sun-seekers crowded its shores, leaving us to hope the Winchuck River would be our deliverance, and it was, staying our last night at the Ludlum campground, a woodsy place harboring a nice swimming hole and sandy beach.  An evening stroll deep along a road bordering the Winchuck tied a bow over our pleasant discovery, the river saving what would have been a disappointing day to an abbreviated journey.   

In order, our resting sites were Flat Camp on Hurdy Gurdy Creek, two nights at North Fork and a last night at Ludlum. For anyone seeking quiet in that part of California, take Rowdy Creek Road off of Highway 101 and continue onto Forest Road 305, taking you up and over the big mountain and down once again to the Smith River and the North Fork.  We had a great campsite, a bit of wild paradise.  A deer, we believe, made an nocturnal visit, leaping near a tent, and in the morning, complaining Stellar's Jays (cyanocilla stelleri) hid their bright blue feathers amongst the evergreens.    

Who the Hell is in Control of Seattle's Taxis? 

This morning I emailed again those long suffering fellows at Seattle and King County Licensing, recounting once more additional tales of woe from my last weekend worked, telling how angry Martin was, having been kept waiting one hour just wanting to get home; and Sherry, frantic with worry, a nursing facility employee already an hour late for work.  Of course none of this is reasonable but it keeps happening day into night to erstwhile taxi customers calling and wanting to get somewhere but their cab either arriving late or not at all.  

And it just isn't Yellow vexing the passenger population, Farwest Taxi too less than adequate, informing a couple returning late from the University Hospital Medical Center after cancer treatment that, "no, there is no one available to take your Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Voucher," and "anyway, our dispatch is closed."  So much for being a 24 hour cab company, Farwest no longer fully operational but who knew, who was told?  But of course, no one telling anybody anything, clearly not telling the City and County, all of them peacefully asleep at that regulatory hour, asleep at the taxi wheel.

So the question is posed, who if anyone, is in charge of what is occurring at the area taxi associations?  The two prime remaining associations, Yellow and Farwest, remain deficient, providing a sometimes theoretical taxi service, leaving passengers to guess what is happening and why, why is the cab I ordered not showing up?  

But what about all those nice people working at the City and County, those responsible for licensing the drivers and cabs; are they solely responsible for both the good and bad service, and if the situation remains bad, are they going reorganize and restructure the associations?   Though perhaps a good idea, and something that could reshape the quality of the service for the better, it is very unlikely that will happen.  For one, does the City and County have the authority to take over, and two, do they have the will and momentum to take such a task on, finally telling the associations, "enough of your malfeasance, you gotta get it together, you gotta get it together now!?"

As is said, "god if I know" but something must change, one would think, especially after I have given everyone example after sad example of how the passenger public cannot reliably depend upon what currently is a large question mark minus ready answers.   In approximately eight days I will be back in the cab, and what will I find, will everything be changed, everything now "fine and dandy?"  Should I laugh, or cry?  Either way, perhaps I will know the reason why I can't wait to bid taxi a final saltatory goodbye. 

Banned in Boston: First Circuit Federal Court of Appeals Kicks Boston Taxi Butts

“We are faced with the narrow question of whether Uber's entrance and conduct in the transportation market during a period of regulatory uncertainty violated the statutory and common law governing the commercial marketplace,” Judge Gary Katzmann said. “We conclude that it did not.”

“There has been vigorous argument whether the new world created by TNCs has been good for the transportation industry as a whole or for the larger public; dispute regarding the impact of TNCs on road congestion and public transit usage; questions whether TNCs are being regulated appropriately in the best interests of public safety; and debate whether the legislature acted sufficiently, or should have acted, to protect the interests of taxicab owners who were affected by the TNCs,” said Katzmann. “These are no doubt important issues of public policy. “

These two quotes are from a Courthouse News Service article dated August 6th, 2021 written by Emilee Larkin, where it is reported that an appeal of a lawsuit filed by 30 Boston cab companies against Uber was rejected by the 1st Circuit Court, essentially saying that Uber's illegal operations from 2013 to 2016 within the City of Boston were valid, even though Uber was not licensed to operate in Boston.  Huh? is my response to this ruling, the court  seemingly sanctioning illegal activity.  

Further insult could be construed from Judge Katzmann's second set of remarks, comments both oddly dismissive yet strangely supportive for the taxi companies' position, the good judge perhaps displaying his judicial equanimity, telling us that while flushing Boston's taxicab industry down the regulatory toilet is okay, and if you don't like it for the many sundry reasons I have stated, well, you (government lawmakers) can do something about it yourself, because me and my fellow justices, we ain't doing nothing one way or the other.   And yes, thank you, its been my pleasure serving you.

Katzmann was joined in this three panel decision by Judges O. Rogeriee Thompson and Jeffery Howard.  For all you bleeding heart liberals out there, Thompson and Katzmann were appointed to the bench by President Obama. Howard is a George (screw the Afghanis) Bush appointee. 

  

Greetings Once Again From Arcata, California: The Smoke Report & What Is Advocacy? & Taxi Photos In The News

Barely Awake in Arcata

Back in Northern California to camp and hike and swim with "she who can't be named" but fires keep changing our destination, making us consider alternate sites. We were first heading to Silver Lake east of Lassen National Park but the biggest fire currently burning in the west dissuaded us, road closures and heavy smoke a poor vacation combination.  We then decided upon the Salmon River past Happy Camp but that area too now impacted by forest fires, which was disappointing as I was looking forward to a swimming hole locally called "Grubstake," just look for the green gate.   Finally, hemmed in by the fires, we have chosen by default two areas north of Crescent City: the Smith River Recreation Area and the Chetco River just  above the California in southwestern Oregon.  Looking forward to exploring the Chetco, a river new to me.  

Last night, as I was driving down from Seattle, and after refusing to pay $150.00 a night for a Grants Pass motel room, I ended up tossing my sleeping bag on the ground near the Smith River, the night sky incredibly clear, falling into an exhausted slumber.  Awakening to an almost blue morning sky, and driving the few miles south into fog enshrouded Crescent City, I was greeted by fog horns sounding a lugubrious moan over muttering grey waves.  A pop-up vaccination clinic was set was near a beach promenade, and like so many other Americans, the swooping gulls avoided the jab into their shoulders, the gulls and terns telling everyone what they thought of human folly, taking wing into the mist. 

Why Advocacy?

Many have termed my voicing of problems mere complaint, unnecessarily roiling calm waters but my advocacy impersonal, having nothing to do with me, only wishing for better and saner outcomes.  When I was nineteen, and working in a quilting warehouse containing scores of chattering sewing machines, I witnessed older immigrant women operating the many needled monsters for one dollar an hour.  In my attempt to organize I was fired, interested in a justice slow in coming for those hard working people.  And now, nearly fifty years later, my interest in justice unabated, only wanting it to happen but then as now, indifference colors the usual mind, life stumbling down a twisted path.

2 Recent Taxi Photos in the New York Times

One was a photograph from 1973 of a cabbie sitting on the hood of his NYC Checker Cab, leaning against the windshield reading a book.

Another from this week was of a London Black Cab driving through a flooded London Street, both photos capturing the true taxi experience.  I have done both, many times.  

 

 

Seattle Yellow Cab Drivers Are Being Secretly Videotaped Without Their Permission & My Last Comment On The Aurora Avenue North Prostitution Soliciting: Rodney Alcala

MV (King County Metro) is Spying on Seattle and King County Taxi Drivers

Back when Yellow Cab was a taxi co-op (BYG) and PSD was solely an affiliated dispatch company, comprising what was then known jointly as the Yellow Cab Taxi Association, all the cabs were equipped with City/County mandated cameras.  Upon entering the cab, the passenger would see, if they were paying attention, a notification that there was a continuous taping of all passenger behavior by video camera in the interior of the cab, alerting them because the passengers had (and have) the right to know they were being taped.  Unlike President Nixon back in 1968-74, who audiotaped much of various conversations with world leaders and others minus their knowledge, BYG wanted its customers to know what was occurring, making it clear that the video could be used against them in any type of legal action.  

But now I have found out, in perhaps with some kind of collaboration or coordination with Puget Sound Dispatch by MV and other agencies holding accounts, that secret videotaping by passengers (MV employees?) posing as MV clients has occurred over at least the past week and probably much longer.   All of us Yellow independent operators were only told about this the past few days through a fleet message and a paragraph in the current online newsletter.  Prior to this, none of us had any idea this was happening, and worse, we were never asked permission if we wanted to participate in this kind of owner operator surveillance.  I for one have no interest in being spied upon and enduring its potential consequences.  

In both notifications, PSD stated that the videotaping resulted in one driver being punished by the immediate removal from all accounts, with no statements made concerning any formal or legal decision making processes, making no reference to any City/County hearings over the matter.   In other words, it seems PSD brought the driver in, saying, "Boom! you are guilty!" and here is your punishment, making it clear that all of its owner drivers will be subjected to the same instantaneous judgement minus legal representation or appeal.  

How this is all fair I can't imagine, and since it isn't, I hereby withdraw any implied permission PSD thinks it has with video or audiotaping me without prior notification.  And when I have the time, I will have a sticker made stating just that, that no taping of any kind is allowed in my cab.  

My last thought is, were the City and County told in advance this kind of  taping would be occurring, somehow making them party to this?   I doubt it because its clear PSD feels it can act with immunity, doing whatever it wants to do without consequence.  Ah yes, the beat goes on and on and on!  When will it ever end?

Could the City of Seattle be named as an Accomplice to Murder?

The sordid parade of scantily clad women along Aurora continues, seemingly completely unconcerned about police intervening in their activities.  Having tried and failed to get the City of Seattle's attention to all this,  I have one last comment to make, and that is mentioning the name of that infamous "The Dating Game" serial killer, Rodney Alcala, he of perhaps 130 murders, someone who died July 24th while awaiting his execution.   This guy was nuts, once appearing on that dumbbell TV program "The Dating Game," taking time off from his killing spree to entertain and entice a young lovely.   

I bring his name up because this is the kind of man who would, without hesitation, kill a defenseless woman plying Seattle's "sex worker" streets.  And given the encouragement obviously provided by the City of Seattle to these women, wouldn't it make sense, if one of them is killed by a customer, that Seattle be considered an accomplice to first-degree murder?  What kind of man does the City of Seattle think these guys are, these crazy men buying sex off the streets?   If the City Council members and the Mayor thought about it, they would realize some of them are a new Rodney Alcala looking for additional victims.  And with that, I leave the subject to someone else.

Seattle City Code (SMC 6.310.455) Concerning Cabbie Behavior & Not Kidding: Passengers Attempting To Leap From The Moving Cab & Shelton To Macleary? & While We Were All Sleeping: The Real Costs of The Afghanistan War

Seattle Municipal Code 6.310.455 K & L

A friendly City of Seattle taxi official cleared up any confusion concerning cabbie liability, telling me that the law pertaining to prostitution solicitation applies to active participation inside the cab but not applying to the transportation of said suspected prostitute.  This applies to all illegal activities, making it clear the City of Seattle prohibits any kind of illegal activity from occurring in the interior of a taxi, forbidding the cabbie from being, in any manner, an active participant in an ongoing crime. That makes complete sense, shielding the cab driver from any charges relating to criminal conduct directly tied to the passenger.  For instance, if the cabbie transported someone to a bank, and told to wait but later finding out that same passenger robbed the bank, the driver would not be legally seen as an accomplice, instead having done what we all do, waiting for a passenger's return upon their request.  Thanks for the information, Mister City Seattle, I appreciate it!

Beware of the Psychotic Passenger

It's hard to believe, two passengers attempting to leap out of my moving cab, one at 60 miles per hour, within two hours of each other.  Damn the first one was scary, only having locked the doors preventing the young guy from leaping out to his death.  Actively hallucinating, and now standing on the rear seat, shouting "I have to get out!  Let me out!" I was finally able to pull over safely near the southbound I-5 Mercer Street exit.  Jumping out, he ran down the ramp.   Calling 911, I pleaded they send the WA State Highway Patrol in pursuit.  Damn that wasn't any fun!

And then a bit later, the account passenger from Northwest Hospital opening the door of the moving cab, luckily on a city street, allowing me to stop as he jumped out screaming.  He had been delivered to the hospital by the police, having some kind of drug related issues.  At least he leaped out at the assigned drop-off, removing the problem of having to notify anyone.  He was homeless and very upset, the hospital sending him off to a city park.  One would think there had to be a better destination but I was only the cabbie doing the hospital's bidding.  Again, no fun.

How many times do I have to state the obvious: Shelton to Macleary, Washington

Does anyone think any cab driver would deadhead all the difficult 81miles, 1 1/2 hours from Seattle to Shelton, Washington to serve a $50-60.00 prescription run?  To the Philippines dispatch call-center it somehow made sense, asking for cabs to take this fare.  Welcome to the nonsensical, to the dysfunctional, welcome to the Cebu-based Yellow Taxi call-center.  What's 81 miles when you are nearly 8000 miles across the mighty Pacific Ocean?  Why nothing of course.  Also at that moment, there was only one dispatcher working on a busy Saturday night.  Wonderful, oh so wonderful!

Figures from the Afghanistan War 2003-2021

What does this have to do with taxi?  Only the many veterans I have picked up at the local VA Hospital, that's all.  Here is some important info taken from an Associated Press article reported by Ellen Knickmeyer.

American service members killed: 2,448

US contractors: 3,846

Aid workers: 444 

Journalists: 73

Afghan military and police: 66,000

Allied soldiers: 1,144

Afghan civilians: 47,245

Taliban: 51,191

Costs

Debt-financed as of 2020: 2 trillion dollars

Estimated interest payments on that 2 trillion: 925 billion

Estimated interest by 2030: 2 trillion

Estimated interest by 2050: 6.5 trillion

There's much more information.  Google the article and read.  

U Need Tires?

Try my friends at El Compadre Tires, 9423 Martin Luther King Way South, Seattle

206-353-1771 and 360-815-0522

They are great and fast.  Cost of new set of tires for my personal car: $320.00. Flats repaired for $10.00. 

First Cruise Ship of the Season set sail on Monday July 19th

The "Serenade of the Sea" took off yesterday from Pier 91 for Alaska.  I am guessing this upcoming weekend will be busy. 

 

"I Will Wager You $10 That The Taxi Inspector Comes After You, For Aiding And Abetting...." & Two Poems

Criminal Cab Driver?

The above quote is from a friend responding to my "RED ALERT" concerning the blatant prostitute solicitation occurring these days along State Route Highway 99 (Aurora Avenue North) in Seattle's Broadview and Northgate neighborhoods.   His thought is that by merely mentioning I have transported passengers I suspect could be involved in something illicit or criminal, I too am somehow implicated, bringing up a question I've had from my earliest taxi days: what responsibility, if any, does the cabbie hold when recognizing potentially felonious or nefarious behavior?   

God knows! daily I am witness to all kinds of crazy and questionable behaviors and actions within the confines of my cab but do I have any perceived moral or legal authority to intervene?  Should I tell the dumbbell men I drop off at the strip clubs they are wasting their money?  Or the countless men I have taken to and from porno shops, should I suggest they would be better off finding a willing partner instead?  And what cabbie anywhere in the world who hasn't done the ubiquitous "drug purchase" run, something as commonplace as songbirds singing in the early morning?  Are you going to tell these birds to sing a different tune?  I doubt it, and if you tried, the bird taking wing, flying away.  

No, instead I make the greatest attempt to treat all my customers the same, trying to avoid judgement and wishing the passenger well, whatever they might be doing or where they are going.  When I do make counsel, its only in the extremest conditions, like suggesting to the drunk not to get in their car and drive away, that it's a bad idea.  Only then have I notified a 911 operator that someone dangerous is about take to the roadway.  My sole purpose this time, in my futile attempt to raise alarm about the ongoing streetwalking, is to help facilitate a new awareness about the victimization these women are facing, and nothing else.  If that somehow makes me a lawbreaker, then go ahead, arrest me for caring, something Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Jamal Khashoggi, Joe Hill and many others were murdered for, caring for others it seems at times the very worst of crimes.  

Poems

Easter 1982 Madrid 

Awakened from an afternoon nap by music, and seeing a procession  

marching past our hotel, dressed and dashed down to

the street as Spanish soldiers 

goose-stepped a hoisted Virgin Mary in carnival fashion above the milling

followers---machine guns, Fascism and Roman Catholic veneration all 

blending to celebrate today "Jesus has arisen!" Hurray! 

In My Marlette Bunkbed 

In my mobile home bunkbed I gathered my stuffed animal friends around me,

in my bunkbed I brushed away spiders from my face,

brushing away the Virgin Mary's womb my father prayed to,

scaring me, not wanting any part of their confining reality, 

covering and hiding my head beneath my Hungarian grandmother's

feather tick dunyha, my mother's shouts penetrating the kitchen's

sliding door. 

________________________________________________________

Note upon "Bunkbed:"  Our turquoise and white Marlette trailer, 8 feet wide and 55 feet long, was built in Marlette, Michigan.  The Marlette Company was founded in 1953, the year I was born.  Our home was essentially one long aluminum box, the "rooms" divided by wooden sliding doors.  My brother Steve, seven years older, had the lower bunk, with me occupying the upper.  My father would stand next to my bed and we would recite that prayer to the Virgin "Hail Mary" together.  We were very poor, driving my afflicted mother crazy, angry with her husband for our unnecessary poverty, even our inferior Marlette home endangered by the constant threat of repossession by the mortgage company.   

My comforter was from my father's mother.  Hungarian was my parent's first language.  Dunyha, or dunna, is Hungarian for eiderdown.  In Australia, the Hungarian has become doona, meaning duvet. 

Note on "Madrid:"  I will never forget, taking an evening stroll one night after dinner and passing a government building, the Spanish soldier guarding the place pointed his machine gun at us, aiming for our stomachs. This was in April, 1982.  Franco died in November, 1975, with his Spanish-style Fascism remaining a lingering scent perfuming Madrid seven years later.  For those interested in history, the Roman Catholic Church backed Franco in his fight against the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War  (07/1936-04/1939), hence the intersection of religion and militarism we witnessed that Easter Sunday.  For further reading, George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" is a great book to begin with.