Friday, May 18, 2012

"I Hate Americorps" "AmeriCorps sucks" Update

After five! years and almost 200 comments on the original post, I'm hoping this entry will show up in searches as well.

I feel the need to clarify about my own service experience. I did two terms with AmeriCorps state (Michigan), placed in a Federally Qualified Health Center. I was not part of HealthCorps, which is a National program, but part of MPCA (Michigan Primary Care Association). I helped medicaid clients understand the need for and made sure they knew they had access to preventive care (checkups, labs, vaccines, asthma proactiveness, etc).   I also helped uninsured women of childbearing age find quality care. I think that my program was and is important, but I also realize many of you have had harrowing experiences.

I was married at the time to another full-time wage earner and did not experience any undue financial hardship during my term of service; but it is laid out in the beginning what you will be paid. If you don't think you can make it on the stipend, you shouldn't commit to this sort of service. My comments were meant for those feeling mid-term malaise, those whose projects had stalled or met with problems from superiors.

I had no idea the post would attract so many who had truly horrid experiences. I hope those who have shared those experiences in the comments have also taken these stories to a venue that can actually assist them - I'm just a blogger, I don't have any special powers that my readers do not also possess. I don't have a wide range of influence - this is the first post and update on this blog in over three years.

The complaints posted on the original post comments are mostly VISTA related. I don't know anything about VISTA, and my original comments were never meant to address anything but my own feelings on the subject.

I feel mandatory national service should be required of every American citizen. We are a disconnected nation. There are many ways and means to serve your country and community, from the military, to AmeriCorps, to NCCC and beyond. Serving your country should give you a sense of pride and honor, not a feeling of being taken advantage of.

If you get nothing else from reading these two posts and the comments, I would hope you take away this:

There is no change without action. Sitting on your butt and complaining doesn't solve anything. If you want change, call your congressperson. Call your senator. Better yet, stop by their local office in your district. Sit down and talk to them. Speak to your peers. Write resolutions and proposals. Do SOMETHING beyond sharing your story on a blog that gets maybe 30 hits in a week. 

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby Maeve!

My baby is one today. She was born by c-section at 9:40pm after a 15 hour trial of labor for VBAC.

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This past year has gone really fast - but in a wonderful way.


Big Eyes!



She is a bright little ray of sunshine, very happy and calm.


There's no ham in spaghetti


Happy birthday, sweet girl. May the year ahead bring you joy.

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Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Equal Pay Day

April 28, 2009 is Equal Pay Day, the date in 2009 when the average woman's wages finally catches up with those paid to the average man in 2008. 

Yeah, you read that correctly. 

The average woman in the US has to work an extra 4 months to equal what a man doing the same job earns.

If that woman is a mother, it takes even longer. A single mother, even longer than that.  And women of color? They're even further behind.

And with the same resume and qualifications, a mother is 78% less likely to be hired than a non-mother. 

Call or write your congressperson and tell them to support the Paycheck Fairness Act.


For more information, check out: 

http://www.pay-equity.org/info-time.html

http://www.nwlc.org/fairpay/wagegapoverview2009.html

Friday, April 17, 2009

Stupid Commercials

 There are two commercials on lately that really peeve me. 

(no, not the BK commerical with Sir Mix-A-Lot. That one's hilarious.)

First, there's a commercial for Chef Boyardee about how there's a full serving of vegetables in every can. The dad keeps trying to say it, and the mom keeps doing stupid shit like turning on the garbage disposal, banging pots and pans, etc, to keep the pwecious widdle bwoy from hearing that there might be VEGETABLES in his food. 

Fuck me sideways. For one thing, tomato sauce, IMO, does not freaking count as a "vegetable".  For another thing, my kids eat vegetables. They love them. They can't be the only children on the face of the planet who do.  If I were to serve my kids something as disgusting as Chef Boyardee, you can bet they're having a nice side of steamed broccoli with it, and liking every second of it. 


Second, is a Verizon commercial for their new "Hub" phone - it's a PDA on steroids. There are a couple cute commercials featuring this new product - one with a teen shopping for prom dresses, for example - funny.

But one of the commercials features a mom cooking paella. She's looking at the recipe on the souped up phone thing, and then uses it to send her family a text message about Paella night at 7pm!! Whoo! Her 16 year old son video messages her back:

"Mom, I don't know what pah-ella is, but I'm not eating it. Ever".

So this idiot, stereotypical, family-pleaser woman picks up the phone and orders PIZZA for her ungrateful little shit of a son. Are you fucking kidding me? 

Can I tell you what would happen at my house?  (we'll leave out that I'd never make paella b/c I'm not a seafood fan) 16 year old would be making himself a peanut butter sandwich or pouring himself some cereal. Or, he can go get a job and buy his own pizza. 

I'd ask if there are people out there who actually do this - cater to their kids like mini-royalty - but since the advertising is there to pander to them, there must be.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

A lot of people are interested in how much AmeriCorps sucks, apparently...

This post


Has generated a lot of interest, discussion, and vitriol. 

Due to a lot of the comments, I started a YUKU board.  People seem to want and need somewhere to talk about their National Service experiences and expectations. 


Friday, July 18, 2008

Still Alive!

Yes, I still exist!

We're still adjusting to having two spawnlings around here, although Maeve is a delightfully mellow baby. I just haven't had much to write about beyond spawnlings, and although motherhood has been a big part of this blog I don't want it to be the only part. Other people have done it, and probably better than I.

I've been writing HP fanfiction as well, and getting up the gumption to redo the outline on the YA Sci-Fi novel I've had kicking around in my head.

If anybody's interested in reading the HP fanfiction I've written, I'm archived a couple of places:


http://community.livejournal.com/grangersnape100/tag/voxangelus


http://www.thepetulantpoetess.com/viewuser.php?uid=10622


Some of it is smut, if that tickles your fancy.

I hope to be back soon, with more interesting content!

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Listen, you pervert

I have half a mind to report people who are searching for "child naked" "naked child" "naked kid" to their ISP's. I think I will.

Fucking perverts.