Friday Homestead Dispatch

Angular Arid Allegory

“We’re bringing thousands of bottles of water—Trump Water, actually. Most of it. Some of it we had to go to a much lesser quality of water. You want to get those Trump bottles.” —An orange private citizen speaking in East Palestine, Ohio

1.
Even the orangeman uttered that Republicans would never win if voting was fair and available for all. Why else would they go to the trouble of introducing asinine laws to make it HARDER to vote? The Texan reported that Rep. Carrie Isaac (R-Wimberly) has introduced a bill that would ban polling places on college campuses. House Bill (HB) 2390 would take effect September 1, 2023 and prohibit campus polling places as designated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Move Texas, a youth voter advocacy group, released a statement on Isaac’s filing of HB 2390 calling it “one of the most insidious attempts to silence young voters in Texas.”

MOVE Texas @MOVE_texas

STATEMENT: MOVE Texas condemns the filing of HB 2390 by Representative Carrie Isaac of Texas House District 73, one of the most insidious attempts to silence young voters in Texas.

And not to be outdone by Texas, the Idaho Statesman reported that recently, two bills were introduced to make it more difficult to vote in our state: Rep. Tina Lambert’s, R-Caldwell, House Bill 54 would ban the use of student IDs and personal identification affidavits as accepted forms of voter ID at the polls. Rep. Joe Alfieri’s, R-Coeur d’Alene, House Bill 75 would end no-excuse absentee ballots, which 129,000 Idahoans used to vote in November alone. The article added It’s worth noting that, when introducing her bill, Rep. Lambert claimed that Oregonians were crossing the border to vote in her district. One might ask how politicians like Alfieri and Lambert so easily claim that other elections are fraudulent but that they themselves were fairly elected. This hypocrisy, while mind boggling, is just a staple of Idaho’s supermajority politics.

Far-right Republicans are trying to skew the turnout due to a 64% turnout of college-age voters nationwide in the last presidential election. The author of the Statesman article, Shiva Rajbhandari, is of this age group and he goes on to say that it’s no question that young voters are a political powerhouse. Gen Z and Millennials account for over half of eligible voters in the United States. Funded by big money interests, far-right politicians have spent their careers attacking public education, denying climate change and violating bodily autonomy — all issues that my generation disproportionately cares about. Now, corporate conservative think tanks seek to hold onto power for as long as possible. And they have legislators like Lambert and Alfieri to carry their copycat bills to do so. He goes on to say that across the country, voter suppression legislation has backfired on the Republican Party time and time again. So while all Idahoans should stand up and defend our right to vote, my message to anti-democratic legislators is simple: Bring. It. On.

Maybe, just maybe, these young whippersnappers might make a difference.

2.
In other news, Roald Dahl’s books have been rewritten as to not offend the precious minds of the youth. See what happened to me reading Mad and Cracked all those years ago? Fat and Ugly are verboten now. According to the Guardian, In previous editions of James and the Giant Peach, the Centipede sings: “Aunt Sponge was terrifically fat / And tremendously flabby at that,” and, “Aunt Spiker was thin as a wire / And dry as a bone, only drier…and references to “female” characters have disappeared. Miss Trunchbull in Matilda, once a “most formidable female”, is now a “most formidable woman”.

spokesperson for the Roald Dahl Story Company said: “When publishing new print runs of books written years ago, it’s not unusual to review the language used alongside updating other details including a book’s cover and page layout. Our guiding principle throughout has been to maintain the storylines, characters, and the irreverence and sharp-edged spirit of the original text. Any changes made have been small and carefully considered.”

To wit, “every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” Orwell, of course.

3.
This was posted on the Ignite Sign Art Museum Facebook page yesterday. We’ve been having quite the winter (for Tucson) this year including WIND. The post below is regarding my favorite neon sign still in use in the Ol’ Pueblo.

The Caruso's sign in Tucson which is about 70 years old, got hit by 51 mph wind this morning and the pole broke right at the ground. The sign had 4 cables that tied the sign to the building so it leaned over and ended resting against the awning. I got the call at noon and had the crew from Cook and Company Signmakers at the site shortly after that. We closed the sidewalk and got the SunLink Modern Street car people over to supervise the rescue which was close to their overhead power lines. The scariest moment was when the wind stood the sign back up straight and it stayed there. We managed to pick the sign off the pole and then get the pole safely down. The plan is repaint the sign, update the wiring and reinstall.

4.
Speaking of collections and museums, are you aware of the World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things? Lucas, Kansas, baby! Also the home of the Garden of Eden. Erika Nelson, founder of the WLCoWSVoWLT (which is now a Roadside Sideshow Expo in Lucas, formerly a mobile operation), is a national researcher and speaker on Grassroots Art environments, Roadside Attractions and Architecture. She also acts as a consultant for the State of Kansas in their rural policy and folk and traditional arts programming. She’s the Cultural Resources Director for the Garden of Eden and worked the restoration project that took place earlier this century. Check out an interview with Erika in Spaces Archive.

5.
Had enough of auto-tune and lip synching BS music? Try these on for size.

Ry Cooder!

The Beat, Vol 4 Show #15!

6.
Yeah, we were done but we had so much fun at our November gig we’ve decided to hit it again in April. Make your reservation soon because we’re going to pack the joint.

And now…