Tag Archives: Shelli Yoder

Maryland and Pennsylvania. Plus, 140 People.

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Cora on a Friday

Cora was sitting on the corner of Maryland and Pennsylvania on one of those plastic milk crates, the kind suburban moms store Barbies and soccer balls in and college kids combine with plywood planks to form bookshelves (back in the days of printed things called “books”). But I digress.

Cora was festooned in Mardi Gras beads. Cora had a backpack and two flimsy plastic grocery store bags stuffed with, well, stuff. She had a coffee can or a hat or something for donations. She held a piece of cardboard sharpied with the message “My name is Cora. Down on my luck. Smile. God Bless.”

It was the commandment-request of “Smile” that got to me.

I think Cora’s husband was with her– he, also festooned with Mardi Gras beads and seated five feet away on a matching milk crate. Cora on the corner; Mr. Cora by the bus sign and the free news boxes nearby.

I wanted to stop the car and talk to Cora. She was, actually, smiling. Mr. Cora was smiling. They looked happy. Still, I wanted to ask them “what puts you on a corner asking for handouts?” Because I can think of many things that might, but I was curious what put them there.

Surely they’d make more money in even minimum wage jobs. Though it’s hard not to think it’s entirely possible that, in the sunny weather at least, there was a modicum of dignity in sitting on the milk crates wearing beads that wouldn’t be found being pushed hard amidst grease, low-wages, and mindless management when you’ve already worked for 40-odd years.

But of course, no dignity in having some pushy white chick stop the car to ask what the cardboard and the beads were for; to have to be asked questions and feel you have to answer in exchange for a dollar bill or two. There was no way to ask and though I really just wanted to know, I knew there was no way to ask without imposing, without it seeming derogatory, without it being rude, frankly.

Far easier just to drive on and smile. And wonder why it is that Cora and Mr. Cora had genuine smiles and if perhaps the better question to stop the car and ask would have been how to find happiness.

Smile. God Bless.

140 People

Thursday night I went to the Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Johnson County, Indiana. I joked with my mom before-hand that there would be roughly enough people that we could meet at the local Pizza Hut, order a medium pizza, fit in one booth, and have leftovers. I told myself not to be surprised if it was ten people and a card table.

Boy, was I wrong. Johnson County, Indiana is red, screamingly, startlingly, alliteratively scarlet, in fact. But for all that, there are 140 Democrats in Johnson County and there are rumors that there are more. But they’re going stealth and we’ll have to gently coax them from the shadows. Perhaps with treats and similar tactics to those used with my cats on days that involve cat carriers and veterinarians. Speak gently, don’t use sudden movements, shake the treat box and hide the carrier until you’ve got the 20-pounds of fur in your scratched and shaking arms. Success will come.

Patience, young Skywalker.

So there were 140 Democrats in a banquet room at Valle Vista last Thursday night. Many of the speakers were canny enough to throw “moderate” in their speeches (as in “I’m a …”). Well, know thy audience and it is Johnson County, reddest of the red. Only one speaker was graceless enough to make a joke that Tropical Storm Isaac headed toward Tampa for the GOP convention was cause for hilarity and/or caused by hot winds (egos) and bloviation. So to the Republicans out there, no need to worry, the Democrats amongst you are really fairly tame and there was no Republican bashing.

Mostly what there was, aside from white fish in creamy mystery sauce and crumbled Twinkie cake, was stump speeches. (Yeah, yeah, I know. “Were.” It wasn’t as mellifluous. Bite me, grammarians.)

Sigh.

140 Johnson County Democrats, most of whom were plugged in enough to know that IWIR means Indiana Week in Review, in a room with several candidates. And the 140 Democrats in attendance received stump speeches. Some good, some bad, but the point is this: we already knew who the candidates are as people. These were the 140 Democrats who not only pay attention but then google the candidates. These were the 140 who already, in short, knew the candidates.

And we got stump speeches.

Politically, it makes sense. And, in the candidates’ defense, it’s another openin’, another show. It’s another Twinkie cake meet and greet.

Still. Know thy audience: take a few minutes from your usual stump speech to trade the biography (which most of the 140 already knew) to go beyond. Add some policy. Add some specifics. Remove the tired “my opponent” and “I believe.”

We paid to get in. We know those things. We’re on your side.

Give us more. Give me more. Next year, give me more.And: if this is what you’re looking for, these are the people to watch (in the ever-humble opinion of Emerald/Orange): Watch Vi Simpson (Lieutenant Governor candidate). Watch Shelli Yoder (9th District, IN, U.S. House). Watch Ryan Guillory (Indiana General Assembly, House District 93). And, for what it’s worth, watch Isaac Goldberg. He spoke on behalf of the John Gregg-Joe Donnelly coordinated campaign. I think he’s 12. But he’s smart and some day (when he’s old enough) you’ll hear his name again. He’s a smart young whipper-snapper and some day, one hopes, he’ll move from staffer to candidate. Or he’ll be staffer on a national level. At any rate, fellow Indiana politicos, I bet you hear his name again.

And, when you do, it will, oddly, make you just a teensy bit nostalgic for $4 dixie cups of bad red wine and Twinkie cake.

As a codicil, Ann Delaney sounds in person exactly the same as she does on IWIR every week. And while I might have wished she hadn’t used the same “Mike Pence goes ice-skating” trope she’s been using for months on IWIR, she’s like a force of nature and just sharing some oxygen with her for 20 minutes was a heady experience.

So all in all, Thursday night, a good time was had by all 140 Democrats of Johnson County, Indiana. (Insert punchline here.)

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Just Another Random Monday (Makes it a Fun Day)

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He’s Nothing if Not Thoreau

I dipped back into Thoreau’s Walden the other day. I know, he and his journal of his year in the woods are American classics, practically part of the American mythological, pseudo-religious canon, so what I’m about to say here is going to look a lot like unpatriotic sacrilege.

Thoreau’s authorial voice reminds me a lot of somebody’s grandma.

Truthfully, that’s neither good nor bad, qualitatively, and well, I’m pretty fond of grandmas, generally, and mine, specifically. But still, there aren’t that many grandmas around who have been canonized as one of the greatest thinkers in American history. (Not that your garden-variety grandmother couldn’t, shouldn’t, or never will be. I just can’t think of an example of that happening yet.)

So there’s that.

Then, there are just some things he writes about that seem awfully judgmental. For example, people should be reading Virgil (in the original Latin), Homer (in the original Greek—and how you’re going to find the “original” Greek-language version of Homer, I don’t know, considering we don’t have it and it’s thought to have been an oral epic, and perhaps there wasn’t a Homer), and a smattering of religious texts from other cultures. And, presumably, people should also be reading Walden. Those who aren’t reading these things are reading “Small books” and children’s tales, wasting their time, as grunting, savage, non-thinking animals are wont to do.

I find that a bit harsh. Mr. Thoreau, surely, surely, you could admit that enlightenment really could be found nearly everywhere. Or at least, consider: perhaps it’s less about the object than the viewer?

Too, for all Thoreau’s criticisms of the follies of man, when he enters into a critique of the vanity of fashionable dress, it struck me that criticizing clothing for being too excessive, too fashionable, too unnecessary is not really so much an improvement over criticizing clothing for being not enough of any of those things. The clothes don’t make the man—though, to the judgmentally inclined, to the self-appointed arbiters of Wisdom and Fashion alike, they evidently always do. Here again, perhaps it’s less about the object than the viewer?

Still, despite the tendencies of Thoreau to strike the reader as a strange hybrid of maiden aunt and basement blogger; despite the bizarre rantings against humanity for its surface excesses and deficits, there remains the Walden that interests, surprises, and still converses across the years.

Thoreau excoriates “The News” in Walden. “If you’ve read about one crime, no need to read about the others…” and the lack of substance amid the sensationalism. I found myself talking to Thoreau: “Well, Henry, clearly you’ve been watching Fox 59 again…So, H.D., what d’ya think of the 24 hour, 360 degree surround-sound of ‘news and stuff?’”

But mainly, so far, the part I like best is the same part everybody likes best: the message to look at what’s around you; to not miss life while supposedly “living;” the “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.”

Which, I’m pretty sure, is the part that put ol’ Thoreau up on the pedestal, forever at Walden Pond, one of the Great American Sages. I’m also pretty sure that bit alone earned him the spot fairly.

So, I’ll keep reading Walden just because of that. Though, when he hits Grandma mode, I may put it down in favor of On Civil Disobedience. I’m hoping that one doesn’t have an entire section on clothes.

IN-9 Update

Libertarian candidate for the 2012 U.S. House seat for Indiana’s Ninth District, Jason Sharp, exited the race July 16th, 2012. Via Twitter, Mr. Sharp stated that he was leaving the race in order not to split the vote and risk the victory of Democratic candidate, Shelli Yoder, over Republican incumbent, Todd Young. As I tweeted to him in response, I disagree with his thought that a Yoder victory would be “a disaster,” but I thought it was gutsy of him to run and I admired it. I do think it takes a lot of courage to run, especially when you’re not heavily backed, funded, and pedigreed. I wish the best to Jason Sharp. I imagine he’ll find his way on a ballot again.

In other news, there goes about an hour and a half of Jason-Sharp-specific blog prep and note-taking right down the ever-loving drain.

The Anonymous Artiste as a Young (?) Lady (?)

Found this rather charming piece of sidewalk chalk art on one of my walks around the neighborhood. The best things in life really are free. Enjoy.

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Shelli Yoder on Immigration: IN-9 2012 Congressional Election

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Monday night I sent Tweets to both major party candidates for the Indiana 9th District Congressional 2012 election. I asked both Shelli Yoder (D) and incumbent Todd Young (R) if they would clarify or expand their positions on immigration. Between President Obama’s recent decision to grant work visas to certain populations among the undocumented and the Supreme Court ruling, it seemed a timely question. Besides, the segment on Immigration in the Young v. Yoder comparison cheat sheet I had previously posted was too thin to be useful to any voter and continued news alerts and internet searches had continued to prove barren.

The next day Shelli Yoder had e-mailed me a statement on her position on immigration. She has very graciously permitted me to publish it here. And so, in full, here is the complete statement that I received:

“The Supreme Court’s decision Monday striking down most of Arizona’s controversial immigration law on grounds that the issue is exclusively federal is another reminder that Congress is not doing its job. Congress’ failure to act has created a state-by-state response that breeds fear and racial profiling and inconsistent public policy. It is long past time for Congress to stop the partisan bickering and do the people’s work. I support solutions in immigration reform that keep America secure and preserve basic American values. 

1. Comprehensive immigration reform must secure the borders.
2. Comprehensive immigration reform must strengthen enforcement of our laws in America’s interior.
3. Comprehensive immigration must include a temporary worker program that relieves pressure on our borders.
4. Comprehensive immigration must include a provision that allows for residency for certain undocumented young people who were brought to the United States as children by a parent or relative and have served in the military or are attending college (the so-called “DREAM kids”).

As 9th District Congresswoman, I will work for a fair and effective immigration reform bill which accomplishes those four priorities.

With regard to President Obama’s executive order on immigration, I see this as good news for the “DREAM kids” and their families. The order gives a group of young people who grew up as Americans, some of whom have defended our country in the military, a measure of hope for the future. But the order is not a permanent solution. It is a short-term stopgap that underscores the fact Congress is not doing its job. It is long past time for Congress to stop the partisan bickering and pass comprehensive immigration reform. I support bi-partisan solutions in immigration reform that keep America secure and preserve basic American values. Such reform should include a provision that allows a path to citizenship for young people who were brought to the United States as children by a parent or relative and, are of good character, and have served in the military or attended college.”

I am very grateful to Shelli Yoder for taking the time to send me this statement and allowing me to publish it here. If the incumbent candidate Todd Young responds, I will publish his answer as well. I will continue to update the chart as we head into the election and will, hopefully soon, be posting something about the Libertarian candidate in the race, Jason Sharp.

Young v. Yoder: Indiana’s 9th Congressional District Race

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Presented here is a comparison of the views held by the two candidates to represent Indiana’s 9th Congressional District. The incumbent is Republican Todd Young (his views are on the right hand side, natch). The Democratic challenger in the 2012 election is Shelli Yoder (her views are on the left, natch plus). The views here are compiled from several different sources. Blank fields indicate areas where positions haven’t been publicly stated by the candidates. Notably, positions and plans regarding foreign relations and security seem to be weak points for both Yoder and Young. Hopefully both candidates will flesh out their positions in this area as we get closer to the election. (Sources: shelliyoderforcongress.com; toddyoung.house.gov; toddyoungforcongress.com; votesmart.org; ontheissues.org.)