How much of our wealth is on others' backs?

It's a sleepy 6:20 in the morning here and I just took Ghost for a walk around the neighborhood. As I walked I was considering Jeremiah's post regarding the upcoming Starving Jesus event next week at Vineyard Central.

I wonder how much of our lives in this empire are on the backs of others. Certainly, in my gut, I think a lot of it must be. Overnight I used plastic bottles to feed Uly. Where did the oil come from that made those bottles and who were the workers that mined it? How did that bottle get so cheap? The formula he ate and the Wheaties that I ate and the yogurt that went on top - what's the true cost of all this? Sure, it costs me $1.99 for a quart of that yogurt, but what happened between the cow and whatever it ate and my cereal?

I heard, recently, on NPR that the corn it takes to make 20 gallons of gas could feed a person for an entire year. That's a lot of food turned into a little convenience. Becky and I spoke about how much more we appreciate the volume of energy we are expending in a car through our travels on bike.

We know how much effort it is to push just our body, our bike and a small load of cargo a few miles. It's real work. How much more so do these cars expend when they can move five people and a full trunk with ease?

We always seem to assume the worst
As I walked this morning my eyes were drawn like moths to windows with lights on. I didn't see anyone or do a any peeping tom routines, I just looked. This made me think of when I was in sixth grade, waiting for the school bus on the corner of Coronado and Zula. There was a house on that corner there with a family and young kids (younger than sixth grade). I remember that it was raining and the mom let me and this kid named Mike Smith stand on her porch. I think we were invited. Anyway, one day it was raining and we sheltered on her porch and their picture window had the drapes drawn and on of her kids was watching a cartoon. Mike and I watched through the window and laughed at whatever was going on in the toon. The mom stormed out and angrily chastized us for looking in her window and, well, I don't know what she thought, but I felt really bad for something I shouldn't have felt bad about.

I meditated, as I walked today what assuming the best and assuming the worst gets me in life.

I'm riding my bicycle every day now. I'd like to walk Ghost as much, too. The only thing anything ever gets easy is if you do it every day - dog walking, exercise, health food - even drug abuse is a lot of work until it becomes the daily grind. Habits...

- Steve

Tools of the trade

When I was a kid I thought it was important to have three tools on my person every day: A Swiss Army Knife (preferably not its generic equivalent that fell apart), a Zippo lighter and a -- what was it called? It's been so long since I cared about this -- oh, right, a Mag Light flashlight.

I believed, with those devices, one could do pretty much whatever needed to be done and, while I still think these are realy cool, I have none of them any more.

I bring this up because I thought I'd share about one of the tools I've found most useful in my life today. Almost all are virtual.(We are living in an immaterial world and I am an immaterial boy)

Craigslist.org

Things I have aquired on this marvelous site include our awesome tenant, Tony Nauman - we had our pick of awesome applicants in one week! - our leather sofa($300), several ultracheap, nice laptops ($35 to $150) including the one I'm on now and...

- free plants and beautiful stone look pots
- free drywall, like 10 sheets
- a new bike rack for the car
- free bicycles
- cheap, nice used bikes
- our motorcycle
- printers
- our privacy fence ($50 with a gate!)
- The Heineken umbrella in the back
- free paving stones and gravel
- our leather recliner ($50)
- a free camping backpack
- a Sony digital video cam - $125 - this was from a guy who worked 15 years in retail who decided to run off to work on a dude ranch
- a free water bottle with a thermal case

- Jobs - we painted a small house for $1200, we're working tomorow at the vollyball pro exhibition to set up for $14 an hour, Beck pimped Pokemon, I moved furniture, we did landscaping, also.

So, you know I found my 1973 Honda Scrambler Motorcycle on Clist of $200 and bought it from a guy named Steve Miller who purchased it from Clifton resident Paul McCartney -- well several weeks later I saw a 4 mp digicam listed for $15...read about how these finds intersected here.

This week we traded a laptop I scored for little cash for a newer fridge.

I also found rides and contacts along the post-Katrina Gulf Coast. It;s an awesome site.

- Steve

First date without the baby, need a date with a plumber

Becky and I went to the Cincinnati Entertainment Awards (CEA) last night at the Corbett (sp?) theater on UC Campus. It was our first date without Uly. My mom, very kindly, agreed to watch him for the evening.

We had a nice time - it was a fun, if predictable, awards show (not predictable as in who won - I'm fairly theater illiterate - but predictable as in the way an awards show goes - cheesy jokes, women in evening gowns, men in tuxes. There was a fellow, an older guy with white hair and a big droopy jacket - from CCM - who was quite funny. One of the women who presented the awards was very funny, flirting on stage with another white haired guy. I heard she was fired mid-show, which would have been silly, if that's what happened.)

We saw many of the usual suspects - James Czar and Sean Mummert, the Citybeat crew. It was all very cool. We rode around campus a bit, too.

This weekend we have a plumbing project to complete. Is anyone handy with pipes? I could use some help.

Bike riding, radio riding and then some

This was a pretty sweet day today. I rode from Norwood to Covington in about 40 minutes. I was speeding, of course - as much as one can on a bicycle. It was fun to make the trip and I felt great for doing it.

My target was Covington City Hall. I met with their City Manager, Jay Fossett, and, after an interview about the city's new art district, we took a bike ride to check it out. He had a classic, red Huffy cruiser. Normally I hate Huffy and I hate one-speeds, but I have to admit, it was a pretty sweet looking bike. You'll probably see photos of it in next week's Citybeat, along with my story.

Anyway, we had a nice ride and met with a lot of folks who are taking advantage of Covington's tax breaks and grants and building what I think will become a very fine little arts community. I'd invest now if I were you. The property, there, and in Bellvue, is on the way up.

I stopped by the Kenton County Jail and saw Molly. She's finished her Ohio time and still has to serve down in Pee Wee Valley. I shared some birth stories and pictures with her. She's in reasonably good spirits, everything considered. Hannah and Julie over at Citybeat were excited to talk about the baby, too. That's where I went next.

I worked on the arts story there at Mike Breen's desk. He must have the best music collection in the city. If after I die, I come back as a stereo, I hope it's one owned by a music critic at an independent alt weekly.

Speaking of death, I borrowed a documentary on the Mexican Days of the Dead. I think that it would be a cool thing to do at St. E's - maybe to remember Chad and Mark. What do you think? From what I've learned, the festival is a celebration of the lives of loved ones who have passed and an attempt at finding joy in the inevitable.

I also borrowd Murder on the Orient Express and, two things: I never knew Vanessa Redgrave was that hot in her youth (I think she looks like Becky) and I had no idea the ending would suck so much. The murder - they all did it! Don't bother seeing it. If you think I ruined it for you, just be glad you don't have to endure it!

I rode partway home tonight. Mom was here today caring for Uly and helping Beck. Tracy brought us pizza for dinner. It was all pretty awesome. I'll miss all these wonderful dinners by all of you great people. Thanks so much!

Yesterday I got a cheap (used, not cheaply made) CB radio, handheld off Craigslist.
So sweet. A hitchhike-a-matic. The pros call it radio riding and I fantasized about being able to do this when I was running up the Gulf Coast last year. Can't wait to try it out. I still want to do the Chernobyl motorcycle tour, too.

"I need the lower torso of a dead cow..."

I saw the following ad on the local craigslist and thought, "this will be burning Sara Mahle's eyes soon"


"I need the lower torso of a dead cow for my short film. Back legs and udder a must. It needs to look real. If you have any skills with prop making and would like to shed some expertise on this project please let me know. This film will be submitted as an entry for Steven Spielberg's new reality show "On The Lot". Even if you cannot help out %100 I could use the advice."


- Steve

Sabotage and sleeping babies

Last week was an inspiring adventure in service education at my church, Vineyard Central.

Sabotage, so named for C.S. Lewis' quote, "Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed, you might say in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in His great campaign of sabotage," ended last week.

It was a three day service project at Vineyard, organized by Jeremiah Griswold. My part was to work with a fellow named Matt Smith, leading a group of six 15 to 17-year-olds in Cincinnati's urban sectors.

I think I'm a relatively secular kind of guy to be doing this sort of thing. Or perhaps I'm just guarded against the cults of belief. You know what I mean by that? Some folks get so enraptured and tied to their own ideas of what God is and what his story is that they become sure that all else is false. God's bigger than that, I think; bigger than the words written by men about him in the Bible (even if some or all were divinely inspired) and bigger than our imaginations. I hate orthodoxy, fundamentalism and fetishization.

Anyway, I put together a track, as I told our students on the third and last day of the trip, that tied together some key issues in service work. I am pro-people of color, pro feminist, pro queer, pro poor and pro Jesus -- and I think that all these things fit together quite nicely.

So, last week started with a trip to Caracole, which I thought (I had heard this from someone) was an AIDS hospice. In actuality it is housing, transitional and otherwise for folks living with AIDS. I, believing myself to be well informed, still thought of this as a death sentence, but the men I met who have been living, in apparent (the word, "apparent," is key) health for more than a decade with it proved me wrong. They spoke to our group about what it's like to live with it and for most of them (and me, too) it was the first meaningful contact with someone with the disease. While we were there we cleaned their blinds and windows and did yard work.

Wednesday was brunch at Our Daily Bread soup kitchen (they actually serve a lot more than soup and I really recommend you go for brunch one morning - 10am to noon, daily) followed by house cleaning at Elementz hip-hop youth center. We watched this video on police abuses of power in Cincinnati.

Thursday, the final day, was spent at the Cincinnati Intercommunity Justice and Peace Center learning about the death penalty and the Biblical justification for being against the war in Iraq and war in general. VC trustee Dave Nixon I heard, in an unrelated Sabotage exercise that week, discussed how Bush announced that he would repay 9-11 with a massive and greater response, and how this was a violation not only of Jesus' teachings, but also the Lex Talionis, which is the oft referenced and poorly understood Bible verse that goes, "an eye for an eye."

Anyway, the IJPC is run by Sister Alice Gerdeman, an amazing, vibrant example of activism in action. Sister Alice spoke with the group about the death penalty and about why she is against it as a Christian (Jesus was a victim, you'll recall) and how the drugs used in executing persons aren't even allowed to be used in euthanizing dogs because they may cause agonizing pain while paralyzing those murdered by the state.

IJPC staffer Kristin Barker spoke about Jesus' crafty opposition to the monoculture of his time. Turn the other cheek, she said, and demonstrated with Matt Smith's help, is not about being a Christian doormat. Let's say a person slaps you with an open hand on your right cheek. An open handed strike was one used against an inferior, she said. If you expose your left cheek to the person you force them to backhand you - a strike reserved for equals - or give up the fight.

She said the thing about when someone demands your tunic, give them your cloak, is about shaming them to see how ridiculous this is. At that time, she said, folks who couldn't pay a debt were literally dressed down by the creditor - the fee when you couldn't pay was your tunic. To give your cloak as well was to stand before them and everyone else stark naked. This shamed those who saw you, but not you and showed how stupid the whole penalty was, she said.

Barker also talked about the verse in which Jesus says, if a soldier tells you to carry his gear a mile, carry it two miles. At that time, soldiers' gear was extremely heavy and troops were not to go any farther than one mile at a time during a normal march. To go further was to be punished - whipped or reprimanded. Soldiers would often demand that a villager carry their gear for them - but no more than a mile, that was the rule, she said. To carry it further than this put the soldier in the position of begging the person to stop who he once ordered to go. And do the lesser becomes the greater and the servant the master.

We took the bus two out of the three days we worked and I made sure that we walked several miles through Over-the-Rhine. I think the kids learned a lot, and so did I.

My leg went to sleep while singing Queen songs and Sympathy for the Devil to Uly tonight. He's a cute little guy.

- Steve

The time moves so quickly and money even more so

I keep telling myself that, if I can hit the sweet spot of no wasted time, I'll be able to do all the things I need to in a given day - bills, baby, work, cleaning, service, prayer and reflection - and maybe I'll even be able to write about it at the end of the day.

The leader of that pack of wolves that drives me is "bills." I hate that this is, somehow, the slavedriving king of my existance. It really feels like that. Even when I have the money to be caught up, I often get behind because my bills have become lost in a pile and, "how much money do we have in the account?" "Did I record that visa purchase from the other day?"

I really hope to make my next post meaningful, about Sabotage last week.

- Steve

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe...

Uly's name, had he been a girl, would have been Abby Dolores.

I just found a CD case that I wrote this on, and the words' meanings. Abigail is "A father's joy" and Dolores means, "the lady of sorrows."

I wrote, then, "good symmetry"

Ulysses means wrathful or vengeful and Jonas is dove of peace. Again, good symmetry.

- Steve

First week of Uly's life, first day of Sabotage

And what an eventful week it's been!

Uly is, according to our observation and that of friends and a nurse, very advanced.

He can turn over from his belly to his back, lift his head and he's very alert - eyes open much of the time, tracking movements and such.

We are so in love with this baby! He's snuggly and amazing. Last night was his first concert, Psalters - they performed at St. E's - and also his first bath. He was so good at both. I've trucked him around using the baby bjorn.

Sandy, Beck's mom, choked on an oyster cracker on Sunday. I had to give her the Heimlich Maneuver. That was my first time and it worked rather well. I mean, she's still with us and all.

The first day of Sabotage, the youth service project around here, was today. My group worked at Caracole, a transitional home for people living with AIDS. More on this project tomorrow.

- Steve

Sleep, interrupted

The first full day of Uly's life has been mercifully uneventful. He's pretty chill and cries only during a changing or when he's hungry. Most of the time he's slept. The nurse says this may change.

It's 20 'till 5 in the morning and I just changed his diaper. I thought I'd write until I became tired again. I've got to research how to live with cloth diapers (wet pail, I think the process is called), so I may just do that, too. We're using Motherease. They have a one-size-fits all approach using adjustable snaps. We liked the idea so Beck and I ordered a sample. I believe it'll work.

Being awake is a bit painful, but he has a beautiful face and that kind of eases everything.

- Steve

Uly

He's here!!!

He's here!!! 5:08 am in the freakin' morning, and it's finally time to welcome Ulysses Jonas!!! He was very heavy, weighing in at 9 lbs 1 oz.
The mother is fine and the father is very relieved!

We have plenty of pictures and video of the birth for all to see.
Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers with Becky and Steve.
They love you all very much!!!

-Katie

Dr. is coming

Becky's still having some trouble getting Ully out of her right now. She's been pushing for two hours now, so the nurse has called a doctor to drive over here and help with the labor. She's on potosin now, and has tried many positions to no avail. I have seen the very top of his head, but he just seems to want to stay put. Stubborn kid!
We're all getting very tired and anxious!!

we're pushing!

1:02am. still aug 1 in cali!

Uly kicks and spins

"he's moving in response to my hand," she says.

Tif tells us the baby is face up. It would be better if he were face down. Tif is turning Beck on her side to try and turn the baby.

Pitosin is now a possibility.

- Steve

Uly's head

11:30pm

The nurse midwife put a couple of fingers in and felt the top of Uly's head. He has hair!

She was 9cm dialated, as I reported earlier.

Tiffany is examining her again. I have a ringside seat. It's a strange view. They have a green-white light she's using to examine her. Tif is using an in-out catheter to drain Beck's bladder. Tif pushes on her belly. "I'm getting all the pee out to give him more room."

Beck's mom arrives, some pinched cord

Sandy just arrived. It's 8:42pm.

Gwen, our nurse midwife, says the cord is being pinched here and there, but it's not a big deal unless it happens consistantly.

Still no pitosin needed. That's great.

Anyway, they're having some nice time together. Baby's heart rate is about 140 per minute. Becks is 60.

- Steve

damn that looks like it hurts!

Hello!
Well Becky is having lots of contractions all over the place, and I just feel so honored to be here! She's had some problems with her needle in her arm, and got two different doses of drugs for the pain. I'm so glad that these good people are about to bring a new life into the world. This is gonna be so cool! Please send us all your good vibes for this labor... and impeach Bush.
Love, Katie Freshley

From our Doula, Les Nixon

this has been a blast so far.becky is a real trooper and we are all so excited.we are getting some good fotos.hopefully it won't be too long now.seeyou later.

- Leslie

6 cm dialated

Tiffany, our nurse, says we don't have to worry unless we see her frazzled.

We just got into a place where we could hook up to the Net and we're in our room, number 6. Becky opted for an epidural after some harsh pain.

more soon

- Steve

2:06pm, contractions continue

Beck's on the phone with the midwife.

Contractions have been frequent, 3-8 minutes apart, averaging 6 minutes apart.

Some fluid, two discharges.

Leslie Nixon, our doula is here.

I'm betting he comes at 8pm. Sandy, Beck's mom concurs.

If you read this, please don't call, just wait for us to call you or the next entry.

2:12pm

Still on the phone. Yesterday she was 80 percent effaced and 1.5 c dialated.

We're on our way to the hospital to confirm that it was the water. I think we'll be staying!

- Steve

The contractions so far

"I don't know if it was urine or what, but it leaked on the floor...(then something about the losing the mucous plug)"

- Becky, on the phone to her mom

Here's the stats in the baby game:

Contractions, Duration, Frequency, Notes
7:20 am 15sec - bloody show, body purges

7:20-9:30a 30 sec? 5-20 min surges mild intensity

9:30a 45sec 30 min? slight tightening

10am 15sec 30min

10:17am 25sec 17min

10:25am 15 sec 8min irregulor, but ongoing

10:34 15 sec 9min

10:37? 15sec 3min

10:51am 15 sec


Have to go...this proceeded to about ever 5 min since 12:39p It's now 1:56p

Steve

Contractions continue, gast tank cleaning and creationist madness

So, I've loaded the bags into the car at this point and went out to get us food from Subway.

Becky's last meal as a pregnant woman is a vegimax patty. Mine was a bmt.

She's having trouble eating and getting dressed because of the contractions.

Dogs are back to the Brown House.

Leslie Nixon, our Doula is coming in half an hour and Katie Freshley, our friend and birth photographer has been alerted and is on call.

I also picked up some Gumout to mix with gravel and clean out the motorcycle's gas tank. Do you think I have time before the hospital to do this? I don't, but I'll proceed as if there is time and stop when I have to. Dogger is panting his head off. Thank God the heat breaks tomorrow.

I'll be bringing the book Cosmos with me in an attempt to convice our Doula that creationism is actually a pagan belief system. I can't stand creationism, but I love our doula!

-Steve

Getting Closer...

The contractions are getting closer!

So cool

Ok, so maybe it will be today.

Against my wife's better judgement, I am liveblogging about this.

We *think* the water broke and she's been having irregular contractions since 7:20am

For my part, I am drinking Corona and rode 10 miles with Thurman, from home to Mariemont and back.

Sweet!