"My Pension Is My Pay"

As a former County of Sonoma civil servant, I receive correspondence from SCERA-Sonoma County Employees Retirement Association-and there is no T-shirt that would be more fun to wear. However, it is something that I worked very hard for in life and I take it seriously when states like Wisconsin wipe out decades of labor suffrage with a Republican governor's effort.

We are the new whipping post because even gays are not sufficient enough to bash anymore. Besides, it is about the economy stupid and we need a new scapegoat. So it is that public employees and their union pensions have become the most hated for all our perks and wonderful benefits that we earned while sitting on our hands and chewing gum while the public we served went hungry. Yeah. Right.

Most recently, correspondence from SCERA let us know that they had lost the lawsuit with The Press Democrat-a now right wing local newspaper.   The Press Democrat supported the County Adminstrator, denigrated our union and the county workers during our entire year worked without a contract.

During that year in the County Administrator wiped away the health care stipend for the retirees and all but brought pandemonium to our negotiations fueling a feeling of loathing and anger towards county management.  The CAO was much later fired with a large stipend and hired in Stockton.  A cheering wave went up around our office when the email of his demise was sent.  Nice guy that Bob.

You get the picture. The Press Democrat has reviled us as workers with benefits that were not earned. This is the smaller version of the new national trend. Although we worked hard for our pensions, the provider is now acting like they changed their mind on the agreement made with us and we are in line to lose big. Everyone who has a pension knows the feeling and it enrages all of us who have given our lives for our work. Our time on the planet as workers is as easily dismissed as the promise made upon our hiring date.

The long journey to losing the lawsuit with the Press Democrat means that my name will be published with my pension benefit amount in their newspaper. All of us will be held up as the new evildoers who have not earned a seat at the table. When we worked for the county, we gave up weeks of pay so that others could keep their jobs and we did not get any cost of living increase while the CAO, the county managers and the Board of Supervisors all took raises and kept them. That did not seem to bother The Press Democrat. 

Now it seems, like so many workers in this world, we also are subject to broken promises and broken contracts. Whether it is Britain or Sonoma county, the same lie is being fed to the public who are just dying to blame someone, anyone, for making off with their bag of riches. However, "my pension is my pay" whether the promise is broken or not.

Don't pee on my foot and tell me it's raining because I actually know the difference.

Fuyu To You Too!

Although I bust my hump each day at work, weighing in at 101 lbs most days with more energy than both my co-workers, I have found the organic fruit trees on our 7 AC campus to be an amazing treat.  There were golden and red delicious apples and Asian, Bartlett and then D'Anjou pears over the last two and a half months.  We are an organic campus which means that any resident or staff can walk up to a fruit tree there and pick and eat a wonderful piece of fruit with certainty of an organic treat. 

It has been almost otherworldly to be able to experience fruit like this as if I were a kid plucking one of my favorites from the tree and rapidly consuming it!  Actually, sometimes I am amazed at the voraciousness of my enjoyment and the freedom that organic food brings to my experience is monumental. 

This month the persimmon trees have turned coral pink and then dropped their leaves.  The deep orange orbs that remain on bare tree branches are beautiful and stunning.  That deep orange set against a cold winter day-though it has been sunny most days-is magical. The contrast is pure genius from nature.

I had never eaten a Fuyu persimmon and now I can't stop wondering how many I can eat in a day.  The Fuyu can be eaten now and has a very sweet taste with a crispness like an apple.  Unlike the Hachiya persimmon which needs to soften and lose that acidic bite before being eaten, the Fuyu is a squatty orange orb that is juicy and incredibly sweet with an amazing crispness like a fresh, ripe apple.

I feel lucky to be able to enjoy the beauty of a sunny, winter day in California while hauling my tenth cart of leaves and taking bites of an organic Fuyu that might just make my afternoon a little more bearable and a lot more interesting. Magic can be just that simple.

Judas Could Not Have Done Better

This weekend the Board of Directors of my place of work hauled in the management company that they thought placed well in their line up of choices to come in and clean house.  Many residents came to hear the PowerPoint presentation with all of the marketing folks who came in suits with vague answers to allay the fears of all. The were very slick and had an answer, albeit amorphous, for every concern that was presented.  Too slick some said.  Too many suits some said.

A Quaker inspired retirement facility, we are very different, or so I thought. Quakers do not believe in drawing attention to themselves but it seems that they are still susceptible to being marketed like the rest of us. A very well rehearsed presentation by Pacific Retirement Services Inc. had won over almost all of the residents, some adamantly opposed previously, to the idea of all of the wonderful qualities that suits can only promise. 

It was clear today when the BOD claimed they had chosen PRS that they had chosen before the presentation.  Clever board members led the residents down the primrose path with the suits leading the way to a better, more solvent world.  The residents are no longer worried about the loyal staff of our campus, they just want the goodies. 

It is a sad day when something so right becomes co-opted by corporate interests because in an iPhone world, temptations of plenty rise far above integrity, simple values and authenticity.  Strange and true at the same time, a good slogan can win over a person who has fears running parallel to aging in a fiscally weak environment.  Suits help slogans even if the promises are said while holding a handful of employee termination slips behind their backs. 

Today there was no going back to the idea of the three branches of governance with an Executive Director, BOD and residents to keep one another honest.  The ED and the Director of Nurses will be PRS employees. As the BOD  have already hired two interim EDs who have fired and suspended their way through our workplace, it is clear that they cannot wait to have PRS do their dirty work.  Gone will be the Quaker inspired environment of egalitarianism with open communication.  Gone will be the feeling of family and work in unison.

The BOD in their subterfuge have parlayed a way of life into a deceptive marketing ploy to save themselves from being responsible to the residents and staff.  They stood shoulder to shoulder with others who have sold out values for expedient corporate efficiency and in doing so proved out that Judas could not have done better himself.

The Good Fairy is Jewish And Other Secrets

Yesterday, while having coffee and pastries at Michelle Marie's Patisserie and enjoying the light through the front windows, the smell of coffee and sugar and a few dancing children who seemed delighted to be out and about on a Saturday morning, The Good Fairy walked into the shop.

Through the front door came a glittering image replete with crown, scepter and a brilliance that belied the analytical brain of a petite woman in a small town in northern California who feels that her dreams just don't come to fruition. The GF floated past the shop's patrons anointing and tapping people along the way while our hero sat transfixed.

When the glittering apparition came upon our troubled wee one, she said "I have been looking for you for months!" and the GF tapped her lightly on the right temple, smiling and beaming and moved on to the next humans consuming expensive french pastry and strong coffee. Magic can happen just when you aren't ready. Ok, I am ready! Really!