Any World (That I'm Welcome To)

Between RaceFail09 and AmazonFail*, this year is looking a little too fail-y for its first quarter. I'd like to link to link to something that does NOT fail: Intervale Green Apartments: Green, Affordable--And for Low-Income Women. (That's the official site; there's also an article here.)

Intervale has 128 affordable units, one third of which are reserved for families from homeless shelters. Most renters/heads of household are female (though men are also welcome). The complex has the Energy Star rating thanks to proper insulation, double pane windows, Energy Star appliances, and more - which means not only less energy usage and thus less pollution and all that, but lower energy bills for the residents. More money for them to spend on things they need!

Furthermore, the ground floor has space for a few small commercial enterprises, which will bring in jobs and provide useful services for the neighborhood once they get going. The complex has tons of new trees - not just pretty, they'll help clean up the asthma-inducing nasty air. (The complex's filtration systems and no-VOC materials make the air indoors much cleaner, too.) There's art and flowers and space to grow vegetables on the roof - beauty and functionality! They worked hard to make Intervale beautiful, knowing that living in ugly places can be a downer.

Impressively, Intervale also provides a computer and high-speed Internet access to each unit and has laundry rooms on every floor. These can make HUGE differences in tenants' lives - the laundry cuts out a lot of hassle, and the computers... well, I don't think I have to explain how hard it is to get by without at least some computer access nowadays.

What a neat place!




*(For the record: I can see how an employee could accidentally flip a field and set a bunch of categories as "adult" that shouldn't be - though it IS odd that the only categories accidentally flipped were Gay & Lesbian, erotica, and sexuality-related. Why wasn't "mystery" accidentally flipped, hm? If it really was an accident? Also, why is this filtering system in place at all? Why isn't there a big button to turn it on and off if it must exist? Finally, Amazon's customer relations fail. When I ask why there's a filtering system at all, do not send me the same canned reply everyone else got that does not address my question.)

There are lots of things to be depressed about - the news that Palin's chief of police in Wasilla, Charlie Fannon, charged rape victims for their own rape kits in the 90s before then-Governor Knowles signed a bill forbidding that practice, for instance.

However, I think it's also good to remember the good things that happen, too, so I'm going to note those whenever one strikes me. For today, puppies. (I know. But it really happened!)

My parents were on a weekend getaway in the mountains, and on their way back down the windy mountain highway, they spotted two black lab puppies abandoned by the side of the road. This is the kind of road that drops off in a cliff-like way, you understand, with almost no shoulder, lots of blind corners, and lots of large trucks. Not a good place for puppies, even if it weren't in the middle of nowhere.

So they stopped, looked for any possible sign of habitation from which the puppies could have escaped (no luck), scooped the puppies into the car, and were on their way just before one of the aforementioned giant trucks came barreling around the corner right over the spot where the puppies had just been. The puppies snuggled in my mom's lap the whole ride down to my uncle's house (much closer than ours). Now they're staying with my uncle, who treats his dog better than many people treat their children, until he can place them in a good home(s) with help from the shelter or a rescue group. In the meantime, they'll probably be treated to fun romps through the hills with their older foster-brother. Happy ending!

Also, speaking of animals in roads... while driving out of my parents' neighborhood, I had to stop for two chickens to cross the road. Sadly, they didn't see fit to explain why they wanted to cross.