Ebony's Pearls

Accomplishments:

-Fed approximately 7000 homeless people on Sandwich Saturdays (that’s 135 people a week)
-Gave out 300 new blankets
-Found a home for a lost dog
-Made Bruise Juice
-Made Absinthe
-Made Cauldron brew
-Celebrated Mardi Gras, Cookie Day, Flower Day, Last Supper, First Harvest, First Fire, Founder’s Day, and July 4th
-Restarted WoodSpirits
-Made a new cloak for me (first one in 30 years)
-Sewed costumes for MedFaire performers
-Started a Survivalist Blog
-Researched Permaculture Kitchens
-Completed the Onna Stick Cookbooks - shopped around for publishers
-Added more pets to our Pet Burial Ground
-Volunteered and worked at MedFair
-Built a carriage for Itzl and Shika
-Installed a stockade fence with only dogs to help
-Started hypermiling and doubled my gas mileage
-Went to Muskogee Faire
-Dealt with Iraqi pests brought home by youngest
-Organized and ran the Green Room for SoonerCon
-Refined brewing doggie beers
-First ‘Mater Day
-Cooked a meal for citizens of New Atlantis
-Enjoyed Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along Blog
-Attended ConEstoga
-Celebrated 47 birthdays
-Wrote or communicated with my legislators over numerous important issues
-Celebrated Talk Like a Pirate Day
-Attended FenCon
-Saw “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” because so many people insisted on taking me
-Got all my plumbing fixed
-Voted in a Presidential election
-Participated in NaNoWriMo
-Bought a new stove
-Built bathroom shelves (temporary, until I finish remodeling bathroom)
-Installed a new hot water heater
-Actually held the Krewe de Zieux parade, hope for more participation next year
-Repaired my laptop
-Did ceremonies for National Day of Prayer for Non-Christians
-Finished settling Mother’s estate - Texas estate laws are weird, unduly complicated, and expensive
-Worked 220 days for a total of 2200 hours
-Supported locavorism and food diversity
-Wrote 3 novels, 22 short stories, 2 poems, 11 filks, 14 handbooks, and 4 non-fiction books
-Spent thousands of dollars on car repairs for cars that don’t belong to me
-Dragged a co-worker into a midnight adventure
-Helped train 2 other hearing dogs
-Fleshed out more on the Bounty Ministry with other Numenists
-Watched the new Batman movie
-Taught my sister how to knit
-Did 15 more things from my “70 Things To Do Before I Turn 70" List
-Planted gardens
-Canned, dried, and froze foods
-Bought from local food coop
-Stocked up my food pantry stores
-Worked over my bug-out bags, and helped various people create theirs
-Got a bigger canner
-Bought some more power tools
-Did I say I got all the plumbing fixed at last! This is a Big Deal.
-Finished “Eldering Numenously” and submitted it for peer review
-Held the first Bacchanalia
-Re-opened New Atlantis for immigration
-Contemplating a name change for New Atlantis
-Hauled the left over engine parts, bicycles, and debris from mechanically minded kids to the dump that weren’t taken by folks on FreeCycle

Not so good stuff:

My worm bin died in the summer heat

Things I'd like to work on for next year:

-Learn how to properly use the serger I got from Mother’s things after she died
-Relandscape front yard
-Start the backyard orchard
-Geocache outside Oklahoma
-Restart the worm bin and figure some way to help it survive summer heat
-Decorate more hats to uphold my place as the Crazy Hat Lady
-Finish writing “Pearls and Patches”, the WoodSpirits activity book
-Buy a new digital camera
-Learn how to use my digital movie camera
-Finish remodeling the bathroom now that the plumbing’s done
-Learn Hawaiian dancing
-Learn website building
-Learn photoshopping?
-Learn basic PR
-Take another class on building with cob
-Get the wiring done in the house
-Become proficient in ASL as my hearing is observably getting worse
-Build the rocket mass heater in the living room
-Install a fireplace in the library
-Reconsider Sandwich Saturdays
-Continue with WoodSpirits
-Continue with New Atlantis
-Continue the Survival Blog, possibly compile it into a book
-Build an agility course for Shika and Itzl, probably in the back yard.
-Complete my Team Leader Certification for Paranormal Investigations

Comments

I have done all but 27 of the “70 Things To Do By 70" List, and I still have 7 years in which to do them all. I think I am an over-achiever.

There were some good things I did last year that I’d like to continue in future years.

The survival blog, for instance, was a Good Idea. I have approached the concept of survivalism as a daily thing, something we all do all the time but without thought or awareness. I also write about survivalism as a something done in cities and suburbs, not necessarily a wilderness thing. Almost every survivalist site I’ve visited is concerned with wilderness survival skills or building a remote “bug out” location, but I feel very strongly that we should instead create small, urban/suburban survival neighborhoods because most disasters are local ones and we will end up depending upon our neighbors for things. I’ve also discussed what to do in case of power outages, brown-outs, scarcity, a depression, and more situations that will affect our lives and quality of living in a city or suburban area. Survival isn’t just about the end of the world as we know it, it’s about getting through each day as pleasantly and comfortably as we can and bringing along our family, friends, and neighbors.

Opening up New Atlantis again seems like a Good Idea. We’ll see how it goes. This one is kind of weird. It’s hard to create a new country without land, and we just have to face the fact that there is no more land to be had for creating new nations. We can create floating islands, but those are dreadfully expensive and not particularly self-supporting. So, New Atlantis (soon to be named something else) is going to have to be a cultural country - a land of hearts and minds. I don’t know if it will work. Other micronations have succeeded, so maybe this one will, too. It’s a model nation, an experiment in a different type of life that fits between our current society.

Sandwich Saturdays. I’ve run this micro-charity for a decade. I still firmly believe in the reasons for which I started it - that everyone deserves to eat, regardless of their criminal nature, drug habits, mental state, financial state, gender, gender preference, housing situation, cleanliness, or attitude. No one deserves to be hungry without choice. But, as the homeless population explodes, I am able to do proportionately so much less just handing out about a hundred sandwiches a week - the maximum I can reasonably do. I’ve decided to pool my resources with an existing food bank as they are hurting, too, in today’s climate and I think pooling resources will serve the homeless better than random weekly sandwiches.

When I started Sandwich Saturdays, it did make a difference. At first, there were just 7 people I fed, and I was able to help several of them get re-homed. Just 5 years ago, I was feeding more than 30 people a week, and was able to help a few get re-homed. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita made a significant difference in the homeless situation and that seems to be the breaking point where the homeless population suddenly exploded - more people were losing their homes and fewer people were willing to help them. Our country became a cold and indifferent country and that event, those hurricanes, seem to be the defining moment of a trend that started with 9/11, where people demanded that the victims prove their "worthiness", between a caring and helpful nation and a cruel and aloof nation. I know individuals haven’t changed, but the feel of the nation has.

The last few years, I’ve seen the population of homeless people explode, from feeding about 30 people on average a week to feeding 100 or more and having to look at people and apologize because I didn’t bring enough sandwiches. Instead of giving 2 or 3 sandwiches to people, I've had to start rationing them to one sandwich per person. That hurt. I can’t humanly make much more than a hundred or so a week and ration them so I can give everyone at least one sandwich. I haven’t been able to rehome anyone in more than a year because the rental market is tight, landlords are not as willing to be charitable. Even ones I’ve worked with before, who admit that the people I’ve referred have been good tenants, are refusing to accept homeless people now. I have to change my methods.

Today was my last day to do Sandwich Saturdays. I've ended Sandwich Saturdays after a decade of doing it.

I am going to concentrate more of my efforts on working through existing agencies to see if maybe I can’t help change America’s heart, help Americans be kinder, more generous, and maybe champion in other venues the working poor and working homeless of America that are being shafted as our government bails out the rich and richer. I haven’t got a plan yet, but I have a few ideas. The time and effort I’ve been putting into Sandwich Saturdays can be used in more effective ways, and I'm going to pursue those ways. I haven’t abandoned the working homeless and I never will, but I am going to work on the issue from a different angle. New Atlantis may be a part of that new angle. I hope it will at least play a significant role. The survival blog is also a part of the new approach. I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time.

I also feel I need to do a little cornucopia time, spend a bit more time honing my own skills, adding to what I know, so I can offer more later. I feel - stupid and unskilled. I had to hire someone to fix my laptop computer - something I should have been able to do myself. I have a digital movie camera that I haven’t a clue how to use. I’ve fallen behind the times in skills I should have and I need to spend some time upgrading them and getting better. I need to design modern websites, and I need to learn how to make on-line graphics to share, and I need to learn how to do some PR work. I think these skills will be effective in furthering my goals of helping the working homeless. I think they will be more effective than making and handing out far too few sandwiches. I still fervently believe all people deserve to eat, I just have to accept the fact that I am getting too old to do it the way I’ve done it for the last decade. I need to inspire others to do it in my place.

So, I’m going to take some classes, and I’m going to spend time working with other agencies, and I’m going to continue my work in a different way.