Why Hippies are Pure Evil
Today’s guest blogger is none other than my son, Joe Fadem. This satirical look at the Hippie Menace was originally written as an English assignment last fall. However, his sister found a printed copy in the back of Joe’s car on her New Year’s Eve trek to Brooklyn where it circulated amongst the hipsters and other cool young New York types welcoming in the new year as, well, college kids are wont to do. I learned of the hilarity contained in this piece over vegan pizza this evening. (That last sentence is the answer to your question, “Why did he write about hippies?”) While the hard copy is currently enshrined on a refrigerator somewhere in Brooklyn, the contents of his manifesto can be found below: Why Hippies are Pure...
Five Things I Learned in the Post Apocalypse
By now, many of you know that my part of the world was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. I was without power for 12 days and, for the first few days, there was only one way out of the neighborhood but nowhere to go. It took my son 2 hours to find a working ATM on Friday to get cash to buy gas and canned goods but by the time he scored the cash, everything was closed! Thanks to a good neighbor, he got a gallon of gas to get himself home which took almost an hour with all the road blocks. On Saturday, we discovered the Foodtown was running on a generator, and it was like Christmas! However, once the temperature started to drop on Sunday, we were both loosing patience with the power company. He decamped to Florida on Wednesday right before the first heavy snowstorm,...
Homeless for the Holidays
Quite awhile ago, I wrote a post about what it would be like to be live with just the possessions I can carry. I admit, I still have a lot of stuff and, due to changing economic times for teachers in New Jersey, a lot less money to pay for the house to keep them in. Just as I began thinking I had it bad, I got an email from my Mom. Both of my parents are retired, live in Plano, Texas, and are very active in their church and community. My Dad made a decent living and retired relatively young, and my Mom worked part-time once my sister and I left home primarily in the library system. I don’t ever remember not having what I needed and just about everything I wanted growing up. My mother especially has always valued volunteering, and the two of them...
2012 Vegan Care Package Swap!
Over the summer, I signed up for the Fourth Annual Care Package Swap over on @RunWithTong’s blog. Lindsay explained on her blog that: This swap gives participants a chance to connect with other bloggers by the exchange of goods. The care package that you create can be filled with homemade or store bought items and can include any items you like such as food, clothes, health living items, etc. At the end of August, I received an email with info about my “swappees”. Imagine my surprise when I clicked on the blog link enclosed and found Meggie & Ben’s blog! I started reading their adventures living as vegans in Utah over the summer and was thrilled that I was matched with them for the swap. (They are the cutest vegan couple ever & if...
Guest Post: Steampunk Costumes
I love steampunk and recently discovered Charlotte Henley Babb, a writer and crafter. In this post, Charlotte shares how to create a steampunk costume with what you have, may find thrifting, and can complete with a few items from your craft store! Start small when you decide to do steampunk. Look around the house for things that you already have–clocks, old fashioned skeleton keys, “fiddly bits” of things that you might throw away otherwise that are not recyclable except as parts. These are what make your costume truly steampunk rather than rag-tag Victorian. A more adventuresome idea, and steampunk is all about adventure and discovery, is to go to your local Goodwill store, especially if you can find out when the half-price days or dollar a...
Traffic Court
I spent a few hours today in traffic court up in Hunterdon County. I won’t go into details about why I was there; we’ll just say I was there for moral support not pleading a case. After getting lost in what looked a lot like Kansas only with hills, asking a guy with a lisp for directions, getting lost again, asking a guy fixing a pizza oven for more directions, finding the court building and realizing Google Maps’ directions were dumber than dirt, I got a great self esteem boost sitting in that courtroom. Why you may ask? Here are 10 things I learned today in traffic court: 1. Camo pants are the height of fashion in traffic court. I need to get me to Walmart and buy some of them camo pants so I can avoid going to jail for driving with a...
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